Kai

“What took you so long?” Manager-hyung looked annoyed. Despite the members’ attempts at distraction, they could only hold the guy’s attention for so long. It took all of them to keep him from going after Kai.

“Sorry. We had to ask around—my phone wasn’t where I left it.”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun continued for him. “Apparently they sent it to some sort of lost-and-found place.”

The hyung looked at them skeptically but started the car anyway. “Next time, pay better attention to your things.”

Kai merely nodded, his thoughts flying back to what really happened back there.

“Meet me at the Ilsan mall in exactly a week.” She broke away from the hug, looking at him intently in the eyes.

Kai wasn’t sure why he had to go all the way to Ilsan to meet her. He wasn’t sure why he had to wait a week. He wasn’t sure about a lot of things after the hug. All he knew was that he was going to see her again, and that was a lot more than he’d hoped for.

“Okay.” He nodded, knowing that no matter what happens, he’ll make sure to be there. She told him to meet her at three, specifying nothing else. Even when he asked for her number, she refused. A look of panic crossed his face—what if she doesn’t show? What if none of this was real?

She only shook her head. “I promise I’ll be there, okay?”

So here he was again, sitting at the back of the van, holding on to the promise of the paradoxical foreigner who’s somehow stationed herself in the deepest corners of his heart.

-

 It was the longest week of his life. Time excruciatingly crawled its way to the next hour, leaving Kai with more doubts and more questions. Did he dream up the whole thing? Was all of that an elaborate fantasy? He wanted to pull out his hair in frustration. At least he’s seeing her again. At least he could see light at the end of the tunnel again.

He tried not to think about it.

He couldn’t stop thinking about it.

-

Saturday

Kai fell back on his bed, smothering a loud groan with his pillow. Why is it only Saturday?

“You okay there, buddy?” Kris hovered over him.

“No.” His voice was muffled.

Kris shrugged, walking out of the room. He’d take spazzy Kai over the dead-for-three-months Kai any day.

“Alright.”

-

Sunday

“One more day.” Why didn’t she give me her phone number? I can’t even text her to confirm if we’re still going.

“Stop muttering to yourself,” Sehun gave him a weird look.

“Mm.”

Kyungsoo playfully elbowed his side. “I’m guessing you’ll see her again?” Everyone was ecstatic. Nobody knew the details from a few nights back—even Baekhyun was in the dark—but they knew it went well. Kai was going back to normal… or as normal as he was acting at the moment.

“Mm.”

They scowled at him, leaving him with his thoughts.

-

He got ready hours early, coordinating with s on how he’d slip away unnoticed. He put on his baseball hat, ‘SLOB’ written in bold white embroidery, before heading out to the bus stop.

He found himself standing outside an ice cream parlor, waiting for her to come. What is she planning? What’s going on? He felt his stomach lurch—it feels like he’s sitting in a roller coaster blindfolded, waiting for the thrilling drop that may come at any second.

Is she coming at all? Paranoia was starting to eat at him even when there were still a few minutes left before three. The more he waited, the worse for wear his nerves became.

Suddenly, a baseball hat fell on the ground next to him. He picked it up by the rim, handing it back. He barely saw a flash of white embroidery on the cap before locking eyes with its owner.

“Thank you,” she said, placing the cap on her head, big bold letters spelling out ‘NERD.’

A smile broke through his face as relief flooded through him. She came.

She smiled back at him—was that politely?

“I don’t know why, but I’m just really clumsy,” she laughed shyly.

“I know.” He gave her a perplexed look.

She returned his gaze with surprise. “Oh. I don’t think we’ve… met before, though.”

What exactly was going on?

She extended a hand. “I guess we’ll have to change all of that. Hi, my name is Clarissa Lu. It’s nice to meet you.” She gave him a warm smile.

“Reese, I know who you are. What are you doing?”

Clarissa dropped her hand to her side. She looked ahead, giving up the charade. “Do you know why I told you to see me here?”

He shook his head. “Not really.”

“This was where we first met. It was around three in the afternoon when I first talked to you.”

He looked at her in genuine surprise. She still remembers the minutest details.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot, you see,” she looked at him, an earnest expression in her face.

Kai wasn’t sure what she was talking about.

“I met you as a star, and you met me as a fangirl. I want a do-over.”

“Oh.” He still wasn’t quite sure.

“So. Hi. My name is Clarissa Lu, and it’s nice to meet you,” she repeated, extending her hand again.

He decided to go along with it, shaking her hand. “Hi. My name is Kim Jongin. It’s nice to meet you too.” He couldn’t help but smile at her. He missed her so much.

“I know it may seem forward,” she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “but I was wondering if you’d like to grab coffee with me.” On cue, a beautiful blush spread on her cheeks.

He chuckled, feeling the three months disappear. “I really don’t have anything to do, so why not?”

--

Hehehe we're back on the fluff train, guys. :) I hope you see Clarissa's thought process behind this. I really don't like spoonfeeding you guys about how she feels because the dialogue becomes clunky and awkward. I trust your reading skills, guys. LOL I also hope you guys saw the reference I put in there from 'Hopes and Promises.' hahaha

Anyway, I talked to one of my dear readers, uchiecahyaa, and it made me realize something. I prefer the chapters written in Kai's perspective a lot more. Haha I don't know if it's my writing style when it comes to his point of view, or if it's because I generally like the plot trajectory better when he's the one who narrates it, but somehow, I don't like Clarissa chapters as much. Hahahaha IDK just felt like sharing.