"Were you sleeping with Jongin over the summer?" I was seated with my back against my desk, chatting to Chanyeol about his adventures of the past month when the question cut through the air. Baekhyun who had had his head resting on Chanyeol's desk, sat up and leaned back in his chair, signalling to me with his eyes that something was about to rain on my parade. 

I turned in my chair ever so slightly to find Hani leaning into my desk, her eyes fixated on me. The ex. She continued to watch me as I stared blankly back at her. I had only half been listening, my mind still running through the conversation I had been having with my friends. I looked up at her,

"I'm sorry?" I crinkled my brow and watched as her eyes grew darker. 

"I said," she growled, her voice close to a snarl, "were you sleeping with Jongin over the summer?" Her words seemed to balloon into ridicuous shapes as they left her lips, dancing around me, taunting me. It were as if I were underwater and the word were trying to work their way towards me, into my brain. It all sounded so stupid. I couldn't help but gaze at her in disbelief. Disbelief that shortly became anger.

"I know about girls like you"

"Girls like what?!" I demanded. Hani had my full attention now. Conversations started to die out around us but I didn't care. There was only one I was interested. 

"Girls like you! The type that hang around other peoples boyfriends, waiting for a moment of weakness!" Hani was raising her voice now, focusing all her energy on me. I glared back at her, my ears red hot. Did she really have the audacity to be suggesting what I thought she was suggesting. Feelings of anger at my parents I had squashed in the hopes of having a good first day were bubbling just under the surface. I was not in the mood to be pushed.

"Are you asking if I was having with your boyfriend? Is that what you're asking?" If we hadn't been drawing attention to ourselves before, we certainly had it now. Conversations were going quiet faster than I could count. I looked back at Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Chanyeol was glaring at Hani with an intensity I hadn't seen before while Baekhyun was watching me, calmly. Don't, he mouthed. I couldn't help myself. It was so ludicrous. I stood up to face Hani. The lecture hall was deadly quiet now. What could have been a simple woman to woman talk was about to become a match of scornful tongues.

"Are you asking if I was having with your boyfriend who spent half the summer in America and the other half of it with you? Hm?" I stuck my chin out defiantly, planting my hands across my desk the same way she had. I was not going to let her come here and accuse me and try to make a fool out of me in front of the whole class and especially not in front of my friends. Now that I was sounding it out, the idea of Kai and I sneaking around behind Hani's back really did sound absurd and I could tell Hani was realising it too. The puffed up ego that had encouraged her to come and confront me was deflating rapidly, faster than she could salvage.

"I..I.."

"Not that it is any of your business if or who I sleep with, but no, I didn't sleep with Kai. I hadn't seen him until today" Only as I sat back into my seat did I realise how angry the confrontation had made me. My hands were shaking and my chest was heaving. I didn't know why the accusation had made me upset. People pinned Kai and I together all the time. It was true. Kai and I were close, but not because of some ulterior motive. We had known each other for the greater part of our lives, grown with each other, lived some of our gretest experiences by each others side. For someone to manipulate into some twisted affair and make a judgement on my character. It made my blood boil. So much that before I could stop myself, I said something I knew I would regret,

"No wonder he dumped you"

The look that flashed across her face was one mixed of hurt and unadulterated fury. A hushed tone had settled in the room, I could almost here the clock on the wall ticking away. As Hani moved, a figure moved in from of me.

"Hani. Enough" Kai stood between the two of us now, almost completely blocking her from my view with his broad shoulders. I quickly shook my head, trying to concentrate on the vibe at hand. Why was I looking at his shoulders? My anger deflated as I read the atmosphere of the room. Kai was radiating an intensity I had never felt before.

Kai stood motionless between us, staring down at Hani in utter silence. There was an unaudible conversation going on between them, from the looks on their face. Kai's was stoic but his eyes were harsh, unforgiving. Hani's face was crumpling, she kept blinking to fight back whatever emotion she wanted to keep buried deep down.

"You don't even know that you're doing it, do you?" she lamented, shaking her head slowly. Her voice cracked and I realised that she was on the verge of tears. I had done that. I had berated her for not coming to me as a woman to voice her insecurites about Kai, and then attacked her when she had stepped on mine. Now Kai was involved and fighting my battle for me. I thought I was better than this. 

"Kai, it's alright" I whispered, stepping forward and lacing my pinky finger into his. We would always do this when we were upset. I had to center him, bring him back to me. He glanced down at me for a moment, taking in my features as if seeing me for the first time.

"No, it's not" His voice was tender now, nothing like the tone that had cut Hani down with two words from his dagger like tongue. The menace was gone and the voice that only I knew spoke back,

"Are you ok, Ro?" I nodded and the hand in mine. I had never seen him look so gentle.

"It will also be her, Jongin" Hani cut in, turning her head away from the two of us as she struggled to find some decorum.

"Stop it" Kai warned, his pinky curling into the fist he was making.

"It's time you face it. You lo-"

"Isn't it a little early in the school year to start the mean girl diatribe, or are we making up for lost time!" Our lecturer had somehow snuck in while all eyes were on our little mexican stand-off and appeared to be anything but impressed. The situation had been defused but the animosity was still there. I felt Kai loosen up. His fist unravelled, his grip on my pinky weakening but still there. He surveyed me, trying to grasp whether I had taken in his secret. 

