pairing: ChenLay
length: 5361 words
Part Two: The Den

“Zhang Yixing, detention after school today!”

The boy scowled at his teacher, whose lips were pursed into a straight line as she turned back to the whiteboard to continue her lecture on derivatives and anti-derivatives. It wasn’t his fault that she at teaching. God, she was an absolute bore. And Lay hated being bored. So of course he was going to play on his phone, because there was no point in listening to a cow like her go on and on about…whatever she was talking about.

If he hadn’t already gotten three suspensions in the past month, Lay would have ignored her and continued using his phone in class. But the principal had contacted his mother about his less-than-stellar school performance and although she was back in China, making deals with rich businessmen and going to fancy parties to network with potential clients, she had still given him an earful over the phone about his rebellious ways. Lay had begrudgingly agreed to tone down the rule-breaking, mostly because his mother had threatened to cancel his credit cards and there was no way he was going to live without his unlimited allowance every month.

As his teacher droned on and on about calculus, Lay decided that he would at least focus on something else other than her monotonous voice, so he popped in an earphone and pressed the Play button on his Chill Jams playlist. Luckily, his black bangs were long enough to cover his right ear, so his black earphone was well-camouflaged and the boy easily tuned out the dreadful lesson in favor of listening to his favorite singer croon an acoustic pop melody.

--

As the principal’s son, Jongdae was used to staying after school every day to wait for his father to finish making phone calls and filling out paperwork. The boy didn’t mind, since it gave him time to do homework in the library and ask for help from any tutors who were available. Jongdae had relatively average marks, but teachers were more open to giving him extra credit opportunities or adding in partial points to his exam answers, so he never worried too much about his academics. While he wasn’t a shoo-in for an elite university, he’d at least be accepted into a decent school and Jongdae was content with that.

Aside from academics, being the principal’s son had other perks. He knew when and where all of the after-school clubs met, so he could find empty classrooms to lounge around in if the library happened to be too crowded or if he grew bored of waiting in his father’s office. Jongdae was also privy to the gossip that staff members would murmur about in their break room, which he had access to as well. All he had to do was flash a bright grin at the middle-aged women, who would smile sweetly and coo a greeting back at the teenage boy, and then they’d go back to talking about their students while he settled in a corner with some snacks and a book to read as he eavesdropped.

After almost two years of doing this, Jongdae had become extremely familiar with the name “Zhang Yixing” and the troublesome boy’s notorious group of friends, whose life mission seemed to be causing as much trouble as they could in school. Zhang Yixing alone had gotten no less than seventeen suspensions and a whopping forty-seven detentions in the past year, which had to be a school record. Jongdae couldn’t fathom how anyone was capable of that, but apparently, Zhang Yixing was.

The student body also gossiped about Yixing and his friends, who would all go off-campus for lunch every day, despite it being against the rules. Jongdae remembered hearing from Park Chorong, a petite girl with long brown hair, that Yixing’s squad went to fight underground gangs during their lunch hour while Shim Yejun, a boy with a youthful face and platinum blonde hair, argued that they were certified drug dealers who were making bank selling narcotics—Jongdae doubted that, since no government or business was crazy enough to give official certification to drug dealers.

Regardless, the principal’s son couldn’t help it when his interest grew with every crazy rumor that flew around Zhang Yixing and his friends. Jongdae’s life, nice as it was, was also incredibly average and he regularly wondered how interesting it would be if he were also part of Yixing’s squad. He wasn’t afraid of Yixing like most of the student body was; along with knowing which classrooms were occupied by after-school clubs, Jongdae also knew which ones were occupied by after-school detentions. He had, on more than one occasion, peeked into detention after hearing that Yixing had landed himself yet another one.

And the deduction he had come to was that Yixing didn’t look like a drug lord who regularly beat up people and slept with girls. Sure, the guy had more piercings decorating his ears than Jongdae had ever seen on anyone and he seemed to enjoy wearing spike-studded accessories, but it wasn’t like he was stoned or drunk every time he came to school. Well, not that Jongdae ever really saw him at school, but at least Yixing was sober while in detention.

Even though the principal’s son knew that his friends would call him crazy for it, Jongdae was determined to talk to Zhang Yixing and debunk the rumors surrounding him.

