Chapter 27

“You joined the swimming club with Mr Fancypants?! That’s it, you are going to quit that stupid club and join me in song composing as of today.” Chanyeol said firmly.

The both of you were taking a break from work and were hanging out in the back alley of the café. Apparently, that Sehun kid was kind enough to provide a private space for his workers to rest, and he even included a few tables and chairs for them to sit on, instead of the dirty pavement. It was only the two of you that were taking a break at that time. Baekhyun didn’t have any shifts that day and there weren’t many customers either.

You hit his arm and glared at him. “I am not going to quit just because you told me to. You know how much I love to swim!” You argued with him. “And besides, it’s only Kyungsoo, and you know him. What if it was some other stranger? Would you prefer it to be like that?”

He hesitated for a while before answering in a soft voice. “Okay, fine. You don’t have to quit.” He pouted. “But if he tries to do anything funny—“

“Oh please, like what?” You scoffed and folded your arms.

He opened his mouth as though to say something but didn’t and just remained silent. You shook your head and sighed.

“Alright, alright. If he tries to do anything funny, I’ll quit okay? And I’ll even join that stupid song composing club of yours.” You said and fanned yourself with your hand. Summer was already approaching and even though night has fallen, the air was still too humid for you.

Chanyeol noticed and came up with an idea. “Hey, do you have any plans for summer break?”

You were about to reply him but he cut you off.

“Other than staying at home the whole time and swim. Do you have any other plans?”

You narrowed your eyes at him.

Damn it. How did he know?

You shrugged and shook your head. Spending the whole of summer vacation at home in your pool was your plan all along. It had always been your plan for all your summer breaks so far. But this time, this time part of you felt like doing something else. And seeing how Chanyeol seemed to be asking you that question must mean that he might have something planned for the both of you and you couldn’t help but feel a little excited.

Seeing how you didn’t have any other plans, he smiled cheekily and rubbed his hands together. “Great! Want to go camping together?”

Your jaw dropped as you looked at him in horror.

Camping?! CaMPING?! Do I look like the type who enjoys camping?!

Looking at your expression, Chanyeol immediately tried to think of ways to make you accept his offer.

“Well uh, it’s not really camping like, in the woods camping. It’s more of like an MT but only the two of us.” Again, his cheeky smile appeared across his face.

“But isn’t an MT for bigger groups? And I don’t think my mother would like it if it were only just the two of us.” You said.

Chanyeol pouted and scratched his head. “That’s true. Hey, let’s invite Baekhyun then! It’ll be the three of us!”

“What?! I don’t like that Baekhyun douche! Bring someone else that I can tolerate.” You folded your arms.

“Oh come on, Baek isn’t all that bad. Really! How do you think I got to be such good friends with him all these years?” He smiled and nudged your arm playfully. You scoffed and rolled your eyes.

Yeah, I wonder how too. Fine, if he’s going to play it that way then…

“I want to ask Kyungsoo along too then.” You said flatly.

“WHAT— No way are you allowed to bring that prick—“ You glared at him and he stopped talking mid-sentence. “Fine then! But then, wouldn’t you be the only girl? And I don’t think your mother would like it if you’re going on a trip with three guys right?” He said, in hopes that you’d agree to go on the trip with just him.

Just then, your phone vibrated in your apron and you saw that it was Yeseo who was calling you. You furrowed your eyebrows.

Isn’t she supposed to be back in the States by now?

“Hello? Yeseo? Aren’t you supposed to fly off to the States already—“

“Guess what?! I cancelled my flight!!” Yeseo giggled and it was so high pitched that it hurt and you had to bring the receiver away from your ears.

“You what? Why?”

“I just thought that if I was going to chase Kyungsoo, I should do it properly. And besides, my dad allowed me to stay a little longer and continue my internship in his company for a few more months! Isn’t that great?” she squealed.

Just then, Chanyeol who had been watching you the whole time looked at his watch and nudged you, saying that break time was over and that the both of you had better continue with work before Sehun starts to flip. He walked into the café first. You just watched his back disappear into the café, not paying any attention to what Yeseo was saying at the other end of the line.

“Hello? Earth to Hae Ra? Did you hear what I just said?” You heard her voice and snapped out from your daze.

“Uh, yeah sorry, what did you say?”

You heard your best friend let out and exaggerated sigh before speaking. “I asked if you had any plans for the coming summer break? Wanna have a sleep over? We can then make plans on how I could get Kyungsoo to like me!”

Just then an idea came to you and you smiled. “I have an even better idea.”

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Summer break finally came and you were waiting for Chanyeol at the bus stop near your house with big bags carrying your clothes you intended to bring for the MT. You were honestly looking forward to it since Yeseo agreed to come along when she heard Kyungsoo was coming. Chanyeol didn’t agree at first but with your constant pleading, he gave in. Of course, on one condition that Baekhyun gets to tag along, which you agreed.

All of you decided to meet up at the bus station that would then take you to the villa that Kyungsoo’s family owns. Of course, this was suggested by Kyungsoo himself as a way to ‘show off’ to Chanyeol who had greater power. And because Baekhyun was tagging along, you decided that it was better to just go by bus like everyone else instead of having Mr Lee to drive you. Kyungsoo had already reached the villa the day before to set things up.

