They remained silent from the moment they got into the café until now, when both of them had finished their lunch and stayed in their own worlds. Luhan felt bored. He had tried to make a conversation with the younger one but before he could complete the first sentence, Sehun cut off with “It’s okay if we don’t talk”, didn’t bother to look at him. Luhan was not the type of able to sit idle for a long time, he had to, no he needed to do something to keep him busy. And in this case, he took out the camera and began to scan around.

The shop was simply decorated, with the decisive white-blue tone, surrealist paintings hanging on the wall and a huge glass window where you could enjoy your drink while carelessly watching everyone hurry on the street. That was the joy of life.

Luhan had noticed there was a girl who kept stealing glance at his table for few minutes now but he just shrugged off. It was not a surprise for a person who got a lot of attention from random people like him. However, when the girl actually locked her gaze at a particular boy sitting across his table, Luhan couldn’t help but leaned forward and whispered to Sehun.

“Hey Sehun, there’s a pretty girl checking on you. 7 o’clock.”

To be honest, Sehun didn’t care about girls…or boys hitting on him. But the eagerness in Luhan’s eyes made him feel guilty for keep ignoring the latter’s presence. Therefore, Sehun looked over his shoulder to the direction he had been told and immediately snapped back with a not-happy expression.

Luhan’s grin eventually disappeared as he saw the tension on Sehun’s face as soon as the younger boy’s eyes met the girl’s. He arched his brow questioningly

“Do you know her?”

Sehun didn’t answer, instead he straightened his back and grabbed a magazine nearby, pretended reading.

“Is she your ex?”

“It’s not your business.”

The older male was about to dig deep in the topic when his “topic” suddenly made her way to the table. She looked much more attractive when came close and Luhan could tell Sehun was getting more uncomfortable than he already was.

“Sehun oppa!”

The girl let herself sit down next to the younger boy, made Sehun moved to the other side a bit, avoided the skinship.

“I know it was you, oppa. How have you been?”

“I’m good.”

“I heard you got the second prize at the Contest. I wanted to call to congrat on you but….you know, my boyfriend back then was kind of a jealous type so…”

Across the table, Luhan couldn’t get any more annoyed. He didn’t understand why Sehun kept silent and bore hearing all of the things she bragged about her personal life and her new boyfriend, who Luhan guessed was useless enough to let his girlfriend touch the other boy shamelessly and all he did was looking from afar.

“….and he’s sooo sweet to…”

“Excuse me.” Luhan said loudly, making the girl jolt in shock and Sehun looked up, opened his eyes widely. Frankly, Luhan had nothing else to say, he just wanted to stop the chirping uninvited guest but now it’s too late for him to just drop it there, so he said whatever popped up on his mind first.

“We’re in a middle of our date. And unlike someone, I want to spend as much time as possible with him. So no offence but your boyfriend is waiting for you over there and I think you shouldn’t let him wait any longer.”

Luhan finished his speech with a sympathetic nodding to the mentioned boy and a cold gaze at his “target”. This was the bravest moment of his life so far and to tell the truth, he felt his legs shaking under the table but he couldn’t lose at this one. The girl looked at him in disbelief then turned to Sehun for backup but the emotionless face of the younger boy told her it’s time to leave.

She slowly slid out to stand up, forced herself to flash a stained smile before her heels back to where she belonged.

With a victory smile, Luhan watched the girl plopped down beside her boyfriend  then averted his eyes back to the younger boy sitting in front of him, who had not said a single word up to now. It gave his stomach a knot under the suffocating stare from Sehun but before Luhan opened his mouth to bid a sorry for crossing the line, he saw something that he never thought he would.

“Thank you” Sehun mumbled, a genuine smile curved on his lips.

***********

The movie part was okay, in which Luhan found his jaw hurt for laughing too much and Sehun seemed enjoy it too. The older boy even successfully convinced the other to take a picture with him, a proof to prove the Council that they were actually going on a date.