--

Detention, like always, was going to be a complete waste of an hour. The supervising teacher enforced a no-talking, no-sleeping, no-doing-anything rule at the beginning, so Lay sat in silence, twiddling his thumbs. While the teacher wasn’t looking, he managed to sneak his right earphone into his ear again. If he had to sit in this god-forsaken room for an hour, he’d at least deconstruct some melodies in his head.

About thirty minutes into detention, a short, bright-eyed boy poked his head into the room. “Excuse me, Mrs. Kang?”

“Ah, Jongdae, come in! Do you need anything?”

Lay felt like puking when he heard the teacher’s disgustingly saccharine voice. She never spoke like that to him—not that he wanted her to—and her favoritism was so obvious. In fact, all of the goody-two-shoes were treated like babies by the teachers and it reminded Lay why he hated being in school. He wasn’t some stupid baby who needed his hand held until he graduated.

“Well, actually, I’m working on a project with Zhang Yixing,” Jongdae pointed to the boy, whose face went completely blank, “and I’ve been texting him to ask why he didn’t meet up with me earlier. He never responded, even though he usually does really quickly, so I’ve been looking for him for the past half an hour. The project is worth twenty percent of our grade and we’re getting to the meat of it now, so I was hoping it’d be okay if I stole him away today.” The principal’s son grinned so brightly that anyone would have been hard-pressed to believe he was actually telling lie after lie.

The supervising teacher was certainly fooled as she answered with a bright smile of her own, “Oh, of course, Jongdae! Even though detention isn’t over yet, I can release Mr. Zhang so that you two can work on your project. I know I can trust you to make sure he’s on task.” She then turned towards Lay, who was still staring blankly at Jongdae, and her expression immediately hardened as she said, “Your next detention will be twice as long to make up for today, Mr. Zhang, so I’d advise you to stay out of trouble from now on and save us another wasted afternoon.”

Lay sent her a deadly glare, which she haughtily ignored as she gathered the papers she had been grading and walked out of the classroom. His cell phone was sitting on the teacher’s desk, so he jumped up from his seat to grab the device and check for any missed text messages.

Kris
Yo, loser, hurry up. We’re doing the usual at the hideout. Suho has some new tattoo ideas to show us.

Lay
Nice. I just got out of detention. Did Xiumin nick anything new? I’m starving.

Kris
He got an entire box of club sandwiches and some brownies. But if you don’t get here soon, Kai and Tao are going to finish everything. They already ate half of the stash.

Lay
Jerks. Punch ‘em in the gut for me, will ya?

Kris
Sure, D.O will do it. He’s still pissed at Kai for breaking his motorcycle last week.

Lay
Haha, what an idiot. But honestly, when is D.O not pissed off at Kai?

Kris
I mean, I guess. Okay, I need to go disinfect my needles. Xiumin wants a new piercing for some stupid reason. I dunno why, but he promised I’d get first dibs on the goodies next time, so I’ll probably be doing that while Suho inks the rest of you.

Lay
Cool. I’ll pick up some vodka on the way.

Kris
Thanks, bro. Try not to get a speeding ticket before you get here.

Lay
Shut up. Tao speeds way more than I do.

Kris
Your seven letters calling you to court this past month say otherwise.

Lay
I paid them all off, jeez. My record is technically spotless, okay?

Kris
Thank god you have money. We’d be screwed if you didn’t.

Lay
Yeah, so shut your mouth and go play with your needles.

Kris
Whatever, loser. See you in fifteen.

With that, Lay pocketed his cell phone and grabbed his virtually empty backpack from the floor. He ignored Jongdae, who was grinning widely and looking at him expectantly, as he stepped out of the classroom. He had no idea why the boy had bothered to save him from detention and while he wasn’t going to complain about his good fortune, Lay also had no desire to question his classmate.

Before he made his way to the school parking lot where his black Audi R8 was waiting, Lay mentally mapped out the route that he would need to take, since he’d have to stop by his house for the promised vodka before heading to the hideout. Luckily, since his mother always kept the alcohol cabinet fully stocked for parties, that meant Lay had unrestricted access to alcoholic drinks and he never had to worry about being carded by cashiers, even though he was underage.

It was great to have this much freedom, which made his school life seem even more stifling in comparison.

But before he could dwell for long, Jongdae’s voice rang out behind him. “Where are you going, Yixing?”

