“Oh, god.”
“.”

Jongin stared at the weighing scale in horror, and looked into the mirror, glaring at his reflection with utter distaste.

In Luhan-hyung’s words, the only phrase apt enough to describe this situation would be ‘大事不妙了’ (meaning has just gotten real).

 

With the company giving them a one month off because most of the members were falling ill due to their hectic schedules, Joonmyeon thought it was imperative for the members who were tired out to go on a holiday as a retreat, and thus begged and groveled for the company to sponsor the members’ trips. Obviously the company wasn’t that willing to, and decided to sponsor half instead. Then being the motherly figure that he was, Joonmyeon decided to pay for a quarter of their airplane tickets, and the members forked out the rest themselves. They didn’t complain much—it was a good deal and everyone agreed to get Joonmyeon something each when they came back from their trips.

Sehun and Joonmyeon were going to Qingdao, Tao’s hometown, the Beagle line (Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Jongdae) to Guangzhou to find Yifan, who promised to take time out to bring them around, Minseok and Yixing were going to Beijing to visit Luhan, and Kyungsoo and Jongin decided to embark on a journey to Shanghai themselves (note. without any Chinese member). How were they ever going to survive there, Junma worried, but relaxed visibly when Luhan assured sunnily that he would take the two lovebirds around for the first day. (If you want to ask why all of them are going to China – again, it is obviously because the plane tickets to China are cheaper. Of course, the fact that some of them were going to visit Kris and Luhan was hidden from the company—but who were they kidding? Fantaken photos would surface on the internet the moment they met.)

Kyungsoo and Jongin met Luhan at the airport, who patted their hair fondly and gave them a bro hug each. After taking them around all the important places (aka where to shop and eat), and settled their hotel payments, Luhan left them alone in the cosmopolitan city with two mandarin guide books, places he had picked out for them to go to, and all the important information he had remembered.

“Luhan hyung’s still the same, isn’t he?” Kyungsoo mused as Luhan waved his goodbyes unwillingly, having to rush away for another schedule.

“Yeah, but he looks much happier now.”

 

Two weeks into the holiday, Jongin found himself accompanying Kyungsoo to the street snack stalls, night markets and restaurants –even those not on Luhan’s list, because apparently Kyungsoo had this exotic food list of his own. They ate steamboat buffets almost every other day, and Jongin was stuffed to the point where he thought he would burst. But then again, when Kyungsoo dangled the bowl of wonton in front of him, Jongin’s stomach felt marvelously empty and he devoured everything quickly.

Furthermore, Jongin hadn’t danced for the longest period of time, perhaps just doing a few jiggles  or waves in front of the mirror because he felt like he was getting rusty, mostly because Kyungsoo asserted that Jongin needed a good rest—his back injury was acting up again, and he had a fever before the holiday. Jongin also hadn’t found any need to make his bed, because he shared one with Kyungsoo and Kyungsoo made the bed diligently every day.

This scenario above, repeated almost every day had built up to what Jongin was looking at on the weighing scale right now.

He pinched his waist—which would actually still make his fangirls swoon at glimpses of it and women jealous—and sighed loudly.

 

In came Kyungsoo with takeaways of packets of Shanghainese minced pork noodles, fried pot stickers, spicy kailan, and a pot of warm chicken soup. Jongin almost retched at the sight of those.

“Jongin, look! The woman manning the store gave me more of the pot stickers because she recognized that I’m from EXO!” Kyungsoo exclaimed while putting out the food onto the disposable plates, and waved Jongin over for their lunch.

However, Jongin seemed less enthusiastic, taking only half a portion of the noodles and ate only the kailan, even going as far as picking out the minced meat in the noodles, which Kyungsoo couldn’t understand.

“Not feeling well?” Jongin looked like a newly married lady eating with her in-laws—too demure and innocent, which made Kyungsoo uncomfortable.

But Jongin was embarrassed to say that he was on a diet because well, he was a man, so he merely brushed it off as that he wanted to eat more healthily since he had too much oily food lately.

“But I bought pot stickers!  Ten of them. You want none of them?” Kyungsoo pouted and Jongin waved him off lightly.

“Just eat, Kyungsoo hyung.”

Kyungsoo’s appetite had become much better after coming to Shanghai, and he finished the pot stickers in no time. And despite his numerous attempts to get Jongin to eat a few pot stickers, he was steadfast in his decision and even scolded Kyungsoo for enticing him to eat more. Kyungsoo was officially confused. Even more so when Jongin pulled him out to the convenience store to buy more bottles of greek yogurt, which Kyungsoo really disliked. Kyungsoo liked most food and most drinks, but he hated greek yogurt because it was too sour for his taste.

And this was how Jongin continued his diet—eating just a little of what Kyungsoo bought, slurping down two bowls of greek yogurt (actually Jongin found the taste weird too—but for a lighter him, anything could be endured. He was the ‘body’ of the group—or so he thought, usually wearing more skimpy clothes, so if the fans saw his love handles or anything that resembled them, they would probably become antis instead), and taking a walk downstairs with Kyungsoo. The latter gradually realized that Jongin was actually dieting because he was worried about his weight, but what to do? Jongin was a stubborn man.

Kyungsoo was worried about him, and understood his fear. Which was why when Jongin stopped eating as much, Kyungsoo decided to go vegan with him and felt that it was not too bad, and decided to get more vegetables in their meals instead, and went on walks with Jongin after every meal.

Moving on to talk about their walks, the first thing to consider would be the location of their hotel. Luhan picked an excellent four-star hotel for them, at the prime location near Nanjing road, and it was easy for them to get around Shanghai’s tourist spots.

But one thing about their location was that, it was ‘infested’ (in Jongin’s words) with street snacks stalls.

