Jin stared at her phone, wondering whether or not to call Baekhyun. A few days had passed since their secret Santa party and they hadn’t really kept in touch, just a few texts here and there. She was able to preoccupy herself with small missions they were given. 

She didn’t really need to protect him over break, since he had protection at home, so she didn’t have an excuse to spend time with him. And she didn’t know how to casually bring up, ‘the talk’. 

When she wasn’t busy, she would just stare at her phone, and wonder the same thing she was wondering now: should she call him? Maybe she should text him instead? Maybe she should just wait until school started again? She didn’t know what to do. 

A part of her hoped that maybe he was feeling the same and that he would eventually call her to talk about the same thing. But a more rational part of her brain knew that that wasn’t likely. 

Suddenly, her phone started ringing. She jumped and looked down to see who was calling, and took in such a sharp intake of breath that she almost choked. Baekhyun was calling her. 

She reached out and grabbed her phone immediately. She was just about to answer when she stopped. Would she look desperate? Like she was waiting for his call? She definitely wouldn’t want to give that image. She waited for it to ring a few more times, tried her best to calm down, and answered the call. 

“Hello?” She said, trying to sound as though she hadn’t already read the caller ID. 

“Uh, hey Jin.” Baekhyun said timidly. 

“Oh, hey Baek.” She said casually. 

“So I was wondering... well I was going somewhere today... I just thought maybe...” He muttered, sound unsure of himself. Jin laughed a bit. 

“Yeah?” She prompted. 

“Do you want to go the amusement park with me today?” He finally asked, a bit rushed, but clear enough for her to understand that holy sh*t he might’ve just asked her out on a date. 

“Yeah, sure. Sounds fun.” She said, trying her best not freak out. 

“Alright, umm, I’ll pick you up!” He said, sounding worried and excited at the same time.

“Don’t you mean I’ll pick you up?” Jin said, laughing a bit. 

“Oh, did I forget to tell you? I finally got my license!” He exclaimed, and she took a minute to respond. 

“Really?” She said, stunned. 

“Yup. I can drive you around now.” He said cheekily, and she could see the smirk that was probably on his face right now. It actually made her blush. 

“It’s about time. I’m tired of giving you rides.” She joked, and he laughed. 

“I’ll pick you up at 2:00?” He said, suddenly sounding more serious than he had a second ago, and she felt her face heat up again. 

“Y-yeah.” She stuttered, and the hung up the phone. 

••••••••

Unfortunately, TaeWoon had listened to the whole conversation, so not only did he now know that she definitely had feelings for him, but he also wanted to tag along. 

“You know,” He said, looking in the mirror and trying to smooth out his hair, “I think I ship you guys.” 

“Please stop.” Jin said, sighing, and looking at her other partners, who were getting ready as well. TaeWoon had let them all know too. 

“Why do you guys even want to come?” She said, frustrated and crossing her arms. 

“He’s our mission too, you know.” Said Jihoo, slipping a jacket on. 

“And we’re bored.” Sunmi said, shrugging, and they all nodded their heads in agreement. 

“I would go, but I can’t stand teenagers, so I’ll just say this now,” JaeHee stood up and walked towards her, placing her hands on Jin’s shoulders, and just as she was about to remind her that she wasn’t that much older than them, she continued, “You shouldn’t get too attached to him.” The room got silent. 

“What do you mean?” Jin said, quietly. 

“I think you know.” She pat her shoulder, and then walked upstairs into her room. 

None of them knew what to say to that. Thankfully, the doorbell rang, and she rushed over to open the door. She saw Baekhyun and instantly smiled, then she looked behind him and saw all his friends and the smile dropped from her face. 

“They wanted to come too.” He said, smiling apologetically. She sighed and smiled back, then opened her door to reveal her partners. 

“So did they.” They both laughed together. 

“Okay, okay enough flirting,” TaeWoon said, pushing past Jin and walking towards the rest of them, “Hey, guys!” They all responded back just as enthusiastically. The rest of her partners walked past her and joined the group. Baekhyun and Jin stood at the back of the group and looked around. 

“Clearly we need two people to drive.” She sighed, looking around. He nodded. 

“I guess I’ll give you a ride next time.” He laughed, and rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Next time.” She nodded in agreement and laughed along with him, patting his back. He looked up at her and smiled. She looked at the group and sighed, then she saw TaeWoon look at them and smirk, then whisper something in Jihoo’s ear. He smiled back and nodded. 

