milk tea

06:00

"Where are you heading?" Shotaro, who was walking beside Serene, asked. After Taeyong announced the mission, the five separated except for the two. "Out?"

"Just going to visit somewhere before my mission with Yangyang later today," Serene responded. It was a special day for her.

"How are you going to get there?" Shotaro genuinely questioned. "Don't tell me you're going to drive. You don't know how to drive and you don't have a car."

"I was planning to commute there, Shotaro," answered the curious boy, Serene stepped out of the base. Following behind her, Shotaro went out of the base. "Why're you following me?"

"How far is the place?" yet another question came from Shotaro. Taking out his keys from his pocket, he opened his car. "I'll take you there."

"That's sus."

"How is a kind gesture considered sus?"

"It's my trust issues speaking, sorry. Are you sure though? It's pretty far. The last time we went on a drive, we ended up arguing almost the whole way there," she mentioned the memorable drive that had occurred back then.

"It's not going to be the same as last time, things are different now." Shotaro shrugged as he said those words. He started to walk towards his car nonchalantly before looking back at Serene who hadn't taken a step yet. "Rejecting my offer?"

"Just because it's you, I'll take it," Serene accepted the kind offer of Shotaro. She caught up to him, the two walking beside each other. "But the place we're going to, keep it a secret, okay?"

"Of course, you can trust me."

The little sparks in Shotaro's heart were giving him much excitement. There was progress, not towards him confessing, but progress in gaining her trust. However, he avoided looking at Serene because his cheeks were getting hot.

The two hopped into the car and Serene put the location in the car's GPS. The location was a cemetery. This had surprised Shotaro a little bit but was able to control himself from showing a reaction that would make things awkward. He didn't want to ask who she was visiting there, but the amount of trust she had in him was shown by that simple action.

The car started to leave the mini parking area of the base and headed to its destination.

Before the two left, a car had parked at the end of the parking area. With flowers in the back seats of his car, he had simply sighed. He couldn't believe that he was a couple of minutes late.

"Wow," in disbelief, Jaemin grabbed the bouquet of flowers in the back. He had even asked Doyoung to ask Serene what her favorite flowers were. "That important place you were going to that Doyoung said, it was with Shotaro, huh?"

The little note hidden in between the flowers caught his attention again. He could only smile bitterly while putting them on the passenger's seat.

'Congrats on 5th! I saw your smile earlier and you looked happy, I think. You worked hard, I'm proud of you :)'