Today marked April 8, 2012, the day that will change the lives of twelve members. Jongdae, recently receiving his stage name Chen, was pacing back and forth and doing vocal exercises to prep his throat. He felt the palms of his hand sweat from how nervous he was, and his heart was on the verge of beating out of his chest. His breath grew unstable as they seconds ticked by, and he could hear the crowd outside. It sounded to him as if the whole stadium was full, and it made him more anxious as the thought of meeting their expectations was the only thing that swam in his head.

“Gwaenchana, Chenah?” Baekhyun, his loyal friend, stood by his side and rested his hand on his back. He raised an eyebrow at the nervous boy who was now doing some breathing exercises.

“Ani, Baekhyunah. Sure we’ve released a single prior to our debut stage, but this is completely different. This is what starts it all. This stage depends on how far we’re going to get. What if I’m not good enough?” Chen felt a bead of sweat crawl down to his chin as he felt a small panic rise.

“Yah, Chenah. Do you want me to tell you something? You’re literally one of the best singers I know out there, and that’s a lot coming from me. You’re amazing, your vocal range is unbelievable, and your voice barely cracks! My point is, there is no way you are going to mess up, understand? You’ll be more than perfect.” His friend ruffled his hair before combing it back to style as he realized they still had a stage to perform. “Relax, that’s all you need to do. We don’t go out until thirty minutes from now. Besides, someone’s here for you. She can probably cheer you up better than I can.” He turned around, bowing to the girl who Chen really needed.

Nara walked in, slightly bowing to Baekhyun. She was dressed up, not so much as formal, but it was a mixture between formal-casual. She wore a light beige dress, strapless and flowing down to her knees. She paired it with a dark, denim jacket and beige wedges, walking effortlessly towards him with those heels. She smiled at him, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear before reaching out to squeeze his hand. “I heard you weren’t doing well. Nervous?”

He nodded his head, leaning close to her and resting his forehead on her shoulder. She could hear his breath go uneasy and feel his hand shaking in hers. She pitied the boy for how terrified and nervous he was. She reached over and gently patted his back before slipping away from his reach to get a better look at him. The look in his eyes obviously yelled that he was too scared to step out on that stage, and she could relate to it from her debut stage six years ago.

Chen let out a small, shaky laugh and turned his eyes from hers. Nara placed her hand softly against his cheek, pushing his face so that their eyes were meeting each other, and she curled her lips up in a comforting smile. “It’s not as bad as you make it out to be,” she whispered, afraid that any tone louder than this would break the boy down to a panic attack. “I remember being as nervous as you are, probably not that extreme. When you step on that stage, you’ll forget about it. You’ll look out at the crowd and see that so many people came here to watch you perform. One small mistake won’t change their mind, trust me.”

He leaned his cheek closer to her hand as he lifted his own and held on to hers. He let out a deep sigh, feeling himself grow calm just with her presence. That’s all he really needed. He just needed Nara by his side so he could get through this. “Thank you for coming,” he had said in a similar tone as hers. “You’ll stay for the whole show, won’t you?”

Nara nodded her head, releasing her hand from him when she heard the stage director call for EXO to gather up. She stepped back and waved towards him, and she was relieved to see that his appearance no longer gave off a nervous wreck. He was completely excited and motivated to go out and make sure the crowd deserved the show they were expecting.

The stage was unbelievable, considering they had to fit twelve boys in it, and they moved so effortlessly and with grace. Anyone could tell that they had practiced hard for this till perfection, and not a single flaw was made during this debut stage. Not only were their dances on point, their voices were perfect on their pitch and harmony. Though they danced while singing, their voices never faltered from their movements.

Finally, they bowed, and a few had shed a couple of tears, maybe from being touched by the roar of the crowd. Chen was the first to exit the stage, running towards Nara and engulfing her in the tightest hug. He was shaking, probably from the leftover adrenaline, and he swayed her from side to side and hummed out of excitement.

He released the girl, who was completely stunned this whole time by his sudden action to embrace her, and kept his grip on her arms. “Well? Was it perfect? Was it worth your time? Did it take your breath away?”

“That was absolutely amazing. There are no words to describe your performance,” Nara said with a laugh as he shook her with happiness. She liked seeing this happy Jongdae, and she couldn’t imagine him being anything but that. Her eyes stared into his, watching as it sparkled with the way he looked at her.

“Let’s go somewhere,” he blurted unconsciously, and she only raised an eyebrow.

“We can’t just leave, Chenah. You just finished your debut stage; don’t you want to celebrate it with your members?”

“No, I want it to be the two of us. I couldn’t have gone out there without you. Come on, please? For me? This is a special night, don’t ruin it by rejecting me,” he said with a small pout on his lips.

Nara sighed, allowing the boy to pull her along as the snuck out of the stadium and out to the streets. “I hope you know I’m not dressed up to go run or anything like that, so if we get caught by fans and I can’t run, then I’m blaming you for kidnapping me.”

