Nine

"Let me carry those." Luhan signaled her to put her stuff on his box full with the pamphlets that they need to finish off in these two days. Jessica was carrying a box of stationaries and a few other things and Luhan couldn't stand looking at how she carried all those. His box is heavy enough that Jessica insisted to carry the other stuff by herself.

Venus High will be having their annual cultural festival at which their students display their artistic achievement and it is part of their school special activities. Each class is required to send two representatives and they will be a part of community that will handle and take charge for this event.

Every year, the community that handles this event will need to stay at school until late at night since there are a lot of things to plan and do. Just like previous years, no one wants to volunteer to be the representative for this event and because of that their homeroom teacher will just randomly choose two persons. Unfortunately, for this year, Luhan and Jessica were chosen by their teacher.

Jessica shook her head. "I can carry this. No worries."

Luhan put down his box when Jessica refused to give her things. Then he took the stationary box from her hand and he put it on top of his box. "You looked unbalance while walking. People will misunderstand as if I bully you to carry those." Luhan laughed.

Jessica smiled at him. "Fine, as you wish. But mine is not as heavy as yours."

"You're still a girl, you know." They walked to their class. Luckily the meeting venue was not that far from their class. Both of them prefer to do the work in their own class rather than do it in class that full of other students. It will be too noisy and they can't really focus on the work. Furthermore, when the students know that Luhan was chosen as one of the community members, a lot of his fangirls offered to involve in the planning.

"Finally, we're here." Luhan heaved a sigh of relief. He put of all the things on his table. No one was around at this hour. He looked at his watch, 4.30PM. The meeting really took quite a long time. "What time do you want to go back today?"

"No idea, probably until we can finish at least quarter of this work?" But, when she thinks again, to finish quarter of it also might take them hours.

Luhan looked at the box again. "I'll walk you home, then."

"It's.." Before she could decline, Luhan cut her right away.

"I don't take no as answer, Jessica. After all, it's going to be dark by the time we go out from school." Luhan divide the work between them. Since Jessica's handwriting is neater, she will do the writing and he will do the cutting work and staple them together.

For the first ten minutes, they were both immersed in their works that both of them stayed silence. But after a while, boredom strikes Luhan and he started to hum a song.

Jessica recognized the song right away. "Heartbeat?"

Luhan stopped humming, surprised that she knew the song when he was just humming it. "You know that song?"

She nodded her head a few times. "Lee Hom, isn't it? The song was very famous back then." Her family was staying at Beijing for a year and the song was like playing on repetitive during that time. She remembered she used to sing the song every time she trained her vocal.

Luhan smiled. "Talking about that, I heard you lived in Beijing before? Which part of Beijing?"

"Haidian District."

"Oh, really? My family is from there too. What a small world. There's a famous mandoo shop nearby and I never missed to eat there when I go to Beijing." Until now, he still went to his grandparents' house every year when there's any event or celebration. When he was a kid, every time his parents brought him there, he used to cry a lot when it's time to go back to Seoul. He loves staying there since his grandparents always pampered him.

"I think I know which shop that you're talking about. It's the one that open very early in the morning and people always queue up, right? I love theirs mandoo too. Now, you make me craving for mandoo." Every week she also never missed to queue to buy their famous mandoo. It's very delicious and makes you crave for more once you taste it.

Luhan laughed. Her face was glowing while talking about it. "I know a shop here that sells mandoo. Though it's not as delicious as the one that we're talking about, but this one is not bad either. I can bring you there afterwards for dinner."

"Okay." Jessica agreed right away. Since she's new here, she hasn't really looking for a good place to eat out. But then she remembered about something. "Only two of us are going today?"

Luhan nodded. "I don't think any of the boys still here. Why? You don't want to go out with me alone?" Luhan sensed that perhaps she doesn't feel comfortable going out with just the two of them since the rumor about them is still in the air.

Jessica smiled. "I'm fine with that."

