+ nineteen

For the bitter part of the next few weeks, Narda was ignored by Baekhyun and they had gone right back to the beginning in which they were nothing more than mere strangers. Each day she went to her job as an English teacher at Seoul Foreign School, and each day she'd run into Chanyeol and Baekhyun who were on their way to get food for dinner. This was on days in which all they had scheduled were either fan signs or performances for television broadcasting. Chanyeol had been oddly generous towards the boys in offering to pick up dinner for them, but it was just his excuse to see Narda. 

Narda got to attend some of the performances on live shows like Music Core and Inkigayo, thanks to Nari who was gifted free tickets as EXO's hair stylist by her bosses at SM Entertainment. The ones she couldn't attend she watched on her television, proud of the success EXO was still accumulating as a group.

Each time Baekhyun spotted Narda, he would rush past her. 

When she tried to stop him for a brief moment, he'd always hurriedly tell her, "Chanyeol is over there, Guti." While gesturing to the boy who was walking up to her with calm steps but a smile he couldn't contain was on his lips. Chanyeol was thankful that Baekhyun was keeping the promise he had made, even though Chanyeol had tricked him into agreeing.

"What's wrong with him?" Narda frowned, asking Chanyeol. Since they were best friends and room mates, she figured he would know. 

Chanyeol replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't know."

But of course, he knew exactly what was wrong with Byun Baekhyun.

By the time the end of March came around, Narda was used to Baekhyun not speaking to her anymore, and even going out of his way to avoid her. But that didn't mean she had given up on their friendship. The more he tried to avoid her, the more she tried to get his attention. She knew that there was something wrong, something that he wasn't telling her. Right before he started ignoring her again, they had gotten along just fine and she didn't understand why he had so drastically changed.

At the beginning of that incoming month, there were several commitments that EXO had as a group. One of them was the recording of vocals for their second mini-album Overdose. XOXO, and Mama had preceded it and both were albums that had done very well in the music charts. Another thing they had planned was the recording of a music video for the single Overdose, which they had been practicing the dance routine for. Then there was a spring carnival hosted by SM Entertainment for charity, in which many of the idols were required to volunteer their time at one of the many booths.

Narda had gotten on the volunteer list--after a series of background checks and interviews with SM recruits--thanks to Nari and her friendship. She was looking forward to going for the volunteer experience, but especially because most of SM's idols would be there, including Baekhyun.

In the mean time, Chanyeol capitalized on Narda being ignored by Baekhyun.

They had become good friends and he had even gotten her phone number, after which they talked every day through text messages. He also followed her on instagram, causing another media frenzy which went ignored by SM Entertainment because it died down within a matter of hours after it was found out that she would be volunteering at the carnival. Many of EXO's fans had taken that as the reason for him following her on social media.

A week before Chanyeol had been scheduled to record his vocals and raps for the new mini album, he visited Narda at Nari's apartment. Nari had been out all afternoon, staying after hours at the SM building as the stylists prepared everything for the new hair styles which the boys would be wearing during the Overdose era.

"Ah..." Chanyeol groaned, clearly frustrated with himself as he sat on the living room couch with Narda. "I'm just not feeling my rap part for Overdose." 

They had been watching a Mexican drama on the television, which Narda was really into, but he didn't understand any of it. Narda bit down on her lower lip as she thought about the struggles of being a musician. It seemed so simple to an outsider. But with Chanyeol stressing out about having to record his vocals just a week from then made the situation all the more real to her. Grabbing the remote which was in between them, she muted the television in order to listen to him.

"I just want to scrap all of it and start over. But there's no time." He told her, running a hand through his dark hair.

She encouraged, a smile forming on her lips. "I bet its great. Why don't you show me what you have?"

He looked back at her with surprise. "You want to hear one of my raps?"

"Yeah." She nodded in affirmation. "I'm not saying this because you're here right now and we're friends, but I love your raps. Your voice speaks to me on a spiritual level." She joked at the last bit, a giggle making an appearance.

