Sooyoung dragged herself out of the gym, feeling just flat out ready to crash. This was why she didn’t give cheerleading the time of the day back then but now, her physical education teacher had brought it upon himself to include it the curriculum. Great. Just absolutely great. Sure, she liked to dance but she’d never ever considered herself athletic at all. As a matter of fact, she didn’t do sports. But while cheerleading was generally about dancing, it had a sporty side to it too, and sporty side she did not have. She sighed, wondering why she didn’t get an apartment any closer to school. She felt like she was going to collapse anytime from now.

Sighing yet again, she was ready to slog her way to the car when she came to a stop. Kris was standing by the entrance of the parking lot nearest the gym, Xiumin and Luhan both not in sight. He was leaning against the post; the signature blank yet almost face-like look firmly on his face. As per usual, he had the usual fangirls in his near vicinity him, whispering and gushing about the tall blond, wondering why he was where he was and who he was obviously waiting for. Sooyoung had almost asked herself the same question when she remembered.

“I… I was wondering if you wanted to talk about our topic after class.”

Sooyoung fought the urge to smile so giddily as a warm and fuzzy feeling bubbled up in her at the thought that he was waiting for her. She had already established the fact that Kris was a complex person and the last thing she wanted was to scare him off by being thrilled. With that in mind, she settled for a pleasant, genuine smile in greeting as she approached him, ignoring the gasps and jealous looks from those around them. Almost as if on cue, those around them began buzzing about the ‘latest development’ in Kris Wu’s life that came in the form of Choi Sooyoung.

“Hey.” She greeted, not really surprised when she only received a nod in return. “Ready to go?”

“Sooyoungie!”

They turned, finding Jonghyun running towards them. Many of the girls’ faces brightened even more at the mere sight of yet another campus crush. Jonghyun came to a halt a feet or two before them, not bothering to hide the look of surprise and question on his face. It was obvious that he didn’t quite expect to see Sooyoung with Kris – no one did.

“Hey, Soo.” He smiled brightly at the tall woman before he turned to the other male and gave a polite smile. “Kris.”

When Kris’s head barely nodded in greeting, Sooyoung fought the urge to sigh... again. “Jong, what’s up?”

“Well… I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today.” His smile brightened yet again.

“Uh…” Sooyoung glanced between her friend and her research partner. “I’m sorry, Jong, but Kris and I are working on our research paper today.”

Jonghyun’s face nearly fell in disappointment but he caught himself on time before he could potentially embarrass himself in front of everyone. Opposite him, a look of well-hidden amusement crossed Kris’s eyes but his expression betrayed nothing, choosing to keep silent just the same while the two friends talked. Sooyoung stood rather awkwardly between them, waiting for Jonghyun or even Kris to say something. But the chances of Kris saying a word at the moment were pretty much non-existent so she sighed again. It seemed like she’d been doing that a lot lately.

“I’m so sorry, Jong. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He replied for her benefit, a huge smile on his face. But Kris could see beyond that, being the master of forced smiles that he was. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“Of course.” Sooyoung grinned, waving in goodbye as Jonghyun left for his own car. She let out a deep breath as soon as he was gone before her attention back to Kris. “Ready to go?”

Kris nodded once and Sooyoung took it as a cue to lead the way to her car. The short walk was done in silence and Sooyoung honestly didn’t expect anything more than that. He never did