~Hyukjae~

I never received a call from Donghae on Sunday. It made me feel extremely guilty that I might’ve hurt him more than I expected. He probably didn’t want to see me, but I still called anyways to see if he wanted to rehearse again. No surprise that he didn’t answer any of my calls. All I could do on Sunday was practice the script over and over again until it was stuck in my head. I made sure I wouldn’t forget anything because I didn’t want to anger him more by lowering his grade for just forgetting a line.

Monday finally came. I was thinking about apologizing more than anything. I hung around the front of the school waiting to see if Donghae was there, but I tried to make it seem natural because I didn’t want to look creepy or suspicious in any way to the teachers or students.

10 minutes had passed and I still hadn’t seen Donghae. I didn’t see Jessica either, but just as I was about the just go to class, I saw Kibum. At first, I was about to approach him, but then my body froze. It was Kibum. My life couldn’t be in any more danger then standing right next him. It was clear that Kibum didn’t like me. The reason still remained uncertain to me as to why, but every time I was around him, everything just suddenly gets chilly. His cold stare especially freaked me out. I feel like a furless monkey in a blizzard, which is definitely not a good feeling… Screw it, I’m gonna ask him.

I jogged towards him. “Hey Kibum, do you know where Donghae is?”

His murderous eyes looked at me, I gulped. The cold winds came. “He’s coming.” He said in a deep, monotone voice.

It wasn’t very specific or informational, but asking one question seemed like it was enough. The shivers were really getting to me. I backed away and bowed for no reason. Kibum just continued on his way.

I sighed. It was taking so long, and school was going to start soon and I was still waiting just to say sorry for a dumb argument. Pacing back and forth, I kept my patience. Out of the corner of my eye, finally, I saw the person I was looking for.

“Donghae!”

He looked at me with a quick glance and then looked away. I felt hurt for a second, but he looked at me again and started towards me. He had a slanted smile and his gaze stayed glue to the ground, but he knew where he was walking. We met and he raised his head and looked me in the eyes. He didn’t look pissed like how he did yesterday, in fact, he looked just as sorry as I did.

I apologized first. “Hey, about Saturday – I’m sorry for being rude and… Forcing a kiss on you…”

His slanted smile turned into a little grin. His brown orbs showed sincerity and forgiveness. “No, I’m sorry for making a big deal out of it. You’re right. It’s just a simple kiss. And… It wasn’t so bad, really. I just felt really awkward about it.”

My heart jumped a little. But I couldn’t help but . “So you liked my kiss?”

He slapped me on the arm. I flinched. “I never said that.” He said, but I saw him hiding a small smile. We both laughed and walked towards the school entrance together.

“I hope you practiced, Hyukjae. ‘Cause there’s still a chance that we might be one of the pairs performing today.”

“Wellllllllllll, we could’ve practice together yesterday, but someone didn’t pick up my phone calls!”

Donghae laughed nervously with a bit of guilt. “Oh, my phone died yesterday. I didn’t know you called.”

I gave him a funny look and shoved my hands inside my pants pockets. “Then why didn’t you charge it?”

Donghae shrugged. “I lost my phone charger.”

We walked around the halls to pass some time before first period. It seemed that all tension had eased and our normal relationship had returned. I was back to teasing him and he was back to insulting and teasing me. A vicious cycle that bonded us together. I wasn’t expecting him to calm down so quickly. Pretty much I thought he’d be the type to hold grudges. Our peaceful conversation didn’t last long until it was interrupted by a nightmare.

“HYUUUUUKJAAAAAAEEEE!!!” I heard a high pitched, annoying scream. I felt someone tackle and latch onto me from behind. It startled both me and Donghae. We heard another voice crying out in urgency, an older woman.

“Milady, please refrain from raising your voice! That is no way to greet Hyukjae-nim.”

Curious as to who was behind me, I turned my head to look over my shoulder. A girl with dirty blonde hair stood right behind me. Her huge, flashing smile caught my attention the most, but her eyes had a dopey look to it and they were no less attention grabbing. Suddenly, I recognized her. My eyes widened in disbelief. This couldn’t be happening. No, why here out of all places?

