The next day, I headed off to school with swollen eyes. My mom panicked yesterday when she saw how red my eyes was yesterday but I convinced her that is was my allergies acting up. She told me to take my allergy medication and then she went to sleep. Luckily, she did not interrogate me any furhter or I would have broken down right in front of her for the nth time. I head to school, kind of expecting my friends to ask about my swollen eyes, and I was right. But I didn't expect it to be him to ask me first.

"Hey, your eyes are swollen. Are you all right, Ara?" Xiumin asked. We were in the same bus again, at the same seat. I decided to head to school early like the day before. I tried to convince myself that I am going to school early to avoid the crowd but who am I kidding? The truth was, I just wanted to have some time alone with Xiumin. I hated how weak my heart was to not be able to resist not wanting to meet Xiumin.  

"Haha, is it really that bad? It must be that bad, huh? I just didn't manage to sleep well last night. Allergies acting up, you know. But I'm fine now. " I lied and smiled. 

"Is that so? Please take care of yourself, Ara," Xiumin replied while giving me a gentle smile. How am I suppose to stop liking this person when he is just so nice to me? The more he cared about me, the more I fall for him. But he only cares for me as a friend. Come on, Ara. Get it in your head that he does not like you that way. 

The bus ride to school was honestly so uncomfortable and suffocating for me. I wanted to avoid him for just a while. When we reached our bus stop, I tried to come up with the lamest excuse just to walk to school alone.

"Uh, Xiumin. I think I'll head off to school first. I need to go to the restroom. It's kind of urgent. So I need to rush. Sorry for leaving you alone!" I told him and rushed off without waiting for any replies from him.

Once I reached school, I head to the restroom and locked myself in a cubicle. I tried my best to not cry and make my eyes even more swollen.  Ara, you need to stop crying. You need to be strong. You can't be like this forever. With some self-encouragement, I went out of the cubicle and washed my face with the tap water. After drying it, I went out of the toilet but only to end up bumping into someone.

"Wow there. Watch where you are going," he said.

"Sorry," I said while not looking up to the person.

"Is that how you apologise to someone, Ara?" he asked in a mocking tone. Huh? He knows my name?

I looked up and instantly regretted it. 

"Omg, Ara. What happened to your eyes? It looked like as though you haven't slept for years! Was what I said yesterday affected you that bad?"

I didn't know if he was really genuinely worried for me or was he just joking and making fun of me. 

"None of your business, Kris," I replied curtly and walked away. 

"Hey, that is rude. I was only asking because I was worried okays. So you really like Xi-," I placed my hands over his mouth before he could finish the sentence. 

"You don't have to announce to the whole world who I like, you know," I hissed while releasing him.

"Okays, okays, sorry. Don't have to be so grumpy so early in the morning. And the reason you have swollen eyes is because of him?" Kris asked. 

Before I could reply, Kris excused himself. I was confused as to why he decided to excuse himself all of a sudden when he was the one that initiated the conversation. I turned around and saw my group of friends eyeing me. Some of them were giggling. Luna, Victoria and Krystal did not even hesistate and bombarded me with questions.

"Hey, since when were you SO CLOSE to Kris?" Krystal asked.

"Is Kris intersted in you? Or are you interested in him?" Luna asked.

"Wait, if he is interested in you, he'll have to go through me first," Victoria said.

They were all talking at the same time and it was starting to get annoying.

"Guys! I just bumped into him, that's all. Nothing much," I raised my voice to get their attention and walked to the canteen. 

Luhan catched up with me.

"Hey, so, what's up with Kris? Is he bothering you?"

"Luhan, I just bumped into him while walking out of the toilet just now. That's all nothing more."

"But it seems like you guys were in a really heated discussion. How is that just bumping into each other?" he asked again.

I ignored him. 

"Okay, fine. I'm sorry. You just bumped into him, right? Yeah, I'll take that as the reason." Luhan said and walked silently beside me. 

That made me felt really guilty. He did nothing wrong but I treated him so badly just because I was upset at something else. He was only trying to be a caring friend. How can I be such a selfish brat? I should appreciate that I have friends around me who genuinely cares for me. I shouldn't be treating them like this. 

"Sorry, Luhan. I was very rude to you just now," I said.

"Nah, it's fine. Everyone has their bad days. They must have their own reasons for being grumpy or angry. If you want, you can always share your problems with me. I'll gladly lend an ear," Luhan replied with a kind smile and that made me feel a even more guilty for treating him like that.

Seeing that I was feeling even more guilty, he put his arms around my shoulders and ruffled my hair. 

"Hey, hey! You are messing up my hair!" I complained.

"It's okay, you look much better like this," he joked and pinched my cheeks.

"Owwww, Luhan!" 

"Luhan! What are you doing to Ara?" Victoria asked. Luhan released me and ran away from Victoria, who was chasing after him.

"See you in class, Ara! Omg! Victoria, you run really fast!" Luhan exclaimed.

I giggled at the sight of them running after each other. I felt so much better. Thanks, Luhan.