Twenty
Of Maids & MenThey were in their Home Economics class when it happened. They were told that their assignment today was to make vegetable stir fry. It wasn't that difficult. Dongho and Sehun didn't have much cooking experience, but both knew the simple procedure to making stir fry: wash the vegetables, cut them, then toss them in the pan.
"It's simple, right?" Sehun mumbled as he rolled his sleeves up three times.
"Yeah," Dongho replied with a grin. "It won't take long, probably an hour at the most." Sehun nodded in response.
Minutes later, Dongho had turned around all too fast, a large kitchen knife in his hand, with a question lingering on the tip of his tongue to ask Sehun. "So, how do-"
The knife grazed the surface of the exposed area of Sehun's arm, causing an ugly bright red gash to immediately bloom on his pale skin. Dongho panicked and dropped the knife to the ground while spluttering oh my god im really sorry oh my god oh god oh god you're bleeding are you okay i'm so sorry sehun loud enough to be heard over the chatter of the other students. They stopped working, turning their heads to see what the commotion was about.
The pressure of the blade was not strong enough to pierce a vein, but had been sharp enough to cut through the top layer of skin. Even still, Dongho apologized over and over, even standing out of his seat to bow as well. Sehun looked at his bleeding arm, then up at his new friend and blinked slowly.
Dongho didn't know what scared him more.
That Sehun's blood was slowly running down his arm and dripping off his fingertips.
Or the fact that there was no fear or distress evident in Sehun's eyes as his gaze bore into Dongho's.
"Sehun, are you okay?! I'm really sorry," Dongho cried, his voice cracking at the end. He ignored the other students' questioning glances, bending down to pick the knife up. He set it in the sink, ignoring the way the small amount of blood had smeared on the silver blade.
Sehun blinked. He opened his mouth to answer, but quickly shut it. He froze, glassy eyes staring down at his arm. The only movement visible from him was the rapid rise and fall of his chest.
"Are you okay?" he repeated in a strained whisper. Sehun continued staring at his arm. Dongho gulped, feeling the students' stares burn like lasers. He felt goosebumps rising on his arm when Sehun finally tore his eyes away from his wound and met Dongho's concerned gaze. His thin lips twitched at the corner a few times before extending upwards to form a blinding grin. "I'm fine," he said almost eagerly.
"A-are you sure?"
Shocked round eyes met a pair of smiling crescent-shaped ones. "Yeah. Perfectly fine."
Their conversation was cut short when the teacher rushed over. The students that were gawking at the scene in front of them quickly turned around and pretended to be working. "Dongho, please take Sehun to the nurse. You two are exempted from the assignment. We will clean the mess," she commanded. Dongho could only nod his head shakily. He grabbed Sehun's frail arm, careful not to touch the wound, and led him out of the classroom.
Once they both fled the classroom, Dongho turned to his friend. "I, uh, don't know where the nurse's office is, so-"
"Keep walking down this hallway, turn right. First door on the left," Sehun interrupted. Dongho replied with a quick okay and proceeded to follow the directions Sehun gave him.
After a few minutes of an awkward silence, Dongho squirmed before asking nervously, "Does it - does it hurt?"
"No," Sehun said the moment the question left Dongho's lips. Dongho studied his face to detect any sign of dishonesty. Sehun seemed to notice this, and said firmer, "It doesn't hurt, Dongho."
"It looks deep though!"
He moistened his lips, which had curled upwards into another smile. "I've had worse," Sehun said calmly.
Dongho didn't want to know what he meant.
When they had reached the nurse's office, Sehun entered alone while Dongho plopped down on the bench beside the door with a sigh. He rested his elbows on his knees and ran a ran through his hair. This was all his fault. He should have been more careful. If only he had not turned around so fast or put the knife down on the chopping board before turning around, none of this would have happened. Because of him, Sehun was bleeding. Because of him, Sehun had gotten that eerie, wasted, far-away look in his dark eyes even though his lips were smiling. What did it mean? Whatever it was, Dongho just hoped Sehun wouldn't be angry at him.
At lunch, Dongho took his seat beside Sehun and wasted no time to apologize. "Look, Sehun, I'm so sorry about what happened in Home Ec."
A soft, genuine smile grazed Sehun's lips. It instantly drained out all the guilt Dongho was feeling. Sehun had a really nice smile, even if it was a tiny one. It was the complete opposite from the almost maniacal grin he wore earlier. "It's okay, Dongho. It really is. Stop feeling so bad," he patted Dongho's hand on the table. "I'm alive still, right?" Dongho swore there was a tinge of bitterness in his voice. The chuckle that left Sehun's mouth afterwards sounded too forced to be real.
