Her heart leaped in her chest as she began packing up her things from work. The timing was too bizarre. What kind of fate could it be that this number was her classmate that left school? Barring the absolute impossibility that it was him, would he even want to talk to her after leaving without a word? She built up her courage and responded:

To: Unknown

I’m sorry but I don’t have your number, who is this?

            He jumped when his phone vibrated moments after sending the text. He knew he was going to be teased by s, that his company would have a fit if he got caught texting a girl he knew. He didn’t even know if anything more was going to happen. The one true thing he realized was that he missed her friendship. He wanted to spend time with her again. He wanted to laugh and not have to worry about his makeup or if he was being perfectly respectful to all the workers on set.

To: Desk Mate

It’s me silly. Jongin. The guy you helped not fail?

            Her chest swelled with a warm, light feeling when she read his text. It really was him. The guy she had spent seven months with. The guy she had wanted to be happy, to sleep, and to pass his classes. The guy who had become one of her closest friends and then vanished without a word. Her anxiety vanished in the face of her instantaneous excitement.

To: Jongin

HIIIIIII!!!!!! Where’ve you been? Of course I’d love to meet you!!!!! Where at?

            He smiled and looked around his surroundings. s were doing solo photoshoots but he had already finished. Four other members had to finish their sections. He went in search of his manager.

            “Manager-hyung,” he asked, “can I go get some food? My ‘shoot´s done and I’m really hungry. I promise I’ll put my clothes away and put on street clothes.”

            The manager looked closely at the young idol. The manager knew that Kai wasn’t only leaving to get food. But how could he manager deny such a simple request? There were hardly any fans outside the main building and Kai had never asked to hang out with friends before.

            “Don’t get in trouble and be back here in 45 minutes or at the dorm in an hour. Remember, we lock the doors so don’t be late.”

            Jongin smiled at the news. His manager’s harsh words failed to hide the actual freedom he was giving Kai.

To: Desk Mate

How about that coffee shop between that big red building and that street that runs on the north side of the school?

 

To: Jongin

I’m actually pretty close to there right now, when are you gonna be there?

 

            An eruption of butterflies assaulted his stomach. He never thought that he would actually be able to see her, especially not so soon. He raced to change and take off as much of his dark eyeliner he could. He was planning on telling her about all the new things that had happened in his life. How he was able to get more sleep if he slept on the way to activities. How he had become the new “face” of his group. Regardless, he would NOT embarrass himself with a prominent make up. He decided to keep the make-up that hid his acne, just to be safe.

 

To: Desk Mate

15 minutes?

 

            Her heart sped up. She had already begun getting her hair ready, and smoothing out her clothes. She had packed up faster than she had ever done before. She texted her mom and told her she wouldn’t make it to dinner.

            She had stopped being nervous around him a long time ago. Tonight? She was nervous.

            She knew she was being silly, what kind of person got nervous about seeing a friend? They had lived and breathed every school day together, she knew him down to his nervous habits...

            Throwing away her doubts, she clocked out of her job.

            “I’m going out now!” she informed her supervisor. He smiled and wished her a good night.

            Almost skipping out the back entrance, she walked to the coffee shop. When she finished climbing the stairs, she took her time to enjoy her surroundings.

            The coffee shop was full of dark colors. Reds and blues and dim lights. The effect could have been scary but she found the whole area comforting. The harsh lights of the city were filtered out by tinted windows. The barista counter was in the middle of the far wall but the shop clearly extended behind the counter, she guessed that hallways connected booths for large gatherings of people, or others seeking more privacy. The main room housed many small tables meant for two and was surrounded by less private – but cozier – booths. A hanging lamp stretched from the ceiling at each of these booths and lit the table enough that there would be no issue reading.

            She went up to the counter and ordered herself a simple coffee. She settled into one of the booths that gave her a view of the street, the stairs and the counter.

            She couldn’t believe how nervous she was. She continually scanned the room looking for that familiar frame. Her leg bounced despite her numerous attempts to calm it.

