"Your lips are puffy."

"And your eyes are swollen."

"And your cheeks are-"

"Do you guys really have to point out absolutely everything that's wrong with my face today?"

After Lay had left you in the library, crying and alone, with nothing but pencil drawings, blurry and furry with tears, to look at, you'd sat there sobbing as silently as you could before you managed to pull yourself together and return home. Xiumin gave you a bit of an apologetic look, slightly nodding his head to ask if you were okay or not. You didn't have the heart to shake your head back. Kyungsoo sat on the floor, his head resting against the sofa, watching the television intently and you sighed, heading straight to your room and slamming the door behind you.

Once you were safely out if sight and earshot, Chanyeol turned to Kyungsoo and kicked him. "What the hell are you playing at?" Only to Chanyeol's surprise, Kyungsoo sighed.

"I'm going to bed." 

Chanyeol was flabbergasted. "It's not even 7pm yet! Where the hell-... No, Kyungsoo, I'm not finished with you-... Hey! Hey!"

At the sound of Chanyeol raising his voice, you peered through a small gap in your door, holding your breath for all you were worth. With an even heavier sigh, Baekhyun stood up and you watched as he tucked his mobile phone into his pocket. Sehun too followed him with his eyes as he looked up at the clock that hung on the wall above the television.

"Are you going for your date now?"

Baekhyun checked his watch, "after I've tried to talk to Kyungsoo. I'm sure Maddie won't mind me being a little late."

"Good luck."

You waited as Baekhyun walked into Kyungsoo's room. Everyone else was silent too. The volume on the television had been reduced down to nearly nothing. You noticed Kris shake his head, already predicting what was going to happen and within minutes, Baekhyun was back looking slightly flustered if not rather angry.

"Well I tried," was all he said, before he grabbed his shoes and jacket and slammed the door behind him, not even waiting to put them on properly.

"Chanyeol," Suho started, "maybe you could..."

He couldn't finish. Chanyeol stared at him, half shocked that he would even suggest him being the one to talk to Kyungsoo about the girl he also liked.

"Are you joking? Chanyeol would probably knock Kyungsoo off his feet."

"That's rich coming from you, Luhan," you muttered, still feeling bad that Chanyeol was being made to go.

He had almost reached the door and everyone's eyes were on him. As his hand touched the handle, he quickly retracted it, hissing as if it had scalded him. "I can't do it. , no, hyung I'm sorry but I can't."

"See. Chanyeol would have hurt him."

"You shut up, Luhan," Chanyeol sniped, pointing to his nose.

Luhan laughed, "ooh vicious!"

"Luhan, please!" Xiumin sighed, the only one old enough to show him who was boss. "Act your age."

You slumped against the door. What was all this secrecy? Didn't you say you didn't want any more secrets as your birthday wish? And here you were, sneaking around secretively as if you were doing something bad. More than anything, you just wanted to scale the building and climb into Kyungsoo's room and sit beside him and talk to him. Nothing more, just a talk. Just something, anything, to show you that he didn't hate you and you weren't too late.

Anything to let you know you weren't too late.

 

As time passed and Chen was getting bored of flicking Chanyeol's toes, he turned to Kai, thinking of ways to make his life misery too. Noting what bad luck was about to be bestowed upon him, Kai jumped up abruptly and lept over Lay who was asleep, sprawled out on the floor like a dog in the heat. 

"Hey! No fair!"

"Pick someone else's feet to play with. You've got plenty to choose from."

Kai slunk into his room, closing the door neatly behind him and for a moment, he forgot all about Kyungsoo. Only once inside, he found the older boy curled up into a ball on his bed, his head resting on his knees as he shook a little. Kai's sympathetic side immediately shone and he rushed over to Kyungsoo, wrapping one arm around him without a pause to think. 

"Hyung? What's wrong?"

Kyungsoo lifted his head but kept his sleeve-covered hand over his eyes. Sniffing a little, he stifled a mumble.

"It wasn't her, was it? Baekhyun was just pulling my leg, wasn't he?"

"What are you talking about?"

