__________________________

Kai was almost falling asleep while the teacher took attendance. It was that moment of the afternoon when he just couldn't focus on anything anymore. Everything was boring and nothing interesting enough to keep him awake. His head on the top of his table, he fought against the need to close his eyes. Only two hours left and he'd be free.

« Is Park Chanyeol absent today ? » The teacher asked, a little bit surprised.

Chanyeol was one of those students who would never miss class. Him being absent was as rare as Kai staying awake in math.

A mocking grin crossed Kai's face. So that weirdo was skipping school now ? That was new ! He probably stayed at home to play nerdy games with his creepy imaginary friends.

The teacher called his name again before vaguely shrugging and calling the next student on the list.

Kai wrapped his face with his arms, too tired to fight against the sleep.What was the point with struggling ? He was going to fall asleep anyway. Besides math wasn't really his thing. Being in the far end of the classroom had its little benefits, the teacher wouldn't even notice. His eyelids were getting heavier and heavier and his respiration slowed down. He was about to collapse when something caught his attention, stopping him to immediately fall asleep. The teacher was calling the name of his little play-thing several times, just like he did for Chanyeol who was missing.

Unconsciously, Kai pricked up his ears.

« Is she missing too ? » The teacher asked, scratching his hair.

Kai raised his head to quickly take a look at your seat. It was empty. Unusual.

He realised he hadn't see you at school today. This class was the only one he had in common with you today, so he hadn't notice your absence until now.

Kai's eyes then landed where Chanyeol was supposed to be sitting. Surprise ! The spot was empty too. Kai frowned. That couldn't be a coincidence. Chanyeol and you were the archetypes of regular and diligent students, and the fact that you two were mysteriously missing at school on the same day was too obvious to be just an haphazard situation. Typing his fingers on the table, Kai who was now completely awake, wondered where you two ran away. Did the deal have something to do with it ? Guess you were taking this whole game very seriously then! You really weren't the type to skip school so easily. You were too boring and docile to do so. Kai clicked his tongue, a little bit annoyed. That wasn't a part of the plan. If you were interacting with creepy Chanyeol, why didn't you do it at school ? Seeing you trying to seduce that weirdo was Kai's own little pleasure. It was the point of this whole deal. What Kai wanted was to see the show. He wanted to see you reluctanly faking romance with that creepily tall guy. He wanted to see him believing every single lovey dovey word you'd say, and make a fool of himself. In clear words, he wanted to see his two little puppets dumbly playing together. But for some reasons, you weren't there and it was ruining all the fun.

__________________________

You lazily scrolled down your iPod playlist, sat on the comfy grass, sharing earphones with Chanyeol. Since you didn't have enough money to do anything, you had aimlessly wandered in the narrow streets of Seoul, just looking at the store windows and enjoying your day of freedom before taking a rest in a small park you had found on the way.

Even if Chanyeol didn't say anything about it, he clearly noticed the change in your behaviour from the moment he offered you the cupcake birthday. The transformation was too obvious to be ignored. He had noticed how your misty eyes suddenly brightened and how your cheeks turned into a sweet shade of pink when your eyes had landed on the cake. You were now effortlessly smiling and he had to admit, he was pretty proud of himself on this one. That was the power of the Happy Virus... and food.

Unaware of the amused look Chanyeol was giving you, you were slowly moving your head along with the music, feeling the grass tickling your legs. From time to time, you were singing, making him loudly laugh. Well obviously, not everybody was gifted with singing or rapping abilities. He was often changing songs, getting easily bored of what you were listening to. Most of your playlist was composed of random girly cheesy tracks which weren't the cup of tea of manly Chanyeol. But every times he was complaining about it, you were just mockingly suggesting to listen to The Rolling Buffalo instead. It was enough to make him shut up for a moment.

You stayed like this for a long time. Just him, the music and you. You realised you started to feel more comfortable around him recently. Sure, every times when he was doing weird stuff or saying incredibly unfunny jokes before cracking up his strange smile, you kind of wanted to ran away.

But when he was calm, Chanyeol wasn't that creepy. He was quite nice actually.

As you were absent-mindedly playing with the grass, Chanyeol's eyes wandered in the park. A group of foreigners was taking picture of themselves in front of the garden's lake. They were loudly laughing, breaking the silence and the quietness of the area. He observed them for a moment before staring at you.

« Hey ! Do you want to take a picture ? » He suddenly asked with haste.

You raised your head and looked at him, taking off your headphone.