He chuckled with her, his insecurity dying down significantly.

After a few more words of encouragement and a bit of hesitance on his part, he finally rapped for her. Narda only sat there watching him intently, the way he was so invested in what he was saying. Even though she couldn't understand a word of it, all she understood was when he said I can't stop and that was only because he said it in English, she thought it sounded amazing, and she let him know that.

"I loved it, Channie." She clapped her hands together as her smile grew on her lips. "I didn't understand a word you said. But I thought it sounded great. What were you insecure about?"

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Now I'm not sure why I felt insecure about it. Just--your encouragement made me feel so much better. Thank you, Narda." He said to her.

She told him, "I didn't do anything. That was all you."

-

It was the day of the charity spring carnival and Narda had gone with Nari to the SM agency building by public transportation. From there, they would receive special carnival volunteer shirts and would then take company cars to their destination. When Chanyeol spotted Narda in the crowd of people in the parking lot of the SM building, he hurried to her side and wanted to ride in the same car with her, but Nari reminded him that the idols and the other volunteers had to ride in separate cars.

The EXO boys were going through a rough time as a group. A lot of them were hurt that one of their members had hidden a big secret from them. Yixing had secretly been dating Park Mae of Baby Lips for over a year when everyone found out--or at least that was what the media claimed. There were even photographs as evidence to prove it. But even so, both SM and Pledis denied the rumors. The other eleven EXO members weren't so sure anymore. 

They had been surrounded in never ending amounts of rumors and scandals, and they weren't nearly as close as they were when they started out. The most distant of them at that time was Yifan, who acted in a hostile manner towards all the members except Tao. 

All of those problems had managed to drive a wedge between the members.

Narda had read about the rumors and the scandals, but she didn't mention anything to Chanyeol about it. That was their own personal business to handle as a group, and she didn't want him to think that she was only pretending to be his friend in order to get inside information about EXO. Though he didn't say it, Chanyeol was thankful to her for not asking about the problems. When he was around her, all he wanted to do was smile. She put him in a good mood with her positivity and her way of making awkward situations light. She was carefree and outgoing just like he was.

The moment they arrived at the carnival, Narda saw Nari scanning the area for someone in the crowds. She figured it was probably Kyungsoo that she was searching for. Though Nari had said nothing to Narda, she already suspected that there was something between them. He was always so sweet and always taking care of her. 

She didn't doubt that there was a big chance he was the person who secretly visited Nari all the time.

Narda was also searching, but she was searching for Baekhyun.

Instead she was met with a tall EXO member waving his arms high above his head to get her attention as he hurried over to her. Narda side glanced at Nari who pushed her forward, encouraging her to go with him. Narda walked the remaining steps as Chanyeol finished closing the distance between them. "Where are you volunteering today, Guti?" He asked her, calling her by her nickname which was one she normally went by. 

He often found it difficult to pronounce her first name Narda, since in Korean most consonants went along with vowels in each syllable. The combination of sounds rd didn't exist in his language and her name ended up sounding like Na-ra-da. Guti--on the other hand--was easy for him to pronounce because each syllable contained a vowel and a consonant.

His other nickname for her--the little liar--was one he reserved for the times in which they were alone because he didn't want people to get the wrong idea if he called her that in public.

She replied to him with a smile as he greeted her with a side hug. "I'm working the kissing booth today. I have the shift after some dude named..." She trailed off, pulling the booth schedule sheet of paper out of her pocket. "Huang Chuyen. But that isn't for another two hours."

"Oh, that's Tao's sister." Chanyeol clarified.

Narda laughed in slight embarrassment. "Oops. I clearly know nothing about Asian names."

"There's no way you could have known that." Chanyeol told her with a smile. Rubbing his hands together in anticipation as his eyes took in all the booths in sight, he said, "I don't have to be at the popcorn booth for another three hours. Wanna go play games and eat junk food together?" As he spoke, one in particular caught his eye. Marriage booth--for pretend marriages. That was where he wanted to go with Narda. But he wouldn't mention it. He would have to be smart about it and get her there without her noticing.

