“Ah, it’s so boring!”

Park Chanyeol shouted exasperatedly as he slumped back in his seat. His outburst garnered the attention of the people sitting at the same table in the school canteen. Chanyeol spent a few more seconds frowning in frustratingly suffocating silence, before someone spoke.

“What’s boring, hyung?”, Oh Sehun idly asked with his famous poker face on. Sehun wasn’t really interested in knowing the reason behind his friend’s current state of mind, but considering that he was the youngest in group, he felt obligated to at least ask.

“Everything!”, Chanyeol played along, even though he was aware that the little rat didn’t give about him. “This whole ing school where nothing interesting ever happens! The dumb and dull students and even worse teachers. And to top it all off, my parents, who can’t seem to cease lecturing me about my grades!”

Sehun simply scoffed to the side. “Are you kidding me, hyung? You almost never attend lessons like the rest of us and you still complain? You practically own this whole school with your popularity, having all girls out there under your feet and ready to do anything to get you to like them.”

“Like I said— boring!” Chanyeol made a grimace at him, making Sehun yearn to hit his dumb face at least once. Chanyeol sighed dramatically and lolled back. “The fact that I don’t have to do anything to get what I want and that it’s handed to me on a silver platter is driving me crazy! I seriously can’t remember the last time I had fun doing something.”

After intently listening to their conversation, Kai joined. “But hyung, there is this party this weekend, you can come and—”

“Get my drunk, some and then wake up in the morning with a terrible headache and a feeling of disgust clogged up in my throat? I’ve been doing that since we entered high school, so no, thank you very much.” Chanyeol immediately cut him off with his eyebrows drawn together.

“I was just trying to help.” Kai pouted and looked at the tray with food before him. He picked up his eyes again to throw a judgemental look at Chanyeol. “Besides, hyung, you say that every time and still do it anyway. Hypocrite much?”

Chanyeol clenched his fist threateningly and growled. “Want to get hit, brat?”

To interfere with their conversation before a fight breaks out, Byun Baekhyun interjected. “You know Chanyeol, you can always join Kris in bullying some poor souls if you’re that bored.” His voice was oozing with sarcasm since he had never approved of Kris’s ways of dealing with people.

Chanyeol threw him a look. “Seriously? I’d rather might just die out of boredom than to lower myself on his own, pathetic level.” His statement elicited light chuckles from the boys.

As Baekhyun proceeded eating his lunch a thought suddenly sprang to his mind. “Wait. Where is Kris anyway?” he asked the question to no one specific with a slightly bewildered face expression.

Deeming that nobody was going to answer after a few seconds of silence, Sehun spoke up. “Didn’t you guys hear? Kris hyung got caught red-handed while beating up some dude and he’s been at the principal’s office since this morning.”

Instead of being surprised by the explanation for Kris’s absence, the three boys simply snorted. Baekhyun leaned the side of his face onto his palm and smirked. “Oh, is that so? Well it’s not like it’s some big news or something. He’s going to get away with it again. Like he always does.”

Sehun raised his index finger and shook it. The boys waited for him to finish chewing on his food and after he swallowed, he refuted. “Nope. Not this time. There is a rumor going on that this time he’s going to get punished like he deserves thanks to our class president’s knack for quarreling.”

Kai turned his head over to Sehun. “Our class president? What does she got to do with that?”

“Well,” Sehun poked the food he was eating with his chopsticks as he elaborated, “It seems like our cute, little class president stumbled upon a scene of our dear Kris hyung beating up some guy. She would’ve probably ignored it and left them be if hyung didn’t do something to further provoke her. Now she won’t calm down until hyung gets punished.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened and his jaw slacked a bit. He huffed a breath of air and said in a calmer tone. “Hn. I have to admit I feel a little bit sorry for him, but it’s not like he didn’t deserve it. He practically called it upon himself.”

Sehun nodded. “Well, yeah. The only thing we can do right now is to pray that he won’t get expelled from school. As much as Kris hyung sometimes annoys me, I wouldn’t like it if he didn’t go to the same school as us anymore.”

The group of boys soon fell silent and they continued eating their lunches, while obviously racking their brains with that last thought. The only one not paying the least attention to the topic was Chanyeol. He was slouched in his seat with his legs and arms sprawled. His gaze was fixed on the ceiling as he was thinking about his own problems.

“Should I...Join the basketball club again?” Chanyeol asked to himself, not heeding that everyone had already finished their lunches and left the table long ago.

“I’m sorry, but no matter how many times you say it, it still doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Kris slammed his big hands against the principal’s office desk. He expected some kind of reaction from the man, but he didn’t get one. “Sir, I’m telling you!”, Kris raised his voice and pointed an accusing finger at the girl standing a few meters behind him. “This person attacked me and physically injured me! The big- bruise on my face is a proof!”

The principal, Choi Siwon, threw a look at Ai. She was leaning most of her weight onto her left leg and had her arms crossed. When Ai’s eyes met Siwon’s she shook her head and nudged it lightly into Kris’s direction with a look of pity plastered all over her face.Getting the message, Siwon sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he looked up at the tall boy hovering over him. “Mr. Wu. Do you realize how ridiculous you're sounding right now? How could this fragile-looking girl take on such a big, strong lad like yourself?”

