so, he let out what his mouth wanted to by saying, "she could come and hang out with me."

hongjoong's eyes widened when his friend blurted the words. it wasn't only him who was shocked, though. seonghwa himself thought how stupid he must have sounded.

"well, would you look at that, ji! you don't have to go home and be bored!" soyeon exclaimed.

the black haired male was nervous to look at jihae, who probably thought he was a creep.

however, his expectations were wrong when the girl somehow said, "sure! i'm sure it'll be fun."

it was his turn to panic. he looked at his friend, who only squinted his eyes at him suspiciously and shrugged.

"well, we better get going now. good luck, you two!" jihae said to her sister who only had a wide smile, and gave a slight bow to her partner. she dragged seonghwa out of the cafe.

she face the elder guy. "so, where do you wanna go?"

seonghwa was silent for a while. was he really going to spend the rest of the day with jeon jihae? "um, how about going to the park?"

the girl smiled and nodded. "great idea!"

seonghwa eyed her for a moment. "aren't you worried i'm gonna kidnap you or something?"

"do you plan on kidnapping me?" jihae countered the question.

"what? no! it's just that, you know, getting in some random guy's car alone isn't the best idea for a pretty girl." he scratched his head, getting shy and unaware of his compliment.

the sophomore didn't know why she found him strangely cute. "then, why don't we get to know each other so that you won't be some random guy?"

the junior was somewhat flustered by her way of speaking. she made things comfortable which doesn't quite happen a lot with him.

"hi, i'm jeon jihae! i'm in my sophomore year and i major in psychology." she took out her hand for him to shake.

seonghwa appreciated the gesture a lot and responded to it. "i'm park seonghwa. i major in cinematography and currently in my junior year."

"so, seonghwa. where should we go now?" jihae asked again, more on reenacting a while ago.

this made the boy smile. "the park would be great."

both of them got in seonghwa's car and drove to a nearby park.

there, they saw that the place was decorated with festive lights and there was a platform, where it seemed like people were preparing for a show.

"MAYHEM will be live with us later at 2:00pm. buy your tickets now!" jihae read out loud. "oh, my god."

seonghwa could see the interest in her face. "you know them?"

"know them? i love them! they're so good for a rookie group. i need to watch them. do you have anything to do? can we watch them, please?" she had those puppy eyes anyone can fall for. and by anyone, seonghwa's no exception.

he didn't have anything to do, aside from his part time job later at nine, and jihae did seem like she really wants to see them. "sure. let's get tickets, first."

the girl squealed in as she gave a side hug to the boy and went to the table where they were selling the tickets.

as they were in line, the girl suddenly gasped. "wait. i'm not bothering you, am i?" she asked seonghwa with a guilty face, which he just chuckled to.

"don't worry. i'm not really busy and minsoo's my friend. it'll be good seeing him again."

that made jihae gasp even more. "you mean, minsoo from MAYHEM?" he nodded. "why didn't you tell me?" she whined.

"there wasn't really a need to." he claimed with a warm smile.

the psychology major smiled at this. she was used to boys showing off in front of her, thinking they would date her, so she appreciated seonghwa for not doing so.

it was their turn to buy the tickets, and jihae was prepared to pay for it as she was already thankful to him for accompanying her, when he stopped her hand. "what are you doing?"

"paying for the tickets?"

"um, no way." he reached for his wallet. "if you're not comfortable with me paying, then let me at least pay for mine." he said softly.

the sophomore was glad seonghwa wasn't too boastful or dependent. most of the guys she's had a date with would usually pay or let her pay. not that there was anything terribly wrong with that. it's just that a change can sometimes be good. this wasn't even a date. it was a... something.

although, she still felt bothered for basically forcing him to hangout with someone he barely knows, aka her. "but i've already caused you so much trouble." she was about to place the money on the counter where the staff was waiting.

the junior was quick to stop her. "i happily insisted, jihae." he grinned at how persistent the girl was being. "now, let me pay."

the staff was getting impatient so she informed, "excuse me, we have an offer for couples since it's our boss' anniversary with his wife. would you like to try it? it'll only cost one ticket for both of you." she smiled rather forcibly.

