A FEW HOURS BEFORE IMPACT

Welcome Young Lovers to Cupid's Playground

'Tis here where true Soulmates are found

Play, cuddle and give Chocolate Kisses

For Eros' arrow hardly ever misses

Happy Valentine's Day!

A pair of big eyes looked around the school grounds, seeing the world being paired off in happy couples or in small herds of girls chasing after that one special Valentine.

D.O. sighed softly to himself as he wondered why he was still here. The local Hanwol high school always created a special festival in honor of Valentine's Day, knowing and understanding the young hearts of their students. And try as he may, he never was able to get out of it.

Every freaking year... he thought to himself. It wasn't that he hated Valentine's Day or thought the holiday ridiculous- it was just that it made him feel awkward. All these girls showering guys in their affections and chocolates- oh Lord, the chocolates! He pursed his lips together when he felt the weight of his messenger bag. It honestly surprised him each year how he managed to get boxes of chocolates of secret and not-so-secret admirers. D.O. wasn't used to the attention, though, and always ended up feeling shy and awkward when a girl came up to him to hand him a box of those delectable sweets.

If it had just stuck to politely accepting chocolate gifts and going about one's day, D.O. wouldn't have mind the holiday so much. But no, the school had to set up a festival on the school grounds for young lovers to 'play' in. He hummed to himself while rolling his eyes at seeing the countless game stands for people to win their significant other ginormous stuffed animals that really didn't have a useful function. Then, of course, there were the 'Love Goes Through the Stomach' food stands that sold savory snacks and even more chocolate in case people ran out of the stuff. The attractions, D.O. decided, were arguably the worst.

The Love Tunnel, the Love Maze, the Kissing Carrousel, Spinning the Bottle Ferris Wheel... he scoffed. Talk about cheesy. And yet, the whole student body were enjoying themselves, just having fun. He seemed to be the only one just looking around as though he was lost and pathetically alone.

D.O. let out another soft sigh and automatically started looking around to see if he could spot his brothers anywhere. They would probably be swarmed by female attention right now, helplessly locked within a herd of love-crazed teenage girls. Shouldn't be that hard to spot then, he thought a bit sadistically to himself while smirking. He immediately scanned the premisses for large groups of girls squealing and walking around. If he managed to find one of those, one of his brothers was bound to be close by.

Most likely Luhan-hyung, he thought deviously, maybe Kris-hyung.

Granted, the twelve of them were rather popular when Valentine's Day peeked around the corner, but Luhan and Kris seemed to be popular all year round- maybe Kai was as well, and Suho, of course. Lay wasn't doing all too bad either in the popularity contest, though D.O. doubted whether that particular hyung was even aware of it. He furrowed his eyebrows as he seriously thought the matter over. Maybe all of them were rather popular all year round, if he had to be completely honest, though he couldn't entirely speak for himself. He actually didn't know how it was possible that he still managed to catch the attention of a few girls at school. He had always thought that he had ruined his own image just by being himself, which was quiet and aloof, and because of the fact that he was bullied for most of the time at school.

Guess being a wolf has its perks, he shrugged, still searching the area for any signs of his brothers. D.O. then caught himself searching not only for his brothers, but for a certain young lady as well. He thought he had seen Jae drag an extra bag with her through the halls this morning, and something told him that the bag contained chocolate gifts. Knowing the girl, she probably got all twelve of them a little something to show that she cared, though he was admittedly a bit peeved that it also probably meant that none of them should look into it too much.

Alright. Maybe he was just a bit cynical about Valentine's Day. After all, what was the freaking point of celebrating it if he couldn't spend it with the girl of his choice? He felt a little terrible thinking that, considering that there was a fair amount of other girls that would like to be his Valentine, but it just wasn't the same. Of course he'd return the favor of having received their thoughtful gifts on White Day, a month from now, to express his gratitude, but right now that wasn't going to do anyone any good.

Was it so bad of him to think that he wanted to spend Valentine's Day with Jae? His brothers probably had the same idea...

An exasperated sigh escaped through his heart-shaped lips when he finally spotted a familiar, dorky-looking face in the distance.

Chanyeol wore a bright grin on his face, teeth gleaming proudly, eyes filled with happiness at seeing the chocolate bonbons a girl had prepared for him. Heck, even his ears seemed to have perked up cheerfully at the attention he was receiving. D.O. shook his head as he made his way over, patiently waiting until his brother was finished with his conversation. The girl walked away after giving the chocolates, giggling as she ran back to her group of friends.

"Chocolate kisses! Awesome! With this latest addition, I'm sitting pretty on eighteen gifts!" Chanyeol laughed to himself, his chest puffing up with pride.

"Seriously? You're keeping count?" D.O. remarked as he walked over, smirking when he saw that he had successfully startled the big lug.

