Chapter Twenty Nine 

A Gift

You tapped your pen against your open book, chin in your palm as you chatted away with Baekhyun. You were currently in English, subtly wishing Mina was there with you so she could translate what the teacher was saying. About a week had passed since school started and the new semeter didn't bring any surprises, the only difference was that Xiumin had started college, you, Sehun, Tao, Mina, Eunhee, Kai and Baekhyun were in second year, and the rest of the EXO Household were in their last year. Other than that, school was just as boring as ever and English was still your worst subject. 

Well, at least you had friends to suffer along with you. 

"Ugh," Baekhyun sighed as he stretched, only thirty minutes into your first class of the day. "I'm so hungry." He complained. 

You sighed, "Same." 

"What did you bring for lunch?" 

You sniggered, "Take a guess." 

"Muffins." He said with a laugh as you joined in. 

"Bingo." 

Since you had spent a whole two weeks with them, you had gotten a whole lot closer with everyone from the EXO Household. Even more so with Baekhyun than anyone else, the two of you just seemed to get along without any effort at all. There was something calm and easy going about him. 

"How are things with you and Luhan?" Baekhyun asked curiously, catching you off guard. 

"U-Um..." You hesitated, now wasn't exactly the best time to be asking that question. Especially since Luhan hadn't been on his best behaviour the past few weeks. "Well...They're not terrible." You admitted with a half hearted smile. 

Baekhyun's look turned worried, "Why? What's wrong?" 

What was right? You heaved a big sigh, not really wanting to talk about it. "It’s just that it's been a bit tense with us at the moment, that's all." 

Baekhyun nodded in understanding, "Was it because of the game?" 

"Not entirely, but it certainly didn't help."  

"Hmm..." Baekhyun mused, looking back to the blackboard. You had always said Baekhyun was like an open book, his emotions had always been exceptionally easy for you to read. Now, however, you couldn't tell what he was thinking, you could only notice that he was trying to hide something. 

You narrowed your eyes at him suspiciously, "What?" 

"Nothing." He replied, writing notes down. 

You opened your mouth to pester him more but lost your train of thought when you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. You had received a text, your heart beat picking up once you saw the little message. 

From: Lay :3 

To: Saerom :) 

Want to hang out at lunch? Meet me in the auditorium? 

You smiled as your eyes scanned over the text. Your thoughts were suddenly taken over by the memory of that night when he had come to visit you, his charming apology and cute dimples forever imprinted in your memory, you were grateful for the fact that at least one good thing had come from that horrible day. But you could feel it, the dull bubbling in the pit of your stomach. You were beginning to a feel bit guilty, maybe you shouldn't be so happy about spending time with a boy who wasn't your boyfriend. Maybe, you thought, you should be using your time to fix things with Luhan. And there certainly was a lot fixing needed.

You looked back down to your phone, biting your lip as you re-read Lay's message. But he was so nice last time...You had seemed to forgotten the cause of his kindness, as he did accuse your boyfriend of cheating on you. 

But what did that matter? Not much, apparently. With a final smile still on your lips you replied: 

From: Saerom :) 

To: Lay :3 

Sure! I'll be there! 

"And what are you smiling about?" Baekhyun asked with a chuckle, watching you eagerly type away on your phone. "Is it Luhan?" He guessed. 

"O-Oh," Your tone turned a little awkward, "It's just Lay." You admitted nervously, trying not to act suspicious. A girl can smile about a friend, no big deal. Though, you were trying to convince yourself of this more than Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun nodded, biting his lip as if to keep him from saying something. His delicate facial features twisted into a conflicted frown as he set his pen down. You could see him debating with himself. You repressed a chuckle. He's so easy to read. 

"Hey, can I ask something?" He finally asked as he stopped biting his lip. 

Subtly surprised, you nodded. "Sure," You said with wide eyes, you hadn't thought he was going to say anything. 

Baekhyun hesitated, his long fingers fiddling with his pen again, "I was just wondering about that time- when we were playing the game..." 

Great. You inwardly sighed. Someone is bringing this up again. You really didn't want to think about it, mostly because there were so many things to think about. From Sehun being weird, Lay asking Luhan questions about cheating, Sehun asking you to kiss Lay, Luhan being mad at Sehun when he asked Xiumin about spiking your drink – not to mention the fact that Xiumin actually spiked your drink, I mean, what the hell?  

And then you found out that Luhan had lied to you about why he asked you out the first time you met him, for the dance night. You think that might have been the worst one for you. You could clearly remember asking Luhan why he had specifically chosen you, to which he replied he had chosen a 'random name from the score board'. You visibly flinched, even the start of your relationship was based on a lie. 

"Did you know Lay liked you? Before, I mean," Baekhyun interrupted your thoughts, adding to your agony, "Cause you know, Luhan said that the reason he asked you out was because Lay liked you." 

You took a deep breath in. Lay had liked you the whole time. This thought was something you had been personally avoiding, there was already enough complication around Lay and his feelings towards you, or more like, your feelings towards Lay. You didn't want to know, you didn't want to think about it. You didn't want to think about how he had known you were watching him all along in that auditorium, and you didn't want to think about how he, actually, had been watching you the whole time. Most of all, you didn't want to think about how it made you feel, how painful yet wonderfully sweet it was. 

Your head was in your hands by this point and Baekhyun softened, "I'll take that as a 'no'." 

There was nothing but silence from you, you did want to explain but you didn't know how. You didn't even know what you should be explaining. Instead, you settled for a small sigh, meeting Baekhyun's gaze. He was a lot like Mina in some ways, you noted, he was kind and gentle, but you knew both of them could be confident when they needed to be. "Sorry," You muttered, being honest with him, "I just don't know what to say about it." 

Baekhyun shook his head with another small smile, "No, it's okay. But I just want to say one thing, as long as you won't get angry." 

You chuckled, "As if I could be angry at you." You lifted your chin into your palm, "Go ahead, tell me." 

"I just want to say, from my experience. It's okay to be with the person who treats you better, even when you think it's not the right thing to do, you should still do it." Baekhyun advised seriously. It didn't take a genius to know what he was talking about. He was telling you to give Lay a chance. 

You immediately looked away, "Baekhyun, I have a boyfriend." You reminded sternly. 

Baekhyun leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head. "I know," He said casually, "I'm just telling you what I think. You promised you wouldn't get angry remember?" He pouted cutely, obviously trying to lighten the mood. 

It worked, you rolled your eyes and let a small smile spread across your lips. "I'm not angry." 

Again, there was another vibration. 

To: Tiny  

From: Luhan The  

Oi, are you going to meet with me at lunch? 

. What am I supposed to say now. Your fingers hovered over the touch screen of your phone, hesitating to write a reply while you bit your bottom lip nervously. 

To: Luhan The  

From: Tiny  

Sorry, I'll be busy at lunch. I'll meet you after school? 

Well. You stared at your reply. It wasn't a lie. 

From across the campus, Luhan sat at his desk, ignoring his physics teacher brattling on about 'translational motion', too preoccupied with staring suspiciously at his phone in his hand. "Busy, huh?" Luhan muttered to himself, unconvinced. She never apologises like that. She's avoiding something. 

To: Tiny  

From: Luhan The  

Busy with what? 

Double . This time you didn't open his text at all, you didn't want him to see that you had 'read' it. Before you could decide otherwise, you locked the screen and placed the phone back in your pocket. There was only about two minutes of class left unlit it was time for lunch, if you played your car