It was silent for a while. The air hung heavily, making the atmosphere tense.

Sungjong, who remained silent the whole time, ran past Dongwoo to the bathroom. He had his head bent down and his hand covering his face. Hoya ran after him, bumping Dongwoo’s shoulder on his way.

Dongwoo froze. He stared back and forth at the slammed door and s; he did not know what to do.
“I.. I..” he stammered.
Woohyun turned his back at Dongwoo. His whole body began to shake; he brought his hands to his knee as he bent down, still shaking hard.

It took Dongwoo a while to realize that Woohyun was laughing in silence.

Sungyeol snorted and fell back on the bed, laughing and hitting Myungsoo’s thigh. Myungsoo had a smirk on his face; his eyes glinted mischievously at Dongwoo.

“Ya, why are you laughing?” Dongwoo pointed at his dongsaeng, still unable to grasp the situation.

It was then the bathroom door opened and Sungjong walked out with Hoya, embracing each other and laughing. Hoya slapped Dongwoo’s shoulder and massaged it, “Dongwoo hyung, why are you always so easy to be tricked?”
“A trick? For real?”
Sungjong laughed and hugged his hyung, which he returned with confused laughter.

“I’m mad for real, though,” said Sunggyu who did not budge from his position during all those commotion. His cheeks were puffed up, like a hamster.
Dongwoo’s eyes turned into a crescent-moon eye smile as he jumped on top of Sunggyu and beg for his forgiveness, “Hyung, mianhae… Oh? Don’t be like this, oh?”
“Ya, get off!” Sunggyu shouted under the pile of Infinite members who decided to join Dongwoo on top of him.
“Will you accept my apology?”
“Yees, yeeees now get off~!” his eyes disappeared as he roared with laughter.
Boys will always be boys.

*****

“Oppa, it’s your stop! Quick, get off the bus!”
“This is it? Oh, right!”
They stood up together and walked to the door. Is this really over, our date? Claire thought.
“See, the hotel is just across the road. Be careful, oppa!” she waved by the door.
“Okay. Thank you for today, Claire-ssi,” he nodded and smiled.
“Oh. Thank you too, oppa, I had a good time,” I really did, it was the best day of my life… Claire smiled back.
“The door is closing,” a voice announced.
“Oppa—”
“Claire—”
“You first!”
“Today.. Can you keep it as a secret? Don’t tell anyone, the press will just might, you know..” he rolled his eyes.
Beep beep.
“Of course. I won’t tell anyone, goodbye!” she said as the door separated them.
“See you tomorrow!” he cupped his hands to his mouth as the bus drove away.

*****

“Really? A lot of fans came?” Dongwoo’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Yeah. We can’t really go around much; they were following us around everywhere.”
“They fought amongst themselves, too.”
“We ended our filming early and just hang out in the hotel, avoiding manager hyung.”
“The fans might wonder why you’re not here with us, though.”
“Enough about us,” Woohyun interrupted, “what about our Dongwoo’s girl?”
“Ah, my fan,” Hoya grinned.
“It’s not like that,” Dongwoo touched Hoya’s arm, “and she did not mention you at all today. She’s mine now.”
“Ayy, if it’s not like that, then how come you guys went on a date today?” Sungyeol asked.
“It’s not a date! She just agreed to show me around the park, rode some rides, ate lunch, took selcas…” the members were staring at Dongwoo.
“What?”
“It is a date, hyung!” Myungsoo hit him with a pillow.
“It is?”
“Hyung, let me see her face, is she that pretty?” Sungjong asked for Dongwoo’s phone.
“You’ve seen her yesterday! Ah, besides, she’s coming to our CF shooting tomorrow.”
“Are you going to see her again? Hyung, don’t overdo it,” Hoya said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we are going back to tomorrow night, what if she likes you for real? You’ll break her heart,” Hoya explained.

Dongwoo did not answer. He had completely forgotten that they will head back to Korea the day after, and fly to another country for their performance the following week. Leaving this country behind, returning to his life as an idol.

“You do not… like her, don’t you? You did not consider her as your ‘destiny’, don’t you?” Woohyun stared at Dongwoo.
“Eh? What are you talking about, I told you, it’s not like that…” he laughed half-heartedly. He felt his phone vibrated in his pocket. His eyes lit up as he read a new text message.

From: Claire
Oppa, did you get to the hotel safely? ^-^
Rest well today, don’t forget to eat dinner!

