Leina’s POV:

  I find myself walking toward the direction of EXO’s training room. Or, to be exact, Baekhyun’s training room.

  It feels like the right thing to do until the door opens to my knocking and I find myself staring into a pair of wide, brown eyes.

  “Leina?”

  I feel breathless. I feel numb. I feel like the world around me has been thrown into slow motion because it’s Kyungsoo.

  I haven’t made up my mind yet, to whether confront him and demand if he really doesn’t remember me or just pretend that yesterday was the first time we two strangers met. I am tempted – really tempted – to just ask him right now right on the spot, I can even feel the words rolling on my tongue –

  But then an image of a particular brunette pops up into my head.

  “He pretended to not recognize you, didn’t he?”

  The question comes out of Baekhyun’s mouth as soon as I close the rooftop door. I don’t know how he knows it’s me, but after all, he’s Byun Baekhyun.

  “How… how do you know?” My head starts to spin, but because of being astonished by how amazing the scenery is from up here, or because of his question? “So Kyungsoo really remembers – “ I bite down my question. I’m here to comfort Baekhyun after his argument he just had with the girl he cares for the most, not to bomb him with questions I’m dying for answers.

  Baekhyun smiles as he turns to face me, a sad, sad smile. “Is this the first time you’ve been to Seoul, Leina? I bet you’re from a small countryside or something.”

  “Baekhyun – “

  I laugh again for the millionth time, his laughter mingling with mine like a harmony. “You’re doing it wrong!”

  “No way! I’m a pro at this!”

  “But Baekhyun sunbaenim, I don’t think the cotton candy machine agrees – “ The machine stops whining abruptly, and as Baekhyun pulls the stick out, I see the most weird shaped cotton candy I have ever seen in my entire life.

  “… woah. It looks like someone’s hair after being tossed into a whirlwind.”

  “You think?!” We burst into laughter again, and as we walk away from the ahjumma who’s shaking her head at our silliness – kids, these days – the poor treat is already consumed whole by us.

  The last few hours were as wonderful and light-mooded like this. Baekhyun was indeed – although I would never admit this to his face – the best walking directionary. He took me shopping (gluing our faces onto glass walls to admire the displays), eating (practically stopping at every food stand), and fooling around Seoul, and if I hadn’t known that he had just had a terrible argument that seemed to deflate him, I would have never noticed the sadness in his eyes that flashed from time to time.

  “So…” I say as we walk along a less-crowded street. I don’t really know what to say, since I’m never good at striking up conversations.

  “Mianhae,” Baekhyun suddenly says, startling me. “Mianhae, Leina-ah.”

  “W-what… you don’t have to apologize for anything – “

  “You came to find me because you wanted to somehow comfort me, right?”

  Unexpectedly, I feel my face start to warm up, which is really, really weird. “I – “

  “I shouldn’t have been that harsh. To Vi.” We approach a small park, and Baekhyun slumps into an empty bench. Seconds later, I sit down beside him. He sighs exasperatedly and closes his eyes. “I’m so terribly sorry.”

  “Baekhyun sunbaenim, you didn’t do it on purpose – “

  “I did, actually.”

  “… sunbaenim?”
  His mouth twitches a little, and he opens his right eye. “I like it when you call me that. It makes me feel… high.”

  I snort. “High?”

  “High as in high of position, not high of drugs.” It’s the first time I see Baekhyun roll his eyes, and it makes me laugh.

  “Baekhyun sunbaenim – “

  “Kyungsoo remembers you.”

  The cap that Baekhyun bought for me, a black cap with bright yellow words saying ‘SEOUL ROCKS’ on, falls out of my hands and tumbles to the ground. “What… what did you say?”

  “He’s faking it, Leina. I don’t know why, but he’s pretending to not recognize you.”

  He can’t be serious. He… Baekhyun can’t… “You don’t know him.”

  To my surprise, Baekhyun gently laughs. “Oh, I know him, Leina. Living under the same roof as him makes me know everything about him, even stuff I never asked to know.”

  I don’t know what to say or how to react, so I just stare at the grass at my feet. If what Baekhyun says is true… if Kyungsoo remembers me… then why? Why is he doing all this… pretending?

  “Why…?”

  “I honestly don’t know, Leina.” Baekhyun, all of a sudden, sits up straight and grins at me like an excited child. “So I’m right? You two know each other?”

  I try to change the subject. “… I know you, too.”

