It took a few days for the bruise on Sehun's face to fade. The days dragged on as per the usual with no further encounters with Kim Jongin, which Sehun was very thankful for.

It was another normal day at school. Sehun was seated in the cafeteria at his usual booth, munching on his ceaser salad while reading and taking a sip of chocolate milk every now and again. Suddenly he heard someone clear their throat and looked up from the book in his hands to see Luhan standing there holding his lunch tray, a friendly smile on his face. 

"Hey, mind if I sit here?"

Sehun blinked. No one ever sat with him during lunch before. No one ever actually willingly approached him. He shrugged, "No."

Luhan sat down on the chair opposite him, "Sorry if I'm annoying you, but some guys randomly decided they wanted to take my booth today. I didn't really think it was worth it so I just let them. You know how the students here get."

"Yeah I do," Sehun muttered, more to himself than to Luhan, "I don't mind though. If you find them there again tomorrow you can just sit here."

Luhan smiled, "Thanks."

The two sat in silence as Luhan pulled out his own book and began reading while eating his lunch. Sehun couldn't help but steal a few glances at the other male. He was very pretty, Sehun had to admit, almost as pretty or even prettier than a girl. 

They continued the rest of their lunch break in silence, each in their own world. It didn't really feel much different from everyday since they didn't talk at all after that, but the company of someone else was pleasant to Sehun nonetheless.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the cafeteria, Jongin eyed the two silently.

"Looks like Luhan got some company," He said, face scrunched up. 

"Gosh, Jongin. Leave the poor guy alone. You've already ed him up enough," Kris said seriously, "Did you just expect him to be a loner for the entire year?"

"He can go himself for all I care. But spreading his disease to others is not something I can appreciate."

Minseok tightened his fists under the table silently. He wanted nothing more than to punch the out of Jongin, but he remembered the promise he made. 

"Minseok Hyung... Jongin needs you all, okay? If he sees you hanging around me he won't be happy." Luhan said.

"I don't care about him. Luhan, you're my best friend. Jongin is just being an unfair brat right now."

"He has his reasons for what he did and you know that." 

"Nothing can justify what he did to you. I don't care what his experience in the past was, that had nothing to do with you. He had no right to do this to you."

"And yet," Luhan smiled through his glossy eyes, "Do it for me. Stay by his side. For me... please."

Minseok ran a hand through his hair, "I can't lose you for him."

"We'll stay in touch. We'll hang out some time too. But when he's around, you stay with him. Because right now he needs you all. Promise me, Hyung."

The older male shut his eyes closed and clenched his fists. After a moment of hesitation, he sighed. "I promise."

Minseok looked over at Luhan with almost longing eyes. Keeping this promise was becoming tiring. Everyday when he saw Luhan sitting alone in the cafeteria, he had to fight every single fiber of his being to not go and sit with him. Talk to him freely like he once could. Through all the friendly smiles he put on for people, Minseok could see the emptiness in his eyes.

"I don't know, man. Isn't it about time you resolved the beef between the two of you already? It's been over a year now." Baekhyun said cautiously.

"There's no way I'm going anywhere near that thing. If you guys wanna talk to him, I never stopped you. I'm not some sort of middle school girl, you know."

Baekhyun sighed and got back to eating, knowing it was useless anyway.

* * *

A few weeks had passed and before he knew it, Luhan was sitting at Sehun's lunch table everyday. They didn't talk much, if at all, instead greeting each other with small smiles. It wasn't awkward either, it just started becoming an everyday thing. Sehun wouldn't consider them friends, but more like acquaintances. They'd talked enough for Sehun to know that Luhan was eighteen, just a year elder than him, and that he liked football.

It was Saturday and Sehun was having lunch with his parents in the dining room. The atmosphere was always so unpleasant that Sehun never found himself having an appetite, opting for picking at his food instead. It didn't feel like a family uniting over lunch, but more like strangers forced to eat together.

"Ah, I almost forgo," Sehun's mother spoke up while lightly dabbing at her lips with a napkin. "The Kim's are coming over this evening."

Sehun internally rolled his eyes. Now that his face was fine, he had no excuse to just stay up in his room. Great.

"What time, darling?" Sehun's father asked. The 'darling' sounding flat and robotic with no love whatsoever behind it.

"Seven o' clock."

