"Why can't you just be happy for me? Can't you be a good friend and support me?" Lay pleaded. You thought for a minute and looked at him.

"Hell no."

 

 

 

Lay sighed and places his hands into his pockets, "Can we at least talk this out? All we ever did was argue since that day. I-I don't want to lose you as a friend Hwayoung-ah..." The desperate look in his eyes made you give in. You headed towards the swings and Lay followed behind you without saying a word. Anything that could keep your mind off of Kai was the best decision right now. As you kicked your feet off the ground, the wind blowing through your hair made you feel relaxed. All the worries seemed to melt away as your body was piercing through the cold air. You looked over to your right and saw Lay swinging with his eyes closed.

 

"You wanted to talk about it, right?" you asked him. He opened his eyes and smiled sadly at you. "Yeah, I do..." He chuckled at your confused face and then closed his eyes once again. You two continued to swing for at least 10 minutes until you broke the silence. "Soo...? What is there to talk about?"

 

"Hwayoung-ah...."

 

"Hm?"

 

"I really like Jiyeon."

 

"Yeah. You've said that about a million times."

 

Lay took a deep breath and continued, "I-I really like her. I remember all the stories, all your rants about her in the past. I've never forgotten about them. At first, when Kai forced Jiyeon to be my dance partner, I swear, I thought the world was going to end for me. She knows that I am one of your best friends and I thought she would make my life a living hell once I started to train with her. For a week I have been debating on whether I should just bail out on her or not. On the day of practice, I took a chance and decided to partner up with her. At first, I really thought she was going to be the bad- girl. No. She wasn't. She was kind, sweet, caring, and energetic. We both helped each other through the routine. She even bought me ddukbokki after we trained. Ever since that day, we started hanging out more and more. I was not aware that I was falling for her until she confessed to me first. That's when it hit me. I've fallen in love with your enemy. She really changed Hwayoung-ah.... she really did."

 

As Lay was saying this, you were gripping, knawing, and pulling the sides of the swing with so much force, Lay thought you'd break the swing set. "Jiyeon? Changed? Ha! Changed my . Oh my God Lay, if only you saw how she acted towards me today. I don't even know what happened. After she came into the practice room, all hell broke loose. She's like a walking nightmare...." you thought.

 

"Hwayoung-ah?" Lay's voice snapped you back to your senses. You looked at him with shock. He chuckled and reached over to ruffle your hair. "Did you space out on everything I said?"

 

"No..no..no... I heard you..." you lightly shooed him with your hand.

 

"So..... say something about it?"

 

"Lay..." you croaked still thinking about Kai's outburst an hour ago, "I-I'm sorry. I still can't accept your relationship with her..."

 

Lay looked at you sady and nodded his head, "I understand."

 

You raised your eyebrow and patted his back, "Even though you are dating my enemy, I'm still okay with being friends with you. How about you? I don't want to lose you either."

 

Lay smiled brightly at you and gave you a thumbs up, "Of course I'll stay friends with you. You're one of my best friends!"

 

"Nado..." you laughed. You loved how Lay always made you feel better. His actions always lifted your stress off your shoulders.

 

You two continued to swing. Suddenly, Lay stopped. "What?" you asked him. "Hey, you were crying ago weren't you?" He looked at you worriedly, "I'm so sorry Hwayoung-ah. I was just so happy to see you. I really need to talk to you about Jiyeon. You've been on my mind all week. I thought I had lost you forever. That was selfish of me. I saw you crying from a distance and I came to see what was wrong. You bumped into me and all of a sudden, all I could think about was just making up with you. I'm sorry. I should've asked you what's wrong first..."

 

It flowed back again. Your anxiety and worries just slapped you in the face once again. So much for getting it off your mind. You stopped swinging and looked at the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THIS TO ME. IT'S IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AND YOU TELL ME THIS LAST MINUTE? YOU'RE SO FREAKING SELFISH CHOI HWAYOUNG!" Kai barked.