Chen shrugged as his hand was still holding on to hers, pulling her down the streets and his eyes wandering the place. “Fine by me. I don’t care.”

He stopped his tracks; his eyes caught on to something that stole his attention. “I didn’t know that the theme parked opened late at night.”

Nara followed after him, as if he was caught in a trance and moved his feet unconsciously. “Well, it is a theme park. They do like to attract people, just like you. So, of course they wouldn’t be closing until late.” She was aware that he didn’t hear her, so she closed shut afterwards.

The girl was amazed by the place, a little taken back with the beauty of it all, especially at night. At night, the theme park was filled with lights hanging from the top, and the rides were even blinding, but it a good way. Left and right, the park was shining, kind of like a fairy tale, but this was real. Nara’s parted lips never closed as she studied the place, quite in awe with the scenery.

“It’s kind of a relief that not a lot of people are here,” Nara mumbled, probably only herself hearing this since Chen was too busy elsewhere. “Why did you tag me along if you were going to play by yourself?” She asked to no one in particular as her eyes lingered to his back.

Nara felt the pocket of her jacket vibrate, and she lifted her phone to find missed calls from a few of the EXO members. She quickly dialed up Baekhyun, probably the most worried out of all of them, and pulled the phone from her ear after a loud shout from the receiving end. “Hello to you, too,” she mumbled once she returned the phone back to her ear.

“Where is he!? Why would he just go off like that!? Do you have any idea how worried sick we’ve been!? For some reason, we thought a fan had stolen him or something! Usually it’s me that makes awful decisions, but Chen? I didn’t see that one coming! You took him, didn’t you?” She had stopped listening halfway through, and all she knew was that he was still yelling.

Nara rolled her eyes. “Will you quiet down, jeez. You’re deafening me right now, and if I can’t hear in one ear, I’m suing you. Listen, he was the one that wanted to go out. I’m not telling you where I am, and I’m turning off the tracker on my phone so you can’t find me. Good bye.” She ended the call, scoffing to herself before returning the phone to her pocket.

When she looked back up to Chen’s spot, she was surprised to find it vacant. She turned around and searched for him, but she soon found herself alone with a few strangers. Her fist balled up as she stomped around the park; her eyes looking out for a familiar face. “Chenah, if you left me here, I will kill you,” she hissed under her breath.

Feeling arms wrap around her waist, Nara screamed before pressing her heals to the person’s foot and turning around to have her elbow meet the stranger’s face. The only problem was, it wasn’t a stranger. She found Chen crouching down, rubbing at his jaw where her elbow landed. “Yah! Chenah!” She crouched as well, meeting eye level with him and rubbing at his jaw. “Don’t do that,” she whispered, slightly feeling guilty for hitting him and a bit happy for getting revenge.

“Mianhae, Narayah,” he said with a small laugh. “I just wanted to hug you since you looked so cute from behind.” It always caught her off guard with his cheeky comments, and she turned her gaze from him and focused it on the ground.

Yes, just hearing something like that made a small portion of her heart clench. She ignored the feeling, glancing back at him before sighing. “You worried me, you . You shouldn’t have left me there alone,” she muttered.

“Well, I saw that you were on the phone, and I didn’t want to disturb you. So I walked around to see if there was a ride we could go on.” Chen was already walking ahead of her now, probably leading the way to the ride he found. All Nara could think of was riding the scariest roller coaster this park had to offer, and she wasn’t up for that. Sure, she had conquered lots of things, singing on stage, raising a baby, and even bungee jumping. But a roller coaster was not her forte.

“Chenah, um, we’re not riding a roller coaster, right?” The one thing she feared was the feeling in the pit of her stomach whenever the ride went downhill. It was pretty lame to hate that, but she couldn’t stand it. She always had the urge to pee and cry whenever she felt it. “Chenah, answer me,” she whined, finding it disappointing the he wouldn’t answer her.

“Here we are,” he finally spoke, and Nara only sighed in relief when it wasn’t a roller coaster. “I’ve always wanted to ride the Ferris wheel at night, as lame as that sounds. Usually you’re supposed to ride this with your boyfriend or girlfriend, but I think being with you would be better.” He looked at her with a smirk on his cheek as he went to the employee and paid for their ride.

Of course, something like this always tugged at your heart. He always had to say something that made your heart clench and assume the best out of it, but you knew there was nothing more to it than what Chen meant. All he wanted to convey was that Nara was special to him, but not as a lover. She knew that. “Hurry up! Quit standing there,” he complained, reaching over and grabbing a hold on her wrist. The two climbed on, taking their seats opposite of each other. “Hey, are you okay?”