After lunch, Sehun picked up his plate and walked into the kitchen, throwing away leftovers and washing his dish at the skin. He knew there were tons of servants around to do that but he didn't see the problem in doing something so mundane by himself.

Sehun spent the day trying to entertain himself in any way possible. His weekends were always boring- there wasn't much to do at home, his parents were always busy (not that he liked spending time with them anyway), and it wasn't like he could call up his 'friends' and 'hangout' like all normal kids these days. These things were all just so foreign to him. Sehun was never much good at making friends anyway, but ever since that incident things got a lot worse. He was just this monotonous robot now, who hid every trace of emotion in the deepest, darkest corners of his heart.

The day dragged on and on until the clock struck six thirty and his mother told him to go get dressed since the Kim's would be there soon. He didn't really bother with getting all fancy and just threw on some black pants and a black button-up. He wasn't overdressed but not shabby either, just enough to look good in front of his parents' business partners.

Half an hour later sees him sitting idly on the couch as the intercom of their mansion buzzed. Pleasant greetings were exchanged from the direction of the front door and Sehun quickly stood up to greet the 'guests' politely. It was just an elegant-looking woman in her early forties and none other than Kim Jongin following just behind her. 

"Ah, you must be Sehun," The lady smiled at him in a friendly manner when he bowed to her politely. "Your mother told me a lot of good things about you."

Sehun simply smiled, not knowing how exactly to reply. He knew his mother was quite the sweet-talker, always going on about how she was so 'proud' of her son when in real life she treated her feet better than him, quite literally. So this came off as no surprise, really.

"She did mention you were sick the last time I came here. Are you feeling okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm alright now. It was nothing really, just a flu," He lied.

"Well I'm glad," She smiled at him.

"Please, take a seat." Sehun's mother offered sweetly. The five of them sat down on the expensive sofa set in the living room and that was the cue for endless dull conversation. He sighed internally and pretended he was interested in their talk about real estate, laughing a little every now and again when everyone else did even though he didn't know what the hell he was laughing at. This was how it always went in rich people houses. Forced conversations and smiles. Boring. Fake.

Soon enough he was getting bored out of his mind and excused himself. It hadn't really been a good day and sitting in the living room was getting so suffocating. He didn't really feel like going up to his room and instead made his way to his studio, lightly pushing the door closed behind him. The studio was essentially a large empty room with hardwood floors, full-length mirrors on every side and a couch in the corner, along with a stereo set. Sehun slumped down against the wall and stared at his reflection in the mirror. His empty eyes stared back at him soullessly. Eyes that used to shine with light at one point in time, when he had someone special to him, someone he could care for.

It's all gone now. All that's left is this hollow, empty vessel. He could hardly consider himself a human being anymore. He was now just... just this thing.

It was one of those moments. Those moments of extreme frustration and anger at life. Those moments when he was overwhelmed with emptiness, that suffocating feeling of desparately needing to fill this hole inside him but not knowing how.

There was just one way to forget.

He stood up and walked toward the stereo system in the corner of the room, playing a random song. Anything, anything to get him out of this state for even just a second. He made sure the volume wasn't too loud before standing at the center of the room, moving his body along with the music. He started off slow but soon enough as he got into the feeling of the song, he began to dance his heart out. His movements screamed loneliness, a longing for something to live for. His arms moved fluidly along with the soft piano riffs and vocals. He let his frustrations channel through his body and end at the tips of his fingers, where he imagined he would, ever so softly, let them go. Let them slip through the spaces between his fingers like sand.

He knew they never did. But he liked to think, just for that moment, that they did. 

Because for that one fraction of a second, there was the slightest trace of light in his eyes.

Dancing was the only thing that ever brought that light back. Even if just for a little while, Sehun was going to take and snatch and claw at whatever he could get. 

Because for that one moment he felt alive. 

Jongin, long being disinterested in the conversation going on, also excused himself soon after Sehun did. He decided to just look around the house, it was a pretty nice mansion, Jongin wasn't going to lie. True, he was also more on the rich side but not quite as much as Sehun's family. Hands shoved deep in his pockets, he admired a few paintings on the wall of a random hallway he had walked into before he suddenly heard some music. It didn't seem too far away so, overridden with curiosity, decided to follow the sound of it. That's a nice song, he thought. His steps led him to face a door behind which he was sure the music was coming from.