Lay spun around, looking down at the shorter male who was still smiling gleefully. God, this kid was so weird and clearly didn’t know how to take a hint to get lost. “None of your business,” he immediately spat out before turning on his heel and making his way to the parking lot.

However, for the entire walk, Jongdae followed him, his steps light and bouncy as he hummed a cheery tune. Even when they arrived at Lay’s car, Jongdae let out a loud whistle as he eagerly scanned the expensive and sleek vehicle. “Nice wheels!”

“Okay, seriously, why are you following me?” Lay asked flatly, one hand on the door to the driver’s seat and the other clutching the right strap of his light backpack. “I barely know you. Wait, scratch that. I don’t know you at all.”

“I’m Kim Jongdae!” the shorter male cheerily introduced himself, sticking out his hand for the other to shake.

“I don’t care.”

The rebuff didn’t faze Jongdae, who merely retracted his hand while maintaining his sunny smile. “Aren’t you going to thank me for getting you out of detention?”

Lay arched an eyebrow, groaning internally when he realized that this pipsqueak was about to reveal his hidden agenda for helping him, and gruffly answered, “It doesn’t matter to me whether or not you did. It’s not like I was the one who lied to Mrs. Kang.”

“Aw, but you'd still be stuck in there if I hadn’t rescued you! Doing nothing for another half an hour! That’s no fun, right?”

“So what do you want from me?” Lay’s tone was harsh as he quickly cut to the chase. The other boys were waiting for him to bring the booze and he had no desire to continue wasting time with Jongdae.

“Can I come with you to meet your friends?” Jongdae’s eyes were sparkling with anticipation as he looked up at the taller male while pressing his hands together in a beseeching gesture. “Please, Yixing?”

“What the—no way! Why would I do that?!”

“Because I helped you escape detention and I can keep doing that for you in the future.”

Lay did a double-take at the offer before narrowing his eyes in suspicion. “How and why would you do that for me?”

“It’s easy,” the shorter male replied, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders. “But can I explain in the car?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Jongdae whined, the corners of his lips turning down into a pout. “Please, pretty please, can I come with you, Yixing? I don’t even have to meet your friends. I just wanna talk to you and get to know you.”

Lay could feel his irritation spike with every passing second, and he was this close to jumping into his car and running over this annoying kid when Jongdae sighed dramatically with his arms hanging by his side.

“I guess I’ll go back to tell Mrs. Kang that we’re done with our project for the day and she can resume detention with you. Of course, she won’t be happy about that, since her husband is back from a business trip for the week and she was planning to spend some quality time with him. So she’ll probably reschedule your detention and triple it, and then you’d have to spend three hours with her while she’s in a foul mood.” Jongdae sighed again before continuing, “Such a shame. All it takes to avoid that and future detentions for the rest of high school is one measly ride, but I guess you can’t even do that much.”

“Oh my f—” It took several deep breaths for Lay to calm himself down to a simmering anger as his mother’s oft-spoken words rang through his head. Never lose your temper. Otherwise, you lose the upper hand. Knowing that he couldn’t afford a manslaughter charge on his record, tempting as it was to flatten the shorter male into a pancake, Lay schooled his expression into a neutral one as he silently weighed the pros and cons of bringing Jongdae with him.

Pro: Jongdae could get him out of detention. Forever, if he were to be trusted.

Con: Jongdae was a manipulative brat who might take this as an invitation to wrangle more nonsense favors.

Pro: Jongdae could… Nah, there weren’t any other pros.

Con: Jongdae being with him meant he wouldn’t be able to go to the hideout, which meant Lay would also miss out on whatever the other boys were currently doing.

Con: Jongdae was a stranger and had no business trying to hang out with Lay.

Con: Jongdae was very, very annoying.

God, Lay just wanted to escape. “Okay, seriously, why are you so interested in me?” he asked again, deciding that he’d be just as stubborn as the shorter male was. “I’ve never seen or spoken to you before in my life and now, all of a sudden, you’re trying to stick to me like a fly and it honestly makes no sense at all. So ‘fess up and then I might just bring you with me, just so you’ll shut up about this.”

“Really?” The twinkling returned to Jongdae’s brown eyes and he stepped forward, clapping his hands together like a seal. “Thanks, Yixing! Ooh, this is so exciting!”

