CHAPTER 2: STRANGER

Busan University was, without a doubt, a school for the rich (or the super smart). With its well-trimmed gardens filled with exotic flora and an architecture that combined sleek classical and ultra modern styles, the whole place screamed of lavishness.

Xiumin, now going by Minseok because of their moving to Korea, tugged at the sleeves of his navy blue blazer and glanced at the pouch on his left chest. The crest of Busan University was embroidered on the patch. He could not help but feel that it was so wrong to be wearing the uniform (it was not farfetched from the truth, though, since he and the others were enrolled illegally).

Behind him were Yi Fan, Xiao Lu, and Kai. They were walking through a Bermuda grass field, on their way to the campus’ main building to get to their respective classes.

“Kreeeeeease, Kuh-ris, Kriiiis, Kris?” A certain blonde-haired pretty boy was chanting different versions of Yi Fan’s new name while walking beside the tall man.

“Shut up, Luhan.” Yi Fan grumbled.

“Yah, you forgot to add ‘hyung’!” Laughing, Xiao Lu, whose name was now Luhan since it was easier for Koreans, playfully poked Kris’ arm. He was having a good time making fun of the other’s name.

Kris sighed and glared at the older. He would not have used his western name if he knew that he was going to be subjected to Luhan’s constant teasing. The petite male was a lot more impish than he let on.

Since they moved from China to Korea, the group had decided to take on different names to what they used in China. It came as a surprise to the other three when Yi Fan registered as Kris, a western name. They had no idea that their full-blooded Chinese leader spent most of his childhood in the west – in Canada, no less.

“Oh, c’mon, KRIS~” Luhan started again. “It’s definitely better than ‘Minseok’.”

Hearing this, the said man turned his attention to them and frowned, “Hey, what’s so bad with my name?”

“It’s weird.”

“Well, yours sounds girly.”

“It’s not!”

“And the two of you are supposed to be older than Ka-Jongin and I.” The leader muttered.

“Only by a few months, Krease!”

The youngest sighed at them as they bickered like children. Looking around, Jongin spotted students, most of them females, looking at them and whispering amongst themselves. It was only their first day in Busan U, but they were already garnering the attention of random passersby. Feeling a bit adventurous, Jongin looked at some group of girls and gave them a wink. They immediately responded with a fit of squeals and hushed giggles, running soon after mainly because of embarrassment. He snickered softly at their antics.

Fortunately, Kris was sensible enough to realize that they were already making an unneeded scene in the middle of the field.

“Luhan-hyung, Minseok-hyung, we have to go.”

Stopping himself from giving the blonde a noogie and coming back to his senses, Minseok turned to Kris and nodded.

The four of them continued their trek in silence when Luhan suddenly looped his arm around the back of Jongin’s neck.

“Let’s have fun, alright? Unlike those two.” He playfully whispered and the other just gave him an amused look.

Arriving at the main building, the four of them separated to get to their own respective classes. Luhan, Jongin, and Minseok bade Kris farewell as they walked to a direction opposite his since their leader was the only one whose classes were located in a different annex of the building.

Heads turned at Kris’ direction as he walked down the hallway. Students from both sides either looked at him in fear or in awe. Kris did not like the attention he was getting, but he could not be blamed for being born tall and fierce-looking. Aside from that, his neutral face naturally gave off a dark condescending look that some considered as mysteriously y.

Kris finally reached his class which was located at the end of a long hall. Students were already flittering through the door, going directly to their peers who they did not see over the summer break. Incessant chattering could be heard from inside but when he entered the room, the noise immediately stopped. Most of the students eyed him warily, trying to decipher his character (although some girls were giggling, admiring his dark albeit good looks). He ignored them and kept his gaze straight. The noise slowly came back to life when they lost interest on his apathy.

Kris was about to grab a seat at the far end of the back when a man with an average height and pale skin approached him. “Hello, you must be one of the transferees?”

Not knowing how to respond, Kris merely nodded at the guy.

“You’re Kris Wu, am I right?”

Raising an eyebrow, Kris looked at him suspiciously, “Yes, how did you know?”

“Oh!” The man’s eyes suddenly widened as realization dawned on him. He scratched the backside of his neck in embarrassment. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like a total creep.” Then, with a bright smile plastered on his face, the man extended his arm and offered his right hand for a handshake, “My name is Kim Junmyeon, overall student council president that’s why I have the list of all the new students.”