Kai tried to move Kyungsoo's hands but he refused, pulling them back with enough force to let Kai know that he wasn't going to see Kyungsoo's eyes any time soon.

"Haneul. She wasn't the one who stayed for me, was she? Please. Tell me you all just left me alone on that day. Tell me Baekhyun's joking."

"Why would Baekhyun joke about something like this, hyung?"

"I don't know," Kyungsoo shouted, suddenly pulling his hands away from his eyes and gripping at his hair as if to tear it out, "to get back at me? Because I was horrid to him when I was going out with Shinyeong?! I don't know!"

"Kyungsoo, think about it..." Kai said quietly, "I don't want to make you feel any worse but..." He sighed, "does it make any sense for Baekhyun to lie about something like that? Baekhyun loves you as much as he loves Haneul. He probably loves you as much as Haneul loves you too."

Kai's voice cracked unintentionally and Kyungsoo's ears shot up, taking in everything he'd just heard.

"It... What?" Kyungsoo stuttered, "what... what?"

"You're an idiot. You're an even bigger idiot than Sehun and Baekhyun put together."

Kyungsoo waited, his hands clenched into tight balls as he gripped his hair in anguish. "So Baekhyun was telling the truth."

"What did he say?"

"That Haneul stayed for me. And that she called Suho-hyung because she was worried about me. And that she-" Kyungsoo croaked, "she... likes me too." 

Kai smiled, for the first time in a while and Kyungsoo stared at him, shocked at his reaction.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Because you're both pathetic." Kai said, simply, "she thinks you hate her."

Kyungsoo's eyes widened. "H-Hate?!" He was shocked, utterly taken aback by what Kai had said. Hate? Hate?! His hands left his hair and fell to his side limply. "How could she think that?"

"You treated her like utter ?"

"I thought I was making it easier for her! I thought she didn't like me! I thought-..." Kyungsoo's voice lowered, "Oh, Jongin, I'm so sorry."

"Hyung, I'm getting over it. Don't tell me you're sorry because it'll just rub salt into my wounds."

Kyungsoo's head fell forward slightly. He felt more apologetic than ever and a sense of guilt was already clouding his judgement. He was panicking inside, and his shaking exterior showed it. 

"She was really worried about me?"

Kai nodded, "more than you can imagine."

"And..." Kyungsoo wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer to this, "did she cry a lot?"

"Define a lot. A litre? A tablespoon? A tub? A teaspoon?"

Kyungsoo sighed, exasperated by all the questions, "I don't know, just-"

"Yes, hyung." Kai said, "truthfully, yes. You made her cry."

"And I bet you all want to punch me."

"Pretty much?"

"Great." Kyungsoo stretched his legs out across the width of his bed, waggling his feet as they hung off the side, "Baekhyun... He said that when Haneul was on the phone, Suho said she sounded like she was going to die of a panic attack. Is that right?"

"You're really asking me that, hyung?"

"Sorry..."

Kai exhaled deeply and loudly. "Suho was giving her the instructions and do you know what he told her to do at the end?" Kai laughed, a little sickened with how cheesy his hyung could be. "He told her to 'seal it with a get well soon kiss'."

"She... kissed me?!" Kyungsoo shrieked.

"Hyung, do you want the whole world to know? Do you want to have Chanyeol charging in and beating you up whilst Lay comes along and throws himself out of the window?"

"No, of course not. But why are you so calm?"

"Because... It's you. How can I be angry at you?"

"Jongin-ah..."

"Hyung, don't give me that puppy eye rubbish."

"I'm sorry. I'm just... I'm just..."

"An idiot? A complete and utter moron?"

Kyungsoo turned to Kai, his face a picture that Kai wished he could have taken to keep for longer.

"Yeah, pretty much. I'm a complete and utter moron, aren't I?"

Kai grinned, "hey, you don't need me to answer that for you, do you?"

 

***

 

Breakfast was quick and swift to avoid the awkwardness lingering in the air. The night in Kyungsoo and Kai's shared room had been spent devising a devious plan and that morning, Kyungsoo acted defiant under Kai's demand. If you were ever going to get together, Kai was going to make both you and Kyungsoo earn it and it was going to start with a good and proper make up- dramatic and overly cute was the aim. 