            She checked her phone often for another message. Her regular coffee arrived. The cute patterns created by the foam showed a chibi guy smiling.  She thanked the waiter. He winked at her as he left. Oh, she realized, he was supposed to be the guy in the foam. His wink reminded her of what she was wearing. It was nothing revealing, certainly not enough to warrant a wink and a special decoration on her drink. It was a simple black shirt that lightly showed off her curves. She wore light-wash jeans and an old beat-up pair of sneakers. She hadn’t refreshed her make-up from the rest of the day so there were smudges where a clear line of eyeliner had been.

            Luckily, the confusion over why the waiter winked at her managed to distract her from the absence of her friend. She carefully drank the coffee without disturbing the smiling man. She used a tiny straw that barely let her drink but protected the foam from disappearing.            

            Twenty total minutes had passed since he arrived at the coffee shop and there was still no sign of him. In a spur of the moment decision, she picked up her phone and called him.

            He picked up on the second ring.

            “Hello?”

            “Hey, where are you?” she asked.

            “Where am I? Where are you?” Jongin countered.

            “I’m at the coffee shop! Did you miss the train?” She searched the patrons of the coffee shop. It was still early so there were not that many people in the main room.

            “No, I didn’t have to take it,” Jongin answered. She could hear small exhalations as he exerted himself. She didn’t know what he was doing but it almost sounded like he was running.

            She looked out the window to search for him running on the street.

            “Are you just late then?” She asked. She saw a man running towards the coffee shop and a smile broke out of her face. She waved eagerly at the man before stopping when he wasn’t looking in her direction. Her smile faded when she realized that the man wasn’t running with a cellphone and she continued her search.

            “I’m not even late,” he answered as he slid into the booth, sitting across from her. He set his cellphone down as she jumped in surprise.

            She yelled when she saw his familiar face across from her. She had been drinking her coffee and it spilled when he surprised her. Luckily, the coffee was no longer hot so it didn’t burn her hand. Not so luckily, the coffee spilled over her side of the table. She fought off the tide of eyes that watched her because of her exclamation by cleaning the table up with napkins.

            “How’d you get here?” She fiercely whispered across the table, shooting a glare up at him while she finished cleaning up.

            He laughed before deigning to respond, “I walked.”

            “No Sherlock,” she spat, she was mad, “why did you scare me?” She tossed the used napkins in a pile on the side of the table.

            “I didn’t think I’d scare you. Really, all I wanted to do was surprise you a little.” Jongin’s smile remained even as his eyes started to narrow in worry. He was used to her mood swings, a product of overworking and of thinking with her emotions rather than her head.

            She started getting mad. She couldn’t help it, the anger swelled up like a flash flood. Some deep part of her mind knew that it wasn’t because he had scared her. That there was something else that was making her irrationally mad at him.

            “That was all you wanted? I actually thought you wanted to talk but if all you wanted to do was scare me? Then be my guest and go.” She didn’t want to say these words but she couldn’t help it. Every part of her was mad at him. Mad at his easy smile. His teasing laugh. His immediate belief that everything would be better if he played it down, even if it would. That wasn't good enough for her. She needed something else from him.

            “What?” Jongin asked, affronted by her words.

            “You heard me, you can go. I don’t need you here, especially not if you are gonna pull that crap the first time we see each other in months.” Venom poured out of with the words. Anger hissed and spat under the surface of her tone.

            “Wait,” Jongin said understanding something had happened, “why are you so mad at me?”

            “Because you’re a jerk, I don’t even know why I came.” The false words hurt her heart but she couldn’t help but agree with the anger driving them. Fury filled her eyes with tears. She blinked them away.

            Jongin’s face fell. That was the first time she had actually looked at him. He looked skinnier, more worn down than the last time she saw him. He also looked happy and energized and smoking hot. The little skin she could see behind the sunglasses, hat, and hood, looked perfect and smooth. She could clearly see his jawline and his hands rested on the counter top, fidgeting.

            She felt something wet hit her cheek. It took a moment to realize it was a tear. He saw it at the same time she felt it and his shoulders fell.

