+ thirteen

She jogged over to catch up with him and they both made their way down the street together--she with her work uniform looking like a school girl, and Chanyeol with a thick jacket for the cold, a mask covering his face, a cap on his head, a sunglasses covering his eyes. He was trying to go unnoticed in the crowd of people returning home for the afternoon, and Narda almost wanted to tell him he was making himself look rather obvious. They walked side by side, Narda crossed her arms over her chest, feeling the cold of a winter afternoon creeping up and chilling her bones.

She had forgotten to take a coat with her when she left the hotel to meet with Nari since she was in a hurry. Now she was suffering the consequences of it. The one thought that kept her sane was that Nari's apartment had a heater which kept the girls warm and toasty during the harsh winter. Chanyeol glanced at her, immediately noticing she was cold from the way she was hugging herself to generate warmth and said to her, "Ah, you're not used to this weather, are you?"

Narda gave a shake of her head. "Los Angeles is always very warm." But she didn't even have to answer that since it was obvious. 

Without a word, he slipped out of his thick jacket and offered it to her--his hand holding it out for her to take.

Narda took one look at it and bit down on her lip. She wanted to take it, but instead she refused, pushing his hand which held the jacket, away from her gently. "The hotel isn't that far." She reminded him, gesturing with a glance down the street. They were only a couple of streets away from it now.

He rolled his eyes at her playfully, though she couldn't see it through the dark sunglasses he was wearing. He slowed in his walk for a moment, allowing her to pass him and walked behind her, placing the jacket over her shoulders. "You kind of have to wear it." He said to her in his deep voice. "I already took it off, so don't fight me on this. Its the gentlemanly thing to do."

Narda felt a slight blush tint her cheeks as she muttered a low, "Thank you."

-

They arrived at the hotel within ten minutes of walking and Chanyeol helped her carry her belongings back to the apartment building where she lived with Yeo Nari. He dropped her off at her apartment door and then once again made the offer he had made to her earlier, "Do you maybe want to go get some dinner together?" He adjusted the hat on his head--a habit he tended to have when he was nervous-- as he awaited her answer.

She crinkled up her nose before she began her response. "I would really love to. But the one thing I try to be very responsible about is my job. I have to work on the upcoming week's lesson plan. And I just" She paused. When she spoke again, she informed Chanyeol of her true reason for turning his dinner offer down. "...I wouldn't like Baekhyun to see us together and get the wrong idea."

The ungrateful Baekhyun, Chanyeol thought to himself. But instead of insisting, which he really wanted to, Chanyeol nodded with the slightest hint of a forced smile, trying not to let his disappointment show. "Yeah. I understand."

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you again for helping me get my things here."

He nodded again. "No problem. I'll be seeing you, then."

Leaving her at her apartment, he made his way out of the building and across the street to the SM Town dorm building across the street. He made his way to the sixth floor where EXO was staying. Chanyeol went directly to his room and found that his room mate was already back from his individual schedules for the day. The members often had days during the week when they were excused from group schedules in order to fulfill individual commitments. The busiest of the twelve were normally the vocalists--Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, Jongdae, and more rarely Luhan. 

Baekhyun was sat on his bed with a plate of tacos on his lap and his laptop in front of him. He was watching an action movie with the noise blaring at full volume. Chanyeol figured it would be a matter of time before the other members went to their room to complain about the noise level--if they hadn't done so already. When he saw his room mate enter the room, he paused the movie to greet him with a small wave of his hand. "Hey, where've you been?" He knew his room mate didn't have any other commitments that day other than instrumental practice at the SM Town studio building.

Chanyeol sighed and plopped himself down on his bed. He laid down and let his head fall onto his pillow, his dark eyes looking up at the ceiling. "I saw your girl today. She's very loyal to you, you know." He informed Baekhyun. 

"What do you mean?" Baekhyun asked absently, bringing a taco to his lips and taking a large bite out of it. He had heard Chanyeol call Narda your girl, but didn't think to argue about it. There was no point, since his room mate would probably continue to call her that, even if he complained about it.

