Chapter 41

“Where were you last night? I tried to call you but you didn’t answer your phone.” Kyungsoo asked worriedly as you entered the car.

“I was at work. Sorry, it was a busy shift.” You lied.

He stared at you and shook his head and folded his arms. “Why are you still working at the café?”

“I made a deal with the brat manager there. Don’t worry, once their sales improve I’ll quit alright?”

You knew Kyungsoo was unhappy about it. And it wasn’t because of the café. It was the fact that Chanyeol worked there too. But you didn’t want to mention anything. You knew how irritated he would get if you mentioned Chanyeol’s name. And besides that, you felt a little guilty for some reason. You couldn’t really look at Kyungsoo in the eyes and kept fidgeting in your seat. Kyungsoo looked at you weirdly and raised his eyebrows.

“Do you have something up your underwear or something?”

Surprised that he noticed, you tried to act calm and shook your head.

Calm your Hae Ra. Why are you being like this? Wait a minute, why are you feeling guilty? You and Kyungsoo have nothing to do with each other in the first place.

You began to relax a little and felt your phone buzz in your pocket. Your eyes widened when you saw it was from Chanyeol and opened the text message he sent.

I’ll be waiting for you at your locker.
Let’s go to class together :)
Chanyeol

You didn’t know why but you felt happy. Kyungsoo who had been noticing you since the moment you entered the car just kept quiet. He knew he had no right to ask you about the text message. And besides, he didn’t want to start the day by quarrelling with you. The car came to a halt a few minutes later and you walked out without even glancing back at Kyungsoo.

“Hey, what’s the rush? Classes won’t start until ten more minutes. Let’s walk together—“

“Oh uh sorry Kyungsoo, I uh, need to go ahead first. Someone’s waiting for me. I’ll see you…when I see you.” You gave him a quick smile before briskly walking into the school building.

Kyungsoo sighed and shook his head. He walked slowly into the building and was joined by his other classmates at the entrance. In an instant, he put on a smile on his face, but a smile that was at least convincing enough for his friends not to notice anything or how he was feeling.

You walked towards the lockers and when you saw the familiar tall figure leaning against them you tried your best to hide your excitement. Instead, you tried to be as calm as you could, like how you would normally be around him. Why? Because firstly, that’s how you are when you’re always with him, you didn’t want him to see your vulnerable side. And secondly, people were still staring at you in school. And knowing that you’re supposedly engaged to Kyungsoo, you shouldn’t do anything that might attract attention. Chanyeol’s face lit up when he saw you and he waved his hands towards you.

Ah, he looks like a puppy welcoming its owner. You thought.

You opened your locker and took out your books. Chanyeol continued to smile and just followed your movements with his eyes.

“You’re going to hurt your eyes if you keep staring like that.” You said.

“As long as they’re on you, they’ll never hurt.”

Your hands froze for a moment upon hearing what he just said.

A cheesy line like that?! So early in the morning?!

You cleared your throat and closed your locker before heading into class. Chanyeol bounced behind you, whistling a happy tune. As usual, the both of you went to your seats and you took out your books to begin your own revision before the bell rang.

“You really do like studying huh.”

“Not really. I just find it easy, since everything about it has an answer. And besides, I need to buck up in order to beat you in the next exam.”

You could never forget. That failure of yours was really uncalled for. Being the top student since grade school all the way until the second year of high school, never have you ever been beaten by anyone. Studying, besides swimming, was basically the second most important thing in your life. And ever since Chanyeol appeared, your focus seemed to have faltered.

Chanyeol pouts to your response and rested his head against the table, facing you. The sunlight from the window shone on you, revealing the brown hazel colour of your eyes. You inherited those brown orbs from your father apparently. Exactly the same. And that was one of the reasons how your mother fell in love with him.

“They’re really very pretty.”

“Huh? What is?” You mumbled back, eyes still glued to your calculus book.

“Your eyes, they’re beautiful.”

You could feel yourself blushing but tried to act cool. Just then the bell rang and Mr Kris walked in, asking the other students to settle down in their seats before commencing the start of class. You stopped your revisions and focused on the lesson while Chanyeol just continued to rest his head on the table but instead of staring at you, he covered his face with his arms and fell asleep.