  He pouts and leans his face closer to mine, leaving only a few inches between our noses. “You don’t trust me enough to tell me, do you?”

  “O-of course I trust you, sunbaenim!” I put my fist on his chest and slightly push him away. “I… I just…” I came here to comfort you, not to tell you about me and Kyungsoo!

  “You what?”

  Looking deep into his eyes, into the chocolate eyes of this boy in front of me, my hesitation all disappear. I trust him, not just because I want to, but also because I just… do. Understanding what I should do, I take a deep breath and exhale. “Arrasso sunbaenim, I’ll tell you about me and Kyungsoo.”

  “Yay – “

 [Flashback]

  I didn’t want to go. The mere thought of leaving this place I had lived for 15 years, leaving the only place I’ve been familiar with, leaving my hometown, had been eating me from the inside out for weeks.

  And the most important thing was, I didn’t want to leave the boy who was holding me tightly in his arms, as if I were about to fly away and never come back.

  Well, I was about to fly away.

  “Rae Na! It’s almost time for boarding!” Mother’s high-pitched voice rang in my ears like sirens, announcing that it was time I had to go, to go somewhere literally on the other side of the world.

  “K-Kyungsoo…” Another fit of tears burst out of me as I tried to make him let go. “I… it’s time – “

  He didn’t speak, but just held onto me tighter in his warm hug, making me sob more and want him to never let me go while also panicking because I could hear my mother’s heels clicking closer –

  Until he let go of me abruptly.

  I stood there, eyes wet and face smeared with tears, suddenly not able to adapt to the coldness that hit me. “Go,” Kyungsoo said, his eyes both red and puffy. “Go.”

  “But K – “

  He smiled, which made my heart twist in a way I couldn’t breathe. “I… I’ll miss you, Leina. And…” he dug into his pocket and took something out. “This is for you.”

  I stared at the small object in his palm. “What – “

  “It’s a resemblance of your name, Leina.” Kyungsoo wrapped my right hand around the tiny thing. “’Leina’ means ‘palm tree’ in Latin, so I thought that you could have this and maybe put it on a string to make as a necklace or something. And… and I hope in the future, whenever you see it, you’ll think of me?”

  I’ll never forget you, pabo! I like you, I like you so much I couldn’t bear telling you, not even now, because all it would do is break my heart knowing I might not be able to see you again! “Kyungsoo – “

  “Kim Rae Na!” A hand suddenly grabbed onto my arm firmly and started dragging me. “I said it’s time to go!”

  “B-but – “

  “No more ‘but’s!”

  I couldn’t resist my mother, so as I got dragged away from Kyungsoo, I did the only thing I could think of.

  I shouted.

  “DO KYUNGSOO! I WILL MISS YOU, too…” My voice broke off as I started crying again.

  He didn’t shout back. He didn’t run to me, like boys would do in those romantic movies. But as the gate door started closing, I saw him standing a few feet away from it, a tear falling from his eye, and mouthed ‘Goodbye’ to me.

  That was the last image I had of him.

 [Flashback End]

  “So, childhood friend, huh?”

  “… Ne.”

  “From elementary school to the end of middle school?”

  I nod again. “Ne.”

  “And since when did your love for him appear?”

  “I think maybe 3^rd gra – YAH!” I hit Baekhyun with my cap that he retrieved for me. “I never said I l-l-l-“

  “Love him?” He teases. “But from how you talk about him, it’s like you’ve loved him, and you still do.”

  I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Yes, I liked and still like Kyungsoo, but… why couldn’t I admit it to Baekhyun? I admitted it to Violet, Chohee and Hannah, but… why do I have this strong feeling to deny it in front of… Baekhyun?

  “I-I don’t know,” I manage to say. “I-I mean, he’s acting like he doesn’t remember me so maybe he just wants it that way between us now.” I fake a laugh that comes out like a choked sob. “And… besides, you can’t call it ‘love’… we’re still too young to call it love, sunbaenim. We’re just 22 – “

  “I love Vi.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Authour's Note] /inserts derp face/ Told you I'd do an update soon! Hehe so here it is~ LEINA AND BAEK WENT ON A NOT-SORT-OF-A-DATE DATE BUT WHATEVER IT'S STILL A DATE!!! At least, in my eyes LOL.

OMG like seriously. The more I write this story the more I'm excited becoz it's getting more and more interesting. To a fangirl like me HAHAHA. HOPE YOU GUYS ARE EXCITED!!! Love you amazing people and thank you for comenting and subscribing <3<3