Chapter 8

They spent the entire afternoon strolling around the mall, stopping when one of them saw something appealing like foods or desserts, clothes, etc... Kibum let out an ooh… and aah… accompanied by random facial reactions as Donghae talked about his first week in Imperial Academy. Donghae never missed a single thing as he told Kibum everything including the chocolate that Ahn Sohee gave him, which was the reason why he bought a small box of chocolate for him to give Sohee in return.

They were at the arcade section inside the mall, murdering the buttons of the arcade machine as both of them not pressing but hit on it too much.

“You’re so unbelievable. Seriously, you’re weird.” Kibum said while aggressively hitting the buttons, pulling and pushing the joystick with much force.

“Why am I suddenly weird?” Donghae was almost shouting, making sure that his friend will hear him for the arcade section was getting too noisy.

“We’ve been together the whole day! And as far as hearing your story the entire day… well! Correct me if I’m wrong! But you never mentioned a single thing likable regarding this Eunhyuk!” Kibum shouted back.

“And your point is?” Donghae let out. His eyes were still glued at the screen of the arcade machine.

“How the heck can you consider that love?! All I heard was him being mean to you all the time!” Kibum replied.

“I know! But surely I’ll gain his good side once we’re friends. I’ll do my best to make friends with him!” He responded as his fingers pressed the buttons hard.

“You’ll what? Honestly Donghae you’re getting weird! After hearing your story the only thing that I want to do is to give that guy a solid punch on the face!” Kibum retorted.

Donghae’s grip on the joystick loosened up, tearing his gaze from the monitor as his eyes landed on Kibum who was just sitting and playing beside him. “You’re planning to do what?! Kim Kibum, don’t you dare!” Donghae threatened him.

“HA! I won!” Kibum shouted as he raised both his hands up mid air while the arcade machine played a loud sound of victory. Donghae glanced back at the game and realized that he lost against his friend for the first time.

“That one doesn’t count! You cheated! You distracted me from the game!” Donghae reasoned out pointing at the screen and widening his eyes in the process.

Kibum laughed at the pissed off face of his best friend, “And you got yourself distracted,” he chuckled, “Come on let’s have another round.  And about what I said, I was just kidding silly.” Kibum said.

Donghae pouted childishly at his friend, “I don’t feel like playing another round again, my fingers are already hurting. Let’s go grab something for dinner instead, I’m hungry.”

 “Don’t tell me losing made you suddenly hungry,” Kibum teased Donghae.

Donghae rolled his eyes, “Whatever… best friend,” he replied sarcastically as the two of them raised themselves from their seats to have dinner.

----

They were looking for some place  to eat when Donghae halted into a stop.

“Wait.” Donghae said as his eyes had caught someone.

“Why? You want us to go eat there?” Kibum asked him looking at the restaurant Donghae was staring at.

Donghae’s eyes widen, “It’s him, and it’s them. Inside the restaurant, look.” He said pointing at a group of teenagers eating inside the restaurant.

“Who?” Kibum frowned as he looked at the direction Donghae was pointing at.

“Eunhyuk and his friends, and he’s with his girlfriend Krystal, there, there… can you them?” Donghae replied back, 

“I can’t see their faces from here, let’s just go inside so I can have a better look. Let’s eat inside.” Kibum told his friend.

Donghae grabbed his best friend’s shirt when Kibum started walking towards the restaurant, “Are you crazy? We won’t eat in there. Let’s go look for somewhere else instead.” He hissed.

Kibum shrugged his shoulders to get Donghaes’ grip off his shirt, “And why not? I want to have a better view of their faces, and as I say we will eat here. Don’t worry I’ll pay.” Kibum flashed a huge smile on his face as he dragged the straggling Donghae inside the restaurant.

As they lined up the counter to order food, Donghae was feeling uncomfortable standing beside his best friend, he kept on looking at the direction of the small group from the corner of his eyes. He almost bounced at where he was standing when he suddenly heard someone calling his name.

“Hey! Lee Donghae” and he knows who the owner of that voice is, Changmin.

Donghae took a deep breath as he turned his body around to face them. Being able to look at them now, he saw that there were a total of seven people in their group. Donghae was surprised to see that Sohee was with them.

Changmin raised his hand and motioned him to come to them, he also saw Krystal waving her hand at him and brightly smiling at him. Donghae faced Kibum, “Stay here,” he murmured,

“Can’t do, I’ll go with you.” Kibum replied. And then both of them walked towards the group’s table.

“Hi,” Donghae greeted them in a low voice. On the table were Kim Heechul, Sohee who was sitting beside him, Krystal and Eunhyuk who were also sitting beside each other, Changmin, and two other boys Donghae doesn’t have any idea who, though he had seen them before.

“So you bought all of those stuffs for yourself? I thought Krystal was buying too much but seeing you made me realize she’s not. Panic buying huh?” Changmin smirked, eyeing the paper bags and grocery bag Donghae was carrying. The guys on the table started laughing.

“Shut up Changmin,” Krystal told him.

“It’s nice to see you here Donghae, I can see that you also bought some things for the fieldtrip.” Krystal said as she stared at the huge plastic bag Donghae was carrying.

“Jessica and Jaejoong and the others accompanied me in going here. They also went shopping for the fieldtrip.” Donghae said.

“Ooh… I see,” Krystal responded, “Well… I can see you’re with a friend,” Krystal said as she looked at Kibum who was standing behind Donghae.

