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( song of the day :
eyes locked, hands
locked - red velvet )

seoyeon lightly nudged johnny, whose attention was preoccupied with the pork on his platter. her lower lip protruded in a pout when he acted as if he sense the method of touch. "focus on me!"

"'til when did you become this attention-seeking?" he chuckled.

that complacent emotion while deriding was then replaced with utter shock once her two fingers (thumb and index) forcefully tipped his chin for their faces to point towards each other. she drunkenly smiled after the simple success, while the other still kept an expression of utter surprise. he heard her mutter a, "that's better."

"you know, i find you really hot," she said without much thought, which astonished everybody within their hearing range. the man's eyes widened a little more.

jace and ryot snorted in unison, only to be shushed by taeyong afterwards. this occurance was very unexpected from their team leader, considering how serious her personality showed whenever she undergone sobriety.

seoyeon continued, "and even though you tend to annoy the fuck out of me as a sales agent at times, and was something so irritating as a classmate back in school, i can't stay mad at you for more than twelve hours. you drive me mad, but the good kind. i mean, you made me stop my sleeping pills habit. that warms my heart, man. you care about me.

"so you better go out with me or you'll be deemed a coward for a lifetime."

johnny smiled, sincere joy oozing from his expression. yes, he was still sober if you were curious. "funny how i've been waiting for those words since high school."

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ahn's exploring eyes stopped at doyoung in front of him, observing the way he chewed on his food. he then decided to ask, "hey, are you drunk?"

"not yet. why?"

"i just wanted to thank you for . . that. for saving my cowardly ass. i owe you something more than ice cream, that's for sure," he awkwardly said, his words audibly tinged with gratefulness. "thanks for stepping up for me when i was being interrogated by seongsu. i really appreciate the gesture."

"eh, that was nothing," doyoung waved the worrisome remark of his senior. "i just had to scream your name and walk in front of you. what's there to owe?"

the silence they dealt with had an unusual touch of anticipation. it was as if the peace was waiting to be broken. doyoung decided to speak up.

"i know this is random, but i've read in a book that love in relationships have stages. along the way of feeling that certain emotion, you'd still have uncertainties. the time all those doubts wash away is the time where you see love blooming." he shared. "in our current situation, shouldn't we consider ourselves being in a pre-relationship stage?"

doyoung's cheeriness slightly faded after gaining no response for about two minutes. "but it's totally okay if you don't want━"

"pre-relationship stage it is."

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