"Steal Dalnim?" Coach Seon mumbled out as she glanced back and forth between the unlikely childhood friends.

Chanyeol requested he would take Dalnim for the rest of the day, which no one from her side could ever believe of hearing. Everything had been confirmed in front of them. Their Yoon Dalnim and EXO's Park Chanyeol knew each other, and well enough that they would mess around like children. The news that their teammate was buddies with someone like him must've been like a slap to the face. Sudden and quick, but very effective.

Dalnim stared at her coach expectedly. She knew that they were supposed to have an evening volleyball practice today. Her coach wasn't one to cancel practice so easily either.

"Yeah, sure. Go for it," the coach replied, baring a strained, shy smile at Chanyeol. She nodded at the thirteen girls, gesturing for them to follow her. "We better head back, girls."

"Wait a second!" Young Gi burst out, stepping out from the girls. All attention were then on him, but his focus stayed on the girl in question. "Dalnim, don't you have practice you need to go to?" He glanced over to his mother, hoping that she would listen to her own flesh and blood. "Right, mom? Isn't there practice?"

"Don't worry, Young Gi-yah. There's no practice today," Coach Seon told her son. She placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. "None at all. So let's get going." With that firm grip, she dragged Young Gi along with her, barely giving him a chance to say his goodbyes to his friend.

As they all passed by, Dalnim's teammates quietly demanded they get a detailed explanation the next day. The spiker agreed and waved goodbye to her girls until they all exited the building.

She glimpsed over at Chanyeol, her arms crossed over her chest. After all, today was like a slap to the face to her as well. "Alright, Sunny. Where are you taking me?" She asked him, an annoyed tone in her voice.

Dalnim wasn't sure what to feel exactly at the moment. It would've been nice to have heard about this news before now. Had she really been so busy that this wasn't information to be passed by her? Now that she thought about it, her family should've known, right? Her own sister didn't bother to give her a ring... Unless it was to ask her for clothes.

She couldn't even trust her close-knit family.

"You'll see when we get there," Chanyeol replied. Suddenly, he took a step closer to her, and by instinct, Dalnim stepped back as well. She shot him a suspicious look, while he returned a confused, innocent look. "What are you doing?"

Dalnim scoffed, "What are you doing?"

"Don't move and trust me." Chanyeol gotten a hold on Dalnim's scarf and wrapped it in a way so half of her face was covered. He then removed his snapback, his messy brunette hair nearly falling to his eyes, and placed it onto her own head. And for good measure, he put on her jacket hood for her, tucking away the few strands of hair from her face.

Dalnim hoped to the heavens above that the scarf covered her face enough to hide her reddened cheeks.

She turned her face away from him and pulled down the scarf so she could talk. "What's the point of this?"

"You can never be so sure about the paparazzi," he replied as he zipped up his jacket. "You should know how crazy they could get by now, Miss Athletic Beauty." That earned him a punch to his arm. "Ouch! Don't bruise the superstar!"

"Don't provoke the national volleyball player," Dalnim snapped back. From behind Chanyeol, the rest of EXO appeared. She quickly bowed to the boys in greeting. "Hello, everyone."

"Yoon Dalnim-ah, it's a pleasure to officially meet you," Suho told her, the leader taking action for the rest of them. "Chanyeol talks about you all the time." She whipped her head at the very man with a threatening glare. "Oh, don't worry! He didn't say anything bad!"

"Trust me. He practically praises you every time he talks about you," Xiumin put in with a few chiming in agreement.

"He better," Dalnim mumbled.

Out of the blue, Sehun wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She froze to his touch, but didn't make a move to push him away. "We better get going, or we'll be late." With Chen on her opposite side, they urged her to walk with them. In front of her, Kai walked backwards to look at her, with Baekhyun helping him.

The four boys hurried to take her away Chanyeol. This was a rare opportunity. Even though they had plenty of hilarious moment with the tallest member, it'd be good to know a few past stories. It can go well for blackmail later too. "So, Dalnim-noona, how about you ride in our car? You can tell us all about hyung's childhood!"