Her expression brightened with excitement at his proposal, mostly because of the junk food. She had always been bad at carnival games. "If they have Mexican food here, I will honestly never leave."

-

She and Chanyeol parted ways for the moment when she saw that the kissing booth was abandoned after a fight broke out nearby. She hadn't been able to see who it was due to all the people gathered there, but when they cleared out, she got behind the booth counter to start her shift. She had figured that Huang Chuyen had probably gotten startled during the fight and went to go get help.

Next to her at the booth she places a stuffed animal that Chanyeol got for her. It was a monkey with fluffy fur and big ears that stuck out. He had won it for her--or more accurately bought it--and jokingly said that she could sleep with it and pretend it was him.

Narda had been laughing through his attempts to win the stuffed animal. He had tried at least ten times on one of the games where one was given five hoops and three of them had to encircle glass bottles that were placed a few feet off. Chanyeol had slapped down yet another carnival ticket that he had bought to play the games when the person running the booth--Shinee's Taemin--said with a frustrated sigh, "You know, if you can't win it, you can buy the stuffed animal for ten thousand won." He pointed to a sign at the front of the booth which stated the very same thing he told them.

Chanyeol put the hoops down on the counter and reached for his wallet. Narda insisted that it wasn't necessary, but he got out the ten thousand won and said to his label mate, "Give me that monkey over there." He pointed to it with his index finger.

Taemin got it for him and handed it to Chanyeol, who immediately handed it to Narda. She hugged it close to her chest and inhaled a whiff of the stuffed animal's scent. "He smells like bananas. That's gonna be his name. Bananas."

Currently, she was sitting at a booth during a shift that wasn't hers. 

After she parted ways with Chanyeol, she didn't notice he had gone to wait in line for the kissing booth until the line got shorter and she had kissed about twenty pairs of lips. 

In the distance she could see Baekhyun watching them, and she wondered if he would come over too. But he didn't. He stayed there for several minutes. People came and went, and Narda saw Tao approach Baekhyun. They exchanged some words before Tao left him, and Baekhyun continued to stand there with his arms crossed over his chest.

It eventually got to Chanyeol's turn. Narda could see the joy on his face as he placed a ticket in front of her. She stamped it with a kissing booth stamp and placed it in a box. Chanyeol had to crouch down, almost getting on his knees to get at eye level with her. She was shorter than him and it didn't help that she was sitting down. He waited patiently, but eagerly for his kiss and Narda placed her hands on both sides of his face. She didn't want to give him false hopes, but it was a kissing booth and he had paid for it. 

She swallowed hard and he closed his eyes, expecting his kiss already. But when she quickly pressed her lips to his forehead, his smile was wiped clean off his face.

He opened his eyes, which were full of disappointment. "Don't I get a real kiss, Guti? I paid just like everyone else." He asked her a question as his lips formed a pout. It doesn't mean the same thing to you that it does to everyone else, she almost wanted to tell him. But she kept it in her thoughts. From the corner of her eye she looked out for Baekhyun who was watching them bitterly. 

"Yes." She instead told him and laughed nervously. "That was just...practice."

This time he was the one who cupped her face in his hands, as though fearing she would escape. 

Narda slowly leaned in the rest of the way and closed her eyes, feeling Chanyeol's soft lips against hers. He lingered a bit longer than she would have hoped and when they pulled away, she opened her eyes and glanced towards where Baekhyun had been standing.

But he was gone.

-

i haven't written for this book in like a month, and now i kind of feel strange writing for this one only because i am no longer writing for no you girls. and i keep wanting to write sun instead of narda. but sun and narda are two different people who have their own stories.

thank you all loads for reading. i know this one might feel a bit rushed, i just didn't want it to get too long. so i shortened some things.

have a great weekend!

-clary xx