Dongho returned a smile, anyways. "Yeah. I hope there's a way I can make it up to you," he pouted. Sehun paused, appearing to be thinking. Curious, Dongho stopped pouting and grinned. "Do you have something in mind?" He took a bite out of the food on his tray and made a face.
Sehun stirred his food around with his plastic spoon. "Kind of," he muttered almost inaudibly.
Dongho wiggled in his seat in excitement. "What is it?"
Sehun dropped his spoon down on the tray. He rubbed his neck, avoiding Dongho's eyes. "Could you help me dye my hair and cut it? The way you suggested to me when it was your first day - but I mean, it's only if you want to, so I don't want you to feel pressured or anything. I was thinking it was time for a new color and all and I'm not that good at doing my hair - oh god, I hope I don't sound full of myself," a flustered Sehun finished by burying his face in his hands and groaning into them. Dongho laughed in amusement. He pulled Sehun's hands off his face and gently patted his friend's cheeks, fingers brushing against defined cheekbones.
"You don't sound full of yourself at all, Sehun. It's okay to change." Dongho reminded him with a cheeky thumbs up.
it's okay to change.
Sehun realized his friend was right. It was okay to change. It's okay to want to change and it's okay to change.
"Okay," he nodded. He suppressed the small smile beginning to tug at his lips. "So, uh, when are you free to come over?"
Dongho grinned, "I can do it tomorrow if you want."
This time, Sehun didn't bother suppressing his excited smile. "Really?"
Dongho ruffled Sehun's faded hair, another bright smile dancing on their lips. "Yep!"
It felt nice to have this. A friend, Sehun realized.
- - - -
When he returned home, reality punched him in the gut once again. Xiaoling was actually Luhan. Xiaoling was a guy. Sehun liked a guy.
Sehun was many things, but he was not homophobic. As cold as he acted around the maids and his family, he deeply believed in the freedom to love whoever you wanted to. Love was love; No matter the gender, race or social level.
However, as much as he was not homophobic, he also wasn't gay...or at least, he never considered himself to be gay. Now that he thought about it, Sehun had never even liked anyone in a romantic way. It was either yeah, they're okay i guess or i hate you. The only person he liked in general was Jongin and that was because they were brothers and Jongin had spent years stubbornly breaking down each wall Sehun had built around himself. Xiaoling - no wait, Luhan - was quickly catching up to Jongin though and Sehun had no idea how he had done so.
Maybe he let the first outer wall crumble down the day Luhan confessed that he was the one that threw away the dangerous metal blades sitting in his bathroom drawers. Luhan had refused to buy him new ones, saying he preferred Sehun not to harm himself, even if it meant losing a year's worth of his pay. Of course, Sehun was not that mean and never mentioned the stealing incident to his father. After all, he could have just bought new razors himself.
He supposed the second wall slowly tumbled down that same very day when he had crept into her room to look for the razors he had thought she bought when she left for her break. Seeing her small sleeping form curled under an overly large silk blanket caused Sehun to realize she was beautiful, even with her short boyish hair (Little did he know then, that she was actually was a boy.).
The third time was when Luhan had overheard his muffled cries through the locked door. He had cut deep that day, deeper than he ever had and thought he was going to die. It scared him. He unlocked the door for Luhan, each and every single brick disintegrating into dust before vanishing into thin air as another wall he had built came crashing down.
With the new knowledge of Xiaoling's true self, this wall had rebuilt itself in a matter of seconds.
Sehun knew it was irrational and hypocritical of him to feel disgusted of himself just because he liked Xiaoling, which had resulted to him actually liking Luhan. After all, wasn't him, himself that said homouality was okay? But the small pestering voice in the back of his mind would remind him what would jongin think? or now even, what about dongho? would he accept it?
Sehun didn't treasure his mother and father as much as Jongin did. Jongin was grateful for their father, while he cared and loved their mother. He tried to show it whenever he could, but like Sehun, Jongin was awful at expressing his feelings or thoughts. And yet, Sehun still found himself wondering if Mother and Father would accept his stupid crush on one of their personal maids, let alone a person of the same gender as him.
He ran his hands down his face at his tangling thoughts. He didn't want to think at all of this at once.
A loud crashing sound from downstairs interrupted Sehun from his thoughts, fortunately. Sehun, whom had been laying down on his bed, sat up with a frown. The sound of one of his Mother's vases crashing to the ground, and possibly even breaking, made him shoot out of his room. He didn't care much for his Mother, but her happiness was in collecting antiques such as vases or cups, and he didn't want her to be upset when she returned home from wherever she left for.