            “I’m sorry,” Jongin said. She heard the sincerity in his voice. The absolute truth behind his words.

            A sudden intake of breath broke her words, “That’s—not good enough.”

            He took her hand, forcing her to look up from the table. “Meri, I’m sorry.”

            She looked up at the nickname. He had adopted it when they were joking around with foreign languages. It was a shortened version of “Merci beaucoup.” Neither of them had been able to say the strange words with any degree of accuracy. Jongin had settled for the only part he could say. It became his nickname for her. They rarely called each other by name, instead preferring to use the nicknames they had developed over time and as they learned how to push each other’s buttons. He was “sleepy” when he pretended to be too exhausted to study, she had learned his limits very well and knew when he was faking. She became “hermit” when he realized she only went to work and school. He became “food” the day he brought extra food and candy to lunch. “Meri” was, without a doubt, her favorite nickname.

            More tears began to escape her eyes. She looked away from him. She wanted to escape, to flee the undeniable hurt she was feeling. But a larger part of her knew that if she fled, she would never share his friendship again. She sat at the table, unable to move, to decide on one course of action over another.

            Before she knew it, Jongin had moved to her side of the booth and held her in a light embrace. She didn’t know when she started sobbing. She wrapped her arms around him and muttered a small question. One small question with a voice too cowardly to ask it, too afraid of the answer to voice it, too hopeful the answer wasn’t as daunting as she imagined.

            “What did you say?” Jongin asked as he held his friend. He hadn’t meant to hold her while she cried, it just happened. He hadn’t meant to make her cry at all. All Jongin wanted was to see her again, to verify if the girl he remembered was the same as who she was.

            “Why did you leave.” The question came out as a statement, a whisper. The ease with which it rolled off her lips publicized that she had thought this question many times, stewing over the answers. Why had he left her? Why didn’t he just tell her what was going on? When all of their classmates had asked her why he left, why couldn’t he have given her an answer to tell them? When the friends he used to eat lunch with asked her where she had hidden him, why couldn’t she had told them something more substantial than “I don’t know”

            Jongin pulled away while all these thoughts swirled around her head. She dried her eyes and looked up at him. Her nose was running, her eyes were red, her hair stood in strands that framed her scared face, her chest heaved as she tried to take deep breaths, and all he wanted to do was protect her. He remembered the strong girl that had become part of the reason he went to school. He remembered her undying faith in him. That he could pass his test, finish his homework, and be happy. He saw the inner strength that came with living life passion, he also saw the inherent vulnerabilities that came with the same gift.

            “I had to,” Jongin whispered as he smoothed her loose hair out of her tear-wet face. He continued before she could interrupt. “I work now, as a singer. The company required absolute secrecy before I came out with my first song. Our first song, actually.” he amended as he thought of his group mates, “You don’t know how many times I almost told you. Every time you didn’t press to find out what was going on in my life I wanted to tell you. I knew you could keep the secret, but I couldn’t risk getting cut off. They would have just replaced me.”

            They sat apart now and she looked at him to find the truth. To finally figure out where he had gone, why he left her. He looked at her eyes and saw the vulnerability, they were still puffy from crying, and the light makeup she had put on was starting to come off. Subtle traces of eye shadow along her cheek.

            “Why didn’t you just tell me you couldn’t say?” Meri asked, harsh against his calm, “I woulda backed off. I wouldn’t have pressed. But you just didn’t tell me anything! All the time I wanted to understand what was going on in your life, wanted to ask what it could possibly be that made you smile randomly but also collapse from exhaustion? Why couldn’t you have just said ‘There’s other stuff that’s going on in my life but I can’t tell you’? I would have been happy to know something!”

            She kept her voice quiet, far too conscious of the people milling around the coffee shop. The later the night got the more people came in, the dark lighting a refuge against the bright night.

            “I’m sorry,” Jongin said.

            Meri stopped. She stopped fighting and crying and wishing for the past to have been different. She saw the remorse on his face, worse than the crushed look he wore when he failed a test, worse than when he woke up and realized he had fallen asleep during lunch. He regretted not letting her know, not telling her something even though he knew he shouldn’t have.