"I talked to her just now on the street in front of her apartment building and I invited her to have dinner with me." He paused only to see Baekhyun's reaction. Baekhyun flinched slightly at the information, but quickly recovered and went back to eating his food as though it didn't affect him. But in the back of his mind, there was a tiny--but growing--part of him that was mildly annoyed at Chanyeol for that. After gauging Baekhyun's reaction, Chanyeol finished, "She turned me down because she said she had a lot of things to do for her job. Then she said she didn't want you to see us together. She's very loyal to you as your sasaeng."

"Hm." Was the only thing Baekhyun said.

But somewhere in the back of his mind he was glad.

-

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gutilozz: #throwback to a week before leaving for korea with my bro @aldairgl17 and his annoying friends lalo and paco :p jaja

comments...

aldairgl17: ay miss you flaca

aldairgl17: my fave sister........jajaja

dancebiadance: @aldairgl17 u know, i can read the comments u post on her acc, u traitor -.-

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Narda had posted a picture onto instagram to keep herself busy on the train as it took her to her destination--the station a few blocks from her apartment. She smiled to herself, reading the banter between her two siblings. 

The train arrived at her stop minutes later and she left the train with her backpack on her shoulders. People stared as she passed them in her work uniform, since she was a foreigner who appeared to be dressed as a school girl. But she was used to it by now, since she had been living in Korea for over a month. 

She took the flight of stairs that took her up to the street and walked the rest of the way home. The station was on the opposite side of the street, blocks away, and she would need to eventually cross to the other side. But she stopped herself for the time being. The SM building was on the same side and she still thought of the possibility that she might bump into Baekhyun without it seeming like she was doing it intentionally.

To her luck, as she got closer to her street, she could already see the SM housing building and Baekhyun emerged from it all by himself. He hadn't seen her yet, as he was too busy looking at his phone, and Narda took it as her opportunity to grab a book and a notebook out of her backpack, hugging them to her chest as her eyes looked down to the ground. Baekhyun took absent steps in her direction and she pretended to do the same until they bumped into each other. The impact sent her books tumbling out of her hands and Baekhyun gasped. "I'm so sorry." He immediately bowed to her and got on his knees to gather her books.

Narda did the same, quickly getting on her knees to reach for her books. "Don't worry. It was an accident." She assured him.

He had gathered her books and held them out for her to take, and he seemed frozen in his place when he heard who it was. Narda on the other hand, felt her heart thumping madly against her chest. But she contained her emotions.

"Good evening, Baekhyun." She greeted a bit nervously, fearing that he would again coldly reject her. But it had been a while since they had even been that close to each other. She hoped he would have gotten over what had happened when they met. 

"Hello." He nodded towards her, his voice coming out as something of a scratchy mess and he had to clear his throat. "Hello, Narda." He said again, this time adding her name which sounded strange and unnatural in the way he said it. It was almost like when people said her name in English. It didn't flow quite as nicely as it did in Spanish. 

They both got back up to standing at the same time and Baekhyun was just about to excuse himself--he still had to be polite--when she blurted out. "Baekhyun, please forgive me for making you think that you ran me over. I realize that was a stupid thing for me to do and you must have been very stressed out. Please forgive me." The words flowed out of her mouth rapidly as though they would be never ending. But she was afraid that if she didn't get the words out quickly enough, he would just walk away and continue ignoring her. "All I wanted was to get close to you. I know that wasn't the best way to do it."

He sighed. "I forgive you. But really, don't ever do something so reckless again."

She seemed sincere enough, and he did feel bad for getting her kicked out of her apartment--even though he had talked to Nari about taking her back. When Nari informed him that Chanyeol had talked to her about the issue too, Baekhyun was no longer surprised about it. Chanyeol was having too much of a liking for Narda Gutierrez Lozano. You like her, she likes me, Baekhyun couldn't help himself from getting the thought in his mind.

"I promise." She assured.

He nodded and then excused himself politely. "I should go now. Its my turn to pick up dinner tonight. Goodbye." He bowed in front of her and continued down the sidewalk. 