"I'm sure he's had a few embarrassing moments, right?" Baekhyun asked her with a smirk, the curiosity getting to him.

"Tons!"

Chanyeol jogged over to the bunch, tore the maknae's arm away, and squeezed right in between him and his childhood friend. He glared at each one of his mischievous bandmates. "Yah, yah, yah! Why are you all stealing my friend away from me?"

"We just want to know her better, hyung, since she's such good friends with you," Sehun chimed in with a pout. "So, she'll ride in our car."

"But she's my friend! She should be riding with someone she's most comfortable with, not with you delinquents!!"

Dalnim watched the boys bicker childishly in front of her. With light shoving and noogies to the head, it's obvious that they were all great friends. All she could think of was how well a group they were all together, including the ones who were walking behind. She thanked the boys mentally for taking care of Chanyeol for the years she couldn't.

"Yoon Dalnim!"

She started with a jolt. They have stopped right in front of the exit of the building and Dalnim had been lost in her thoughts the whole walk there. All the boys were looking at her, waiting for a response. "Huh?"

"We asked you who you would want to ride with!" Chanyeol repeated himself with a stern look for not listening in the first place.

"Oh... I'll ride with them."

The rapper's jaw dropped. "You're leaving me?!"

The first group of boys cheered over her answer, hi-5ing one another and with her. "Let's go, Dalnim-ah," Chen told her.

"Yeah, noona, keep your hood on just in case!" Kai added.

Dalnim bid a quick goodbye to Chanyeol before following after the four boys. Kai, Sehun, Chen, and Baekhyun made sure to circle around the girl, so to make it harder for any paparazzi to take a picture of her. They let her into the van first before themselves. Once they were all inside, the van began to move.

Dalnim began to strip herself from the hood and the scarf, the body heat and the heat from the van finally getting to her. But Baekhyun had lunged at her, keeping her hood on. "Not yet," the blond warned her.

They were now exiting the gates of ADIDAS. Dalnim could now see why she had to keep her disguise on. The second they peeked out, the windows were bombarded by enthusiastic fans. Screaming and smacking their hands against the windows, the girls outside want their oppas to notice them, at least bare them a glance. Dalnim made sure to hold her breath as the van inched past the sea of awaiting girls. After five minutes, the path had finally cleared and they were off.

"That was insane," Dalnim muttered as she removed the hood and the scarf. She glimpsed at each boy, who all looked calm after that craziness. "You're all used to it by now, huh?"

"Yeah. We love them but they can be a little too dedicated," Chen replied as he laid back in his seat to the right of her.

"And can be a little scary," Kai added with a chuckle.

"I'm sure you have quite the fanboys, now, Dalnim-noona!" Sehun chimed in with a smile. He then pointed at himself. "That includes me~"

Dalnim giggled, reaching over to pinch the maknae's cheeks. "You're so cute!" She cooed.

The three other boys burst out into laughter, while the youngest pulled away from her hold with a prominent frown on his face. "I'll have you know, noona, I'm very manly."

From behind him, Baekhyun smacked the back of his head. "Hey! Stop being a weirdo to Chanyeol's girl, will ya?" The heat rushed to Dalnim's cheeks at the words. Was that what she's known for in their group?... She wasn't complaining.

She didn't bother to say anything against Baekhyun as he and Sehun went onto their useless dispute. She couldn't even bother to listen to them anymore as their topic had changed to something else. Luckily, she still had Kai and Chen to talk to.

They talked amongst themselves for a while, so they really got well acquainted. Once the subject suddenly drifted to a time when her and Chanyeol gotten punishment over some idiotic thing they did together, Sehun and Baekhyun joined in.

Over the short time they had altogether in that van, Dalnim was right about one thing. She could definitely see herself being good friends with these boys and the more she talked to them, the harder it was to think that these boys were worldwide famous. She was positive that she'd forget altogether they're performers loved by millions because they were as down to earth as can be. They were just like the boys she knew when she was in high school. Silly, obnoxious, energetic, your typical boy, and she appreciates that.