“Hae Ra!”

You heard the familiar deep voice belonging to Chanyeol and turned to see him walking towards you. Since the weather was really hot, he wore a sleeveless white shirt with a white skull printed on it, blue denim jeans and a pair of converse sneakers. You noticed that he even dyed his hair to a shade of deep red. He was carrying a haversack and also a guitar bag in one hand and you had to admit, he did look a little good looking.

“How do I look? I’ve been waiting for ages to dye my hair!” He put his stuff to the ground beside him and adjusted his hair. The muscles on his arms that you didn’t notice before were right in front of your face as he brushed his hand back and forth across his hair.

“It’s okay I guess. I prefer guys with black hair.” You lied. 

Chanyeol looked at you and pouted. “Really? Well damn, I should’ve gone with black then. Oh well, I’ll dye it again once we get back from the MT.” He said cheerfully.

You just shook your head. You really were just joking about liking guys with black hair. Okay well, no, you weren’t joking. You really do prefer guys with a darker colored hair but seeing Chanyeol with that deep red hair made you rethink your preferences. He really does suit that color. But of course, you didn’t want to admit that to him. He’d get so cocky afterwards.

The bus arrived and the both of you boarded before it made its way to the bus port where Baekhyun and Yeseo would be waiting. Because it was the holidays, the bus was packed at the both of you weren’t able to get a seat, so you had to stand right at the door. It would take at least another thirty minutes to get to the bus port. You were already starting to get a little cranky due to the heat and the fact that people kept pushing you.

Chanyeol noticed how uncomfortable you were and tried to shield you from the pushing by blocking everyone else with his own body. This also meant that he was practically giving you a back hug from behind, which made you even more uncomfortable. But because you knew what he was trying to do without even saying, you appreciated his help. About fifteen minutes into the ride, you felt something rest against the top of your head.

“Hey, what are you doing? It’s heavy, my head hurts.” You said.

“Just let me rest my head will you? I’m too tall and my head keeps hitting the top of the bus. It’s much better if I rest against yours.”

You could feel the vibration of his voice against your head and started to feel a little embarrassed. You could tell that the other people in the bus were looking at the both of you as though you were a couple. It's not like you minded it though, but it was too embarrassing!

“Just stop it okay? People are looking at us!” You hissed. You could feel a blush creeping onto your cheeks and just kept your head down.

You could feel Chanyeol put more weight onto your head and you just elbowed him on his ribcage which made him cough and stood up straight. But because he lifted his head to fast, he forgot about the roof of the bus and hit his head against it instead.

“Ow my head— OUCH!” He rubbed his head with his hand and glared at you.

You had to cover your mouth to hide your laughter and just gave him a smirk.

That’s what you get for messing with me.

The rest of the trip went smoothly for you, despite the heat and lack of personal space. Both of you alighted at the bus port and headed to wear Yeseo and Baekhyun were waiting for you. Seated on the benches in front of the buses were Baekhyun and Chanyeol called out to him.

“Hey Baek! Over here!” He waved his hands and ran towards his best friend, causally giving him a bro fist.

You were thinking that maybe it was a good idea to invite Baekhyun along anyway, since he’s best friends with Chanyeol. That way, he can entertain Baekhyun and won't just stick to your side like glue. However, you noticed how pissed Baekhyun was looking and wondered what the problem was.

“What’s with the ty expression? Aren’t you happy to be going on vacation with us?” You mocked him.

Baekhyun just rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “I was eating some ice-cream but then this blind- girl just bumps into me and my ice-cream fell to the floor. And you know what she said? You know WHAT SHE SAID TO ME?! SHE TOLD ME TO LOOK WHERE I WAS GOING. I SWEAR IF SHE WASN’T A GIRL, I’D ALREADY BEATEN THE CRAP OUT OF HER UGLY FACE. THE NERVE.” He exploded in rage as he told you and Chanyeol what had happened.

Just then you heard a familiar voice from behind.

“Hae Ra! You’re finally here! I’ve been waiting forever! The heat is killing me!” Yeseo whined as she walked towards the rest of you.

“YOU!” Baekhyun suddenly screamed, making you and Chanyeol jump.

Baekhyun was pointing his finger towards Yeseo, who seemed surprised as well. She pushed her sunglasses up on her hair and examined him.

“Excuse me but, do I know you?” She said flatly.

Her nonchalant reply infuriated Baekhyun even more and he was about to jump at her but luckily, Chanyeol managed to grab him by the back of his shirt. And it was a relief how much stronger and taller Chanyeol is compared to Baekhyun, or else he’d be having a hard time holding his own best friend back. Baekhyun really looked as though he wanted to pull Yeseo’s hair out. Yeseo grabbed on to your arm, confused by what was going on with the situation.

“You! Buy me another ice-cream, you witch! You owe me another ice-cream!” Baekhyun screamed.

Yeseo just remained clueless while Chanyeol tried his best to stop his best friend from attempting to murder your best friend. You sighed and shook your head.

This is going to be one long summer.

[A/N] Not sure if some of you have heard about it, but our dearest Yeollie has been offered to cast in his very first movie! Of course, it's not confirmed yet but SM is considering the offer in a positive light^^ So let us all cross our fingers and wait yeah!