universe cafe // exo

- 23 -

   Jun-Oh and Kyungsoo watched as Chanyeol pushed Kris away and Soojin followed. Silence hung in the air as they refrained from talking.

Jun-Oh pulled out her phone to busy herself from Soojin's absence while Kyungsoo started organizing the supplies behind the ticket booth.

"So," he started quite awkwardly, "how do you like hanging out with Kris?" Kyungsoo refused to look up from his task.

Jun-Oh pressed her lips together in thought. "You see, he's not much of a talker. He likes his phone a lot." She slowly nodded, recognizing how bored he seemed hanging out with her. "I guess I kind of expected more, but..." Jun-Oh shrugged. "I'm also not surprised. He had that face, you know?"

   "He used to work for Universe," Kyungsoo told her. "He kind of started some conflict between us and ended up leaving the company. It caused two others to quit as well."

   "Yikes, I guess I still have time to dodge that bullet," Jun-Oh chuckled. "To be honest, I'm glad to be away from him. It was getting uncomfortable."

   "He can have that power." Kyungsoo gave her a small smile.

   "So, what's up with Soojin and Chanyeol?" Jun-Oh brought up.

   "I don't know. Chanyeol has been acting really weird, especially when she's around."

  "And Soojin is louder than normal when Chanyeol is present." Jun-Oh started laughing.

   "Chanyeol has never been in a relationship before. He usually scares them away when they get too close, so this is probably good for him."

   "Same with Soojin."

   "Speaking of them," Kyungsoo nodded in Soojin and Chanyeol's direction, "I think they're coming this way."

   Soojin skipped up to Jun-Oh, looking a bit mischievous. "Kris said he was just going to go home. Seems like he doesn't care enough to stay." Soojin shrugged with a look of fake disappointment.

   Chanyeol walked up behind Soojin. "But let's not let his absence hold us back. In fact," Chanyeol smirked, "we should celebrate by giving Jun-Oh a free go at trying to dunk Kyungsoo."

   Soojin gave him a proud look. "Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea!"

Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes, examining Chanyeol's wounds. "What's wrong with your face? You look even more disgusting than usual."

Chanyeol cupped his face and frowned. "Stop, I'm sensitive."

"It looks like you got into a fight," Jun-Oh chuckled.

"Did you not see him fall over there?" Soojin forced a laugh. "I swear, he could trip over his own shadow."

"My shadow is pretty sneaky." Chanyeol shrugged, playing along.

Kyungsoo shook his head and looked over to Jun-Oh. "This is who I chose to be friends with."

Jun-Oh laughed at his statement while Soojin and Chanyeol glanced at each other, fighting back their smiles.

"Anyway," Jun-Oh started, "get me stared with that free round."

Kyungsoo sighed and made his way to the dunking tank. Chanyeol handed Jun-Oh three balls in excitement and stood next to Soojin.

"You have to dunk him," Chanyeol laughed. "I need to see him fall."

   Kyungsoo seated himself on the chair with a heavy sigh. "Fire away."

   Jun-Oh prepared herself by aiming and then throwing at the target, but unfortunately missed the first two.

   "You're just as bad as Soojin," Chanyeol teased, which received a shove from Soojin.

   "Shut up, do you want me to give you more wounds?" She jokingly raised a fist, but couldn't hold back a laugh.

    "Maybe that'll make him look better," Kyungsoo chimed in.

   Chanyeol pouted and crossed his arms. "I came here to have a good time, but I honestly feel so attacked right now."

   "Okay, here goes my lucky third one," Jun-Oh breathed, preparing herself to hit the target. As the last ball hit nailed the bullseye, the dunking booth let off a small ding as the seat fell. Kyungsoo splashed into the water.

   The three outside the water started cracking up and giving Jun-Oh high-fives. Kyungsoo came up and wiped the water from his face and brushed his hair back.

   "At least the water is warm," Kyungsoo commented.

   Chanyeol snickered. "I think Lay peed in it."

   "Ew," Kyungsoo rushed to get out. "What the fu—"

   "Ah, I'm just kidding," Chanyeol gave an amused smile. "He did do that last year though."

   Kyungsoo grabbed a towel from behind the stand and started to dry off. "This rotation ends in a few minutes, then we have a break. That's also when the fireworks should be going off."

   "Yeah." Chanyeol nodded. "We were the first to schedule our rotation. We planned it out so we could get to watch them without working."

   "We should all sit together," Soojin suggested.

   Jun-Oh grinned. "That sounds awesome." She turned to Kyungsoo to hear his opinion.

   He met eyes with Jun-Oh. "I'm down," Kyungsoo agreed.

   Chanyeol gave Soojin a secret wink while she smiled in return.