Using a bit of his ability to sense if the other was lying, Kris scanned Junmyeon for any signs of threat. The taller needed to do it, bearing in mind that the three others and he were not real students of the school. It was dangerous to be acquainted to people outside of their circle, especially to a student with a high ranking authority that his position granted. He found none, and nevertheless, although hesitant, Kris thought that the other man seemed genuinely nice. Junmyeon had a look of a typical goody-two-shoes in his crisp perfectly pressed navy blue uniform, bright eyes, and alabaster skin.

Thinking that it was unfair to judge the man considering that he was only being welcoming and friendly to him, Kris gave a small smile back and returned the handshake. It amused him slightly how weathered his hand looked as compared to Junmyeon’s. “You already know my name but… Kris Wu, genetic engineering student.”

“Yeah, you and I have the same course.” Drawing his hand back, Junmyeon’s grin grew wider, “Well, Kris-sshi, welcome to Busan U!”

“Hi, I’m Byun Baekhyun!”

“Kim Jongdae, at your service!”

With his mouth slightly hanging open, Jongin stared dumbly at the students who sat right in front of him. As his class waited for their professor to arrive, he was mindlessly looking outside the room’s window when the two suddenly rotated their seats to his direction and introduced themselves.

The blonde named Baekhyun was one of those cute guys that Jongin considered to be in Luhan’s and Minseok’s category. He looked like an eager puppy with how chirpy he greeted him. On the other hand, Jongdae had very sharp features, and the way his eyes crinkled as he smiled made it easy to assume that he was a typical merry person.

Baekhyun leaned forward and propped an elbow on Jongin’s desk, “So, you, what’s your name?”

It took a moment for him to reply, a bit taken back by how forward the other was, “Uh… I’m Kim Jongin.”

“Hey, another Kim, nice to meet you!” Jongdae enthusiastically pointed out.

Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun playfully shoved Jongdae to the side, “Oh, please, too many people with the name ‘Kim’ ed so much that you guys are practically everywhere.”

Jongdae just laughed while Jongin gave him a slightly horrified and embarrassed look.

The three of them continued their conversations with Baekhyun and Jongdae asking him simple questions about his age and where he lived. They discovered that Jongin was almost two years younger than them. At this, they both requested to be called ‘hyung’.

Even if Jongin just met the older two, it was easy for him to warm up to them. Baekhyun and Jongdae were easy to interact with that only a few minutes had passed but he was already laughing comfortably at their crazy antics. The two were best friends since their childhood years that they often acted like twins (or partner secret agents as they claimed). The two were the stereotypical double trouble of the school, and Jongin found himself glad to be classmates with them for most of his subjects; the two would never let him get bored.

The duo was throwing insults at each other when another guy entered the room. With the seat on Jongin’s right being the only one left vacant, he took it silently.

The sudden movement made Jongin look at his side to find a raven haired man with dark lined eyes. His face reminded Jongin of Kris; fierce and astute.

Baekhyun, noticing the stranger, turns his attention to him, “You look new here too.”

The man’s face changed from cold and collected to surprised and confused. And panicked? He gave an expression that looked like he was asking if Baekhyun was speaking to him. At this, the blonde introduced the three of them. Jongdae, once again, gave a cheery greeting, and Jongin raised a hand in acknowledgment.

Realizing that it was his turn to speak, the man bowed slightly and a bit awkwardly. “M-my name is Huang Zitao.” Jongin noticed that the way Zitao spoke contradicted his strong features, and his accented Korean did not sound like it was heavily influenced by his Chinese decent (judging from his name). It sounded different yet Jongin shrugged it off nonetheless, thinking that he was only being too hyperaware.

“Hmm…” Frowning and grabbing his chin as if he was thinking deeply, Baekhyun eyed Jongin and Tao back and forth. The two stared at him questioningly while Jongdae snickered, already aware of how the blonde's mind worked.

Eyes gleaming, Baekhyun started, “Yah, are all the new students this good looking?”

Luhan made his way to his class with a scowl marring his face. Just a while ago, Minseok had turned to another direction, took a flight of stairs, and left him alone. The older failed to tell him that he was not attending the same class as him, unlike what Luhan had initially thought. It annoyed him that he would be going to class alone.

He knew that he was already late for class because of his slow pace, but Luhan could not care less. First meetings were always bound to be boring with the professors only expected to provide an introduction to whatever subject they were teaching. Luhan found the ordeal tiring and repetitive. Having experienced it already for several uncountable times whenever their group moved, Luhan found it a bother to even show up, but their brunette leader would surely be displeased if he did not. The younger had always believed that it was important for them to finish the courses they started on even with how their lives were messed up at the moment.

