● Chapter one. ●

She was tired. Really tired, actually. Her limbs were slowly giving in, her head getting slightly dizzy. Yet she had still a lot to do, especially that she’s been one of the best students and she couldn’t disappoint her teachers.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on her door and immediately turned around on her chair, letting out a sigh. “Come in.”

She already knew who’d come when she’s heard this light knock. “Am I bothering you, Xi?” “Not at all, Lulu.” She heaved a sigh once again and mentioned at her best friend to sit down, focusing on her notes again.

“You know, you don’t have to study that hard. It’s obvious that you’re gonna make it, XiXi.” He stated, matter-of-factly and smiled at the girl sweetly, ruffling his slightly damp hair.

“I can’t take anything for sure, Luhan.” Red-haired girl shook her head, looking at him briefly from behind her huge, oh-so-unattractive glasses, making him scoff.

“Oh please, last time you’ve got the perfect grade without even revising. How many points did you lose back then? Two? Out of hundred?”

“Three. And the teacher was literally throwing daggers at me.”

“You’re overreacting, Xiao Lei. Please. We both know that you’re gonna go, too.” The boy smiled reassuringly at her, patting her back gently. She shifted her gaze to her notes once again, rolling her eyes slightly.

“Look who’s talking. The guy that has already everything settled down.” She put her pen down, arching her back, stretching with a yawn.

Luhan stared at her profile for a second, biting his lower lip to prevent a dreamy sigh escaping his plump lips. They’ve been best friends since forever, they’ve never gotten separated. He was there when she cried, laughed, smiled or got angry. In return, she was letting him watch her every move, every expression, every little thing she did – she was letting him admire her natural and true beauty.

Her smooth, white skin, freckles on her cheeks, a small mole on her neck or even her naturally red, long hair. He thought that she perfect, yet she seemed to never notice his longing stares, his delicate and gentle touches or his swift moves just to get close to her.

She seemed to never notice that he was in love with her.

“I don’t want to say a word, but you look creepy staring like that.” The girl chuckled, shaking her head and flicking the boy’s forehead to bring him back from his dream land.

He watched her smile as a light blush covered his smooth cheeks.

How he wished she would finally notice…

Knock - knock.

 “Only five more minutes, Luhan.” She replied sleepily against her notes, shifting lightly.

Knock - knock.

“XiXi, come out! It’s already half past 8! You have fifteen minutes left!”

“Luhan, stop it.”

Knock – knock - knock.

“Xiao lei!”

“LUHAN, SHUT UP!” She screamed, getting up abruptly, looking around while fixing her glasses that slipped on the tip of her nose when she was asleep.

In the same exact moment, Luhan barged in her room, glaring at everything with a flushed face. “You have fifteen minutes left. You better be ready in five unless you want to…”

She didn’t let him finish, though. She stormed out to the bathroom, brushing her hair as fast as she could, not caring about putting any make up on.

With one swift move she fixed her uniform – her ridiculously short skirt going up a little bit further than she wanted it to but she didn’t actually care. She ran out of the room, almost bumping into a boy and grabbed her bag.

“Wait!” He stopped right before she was going to open the door, slightly kicking her bum and grinned as he slipped something onto her index finger. “Will bring you luck.” Was all he said, pecking her forehead. “Now go.”

“Lulu, I-I…”

“Go.” He opened the door, pushing her out. “Good luck, sweetheart!”

“I love you Lulu!”

He smiled gently, shaking his head slightly.

Oh how he wished she meant it the way he wanted her to.

He walked in the class, panting heavily after running all the way, bumping into random people once in a while. She dropped her pencils on the desk, sitting on the chair with a frown, flipping through her notes as she tried to remember everything.

“Oh, look who’s here.” She heard a chuckle just right in front of her and sighed, rolling eyes. “Our lovely Xixi. What, hoping to get transferred?” Asked familiar voice and she lifted her gaze, taking off her glasses.

“What do you want, Kai.” She smiled politely, just to piss him off a little. The dark haired boy scoffed, raising one of his perfectly shaped eyebrows. His gaze slowly shifted from her eyes, to lips, to chest, finishing on long, crossed legs. She blushed, narrowing her eyes slightly.

“Can you stop checking me out like I’m one of those stupid plastic dolls around here?”

“Nope.”

“I hate you.” She replied once again and then turned away, playing with her pencil.

“So…” He started, sitting on her desk casually, ignoring her harsh words. Her lips twitched in disgust as she tried to shove him away but he didn’t budge. Instead, he leaned closer, taking a small strand of her hair and pinning it with a small bobby pin. “Are you still playing hard to get? Or are you going to finally agree?” his chuckled rang through room. A few people scooted closer, pinning their gazes to the two people in class like it was something new. “Are you going to go out with me or not?”

XiXi shook her head, letting out a small laugh.

“Never.”

“Oh please, you know you want to.” He leaned even closer but she wasn’t affected at all. Instead, she discretely grabbed her pencil and poked his ribs with it, making him wince in pain and move away in seconds.

“Does that show that I do?” She chuckled, rolling her eyes. The boy pouted and ruffled his hair, winking at her playfully despite her harsh actions and words.