« Sorry, what did you say? »

Chanyeol took his phone out of his pocket.

« Let's take a picture ! » He suggested with a bright smile.

Without waiting for your an answer, Chanyeol sat closer to you and wrapped your shoulders with his arm. You gasped, surprised. He was doing this again. Freaking again. You had lost the count of unexpected arm on your shoulder. Chanyeol was randomly doing this from time to time for no reason today. Was birthday meaning no more private space or what ? And was hugging you like that really necessary for a picture ? You heart started to race again, but this time you managed to control the pound in your chest. It wasn't the moment to let unknown feelings mess up your head. You quickly fixed your hair in haste and tried to calm down. Chanyeol raised his phone in the air, about to immortalise the moment.

« Ready ? » He asked with a little grin, tilting his head to the side.

You nodded, making a v-sign with your fingers.

« Ready ! » You whispered, you eyes on the lens.

« Ok...1... » Chanyeol's deep voice echoed near your ear. « ...2.... »

And just when Chanyeol was about to push the button at « 3 », your phone started to ring. You cleared your throat and freed yourself to look for your phone while Chanyeol sighed, a little bit frustrated, and dropped his hand in the air. Ugh, bad luck. He was so damn close to have a picture with you !

You grabbed your cellphone and to a look at the screenphone. You immediately frowned. It was an incoming call from an unknown number.

« Not picking up ? » Chanyeol asked, seeing you weren't moving.

You vaguely shrugged.

« I...hum... It's an unknown number. » You mumbled, staring at your phone like this was a valid reason reject the call.

«  Maybe someone want to wish you happy birthday. » He suggested, lying on his elbow on the grass. « You should answer. »

You bit your lips. Yeah, maybe.

The thing was, you hated speaking through the phone. It was just something you really didn't like and if you could avoid it, you wouldn't think about it twice. But perhaps Chanyeol was right...Mina and Vicky's face crossed your mind, wringing your heart. What if...? You picked up in the next second.

« H-Hello ? » You shyly greeted

Silence.

« Uhm...Is anyone here ? » You asked, lifting an eyebrow.

You heard someone clearing his throat through the phone.

«  Huh...Hello ? » You insisted, a little be creeped out.

If this was a joke, than it wasn't funny.You were about to hang up when-

«  So now you're skipping school ? » A voice commented.

You jumped of surprise. This voice was nothing like Mina's, Vicky's or anyone from the same gender as you. It clearly was a male and from the annoying tone of his voice, you knew picking up was a bad idea.

« Who is it ? » You carefully asked.

You heard the person laugh through the phone.

« Hey, answer me ! » You started to get annoyed.

Must be some stupid joker making unfunny prank by the phone. Really mature.

Chanyeol gave you questioning looks. Was everything ok ?

« Oh come on ! Don't tell me being with Chanyeol made you forget about me. » The boy on the phone said, faking disappointment.

Ok, this started to be really creepy. Who was that stupid guy and why did he mention Ch- Oh.

« Kai ? » You blankly asked, with a high and weird voice.

Chanyeol, who was lying next to you, widened his eyes. Kai ?

« Is that you ? » You frowned, a little bit shocked.

Why the hell was he calling you ?

« Well done. » The jerk congratulated you. « You're not a dumb as I thought. »

You clenched your teeth. So was he going to harass you even when you weren't at school ? Gosh, that guy was really annoying. You sighed and rolled your eyes, exasperated.

« What do you want ? » You monotonously asked.

« Yeah, what does he want ? » Chanyeol thought to himself, sitting up. If he was correct, the Kai you were talking to was the same guy from his class. He was just another troublemaker desperately trying to appeal attention. And as Chanyeol could tell, that guy wasn't your friend. You never hang together or exchange a word, as far as he knew. So why was he calling ? Chanyeol silently listened, digging up the comfy grass.

« You're with him, aren't you ? » Kai ignored your question.

His voice was tainted with mockery. You quickly looked at Chanyeol to make sure he wasn't hearing what Kai was saying.

« Yeah. But that's not your business. » You coldly answered.

Mocking sigh.

« Nah, nah, nah ! It's actually my business. » Kai retorted with a laugh. «  Don't forget we have a little deal. »

You clicked your tongue. It wasn't the right moment or the right place to speak about it.

« I'm going to hang up now. » You replied, moving the phone away from your ear.

« Wait ! Don't hung up now ! » Kai ordered you.

You weren't listening anymore, you finger ready to push the red button. Today was your birthday and you weren't going to deal with his .