“Right, He’s Kibum my best friend at Royal Academy.” Donghae introduced him,

“Hi there, I’m Krystal. Nice to meet you” She beamed as she waved her hand at him, Kibum just nodded in reply.

“You seemed to had bought a lot, are you sure can you eat everything?” It was Sohee who spoke, she was smiling at him like Krystal. Both of them were the only ones smiling at him. And Donghae thought he saw Heechul clenching his hands into a fist.

He gulped, “I guess so, I have this tendency of eating a lot when getting bored.” He replied back, and then he remembered something. Donghae immediately scanned his grocery bag for the chocolate he bought for her.

“Here,” Donghae said, giving her the chocolate, “Thanks for the chocolate you gave me, it’s so nice of you.”

“She don’t eat chocolates, she’s diabetic.” Heechul suddenly spoke up, he spoke like he feels disgusted talking with him; eyeing the chocolate Donghae was holding on his hand.

“No, it’s fine I’ll just keep it,” Sohee said as she reached for the box , “Thanks” he smiled at Donghae.

Heechul grunted, “Right, you’ll keep it huh, but you won’t even accept a single thing I gave you.” he said looking at Sohee.

Sohee stared at the guy, “If we’re going to argue regarding that matter again, I might as well go home.” She spoke in a gentle voice.

Heechul tore his gaze from her as he shook his head, “Sungmin, come with me” he said as he stood up from his seat, together with the guy he named Sungmin.

“Where are you going?” Changmin asked,

“Washroom,” Heechul replied, passing by and even bumping his shoulder hard against Donghae’s shoulder. The Sungmin guy also did the same but not as hard as Heechul did.

“Sorry, I didn’t know--”

“It’s not your fault, don’t be sorry about that.” Sohee cut Donghae’s sentence off.

“Yeah, some boys really have anger management problem” Krystal said, “Do you guys already have a table? You can sit with us if you like” she invited.

“There’s no more space here” it was Eunhyuk who spoke, eyeing his food infront of him.

“Well, Changmin and Teamin could move a bit so--”

“I said. There’s no more space Krystal” he said firmly as his eyes met Kristal’s’.

Dongahe then felt the need to speak, “It’s okay, we do have other friends that will be joining us later we might as well look for a bigger table.” He reasoned out.

“Good, you should start looking for a table then” Changmin told him.

Donghae nodded, “Bye then,” he said, both Sohee and Krystal waved at him goodbye, as they gave him an apologetic look.

----

Donghae ate his food absent-mindedly as he was thinking of the scene a while ago. He was comparing the relationship Heechul and Sohee has from Eunhyuk and Krystal. It’s like Heechul was trying his best to be different when Sohee was around, from the way he clenched his fist he was obviously trying hard to control himself. Donghae bet Heechul won’t let that moment pass without him speaking of all the rudeness in the world, but because Sohee was there he was just silent, but nevertheless he still looks scary. He didn’t even argue with her, he spoke of his thoughts but when Sohee said she’d rather go home Heechul didn’t talk back. It looks like Heechul was the underdog in their relationship, maybe because he loves her?

It was different from how Eunhyuk treats Krystal, he wasn’t careful with his words when talking to her, he even glared at her. It looks like when Eunhyuk said, Krystal should follow. Eunhyuk was the one who speaks with finality in their relationship. It’s like when he said something, that’s it, and that’s final.

----

“You should thank me,” Kibum said as they walked outside the mall. It was a miracle on how they were able to finish what they were eating inside that restaurant, but they did.

“For what?” Donghae asked.

“For doing my best not punch that Eunhyuk’s face, he’s indeed the rudest guy I’ve seen.” Kibum replied,

“I’m sorry, he’s always like that.” Donghae said staring at the ground.

Kibum stopped from his track, “See, that’s why I find it hard to understand how you ended up liking him if he’s always like that.”

“Why? Because he’s not like Siwon, Is that it?” Donghae asked looking at his best friend.

“Absolutely, and Siwon is a million times better than that ing guy.” Kibum hissed,

“Thank you, thanks for not punching him. But I’m in love with that ing guy a million times compared to what I felt for Siwon back then.” Donghae retorted back,

Kibum bit his tongue to prevent himself from arguing with his best friend.

“You should go home Kibummie you’re tired, I guess. Thanks for today, I really enjoyed this day, I missed my best friend so much.” Donghae said gently, smiling at Kibum.

Kibum smiled back, “I guess so, and maybe meeting them wasn’t a really good idea. I’ll go now, be careful on your way back.” Donghae nodded. Then he accompanied Kibum as he called for cab.

“Bye, till next time.” Donghae said as soon as Kibum was inside the taxi.

Donghae was about to call for a taxi when he saw Eunhyuk walking out of the mall, and he was alone. He wondered where his other friends were, including Krystal. When Eunhyuk was about to face his direction Donghae quickly turned his body around lowering his head to avoid from being seen. After seconds had passed he slightly turned his head to the left to look where Eunhyuk is but he was gone, he sighed.

Donghae raised his head up as he was about to call for the approaching taxi, but he was shocked to see the guy standing at his right side. It was obvious that Eunhyuk was also shock to see that it was Donghae who was standing right next to him because he flinched a little, stepping a foot back with wide eyes. Both of them staring at each other with obvious shock on their faces.

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KEKEKE… [Cliff hanger…. XD]

          ~going back in writing now.... XD