*chapter five;

“So.. you’re sure you want to tell them now?”

“They’ll find out anyway, so yes.”

Luhan and Soah were standing in front of the school that morning while the other students walked into the building. It was the Monday after he had asked her out and over the weekend, they had kept in touch through the phone.

On Friday evening, right after they had parted, Luhan called her to ask how she felt about him touching her hand. He was so relieved when she had told him that it was indeed okay, because he didn’t want to scare her away on the first day. On Saturday evening, he had called her just to chat about what she was doing. They ended up talking for hours until she almost fell asleep with the phone on her ear. On Sunday evening, he had called her to ask her out on a date.

Luhan turned to the right to look at her with a gentle smile. “Good. There is nothing to worry about. I will make sure they won’t ask inappropriate questions.”

Soah nodded. “But Luhan..?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you walk me home after school?”

Her cheeks reddened and she suddenly felt so embarrassed to request for such a favor. Usually, it was up to the boys to ask the girls as she always saw it happen after school. Maybe Luhan would’ve asked her later, but she was just too scared to leave it like that and in class, she wouldn’t be able to concentrate if she didn't know now. Maybe he wouldn’t have asked her and in the end, she would have been the last one leaving the school again. She needed him more than he knew. Now that they were together, she felt the strength to fight and finally overcome her fears.

Luhan chuckled quietly and covered his mouth with the back of his hand as if he was caught red-handed. “I didn’t know if it was the right time to ask you yet, but I've been thinking about it since I woke up this morning. Of course I will walk you home!”

Soah’s heart throbbed fast against her chest as she watched him getting all shy like this. How did she deserve someone like him? Someone so caring, so gentle.

This question got into her mind for the first time when Luhan had called her on Friday evening to make sure that she was okay. When she had returned home, she wasn’t fine at all, but not a negative kind of ‘not fine’. She had been so happy that she feared her heart would burst every second, and what she feared the most was that this feeling wasn’t familiar. It was because of Luhan. When they had talked over the phone, her hands got all sweaty and she really felt nervous. Sometimes, she had caught herself looking in the mirror while Luhan was talking, inspecting how she looked while listening to his sentences. She chose her words carefully, trying not to sound dumb, but this circumspection got pushed aside very fast, because they had just ended up joking around and telling each other the most hilarious things in a light-hearted manner.

When he had hung up, she came to a conclusion: When she was with Luhan, she could be herself. She didn’t need to take care of what she said, how she behaved or how she looked. Just being herself was enough to make him happy.

“Shall we go in?”

“Yes.”

Luhan really wanted to take her hand now, to show everyone that they were together. He wasn’t that kind of person, but boys sometimes wanted to present what they were proud of, and for him, it was Soah. He wanted to tell everyone that he was with her, but it was wrong to think like that now. She wasn’t like the others. She was a girl he had to take especially care of and a few days ago, he had promised to himself that he would, no matter how long it would take.

So he refrained from taking her hand and just smiled encouragingly as they walked in side by side