• CHAPTER FOUR

~*~

[January 21, 20XX – Day 7 of 100]

Yena was about to enter the room when Donghae pulled her. “Hey, do you know where Eunji is? She didn’t attend the practice this morning. Is she okay?”

“Yes, she’s perfectly fine. She just wasn’t in the mood to dance so she skipped practice,” Yena replied, giving Donghae a smirk. “What’s going on between the two of you?” she suddenly asked, making him pale.

“Um, we’re just friends,” he answered safely. Yena stared at him for a moment, and then turned her back. “I’ll tell her that you came and looked for her,” she shouted.

Donghae nodded, not sure if Yena saw it. He started walking to the “headquarters” when he ran into Siwon. Being the humble and gentle man he is, Siwon bowed first. “Hello, Donghae-ssi.”

“Why are you being so formal?” Donghae asked him. Siwon shrugged, making Donghae smile a bit. “Ah, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“When you and Eunji went to the café yesterday, did you tell her something or anything about the deal?” Curiosity filled Donghae’s mind. He knew that Siwon was against the deal, so he didn’t know if Siwon was planning to tell Eunji about it.

“I wanted to,” Siwon started, “but then I had no right. You’re the one who needs to tell her everything about this.”

Donghae looked relieved for a moment, but suddenly realized Siwon’s words. “What do you mean? Why do I have to tell her?”

“To stop this? I don’t know. All I know is, this, what you’re doing to her right now, is completely wrong. You better stop this.”

Donghae opened his mouth to say something but Siwon cut him off. “I know what you’re going to say. I don’t need to hear that. I still think this is wrong. I’m going first. See you,” Siwon patted Donghae’s shoulder and went on his way, leaving Donghae standing still and his mouth wide open.

***

“Hey, are you sure you don’t want to go with us?” Yena asked you, for the nth time. You shook your head and smiled, or more like, smirked.

“No, I don’t want to interrupt your session–I mean, quality time with your boyfriend,” you chuckled, looking at Yixing accusingly. Yena gave you an evil stare, making Yixing laugh and ruffle his girlfriend’s hair. He put his arm around Yena, holding her securely.

You wanted to puke (but of course that’s an exaggeration), but deep inside you were happy for the both of them. Those two were total opposites. Yena was a bad girl, and she had a y attitude, while Yixing was an angel who came down from heaven. He was literally an angel, and he had a dimple which made him look cherubic. Yena was a singer, Yixing, a dancer. He’s a part of the Dance Troupe too, so you two are somewhat close. Yena was a pure Korean but Yixing was Chinese. He moved to Korea when he was twelve. Yena actually helped him polish his Korean, since nobody in his family knew the language. Despite their huge differences, those two managed to stay together and be happy.

“Tell Donghae I’m sorry for not attending the practices yesterday and today,” Yixing told you. You nodded, knowing why he failed to attend. Apparently, it’s the couple’s 50^th month of being together.

The couple waved goodbye, and went on their way. You stared at them, wondering when you’ll have a relationship of your own. You were about to go back and look for Donghae when somebody covered your eyes.

“Ya! Who is it?” You tried to remove the hands that were blocking your sight.

“Guess.”

You stopped moving. That voice.

“Lee Donghae?”

Donghae removed his hands on your eyes. “How did you know?”

“Your voice, stupid,” you giggled at his childishness.

“Ya. You didn’t attend the practice,” Donghae pouted. You wanted to pinch his cheeks because god, he looked like a stray puppy.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t in the mood. Ah, by the way, Yixing told me to tell you that he’s sorry for skipping practice yesterday and today,” you suddenly remembered.

“Okay. He doesn’t need practice, anyway. He’s already good.”

This time, it’s your turn to pout. “So the reason why I’m practicing is because I’m bad at this?”

“No,” he replied immediately. “I just want to be with you.”

Still absorbing what he had said, you let yourself be dragged by Donghae to god-knows-where.

When you finally returned to your senses, you were already inside a traditional Korean place. You looked around and saw paintings of the Joseon era. Hanging by the walls are antique photographs of ahjummas cooking a large quantity of food. There were also photographs of the royal maids, dressed in hanboks and hair in place decorated with floral hair accessories. The setting and ambiance of the place was really nice.

You then looked at Donghae who was sitting right in front of you. You raised your eyebrow, “Why are we here?”

“I want to eat here with you. Sungmin-hyung said this is a really nice place, and the food they serve here is authentic,” Donghae replied, looking at the menu.

“Authentic Korean food?” you asked. Donghae nodded, putting down the menu list. “What’s yours?” he asked you.

“I don’t know. Yours?” you asked him back. He called the ahjumma who was assigned to our table.

“Ahjumma, we’ll have samgyetang, samgyupsal, bulgogi, and sujeonggwa for drinks,” Donghae said expertly. The ahjumma repeated your orders and went off. While waiting, the two of you shared stories.

While he was sharing something, your phone vibrated. You looked at the screen and saw Sojin’s name. You suddenly thought of an idea. You wanted to confirm something, and you thought that this was the perfect time.

“Ya, I have been doing most of the talking here. It’s your time,” Donghae nudged you.

Perfect.

The vibrate went off, but after some time she called you again.