“Hold up, you haven’t actually told me anything,” the taller male said pointedly, holding his hands out in a defensive stance to prevent Jongdae from coming any closer. “Explain first and then we’ll get into the car.”

“Okay!” Jongdae’s smile was so bright, it was almost blinding. “I think you’re really cool and I’ve wanted to get to know you since we first entered high school! There’re so many stories about you and your friends, and you’re—you’re sort of like my hero, but not really because you’re also kind of a delinquent!”

“Uh, thanks?”

“Not to mention, my life is pretty boring right now and the way you just cruise through school is awesome, so I feel like I can learn more about being chill from you and your friends instead of being stuck at school after-hours every day. And then I can do fun stuff with you guys and be part of your squad, which would be amazing and the absolute pinnacle of cool—”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Yeah, this guy seriously needed to chill out. Lay heaved a deep sigh as he reluctantly unlocked the car and pointed for Jongdae to get in through the passenger’s side. “This breaks every single rule I’ve ever set for myself,” he groaned as he sat on the driver’s seat and stuck his key into the ignition.

“But aren’t you a professional at breaking the rules anyway?” Jongdae glibly pointed out while buckling his seatbelt. “Isn’t that why you’ve gotten forty-seven detentions—oh wait, forty-eight, if we count today’s—this year alone?”

The taller male scrunched his nose in displeasure as he retorted, “It’s not my fault that the school has dumb rules. Those weren’t meant to be followed.”

“So then why should your rules be followed? I’m not sure they’re much better than the rules the school district set.”

Lay wished he could glare at Jongdae, but he had to focus on backing out of his parking space and getting onto the road to his house. He also needed to message the others to tell him that he wasn’t coming anymore, which they were sure to rip into him for. Especially since that meant no alcohol for them. “Do you want to come with me or not?” he gritted out once the car was driving forward. “Because I’m not opposed to dropping you off in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t let you come with me just to get lectured even more.”

“Oops, sorry.” Jongdae didn’t really sound sorry at all, but Lay felt like it would be too much work to point that out.

“Now, before either of us forgets, explain what you meant about keeping me from detention for the rest of high school? Can you really do that?”

“Of course! Well, I technically shouldn’t since that’s against the rules, but who cares about following the rules, right?” The smaller male sent Lay a toothy grin as his eyebrows wiggled playfully.

Lay was extremely glad for an excuse to keep his eyes on the road and not on the insufferable pain in the neck sitting next to him

“But anyway, my dad is the principal, so all of the teachers like me. All I have to do is turn up the charm and they’ll let you off the hook if I cook up a good enough excuse like I did today,” Jongdae explained as he leaned back, settling comfortably into his seat.

“You’re Principal Kim’s son?!"

“Yeah, but it’s nothing special.” The smaller male shrugged again. “It doesn’t mean much outside of school. Besides, your mom is the CEO of Zhang Enterprises, which is way more impressive.” There was a slight pause before Jongdae cheekily added, “She’s very pretty, more so in real life than in pictures. I can see where you got your looks from.”

“When—when have you ever seen her?!” Lay couldn’t help but splutter, the tips of his ears burning hotly.

“She had a meeting with Dad regarding you almost getting expelled a few months ago,” Jongdae answered, his tone casual and light. “A lot of teachers want you out, but your mom brokered a deal with Dad to keep you in. She’s a fantastic negotiator, by the way. Dad was sweating bullets after that meeting.”

Well, that explained why she had been so furious during that phone call. It was a miracle she hadn’t pulled him out of school herself to throw him into a strict boarding school where he’d be monitored twenty-four-seven. Just the thought of that gave Lay the shivers.

“Even though Dad doesn’t really like you, I think you’re cool and I’m glad you ended up not getting expelled! So any time you want out of detention, I’ll come save you!”

“Thanks.” Lay wasn’t sure what else to say, but Jongdae, ever the chatterbox, quickly solved that dilemma for him.

“So where’re we going, Yixing? Ooh, are we going to a club? A bar? Or an underground fighting ring?” The smaller male couldn’t keep the glee out of his voice as he thought of various possible destinations.

“First, we’re going to my house. My mom is abroad for business, so it’ll just be us. Second, stop calling me Yixing. Only my mom is allowed to do that.”

“What else would I call you then?”