~*~*~*~

S.M. Entertainment.

That's where the ten of them were dropped off at. Dalnim barely got a question out while Chanyeol dragged her into the tall building before them. She walked in silence, her eyes shifting around to get every detail of the inside. Anyone could tell it was a professional place for entertainers. Hundreds of people bustling about, fancy furniture, and plenty of posters of the company's entertainers hung on every wall. This was the place EXO was born and that's such a weird concept to wrap around Dalnim's head. Surely, her teammates would be jealous to be in her place right now.

The boys had lead her into a room with a wallpaper of clouds on one side of the room and mirrors in every other wall. The girl took off her jacket and scarf and set it down so she could look around. "Wait here, NimNim, we'll just change really quick, ok?" Chanyeol told her. "Today, you have the rare opportunity to see our dance practice up close and personal."

Once all the boys had changed into looser clothes for practice, they returned and began doing their starting routine of stretching and simple exercises. After ten minutes of doing so, they were ready to go.

Dalnim was nearly bursting from her seat with excitement. She knew Chanyeol wouldn't be known for his dancing. She had seen enough of it when they were younger and she could openly say that he wasn't the best around. So to have to opportunity to see what his trainee days and EXO have done to improve it was something worth watching.

"Alright, Yoon Dalnim, today is special," Suho told her as the boys got into some formation with Chanyeol, Kai, and Chen sitting in chairs in the middle. "We'll be practicing songs that we haven't released yet. You'll both get a first listen as well as a first look at what our performance would look like. We need you to keep this all in the down low."

Dalnim clapped her hands together. "Don't worry about it! Honestly, can't wait," she cheered.

The boys all nodded to one another and Xiumin was the one to start the music. An upbeat tune began to play from the speakers, the song bringing Dalnim dancing in her seat. And then Kyungsoo began to sing.

She ended up smiling through the whole song.

From the amazing vocals to the adorable dance moves to the rapping, Dalnim found herself loving every second of it. And they have succeeded in the last thing she would become, a blushing, squealing mess. All nine of the boys went up to her as if they were singing the song just for her and their cute expressions only weakened her more. Compared to Growl, this was on the other end of the spectrum, but she enjoyed it just as much.

The next songs they practiced were from the winter album, as that was what they informed her. She was thrilled to see all these boys work with full concentration...with the occasional goofing off. An idol's life really is hard and they looked to be loving it anyway, just like Dalnim with her volleyball.

When they finished with Lightsaber, they all collapsed on the ground, gulping down water like there's no tomorrow. Dalnim took the vacant spot next to Lay and Chanyeol on the planked floor and clapped for the hundredth time that day. "Guys, that was absolutely amazing!" she cheered.

Chanyeol reached over and patted her head affectionately. "Thanks, NimNim, that means a lot coming from you. Does this mean you'll be our fan from now on?"

Dalnim didn't need second thoughts on that question. She shot up a thumbs up with a nod. "Yoon Dalnim is now EXO's fan!"

"You have a long way to go, then," Baekhyun said from the opposite side from Chanyeol.

All the boys began recommending Dalnim what songs to start off with. Dalnim tried to note them all in mind, but in end, she promised herself that she'll just look them up later when sh gets home. That'll definitely be easier to do rather than listen to different songs individually.

"How about we dance to some of our single songs?" Chen suggested to his bandmates. "So, Dalnim-ah can have a sense what our style is."

"If that's ok with you all," Dalnim replied.

And so for the remaining time of her visit, she had been educated in the ways of becoming an EXO-L.

~*~*~*~

"You really didn't have to come with me, Sunny."

"NimNim, just lemme be a good friend."

Dalnim finally left S.M. Entertainment around 9 in the evening. EXO's manager had come into the practice room and informed her that it was about time to leave. She had bid goodbye to her new acquaintances and left the building with Chanyeol.

