Baekhyun walked along the halls of their university. His hands are in his pockets and his are bangs covering his mysterious dark eyes, his cuts and bruise from the fight yesterday are displayed for everyone to scrutinize. The students around looked at him in shock, not only did he definitely look like he got into some fight but he’s actually walking to class now,  early in the morning, a time when he’s supposed to be nowhere to be found.

“Holy , man. Is that Byun Baekhyun?” he heard someone whisper to their friend as he tried to open his locker. The other student gasped then whispered back, “It is! I can’t believe he’s here and walking around like he’s actually a normal student. He’s as sly as a ing fox! Nobody ever really notices him slip in and out of his place.” They continued their little discreet conversation while the male being talked about just rolled his eyes.

He was more annoyed with his stupid locker to even snap at the students gossiping about him now. It just wouldn’t open the hell up. He groaned, slamming his palm on it a couple of times. ‘Did I really just forget my stupid code? !’ he yelled in his head, giving up on trying to open the damn thing.

He turned around sharply, his brows furrowed in anger as he stomped away. The two students ducked their heads when he went past them but their gossiping still didn’t stop. “I told you he’s in a gang! Look at his busted face,” One whispered. “So he’s in a gang with… Oh, what was his name?”

“Kai?” they heard someone say. Their eyes rounded when they looked up to see Baekhyun raising an intimidating cut eyebrow at them. The two of them panicked and turned around as if they were busy with their lockers. Baekhyun only chuckled. He neared them, grabbed the back of their collars and spun them around to face him.

His eyes are narrowed and his lips are pressed into a thin, thin line. “B-Baekhyun! M-My man!” The one who started it said, laughing nervously as he gave the guy a friendly punch on the shoulder. Baekhyun looked at the shoulder he ‘playfully’ punched, his brows in an angry furrow. “My man, huh?” he says before gritting his teeth. “I d-didn’t mean to–”

Baekhyun put a finger up and shushed the stuttering male. He’s smirking at how scared he looks and quite frankly, he likes this effect he has. “What was that again? I’m…” He tilted his head and looked up to the ceiling as if he was searching for something in his mind. “–in a gang, you say?” he finished, his smirk deepening.

The male looked at his friend for help but the other is just ducking his head, avoiding Baekhyun’s intimidating gaze at all costs. Baekhyun clucked his tongue at them. He finally let go of the two but before they could start to breathe normally again, he harshly grabbed their jaws. “Where are your manners? You’re supposed to look at someone who’s talking to you!” he growled.

The two are pleading now, apologizing and promising never to talk about him like that ever again. Baekhyun can hear whispering around him. He looked over his shoulder and the students jolted when they saw that, some turned around while others scrambled away from the scene. He only chuckled as he turned back to the two paling males. He was about to torment them even more but then he heard his name being called from across the hall.

The boy cursed in his mind because the voice is coming from a person he’s been avoiding for the longest time now. “Let the boys go, Mr. Byun,” the voice ordered with his usual authoritative tone. The boy groaned, rolling his eyes as he pushed away from the two males. They scurry away immediately while Baekhyun turned around to face the head director of their university.

“Goodmorning, sir!” he beamed unnaturally. The man merely glared at him as he instructed Baekhyun to follow him. “We have a lot to talk about Mr. Byun.”

“Hae Ryung!” So Eun hollered, running towards the girl who has her earplugs on. Hae Ryung was bobbing her head to the music, oblivious to the gossip spreading like wildfire across campus. So Eun groaned as she reached for her best friend and spun her around. She plucked her earplugs off in a hurry. “Hey! I was–”

“Baekhyun’s here!” So Eun cut her off right away, earning herself an odd look. Hae Ryung checked her watched then looked up at So Eun again. “At this time?” She let out an incredulous laugh. The girl pouted at Hae Ryung and grabbed her wrist. “Yes, he’s here and he’s in the head director’s office right now so we have about enough time to fix you up.” Hae Ryung blinked slowly as she let So Eun drag her all the way to the girl’s bathroom.

She was yapping about how Hae Ryung should at least put in some effort to fix herself up, put some make up on and dress better but none of her words registered in the girl’s mind because she’s thinking of Baehyun. She’s worried for him. She knows that her best friend has been dropped on some of his classes, if not almost all of them. They’re probably talking about kicking him out of the damn university.

“B-Baekhyun is where?” Hae Ryung finally spoke after being silent for so long. So Eun’s brows furrowed at her late reaction, focusing on tying up Hae Ryung's long wavy hair. After securing her masterpiece with a hair tie, she watched Hae Ryung’s reflection on the mirror.

“In the office but that doesn’t matter at the moment! You have to look pretty for him,” she said distractedly, a grin forming on her lips as she swept Hae Ryung’s bangs off her eyes. Hae Ryung turned to her best friend, the odd look she’d given her before is now back on her face. “I have to what?  So Eun, what are you–”

“Wow! Your neck is long and flawless, your shoulders are nice and broad and your collar bones! Damn, I didn’t think collarbones could look so attractive,” she cut in right away, winking at her. Hae Ryung just gave her a deadpanned expression.

“So Eun!” she whined a little. Her best friend wrinkled her nose as she reached into her purse for some lipstick. “I just complimented you! I think the correct response would be a ‘thank you’ and maybe some blushing. Why don’t you put your hair up more often? Your face shows better and you look prettier!” She pouted as she put the lipstick in front of Hae Ryung’s lips. The girl pushed the lipstick aside. “Baekhyun doesn’t like my hair up…”

Hae Ryung winced on reflex. She knew So Eun didn’t like it when she talked about Baekhyun but then it suddenly dawned on her that she was the one to mentioned Baekhyun in the first place. So Eun, the person who probably liked Baekhyun the least out of all her friends just informed her that he was in school and that she had to look ‘pretty’ for him…

What was happening? Did she miss something? Hae Ryung snapped out of it enough to finally notice the cheeky wide grin on So Eun's face, her lips already painted with pink. It was too late to jerk away because So Eun was already done but it’s definitely not too late to ask her what the hell is going on.  

She opened to speak but So Eun held her hand up to stop her. “If Baekhyun doesn’t like it up then he’ll love it after seeing you like this.” Her grin has gotten wider (if that was even possible) as she dragged a puzzled Hae Ryung with her out of the bathroom. She seemed to be in a hurry. She was reaching in her purse for her phone, probably going to text the boys or something. Hae Ryung tugged her hand. “So Eun, can you tell me what’s going on or where we’re headed? I’m so lost right now. I don’t–”

Hae Ryung paused and so did So Eun. The two of them shared the same shocked expression as they stared at Sehun in front of them. The man flashed So Eun a quick smile before locking eyes with his girlfriend. His smile faltered, his lips parting with an awestruck look on his face.

His cheeks pinked and blinked at Hae Ryung like this is the first time he’s seen her. So Eun’s lips are pressed into an irritated line. She reluctantly let go of Hae Ryung, giving her an almost apologetic look. Hae Ryung’s brows only pinched together in utter confusion. Why was So Eun looking at her like that? What was it for?

“I– Uhh– I have to go meet up with the boys. H-Here.” So Eun gave Hae Ryung’s hand to Sehun. Hae Ryung must be hearing things because she thought she just heard So Eun say ‘Crap! Sehun might’ve ruined the plan,’ before scurrying away.

She feels beyond perplexed but she had no time to ponder over it because Sehun is now tugging at her hand, urging her to walk with him. She forced a smile and started to move. He was complimenting her. He said something about how beautiful she looked this way and that she should put her hair up more often. He then said something abo