ʟᴏᴠᴇSTAY ֶָ֢𖹭 ˢᵏᶻ ᵃᵘ

²¹ 𖹭 ᵐᵃᵐᵃ ᵇᵃʰⁿᵍ

「 ʷᵒʳᵈ ᶜᵒᵘⁿᵗ 𖹭 ⁵,²⁵¹ 」
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╔══⋅˚₊ ‧ ˖ ݁ 𖥔.꒰ঌᰔ໒꒱.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ‧₊˚ ⋅══╗
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❝ 𝑾𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈

𝑫𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏

𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒍 ❞
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╚═══ ⋅˚₊ ‧ ˖ ݁ .꒰ঌᰔ໒꒱. ݁ ˖ ‧₊˚ ⋅ ═══╝
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⋅ POV⋅
⋅⊰ BANGCHAN⊱⋅

The whole evening, I couldn't help but notice that Mei grew a bit quieter than normal... perhaps a bit nervous. It also seemed like she was avoiding meeting my eyes too often. This made the twenty-minute drive to the restaurant feel more like an hour; none of this was due to negative feelings on my part, however. It simply felt like time slowed down around Mei now that we had been able to meet in person. I would admit I felt somewhat uneasy, simply because it was easier to maintain a friendship over social media, but everything could change out of nowhere when that connection shifted to one in person. I wanted to make all of the initial moves to make Mei feel less nervous but I was much less confident than I expected myself to be around her. Hence my frustration when Jeongin beat me to ask her the most simple questions that for some reason felt so difficult for me to ask her.

"Mei, you alright?" The maknae asked in a quiet voice, though I could easily hear it from where I sat on the opposite side of him.

Seemingly startled out of deep thoughts, Mei slightly jumped at the sound of Jeongin's voice from her left whispering the question laced with concern. Blinking over at the boy, her eyes softened at the genuine worry on his face as he eyed her. From my peripheral, I noticed the way she tightened her arms around herself that held her oversized jacket close to her frame.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, am I acting weird?" She murmured back with wide eyes, slightly leaning towards Jeongin so he could pick up her words.

Jeongin chuckled a little, holding a hand up to his mouth as he glanced at the others before assuring Mei, "No, not at all, you just seem quieter than before– which is okay! I just wanted to make sure you weren't upset or anything."

I watched as Mei's dimpled smile naturally grew at the sweet gesture of my younger band member.

"You're so sweet. Thank you," the girl responded as she seemed to notice that Hannah had now switched her gaze over to her. "I'm okay, just a little nervous."

When Jeongin tilted his head in slight confusion like a puppy, I wondered what it meant when Mei suddenly glanced at me for the briefest moment before looking back at Jeongin. At this, the younger member's face transformed into one of realization before he sent Mei a teasing little smirk that had her narrowing her eyes playfully in return. They exchanged a few more amused yet quiet laughs before they returned to the food and overall conversation with the remainder of us.

They seem close, I silently noticed as I found myself still looking at Mei as I zoned out. Just as she switched her gaze back to the others seated around the table, she nearly caught me but I swiftly averted my eyes.

Although I wasn't one to be oblivious, I also was not one to make assumptions at the risk of embarrassing myself; so while I knew Mei might have been referring to being nervous around me specifically, she just as easily could have been referring to any of the other members.