"What's everybody doing today then?" Lay asked, trying to make a little conversation as you all cleared the table. It was his attempt to make up for the complete lack of speak during the real meal.

"Library," Kris said.

"Bring pepper spray incase your fan club is there," Chen joked.

"More like bring a rucksack to carry home all the chocolates and snacks you're going to get given," you said.

"Anyone else?"

"Chihiro's in town," Sehun said.

Chanyeol nodded, "and so's my sister- of course."

"I'm having a lazy day," Kai said.

"Ditto," you replied and on Kai's cue, Kyungsoo decided to speak up.

"I'm going to Gapyeong.."

Your head turned instinctively at the mention of Kyungsoo's sacred place and Kai took note of it, grinning to himself as he observed your interactions. "It'll be really quiet today, I reckon," Kai added, nodding at Kyungsoo who glared at him, putting on a show for you.

"I'm heading off in 15 minutes."

"Do you need any food?" you asked, trying to inch your way into the conversation only to recieve a cold "no" as a reply. 

 

But when you noticed Baekhyun trying to telepathically tell you to follow Kyungsoo to Gapyeong, you immediately forgot about how mean he was being. Baekhyun, of course, had found out about the plan one way or another and after pulling you aside as Kyungsoo got ready to leave, he unloaded what Kai had told him to say.

"Go to Gapyeong. Just follow the damn bastard there, okay?"

"Don't call him a bastard, Baek."

Baekhyun had to stop himself from laughing and getting flustered. Maddie had warned him about this trait of yours- the tendency to be cute when someone was talking about about another person you really loved.

"Okay, I'm sorry Haneul. But seriously, follow him. Go there and make up and do what you have to do."

"Baekhyun, he doesn't like me," you insisted but Baekhyun shook his head.

"It doesn't matter. You don't know for sure. Just go and find out. If he's really changed his mind, at least you can either drown him in the waterfall or enjoy the scenery as you drown yourself in your sorrows."

"Cheers, Baek."

"Anytime."

And that settled it. A few minutes after the door had shut behind Kyungsoo, you grabbed your wallet and coat and headed out after him, slipping and sliding around in the shadows to not get seen. You had to find out once and for all what was going on in his mind. Baekhyun was right.

If Kyungsoo was going to reject you for being too slow, at least you'd be heartbroken in a beautiful place.

Or if you were going to make up with him and undo all the wrongs, perhaps, just perhaps, you'd get one more slow kiss behind the waterfall again.

 

 

 

---

I'm going to update the next chapter on my husband's birthday or I'm going to die trying. (who's my husband you ask? shame on you!) 

I also don't doubt that the reason why Kyungsoo's ending is super long is because of my bias towards him. I mean, he is my husband after all (there's your answer incase you didn't know). And Chanyeol's my like illegal lover so I don't know how long his ending will turn out. We do not mention a certain Mr Byun Baekhyun here ok. He's nothing. He's nothing I tell you. Nope, nope, nope. Byun Baekhyun, you are neither my husband nor my illegal lover. You are just... poo.

 

---

Ah, and as this story is coming to an end (and I really want to entice you guys), I give you: Kidulthood 100% and a preview!

 

"Okay, okay!"

You held your hands up and grinned at your friend.

"Give me 3 reasons why you like One Direction."

Gayun pulled a face and whined.

"Ara!"

It was a typical lunchtime on a typical Monday at school. The morning had consisted of typical catch up conversations- talks about who was going to watch that evening's episode of Running Man, reminiscing/ gossiping over the weekend's antics and of course, Gayun declaring her love for One Direction yet again.

Seohyun chuckled, "for the love of god Ara, give her a break."

"She'll burst into tears at this rate," Yoona muttered, pulling her hair back into a ponytail with her hairband held between her teeth.

"It's fine as long as you don't mention her Lewis or whatever," Yuri said, getting hit on the bicep by Gayun as soon as she spoke. "Hey! What was that for?"

"His name is Louis!"

"Do I look like I care?"

"Guys!"