Luhan’s eyes are shut tight as his fists are curling tightly into a ball. He opens his eyes slowly, a pained expression on his face. Turning around, he chuckles awkwardly and ruffles his hair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come out like this. I can’t believe I show you this pathetic side of me.” He turns his head towards me and I can see a tear forming around his eyes. “I know what you’re thinking. ‘Why me? Why out of all people, you chose me?’” A small smile forms on his lips and as his eyes follow through, the tear slips down his cheek. I just wanted to catch it, but my feet are glued to the ground. “I guess I like you because you’re different.”

  I open my mouth to tell him what I think, but before words could come out, he leaves the rooftop. I quickly follow him and find him already halfway down the stairs. “Wait!” I call out and head towards him.

  He stops but doesn’t turn around.

  What comes next was surprising even for me. I hug Luhan from behind and bury my head into his neck. My grip around him was just enough to not let him escape. A smile creeps up as I whisper in his ear, “I like you, too, Luhan.”

  His fingers dig into my arm as he trembles around me. Soon that trembling leads to sobs and those tears constantly fall onto my arm. I let him go so he can face me and wipe the tears off of his cheeks. Getting on my tip toes, I move away strands of his hair and kiss his bare forehead.

  Luhan simply stands there, watching my every move with his doe-like eyes.

  Even though I'm not the type to be romantic, I can be once in a while. I just didn't expect myself to do it so suddenly. I wrap my hands around his, entwining his fingers with mine and tug him. “Let’s go. I think Chen is waiting for us,” I say and lead him to the usual meeting place.

  We end up at the garden where Chen kissed me yesterday. Yes, this was our usual spot, so it was kind of awkward going back here. But as we were going outside, lots of our classmates were staring at us, particularly our hands. I know a rumor will spread, but I don’t care because this is the happiest moment of my life. Luhan just confessed to me and I confessed to him. I’m glad it’s not an unrequited love, but as for Chen, I feel bad that I can’t return his feelings.

  Chen was waiting for us at the bench where we usually sit and squeeze together since it’s originally for two people. He notices us and grins, but his eyes trail down and a frown appears. His eyes drop to the ground as he fiddles with his fingers.

  When we were closer, I can sense the tension. They wouldn’t take their eyes off each other, sending hidden messages with their stare. I sit where I usually sit which was in the middle and drag Luhan with me. I take out my lunch which was in my other hand the whole time and say, “Let’s eat!”

  Chen nods. “Yes! I’m so hungry!” He takes his lunch and starts eating.

  Luhan on the other hand didn’t have anything since he usually buys lunch in the cafeteria.

  I offer him. “Want to try?”

  He shakes his head.

  Ah, this situation is really awkward. I don’t know what to do especially since so many things happened in the course of two days. Actually, it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since Chen confessed to me! I don’t know what to do!

  Chen claps his hands, breaking the awkward silence. “Ah! Isn’t your birthday coming up in a week, Xiumin? Do you guys want to have a party or something? It could just be us and a couple of friends.”

  That sounds like a great idea! I want to say that, but Luhan beats me, “I was thinking of taking Xiumin on a date that day and maybe have a party for just the two of us.” I don’t know why but there was a hint of jealousy in his voice.

  Instead of being angry, Chen nods in understanding. “What about for your birthday next month? The more the merrier, right?”

  Luhan blinks a couple of times, processing everything Chen says. Right after, he laughs a whole hearted laugh. “I can never feel jealous of you forever for some reason Chen. I guess we’re just too close. But,” he pauses, “I won’t let you have my boyfriend.” He wraps his arms around mine and holds onto me close.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t get in your way,” he says softly.

  “Since Xiumin’s birthday is on a Saturday, we can hang out a bit, but I’m going to keep him for myself once we’re done.”

  I feel like I’m not sitting in between them. It’s like they’re completely ignoring my existence when this topic revolves around me and my birthday. I decide to speak up. “So far, I don’t have any plans, so I’m fine with whatever we will do on that day.”

  They both give me a thumbs up and exclaim, “Okay!”

~*~

  After lunch, all three of us walk together towards class, but when we reach the doorway, I stop. “Chen, you go ahead and go in. I want to talk to Luhan for a moment.” Something’s bothering me and I want to let it out.

  Chen walks right in without another glance while Luhan looks at me with his big eyes. “What is it, Baozi?”

  “I heard you invited Sehun.”

  He nods.

  I continue. “Who else did you invite?”

  “Just the guys. No girls because I have no idea what will happen if I do.” Luhan shudders. “But I can if you want. Why? Are you already jealous?” He leans close to me, our noses nearly touching.

  I blush and turn my head away while stuttering, “N-no! I-I’m perfectly fine! I-I’m just asking because Chen was being a ert and saying some weird stuff.”

  “Oh. Well, I trust you and you trust me, right? So if I do invite more people, nothing is going to happen between us. C’mon, let’s go in.” He kisses my forehead and takes my hand lightly while walking in. Of course, like usual, people begin gossiping the moment we step inside. I can hear a few of them clearly as we pass by.

  “Are they going out?”

  “Didn’t Chen confess to Xiumin yesterday?”

  “Omo! My life is being ruined! First Chen and now Luhan! Who else is going after this boy?”

  “Is this even right?”

  I slump back. I didn’t want to hear all these things. I want to be with Luhan, but I don’t want to cause trouble amongst our classmates and everyone else in the school. I know a lot of people admire Chen and Luhan, and I bet they weren’t expecting any of this to happen.