“Milady, please let go of him.”  The woman said to the girl.

Students around us started to whisper from her abrupt behavior. “Did she just call her ‘Milady’? Who is that girl?”

“Hyukjae, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.” The blonde girl pouted as she released me. She crossed her arms and expanded her eyes. Her attempt to be cute was disgusting. The only reason I’d think that was because I knew her. And boy did we have history together – some good, some bad.

“Ugh, I wish I could forget. It’s you.” I turned around, taking back my personal space.

“Who’s ‘You’? I don’t know anyone named that, what’s my name Hyukjae? Say it, don’t be shy. I know you love my name.” She chirped. I rolled my eyes. Donghae just stared at me clueless.

“Who is she, Hyukjae?” He asked.

I bit my tongue. She grinned at me like a little girl who felt that she was special because she knew a secret and wouldn’t tell. “Her name is… Hyoyeon.” I muttered.

“That’s my name! Don’t wear it out!” She cheered.

“Nice to meet you,” Donghae greeted. “So, how do you guys know each other?”

“We’re–”

“Engaged!” Hyoyeon shouted. People’s glances and ears shot right at us. Many students were just eavesdropping now or just staring.

“Engaged?” Donghae questioned.

“Yup, he’s my fiancé!”

“And she’s crazy, Donghae don’t listen to her she’s –”

“Amazing? Beautiful? Smart?” She unsurprisingly interrupted.

“Will you shut up and let me explain?” I said.

“You talk too slow.”

“I don’t think that’s the issue…”

“Talk faster, maybe you might get more words out of those big lips of yours.”

Donghae snickered. I looked at him, “What?”

“Hahaha, I told you they were big.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration and lowered my head. “Why are you here anyways?” I uttered with a sigh, changing the subject to more important matters.

“Well, as you can see, by wearing this uniform, I’m a new student here at SM Academy!”

“No,” I said. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, Hyukjae. But I am.” Hyoyeon smirked. The woman cleared . I presumed that she was Hyoyeon’s maid or someone of that occupation.

“Milady, here is your schedule. Please don’t lose this.”

Hyoyeon snatched the piece of paper out of her maid’s hand. She unfolded it and held the paper to my face. “You mind helping me find my classes?” she said in a sweet, innocent voice. But all I heard was evil.

I pushed the paper away with a glare. The maid just sighed. She must’ve been tired.

“I’ll be leaving now, please excuse me.” She bowed and then left.

“Hyukjae, my classes. Help me find them.” Hyoyeon demanded. She shoved the paper back in my face. I yanked it out of her hands and looked at it. I noticed that all her classes were the same as mine.

“Wh-”

“Wondering why we have the same classes? It’s because I requested.” She snickers and links arms with me. “We’re gonna be together for every period.”

The school bell rang, but to me, it sounded like it was signaling my death. I now had to deal with Hyoyeon, every day I would have to see her face again. The past had now become the present. She looked at me with a smile, because she knew how I felt about all this. She loved my misery just as much as she loved me. We have a weird relationship, but it was the normality for us. She was my fiancée, but then I told my parents that I was gay, they cut off the future wedding and everything. Hyoyeon has held a grudge ever since, but we still find ourselves still pretty close. I’ve tried convincing her many times that she could find a better husband that could love her, but for some reason, she refused to accept it.

“Hyukjae, sweetie, let’s go to class.” She danced, dragging me with no sense of knowing where she was going.

“If you wanna go to class it’s that way.” I pointed. She turned and continued to drag me while humming delightfully. I turned my head around to Donghae who was following us. He gave me a sorry smile. I gave him a reassuring one. I then drew circles on the side of my head to say that she was crazy. He giggled. Luckily, Hyoyeon didn’t notice.

It was now lunch hour and as usual, students were feasting hungrily and chit chatting with peers. Usually, I would sit with my usual clique, Donghae, Jessica, and Kibum, but since Hyoyeon was hot on my tracks, I had to do some hiding and blending in with large crowds to get away from her.

