What If... [EXO Suho and Apink Eunji Fanfiction]

Chapter 29

"So, all in all, you nine have done very well in the past year. I expect greater things from you in the coming years," President Lee said, closing up his laptop with the notes he had made about their performance in the prior year.

All nine of them stood up, bowing deeply. "Thank you, President Park! We'll work harder in the coming year!"

The CEO nodded at them. "I expect good work from you." He gestured that they could now leave his office.

The nine left the office, talking about how they did better than they'd thought. Right at that moment, Junmyeon's phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out to see a text from the person he'd been thinking about a lot.

"Hey, are you free this evening?" Eunji asked.

He shot a glance at his other members talking about the review. A tradition of sorts in this group was that whenever they'd have performance reviews, that night Junmyeon would give them another briefing, of conduct and other things that were left unsaid by the CEO, since he mostly used fanbase numbers and sales to judge whether they'd performed well or not. Junmyeon was known to give a more detailed breakdown of their activities, and it also gave him a chance to introspect and see where he needed improvements. 

But today...

Baekhyun seemed to have caught his eye by accident, but when he shot a look down at the phone in his hand, his eyes widened slightly as he realized what was going on. 

He gave him a slight nod.

Junmyeon hesitantly looked down at his phone again, fingers hovering over the keypad as he fought a battle against his duties as a leader and his selfish desire to see Eunji again. 

He took a deep breath, and quickly typed in a reply before he could change his mind.

"Yeah, I am."

He took a moment as his world came crashing down around him.

What the hell did he just do!!

Within moments he received another reply from her. "Cool, can we meet near the Han River like last time?"

"What time?" he replied.

"How about the same?" she texted back. "It did prevent us from being spotted."

"Alright, see you then."

He locked his phone to see that the others had gone along and Baekhyun was the only one left. He staggered over to Baekhyun and grabbed his shoulders.

"H-hyung? Are you alright?"

He exhaled, leaning on his junior. "What on earth did I just do?"

***

He set up the meeting place late, like last time, so there wouldn't be anybody around. 

He paced the pathway next to the glistening river, impatience seeping into his bones. He kept putting his hands in his pockets and removing them, often rubbing them together. He walked a few feet ahead, and then turned back and walked those few feet again, repeating it over and over.

He stopped, suddenly pondering over how he looked so much like someone in the middle of a forbidden love.

He scoffed at himself. "This is ridiculous," he muttered. "What on earth do I have to be afraid of?"

Right before his paranoid mind could make him even more paranoid, he turned around to see Eunji walking up to him.

It then hit him like a truck that it had been quite a while since he'd seen her.

As he waited for her to approach him, his mind began going nuts. Oh God, she was actually here! What should he do? What should he say? Should he just bring up his weird confession? Should he just try to play it off as a joke? Should he maybe try to restore their previous dynamic?

She came up and stood in front of him and he found his words stuck in his throat.

"H-hey," she hesitantly said.

"Uh...h-hey," he managed out.

She shyly shifted on her feet. "It's...uh...it's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Y-yeah, it...uh...has."

She looked around at anywhere except him before finally looking back at him. She took in a deep breath. "So...uh..." She let out a slight laugh. "I have no idea where to even start," she said.

"Just say it," he said, taking a step forward. "I'm serious, Eunji, don't think about it, just do it."

She slightly nodded before nervously running a hand through her hair. "I like you," she mumbled, her voice nearly inaudible.

"Huh?" he asked, leaning his head forward to try and catch the words.

"I like you," she mumbled once again, slightly louder but he still couldn't hear her.

He leaned in closer to her face, smirking slightly when he saw her blush from the close proximity. "Huh? I didn't hear you," he lightly teased.

"I said I like you, okay!" she yelled out, turning away from him, the red on her cheeks definitely not from the cold.

He laughed, drawing back.

I like you.

For the first time, he felt the weight lift off his shoulders and a happy feeling take over his mind. An airborne feeling settled in his stomach and he felt the tension flow out from his body.

She liked him.

She liked him.

All the worrying and overthinking and wondering whether he should purchase this time machine off the internet and turn time back to the way it was. Now, he was happy that he didn't buy that time machine, as this was the best moment of his year. 

She seemed a bit taken aback by his sudden laughter and so reached out a hesitant hand. "Uh...Junmyeon?"

He grabbed her and pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her hair. Once she was able to get her bearings, she realized that she could feel his smile, and by the way he was holding her and how shaky his breath seemed.

Was he that burdened?

"You have no idea how many times I visualized this moment," he mumbled. "You. Seriously. Have. No. Idea."

She paused for a moment but then snaked her arms around his shoulders, finally burying her face into his neck and feeling the heat of his feverish skin.

"I like you," she repeated, her voice much more stable and audible. She said it with conviction, because she finally knew what she wanted: him. 

"I like you too," he said.

***

A/N: I was going to add another scene, but it felt right to leave it off at this.

I'd say there's like five more chapters or so remaining in this story, so we're officially closing in on the end!

I'll try to be as frequent as possible, because I really want to see this story to its end, but if they're delayed, just know that its because I had an exam or something that day. 

And check out an EXO songfic for "Hurt" I posted recently!