Chen must have noticed that Nara thought she concealed. She quickly plastered a smile on her face, and at times like this, she was thankful that Chen was oblivious. “I’m fine. I’m just afraid of heights,” she lied. He only nodded, moving his position beside her and taking a hold of her hand.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” He brought her hand to his lips and rubbed the back of it with his thumb. “I’ll keep you safe.”

Nara laughed, yet another heart breaking comment, and she pulled her hand away. “If you sit beside me, you’ll put more weight on this side, and the possibility of us falling now has gotten bigger.” He quickly shifted positions with a chuckle; his eyes never leaving hers.

“I can’t believe that a couple years ago, you were just a fantasy to me,” he mused. “You were someone I watched on TV or my laptop. You were so unreachable, but I always thought that you were an amazing person. It’s so crazy that here we are, sitting on a Ferris wheel together. Narayah, this may sound really cheesy, and you might cringe with how lame it is, but I really am glad I have you. You’re the best friend I could ever ask for. Promise me that we’ll stay best friends, no matter what?”

Nara gulped, feeling that tug again at her heart. She nodded her head, forcing another smile on her face. “Jongdaeyah, I promise. We’ll always be best friends,” she whispered, almost inaudibly, but he could still make it out. She felt her voice failing her as that pain in her heart distracted her from paying attention to anything else.

Chen reached out and held on to her hand, smiling from ear to ear. Of course he would be happy.

However, the two quickly jumped at the sound of Chen’s ringtone. Nara pressed her hand to her chest as she thought her heart was going to pump out of her chest. Chen quickly apologized to her before answering his phone, leaning back at his seat and staring at the ceiling. “Hello?”

“Yah, Kim Jongdae! You better hurry back! You do know that we have another show to do tomorrow?” Baekhyun yelled at Chen, and Nara could imagine how red his face was and he was probably shaking from how furious he was.

“Ah, Baekhyunah, you see –“

“No buts! You are going home soon, got it!?” That was the last they heard of Baekhyun before he shut his phone off, probably too irritated to speak to Chen, who was only chuckling with his concerned member.

“We should probably head back,” he whispered.

“You think? You were the one that dragged me here,” she said with a small giggle.

The wheel had stopped at the top, and the two were looking out to see the city shine like stars. Seoul is the city that never sleeps, and the area twinkled before their eyes. “It’s so beautiful,” Chen said with full admiration, leaning close to the window and never moving his eyes from it.

Nara, on the other hand, had been watching Chen. His eyes were wide open, and his mouth refused to shut itself. His pupils were moving back and forth as it was hard for him to decide what to look at, and he took the image of a five year old child who just received his first video game. “Yeah, it is,” she mumbled softly, finding it weird that she was the one saying that about him instead of him saying it to her. She cleared before taking her seat back, running her fingers through the tips of her hair.

The Ferris wheel reached the bottom, and the two climbed off, bowing to the employer as they were leaving. “Let’s do it again tomorrow,” Chen offered, completely forgetting about the fact that he was just scolded for his last minute decision to leave.

“It depends on my –“

“Please? Don’t leave me out.” He pushed his bottom lip out and batted his eyes to her. She rolled her eyes, smiling at the sight of him doing aegyo.

“Fine, fine. Call me tomorrow.” She lifted her phone to text her manager. “I’ll have manager oppa pick us up. Chenah, you better apologize to the others for this.”

He shrugged, closing the gap between them and leaning his head against hers. She felt the blush creep on her cheeks at how close he was, and she bit her lip to hold back her embarrassment. “You smell so nice,” he mused as he took in her scent in one breath.

“Chenah, you shouldn’t be so close,” she spoke so softly, afraid that her voice would betray her feelings.

He moved away with a smile on his lips, reaching over and ruffling her hair. “I’ll just call my manager hyung to pick me up since I don’t want to bother your manager hyung.” She shook her head, but she knew he was too stubborn to ride with her.

The two heard a car honk in front of them, which yet again startled the two, and Nara realized it was her ride. “Chenah, come on. Just ride with us.”

He shook her head, pressing his hand at the back of her head and leaning her close to kiss her forehead. “Good night, Narayah. I’ll call you tomorrow, got it?” She nodded before walking to the car, turning back to find him waving.

“Good night, Chenah,” she whispered as she went in the car. “Mianhae, manager oppa. He kidnapped me.”

Her manager shrugged, and she could see from the rear view mirror that he was smiling. “I already know that you can’t say no to that guy. After all, you’ve liked him since he was a trainee.”

Nara leaned back against her seat, staring out the window and nodding her head. “Yeah, I have liked him since…”

 

 

 

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As promised, this chapter is about 3000 words!!

I wanted to make it long since I've been reading a few fanfics that were long. It made me realize that reading long chapters were so much better!!

Enjoy! Comment/Subscribe!!

LITERALLY CANNOT WAIT FOR APRIL 21ST. I AM BUYING EXO'S ALBUM.