"D.O.!" Chanyeol greeted, waving at him. "Of course, I have to know how many gifts to buy on White Day," he replied, though something told D.O. that that was not the only reason why he kept score.

"Hmhm, right," he answered dryly.

"Well, how many did you get?" Chanyeol asked, looking far too excited.

D.O. shrugged as he looked at his messenger bag. "Not that much," he dismissed, adjusting the strap. He purposely looked away as if he was looking for the rest of the pack before Chanyeol would notice his cheeks-

"Aw, is Kyungsoo-ah blushing? Yes, you are! You're blushing! Aigoo, kyeopta!" Chanyeol cooed, but immediately jumped back when he heard D.O. exclaiming out of frustration. "Whoa, mercy, mercy!" Chanyeol called out when D.O. grabbed him by the arm. He ruffled the taller boy's hair and let him go with a disgruntled sigh.

"Have you seen Jae?" he then asked straightforwardly, surprising Chanyeol.

"Jae-noona? Uh, I think she was with her friend, Lili. Why?"

"No reason," D.O. answered, groaning out of embarrassment when he caught sight of Kris in the distance, surrounded by a group of senior girls, posing for a selca. Nothing strange about that ordeal, were it not for the fact that Kris was wearing a pair of cat ears that lit up with hearts over his head. There was no doubt that people were crazy on Valentine's Day. Therefore, he felt no pity whatsoever when Chanyeol pointed out to Luhan in the distance, being swarmed by teenage girls from all classes. Just as D.O. had predicted.

"Oh man, it's not fair. Luhan-hyung always gets the most chocolates," he stated, but D.O. shook his head in disapproval.

"So what? I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. Stupid lovesick people chasing after you," he commented, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Ah you don't mean that, D.O.," Chanyeol nudged. "Love is great! Everyone would want to be in Lu-hyung's shoes on Valentine's Day," he declared, but D.O. wasn't convinced at all.

"Not me. It's pointless," he stated defiantly. "Luhan-hyung is chased by so many girls, but he spends the entirety of Valentine's Day running away from them."

"Now, now, D.O.," Chanyeol started with a chuckle. "Don't say stuff like that! You might upset Cupid!" he jested. "And just admit it, you're saying those things because you're jealous, right?"

D.O. smacked Chanyeol's hand away when the taller teen started prodding his cheek. "Whatever," he grumbled while Chanyeol laughed.

"HA!" someone suddenly called behind them and they turned to see Baekhyun running towards them.

"Seventeen!" he pointed at Chanyeol, a look of triumph on his face.

"Eighteen!" Chanyeol retaliated, chuckling madly as D.O. shook his head. He should've known that they'd be competing again.

"What?! You bought one for yourself, didn't you?" Baekhyun accused.

"As if! Just admit it, I'm more popular than you!" Chanyeol provoked and D.O. was already trying to escape when Chen joined soon after, leaning annoyingly on him while meddling into the discussion Chanyeol and Baekhyun were having. D.O. tried to move away, but was proven unsuccessful when Sehun and Tao came by, stuffing their faces with chocolate and arguing over who would get more gifts by the end of the day.

Soon enough the pack had gathered and there was no way for D.O. to leave. Why did he think that it was a good idea to go looking for them in the first place again?

"Whoa, Luhan-hyung looks exhausted," Chen laughed, pointing at the guy who had sunk to the ground to catch his breath. Xiumin was patting his shoulder supportively, though he couldn't help but smirk at Luhan's fortunate misfortune.

"It's not funny. Some of these girls are really intense, you know," Luhan huffed.

"How terrible it must be for you to have every girl at school be in love with you. Whatever will you do?" D.O. quipped dryly.

"Aw, did you not get any chocolates, Kyungsoo?" Kris asked after hearing the biting comment.

"Hey, I get chocolates, alright? This whole holiday is just ridiculous, that's all," D.O. waved off, though he wasn't sure why he said that. Maybe the idea that his brothers were more popular than him kind of irked him. Because if girls were more drawn to them, then wouldn't that mean that Jae felt the same way?

"D.O. is waiting for Jae-noona to give chocolates," Chanyeol suddenly piped up, earning a cuff on the head from D.O..

"Oh, Jae-noona! Yeah, I saw her with her friend at the Love Maze. I think Minho-hyung was there, too," Tao spoke.

"What? Peasant-hyung?! And you didn't think to tell me? We passed there moments ago!" Sehun argued, but Tao shrugged.

"She said she was looking for us so I didn't think too much of it. Relax will you, Sehunnie?"

"Aha, of course she's looking for us. Who else would she give chocolates to?" Kris interjected, smoothing over his hair.

"Who said she's going to give all of us chocolates, though?" Chen suddenly smirked. "Maybe she's only going to give it to one of us."

