99% || ENHYPEN

v. shopping

Saying that Aeri felt nervous was an understatement. It was their first time getting mobbed.

The entire group went out to do some shopping together but fans quickly began to recognize them and started to form a crowd around them. Staff immediately led them to a an empty store and did their best to keep everyone outside while they waited for a van to pick them up.

She knew that their fan base was already quite big despite the short time the group had been active for and each day that passed, she felt more and more thankful for it. Yet, seeing it in real life felt completely different. Before, it was just a number, it was just sentences on their phones, it was just posts on social media. Now, they were people. And there was a lot of them.

During the whole wait, she felt so nervous that she had to hold Heeseung's hands. She had been playing with his fingers to ease the nerves. Usually she would be making the familiar pattern she was so used to doing ever since she was a teenager but she had recently found out that playing with Heeseung's fingers instead of her own helped her staying calm more efficiently.

As the van finally arrived, she laced her fingers between his. She was pretty sure that she was crushing his hand but he didn't say anything and made no move to show her that it hurt him.

Jungwon, as the leader, had been the first one to get out. She could hear the fans screaming at the top of their lungs the moment he stepped out of the comfortable store.

She was the last one to get out.

She was so nervous that she kept pushing back the inevitable, but now that it was her turn, she felt like she could faint because of how anxious she felt.

While they walked, she stayed at the back of the group, waving to fans while wearing a bright smile on her face. If anyone looked at her, they wouldn't be able to tell how she felt inside because of how comfortable she looked. She was smiling, and giving fans finger hearts, but her mind was racing.

She could see fans trying to break past the barrier of bodyguards and staff around them, she could see them trying to grab her members, she could see it all. And she wan't so sure that staying at the back of the group was such a good idea. Especially when she felt someone grabbing her arm.

It was a boy.

It looked like he had managed to sneak behind them and to get closer to her. She could see the look of victory in his eyes when he managed to touch her.

"Aeri, I'm your biggest fan," he told her.

She smiled and thanked him, trying to get away from her grip but it only became tighter.

"Can we take a picture?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl.

He quickly took his phone out of his pocket and aimed the camera towards their faces. She saw him start a screen recording, to make sure he could capture whatever interaction he couldn't capture by a picture.

She felt his hand rest on the small of her back, dangerously close to her butt. And as he snapped the picture, he kissed her on the cheek. Just on the corner of her mouth.

She was taken aback for a few seconds, not expecting him to do such a thing without asking her first. She looked at him and he looked so serene, so normal that she wondered if her imagination had played her a trick.

But before she could even ask, Jay pulled her towards him and the others. She was too stunned by what happened that she didn't notice him and Ni-Ki glaring at the fan. She continued walking with Heeseung by her side, him staying closer to her than before.

She wasn't sure how to feel about the interaction. He had kissed her cheek, but it was just that. A kiss on the cheek. She had been treated much worse during her entire lifetime, a kiss on the cheek wasn't much. Yet, she felt the need to throw up.