Lightly turning the knob in his hand, he cracked the door open and peeked inside. He almost gasped at the sight in front of him. It was Sehun. Dancing. Dancing? Sehun can dance? As if the fact that Sehun actually danced wasn't surprising enough, the fact that every move, ever twitch of his muscles, everything conveyed so much pain and raw emotion that it sent goose bumps down Jongin's spine. Being a member of the school dance club himself, he was very impressed and awe-stricken. Sehun's dance was so strong, and conveyed a sense of desperation, longing like no other. 

Jongin's breath had been completely taken away.

He briefly remembered he needed a dance partner for the showcase in two months and stared at Sehun, enraptured by his movements. 

Once the song was over, Sehun swiftly landed on the floor, breathing heavy as his chest rose up and down.

"Holy ..." Jongin whispered, and Sehun immediately turned to the door.

"Y-You!" He was shocked, but it didn't top the shocked expression on Jongin's face, "What are you doing here?!" Sehun couldn't help but feel like his personal sanctuary had been invaded. And the fact that it was Kim Jongin of all people was pissing him off.

"You can dance," Jongin said blankly, still recovering from his initial shock, "And I mean you can dance."

Sehun stood up and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Yeah? So?"

"So?!" Jongin exclaimed in disbelief, "Don't take this the wrong way, but dude, you dance really well. You're even better than Taemin."

"Who's Taemi- forget it. What do you want?"

"Why don't you join the dance club?"

The question seemed to change Sehun's expression but he quickly rearranged it. "Not interested," He muttered.

"Come on! Did you even see yourself? It's such waste for you to not join the dance club."

 Sehun sighed, "Why does it matter to you, anyway?

 "You have talent. You should show it off to the world. Be something more than just the top achiever in class for once."

Sehun pondered over his words for a second. He knew it made sense but he gave up on his dream of making anything out of his dancing a long time ago. He just did it as a hobby now. Or more appropriately just as stress relief.

"Think about it." Jongin said, walking into the studio. 

Sehun eyed him suspiciously, "What's up with you being all nice all of a sudden?" 

Jongin shrugged and sat down on the floor. "I told you. I'm not a bully." 

"Psh. Yeah, right." Sehun also found himself sitting down on the hardwood floor.

"I wasn't lying though." The brunette looked at him seriously. "And if you want me to apologize for what happened a few weeks back, then fine. I'm sorry." 

To say Sehun was surprised would be an understatement. He leaned in a little as his eyebrows shot up suspiciously, "Are you high?" 

Jongin rolled his eyes. "No I'm not high and I'm being serious." 

"Is there something you want?" Sehun asked.

"No- Yes... Maybe." The brunette sighed, "I want you to be my dance partner for this upcoming showcase. You see, Taemin and I have had this rivalry ever since, like, forever. But he's the best dancer in class and almost always wins. And he managed to get one of the best dancers in class to be his partner."

"And that involves me how?"

"I'm a hundred percent sure that if we team up, we'll beat their asses. We'll win for sure. And in exchange, you will get the attention you deserve. Fair deal, right?" 

"Not really. It sounds like you just want to benefit yourself." 

"Come on! I even said sorry to you! Are you into aegyo and stuff? Should I act all cute?" 

Sehun eyed Jongin. Yes. This is very weird. "You? Aegyo?" 

"I'll do it." 

"Please don't." 

"Then you should listen to me." 

Jongin looked at him seriously and while he knew the guy was a douche, he really did look like he was passionate about dancing and that he was desperate to win. But it would be like willingly agreeing to being used by the brunette because he wanted to win some stupid rivalry. Plus, he hated the guy's guts anyway and the idea of practicing with him for hours on end didn't exactly sound appealing. But then on the other hand, going to dance class everyday, performing in front of people and hearing them cheer for him... that had always been his dream.

"I can't," He said, voice low as he stood up and headed for the door, "Come on, we should get back." 

Jongin sighed. But he wasn't going to give up just yet. He didn't care what it took, he was going to convince Sehun to agree. He was so tired of always being second place. Plus, Sehun's dancing fitted his style perfectly- slow, sensual, strong. He was positive winning would be nobody's business if he got the blonde to be his partner. So he was going to keep trying. Jongin knew that when something was on his mind, he was going to get it. Even if that meant up to Sehun and being nice to him. 

Here's an update :D Hope you guys liked it. I'm sorry if the beginning is slow but just give the story some time to progress :) Please keep leaving your comments and constructive criticism is always welcome! Thanks for reading >.<