Seolhyun looked so incredibly serious and determined at that moment that Chanyeol’s lips actually twisted into the faint resemblance of a smile. Her attempts to cheer him up were more than endearing, but sadly today he simply wanted to let go of his easy- and outgoing image, leave the happy virus behind and turn into a bunch of sadness that huddled under his blanket, ate ice cream, and sulked about his life and the loss he experienced.
But there was no way he could do that with the other idol around, especially not since he knew she cared about him and hated to see him without a smile. This was why he had actually intended to avoid her, but completely forgot about their regular meeting for some coffee and talking until she had been standing in front of his door.
And now she was in here, and somehow on top of that her silly antics actually worked, and when she moved towards him in the playful attempt to tickle him, he finally, finallycracked a smile.
“Fine, here you go. Are you happy now? No tickles?”
* I understood the feeling of being too upset to even fake a smile. I knew it too well after years in the industry but I just couldn’t let it go. Seeing him without a smile was so foreign to me. I would’ve bet that he smiled in his sleep too. I attempted aegyo, stupid jokes, and even food but no-- he cracked after the mention of tickles.
---- “What 185 cm guy is scared of the tickle monster?”
I asked quite simply, having a toothy grin on my own face. A small smile-- this is a good step, right? I sighed heavily and gave up on my efforts to cheer him up. He’s probably not cracking at all of my other techniques since it’s been a while for the both of us. Did he grow dull to my charms? I sat next to him, shoving the straw of the Americano into his mouth.
“Okay, you get three wishes today. What should I do to cheer you up? The only rule is, the first two wishes can’t be for me to leave you alone. That will never ever ever happen!”