He silently rushed down the burdening stairs in his socks. To his surprise, one of Jongin's closer friends from school, Yixing, was bending over something or someone leaning against the wall. Peeking around the corner more, he noticed one of his Mother's vases laying in the floor. It wasn't broken or cracked, much to his relief. That wasn't the only thing he noticed though. As he leaned out more, he realized Yixing was pushing someone on the wall as they sat slouched and whimpering. With further inspection, Sehun recognized the petite male as Luhan's school friend with large round eyes and plush lips from a few weeks back. Just like before, he was cornered with Yixing towering over him.
"Please, I beg you, stop!"
Sehun felt his heart stutter. Luhan?
Luhan was standing beside of Yixing, fully decked out in his uniform and makeup. Even with the makeup and eyeliner, he could see the sleep-deprived shadows under his eyes.
"Your little boyfriend here was staring at me," Yixing spat while glaring at Luhan. "He's so gay, it's actually makes my skin crawl." Sehun saw the flames in Luhan's doe-eyes roar from the insult to his friend. Luhan kept his mouth shut and his face even.
"Sehun," Jongin voice suddenly whispered from beside him. Sehun side-eyed his brother in response. "What's going on?"
"Lay's being rude to Xiaoling's school friend."
As if on cue, there was another round of Luhan's pleads for Yixing to stop and the latter insulting his friend. Jongin's eyes widened.
"Kyungsoo," he breathed out, worried. Sehun frowned. Was that the other guy's name? Jongin grit his teeth and pushed past Sehun. Sehun stepped aside to let the drama fold out of itself.
"Yah! Lay, what do you think you're doing?" he growled, trying to keep a hold of himself.
Yixing rose his eyes. His eyebrows arched upwards in surprise. "Kai," he greeted nonchalantly. He released Kyungsoo's jaw and brushed himself off before rising to face Jongin. "Just talking to Kyungsoo here," he smiled politely. Jongin felt his stomach turn at how fake his friend was acting.
"I won't accept this kind of behaivour in my house," he informed Yixing with a hard glare.
The Chinese cocked his head. "What are you tal-"
"Stop playing dumb. I heard what you said to Kyungsoo," said Jongin with an eye roll.
His innocent act melted away, replaced with a devious smirk. "He should get what he deserves." Jongin dug his fingernails into his palm, forcing himself not to punch his friend.
"He doesn't deserve anything."
"He was staring at my ," Yixing added in with a disgusted growl.
"That doesn't mean he deserves to be yelled at and thrown against the wall while you insult him! And do you not know how to stop? From what I heard, Xiaoling told you to stop at least twice! Are you not ashamed of yourself?" he exclaimed. He stormed over towards the three and shoved his friend away from Kyungsoo. "Get away from him," he snarled. Yixing rose an amused eyebrow, watching Jongin assist Kyungsoo back up to his feet with gentle hands.
"Xiaoling," Jongin said. The maid immediately turned her attention towards him.
"Yes, Kai-ssi."
"Take Kyungsoo and leave. Sit outside at the garden. I will be with you shortly," he ordered with his harsh eyes trained on Yixing. Xiaoling nodded. She took Kyungsoo's hand in her own, lacing her fingers through his, before leading him through a large slide door in the livingroom.
"Wow. How low have you stooped, Kai?" Yixing asked, mocking, when the two left. Jongin felt something in him snap. He whirled around, fuming and clenching his fists in rage.
"Me?" He seethed, "What about you, Lay?! You insulted someone you barely know just because of what? He stared a little?" Jongin scoffed. Yixing rested a hand on his hips.
"Are seriously defending him? He's probably gay or something." The Chinese scrunched his nose in disapproval. Jongin coiled his fingers in the front of Yixing's shirt.
"Get. Out. Now."
Yixing roughly shoved Jongin off of him. "Fine, . I came here hoping we could dance together, but it seems you're too busy defending some ." He sneered while shoving Jongin backwards one more time. "Hell, you might be one, too. No wonder you were quick to defend him." He grabbed his hoodie that was sprawled on the couch. Once he heard the door slam shut, along with Sehun's fading footsteps, Jongin released a heavy sigh and proceeded to head to the garden to apologize to Xiaoling and Kyungsoo.
- - - -
Hope you guys enjoyed this ~ Forgive me for grammar and spelling mistakes, I didn't bother checking.
I don't like making Yixing so mean, when really, he's just a cute stupid dork TT-TT Next chapter will have kaisoo ~ And hopefully, this chapter explained some of you guys' questions about Sehun.
By the way, please fill out the poll below. It doesn't relate to OM&M at all. It's just something I'm curious about.
Thank you everyone! Have a nice day!
-shixiin
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