Once outside, Chanyeol thought for a full minute about following an impulse. What the heck? He got through talking to her anyway, why not just forge ahead? Besides it was late. He wanted to make sure she would be safe. “Kyungsoo?”

She looked up at him. “Yes?”

He hesitated, his heart beating much faster. “I’ll walk you to your dorm. M-My car’s parked near there anyway so...”

Kyungsoo smiled. She wasn’t really expecting him to do that, but sure, she would really enjoy the company. “Okay. Thank you.”

Chanyeol pressed his lips together, adjusting his eyeglasses.  He wondered what he should say next.  Her dorm was about a good fifteen-minute walk. He slowed his pace, hoping to prolong his time with her. He might never get this chance again, and he couldn’t remember being this happy in his entire life.

They walked side by side now. “So... do you like literature?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Huh?” Chanyeol blinked. “Well... it’s okay. I... I missed that class in sophomore year so I’m only taking it now.”

“I see,” she said, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket. “Me, I love the classics. Machiavelli, Browning, Joyce...”

“You mean we’re not just discussing Shakespeare?”

Kyungsoo looked at him, and then laughed when she realized he was joking. “No. We finished with him a month ago. Have you any idea whose work we are at?”

His cheeks turned crimson. “Uh... not really.”

Kyungsoo snickered. “I guess it must bore you...”

He hesitated. She must think he was a total . “Yeah,” he answered truthfully, laughing. “But I like watching live plays.” Then he realized he should’ve kept his mouth shut as she turned to him expectantly. “Uh... like your plays, from the theatre club.” he admitted then, no sense hiding it now.

“And which plays have you watched?”

“Sleeping Beauty, King Arthur, Aladin...” his voice trailed off as surprise on her face became more evident. “The Sound of Music and Gone with the Wind...”

He just enumerated every play she ever acted in. “Have you always watched plays?” she queried curiously.

Chanyeol looked away. He only watched the plays because of her, wanting to see every movement, every piece of emotion, every execution of dialogue, her laughter, her voice, her smile, her tears... He felt like in the plays, he knew her and she was revealing sides of her from somewhere deep in her heart, while he remained in the audience, just an entranced spectator, dazzled by her beauty, wit and charm. “Um... they make it easier for me to understand the books better,” he feigned, hoping she wouldn’t mistake him for a stalker.

Kyungsoo’s smile was still there as she stared at him for a while, didn’t know what to make of this person. He was artistic and romantic, for someone who wasn’t inclined to the literary word, and yet he watched plays. “Would you watch Miss Saigon too?”

“Of course,” Chanyeol answered automatically. He bit his lip. Perhaps he answered her a little too eagerly.

“I hope to see you there,” she said gently, wishing he would really support the production.

Chanyeol nodded, planning on reserving the seat front and center so nothing would be restricted from his sight, and it would be as though she would be talking and feeling only for him, when in fact she would be addressing an entire auditorium.

Then his car was coming to view. “That’s my car,” he tried conversationally, pointing at the Camaro.

Kyungsoo grinned. “Yes, I remember. Jongin told me. I think it’s gorgeous.” She ran to it excitedly, running a hand on the hood with fondness. “How ever did you find this model at this day and age?”

Chanyeol watched her, amused, as he slowly followed, his feet lingering at his approach but nonetheless it was towards her... “It was my parents’ gift to me on my eighteenth birthday. I remember, a week later, I got my license so I thought it was the next best thing that happened to me.”

Her interest was piqued. “What’s the best thing, then, if this isn’t it?”

His smile slowly faded as his eyes tenderly locked with hers. Chanyeol swallowed, cutting off the contact after a moment in the fear that Kyungsoo would realize that it was three years ago that he had first seen her. “Just... turning eighteen. It literally meant I was an adult.” He chuckled softly, leaning against the hood beside her.

Kyungsoo turned her gaze at the Camaro, openly admiring it. “This is so classic. It might as well have been a chariot with white steeds. And the color is so beautiful. Do you like red?”

“Yeah, I do.”