“Alright, it looks like this’ll only work if we take my car and Baekhyun’s car, so I’ll drive. Split up however you guys want.” Jihoo said, turning to to her briefly and sending her a wink, then walked over to his car. 

“We got you.” TaeWoon said to her, giggling quietly, then followed Jihoo into his car. She looked over at Baekhyun and they smiled at each other. They ran over to his car. 

“Shotgun!” Jin yelled, and got into the seat next to him. 

••••••• 

Jin was initially worried that her and Baekhyun wouldn’t be able to spend any time alone together, but as soon as they all arrived, they all went their separate ways, and Jin and Baekhyun were left alone. 

They spent their time playing games and going on a few rides. Jin hated the ones that went really high, but she did like the really fast ones, which was the opposite to Baekhyun’s preferences, so they decided to take turns picking rides. It was actually really fun,(especially since nothing was life threatening), and she forgot all about what she was planning to call about earlier. The relationship she had with him now was good. 

Except, there were those small little moments here and there, where sometimes a ride would drop, or speed up, and one of them would clutch the other’s hand, or when their hands would brush and he would grab her hand out of reflex, then apologize quickly then let go, or they would bump into each other and he’d wrap an arm around her shoulders, then laugh it off and pull away. 

The most noticeable moment, was when they saw someone they knew from school, and just as Jin was going to grab his hand, he placed his hands on her waist and pulled her close. Not wanting to look awkward or uncomfortable, she leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled back slightly to see if they had gone, then looked down at her and looked eyes wit her briefly. 

This was different from when they were fake dating. She could tell. They weren’t laughing to themselves about how they had everyone fooled. They weren’t pretending. They wanted this. But who would say it first? 

“They’re gone.” He said, his voice suddenly a lot deeper, and he took his time pulling away from her, eyes ever leaving hers. Eventually, she looked away, the eye contact becoming too intense for her. He grabbed her hand, and this time, neither of them pulled away. 

“Let’s go.” 

•••••••• 

The drive back home was much quieter than the drive to the amusement park. Everyone was worn out and sitting back, talking quietly amongst themselves. Luckily, they were too preoccupied in their own conversations to pay attention to Jin Baekhyun. 

“Jin,” He said quietly, “I think we need to talk.” 

“Yeah,” she agreed, “We do.” 

He parked next to the sidewalk in front of her house, and waited patiently for everyone to get out. She suddenly started panicking as he kept stealing glances at her, wondering if she should say something or not.

“On second thought,” She said, opening the car door, “How about I just call you later?” She got out of the car quickly, not waiting for his response and tried to make her way inside. 

“Jin, wait!” He calles out, and quickly got out and ran after her. He grabbed her hand and turned her around. 

“This is important.” He said, grabbing hold of her shoulders to keep her in place. 

“Some other time.” She pleated. She wasn’t just worried about their relationship, she was embarrassed that they were having this conversation in front of everyone. He shook his head. 

“What are we, Jin?” He finally blurted out, sounding like he had been holding that in for a while. 

“Baek,” She started, grimacing because she could feel everyone’s expectant stares on them, “I don’t know. We can’t talk about this later.” 

“I’m tired of waiting.” He said. She didn’t know what to say to that. She thought about what JaeHee said earlier, and began to feel really guilty. She shouldn’t be doing this. She shouldn’t be having feelings for him. He was her mission. Not her friend. Once she graduated, this was all over, and she would likely never see him again. Nothing could ever happen between them. In a way, she was kind of leading him on. She should end this now.

“We’re just friends.” She said, trying to smile. She never should have gotten this close to him at all. He shook his head. 

“You don’t believe that.” He said. Just as she was about to respond, he cupped her face gently and leaned forward. 

The slick b*stard. He knew she’d kiss him back. 

The kiss was soft, and warm, and was over way too fast. He only pressed a quick, gentle peck on her lips, but she had leaned in as well and held him in place for a few seconds longer before they both pulled away. She could hear everyone yelling and cheering behind them. 

Her heard was racing and her face was heating up. They both looked at each other, then, upon realization on what they had just done, jumped back and started freaking out. 

“I should go.” He said, gesturing towards his car. She nodded her frantically. 

“Okay, well, goodnight!” She yelled, and then ran inside, slamming the door shut behind her. All her partners were in there, giving her surprised yet amused looks, and she ran up to her room instead, burying her face in her pillows. 

There was no way this could end well. 

•••••••

ayyyyyy....it’s been a fat min... but  I’m baaaaaack ... lol