+ six

Narda and Chanyeol walked around the mall for a few minutes until they reached the Nature Republic shop, which was a one of EXO's sponsors alongside other big companies like Samsung and Lotte. There were some cardboard cutouts outside the store, different than the ones Narda had seen when she participated in the Baekhyun trivia contest. Before, there were cutouts of Lu Han and Baekhyun outside. The Baekhyun cutout was in Narda's possession.

The store manager of that location had given it to her as another extra prize for winning the trivia contest. The Lu Han one--on the other hand--was gone because when he left EXO and SM Entertainment, he lost all sponsorship from the big Korean companies.

The cutout had been probably thrown out and then most likely picked up by an EXO fan. Narda still had her Baekhyun cut out in her bedroom. But ever since she had been humiliated by him, and he put a restraining order on her, she had folded it up and left it in a corner of her room. Of the late, she had strongly been considering just leaving it out on the street for one of the fans to take. But Oriana practically begged her to keep it, insisting that she could just bring it back to the United States after her time in Korea was over. "And if you still don't want it by then, I'll be glad to keep it." Her best friend told her, adding with a grin. "He and Miguel Layun cutout can keep each other company."

Now the two cutouts in front of the store were coincidentally of Chanyeol  and the other of EXO's leader Junmyeon. Narda knew that if Oriana ever visited her in the near future, they would need to steer clear of the Nature Republic store or else a cardboard cut out would go mysteriously missing.

It was considered theft after all and Narda thought that the law was more serious in Asia when she read an article where someone stole a Zhang Yixing cardboard cutout from a KFC in China.

The moment Chanyeol spotted the cutout, he walked over to it casually and draped his arm around it like they were old friends. "This guy and I kinda look alike, don't we, Guti?" He sighed as he tried to contain the goofy smile that was breaking out across his face.

Narda cracked a small smile, and rolled her eyes playfully at him. "He's more handsome." She teased in a joking manner. 

"Ah." Chanyeol said in his deep voice, stepping away from the cutout now and continuing with the joke. "I can't be this guy's friend if you think he's more handsome. He'll try to take you from me."

Narda opened her mouth to reply when one of the workers heard their commotion from inside the store and went outside to talk to them. "Please don't play with the cutouts." She told them coldly, hands on her hips as she scolded them. She was a middle aged woman with a serious expression on her face. "Those are only for show." 

Narda didn't think they were being too loud, but then again she knew how Chanyeol could be, and she was exactly the same. She also thought the woman would recognize Chanyeol, but she didn't. Instead, the two looked at each other and burst out into laughter at the fact that she had been oblivious to him. Chanyeol closed the distance between himself and Narda, and linked arms with her. The two went to another part of the mall next, since they still had some time before the contest would begin.

They went to a photo booth next and got a set of pictures taken, which Chanyeol had two copies made. One for himself, and one for Narda. But before they left, he returned to the booth and got yet another one printed. He decided one would be stored in his wallet for safe keeping, while the other would be pinned onto the bulletin board by his door. The one where everyone had pinned pictures all over it, since that room belonged to many of the members before it was known as the empty room and later Chanyeol claimed it as his own when he got into an argument with Baekhyun over the way he treated Narda.

With five minutes to spare, Chanyeol and Narda returned to the food court for the contest. There was a long table already set up with eight chairs pulled up and each seat had a name posted on it. Chanyeol's lips came together to form a tight line as he saw his seat was all the way across the table from where Narda would be sitting.

Narda left Chanyeol to go to the restroom to wash up for the contest. Chanyeol waited a moment and then snuck over to the table, tearing the sheet of paper taped to the chair with the name Park Chanyeol and he went over to the chair next to Narda's seat. He tore the name off and stuck his own name on it, then he went to the other side and placed the remaining name tag on it. 

He hurried away to the washroom and when he returned, Narda was already waiting for him.

She shot him a look of suspicion. "Channie, did you switch the names on the chairs while I was gone?"

He shook his head quickly. "No. Someone else must have done it."

Narda didn't believe that, but she didn't argue it any further.

They waited a few more minutes until the other contestants arrived. Everyone went to the table to take their seats and it was another few minutes until two of the restaurant workers walked out with two big tub containers of jalapeno peppers soaking in vinegar. Narda licked her lips at the thought of eating the peppers, since most Mexican foods were accompanied by them. By her side, Chanyeol gulped nervously. 

He personally didn't like peppers that much, but in exchange for a date with Narda, he would try his best.

The two tubs of peppers were set on a table nearby. Then the owner of the restaurant began to explain the contest in English. People were beginning to gather around to watch the contest, and fangirls got their phones out to record and take pictures when they recognized Chanyeol as one of the members of EXO.

A ladelful of peppers was scooped into each person's plate and the contest begin soon after. Narda didn't hesitate to pick up a pepper with her fingers and shove the whole thing into her mouth like it was nothing. She felt a slight tingle on her tongue and a hint of burning on her lips, but it was a feeling she liked because it was the familiar feeling of all the things she used to eat at home. Chanyeol waited almost a full minutes before he used his fork to pick one up. He brought it to his lips with hesitance and took a bite.