There was only one thing left to do on their date and both of them found it a little bit awkward but no one bothered to say it. In fact, Luhan was afraid to break the peaceful moment and Sehun, well, he just normally didn’t show his emotion.

The way to the park was longer than Sehun thought it would be with Luhan humming along beside him, taking pictures here and there. It was getting dark and he felt a bit peckish.

“You want ice cream?”

The younger boy suddenly stopped, making Luhan startled. He blinked for a moment before grinned big, nodding happily in response.

“Wait there!”

Sehun pointed the white bench on the sidewalk not far from them and quickly spun around, he remembered they had passed a small convenient shop at the corner. The moment he reached the shop, he mentally slapped himself for not asking Luhan his favorite one. After quite a minutes pondered, Sehun decided to grab all the flavors that were sold there and heading back.

He stopped when the view of Luhan caught his eyes. But something was wrong, the older was surrounded by three strange guys and was trying to shake his hand off them. Sehun tilted his head aside to have a clear view while sped up his pace.

“Get your hands off me!” Luhan exclaimed, pushed one of them who was wrapping around his shoulder, pointed his finger threatened “Don’t you dare come close, or else…”

“Or else what baby?” the biggest one smirked, crossed his arms defiantly.

“Or else you will need a doctor to fix your hand and also your head.”

Sehun spoke up from behind, gaining all the attention. Three brats snapped back and scanned him from head to toe for a moment, then one of them jerked his chin up, asking vaingloriously

“Who the hell are you?”

Sehun kept his deep stony voice, darted his view to Luhan’s to make sure the older boy was okay.

“I’m the hell his friend. Now off while I’m still nice enough.”

To prove them he had his point, Sehun put down the bag of ice cream, took off his jacket and clench his fists in anger. It had been a long time since his last fight and frankly, three was such a small number of guys he had beaten against if compared to his past. Ever since the accident and he started falling in love with playing violin, he crossed his heart for not involving any kind of violence. But today was different. Today, he could make an exception.

They stared at each other for quite a minute before the biggest guy elbowed his friends to let go, not forget to spit cursing words and pushing Luhan out of their way. The older boy lost his balance and fell down, winced in pain while rubbing his ankle.

Sehun quickly rushed to his side and helped him to sit on the bench.

“Are you okay?”

Luhan brushed off the dirt on his clothes, shook his head slightly, reassured

“I’m fine. Thanks for sticking up for me.” he paused a second, blinked his eyes “But seriously, what if they hit you?”

The younger boy chuckled. Judging from his appearance, people wouldn’t know (and didn’t need to know) the sleeping beast inside of him. And he didn’t plan to wake it up any time soon.

“They should be glad they didn’t.” Sehun shrugged his shoulder casually, stood up suddenly “It’s late. Can you walk?”

Luhan nodded. His ankle was still hurt like hell but he didn’t want Sehun thought he was a girly type which he’s definitely not. He might be not a sturdy, burly one but damn it, he could stand on his own foot. Ouch!

The older boy had to bit his lower lip to prevent a groan in pain when they reached the dormitory’s main gate as he accidentally put a lot of strength on his right leg. Since they stayed in different block, Sehun thought it’s time to call it a day and said goodbye. But before he could go far enough, Luhan already called after him, holding tight his phone.

“Can I have your number?”

Sehun turned around to face the other who was clearly in a slight blush. He tilted his head, hands in pockets, took a step forward.

“For what?”

Luhan scratched his neck awkwardly, he had to come up a good reason which was an impossible mission cuz his brain had officially stopped working.

“Well…in case I was bullied again and…”

His voice was trailed off as he realized how lame his reason was. Great, now I sound like a girl.

Another step toward the older boy’s direction, Sehun narrowed his eyes

“And you think I’ll come to rescue?”

“I...don’t know. Ma..maybe” Luhan sputtered, shifted his look away to avoid any eye contact. What he didn’t expect was that Sehun finally reached his place, grabbed the phone from his hand and put his number in it. The younger boy tossed it back to standing still Luhan and his heels, not forget to give a notice.

“You take care of the report to the Council.”