“I’m gonna get you someday, Yi!” He shouted, making a few guys whistle and a few girls giggle or glare at her.

“Don’t hold your breath, jackass.”

“I will. So you better agree fast, unless you want to see me dying.” Kai chuckled and she rolled her eyes once again this day, sighing in frustration.

Seriously, this guy…

“Luhan, Luhan!”

She was running through corridors for the second time this day, looking around in attempt to find her best friend. Unfortunately, she sank like a water in a sponge, getting invisible for her eyes.

The girl sighed with disappointment as her pink lips curved into a pout. She walked to her locker, opening it and blinked when she spotted a pink, small note dropping on the floor. She quickly bent down, picking it up but when she did, she suddenly crashed her head against the locker’s door.

“Holy .” She cursed, holding her forehead as her vision got a bit blurry from the sudden tears forming in her dark eyes.

“Dear God, are you okay?!” She heard a deep, panicked voice coming from her right and she turned around immediately, sighing.

“Jesus, Kai. Can you just stop bothering me? You’ve annoyed me enough.” Xi mumbled, looking at him with pure disgust, rubbing the place she’s hit herself.

“You seriously hate me that much, don’t you?” His lips curved into an, in opinion of every fangirl, pout and she took a deep breath, shutting her locker with a loud bump.

“Yes. Exactly. So go away.” Her voice was colder than any kind of ice (are there even kinds of ice, though?) and she narrowed her eyes at him, like she always did when she was annoyed.

“You know, hatred is actually a way to show a ual attraction.” His pout immediately turned into a smirk and she did her best not to blush from anger and hatred or back away, even though she really wanted to. Really! How dare he!

“Are you trying to assume that I’m ually attracted to you, Kim Jongin?” She asked, blinking at him with faked innocence.

“Of course! What else could it be, sweetie?” His melodic laugh rang in the half-empty corridor. She looked around and bit her lower lip and sighed, backing away. “Just admit that—“

“She doesn’t have to admit anything, Kai.” Suddenly a warm and familiar voice rang behind her back, making her jump.

“Oh, hey there, lover boy.” The dark haired boy grinned, forming his hand into a fist.

“What’s up, idiot?” Luhan grinned back, bro- the younger guy. “Still trying to get my best friend?”

“Yup.”

“Seriously.” She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I’m gonna leave you two, sweetheart. See you later, Luhan!”

Both of the guys stared at her as she began to walk away, fixing her shirt and waving at them without looking back.

“She called me a sweetheart.” Luhan suddenly heard a voice and his gaze moved to the guy near him fast, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“No, it was definitely to me.”

Kai chuckled, smirking. “But she also added “’See you later, Luhan’, so it was obviously to me.”

“Well…” The blonde one started but he got cut off immediately by the younger one.

“Stop it. You know it’s true.”

Luhan scoffed and stuck out his tongue briefly at the other male, crossing his arms in disagreement, too tired to argue.

“You wish, jackass.”

“Xixi-ah!”

A small, dark haired boy was running through  the garden, smiling widely at the little, red-haired girl sitting on one of the swings. Once the girl spotted him, she smiled back, showing off lack of two or three teeth.

“Jongin-ah! You’re here!” She jumped off the swing and hugged the boy tightly as soon as he became close enough. A bright blush covered his cheeks, making her laugh and she pecked his nose, moving away fast.

“I missed you, Jongin-ah.” She whispered, pouting slightly as she looked at him with a kicked puppy look. The little boy pouted too, his big eyes filling with tears as his eyes locked with hers. “I-I’m sorry, Xiao Lei. I didn’t w-want to leave.” His voice shook slightly at the last words, a small tears slipping out of his eye.

“Ani! Don’t cry, Jongin-ah!” She pouted more, wiping the tears away and tilted head, smiling. “Big boys don’t cry!” She nodded and smiled wider. “Now, let’s play, arraseo?”

“Arraseo.” Dark haired boy sniffed and nodded as well, a slight blush covering his cheeks. Suddenly, he tugged on her sleeve. “Xiao Lei-ah!”

“Neh?”

“Xiao Lei-ah. I’m not going to leave you again!” Jongin nodded with a serious and determined expression on his face. “Not even once! I promise you.” He said, taking her small hand in his and squeezed it tightly. The small girl smiled as well and nodded as they both headed off to the playground, swinging their hands.

It’s been so long.

The girl sighed and sat on the bench, biting her lower lip. She didn’t know why he suddenly remembered that actual scene from her youth; she only knew that he broke this promise a lot of times. With a slight shook of her head, she leaned back on the bench; her red hair hung freely off the edge, seeming to be even brighter in the sunlight.

“You know, you have those blonde reflexes in your hair when you look at it from here.” Familiar voice rang behind her back and she smiled lightly, chuckling. “Luhan. Finally.”

The boy grinned and sat beside her, putting something on her lap. She blinked a few times and looked down, seeing a small envelope wrapped in a red ribbon. The girl looked at her best friend and frowned. “What is that?”

“Open.” Luhan smiled gently and nodded vigorously; his smile getting wider and wider as she slowly obeyed, gradually taking out a small paper.

“Don’t tell me…”

The boy grinned wider, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Welcome to Paris, love.”