« Wait ! » You heard him say from the phone. « Or else... »

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath. Better carefully watch out every « or else... » he was saying. That guy wasn't kind. Do something against his will, and he would make sure to make you pay back. You relunctantly put back the phone against your ear.

« What ? » You articulated, reaching your limits.

His stupid laugh. Again.

« You're so easy. » He whispered with what sounded like victory.

« That's it ? » You sighed. « Was it all you had to say ? Can I hung up now ? »

« Of course you can't. » Kai replied to your stupid question.. « So, is Chanyeol next to you ? »

You hesitated. You didn't know what he had in mind but it sounded fishy.

« Maybe. » You played stupid.

« Don't joke with me. » He got impatient. « Is he, yes or no ? »

You heavily sighed.

« Yes... W-why ? »

Being focused on your conversation, you totally left out Chanyeol who was silently listening, curiosity radiating from his body.

His eyes narrowed as he absent-mindedly kept on damaging the poor grass.. What were you two talking about ? Did Kai want your homework ? Chanyeol could give his to him. Did Kai want information about school ? Chanyeol could tell him anything he needed to know too. Chanyeol could do anything. Chanyeol would do anything, as long as you and Kai (and any other boys) hadn't this « kind-of-thing ». Knowing something was going on between you and... ugh, Kai (?!) made him somewhat inquisitive and quite unhappy too.

« Good. » Kai said, satisfied. «  I have a mission for you then. »

Expecting the worst, you clenched your fist to not retort something silly and hang up. Whatever he had to ask, please let it be something reasonable and not awkward.

«  What do I have to do ? »

Your heard Kai breathing for a long moment without saying anything. Was it a poor attempt at building suspense ?

« Hurry up. » You complained, getting seriously tired of him.

« Yah ! Calm down. » He slowly said. « Ah...Girls are really impatient nowadays. Scary ! So yeah, back to the mission. So, I want you to repeat after me « Goodbye... Me too. » »

«  What ? »

What the was that mission ? Goodbye... me too ? How dumb was that ? That didn't even make any sense !

« Just repeat it. » Kai replied.

«  Why would I do that ? » You asked without understanding.

«  You'll see. Come on ! Say it or else... »

You mumbled between your teeth. Oh God, he was such a pain in the .

«  Goodbye... » You repeated without any conviction. « Me too. »

Chanyeol stopped digging up the grass, his heart skipping a beat.

Kai chuckled.

« Great job. » He giggled. « That was per-fect ! »

« Perfect for what ? »

Chanyeol face turned pale. Did you just said « Goodbye... me too » ? Did it really happen ? The same uncomfortable feeling he tried to erase for so long hit him right in the chest. Since he couldn't hear Kai's part, the only clues he had to understand the conversation was what you were saying. And that « Goodbye... me too » was waking up his crazy imagination. There weren't a lot of scenarios where a girl was saying « Goodbye... me too. » to a boy. Chanyeol may be a little bit stupid, but he wasn't ing deaf. « Goodbye, me too » what ? Goodbye, I like pizza too ? Good bye, I don't want to make my homework too ? Goodbye, I miss you too ? Goodbye, I like you too ?

Crazy hypothesis were popping in his mind. Did it meant Kai was the crush you once talked about ? Chanyeol didn't understand. He didn't want to. Kai was just the typical bad boy girls were dreaming of. So he shouldn't be surprise if even you had fallen for him, right ? But it was you. And it was making a big ing difference.

Chanyeol wondered if he was the guy he saw you with the other day. The thought made him angrier than it should. Sticking his fingers in the ground, he started to violently dig up the grass again. His ears were buzzing and he wasn't listening to you anymore, lost in his own thoughts.

« You don't need to know. » Kai said, amused. « See ya. »

You raised an eyebrow. That was it ? You shrugged and was about to carelessly hang up when you realised something.

« Wait ! » You shouted with haste. « How did you get my phone number ? »

If there was a thing you were completely sure about, it was that you never gave him your number. Never.

An awkward silence followed.

« Oh..I..uh.. »

Busted, Kai was busted.

« Uhm...I... »

You waited for him to answer, enjoying him struggling to justify himself and a little bit curious too. For once, you were the one in a position of strength. Time flew and he still didn't answer.

« Kai ? » You called.

Click.

Beep.

Beep.

He had hung up.

You looked at you phone with an appall expression. What the just happened ? 

__________________________

(A/N)  Thank you a lot for subscribing, reading and commenting. You are the doki of my kokoro (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