An ominous silence fell and D.O. felt a sense of jealousy tense up the air when he looked at his brothers. He scoffed lightly at seeing Lay's genuinely confused face, while he exchanged glances with Kai, who looked like he really couldn't give a damn.

"It's totally going to be me, naturally," Kris then said, breaking the awkward silence.

"Yeah, right, when pigs fly, hyung!" Chen replied.

"That can be arranged. Luhan, lift up a pig with your mind," the duizhang ordered, but Luhan shook his head, pushing him away.

"All of you need to get your heads checked. Jae is totally going to give me a gift, every other girl at school has," he said smugly, being met by scoffing and sounds of protests from his brothers.

"I'm going to laugh when none of you get anything," Suho provoked, but the words of the leader didn't sound convincing at all.

"Oh, puhlease, as if you're getting chocolate from Jae, hyung!" Sehun dismissed easily.

The boys started arguing rather loudly while D.O. wisely decided to stay out of the silly discussion. He tried to pretend that he didn't care, but he did secretly hope that Jae would at least give him a box of the sweets as well. As he thought about it, he caught sight of whom he thought to be a little girl, dressed like a cherub, wings and everything. When he blinked and looked for her again, she was lost in the crowd.

Weird. Since when did the school hire mascots to walk around?

He was still staring into the crowd when two girls entered his visual field and he tensed up. Jae was smiling and talking animatedly to her friend, Lili, as they approached. Jae seemed to try to calm her friend down and judging by the huge heart-shaped box the girl was carrying with her, he guessed it was because she wanted to give it to Luhan. He recognized Lili to be Luhan's number one fan. The poor girl was already blushing and nervous, while she hadn't even spoken to him yet.

How come girls didn't act that way around him? The girls that supposedly were into him were always so calm - giddy - but calm and far more collected than he felt he was. D.O. took another deep breath. Was he seriously feeling jealous?

"...Don't worry, Lili, you'll be fine," Jae whispered to her before she noticed D.O. and waved at him. Lili copied the gesture a bit more timidly and he responded shyly by just lifting his hand to acknowledge them. He turned to his brothers who were still arguing, contemplating to tell them that Jae and Lili were coming, but then he just let out a tiresome huff and quietly walked towards the girls instead.

"Hey, D.O.," Jae greeted, holding a dufflebag.

"Hi Jae," he replied, feeling relieved to see her. "Hi Lili," he then greeted the bright girl who smiled back.

"Annyeong, D.O.-sshi! Happy Valentine's Day," she said cheerfully.

"Oh, yeah, uh, happy Valentine's Day," he mumbled.

"So," Jae started, "Do you happen to know why the guys are semi-slapping at each other and shouting?" she asked, gesturing behind him to reveal his band of dorky brothers going at each other like little children.

"It's Valentine's Day. Love is in the air so they get crazy," he deadpanned, smirking when he could tell that Jae got his joke.

"Oh no, hope they're not fighting," Lili said on the other hand, looking genuinely concerned.

"Nah, don't worry about it, they're just fooling around," D.O. clarified. "I bet you'd like to talk to Luhan-hyung, huh?" he said, making the girl blush.

"Well, yes...But he seems busy, so maybe later," Lili grabbed Jae's arm in response, wanting to walk away.

"Oh, no, you don't, Missy. Come on, no better time than the present," Jae encouraged, grabbing Lili by the arm and pulling her along with her.

"Wait, Jae-yah-," the girl objected in vain. D.O. nearly felt sorry for her. Of course he followed from behind to enjoy the show when none of them realized that Jae was approaching until she cleared her throat.

All of them turned their heads towards her, completely frozen in place as though Tao had stopped time.

"Hi guys," she said with an amused smile.

"Jae!"

"Noona!" they exclaimed, attempting to recover themselves.

"Hi!" they sang in unison, making both girls chuckle. "So, eh, Lili, you want to take the floor?" Jae suggested, slightly nudging a blushing Lili forward.

"A-ah," she stammered, shuffling her feet, but not being able to find her words.

"Luhan, Lili saw something really awesome that she wants to show you," Jae started, trying to help her friend along though D.O. could tell that she was feeling just as awkward. She gestured at Luhan with her eyes when Lili wasn't looking and he finally seemed to catch on.

"Ah-ah! Oh, I mean, hm, yes. Really? What?" he said and D.O. facepalmed himself. And the Oscar for best actor goes to...not Luhan-hyung, that's for sure.

"Why don't we let Luhan find out in private, if that's okay with you, Lili," D.O. suggested, winking subtly when he caught Jae's grateful look.

"That would be nice, D.O.-sshi, thank you," Lili nodded, to which the rest took as a sign to make themselves scarce.

"We'll be, uh, over there, somewhere," Chanyeol muttered before giving a bright grin and walking off. Jae whispered something quickly in Lili's ear and then joined the boys.