“Why? Who is it?” Sunggyu asked.
“No one,” Dongwoo tried so hard to hide his smile, and failing, “Have you guys eaten yet?”
“No. Should we go and ask Youngjun hyung?”
“I’ll go,” Dongwoo quickly stood up and walked out of the room.

To: Claire
Yes, are you home already?
We are going to head out for dinner soon, eat a lot too, Claire!

*****

“Hey, what’s that?” Claire tried to peek what her classmates were watching.
“You know, just Miley Cyrus twerking, isn’t this unusual of her?” Sam looked up from his phone.
“Eew, like Wassup?” Claire asked.
“What is that?”
“That new girl group in Korea,” Claire answered nonchalantly.
Sam rolled his eyes and the others just laughed, “Right… Everything you talk about is always about K-pop.”
“And everything you talk about is always about girls,” Claire ruffled his hair and returned to her seat.

She checked her phone to see a new text message. Her heart thumped. Could it be…

From: Bree
Claire!!!
I’m going to go to Infinite’s hotel after school, are you coming? I can pick you up or I can meet you there.. Reply soon!

After school?
But Infinite will not be at the hotel, they are still filming in NTV building, Claire thought. She knew that she is not supposed to tell anyone about their meeting yesterday, but it is Brigitte.. It would be wrong if she let her go to hotel in vain and Claire herself gets to meet Infinite again.

To: Bree
Bree, it will be useless to go to the hotel, they’re having a schedule somewhere else.
Hmm. Dongwoo told me.
Please, don’t ask, I’ll explain later. Pick me up anyway, okay?

From: Bree
…… o_o Claire. Uh, okay?
You owe me explanation.
AAA WE’RE GOING TO SEE THEM
lunch time is over, see you later kk.

She bit her lower lip. She is going to see Infinite again.
She is going to see Dongwoo again.
She blushed as she remembered how she checked her phone that morning, going through their messages and photos, scared that all those was a dream.
A really, really good dream.
She smiled at the picture of Dongwoo smiling at her in her wallpaper. Whatever this is, she did not want to wake up.

****

“… then he said, ‘see you tomorrow!’ and that’s that.”

Bree was clutching her bag with her small eyes popping out of its socket. She was mouthing “ohmygod ohmygod” for what seemed like the thousandth time before finally shouting, “OH MY GOD! CLAIRE! Oh gosh, you’re killing me! Who are you, really, are you some sort of angel in your past life? ARGH ottoke? My best friend is dating an idol, ottoke??”

She scooted farther from her and leaned against the car’s window, “It’s not like that, it’s hardly even a date….,” she whined.
“Then, what is it? Does he just call a random girl and ask her out? Claire, every inspirits know that Dongwoo is not that kind of boy,” Bree shook Claire’s arm.
“Stop it…,” she covered her face with her hands, “an idol like him will never like someone like me.”
“Well,” Bree folded her arms, “but a girl like you can like someone like him.”
“Ah, I don’t know!!” she turned her back to Bree and gazed outside.

Her heart was thumping like a drum. Rum pum pum pum pum.
Dongwoo is everyone’s ideal type, including hers, even before they met. With everything happening then, she really did not know what to feel. Since their first phone call, she has been trying not to think about what Bree said. She avoided that with all her might, although her heart was giving her endless signals. She never felt that comfortable with a boy before, and the way everything was in sync between them... It all seemed to good to be true. Like a dream...

Like a dream, she afraid that she will wake up one day. She did not want to fly too high, she was afraid of the fall. Visiting Dongwoo for the second time was definitely off the list, but her heart longs for him. Moreover, he said that he will be happy to see her again. It sounds too good to be true...

“We’re here, we’re here. Oh.. Where are they filming, in the basement or which floor?” Bree’s voice snapped Claire back to reality.
“Eh? I don’t know…” Claire reached for her phone.
“Should we ask the security? I don’t see any fan around here…” Bree looked around.
“Let’s get off first,” Claire suggested.
"Uncle, wait here," said Bree to her driver.

*****

Dongwoo's phone buzzed.
"Wait a sec, I have to take this," he excused himself from the waiting room.
"Yeoboseyo? Claire?"
"Oh, oppa! Are you inside the building, now?"
"Yes, why?"
"Oh.. I'm downstairs right now. What time will you finish? I'll wait outside. Fighting, oppa!"
He chuckled, "Wait there, where exactly are you now?"
"I'm outside of the front lobby, the security won't let me in, why?"
"Wait for a moment, I'm hanging up right now."

"Dongwoo, where are you going?"
"She's here, hyung!" Dongwoo shouted back at Sunggyu, smiling widely.
Sunggyu shook his head at him.