“Hyung!” Sehun burst into Exo’s dormitory, his face bright red, but whether it was from the exertion of sprinting or excitement, the other members didn’t know.

The other eleven members were in the main room, sprawled across couches and the floor. Some were absentmindedly watching TV, some were playing a card game, and the rest were on their phones. Overall, Exo was pretty bored and had nothing to do.

When Sehun came in, shouting in a breathless tone and shocked face, all eleven faces whipped towards him, interest gained.

“What happened?” Joonmyeon asked, representing everyone’s curiosity.

Sehun, who had somewhat calmed down, walked over to them and flung himself onto the couch next to Jongin. He looked a bit dazed.

“I finally asked Somin out,” he said distantly.

The whole room erupted. The boys got onto their feet and crowded around Sehun and started bombarding him with questions.

“You did what?!” Baekhyun nearly screamed.

“No way! You don’t have the guts to do that!”  Tao shouted.

“Really? Really? Did you really?” Kyungsoo kept on repeating in disbelief.

“Lies, you can’t have a girlfriend before me,” Kris scoffed.

“When did you do it?” Yixing asked almost conversationally.

“How did you do it?” Joonmyeon added on.

“Sehun finally decided to ask Somin out?” Jongdae was laughing loudly and clapped his hands a few times.

“Yes! I knew you would get with Somin sooner or later!” Chanyeol yelled gleefully.

“’Good job, Sehun!” Luhan patted Sehun on the back encouragingly.

Minseok just sent Sehun a silent thumbs up along with his gummy grin.

This continued for a couple of minutes, comments and questions overlapping each other until it was just a loud buzz of noise. It probably could have gone on longer if it hadn’t been for Jongin who finally chose to speak up.

 “Guys! Shut up for a moment so Sehun could actually tell us more about this once in a lifetime event,” Jongin said, motioning everyone to quiet down.

Some of the older ones raised an eyebrow at this but let this one instance go. They had more important things to focus on.

“So…what happened?” Baekhyun pressed.

“Oh you know, I just went to the place where I always get bubble tea. I kind of talked to Somin for a while.  And before I left, I asked her if she wanted to go out with me tomorrow,” Sehun said coolly. His previous adrenaline must have died down.

“That’s it? No romantic build up? Just a straight up ‘Do you want to go out with me tomorrow?’” Chanyeol asked, disappointed in the lack of romance. Sehun shrugged.

“Yah, Sehun! If you really like Somin and want her to like you, you have to work hard and use every cheesy sentence you could,” Jongdae said with a smack on the head of the youngest member. “You can’t just ask her out like that!”

“Don’t hit me! And I’m fine with my romantic tactics; Somin agreed to go out with me tomorrow, isn’t that enough?” Sehun complained.

“No,” Jongdae said seriously.

“As if you know how to ask someone out,” Sehun muttered under his breath. Jongdae opened his mouth to raise a cry of protest when Luhan cut in quickly.

“Do you know what you’re going to do with her tomorrow?” he asked. He glanced at Jongdae and was pleased to see his mouth shut…for now.

Sehun hesitated to answer Luhan’s question. There was an awkward moment of silence as Sehun tried to think of an idea.

“Um…maybe we could have lunch together?” Sehun cautiously offered.

“Where?” was the immediate response.

“I guess we could go to a restaurant and eat rice cakes or ramyun” Sehun answered.

A collection of groans filled the room.

“Sehun, you have not one ounce of romance in your body. Seriously? Ramyun on your first date?” Tao whined.

“What?” Sehun said defensively. “You can’t exactly turn lunch into something romantic.”

“Guys, this is it,” Baekhyun announced in a grave tone. “This is our calling, our purpose in life is to prevent Sehun from epically failing on his first date.”

“Hyung!” Sehun started to object but the others were already nodding their heads in agreement.

“Yeah, we need to take this matter into our hands. Leaving it to Sehun is a very dangerous thought,” Luhan said.

Sehun sent him a look of betrayal. And Luhan just beamed back at him. Sehun was slightly horrified at the thought of his hyungs interfering with his date. All he wanted to do was tell them about what just happened. He had not expected them to suddenly turn into date planners.

“So, what does Somin like?” Kyungsoo asked.

At this question, Sehun unconsciously sat up straighter.

“Somin? She likes walking outside. She likes animals. She likes purple. She likes the winter. She likes bubble tea. She likes Totoro. She likes books more than movies. She likes taking pictures. She likes it when people laugh. She likes being with her friends. She likes ice cream. She likes—”

“Okay okay we get it! You gave us more than enough to work with,” Jongin said.

“Anyone have any ideas?”  Luhan asked. “Minseok hyung?”

“Huh? Me? Well I was thinking that she might like the date to be outside. The weather is nice tomorrow too so…” Minseok suggested tentatively.

“That’s a good idea,” Joonmyeon immediately replied.

“Yeah I like it,” Jongdae chimed in.

“I got another idea!” Chanyeol exclaimed.

Sehun helplessly listened to his hyungs discuss the plans and preparations for his date.

This better turn out good.

 

“Oppa!” Somin greeted cheerfully as Sehun walked into the bubble tea store. Her heart began to beat faster as she watched him make his way over to her

“Ready to go?” Sehun asked. Somin nodded enthusiastically. At this, Sehun smiled and guided her out of the shop.  

“Where are we going?” Somin asked curiously.

“We’re going to walk near the Han River,” Sehun replied somewhat vaguely.

