“You ready?” Sehun asked as he readjusted his shoulder strap.

“No.”

“Let’s go then.”  He said grabbing her arm and pushing them through the doors.

“Can’t we pretend that I never decided to join regular classes so I can go back to my usual routine?” she resisted as her cousin dragged her through the corridors. The corridor was crowded with students, some exchanging greetings and hugs while some were setting their lockers. Some stared.

“Sehun, they’re staring.”

“I’m dragging a girl by the wrist through the corridor. Of course they’ll stare.” He said it like a fact. Hana promised to walk on her own so he let her go. Being stared at wasn’t something she was particularly fond of.

“Give me your schedule.” Sehun held out a hand and Hana dug her bag searching for the piece of paper. As Sehun examined the writings, Hana noticed she was still getting occasional stares. But these were different; there was a silver of recognition in some of the students’ eyes. Hana wanted to leave already.

“I swear having your mother as the principal is so awesome. We have almost every class together except two, music and history. We’ll have P.E. the same day but girls and boys are separate so I, or any of the others, won’t be there. But you can still see us through that pathetic excuse of a fence they put between our grounds.”

Hana nodded. She clung onto his every word. She needed to block the stares she was getting and focusing on her cousin was the only way to do that.

“When I have music and history, what will you have?”

“Psychology during your music and dance during your history.” He replied as he mentally compared their schedules.

“I didn’t know you were into psychology.”

“I’m not.”

“Then why did you take the course?” she asked. He didn’t reply for a while. Sehun pursed his lips and they turned a corner. Hana had her eyes trained on her cousin or else she would’ve seen the group of familiar faces ahead of her.

“I wanted to learn about a few things.” He finally answered and gave her a small smile. Hana wondered what he meant. She was about to ask hum but before she could, she felt something slam into her.

A body.

“HANA’S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!” She heard Baekhyun scream in her ear.

“Baekhyun you’re scaring the poor girl!” Kyungsoo scolded and peeled his friend away. Hana rubbed her ear and blinked as she tried to get her ears to stop ringing.

“Soooooooo HANA! What will you treat us with?” Chanyeol chimed.

“Probably something delicious. Hana doesn’t deprive one’s right to a good treat. Right Hana?” Jongdae raised a brow. Hana was busy with her ear to properly comprehend.

“Ice cream!” Kai piped but the others shut him down.

“No way! Ice cream is regular. We should have something better! Hana what do you intend to feed us?”

Hana looked towards Chanyeol but only because the voice she heard was too grave to belong to the others. She grew confused when she looked at his expectant eyes. She grew even more confused when she noticed everyone was looking at her the same way.

“What?”

“Oh my God she went deaf.”

“Sehun what-“ her sentence was cut short by Kyungsoo.

“Baekhyun this is your entire fault!”

“Hey!”

“You’re the reason she can’t hear us!”

“Jongdae I-“

“He’s right! It IS your fault!”

“Oh shut up Kai.”

“ Lay is gonna trip once he finds out that you made his girlfriend incapable of hearing.” Jongdae shook his head with a disapproved look.

“Why-“

“Yeah. Like she just started talking and now you made her deaf.” Chanyeol shrugged with a forlorn expression.

“Would you guys shut up?! She isn’t deaf. She can hear me clearly, can’t you Hana?” Baekhyun turned towards the girl and gave her a rather desperate look.

“Yeah I can hear you.”

“See!”

By now the occasional stares had been forgotten. Her friends had successfully grasped her attention. Sehun was right; there ARE perks of being related to the principal. Sehun’s locker was next to Kai’s and Hana was told that the one next to hers was Lay’s. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun’s were on the other side of the corridor while Chanyeol’s was three lockers down Hana’s. Jongdae was the only one whose wasn’t near the others.

“Baek have you seen-“

“Lay?”

“Yeah.” Hana shut her locker after grabbing the last of her books. Kyungsoo had gone off to check the bulletin boards with Sehun and Kai. Chanyeol, being the newbie as well, as receiving help from Jongdae in locating his classes.

“He was here before you came. He had to leave literally two minutes before you two entered. Some last minute soccer meeting.”

“Ah. Ok.” Baekhyun closed her locker for her and they walked down the corridor.

“So how’s it coming?” he asked suddenly.

“How’s what coming?” she gave him a questioning look.

“Sessions? We haven’t met Kris hyung for a while so I couldn’t ask him how you were progressing.”

“You ask him about my therapy? Why?” her eyebrows scrunched and her tone became a little defensive although she did not know why.

“Because I’m a concerned friend. And also since I’m the only one who knows so-“ he shrugged as if that would complete the rest of his sentence. Hana tried to get her tone under control. She wasn’t offended, just a little defensive when it came to her illness.