Even with taking his sweet time observing the hall’s interiors and strolling like it was a leisurely Sunday walk in the park, it did not take long for Luhan to arrive at the door of his class. The professor was already inside and halfway through the objectives of his lesson. As expected, the whole class’ attention turned to him when he stepped inside.

Stopping in the middle his speech, the professor looked at him in disapproval, “I don’t appreciate tardiness in my class, mister…?”

“Luhan,” he gave out his name, “Lu Han, sir.”

“Mister Lu, please take a seat so we can start.”

As Luhan set his gaze on the rest of the room, he first noticed that there were no other unoccupied seats left aside from the one in front of the professor’s table. He was mistaken, however, when another student near the far back raised his hand and waved at him, pointing at the empty seat beside him.

Luhan sighed in relief while he walked over. As he sat down, the guy who offered the seat looked up at him. “You would have taken a saliva shower if you sat in front of that professor.” He swept his reddish brown hair before continuing, “I’m Do Kyungsoo, by the way.”

“Good thing you saved me then.” The blonde chuckled a bit. “Thanks, Kyungsoo-sshi.”

“You’re welcome, and Kyungsoo’s fine.” The guy also gave him a smile back. At the close proximity, Luhan thought that Kyungsoo looked cute with his naturally huge eyes.

An hour passed and the class continued. The professor’s unfeeling and monotonous voice bore Luhan only minutes after the man started.

He looked back at Kyungsoo. Luhan wondered how the guy could still be so attentive and take notes to whatever the man in front was saying while the whole class was already dead from boredom.

On the second hour, Luhan thought that is was impossible to pay attention, so he decided to take a nap instead. Just as he was about to rest his head on his desk, a familiar sensation crept inside him. He knew what it was and, the feeling was deeply unwanted.

Oh no.

He began to panic a little, but he was able to take deep breaths to control the rising anxiety within him. He skimmed around, trying to find where the feeling was coming from. His eyes first landed on Kyungsoo but the energy obviously did not emanate from the busy guy.

Then, the feeling spiked and his gaze instantly fell on the back of a figure who sat two seats in front of him. He was turned sideways, allowing Luhan to see his side profile.

The brown haired man with an elongated face was talking to a curly haired brunette in hushed whispers, looking like they were arguing.

Luhan clawed at his desk. Why the is it happening again!? He squeezed his eyes shut and took heavy breaths. The aura of the guy was setting off alarms in Luhan’s brain, similar to the ones that gave him trouble in China. Every single fiber in his body was screaming aggression. Animals had the ability to discern threats and danger even without confrontation. It was pure instinct, and as a lycan, it was no different for him.

Opening his eyes, he glared at him, boring holes on the stranger’s back. It took some of the pressure off at least, but Luhan hoped that the class would end sooner.

To his luck, the bell rang moments after, signaling the end of all the first periods. Luhan immediately grabbed his backpack to run for the door just as Kyungsoo was calling out for him. In his rush, he failed to notice that another student had done the same, and it sent both of them crashing to each other near the doorway.

Kyungsoo went to Luhan’s side and asked if he was alright, but the blonde was not listening. When he got his bearings back, he looked up to see the person whom he had bumped into. When he saw who it was, he gnashed his teeth and willed himself to contain a growl. In front of him was the same guy he was glaring at earlier.

Noticing the dark looks directed to him, the man suddenly spoke to him, “What the are you looking at, pitiful human?”

“Sehun!” A taller man, the one with the curly hair, shouted, his tone reprimanding. Looking angry, he grabbed his companion by the arm and dragged him away, leaving Luhan and Kyungsoo dumbfounded. From a distance, they could hear the man named Sehun shout back, “Let go of me, Chanyeol-hyung!”

As Luhan stood from the ground, Kyungsoo gave out a confused look, “Pitiful human? That’s a new insult.”

Calming down after the man left, Luhan slung his backpack to his arm and exhaled harshly.

“You alright there?” his forgotten seatmate asked.

Luhan finally turned to Kyungsoo, “Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”

The other eyed him a bit before continuing, “So, lunch. Why don’t I show you where the cafeteria is? You look like you’re new here.”

Forcing himself to smile, Luhan nodded, and they walked off with Kyungsoo telling him that he plans to introduce the blonde to his other friends.

Leaving the room with Kyungsoo beside him, Luhan remembered how he even encouraged Jongin about having fun earlier that morning.

Judging from how Luhan’s first day started, it seemed that the universe was against him.

A/N:

CHECK OUT alevuy95's STORIES. SHE HAS A TREASRUE TROVE OF GOODIES and she edits this story to make it 100000000000000000x better

The first chapters are always the most frustrating ones xD Vale for now~