Dara tried her best to remain calm even though she could already feel her cheeks starting to heat up. She silently prayed that it will not turn red in embarrassment. The last thing she needed was for him to suspect her as one of his fangirls.

"I'm sorry," she managed to say. It's her fault anyway since she wasn't looking.

"Are you alright?" he asked in concern while letting her go.

She backed out a few steps and saw a small smile on his lips. Hopefully, he wasn't finding the situation funny.

She couldn't answer at once because her mind was busy making up an excuse. There is no point in keeping the letter which she was still holding. It's not right to take it. She better come clean now.

Wordlessly, she handed the envelope to him while keeping an unwavering eye contact.

His eyebrows furrowed while he looked at it and slowly took it. Then his expression suddenly changed to that of suspicion and wariness when he looked back at her after realizing what she gave him.

Oh he did not just do that, she thought, while her eyes widened in comprehension.

"Ya! Before you get any weird ideas, the answer is NO, that's not a love letter from me because I am NOT your fangirl. Got it?" She put more emphasis on some words for him to get what she meant. She crossed her arms over her chest defensively.

His facial expression relaxed a bit. She was relieved to see that change. Maybe he believed her.

"I found that sticking out from your locker and it almost fell. So I, uh, I tried to put it in but it won't fit. It seemed there are a lot already crammed in there," she finished lamely before she end up spilling excuses that do not make sense even to her. She tried to be calm.

She just hoped that he didn't see her standing by his locker. Hopefully, what she just said will explain why she took the letter.

"Alright. Thanks," he said and then he smiled, this time a full one. 

"I'm alright by the way. Thanks for keeping me from falling." After that, she almost broke into a run just to get away from there, not wanting to prolong the discussion.

She almost got in trouble all because she was trying to avoid having to ask for his help.

* * * * *

Luhan walked like a zombie to the lockers while thinking to himself how he could have been so slow. He felt stupid for letting the fear of another rejection get in the way.

Another opportunity was wasted. When he saw her by his locker, the letter in her hand, what occurred to him was how he did not want to appear too desperate for help even though he was already desperate.

And another stupidity he committed was slightly thinking she might be one of those who girls who kept sending him letters. How conceited of him. She clearly did not have the signs of being interested in him. That, he found to be intriguing.

He arrived at the locker room, still in a daze. Tao was the first one to notice his zombie-like composure.

"Hyung! Are you okay?" the younger asked while he eyed the letter Luhan was holding. It was unopened, surely another love letter, which could be the cause of the older one's bewildered expression.

"Yes," he said weakly. He glanced around and his eyes met with Kris. He couldn't tell the captain now about the wasted opportunity.

"What's that you're holding?" Sehun asked because the neon pink envelope was just too bright not to notice.

He turned to the maknae. "Someone handed this to me because it could no longer fit in my locker," he managed to answer. He better keep the encounter to himself or the captain will nag him into asking Dara again for help.

Tao smacked his forehead lightly when he remembered what he was not able to do. "Oh no! I forgot to empty your locker hyung, sorry."

"That's alright, let's do that later."

"Okay. Want me to read that?" 

He silently handed the letter to Tao who immediately opened it; Sehun was behind him, taking a peek on the letter.

Moments later, Tao tossed it into the 'obsessed' box.

Kris announced that warm-ups will start in ten minutes. The members started to change into their uniforms.

* * * * *

On Monday, the incident still bothered Dara. And she didn't know why so she decided to talk about it with Bom. Maybe all she needed was enlightenment and her friend could help.

During lunchtime, they were outdoors sitting at a bench under a shade of the big old tree, enjoying the beautiful sunny weather. They just finished their lunch; CL and Minzy had lunch meetings so they didn't spend time at the cafeteria like they usually do.

From where Dara and Bom sat, they had a perfect view of the empty outdoor basketball court. There were some students out as well but not near enough to hear what the two girls were talking about.

"What are you so afraid of?" Bom asked after Dara told her what happened last Friday---the failed attempt at getting a glimpse of Luhan's character from the point of view of a fangirl. It sounded stupid she knew.

Yes, her avoidance had gone that extreme. She was deluding her