"Finally! Exams are over!" Mabel yawned as she stood up and took her bag from her armchair. She looked at her friend Sehun beside her, pouting. 

Sehun was quiet for almost a week already. After the kiss, Chanyeol has been ignoring him for days. He tried to talk to him, approached him in a friendly manner and even sent him a few messages. But he didn’t get a reply.

"Sehun-ah," Mabel called out to him and Sehun turned to her, a bit distracted. "Yes?"

She smiled at him, she knew what was going on. She was comforting her friend ever since she found out what happened in the library. "C'mon, it's not the end of the world. Cheer up."

Sehun thought about it and sighed. "Sure."

Mabel sighed too and decided. "How about we celebrate?"

Sehun glanced at her, uncertain. "Celebrate?"

She gave him a cheerful look which she doesn’t usually show to anyone."Yes! Midterms is finally over! C'mon!" She held his arm to make him stand up and grabbed his bag from his seat. She dragged him out of school.

She needed to make her friend happy because her cousin broke his heart.

~

Sehun never liked going to bars. But right now, all he wanted was to try to have fun. 

Well, Mabel seemed to be having a lot of fun. She has been talking to some random guys who try to approach them. It wasn't a shock though, whenever Mabel was outside of school, she was pretty cool to hangout with.

Sehun was busy drinking his beer when a random girl suddenly greeted him. "Hi!"

He looked at her, confused if she was really talking to him. "I'm sorry?"

The girl giggled sheepishly. "I'm Tiffany. Were classmates in Biology and Calculus."

Sehun suddenly brightened and chuckled. "Oh yeah, I remember."

"I've never seen you here before, so I was quite shock to see you here," she continued. "Are you celebrating or are you heartbroken?"

He scoffed. Is he that obvious? "What makes you think I'm heartbroken?"

Tiffany smiled. "I noticed you earlier in class, you were quite distracted though you looked cute." She laughed and sat on the empty chair beside him.

Sehun felt uneasy for a moment and shrugged.

The night turned out fun because of Tiffany. She was bubbly and funny. She talked about a lot of things. Complained a lot of things, especially about school and how hard their exams were. Sehun just laughed at her when she made a face when they talked about some of their old professors. And for a moment, he was really happy. She made him forget his problem for a little time.

"Hey," Sehun was still laughing when he suddenly heard Mabel from behind. "Let's go home."

"Oh," he straightened. He looked at Tiffany and apologized. "We have to go."

Tiffany smiled and nodded. "It's okay. See you in school?"

He wasn't sure what that meant but he just nodded back. When he and Mabel arrived at the parking lot, she suddenly looked at him skeptically. 

"What?" he asked.

She looked stern and crossed her arms. "That girl obviously likes you."

Sehun was surprised. "What? How could you tell?"

She groaned and rolled her eyes at her friend. "Girl instinct. You should stay away from her."

"Why would I? She's a friend," Sehun defended. He didn't like the way Mabel look when he said 'friend'.

"Yeah, whatever."

Sehun found Mabel weird during the whole trip home. She was quiet but she was looking at him like he was a bad person. Whenever he try to ask what was wrong, she would just raise her eyebrow. When he dropped Mabel on her house, Mabel gave him another stern look as if she was trying telling him that he did something wrong.

He just shrugged it off and went straight home. He popped on his soft bed and inhaled. He was happy tonight, at least.

And just as when he was about to sleep, he suddenly remembered Chanyeol. In an instant, he was not happy again.

~

When he came to school the next week, he saw Chanyeol with his friends on the lobby, laughing. Maybe, he'll never accept the fact that I like him. Maybe, he'll never accept my feelings for him. Worse, he'll never accept me for who I really am.

They accidentally made eye-contact. Sehun’s heart raced. But Chanyeol was shocked to see him, he looked away.

Sehun felt his heart broken more than it was used to and sighed. Seems like another day without Chanyeol. 

"SEHUN-AH!" Sehun was shocked when Tiffany squealed at him loudly. She was running towards him and then held his arm. "Are you going to Calculus class now, Sehun-ah?"

Sehun was in still shock and looked at Tiffany's hand around him. "Uh, yeah."

She giggled and faced him. Her huge smile was nice but Sehun found it strange. "Let's go together! I heard Professor Lee is going to give us another lecture..."