 “It’s going pretty good. Doctor Fei said I can stop my weekly sessions soon. Then I’ll just have to check in with her once every three months.”

“That’s great! I’m so proud of you!” He beamed and gave her a one arm hug. She mimicked his wide smile. She was proud of herself too. There used to be a time where she had more or less given up on life. Allowed depression to take control and ruin everything. But now she felt alive again.

“Oh lookie there. It’s your pointy eared boyfriend.” Hana immediately looked ahead to find Lay walking in their direction with a serious expression and eyes trailed to the floor.

“He looks upset.” Baekhyun sounded cautious and Hana wondered why.  She decided to save the questions for later though. If Lay was bothered about something, she wanted to be there to help him feel better.

“I’m gonna sneak away before he sees me.” Baekhyun walked backwards but Hana held him.

“Wait- why? Don’t you want to greet him?”

“I met him this morning Hanster. He hasn’t seen you yet.” He released his arm and glanced ahead, “he’s coming. Gotta go!”

“But-!” Baekhyun bolted and Hana left her sentence unfinished. She looked ahead and the guy she had been waiting all morning to see was walking right towards her. She fixed her skirt and her shirt. Patted her hair and readjusted her backpack. Why did she always feel so nervous? She opened to say hello but he walked past her. Her shoulders deflated. Baekhyun observed Lay was upset, and now he walked past her without acknowledging her. Was she the reason for his current mood?  Or did he not see her perhaps? She reviewed every event that occurred in the past two days. He was fine when they went to the park two days ago, he was fine until yesterday as well and enjoying the coffee they forced Kyungsoo to pay for. Even until last night when Hana cut the call before she went to sleep he was perfectly normal.

She followed him silently. Wondering what happened she followed him to the lockers and hoped he’d notice her. She couldn’t bring herself to call him out. She couldn’t. She didn’t know why. Was it fear? The probability that may be he was angry at her that made her wary of her actions. She stopped in front of Chanyeol’s locker and watched him open his locker with a little too much force. She wanted to ask him what was wrong. She really did. But her feet were glued. A girl, light haired and fairly tall, walked in his direction. Hana remembered her as a member of the cheerleading squad. She didn’t miss the judging look the girl gave her while she went to talk to Lay.

“Hey, Lay.”

“What?” he snapped at her without looking in her direction. Hana wasn’t used to seeing him be anything but friendly.

“Don’t mean to bother you but,” the girl looked past his shoulder towards Hana, “this girl has been stalking you since you entered the building.”

The girl crossed her arms and looked pointedly towards Hana. Hana’s eyes widened a little and she bit her lip. She didn’t have a reason to be embarrassed, but then why was she? Lay finally looked at the girl and gave her a brief look before following her gaze. He found her eyes and Hana clutched onto the straps of her bag.

“She’s not a stalker, she’s my girlfriend.”

“Your what?” Hana held back a smug smile as she watched Lay repeat the word and walk towards her without sparing the other girl another glance. The nearer he got, the clammier her hands got. He grabbed her hand and pulled her in a direction she didn’t know. Hana hadn’t entered this building since two years. Her sense of navigation wasn’t very clear. Before they could get far, the bell rang. Lay sighed and stopped making Hana stumble into his back. The look of concern he saw on her face helped him relax a little.

“Which class right now?”

No hello? No hi?

“Phy-“ she cleared , “Physics. Room 12-A.”

“I’ll walk you there.”

She nodded and walked along with him towards the class at a slower pace than before. Her hands dangled at her sides. She wondered if she could hold his hand. Would it be alright to do so? His silence made her feel like the source of his displeasure with every ticking second. His hand s around hers and she looked back at him surprised. He gave her a half smile but he still looked uneasy. She mustered the courage to ask him but by the time she did, they had already reached the room.

“I have something to tell you.” Hana didn’t like his tone.

“Ok.” She replied meekly. He nodded. The second bell rang and he knew he had to leave for his class. He stared at their interlocked hands, as if hesitant to leave but then heaved a sigh and let go.

Air hit her hand and she felt cold.

-

“Can someone explain why Lay is acting like a twelve year old who just found out that Santa isn’t real?” Jongdae said frustrated.

“Same! He didn’t even talk to me during our mathematics class.” Chanyeol pitched in.

“Not to mention he messed up the choreography twice.” Kai grumbled. Sehun shook his head, “He looks distracted.”

“Hell yeah, he didn’t even look at us during music and we sit right in front of him!” Baekhyun complained as he pointed towards Kyungsoo and himself.

“Hana you know what’s up?” Sehun asked. He peeled the aluminum cover off his flavored yoghurt and offered it to Hana.