  Luhan must’ve known I feel tense because he tightens his grip around my hand and mumbles, “Don’t pay attention to them. We’re together, so let them say all they want and be jealous. I won’t let you slip away.”

  My heart skips a beat with those words and I can’t stop smiling like an idiot. I’m sure people are really jealous of us right now especially Sehun. Speaking of Sehun, I see him glaring at me with eyes like daggers. It makes it seem like he’s trying to kill me inside his mind.

  I roll my eyes to the side to avoid his gaze. When we reach my desk, Luhan let go of my hand and simply stands there. The bell hasn’t rung, so he didn’t have to go now. But I didn’t know what he wants. I sit there, looking up at him. He rocks on his heels and kisses my cheek. “I’ll see you on the next break, Baozi.” With that, he skips to his desk.

  This time my heart reacts differently as it bets quickly in my chest. The color rises to my cheeks and I can’t help but sit there like a weirdo, placing a hand on my cheek and scream in my head. Luhan actually kissed me on the cheek! It’s not as great as a kiss, but I’m glad he’s taking it slow.

  “Yuck,” a voice says out loud.

  I know exactly where the source of that voice came from.

  Everyone’s eyes were on Sehun as his were on me.

  “Oh, sorry, but I can’t really see you two as a couple.”

  I glare at him. Don’t lose your temper, Xiumin. He’s doing this on purpose. He’s taunting you. I ignore him and pretend I didn’t hear him in the first place, but he continues.

  “I mean, out of all people, two of the riches students in school chose you. You’re nothing but a middleclass student whose parents earn an average pay.”

  “Stop it Sehun,” Luhan defends me while glaring at him.

  He rolls his eyes and continues, “You know it’s true, Luhan. You know your parents won’t allow you to be with him no matter how much you love him. You know they don’t want someone like him to be part of your family. They’ll think badly of you.”

  “Sehun, really. You’re getting annoying,” Chen butts in and covers his ears like child. “If you want to talk bad about someone, I think it’s best to talk somewhere else. I know you’re jealous, and I am, too, but it’s not nice to break them up.”

  Everyone was surprised of Chen’s outburst, including me. Like I said, he usually has this quiet demeanor with some aspects of being a ert, but he wasn’t one to actually stand up for someone, especially after that time he got bullied. However, it did cause Sehun to shut up.

  Our classmates start whispering amongst each other.

  “Did you see that?”

  “Rawr. Seems like someone’s getting feisty.”

  “Who’s next?”

  Our teacher comes in and everyone closes their mouth. He starts discussing our next assignment we will be doing which was to research a certain legend that we’re interested in and write a two-page summary about it. Don’t ask me why he said two page, but it’s two freaking pages.

  In the middle of his explaining, I receive a note. I look around and find Luhan smiling at me while waving. He points to me and to Chen, probably wanting to do the project together even though it’s an individual assignment. I unfold the paper and read it:

  Do you want to work on it together with Chen? P.S Pass this to Chen, too. – Luhan

  Sure. – Baozi

  I turn to the person next to me and tell them to pass it to Chen. It seems that even though Luhan was jealous of Chen, their relationship as friends was still strong. I’m glad for that because I don’t want my two best friends break up because of me. It’s just not right.

  When the letter gets to Chen, he, too, looks around like I did before answering it. First he turns to Luhan and makes a thumb up sign. Then he turns to me and nods his head. He writes something before returning the letter to Luhan.

  Luhan does the same thing and passes it back to me.

  Why not? But let’s make sure we all pick different legends, but if we do pick the same, let’s make a compromise and see how we can write the paper together without making it sound like we worked together. – Chen

  No. We should definitely write about different legends. Mr. Yoo knows how close we are, so we should make a list and we each choose one. – Luhan

  Who’s choosing first? – Baozi

  Yes, I know I put Baozi as my signature. It’s because my two closest friends call me it. Well, actually Luhan is the one who calls me that the most and Chen says it occasionally. For the rest of the class period, we basically passed notes and planned our project together. Luckily, we didn’t get caught or else we would have to stay after school and receive a punishment for it. And I’m glad that Luhan and Chen aren’t fighting as badly as I thought they would. At first it seemed like they would kill each other, but now it seems that they were both able to let it go.

  Jealousy can hurt anyone, but I’m glad Luhan and Chen won’t have a huge problem with it.

-------

*Author's note:

  Ugh... I feel like I'm doing a bad job writing this story, but in truth I don't want Luhan and Chen to have a bad relationship since they've been together for so long and Luhan helped Chen in the past. I didn't want that kind of bond to break because of Xiumin. I just didn't know how to write that. I mean, not all friends break up because of a boy. Some may, but not all. Hopefull you readers understand! Ah! And Sehunnie! I love him, but there's a reason why I made his character like that~ You'll see/read.

  I'm sorry if it's boring. But this is one of my 'mature' kind of stories not mature as in , gore, or anything along those lines, but mature as in a light read. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it's moreo n the drama side rather than full out fluffiness and stuff like that, but there will be moments of course but not all happy go lucky in every scene. I'm trying to broaden my genres :D 

  Subscribe, comment, and upvote if you'd like to~ :D Teehee, even with these complications, I still love writing this story >.< You have no idea howm uch I'm enjoying writing this >//< So many feels! Oh, and for a heads up, I usually update once a week since it's summer. I just don't like bombarding people with five chapters in one day, so yeah just once a week until school starts. That's when everything will become crazy. Tah-tah for now!~