 

 

 

You covered your ears and felt the tears run down your cheeks.

 

 

 

"You're not allowed to come back to my dance studio and I mean it. I'm banning you."

 

 

 

You collapsed on the ground and started sobbing.

 

 

 

Lay hurriedly got up to confort you. Without saying a word, he wrapped his arms around you and brought your head to rest on his chest. You fiercly sobbed into the hoodie he was wearing. Rocking you back in forth, you heard him whisper comforting things to you. "What did I do to deserve this? What did I do wrong? Why is he so mad at me? Being banned from his dance studio is like being banned from Kai himself. Kai was all about dance and if I am banned from his studio, I'm officially banned from seeing him." you thought as Lay continued to caress your back.

 

You cried for almost an hour. You were happy that Lay was there to comfort you. This is why he was one of your best friends. He was always there. You were only hiccupping now and you were waiting for Lay in his car. He couldn't take your painful sobs so he decided to get you ice cream in order to calm down. Suddenly, you hear the door open and in comes Lay with two straberry flavorted ice creams. You smiled at the fact that you both loved anything 'strawberry.' Lay smiled gently at you and handed you your ice cream, "Here you go.. Eat up! This will help you calm down.." You took the ice cream and took a . The flavor of strawberry filled your mouth. You started to feel better.

 

"When you are ready, you can tell me what happened...." Lay looked out the window. You finished your last piece of the cone and wiped off any excess crumbs on your sweats. You took a deep breathe and began telling him everything that happened today and why you were crying. Lay did not dare to interrupt you throughout your rant, even if his girlfriend was involved in this. When you were done, you slumped back into your seat waiting for his answer. Lay did not say anything for a while and continued to look out the window. You bit your lip trying to decipher his facial expression. It was hard to read. You did not know if he was disgruntled, worried, frightened, melancholy, or just plain emotionless. After a while of sitting in silence, Lay said something unexpected.

 

"Give me your cellphone."

 

"W-What? My c-cellphone?" you were extremely confused by his sentence.

 

"Just give me your cellphone."

 

"O-Okay...." you slipped your hand into your back pocket and gave your phone to Lay.

 

You looked at him as he was fumbling through your phone. You tried looking at the screen to see what he was doing but he pulled away whenever you did. All you heard was the beeping noises from your keys. After a few minutes, Lay's eyes widened.

 

"What?" you asked.

 

He looked at you and to the phone, and back again.

 

"What?" you asked more irritatedly, "If you have nothing to say, just give my phone back!"

 

You tried to grab it but like always, he pulled it away. You crossed your arms and slumped down in your seat. You were mumbling but Lay wasn't listening.

 

"Hwayoung-ah?" he asked still looking at your phone.

 

"Whaaaaaaat?" you dragged your voice. You were getting tired of this.

 

"Did you text Kai this morning?"

 

"Text him? No, I told you. I was going to text him but then he just barged into the dance studio yelling at me to get out."

 

"Well, it says here you texted him at 10:44 AM"

 

"What?" you grabbed your cellphone and looked at the screen. Lay was going through your texted messages.

 

 

 

 

 

Message Sent to Kim Jongin at 10:44 A.M.:

Oppa I'm really sorry. I couldn't tell you this straight.

I want to resign as being your dance partner for this competition.

I'm sorry. I don't think I'm good enough to be your partner. I hope you

find someone else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"What the ?!?!? I didn't send this!" you thought. You looked at Lay and he had a serious expression on his face.

 

"Lay, I didn't send this! I swear!" you frantically pressed the buttons on your phone to make sure this text was real. He looked at you and sighed. "Didn't you say you left it in the practice room before you went to the restroom?"

 

"Yeah..."

 

"And didn't you left Jiyeon all alone in the practice room to go to the restroom?"

 

BAM! That's when it hit you. Jiyeon was the one who sent Kai the text. After you left the practice room, she found your phone and decided to play a trick on you.