Every night, the street stalls would open for business and it was the most crowded whenever Jongin and Kyungsoo decided to come down for walks. In the first two weeks of their holiday, their nightly walks usually consisted of Kyungsoo buying even more snacks and munching on them—because his stomach was a bottomless pit. Jongin couldn’t blame Kyungsoo, really, he blamed the food that smelled too good to resist. Mutton pot stickers, Mee sua, Claypot rice, Pepper buns, everything enticed Kyungsoo like Medusa, and he usually didn’t bother to resist.

But Jongin decided to diet, which meant that Kyungsoo’s nightly walks became a torture for him.
He couldn’t possibly eat in Jongin’s face, because that would be inconsiderate, but when he saw people sitting down at the stores slurping down noodles, he swallowed thickly and averted his eyes… only to see a store selling barbecued chicken wings.

Spicy, sweet, sour and spiced smells came wafting through his nose, and when the vendor carried the steamed buns out from the pots, Kyungsoo’s saliva dripped before he could maintain his image.

UGHHHH, Kyungsoo screamed mentally. I’ve just finished two bowls of rice and two plates of greens in the hotel, but I’m hungry again? His legs turned into jelly as the barbequed slipper came into view.

Jongin could see Kyungsoo’s tortured state and felt sorry for him. “Let’s eat.”

“What shall we eat?” Kyungsoo was all smiley immediately.

Jongin shook his head violently. “I’m not eating.”

 

One week of dieting couldn’t go to waste just like this, could it? Jongin was determined to make this work. The flab needed to go, or he would be hounded by his trainers in SM to go on an even more stringent diet and exercise regime. He wasn’t a piggy like Kyungsoo was, and he had his determination, but Kyungsoo was getting thinner with his diet, and he could see how much Kyungsoo craved the taste of meat in his mouth. Jongin felt like a bastard for denying Kyungsoo his carnivorous diet.

And despite that Jongin always called Kyungsoo a piggy, whenever he found out about good food places or ate delicious street snacks, he would tell Kyungsoo about it for them to take some time out of their busy schedules to try the place together, or if Jongin was alone, he would takeaway a serving for Kyungsoo to try.

 

But when Kyungsoo heard that Jongin wasn’t eating, he shook his head even more violently.
“Meh, I’m not gonna eat too. Actually, eating so much food everyday isn’t really good for you too.”

Jongin smiled good naturedly, “What’s so bad about it?”

Kyungsoo had just read this article on the internet regarding the correct intake of food (but it’s just food, Kyungsoo thought. What could go wrong?) and starting bullting Jongin (with his boyfriend actually believing his lies—ok fine, with some truth interspersed here and there).

With half an hour more of walking, Jongin and Kyungsoo had reached their hotel room and to express his approval of Kyungsoo’s determination and sacrifice, he decided to rent a movie from the reception that day which consisted of the newest releases.

But well, being EXO members, they couldn’t conform. Jongin enjoyed listening to jazz, reading mystery novels and biographies (especially that of dancers because he could relate to them—and he imagined himself writing one in the future as well), but he enjoyed a weird selection of movies which no one could comprehend, which included serial killers and locked rooms. When it came to Kyungsoo, there isn’t anything much to say. He watched the dramas and movies he acted in (cringing while Jongin laughed beside him), Masterchef, and read recipe books. Kyungsoo was never a learned person.

Jongin decided to pick Gone with the Wind, because he wanted a change in tastes and also because he had read the book before. It was Kyungsoo’s first time with this story, so he was quite interested in it as well.

It was a long movie, and Kyungsoo felt as if his head was spinning with all the women’s skirts fluttering around him. And he promptly decided to start napping half an hour into the movie.

Jongin realised it fifteen minutes later when his sleeve began to feel wet, and he rearranged Kyungsoo’s limbs to make both of them feel more comfortable.

After becoming vegan for a while, Jongin indeed felt that his quality of sleep was getting much better, and quickly fell asleep with Kyungsoo still and snoring softly beside him.

 

But Jongin woke up in the middle of the night.

He could feel that Kyungsoo wasn’t beside him, and when he swiped the space around him, it was indeed empty.

Jongin thought that Kyungsoo merely went to the toilet, so he waited for a while before deciding that something wasn’t right. He decided to go nearer, and heard the sounds of rustling plastic bags. Usually this wouldn’t be taken notice of, but it was midnight and the environment was still and quiet. It was hard for Jongin to not hear these sounds.

Quietly, he opened the door to the toilet and Jongin stoned there, with his mouth slightly agape, watching Kyungsoo stuff a mouthful of peanuts into his mouth.

The peanuts were already a few weeks old, seeing that it was Luhan’s parting gift to them because ‘a true Beijing man eats peanuts’.

Peanuts that only old men liked to gnaw on when they chatted under trees while playing chess.

Kyungsoo munched on them happily, smacking his lips softly until he realized Jongin was there. His face turned red immediately, extremely embarrassed and looked like he would be grateful if a hole would appear on the ground so that he could jump into it and hide forever.

Jongin sighed loudly and grabbed a handful of peanuts, peeling them out to eat and crunched on them loudly.

Kyungsoo’s face was still red, and Jongin kissed him lightly on the cheek.

 

And this is the story of how Jongin’s diet in Shanghai failed miserably.

The next day, before Kyungsoo woke up, Jongin went out to buy a barbequed chicken and xiao long baos for brunch, and Kyungsoo ate the food deliciously when he woke up before pressing a long, oily kiss on Jongin’s equally thick lips.

But Jongin still had a cup of yogurt after every meal, and went out for a walk after every dinner.

Well, Kyungsoo decided to leave out the yogurt for himself, but accompanied Jongin out for walks every night (which of course had them end up in a small roadside eating supper).

 

In Shanghai, the lights shined bright, and their love for each other shined even brighter.