            Time passed; each working through their own thoughts. They had readjusted on the bench, both facing the table. They drank their all but forgotten drinks, and sat in the growing din of the coffee shop. More people were arriving now that the night was beginning to wake up. More people to see, more people to hear, more noise to cover their conversation. Jongin noticed all these things as he was trained to do. Especially now, in public with an attractive girl, he had to be alert. Keep an eye out for phones and cameras. Don’t look around too much, it draws attention. Walk differently than you normally do. Make sure your makeup hasn’t run. Don’t swear, don’t yell, don’t hit someone. Jongin looked at Meri and saw her looking back at him. They studied each other, Meri finally taking a breath to break the silence.

            Meri finally spoke, “It’s alright.”

            Jongin gave her a confused look. He asked for forgiveness and affirmation without saying a word.

            “Really, it’s ok. I mean,” Meri struggled for the words, “I still might get mad at you or be irrational but I want to work past that, I should have done things different too. I want to be friends again.”

            Jongin smiled, his face lighting up the room.

            “And, uh,” Meri said before she could stop herself, “I kinda figured it out.”

            “Figured what out?” Jongin asked, the weight of his guilt lifted off his shoulders.

            “That you were an idol—before you told me that is.” A sly smile slowly grew on her face.

            “Really?” Jongin asked. He wasn’t that surprised, his group had had a strong debut.

            “Yeah, I—uh—saw that video.”

            “Which one?” Jongin asked. Her tone was making him nervous. Was it the show where he only talked about chicken? Or the one where he made an absolute fool of himself? Or what about the one where his pants ripped while dancing?

            Her shyness disappeared, replaced by a confident temerity. Her sly smile broke into a smug smirk.

            “The one where you confessed.”

            Jongin’s face turned beet red. That was for a small broadcast, and the video itself had only gotten a couple thousand views.

            He looked at her, embarrassed to the core.

            “So,” she said, “I’m your rock? You love me?”

            Jongin decided that the only way he could get out of this alive was if he didn’t say anything. She was in one of her moods, deciding to within an inch of his life. He knew he should have made someone up, he just never thought that, of all people, she would be the one to see the video. In all his time spent with her, she had never once mentioned the K-pop scene.

            “Because…” Meri let her voice fade as she dropped her gaze from him. A small laugh lit her voice, “I might have…”

            She paused to look up at him, to see the hope in his eyes. He saw through her façade right then. She was bluffing. She was actually too nervous to say the next words. She was pretending to be coy, to . Well he had figured her out. He had the upper hand now.

            “Loved me too?” He finished for her.

            She shot him a falsely angry look as blush threatened to take over her face.  “You don’t have to sound so smug about it.”

            A smile broke out on his face, “Of course I have to be smug about it! Do you know how much I wished sometimes that I wasn’t training all the time? That I could actually spend time with you that wasn’t solely focused on helping me? Do you think I ever thought I had a chance with you?”

            At that, her eyes scrunched in mild confusion. She had been eating every word, hanging on the sound of his voice. She had gotten hung up on the thought that she was, somehow, above him.

            “What are you even talking about? You’re the one dating down,” her matter-of-fact voice countered his argument.

            “How can I date down when you’re way above me?” He immediately responded, he continued with an even larger smile, “plus I don’t believe I’m dating anyone at the moment, so how could I date down?”

            “You just said that we were dating!” Meri exclaimed in confusion, “We literally just talked about that.”

            “No, no, no, my dear Meri,” Jongin said shaking his head, “We just confessed our secret love for each other.” He stressed the word love and Meri couldn’t help but allow a small smile and fight back the rising blush. “Loving is not nearly the same as dating.”

            “Fine then,” Meri announced, “let me out of the booth because I’ll go ask that guy over there,” she gestured at a tall, dark, and handsome ordering coffee, “and see if he’d like to date me.”

            “I’m pretty sure he’ll say no,” Jongin gently said.