 

"Jiyeon..." you whispered but enough for Lay to hear. "She lied to me." he suddenly says.

 

You look up to see a heart-broken Lay. His eyes and cheeks were moist.

 

"Lay..."

 

"You were right. I'm sorry. I should have listened to you from the beginning...."

 

"Lay please----"

 

"I'm such an IDIOT!" he slammed the dashboard of his car, "She tricked me! I thought that she changed, but clearly she didn't! I can't believe I fell for her trap. I'm so stupid for listening to her. A girl I just met and heard so many notorious stories about rather than my best friend who I've known for many years now. I'M SO STUPID!"

 

The car once again filled with silence. The only sound that was audible was Lay's heavy breathing. Suddenly, Lay's cellphone started ringing. "It's Jiyeon.." Lay croaked. He looked at you and his facial expression read, 'Ottoke? What should I do? Should I pick up?' You nodded at him and gave him thumbs up. Lay gulped and answered his phone.

 

"Yeoboseyo?"

 

"Ah! Yixing Oppa! Where are you right now?"

 

"Oh I-I'm with a few of my friends. W-Where are you right now?"

 

"I hope you are having fun then! Ah, I'm in the dance studio right now."

 

"Really? Practicing o-our routine?"

 

"Oh! Oppa, I wanted to talk to you about that. Err... well.. I know this is all of a sudden but I cannot be your dance partner for the competition..."

 

"Oh..w-why?"

 

"It is my grandma's birthday on the day of the competition. I really need to go and I do not want to let her down. I'm really sorry.."

 

"I-It's okay..."

 

"If you still want to compete, I wish you luck in finding a new dance partner! FIGHTING^^!"

 

"Yeah. Thanks."

 

"Saranghae Oppa!"

 

"Yeah."

 

 

 

Liar.

 

 

 

 

*beep* Lay turned off his phone and started to cry again. After a few minutes, he started to calm down.

 

 

"Hwayoung-ah----"

 

"Lay, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that she broke your heart. She never deserved you."

 

Lay smiled at you, "I thought you said you wouldn't comfort me if she broke my heart."

 

"That was before we became friends again. I care about you Yixing. Bǎochí qiángjìng....."

 

He wiped his tears and ruffled his own hair. "Well, I'm sorry that she did this to you. I bet you she's Kai's new partner now...."

 

All of a sudden, you got an idea. "Hey, I've got a plan!"

 

"What? A plan? What plan?"

 

"Lay, do you want payback?"

 

"Well, yeah but----"

 

"Zhang Yixing! I'll be honored if you accept me to be your new dance partner!" you said proudly.

 

Lay's eyes widened to the size of soccer balls. "REALLY? YOU WANT TO COMPETE?"

 

"Of course! I do not back down that easily, especially if our rival is Jiyeon! We are going to beat their asses! We are going to win this thing and show her who is boss!"

 

"I love your idea Hwayoung-ah.. I really do.. but I hope that you are aware that the dance competition is in less than two weeks. How the hell are we supposed to create a dance routine and then practice the dance moves in that short amount of time?!?!?"

 

"YAH! Who are you? Aren't you Zhang Yixing? "Dancing Machine" of one of the hottest bands in Seoul, EXO-M? Who is this guy sitting right next to me then because all I'm hearing is negative words. This is not Zhang Yixing of Exo-M is it?" you asked him.

 

Lay started laughing and held his stomach, "Okay okay okay okay Hwayoung-ah. I accept your challenge. But, how do you know we will win?"

 

"I know we will win. Just trust me with this okay?"

 

"Yeah, but reality check please? We are going against Kim Jongin! What do you think he will say when he finds out his best friend and his girlfriend is competing against him!??!"

 

"It's for his own good. If he wants to see what a monster Jiyeon is, we have to do this."

 

Lay thought for a moment and said, "Alright. So when do we start?"