“Oh! I’ve only been there once before. It’s a really nice view there! I can’t wait until we arrive,” she said excitedly.

Sehun looked over at Somin and scanned her outfit and shook his head.  He led a confused Somin to the nearest bench and sat her on it. He bent down in front of her.

“Somin, I hope you weren’t planning on walking in four inch heels,” Sehun said as he gently took off her heels. Somin blushed as she watched Sehun take out purple converse sneakers and socks from a backpack he was carrying and carefully put them on for her.

When he finished tying the laces, he stood up and held out a hand for Somin. As soon as he helped her up, he slipped his hand out of hers. Sehun turned his head so Somin wouldn’t be able to see the slight blush that crawled up his neck to his face. 

Likewise, Somin’s face was burning.

The walk to the river didn’t take too long and soon enough, they were right in front of the river. They sat on the ledge and scanned the view before them. Somin closed her eyes and felt the light breeze blowing on her face and running its fingers through her hair. A small smile graced her delicate feature and she looked content.

Then she heard a tiny click. She opened her eyes and found Sehun holding a camera.

When Sehun saw that Somin was no longer absorbed in her own world, he lowered the camera.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You looked like you were just begging to have your picture taken at that moment,” he said.

Somin lightly punched his arm.

“Oppa! You know that I hate people taking pictures of me! I only like it when I’m the one behind the lens,” Somin pouted. She snatched the camera away from his grasp. She pointed it at Sehun and snapped a picture of him quickly.

Sehun just froze. Did Somin just do aegyo?

“Sehun oppa? Are you okay?” Somin asked worriedly. She was inspecting his blank, emotionless face with a feeling of slight panic. Did she say something wrong? Is he mad at me for stealing the camera?

“Huh?” Sehun focused on his date. “Oh sorry, I got distracted for a moment.” He didn’t want to admit that his heart had skipped a beat when she pouted.   Seeing that she wasn’t convinced, Sehun smiled widely and stood up.

“I’m going to get us ice cream,” he said, pointing to the shop just a few meters away. At once, Somin’s whole face lit up and excitement was clear.

“Be quick, oppa!” Somin called as Sehun started his way. She sent him a small wave.

It took him no longer than five minutes. When he came back, he found Somin taking photos of everything from the cityscape to a nearby ant.

“I’m back,” Sehun said with the ice cream outstretched.

“How did you know that strawberry was my favorite flavor?” Somin asked with surprise.

“Last time we went to an ice cream store, the person who worked there asked you if you wanted your ‘regular’, which was strawberry. So I kind of guessed that your favorite was strawberry,” Sehun explained.

“Thank you~” Somin exclaimed happily. She took a bite out of the ice cream and sighed, “it’s perfect, Sehun.”

Sehun beamed at her and then took a bite out of his own ice cream cone.

“What flavor did you get, oppa?” Somin asked.

“It’s Oreo flavored,” Sehun replied.

As soon as he answered, Somin bent over and swiftly got a bite of his Oreo ice cream.

“Mmmmm it tastes really good! I think my favorite ice cream flavor just changed,” Somin laughed.

Her impulsive move had left Sehun unmoving for a moment but when he heard her laugh freely, he automatically started laughing with her.

Click

“Got it!” Somin cried triumphantly. “I finally got a picture of you genuinely happy!”

“Hey! It’s not as if I brood around all the time! I smile more than enough,” Sehun said.

“Yeah but I want a picture of you laughing with me all the time so it can cheer me up whenever I’m sad,” Somin said. At this, both Sehun and Somin widened their eyes in surprise.

Internally, Somin slapped herself a few million times while Sehun was celebrating silently.

*So….Somin wanted to see my face when she felt down?* Sehun mused.

After a few moments of awkwardness, Sehun cleared his throat and spoke up, breaking the silence between them.

“Well it’s not really a shocker. I mean, of course my beautiful smile would be able to make anyone happier. My handsome look is good enough to make a dead person live again because I made their heart beat faster,” Sehun said in a false egotistical voice. He pretended to puff up his chest and jerked his chin forward in a ridiculous manner.

Somin laughed at him, she couldn’t help it.

“What happened to my sweet oppa?” she joked.

Sehun relaxed into his regular posture. He leaned over to Somin and placed his head next to hers. His eyes bore into hers.

“I’m right here, Somin”

He gently tugged the camera out of her hands.

“Smile, Somin!” Sehun managed to say before he turned his head, smiled, and pressed the button of the camera.

Although taken aback, Somin was able to quickly whip her head and place smile on her face.

Click

Eagerly, Sehun checked the camera and was very satisfied with the results. He revealed it to Somin and she also found it to be a sweet photo.

They spent the rest of the day talking and taking more photos together. Time went by so fast they didn’t even realize that it was late until the sun began to set.

 

Sehun took Somin’s hand and walked her back to the bubble tea shop. They stopped in front of the entrance, ready to leave.

Before Sehun turned to leave, Somin held out the camera to Sehun, motioning him to take it.  

But Sehun shook his head and pushed the camera towards her.

“It’s my present to you, Somin,” he said charmingly. At this, Somin beamed with joy.

Somin stepped forward and hugged Sehun for a short two seconds. Then she stepped back and timidly tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Thanks, Sehun oppa. I really enjoyed our date today,” Somin said before turning and going into the store.

Sehun watched her go in and once she did, he left for the dormitory.

The dormitory where he knew his hyungs were waiting to ambush him and squeeze out every single detail of his date.

“Damn…”