            “And why is that?” Meri studied the man at the counter. He ordered with his hands, gesturing to create the perfect coffee.

            “He won’t want to mess with your boyfriend.” Meri tore her eyes away from the man at the counter to look her not-boyfriend.

            “I thought we just clarified that I don’t, in fact, have a boyfriend.” Meri’s voice was sharp, annoyed as she spat her words at her smiling compadre.

            “You’re right. You don’t. But he doesn’t know that I’m not your boyfriend.” Jongin said.

            “So? I’ll just explain it to him, very clearly, that you are not my boyfriend.” Meri resumed looking at the man at the counter. More accurately she resumed looking any where BUT at her good friend. Her good friend who was flirting with her. Who looked exceptionally attractive even hidden behind his baggy sweatshirt.

            “He won’t want to step in on someone else’s game.” Jongin spoke causally dragging Meri’s eyes towards him with his voice.

            “Game? Girls aren’t a game.” Meri retorted, rising to the bait.

            “I know that and you know that and he probably knows that too. Its guy code to not step on toes. If he really REALLY liked you then I’m sure he could make up his own rules but if I were giving him the right kind of look he definitely wouldn’t.” Jongin relaxed on the dark red booth, gesturing with his arms to further his point.

            “Are you 100% sure?” Meri asked doubtfully.

            “Unless you offered to blow him right then and there yeah,” Jongin casually said. His inner smirk came to the surface at her instantaneous reaction.

            Meri smacked him on the shoulder. “I will do no such thing! !” There was laughter in her voice even as she sternly reprimanded her friend.

            “I know you won’t. That’s why I said you wouldn’t have a chance.”

            “C’mon man. You know he’d have to at least pay first.” This time, Meri’s smirk came to light. She tossed her hair to the side, carelessly flaunting her natural beauty.

            It was Jongin’s turn to be shocked. He got over it quickly.

            “No!” he exclaimed in false horror, ‘protecting’ her by wrapping his arms around her head and awkwardly pulling her under his arm, “Not my Meri! She’s too pure! Too innocent! Singles don’t suit her way of life!”

            Meri struggled out of his trap messing up her hair. She glared at him one handedly patting down her hair. Her other arm still caught by his arm he had used to catch her. Then, she said, “I’d rather have lots of ones than nothing at all. Plus I’m pretty sure that doesn’t pay in ones. Twenties at least.” She finally freed her other arm from his grasp and resumed fixing her hair, primly smoothing down the many stray hairs.

            “Jokes aside,” Jongin said, “if you ever do that I will personally make it so you never do that again.” Meri took that for the threat it was, his jovial voice no longer merry. It had deepened and the severity of the moment didn’t escape her.

            “Jeez,” Meri muttered, “buzz kill.”

            Jongin was about to point out the fact that neither of them had any sort of buzz because the coffee shop didn’t sell alcohol, but he bit his tongue. They went back to sipping on their coffee. Only a moment passed before Meri broke the silence.

            They watched the people pass on the street below. The same street Meri walked daily on her way from school to work. The same street that Kai rode on when returning from long schedules to practice for the next comeback.

            The lighting soothed all worries. Couples walked past the counter to the hidden booths behind. A siren sounded on the street below. They watched as a police car sped down the street, rushing to save people. The night deepened, sending shadows across buildings. The moon peeked out from behind wispy clouds.

            “Wanna date?” Meri suggested. She looked back at Jongin. She no longer , no longer pretended behind false exaggerations.

            “I thought you’d never ask.” His smile broke her heart, immediately scaring her for the future. His smile made her irrationally happy. He made her want to do anything, anything to make him smile. Even just with this first, happy, grin, Meri knew that she was heading down a steep slope. She didn’t know what would be at the bottom, but she was excited for the ride. (Amanda’s note for Han: wow that could get read the wrong way)

            She slipped her hand into his and nestled into his side, thereby confirming their new, established relationship. He could feel her smile nearly splitting her face from where her cheek pressed up against his chest. She had pulled her legs up onto the booth. None of the other patrons seemed to notice their change in behavior.