Chanyeol told her that around this time, she shouldn't be concerned with anyone taking an unauthorized photograph, so they freely walked to the closest bus stop. They both sat down on the benches provided as they waited for the bus to come in ten minutes. The tall male craned his head to look down at her, a tired but delighted smile on his face. "So, how do you feel?" he asked.

"About today?" Dalnim muttered, turning her head so to meet his eyes. "Hectic and shocking." A laugh left her lips as she nudged him in the side. "But it was fantastic knowing that my best friend had fulfilled his dreams."

"Hey, you can't be the only one shooting for their dreams here," Chanyeol chuckled. He broke the eye contact to look up at the starry sky above them. Dalnim followed suit. Along with the faint, glittering stars, she watched her breath swirl in the slight breeze. "When you started doing your training for that volleyball scholarship in high school, I knew I had to step up my game." The man suddenly jolted up and began rummaging for something in his pockets. Once he grabbed it, he handed it over to Dalnim. It was an album, with its background yellow and a weird symbol in the front. She gawked at it in awe, running her thumbs over the smooth surface. "This is our most recent album. You can start listening to this and go backwards chronologically."

"Thanks Chanyeol," she murmured, putting the CD into her bag. "I'll put it on once I get home."

The bus screeched to a stop in front of the two. They stood up, hugged one another, and Dalnim began to climb on the bus. She stopped however and turned to face Chanyeol again. "Will you be going home for the holidays?" she asked him with hope. "I haven't seen my family in a while, but Coach Seon is allowing us to go home this year, sooo..." She bit down on her lip, letting out a heavy breath. "It'd be really cool if we went home together."

Dalnim's heart raced in anticipation when she was met with silence right after her question. Chanyeol just stood there, staring at her with an expression she couldn't read. But soon enough, that handsome smile appeared, making her heart race for another reason. "That sounds great, Dalnim. Text me when you get home, ok?"

"Ok, goodbye, Sunny!" She finally entered the bus, paid for the ride, and went to one of the vacant seats by the window. She laid back on the plastic seat and reached her hand up to run her fingers through her hair, but was stopped when she felt something else. With a gasp, Dalnim looked out the window, banging on it to grab Chanyeol's attention again. Once he looked over at her, she pointed at the snapback he had given to her to wear earlier that day. It was just now she realized she was still wearing it.

"Give it to me next time," he shouted, just barely audible for Dalnim to hear through the thick window. As the bus pulled away from the stop, the two waved goodbye to each other until they were both too far away.

Dalnim let out a sigh, holding the hat to her chest. Her mind was in its own little world. Dalnim never would have imagined this was the life her childhood friend lead.

Being loved by millions.

Having a packed schedule every single day.

The lack of a private life.

That was a daily thing for Park Chanyeol and her heart panged for it.

Why?

Because the idea of their friendship kindling into the relationship she had desired for so long seemed far-fetched now. And even if they had reunited, she knew that their schedules will soon clash and there wouldn't be any time to see Chanyeol. He'll be flying around the world doing his duties while she's stuck in Seoul for volleyball. Both with a some level of fame that'll make it difficult for them to meet without complications.

To summarize, for anything to happen further than now, seemed impossible.

And Yoon Dalnim was sure now that she never moved on from that first love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/n: Someone help. All these Unfair performances are KILLING ME. LIKE OK, I CAN'T DEAL WITH THE FIRST ONE, BUT THEN THEY DRESSED UP FOR THE SECOND ONE, AND NOW THEY'RE ALL CUTE SANTAS. I cannot right now. I DON'T EVEN CARE IF THEY DRESSED UP AS OLD PEOPLE, AS FOOD, OR WHATEVER, I WOULD STILL LOVE THE CRAP OUT OF THEM.

Also, can Kissasian please sub episodes 13 and 14 of Reply 1988. Please and thank you. Unless you guys know somewhere I can watch those with eng subs. I will love you forever.