As soon as it seemed that she had given up on finding me, I found a seat at a table and sat across from Siwon, who was reading a script. I set my lunch down and began to chow while still on the lookout for the little nightmare haunting me.

“You know,” I began. “We’ve already known each other for three weeks, but I just want to say now that you look awfully familiar.”

Siwon just looked at me, raising his eyebrows with a frown. “We’ve never met until SM.”

“Are you sure?” I kept trying. “Have you debuted yet?”

“No.” He replied bluntly. He seemed more interested in the script than he was talking to me, but the familiarity of his face picked at me. I tried to recall where I had heard Choi Siwon from, but my head just ended up getting heavy. I kept staring at his face.

He looked up uncomfortably. “Do you mind?” he said.

“No carry on.” I casually stated.

He sighed, and picked up his lunch and script to move to another table. I watched as he left and resumed eating my lunch alone.

“Hey.” I heard. It turned out to be Donghae, who took the vacant seat that Siwon had abandoned not too long ago. “Mind if I join?”

“Not at all, have a seat.” I smiled.

He gladly took it.

“You’re not gonna eat?” I asked.

“I finished already, but hey, I heard the auditorium’s open today. We could practice our skit backstage. You should hurry up so we can sign our names up.” He sounded eager. Maybe it was because he got over the kiss already.

“Hmm.” I hummed in response, shoving some carrots into my mouth. I accidentally spit one out when someone had forcefully slapped my back. I spun around and Hyoyeon cupped my cheeks and kissed it. I pushed her away and ended up falling off my seat while backing away. She took slow, heavy steps forward in my direction. Ungracefully, I got up and stumbled towards Donghae and used him as a shield.

“Hyukkie, what’s wrong?” She asked with a mischievous aura. Her head tilted like she was oblivious but it had this daunting look to it.

“Don’t call me that.” I scowled.

“Oh Hyukkie, I know it’s been 4 years since we’ve seen each other, but why do you still hate me?” She sounded like she was about to cry, though I didn’t soften.

“I don’t hate you, but I don’t wanna marry you either. It’s as simple as that.”

The corners of dropped, dissatisfied. “And why can’t we get married? That’s not what you told me when we were 10.”

“We were 10! We didn’t even know what love was.”

“But now we’re almost adults!”

“And I know very well that I don’t wanna marry you, Hyoyeon. We’ve been through this 4 years ago, must we go through it again?”

“Yes, please enlighten me again, because I will not accept you being gay as an answer!”

Hyoyeon and her big mouth… She just had to scream it out for the entire public to hear didn’t she? Donghae looked at me puzzled.

“You’re gay?”

I winked at him, “Surprise~”

He scoffed, “No wonder…”

I gave him a ‘Sorry for not tell you’ look but Hyoyeon got upset and started marching forward. I grabbed Donghae’s arm and yanked him up and out of his seat. “Come on, let’s go!” I commanded heading for the auditorium, a place I knew she wouldn’t know to look for us, unless she was able to follow us all the way.

“Hyukjae,” Donghae panted. “Don’t you think that was a bit cold of you?”

I looked back to see if she was still in sight, luckily no.

“Why?” I breathed

“Because, you seem really important to her. She looked heartbroken when we took off.”

“Oh did she?” I rolled my eyes. “Forget about her, let’s just practice.”

He looked hesitant as to if he should continue on the subject or let it go. His frown was disturbing me.

“What?” I sighed.

“Hyukjae th – Is that Key?!” Donghae exclaimed as he shoved me aside to go hug someone stranger I’ve never seen before. I was stunned for a second from his abrupt action, but I stood there emotionless.

Should I be happy that he dropped the issue or should I frown because I won’t hear what he had to say?

Sorry for not updating in a while ^^" 3rd quarter is ending at my school and 4th quarter is approaching quickly. It's now spring break and you'd expect me to have a lot of free time, but it's been busier than I had anticipated. But no matter, please enjoy the story! Thank you~