I am NOT your fan | EXO CHEN

15. Runaway

Song: Playing with Fire - BLACKPINK ✨

'My mom told me every day to be careful of guys. Because love is like playing with fire, I'll get hurt. My mom might be right, because when I see you, my heart gets hot. But rather than fear, my attraction to you is bigger.'

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"Hello, nice to meet you." He smirked arrogantly and reached out his hand for a formal handshake. Honestly, I was reluctant to return the gesture. But I couldn't reject it either because there were eyes on the both of us, so I raised my hand to accept his greeting. "Nice to meet you too, Jun."

"Now that you two have met, let's get started, shall we?" Jason initiated, allowing me the chance to break away from the awfully fake handshake. I sat next to Jun in the recording studio, along with both the directors-in-charge, Jason and Hazel. Jongdae showed up today too but he was only sitting at the side to watch.

"Okay, let's listen to what you two have for us, yeah?" Hazel said and inserted our thumb drives into the system. This was the start of the assessment.

...

I stood before a vending machine again, eyeing for the same hot chocolate drink. Eager for it, I dug deep into my jacket pocket to fetch some coins and counted the amount in my palms to see if it was enough for the drink. A dollar... and ten cents, twenty, thirty...

Just then, at the corner of my eye, someone downed several coins into the coin inserter. He selected his drink silently and processed the transaction, intentionally ignoring my presence as the person who came first. 

I whipped around angrily, coming face to face with him - my newfound competitor, Jun, and cast him a death glare. "Can't you wait? I was here first."

He reached down for his drink calmly before answering me. Ugh!

"I didn't think it was necessary to queue for a vending machine," he said.

"And I didn't think you'd be this rude..." I muttered under my breath.

"Well, I don't see why I have to pretend to be friendly to you."

From an objective perspective, he made a fair point. At least he wasn't full of pretense. So this is his true self.

"Why do you have to make it so obvious? I don't know if that makes me dislike you more or less," I cussed lowly.

"E-Excuse me?"

"What? Are you surprised to find out that I dislike you too? Well, now you know!" I stomped off, abandoning my intention of a chocolate drink. He just made me lose my appetite. It didn't take more than ten steps before another voice popped into my ears though.

"Are you always annoyed this easily?"

I stopped in my tracks and turned to him. Look who we have here, it's Jongdae. He was leaning against a wall as he spoke to me.

"Are you always stalking me? What are you doing here? Watching me?" I eyed him suspiciously and he raised his hands in defence.

"I was here the past 5 minutes before you even came out of the room."

Right, I briefly remember him leaving the recording studio before I did. I just didn't expect him to be here. I loosened up and walked over to the wall opposite of him and leaned on it too. "So... you heard both of our songs," I fiddled with my hands to avoid his gaze. "I want to hear your honest opinion about whose song you like better."