Sehun was lost to what Tiffany was talking about and turned to Chanyeol's direction again.

His heart stopped.

Chanyeol was staring them. Staring at Tiffany's hand around him.

When Chanyeol’s eyes reached him, his eyes widened and looked away. He looked hurt.

Right there and then, Sehun has never been so confused before.

~

Sehun didn't know why he was in the library. But since Tiffany doesn't like staying in the library, it was best that he was there. She has been tailing him ever since their first subject. He was getting annoyed.

"I told you to stay away from her, you didn't listen," Mabel said to him while reading another textbook that Sehun hasn’t seen before. Her voice was still stern like last night.

He sighed and leaned on the wooden table. "I tried okay? She's persistent."

Mabel put the book down and looked at him. She looked red and furious. "Now everyone in school thinks you guys are dating! Did you ever think of that?"

Sehun didn't know why Mabel was suddenly angry. "I'm sorry. I--"

"Mabel."

Mabel and Sehun turned to the guy who just called them. Sehun was surprised to see Chanyeol looking at them. He was wearing a white shirt and black ripped jeans today. Sehun felt his face blush again.

"I thought you're not coming," Mabel commented and gave space to Chanyeol. Sehun just looked down to his own textbooks, calming himself.

Chanyeol sat beside Mabel and turned to the guy in front of him. "I had to come."

Sehun felt his heart raced faster, so he took a deep breath and decided to stand up. "I'm gonna find another books."

He didn't wait for the response of the two and just hurriedly went to the shelves. He took another deep breath and held his chest. Things were getting more complicated between him and Chanyeol. He didn't know how to act in front of him.

When he turned back, he was surprised to see Chanyeol. He had the same look the last time they were in there.

"Chanyeol, get out of here," Sehun's voice was hard. He didn't want to deal with him right now. Not right now when his heart was beating so fast and he couldn’t think straight.

He was mad. Mad at Tiffany. Mad at Chanyeol. Mad at himself. Mad that he was so in love with Chanyeol, that he was turning into a weakling.

He remembered the kiss. He was suddenly confused.

When he saw Chanyeol took a step towards him, he backed up.

"I don't want to talk to you," his voice broke. "If you're going to play games with me, stop, okay?"

Chanyeol's eyes softened and reached out to him. "I'm sorry."

Sehun heard his heart break again and took another step back. "I don’t need your sorry, just get out of here."

Chanyeol didn't walk away, though. He moved forward towards Sehun. "I need to explain."

"I don't want your explanation, please just go," Sehun's tears were forming. He looked away from him.

"I'm sorry. I knew you wouldn't want to hear this now but," Chanyeol took a deep breath. "I'm in love with you."

When Sehun heard Chanyeol’s words, he looked up to him unbelievably. "In love with me? You kiss me then walk away, ignore me for days then you're in love with me. Wow! Really, Park Chanyeol?"

"That's why I need to explain, right?" Chanyeol finally held Sehun's hand. He was trembling. Sehun wasn’t sure why. "Please."

Sehun didn't mutter a word. Chanyeol continued, his voice was also breaking, "Everyone knows me in this school. I've dated a lot of girls. I made a reputation here. I'm scared that if continue my feelings for you, people wouldn't understand."

Sehun looked at him, as if Chanyeol said the most disgusting thing ever, "That's it?"

Chanyeol gasped. "Sehun-ah, you don't understand..."

"Of course, I don't understand! You don't want to deal with your feelings for me because everyone in this school thinks you're straight. And you're scared of what they might say if they found out you're dating a guy, huh," Sehun tried his best to keep his voice low. "That's worse than not loving me at all."

Chanyeol held Sehun's hand tight. Tears suddenly pouring out of his eyes. "Sehun, I-"

Sehun pushed him to get away. "I think it's better not to talk at all. Let's just stay away from each other."

Chanyeol gasped in pain again. He held on to Sehun a little tighter. "Sehun, no no no. Please no. I can't. Please."

Sehun tried his best to ignore Chanyeol's red eyes as he strangled out of his hold. "Let me go Chanyeol."

"No." And Sehun used all his strength and pushed him.

This time, it was him who left Chanyeol there, crying.

----