            “So if I went up to him and asked him to date me. What would he say?” Meri asked the air. She didn’t want to move away from him so she didn’t bother looking up at him. Nevertheless, she felt his head look in the direction of the counter where the man was waiting for his coffee.

            “Hmmm,” Jongin said. Meri smiled at the feeling of the vibrations running through his chest.

            “What?” Meri asked laugh threatening to spill out of her voice.

            “Hmmm,” Joning hummed even louder.

            Meri let out a small, happy laugh. “Tell me.”

            “Hmmm,” Jongin hummed for the third time pouring air into the sound. He pushed too hard and his voice cracked, the low thrum turning into a high squeak. They both burst out laughing.

            Meri sat up; Jongin moving too much from laughter to remain comfortably on him.

            “What are you doing?” Meri gasped out between bursts of laughter.

            “I was trying,” Jongin dissolved into giggles, “I was trying, to tell you, that if he would have ever gone for you before he certainly won’t now.”

            “What does that mean?” she asked, impatient at being made fun of.

            “He knows you’re mine. You’ve sealed your doom Meri,” Jongin smiled as he looked at her acting eyes of horror, “You’re mine forever.” He whispered into her ear and she laughed anew.

            “Forever is a really long time.” She whispered back.

            “I know,” He said as he pulled away from her ear to stop an inch from her nose.

            “Aren’t you excited?” he asked. She smirked at his stark idealism. They both knew that their relationship was doomed to fail. On top of being young, his schedule, varying interests, and lack of communication were sure to drive them apart. Obviously she wanted them to stay together, but her expectations were realistic.

            He kissed the smirk off her face. It was gentle, they were both too new to be brave in public. Although the coffee shop was dimly lit, they were still in the main room and in full view of everyone grabbing a coffee.

            She broke the kiss only to whisper back, “extremely.”

            She pecked him on the lips and went back into her curled in position on his side.

            “What’s this going to be like?” Meri asked.

            “What?”

            “Us. Dating. You being an Idol and all that.”

            “Oh,” Jongin’s voice reflected his inner realization that this relationship would be very difficult, and mildly illegal, if he remembered his contract right, to maintain. He wanted it to last as long as possible and he was going to be happy with whatever they were able to work out.

            “Don’t worry.” Meri encouraged, “aren’t you excited?”

            “Yeah,” Jongin replied instantly, “It’s just… I realized how hard this is going to be.”

            Meri didn’t respond,

            “I’ll be gone all the time. I don’t know if I’ll be able to see you more than once a week. We might not even be able to text. It depends on if the phones are safe or not.”

            “Safe?”

            “Yeah. Some fans have access to the phone companies. They read our texts as soon as they get inside.”

            “What?” Meri exclaimed, “How can they do that?”

            “They are just everywhere.” Jongin explained, “It’s really a good thing.”

            “Uh-huh.”

            “No really! It is. It means that there are enough people who like us. It means that we have a somewhat stable fan base.”

            “But isn’t that a violation of your privacy?” Meri asked.

            Jongin let out a small smile, “Yeah but we signed up for it. We knew – hoped even – that this would happen.”

            “If you’re alright with it I guess I can’t complain. I reserve the right to change my mind later, but I’ll really try to be chill with it,” Meri agreed. Jongin accepted her verdict with a nod.

            “Wait,” Meri interrupted the slight pause, “before you go on. Can we at least try and communicate in some way? Like have a series of signals that are completely normal but mean stuff to us?”

            “Uhhh, they might find out but sure we can try that! At a bare minimum talk once a week?”

            “Yes,” Meri agreed, “hopefully a phone call or actual time we can spend together. If we can’t communicate for a week then we have to have a phone call or face-to-face the next week. Unless it’s something we have talked about and we can do email instead or something. Just as long as we talk.”

            “Should I be taking notes?” Jongin asked.

            “No, I trust you’ll remember it. You’re good at cramming.” A wicked grin acompanied her comment.