“I’m as clueless as you guys. He walked past me without even noticing me this morning. He only realized I was there after someone pointed it out. He said he had something to tell me.” Hana slumped deeper into her chair and declined Sehun’s offer.

“I hope he spills it already.” Kai grumbled and jabbed his white plastic spoon into the yoghurt he snatched from Sehun.

“Heads up.” Chanyeol announced. Jongdae tilted his heard towards the left, “Here he comes.”

They looked towards the doors from where Lay entered and was walking towards them. Hana’s balled her hands into fists out of nervousness. All his steps felt painstakingly slow. When he finally reached the table he locked his gaze on the table, not looking at anything or anyone in particular.

“So…..what’s up?” Kyungsoo started after a few moments of silence. Hana shifted a little to make space despite there being enough for him to sit already. Baekhyun pulled him down by the arm making him sit.

“Guys I have something important to tell you.” The others waited for him to continue but he didn’t. Hana played with her hands.

“Could you hurry up a little? You’re scaring my sister.” Sehun pointedly said. Lay’s head snapped towards Sehun before his eyes landed on Hana and her hands. He took one of hers in his own and apologized.

“This morning after I came to school, the soccer team was called for a meeting. Coach said that there were a few changes in plans. According to what he was told, the games would start earlier than scheduled and instead of Busan, our first match will be in Daegu. Since the games will start earlier, we’ll be able to come back sooner and have more time to prepare for the finals.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? Why are you so sulky?” Chanyeol asked and the others nodded along as if asking the same question. Hana felt the grip on her hand tighten. She knew what the new arrangement meant.

“The games are starting early, which means we have to leave earlier too.” There was a beat of silence until Baekhyun asked.

“When do you leave?”

“Thursday.”

“That’s only two days from now…..” Kai trailed off. Hana felt a huge weight on her chest. She had prepared for his departure to be a week and a half later. She knew he’d leave but not this soon. Her hand tightened around his.

“Yeah, ok. That isn’t so bad right? We’ll get to get rid of you eleven days earlier than before.” Jongdae said loudly.

“Yeah! Besides, you’ll be back sooner too.” Kyungsoo supplied and glanced nervously towards Hana.

“Wow. An entire semester without your ugly face. Can’t wait!” Baekhyun chimed and Lay glared at him.

“Luhan is going to be so happy!”

“Excuse me?” Lay gave Sehun a questioning look.

“Well you have to understand that we ARE her brothers and Luhan is the older one so he is naturally more protective of her.”

“But I thought he liked me?”

“Oh he does like you. He just doesn’t like you when you’re around her that’s all.” At this Lay chuckled and Sehun laughed a little too. Hana felt a mix of emotions. She felt relived that it wasn’t she who had upset him. But she also felt a boulder settle on her lungs making it hard for her to breathe.

Since it was the start of a new semester, there was a meeting being held in the last period which meant all classes were dismissed. The moment Hana slipped out of her classroom to join the others in the school garden, she felt someone tug her wrist.

“Wow Hana! Long time no see!”

She hated to say that she recognized that voice. His was a face she wished she could wipe from her past.

“Look at you! Still as pretty as always I see.”  A year ago, coming face to face with this despicable person would have resulted in her shedding tears and not fighting back. But this wasn’t the Hana who would succumb anymore.

“Let go of my wrist.” She squirmed but he didn’t let go.

“Oh c’mon! This isn’t a way to greet your friend now is it?”

“We’re not friends Jaekyung.” she said and yanked her arm away.

“Oooh you got feistier.” 

She looked away. This person was the reason. He was the reason Yuri doesn’t trust her anymore. He is the selfish brat who vexed her best friend. But Hana couldn’t put the entire blame on him. Yuri was at fault too for believing him blindly. Moreover, Hana could never overlook the opportunity she had to explain things to her now ex best friend.

“Come on Hana! Talk to me at least I haven’t seen you in years.”

Hana looked away, trying her best to ignore him.

“Really? Are you going to be stubborn again?”

No response.

“You remember what happened the last time you ignored me right?” Her head whipped towards his and she gave him a glare. Of course she remembered.

“Did you and….Yuri? was she? Ever talk after that? I’m curious since you guys were best friends.”

Hana’s eyes hardened and the memories she hadn’t thought about for months resurfaced. This jerk. He ruined everything. While she glared at him with glassy eyes, he gave her a sly smile. Hana wanted to punch away the curl of his lips.

“Hana!” Lay called and her eyes widened as she found him making his way towards her class.

“Who’s that? Friend?”

She didn’t bother answering Jaekyung’s question. She was too busy panicking. She did not want Lay to meet him. Not yet at least.