Kris clenched his fists and blushed a little in embarrassment. Siwon could clearly see his teeth showing as he was about to shout again. “It doesn’t matter how she did it, okay?! Right now it only matters that she has tainted my valuable face and that she needs to get punished for doing that!”

“The only one who has to get punished here is you!”, an unexpectedly low voice from behind made Kris flinch for a bit. He whipped his head around to throw a glare at Ai who was smirking with delight. Before he could open his mouth to curse at her, Siwon interjected.

“I’ve been reported to, Mr.Wu, that you have been bullying another student in the male washrooms.” To that Kris merely snorted as Siwon continued. “I’m aware that this is not the first time such a thing happened, but every other time the bullied student strongly denied that you were his bully. This time though, there is someone who claims that she’s seen you with her own eyes. Isn’t that right, Miss Kim?”, Siwon sent a look in Ai’s direction.

“Yes, sir.” Ai’s tone of voice drastically changed into a polite and soft one, as opposing to the previous one. It still, nonetheless, made Kris cringe upon hearing it. “Just a while ago I was going back from the student council’s office and, on my way to the classroom, I kept hearing cries for help and some weird noises echoing through the hallway. My curiosity got the better of me, so I found myself standing before a scene of this person beating up another student. I would’ve ignored it and left if I weren’t a class president and a human being with healthy conscience.” When she stated the last sentence, Ai narrowed her eyes at Kris in judgemental manner.

It only made Kris scoff at her poor attempt in guilt-tripping him. He honestly couldn’t believe the hypocrisy of this girl. She only reported him because she was personally insulted, that was it. Kris was sure about that fact as much as he was sure that she didn’t give a flying about the loser he was playing around with.

Content with Ai’s statement, Siwon sighed and looked up at Kris. “Very well. You’ve heard everything, Mr. Wu. Is there anything you would like to add?”, the principal smiled slightly, satisfied with the thought of Kris finally getting punished.

As if he had read Siwon’s mind, Kris arched his eyebrows, feigning innocence. “I’m saying that I didn’t do it.”, he said in a calm tone that came out as rather eerie. “And as much as I’m informed, it is my word against hers now, no? Or you would like to choose to believe her rather than me? But wait...Wouldn’t that be discrimination towards students?”

This made both Siwon and Ai frown. “Alright, then.” Siwon sighed once again, but this time it was in frustration. “I guess I have no choice than to call in the victim.”, he pressed a button on his landline telephone. “Let him in.”

An awkward and tense silence stretched for a mere fifteen seconds that seemed more like hours. When the doors opened and a person came in, it made all three look that way and gift them with their attention. The student that stepped in was quite short, about Ai’s height, he had brown spiky hair and an incredibly cute face. He was trembling in what it seemed to be both fear and shyness.

The boy managed to pick up his gaze to spare a few looks at the people who were already looking at him. His eyes caught sight of Kris and, as soon as he took in his death glare, brunet abruptly ducked his head down, gaze fixated on his indoor shoes.

Ai sympathetically pursed her lips inwards when she took in the state the short boy was in. She deemed that he was probably traumatized by that sleazy bastard who was standing in her vicinity. She felt the need to kick or punch Kris once again, but this time in front of the shorter boy, so he could see that Kris is not that scary and intimidating. On the other hand, doing such a thing in front of the principal wasn’t that much of a great idea, so she sustained herself from doing so.

“Ah, you’re here,” Siwon smiled at the boy. “It’s Minseok, right?”

Without picking up his gaze from the floor, the boy nodded. “Y-yes. I-it’s Kim Minseok, sir.”, he stuttered.

With avuncular face expression, Siwon soothed him. “There is no need to be frightened, Minseok. You’re safe here. You know why I called you here, right?”

Minseok didn’t seem to cease trembling even due to older man’s reassurance. “I’m n-not sure...”, he trailed off.

“I called you because I want to pose you some questions about— Wait. You are probably feeling uncomfortable with these two around.”, Siwon gestured his hand at Ai and Kris . “It’d be better for them to leave us alone so we can talk in peace, don’t you agree?”, he smiled encouragingly.

Minseok’s feline eyes widened as he raised his head and nodded it eagerly. Siwon chuckled at his adorableness, grateful that he had hit the bull’s eye with his proposition. Man’s smile fell in an instant when took notice that the two who were supposed to be departing still stood in their spots motionless. He frowned at them. “Kids, I think you’ve heard me already. You’re free to go.”

Kris smirked and, with hands tucked in his pockets, he strolled over to where Minseok was standing. When they were only a few inches apart, Kris looked down at him and chuckled darkly. He whispered, loudly enough only for Minseok to hear him. “You know what will happen to you if you say anything about me, right loser?” His low voice caused goosebumps to appear all over Minseok’s skin and fear to surge down his spine. Minseok shut his eyes tightly, praying inwardly for Kris to disappear as quick as possible.

On the other side of the room, Ai was standing frozen. She was clawing at the hem of her checkered navy blue skirt and biting her lower lip in frustration. Her pupils wandered right and left as she was rummaging through her brain in hope to find an answer to the problem that was tormenting her at the moment. It was funny how confident and cocky she was when they first entered the principal’s office. Now, Ai felt all of her composure crumbling and slowly being replaced by a state of inner panic.

“Ai.” A male voice tore the girl away from her thoughts. She jolted her head upwards and caught the sight of Siwon’s stern face.

“Me too?” Ai po