"Bye." She replied quietly, but he was already half way down the street.

Not a minute later, Chanyeol was seen hurrying out of the dorm building. When he saw Baekhyun was no longer nearby, but rather further down the street, he muttered to himself in Korean. "This boy. I told him to wait for me because I wanted to go too, and he leaves me behind."

Narda was still looking towards where Baekhyun headed and she turned when she heard the familiar voice. "Ah, the little liar, the sasaeng teacher." He laughed playfully, adding yet another nickname to her. "By any chance did Baekhyun just walk by? We were supposed to go pick up dinner together, but then he disappeared without me." He asked her. He knew the answer, he could see his group mate walking not too far off down the street. He only wanted a reason to start a conversation with her.

She nodded, gesturing down the street. "Yeah. He just left. You should hurry if you want to catch up to him."

Chanyeol shook his head, giving a dismissive wave of his hand that was directed to the boy who had left without him. "I know where's he's going, I'll just meet him there."

Narda nodded politely. "Okay. Well, I should probably go so I won't keep you..."

"Wait. Want to get dinner together?" He asked her once again, even though he knew the possibility existed that she might reject him like she did before. He preferred to go have something to eat with her than with the other boys who he saw everyday. With a playful warning tone, he told her, "I won't take no for an answer, Narda." The one time he had called her by her name and it felt foreign and strange. He felt much more comfortable calling her the little liar as a cute nickname.

She was about to reply when her body replied for her--her stomach groaned loudly and she remembered she hadn't eaten anything since lunch time that day. It was already five hours past her lunch time. "I was going to say no because of the reason I gave you yesterday." She began, biting down on her lower lip. "But I think my stomach is screaming yes. So I'll take you up on the offer just this once."

"Okay." He grinned.

He began walking ahead and she walked next to him, side by side.

"So..." She began curiously, looking up at him since he was almost a whole foot taller than her. She had her hands behind her back shyly and her footsteps were light. Anyone else who would have seen her would have also thought her to be a school girl. "Where is usted taking me?" She asked.

"Do you like pizza?" He wondered aloud.

She nodded as an amused giggle made its way out of her lips. "You're asking an American if they like pizza? We literally live for pizza. Pizza gives us life, makes us stronger."

He chuckled nervously. "Of course. I forget that Americans tend to eat junk food more than the average person. Well that's where we're going." Getting his cellphone out of his pocket, he added, "I just have to text Baekhyun and let him know he can get the food and head back to the dorm without me--not that it stopped him before."

chanyeol: baek im not going to the kimbap place
with to get the food with u in the end. just buy it
and go back to the dorms.

baekhyun: okay

baekhyun: but why? something happen?

chanyeol: nah nothing

chanyeol: just getting pizza instead with a friend

chanyeol: so i'll just see you at the dorms later
tonight

baekhyun: ...cool

baekhyun: which pizza place??

baekhyun: u know..so i can let the other guys know
where you'll be

chanyeol: the one in the mall

baekhyun: which mall??

baekhyun: six malls over korea?

baekhyun: seoul town mall?

baekhyun: lotte mall?

baekhyun: central city mall?

chanyeol: ur worse than my mom kekeke

baekhyun: in the wise words of eomma hyung...

baekhyun: "if u get lost or kidnapped, what will
i tell the police if i dont know where u r?"

baekhyun: "i cant just tell them my child went out
with a friend whose address and phone number
i don't have. i'd look like a bad parent."

baekhyun: dont be surprised if he calls you later
just to make sure you're alive.

chanyeol: junmyeon hyung exaggerates... *sigh*

chanyeol: 6malls tho 

chanyeol: thats where im going

He didn't even wait for a reply and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He noticed he had paused slightly in his walk to reply to the texts. Now he and Narda continued on their way to the mall together.

-

here's an update for you all with this story because i had a three hour break before my next class. i already killed half of it and have an hour and a half left before i have to go. thank you all so much for reading and supporting this story. it means a lot to me.

and i hope you like the chapter.

have a great week everyone!

-clary xx