Just Seven Days ✓

❄ Day Three

"Why are we at the mall?" Jihye questioned as they stepped onto the escalator.

"You said you've never visited Santa before, right?" Lay replied, keeping his head straight.

"Yeah..." Her voice trailed off and when they reached the first floor, Jihye's eyes rounded when she looked forward. "Oh no."

"That's right," he cheesed as he turned to catch her reaction. "Today you're going to visit Saint Nick, tell him what you want for Christmas and then take a photo so you could remember this day for the rest of your life."

At the place set up as Santa's workshop, there were children all lined up with their parents and Jihye felt humiliated, needless to say. "I'm too old for this." She hissed under her breath. She was about to make a break for it when he caught her arm.

"Nonsense. You can never be too old for Santa." Lay argued as he dragged her to the end of the line. People walking by, mainly girls and boys around their own age, stared at the pair shamelessly, some even giggling and whispering amongst themselves.

"Look, they're all laughing at us." She complained as she tried to conceal her identity. Who knows, they could turn out to be her classmates! 

"Who cares what they think," Lay snickered as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her closer. "We have more Christmas spirit than they do and they're just jealous." At the skinship, Jihye could feel her heart starting to lose its steady rhythm. She forgot about where they were as that foreign and alienated sensation she had experienced the day before resurfaced. Suddenly, she felt beads of sweat forming at her temples and quickly shrugged off the latter's arm. "Oh, sorry about that." Lay apologized as she hid her face from his sight.

She could feel her cheeks getting hotter as she tried to fan herself without getting caught. "I-it's fine." She replied nervously. Qi Jihye never got nervous. It was a first and she did not neglect this fact.

"Are you sure?" Lay tried to steal a glimpse of her as he leaned forward on his toes but his attempts altered nothing. With the girl's back being the only thing he could see, he sighed and smacked the side of his head, careful not to let her hear. He was in the process of mentally scolding himself for pulling such a stunt on Jihye. He didn't know why he had done something like that. It just felt natural to him. He didn't even think anything through when he had dragged her in.

All Lay remembered was her strawberry scent invading his nostrils and how warm her body was pressed against his. It was really strange to him how easily he could initiate skinship with Jihye. Lay was never that good in dealing with anyone coming from the female population besides his mother.

Sure he had plenty of fangirls at school but not one of them caught his interest like she did. And whenever they launched a conversation with him, it always ended up dicey. They tried and tried but not a single one of them had ever succeeded in gaining his attention and now Lay was starting to realize why. He realized why it was so different when it came to her. Because in this case, it wasn't Jihye who was venturing for access to his heart. Oh no, on the contrary, it was he who was trying to sweep her off of her feet. And now that he had realized this, he became super self-conscious about every single thing he did that might influence Jihye's thoughts on him.

"Hey, Lay!" Someone shouted from behind the duo.

"Luhan?" Lay squeaked as two males approached them.

"See, I told you it was him, Tao." Luhan grinned as he punched the younger one's arm.

"W-what are you guys doing here?" Lay's voice hitched as he anxiously glanced over to Jihye who was spectating them.