You released a sigh of relief and stole a glance at the sleeping giant beside you. You just noticed that he had dyed his hair back to a darker shade of brown again. The ends of his hair seemed to curl a little and some part of you had the urge to twine your fingers in them. But before you could do anything, you stopped yourself and focused on the lesson.

Woah that was dangerous Hae Ra…

You could feel it. You could you feel your heart beating fast in your chest. It never happened to you before. Your mother had been inviting eligible young men to the house ever since you turned sixteen; young men who were of your age or a few years older than you, all coming from influential families in the country. Of course, all those efforts were just for business, and your heart has never reacted like how it was when you looked at Chanyeol.

Does this mean that…No, it can’t be. Maybe I’m catching a cold.

“You seem pretty cheerful today.”

Kyungsoo smirked as he took a bite of his lunch. The both of you were sitting together in the school cafeteria instead of the rooftop. You didn’t want to eat there though, but because you were in a good mood that day, you decided to give in to Kyungsoo’s wishes for once. And you mean it, for once. It was going to be your first and last time sitting in the school’s cafeteria. You thought that the both of you were going to be seated alone but nope, you thought wrong. Apparently, Kyungsoo wanted to introduce his friends to you.

There were three of them. Kyungsoo first introduced you to a scrawny, pale but still good looking guy. Kim Junmyeon was his name and apparently his family owned one of the biggest real estate companies in Korea, Suho Estates. He even gave you their company’s name card saying how it would be useful in the future once you and Kyungsoo gets married and needed our own place. You just smiled at him and took the card but obviously you wouldn’t need it.

The next guy looks a little feminine. In fact, he could even pass as a girl. His small pout lips, flawless skin and doe-like brown eyes; he introduced himself as Xi Luhan. “I’m an exchange student from Beijing.” He said. Even his voice sounded so velvety. If he were to cross-dress, you bet even Miss Korea would fall to her knees and beg doctors to conduct plastic surgery on her face to look just like him. Luhan got into the school through a soccer scholarship awarded by his own family’s company. Yeah, his dad was one of the best soccer coaches in Beijing.

Last but not least is Zhang Yixing. Another exchange student and you like him the most out of the other two. Why? Because he looked like he didn’t want to be there either. Kept saying something about dancing and practice. He didn’t really introduce himself to you like how Junmyeon or Luhan did but what you did know was that all of Kyungsoo’s friends seemed to be super rich and super good looking. Seriously, you could feel the burning stares from the other students as you sat on the same table as them.

“So what are you happy about?” Kyungsoo asked as he looked at you.

You let out a happy sigh and ate your lunch. “Chanyeol started talking to me again.” You quickly stopped what you were doing when you realized what you had just said.

Kyungsoo’s smile disappeared from his face and he avoided looking at you. “Oh really? That’s good. You guys had a fight before this?” He said in a monotonous tone.

Crap. Now you did it Hae Ra. He’s pissed. Great.

You were about to change the topic but Luhan cuts into your conversation.

“Wait, you mean Park Chanyeol? That freakishly tall kid with the creepy smile? Woah, I didn’t know you were friends with him Hae Ra.” He shook his head in disbelief. The other two guys nodded in agreement.

“What do you mean? Is it wrong for me to be friends with that freakishly tall kid with the creepy smile?” You didn’t know why but you felt offended.

Junmyeon chuckled and waved his hands. “No, no, it’s not that. Haven’t you heard the rumours about him?”

Beside you, you heard lay sigh as he lay his head on the table and closed his eyes. “Not this again.” You heard him mumble.

“Rumours? What rumours?”

Luhan and Junmyeon looked at each other hesitantly before looking towards Kyungsoo who didn’t seem to be interested in the current conversation but otherwise was still listening intently. He looked at you and the boys before pushing his already empty plate from the table and wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin.

“You don’t have to listen to this Hae Ra. Let’s go, I’ll walk you back to your class. The bell is about to ring.” He said and was about to take your hand but you stood firm.

“I want to know what this rumour is about Kyungsoo.” You folded your arm.

Noticing how tense the atmosphere was and he didn’t want it to cause a commotion in the school; he gave in and rubbed his temple with his fingers before looking at you straight in the eye.

“The Park family disowned Chanyeol three years ago.”

[A/N] Hey hey I'm back! I just got my laptop back from repair, everything is working fine again and I can start writing too! Thank you all for sticking with this story durign my hiatus. I really appreciate it :') I'll try my best to start updating regularly again but no promises okay? 

xoxo