            “Am I ever,” Jongin joked, “I think that’s the only way I lasted so long. Did you know that I was the last person in my group in school?”

            “No I didn’t,” Meri sheepishly admitted, “I only saw your video a couple hours ago. You have no idea how surprised I was when you texted me. I thought it was fate.”

            “The confession video?”

            “Yeah.”

            “That’s weird. That was recorded weeks ago. You don’t know how long I was waiting until I could have time to actually meet with you.”

            “It sounds so official,” Meri teased.

            “It is,” Jongin affirmed, “I actually have to be back at the dorms in ten minutes or so.”

            “Really?” Meri asked, heartbroken. She had just gotten him back and he was going to leave her again.

            “Yeah, I didn’t realize it was so soon.” Even Jongin sounded disheartened.

            A somber silence fell over them as they thought about the thousands of things they should tell each other before Jongin’s imminent departure. Even with all the contemplation, Meri could only think to ask one thing -

            “You have my number now, right?”

            Jonging reacted with a fond smile, “Yeah.”

            “Text me?”

            “Of course,” Jongin replied, “As much as possible.”

            “Good.”

            “We won’t be able to call each other boyfriend/girlfriend over text.”

            Meri’s bright future slightly dimmed. She hadn't realized how much she was looking forward to braggin about him. How often did an amazing boyfriend like him fall out of the sky?

            “Can I tell people about you?” she asked.

            “It would be better if you didn’t. Fans freak out at idol relationships. Enough of them get caught that our companies are paranoid. We won’t be able to meet in public much.”

            “Oh.” She hid her disappointment. They had bigger fish to fry and she already was dating him. She didn't need anyone else's approval to tell her that he was a good enough catch for her.

            They fought the fleeting seconds.

            “Can I walk you home?” Meri asked, holding on to their remaining time.

            Jongin hesitated. “Sure, I guess. If there are people waiting outside the dorm you’ll have to leave and we’ll have to hope that we see them before they see us.”

            “I’m up for the challenge.” Meri smiled.

            They left the coffee shop and headed towards his dorms. They were within walking distance from the company building. The coffee shop was also a nice, central location.

            Meri hesitates for a moment, thinking. “Wait,” she finally asks, “Is the majority of your fans female?”

            “Yes?” Jongin responded to the oddly worded question.

            “Then no one will notice another fan right?” Meri asked.

            “I suppose not.” Jongin agreed, understanding where she was going with this, “I don’t think you—“

            “It’ll work. I’ll show up at as many fan events as I can. I do have a life outside of you so I don’t know how many I’ll be able to make. I’ll send you a number 1 to 10 to tell you how my day went. You tap your glasses or earrings or something near your face when in view of the fans and I’ll know approximately how your day went. If you can fit a text in that’s even better.”

            “Alright,” Jongin’s voice lowered in anticipation of fans outside his dorm. “What does one stand for?”

            “A really horrible day. The worst possible. Ten is the best ever. Five is average. Most of ours should be between three and seven. Oh and a ‘C’ stands for I wanna talk on the phone.”

            “You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” Jongin jokingly asked.

            “Of course,” Meri answered, “I have to find a way to talk to my man. We’ll do the number system as often as we can, I’ll let you know if I’ll be at the event. How about that’ll be a ‘0’?”

            “Sounds good to me,” Jongin agreed.

            They stopped the corner away from his dorms.

            “Time to go?” Meri asked. She didn’t know it, but her voice was sad like a lost puppy.

            “Yeah,” Jongin couldn’t help but smile. “I know this’ll be rough, but I’m really glad you’re back in my life.”

            “Me too,” Meri smiled. “Have a good night?”

            “Of course. I’d rate today at an 8.” Jongin smiled and touched her face gently. He was almost afraid that she would vanish, exactly as he had from the school.

            “Me too.”

            Jongin guided her face up to his as he kissed her gently.

            “Good night,” he wished as they parted.

            “Miss you already,” Meri said.

            He walked to his dorm, she walked home. This time, they said goodbye.

 

Requested by: Aprilfools