He instantly felt his lips burning, as well as his tongue. His eyes pooled up with tears, but he kept going, downing the pepper with a swig of water from the cup that had been set in front of him. He thought the peppers were so hot that he even felt his face burning and he almost felt like in the cartoons where steam escapes from the characters' ears.

By the time he had finished one, Narda had already finished five, and most of the other contestants had eaten about three. The fans shouted words of encouragement at him, not knowing that he wanted to use that victory to take Narda to the mariachi festival.

"Maybe you should stop." Narda whispered over to Chanyeol. "I don't want you to pass out or something."

She had glanced over to him to see he had eaten five peppers to her ten and was sweating profusely. His face was a deep red color and his eyes were streaming with tears. But the look on his face was one of determination. He was not going to surrender any time soon.

"Guti," He shook his head. His tongue felt so numb that he could barely even talk. "I'm going to win those tickets so we can go to that festival together."

Narda paused eating her own peppers to wave her hands in front of his face to fan him. "If you're only doing this for me, then why don't we just buy tickets? We can still go together." She grabbed a napkin off the table and wiped his face off. She was genuinely concerned that he would continue until he passed out. She had read once that people who were not used to eating peppers could experience a series of complications--from stomach cramps, to actual loss of consciousness.

"And the date with you--" He added with a sniffle of his nose, still stuffing a pepper into his mouth.

He picked up another one and brought it to his lips, but Narda grabbed his wrist to pull his hand away. "We'll go on a date too." She assured him.

But Chanyeol shook his head. "Don't do me any favors, Guti."

He tried to pull his wrist out of her grip, which would have been easier if he wasn't so tired and numb from stuffing a bunch of peppers into his mouth. He had only eaten six already, but he felt like he had eaten a hundred of them.

"No." She quickly shook her head. "I want to."

At the table, the contest continued. By that time, two people had dropped out since they couldn't eat anymore peppers. Other than Chanyeol and Narda, there were about four people left who were still competing. 

"You want to?" He raised an eyebrow at her in question. 

Narda nodded without a second thought. He was already sweating so much that his shirt was getting sweat stains around the neck and under his arms. There were tears streaming down his face and snot beginning to run down his nose. Narda continued to fan him as they spoke, but it wasn't doing much to help him. 

"Yes." She practically yelled it at him in something of a panic. 

"Say it to me." He encouraged her, a smirk forming on his lips now as he brought another pepper to his lips. He knew he wouldn't have to eat it because she was going to do what he wanted.

"I want to go out with you." The words came out in a murmur at first.

"Say it again." He told her, the smirk remaining on his face. 

Narda had yet to catch onto what he was trying to do. But she would do anything to get him to stop in his attempt to win the tickets to the mariachi festival. "I want to go out with you!" She yelled at the top of her lungs when she saw him open his mouth and was about to take a bite of the pepper.

"All right, we'll go out." He grinned, finally placing the pepper down on his plate.

She looked along the table and another two people had quit the contest. They were down to two people, and Narda, since she had gotten Chanyeol to quit. She decided to quit too, stopping at the ten peppers she had eaten. The two remaining people were closing in on her, but she didn't care about that anymore. 

Narda and Chanyeol rose from their chairs. She grabbed some napkins and they walked away as she continued fanning him with her hands. 

He walked her back to her apartment building and when they stopped at the front doors, Narda asked him, "Are you sure you're okay?" Now there was a hint of amusement in her words as she recalled the way he had been unable to handle a few peppers.

His face had gone back to its normal color, but his lips were still red and puffy, as were his eyes. He had stopped sweating and the numbness in his tongue had gone down some. He replied to her, "I think I stopped feeling lightheaded and my lips don't feel as hot or swollen." A smile formed on his lips.

"I'm glad." She said with relief. Then she wiggled her eyebrows at him. "When are you making up with Byun?"

"What?" He eyed her with confusion.

"I ate ten peppers and you only had six. So I win the bet." She pointed out, her tone of voice sounding like it was obvious.

He had completely forgotten their bet because he had gotten her to accept the date in the end. Though he had lost the bet, he felt like he still ended up winning. He was going out on a date with Narda and that was all that mattered to him.

Chanyeol finally heaved a sigh, giving in to her. "I guess I'll talk to him tonight."

"Thank you, Chan." She grinned, and she got on her tip toes to press her lips to his cheek.

-

so a kinda cute chapter for this story. that bit about her saying she wants to go out with him was inspired by the movie "the notebook". i always loved that scene, and the movie itself is one of my favorite movies of all time.

i hope you all like the chapter. i cant believe we're already in the sixth chapter of the sequel. also, thank you for the 500 reads. that means a ton to me.

have a wonderful week!

-clary