"oh, we're n-"

"that's great! sorry to keep you waiting. we'll take it!" jihae interrupted her acquaintance placing her money on the table as the staff happily took it and gave her change.

"make sure to be here by one thirty to fully enjoy the performance."

as jihae thanked the woman, she looked at her phone to check the time. "it's still quarter to twelve. what do you want to do?"

when she still didn't get a reply, she turned to seonghwa who was jokingly glaring at her. "i wanted to pay." he pouted.

jihae laughed out loud. "you really wanted to, didn't you?" she asked, still laughing.

"let's go get ice cream. i'm paying this time. no buts." the junior claimed, walking forward to an ice cream stand and the girl followed with a silly giggle.

"so, what flavor?" he asked the lady beside her who was choosing carefully. 

"chocolate!"

"one chocolate and one vanilla, please." he told the salesman and gave the money.

once they got their dessert, they walked around a little more. they shared their course, some hobbies, and who some of their friends were.

in the middle of their chat, jihae noticed something quite stressful so she stopped. "you bite your ice cream?"

seonghwa faced her with a questioning look. "yeah? is that
a problem?"

"doesn't that, like, hurt your teeth?" she asked curiously, continuing to lick her ice cream.

he shrugged. "it's fine. it makes me taste the ice cream more."

she still had a doubtful face, her mouth surrounded by the ice cream, to which the boy just snorted to.

"why are you laughing?" she asked.

"nothing." he tried to compose himself, but jihae still saw right through him.

"do i have something on my face?"

seonghwa bit his lip to avoid laughing at her serious face, and simply took a handkerchief which he always had with him. he never liked dirty things, but jihae somehow made it cute.

"how can someone miss their mouth that bad?" he said as he wiped the dirt off her face. "there." he let out the  suppressed laugh he was holding.
"all good."

jihae, on the other hand, was trying not to blush madly, to which she failed. there's no denying the fact that seonghwa was good-looking. he was a gentleman, as well. he was kind enough to be with her even though they only met once, and even treated her ice cream.

"are you okay? the event will be starting in forty minutes, but you look hot." the junior didn't mind his words for a while until he actually realized how it sounded out loud. "i m-mean, not hot but, like warm? not saying you don't look great but-"

"i get it, you dork." she chuckled. "let's go, then."

"hey, show some respect. i'm older than you." he teased.

"okay, grandpa." she countered.

"i'm not that old." he rolled his eyes which made her grin.

when they arrived at the venue, the place was very crowded with fans very excited to see the idols. they gave their ticket to the guard who led them to their place.

they almost forgot that they purchased a place for couples, which meant that they were also with other couples.

"this is your fault. if you had just let me pay for my ticket, we wouldn't be stuck in valentine's land." the junior sighed as he watched other pairs snuggling.

jihae scoffed. "it was cheaper! and we were taking a lot of time. and i wanted to thank you for being my companion today."

seonghwa shook his head with a smile.

soon, the event started and people were roaring as the band performed. jihae jumped up and down as she sang along. the junior just clapped with her.

she linked her arms with him, shaking him vigorously together with the beat, and he couldn't do anything but sway to it.

after the lively commission, the band stopped playing to talk to their audience. "did you guys have fun?"

the fans cheered loudly as a yes.

"well, there's one thing that we wanna try. since you've been focusing on us, we figured it would be nice to let you be in the spotlight. after all, MAYHEM can't shine without their mayniacs." the crowd uproared once more. "anyone wanna try?"

people were murmuring. jihae suddenly remembered seonghwa saying one of his hobbies were singing and dancing. she asked him to sing a while ago but he denied, saying that he wasn't that good.

a couple of girls already sang on stage, earning an applause from everyone.

"that was great! now sadly, we need to call the last person to sing on stage. anyone?" the singer said.

jihae didn't think twice before raising her hand and pointing at the guy beside her, who's eyes doubled its size. she forcibly made him raise his hand.

"jihae, what do yo-"

"oh, that guy with the blue long sleeve! come on up."

a/n: MAYHEM is a group from webtoon in a story called LOST in TRANSITION. all credits to that. it's an amazing story!