“Lay. All of my friends have nicknames that we prefer over our birth names.” He didn’t know why he was sharing this information, but it seemed to be the least he could do after Jongdae’s generous offer to keep him out of detention, since that would be one less thing for his mother to nag about.

“Ooh, can I get a nickname too?” Jongdae asked, bouncing with excitement in his seat.

“No,” was Lay’s immediate response.

“Aw, why not? I want a cool nickname to use with you.” The shorter male pouted again, this time while also puffing his cheeks which made him look extremely childish in Lay’s opinion.

“Well, think of one yourself if you want one so badly. It’s not like I chose my friends’ nicknames. We all came up with them ourselves.”

“Man, I wanted you to choose one for me,” Jongdae mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. But his moodiness evaporated in an instant when he faced Lay and asked, eyes shining with anticipation, “Can you help me decide on a nickname later if I bring in a few ideas?”

“…Maybe.”

The principal’s son whooped loudly, pumping his fist in the air.

--

“Whoa, this is your house?” Jongdae’s eyes widened as the two boys stepped out of Lay’s car and onto the curved driveway that was in front of a massive building. The taller male nodded in response, causing Jongdae to breathe out, “It’s so big…”

“Eh, my mom was thinking of upgrading, but she’s been too busy to bother and I don’t really care either way.”

“Wow…” When they entered the house itself, Jongdae immediately began jumping around from room to room, loudly marveling over the beautiful furniture and décor.

Lay inhaled noisily through his nose as he dumped his backpack next to the bottom of the staircase. Trusting the principal’s son to not completely destroy the first floor, he padded up the stairs to his bedroom to remove his jewelry. It was therapeutic to sit at his desk and carefully remove all of the spiky collars, bracelets, and piercings that he wore on a daily basis. Since they were against the dress code, Lay had been called in more than his fair share of times to be reprimanded for wearing such inappropriate accessories. But it was such a stupid rule to have a dress code in the first place, which made Lay pile on even more bracelets in retaliation. One time, he had asked Kris to pierce his eyebrows, just for the heck of it.

But at home, it felt much more freeing to shed the jewelry.

Meanwhile, Jongdae was exploring the living room and soon came across the fireplace mantel that was topped with dozens of framed photographs. Upon closer inspection, it turned out they were all of Lay with his mother throughout various stages of the boy’s life. About half of them were professionally taken photos while the other half consisted of carefree candid Polaroids; Jongdae mildly wondered who the Polaroid photographer was, since it seemed like Lay’s father was out of the picture.

Regardless, Lay looked the same yet so different at the same time. He smiled so warmly, showcasing a deep dimple that the principal’s son hadn’t realized existed until this moment. His expression looked so loving whenever he gazed at his mother, a stark contrast to the gloomy scowl that usually decorated his face.

But Jongdae also noticed that most of these photographs were from the Chinese male’s childhood. There was only about a handful of pictures of adolescent Lay, none of them candid Polaroids. The principal’s son wondered what had happened for Lay to transform into the angst-filled, rebellious child who regularly sought trouble, seemingly craving it.

--

Lay had taken his sweet time on the second floor before finally walking down the stairs and heading straight for the kitchen to pour a glass of water without glancing to see where the principal’s son was. As he was placing the water pitcher back into the refrigerator to keep the rest of the clear liquid chilled, Jongdae suddenly sidled up to him and tapped his shoulder, causing the taller male to let out a very unbefitting shriek that made Jongdae giggle loudly. “What do you want?” Lay harshly asked when the initial shock of being snuck up on wore off, eyes glaring daggers through his slightly disheveled bangs.

It took another few seconds for the principal’s son to stop laughing, his thin body slightly bent forward with his arms hugging his waist. When he finally straightened himself up, using his right pointer finger to wipe away a few tears that had formed at the corners of his eyes, Jongdae jovially answered, “I was wondering where you went. This place is huge! You live here all by yourself?”

Lay grunted an affirmative before downing the glass of water in one shot. “The maids come by once a week to clean and restock anything I might need, but otherwise, it’s just me when my mom is on business. Which is basically all of the time,” he muttered under his breath, but it wasn’t missed by Jongdae’s sharp ears.

“Is that why you always hang out with your friends?” the shorter male curiously asked as he followed Lay to another room that looked to be a mini-recording studio after the lights were switched on. His eyes widened again since the place looked extremely high-tech, enough to be a professional studio which was ludicrous in itself.