Luhan laughed. "You really didn't sound convincing enough. Don't worry too much about the stupid rumor. They cannot touch you anyway." When he heard from Kris how she fought back when the girls confronted her, he couldn't help but feeling impressed. She's really not an easy opponent.

~~~

Jessica looked at the clock. They spent at least three hours here and the work done is not even quarter of it. Since it's almost 8PM now, they decided to stop first and continue with it tomorrow. Their fingers almost cramp doing all the writing and cutting work by now and for the past half an hour Luhan has been complaining why on earth they're the one chosen by the teachers when there are others to choose. The most she could do was only laughed at it.

Luhan has stopped doing his work like five minutes ago and now he has been standing at the door, waited for Jessica to pack her bag. "Do you really need to bring all those books with you? Tomorrow you still have to bring it back since we have that subject for first period." He asked her when he saw her carried the thick textbook.

"I need this to do my study." She simply answered him. It has been a habit for her to study the topic before the teachers teach them in class. At least, if she's not clear about it, she can pay extra attention during the class.

"Then leave the other textbooks from your beg in my locker. I'll bring it to the class tomorrow for you." He offered her his locker. After all the things that happened to her, he can understand why she preferred to carry it everywhere.

When he saw her took some time to think, he continued. "Your book is save in my locker, Jessica. At least for today you no need to carry a heavy bag to walk home. You are tired enough for today anyway."

Jessica smiled. How is it possible for him to read everything that's on her mind? "Now I know why the boys always let you handled the maknaes." Luhan really has this brotherly vibe with him and the way he talked make people feel like they really need to listen to him.

They walked side by side to his locker. At his locker, they saw Kris and Kai standing in front of it. Why are they even at school at this hour?

"If you're going to wait, why don't you just help us in the class just now, Kris?" Luhan asked him calmly and the way he asked it was like he already expected him to be there.

"I stayed because of Kai."

"What? Kris hyung, you're the one that asked me to stay longer for dance practice. You said Luhan hyung had extra cookies with him and if I waited for him he will give that to me." Innocently Kai explained his situation.

Luhan smirked while looking at Kris who's now can only grinned. Luhan took the few books from Jessica and he put it inside his locker.

"You know that Kris is going to be here at this hour?" The way he asked made Jessica wondered. Then she looked at Kris. "Why are you still here, Kris?"

"I think I need to cancel our plan for today. I need to take Kai somewhere. Tomorrow I'll treat you the mandoo. Is that okay with you?" Since Kris is here now, he thought it would be better for him to excuse himself first.

Jessica nodded. "No problem, Luhan."

"Kris will take you home. See you tomorrow." Luhan smiled and took Kai together with him.

"Shall we go now?" Kris asked her.

On the way back to her house, the first five minutes, they walked in silence. While Kris was thinking about his empty stomach, Jessica was still thinking why Kris and Luhan avoided her question of why Kris was still at school. Luhan looked like he knows something, but with Kai around, it was quite not right to suspect anything since he was expecting for his cookies innocently.

"I'm hungry. Have you had your dinner? Can we stop somewhere?" Kris broke the silence between them.

Jessica smiled looking at him. His face showed that he's really hoping for a yes. "Let me guess, you also won't accept no as answer?"

Kris laughed. Luhan must be used the same trick when he was not around. When he saw she put her books in Luhan's locker, he knew that Luhan must have won the argument between them. "You can choose the place. I don't have any preference." As long as his tummy can get the food, he's happy.

"I'm actually craving for mandoo. Luhan said he know a place. So, I need to wait for him tomorrow. Today can we have ddukbokki and odeng?" She pointed at the food stall nearby. Those looks yummy too.

"I know that place too. If you want, I can bring you to the mandoo shop if you want." He offered to bring her to the place mentioned by Luhan. It's one of their favorites too. Xiumin loves it the most. That's why at least once a month they will go there to eat. There's even time that they went there twice in a week just because different members craving for it in the same week.

Jessica shook her head. "It's okay. Since Luhan promised it, it's better for me to wait for him tomorrow. You can join us if you want."

"Sure." Kris agreed right away. He didn't even take a sec to think about it.

They took the seat on empty and space and Kris went to order their ddukbokki and odeng as requested by Jessica. Then he came back with apple cider in his both hands. When he gave one of it to Jessica, he noticed that her hand is a bit shaking. It was probably due to all the work that she just did. Their food arrived not long after that.

"Can you eat it? Do you want me to feed you?" He asked her while grinning.

"Is that how you make girls fall for you?" She mocked him back. It's not like she can control it.

Kris laughed. "Give me your phone."

"For what?"

"Why do you always have so many questions? Just give me the phone."

Jessica frowned, but since Kris insisted on it she still gave her phone to him. "You guys really do whatever that you want." She muttered under her breath.

"Heard that." Kris smirked. He saved his number on her phone and set his own number as her third speed dial after her umma and appa. Then he gave her phone back. "Here, next time when you need help or anything, just call me. Whenever you need me, I'll be right in front of you."

~~~

"Hyung, the other day, did you purposely let Kris hyung win the game?" Kai asked Luhan on the way back home. Luckily Luhan still left with a pack of cookies with him. So, along the way Kai is munching his beloved cookies.

Luhan chuckled. Did they notice that? "Why you said so?"

"First, you missed the goal in the last minutes and second, the score difference was only two points. I've seen you do better. The other day, you don't even sweat that much. It was more like a warm up game for you." Kai analyzed the situation from his own point of view. Once Luhan decided to win the game, nothing could stop him from doing so.

"Do you know what we were betting on that day?"

Kai nodded.

"As much as I want to win the bet, I also want Kris to do things according to his own rhythm. I don't want him to feel like he needs to do something because he lost the bet. He would do whatever people told him, but the result might backfire."

Today, he knows that he did make a right decision when he decided to lose the game. When he saw Kris waited for them, to be exact for her, which was his way of showing his sincerity. And that was all that he and the boys asked for.