"Regardless of whatever is going on here, I would like you to all take your seats before I have to hand out the first detentions of the year" I swallowed and slowly drew my hand away from Kai, seeking my seat. He stood by my table for a moment, watching me with obsidian eyes before taking seat beside me. I forced myself to stare down at my desk, trying to ignore all the piercing eyes staring at me. I could almost feel the rumours fermenting in their tiny little minds. I could feel Kai staring at me too, his look even harder to ignore than others.

"Rosalie" I looked up to find our lecturer staring in my direction.

"Yes sir?"

"You're wanted in the headmasters office" A chorus of ooohs filled up the room as I swallowed my pride and stood up from my seat, pushing it backwards. Grasping the handle of my bag, I yanked it upwards clumsily, knocking into my desk. The spotlight that was pointed directly at me was getting way too hot for my liking. I rushed past my lecture mates, allowing my hair to swing forward and cover my face. My mind was racing.

"Mr Kim, please sit down" the indifferent tone of my lecturer prompted me to glance over my shoulder as I left the room. Kai was standing, knuckles pressed into the desk watching me go.

I tried not to think about what had just gone down as I hurried to the headmasters office. I couldn't be in trouble. I had only been at school for about an hour and nothing that I had done could technically be classified as suspendable. Breaking into a slight jog, I headed down the stairs and across the concourse to the modern building near the head of the school.

When I reached the headmasters door, I was slightly out of breath and my shirt was crumpled. I had taken the liberty of using the football court as a short cut, the same time as the boys team was meeting for their first training session. Needless to say, ducking away from balls launched at my head was no easy feat and I looked like I'd struggled. Smoothing my shirt to the best of my ability, I knocked on the polished wood door and waited for the obligitary 'come in' before entering. 

My parents stared back at me as I pushed opened the door and froze. Now this I had not expected. They were each seated in a respective seat, dressed to the nines in expensive Armani suits, but if you looked closer, you could see the flaws in the picture. My fathers collar was crinkled, he had ironed it in a hurry and his tie had the slightest stain on it. My mother, her giveaway way the mix of colours. She never wore maroon and navy blue at the same time. Minor faux paus to anyone outside of our family, but a big, glaring sign to me.

"Mum? Dad?" I questioned, walking awkwardly into the room, my eyes darting around as if I expected a secret camera crew to jump out. This was too surreal to be true,

"What's going on"

"Your parents have come to take you home early today, Rosalie. You've also been excused for the week" I opened my mouth to demand an explanation but at the sight of my father raising his hand to silence me, I stopped myself.

"We'll talk about this in the car Rosalie" My father placed a hand on my shoulder and nodding at the headmaster, kept it on my shoulder until he hand successfully maneuovered me into our car. From the way the vein in his neck was pulsating like some weird undersea creature, I decided to keep my mouth shut. I slid deeper into my seat, my skirt riding up until the leather car seats stuck to my thighs. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out my phone and pressed the home button. A selfie of Kai and I pulling "ugly faces" lit up the screen before messages started to fill in.

Is everything ok? - Kai.

I hurried typed a reply, darting glances at my parents who seemed to have forgotten my presence in the back of the car, the windows rolled down. My mother was puffing away on a thin cigarette. 

Call me later - Kai 

"Your sister Sophie is going to be staying with us for a while. Seokmin too" my mother stated, monotone. She didn't turn to look at me to see if I'd heard, or bother to wait for a reply. She could barely even give me a glance. I sat deeper into my seat, feeling as if I had caused this invisible issue that was hanging over our heads like the sword of damocles. I sat waiting patiently in the back, my leg pounding the floor as quietly as possible, my brain urging us to move faster than this. I had to see Sophie. 

After what seemed like a lifetime, our mercedes crawled into the driveway, the tires crackling over the gravel. I flung over the door, narrowly missing getting strangled by my seatbelt or having my leg run over by the still moving car as I scrambled towards the house. The door was already unlocked as I forced my way in, banging my knee hard against the marble floor in haste. Hissing through my teeth and trying to ignore the pain, I called out for my sister.

"Sophie!"

"I'm here Rosie!" my face fell. She never called me Rosie. No one called me Rosie. The feeling of uncertainty from this morning had finally forced its way up my throat and out my body.

"Where are you Sophie?"  I cried, a sound I did not recognise leaving my throat. My voice had been replaced by the voice of a small child. Frightened of the world around her. I paced through the rooms until I found her, reclining on the couch under a thick duvet, eyes red and puffy, her skin pale. 

"I know I look like , stop staring Rosie" she grunted, patting an empty space beside her. I sunk into it and watched her warily. My parents had done the misdeed of buying a cream coloured couch and right not, Sophie was the paler of the two. She beckoned me over and I my arms around her, nestling into the duvet with her. I heard her husband walk in and hover in the doorway as we hugged, but I didn't let go. I didn't want to let go. I didn't want to let go.

"Rosie" I shut my eyes tight, praying that somehow that would block out what she was about to tell me.

"I lost the baby, Rosie"