“Don’t tell me, that soccer captain can’t be your boyfriend.” Jaekyung incredulously said and Hana continued to ignore him. Before Lay could come any closer, Hana bolted in his direction, away from Jaekyung.

“Hey, I was just coming to get you.” Lay met her halfway and smiled a little.

“Yeah, I figured I’ll come to you instead.” She gave him a small smile to hide her tension.

“Were you talking to Shin Jaekyung?” He asked peering behind her, “You know him?”

Hana didn’t know how to respond. She wanted to tell Lay about him, but they had more important issues to worry about right now.

“We were in the same middle school.” she replied and Lay hummed.

“I don’t like that guy.” Lay took her hand and walked away. Hana giggled but mentally agreed. She didn’t like him either.

“What’s the agenda?” she asked trying to change topics.

“Agenda, is that I can’t leave the building because if I do I’ll have to attend the early practice. And I don’t want to do that.”

“Wow, you just turned down soccer practice.”

“There are things I love more than soccer so I’d rather spend time with them instead.” He pulled her through the crowd but Hana could barely make sense of where they were going.

‘Things I love more than soccer.’

Did he just indirectly confess….or was she reading into it too much? Hana noticed the crowd thin and found herself in an empty class room with Lay closing the door. She turned around and found him looking troubled.

“You have things to say, don’t you?” she guessed and he gave her a bashful smile.

“Uh- yeah.”

He pulled out a chair and gestured her to sit. But instead of taking the seat she sat on the desk, having the seat act as a foot rest instead. Lay pulled out another seat and sat down in front of her.

“So what is it?” she asked taking his hand and he gripped hers.

“I’m sorry.”

Hana raised a brow, “What for?”

“I honestly didn’t expect to leave so soon. It’s just the stupid team and the coach and ugh GOD why can’t they just make up their minds?!” he shouted in exasperation and Hana brought her other hand to their interlocked ones.

“Hey it’s not your fault. You had to go anyways right? So you’re going sooner than expected but you’ll come back sooner too right?” She tried shedding some light to make the situation brighter.

“C’mon Hana you're saying you don’t feel upset about this at all?”

“No.” she shook her head, “Not that’s not what I’m saying. I’m upset and sad and a little angry too but what’s the point? At the end of the day you’ll still have to go. May it be a week later or two days later.”

“At least according to the old setting we could’ve celebrated my birthday together. I had so much to tell you…..” he trailed off. Hana wondered what he wanted to tell her.

“It’s ok. We can have a late celebration once you get back. You can tell me whatever it was then.” And maybe she’d be ready to tell him everything too. She tangled her fingers in his hair as she played with his bangs. He sighed at the touch and rested his forehead on her knee.

“I don’t want to go.”

Hana giggled, “You have to.”

He raised his head and stared at her, “Will you miss me?”

“Ummm….” She pretended to think and gave him a playful smile, “What do you think?”

Lay stood from his seat and sat down next to her on the desk, “I think that by the time I get back you’ll have collages of my photos stuck on your wall. Decorated with the hearts and unicorns and all.” he snickered and Hana huffed.

“I hate you.”

“But I still love you.” He said and draped his arm over her shoulder.

Did he just…..did she hear him right? Hana stared at his side profile for what felt like an eternity. Did he just say the L word?

“What?” he finally asked with pinked cheeks and Hana grew even more confused because she should be the one blushing.

“Did you just….”

“I was planning on saying that when we were gonna meet for my birthday, but since that plan went out the window, I thought I should say it while I can.” He looked back at her. Hana remained frozen. She should respond, she knows she should. But she couldn’t bring herself to. Yixing, the Chinese born dimpled soccer player that she had been falling deeper and deeper for just told her he loved her.

But did she love him too?

“You don’t have to say it. If you don’t mean it.” he said. His eyes looked less bright than they did before when he confessed. Hana wanted to see the same spark again, she knew how to bring it back, but did she have the guts to express herself just as bluntly as he did?

“I just thought you should know how deep I am before I left. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same wa- whoa!”

His collar was ruined by her grip and the back of his neck would probably burn later because of the impact but he didn’t care. For the first time it was Hana kissing him instead of the other way around.

“Idiot. You’re an idiot. Why did I have to fall in love with an idiot?”

He gaped at her for a while before a smile broke out.

“Well it looks like you’re going to have a lot of coping to do.”

“If it’s you then I don’t really care.”

He pulled her in this time and they shared the last of the few moments they had left before his departure. Two days time and then he’ll leave. Feelings had been confessed but secrets remained hidden. But Hana had made her resolve. The day of their final match, after the games, she’ll tell him.

-

hi  :3