“Yeah, I guess,” Lay carelessly answered as he used his foot to nudge a dark green square seat towards the principal’s son while also reaching for a black guitar case that was leaning against wall opposite of the soundproof recording space.

Jongdae was so star-struck by the sleek studio that he almost tripped over his feet as he tried to sit down without looking where he was going. “You should invite your friends over,” he suggested. “Do you?”

“Not often. We have another place that we meet at.” The taller male pulled out an acoustic guitar from the case and began tuning it, hoping to also tune out Jongdae’s nonsense at the same time.

“Ooh, can I go with you next time?”

Lay grumbled loudly as he twisted a peg with too much force, almost causing the string to snap. “Only if you’ll shut up about it,” he growled while glowering at the principal’s son.

Jongdae immediately mimed zipping his lips shut, locking them with an invisible key, and tossing the key behind his shoulder.

At last, it was quiet, so Lay was able to concentrate on properly tuning his guitar. He ignored the other boy’s hyper-focused stare while he strummed a few chords, his hardened fingertips lightly flying over the strings. In an instant, the room was filled with the notes of a melancholic melody that seemed to fill every corner of the studio. It was as if everything else blanked out, and all that was left were Lay and his guitar.

But the scene was soon splashed with some color as a sweet voice hummed along to the melody, adding another layer to the music. Lay looked up, somewhat startled by the abrupt addition, but his expression softened considerably when he saw how beautifully Jongdae sang. In fact, Lay almost wished he could stop playing so that he could record the harmonies they were making together, but he didn’t want to disrupt the serenity of this new musical dimension they had reached.

For once, his shoulders didn’t feel as though they were carrying the entire world on top of them.

--

Several hours passed in Lay’s recording studio, the two of them talking about their favorite music artists and singing various medleys together.

In the middle of a ballad rendition of a famous pop song, Jongdae’s phone beeped with a text message from his father, asking where the boy was since it was time to go home. “Well, guess I have to go now,” the shorter male said as he stood up, brushing away dust from his pants. There was a hint of sorrow in his otherwise bright voice and his eyes seemed slightly dimmer than they were earlier.

Lay nodded as he set his guitar back into its case before standing up as well. “I’ll walk you out. How are you getting home? Or are you going back to school?”

“I’m gonna walk to the supermarket and buy groceries to make dinner tonight. Dad will pick me up from there,” Jongdae explained as he slipped on his white sneakers and bent down to tie the laces.

“Oh, okay.”

The principal’s son stood up and then grinned at Lay, the ends of his pale pink lips curling up. “It was lots of fun hanging out with you today!” Jongdae’s head then lowered slightly as his gaze traveled to the floor, his arms crossing behind him and the toes of his shoes digging into the plush charcoal gray carpet. “If it’s fine with you, can I tag along again? And we can jam some more or hang out with your other friends, since I don’t want to steal you away from them.”

It was a bit strange seeing Jongdae look so bashful. Earlier, he had made it clear that he didn’t think much about boundaries and that he would do what it took to get what he wanted—in this case, getting Lay to spend the afternoon with him despite the taller male already having other plans. So when he was actually being presented with a choice, Lay was at a loss on how to answer.

The silence stretched on for a bit and Jongdae began fidgeting even more visibly. It was obvious that he wanted to say more to try and convince the other boy to agree to spend more time with him, but he was doing his best to restrain himself from overbearing Lay. Now that they had established the foundations of a friendship, Jongdae wasn’t going to let this rare chance slip from his fingers.

But as the quiet lengthened and lengthened, the principal’s son was gradually starting to lose hope. Jongdae kept his gaze firmly locked onto a tuft of the carpet as his mind filled with white noise to combat the otherwise lack of sound. Great, he was an absolute idiot for coming on too strong in the beginning and now it was coming back to bite him—

“Okay. I don't mind."

“Yay! Thanks Lay!” Jongdae jumped onto him for a big hug, almost squeezing the life out of the other boy who let out a strangled noise as he buckled under the sudden weight. When Jongdae finally let go, he flashed Lay another bright smile and waved to him. “See you at school tomorrow!”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Lay sent the principal’s son a lopsided smile as he slowly waved back and watched Jongdae run down the driveway.

♈♈♈