“Oh, sorry, I have to take this call,” you said. Donghae nodded, so you pressed the button.

“Yoboseyo? Sojin-ah!” You emphasized “Sojin” and looked at Donghae. He was not really good at hiding his facial expressions. He looked like he was about to snatch your phone and talk to Sojin but chose not to.

“…”

“I’m with Donghae. We’re going to eat. Why?”

“…”

“Oh. We’re fine, I guess.”

“…”

“Okay, take care!”

You slipped your phone back to your pocket and looked at Donghae who was looking confused. “So, where were we?” you smirked.

***

“Thanks for the food! I’m so full. Aigoo,” you patted your stomach. You two had a hearty meal, and apparently Siwon wasn’t the only rich person in their group. Donghae paid for everything, not letting you spend even a cent.

“I told you, the food there was delicious.”

“You’re right! I better recommend that place to Yena and Yixing,” you said, rubbing your hands together. “Aigoo, it’s so cold.” You opened your bag to get your jacket but unfortunately, you left it at home. You were thinking how to warm yourself when you felt a warm cloth touch your skin.

Donghae put his coat around you. He refused to look at you, pinning his eyes on the ground. You were touched, but you were also concerned because he too was cold.

“H-hey, it’s okay,” you tried to return his coat but he didn’t accept it.

“No, wear it. I’m fine. Besides, I’m hot,” he joked. You blushed and laughed at his joke (or was it a joke?). “Thank you,” you mumbled shyly. He put his arms on his nape and smiled.

You gave Donghae your number (he was asking for it) before your driver came and fetched you. Donghae opened the door for you and when you told him to get in, he shook his head and told you that his driver was already on his way.

“Thanks for the meal, Donghae-ssi,” you bowed slightly. He gave you a thumbs-up before winking.

“No problem. I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night, Eunji-ssi.”

“Good night.”

Your car went off. You felt your phone vibrate so you unlocked it and saw that you had a text message from an unknown number.

From: XXXX

Hey. I enjoyed so much today. I hope this won’t be the last time. Take care. Good night!

• Donghae

You saved his number and clutched your phone, falling asleep from too much exhaustion.

***

[January 22, 20XX – Day 8 of 100]

“Step backward using your right foot, then back, then forward with your left, back again, right foot backward, and then we change position. Got it?” Donghae instructed. You nodded, trying the steps. “Let’s do it.”

Yixing was on the side, taking pictures of you and Donghae. “Ya Zhang Yixing! What are you doing?” you yelled at him.

“Yena told me to take pictures of you and Donghae while practicing,” he said, chuckling. You mentally cursed the couple.

“I still don’t know why I gave you my blessing,” you rolled your eyes heavenwards. Yixing laughed and continued to take pictures. “Ugh, stop it.”

“Okay, okay, I think these are enough.” Yixing raised his hands in defeat and put his phone inside his pocket.

“Shall we try with music?” Donghae suggested. You nodded so he went to his iPod and played it.

Both of your started to move when you heard the beat. “Look at your partner’s eyes, Eunji. Don’t forget,” Donghae told you while looking at his eyes.

You tried your best to focus but damn, it’s so hard when you have this man staring at you like you’re some kind of prized possession. You were about to melt from his gaze. No, scratch that, you were already melting.

When you finished the basic figures, your knees were all jelly and wobbly. As a result, you almost collapsed on the floor but luckily, Donghae caught you. “Are you okay? Maybe we should rest first.”

“Rest sounds like a good idea,” you nodded, leaning against the large mirror. Yixing handed you a bottled water and a towel.

“Hey Eunji, Yixing, I’ll just shower,” Donghae said, gathering his personal things.

“Shower sounds great,” Yixing nods, winking at you. When Donghae had already left, Yixing started to nudge you.

“I saw what happened to you there,” he smirked. A blush crept to your face, so you bowed your head down, wishing that Yixing wasn’t able to see you blush.

“W-what?”

“Your knees went jelly! Hahahahahaha!” Yixing was rolling on the ground, laughing.

“E-excuse me! I was just tired!”

“Save your excuses, Eun. I saw what happened to you. No need to deny.”

You pouted and asked him, “How the hell did you know?”

“Yena used to be like that when she saw me dance,” Yixing said, wiping his tears from laughing too hard.

“Oh. Okay. I’ll tell Yena you said that,” you smirked.

“No! Ugh. Forget I said that.” This time, Yixing was the one who was blushing really hard. You smiled to yourself, feeling very happy for the couple.

Donghae entered the room, wondering why you and Yixing were laughing together.

~*~

A/N:

Hi! I'm so sorry. I've been really, really busy last month, this story went completely out of my mind. And I took my college entrance exams too, so there. /bows/ I'm really sorry! T^T I wanted to give you a long update but I have a writer's block and my activities aren't finished yet. I just tried to update this because I just thought my subscribers might be mentally killing me. Haha. I'm kidding. I'm really sorry for making you wait so long (IDK if you waited but anyway).

So anybody can tell now that I like Lay (hihi). He got too much exposure here. Sorry! (But I think Xing and Yena are cute so maybe I'll write a sidestory, ugh not sure.) There. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Comment below so that I may know what you think about this story/chapter! XOXO!

- Y