Minseok yawned for the umpteenth time, trying to focus on the thick stack of notes in front of him. “This is impossible,” he muttered with a sigh.

“Giving up without even starting?” The scholar felt warm arms circle around his neck. He smiled weakly and shook his head, feeling the weariness slip away from his shoulders.

Luhan kissed the top of his head and rested his chin on his hair. “It’s not impossible, you know that yourself.”

Minseok nodded slowly. “Yeah…” He spun around and buried his face in his boyfriend’s sleep shirt. “I feel like having a talk with my Prince. I miss him.”

Luhan seemed to have frozen on the spot, his hands going from his hair to turning stiff as stone. Minseok pulled away slightly and threw the professor a questioning look. “What?”

“Uhh…” Luhan swallowed and gestured vaguely towards the door. “Baekhyun and Jongdae aren’t… exactly… on g-good terms now so… well…”

“So I should not disturb them now?” Minseok finished. Luhan nodded excitedly, wiping his forehead in almost-relief. “Okay.”

Luhan started to his hair again, with lighter, dancing fingertips. He started to babble again, about the barista competition, about what he planned to wear on that day, among other random things.

Minseok relaxed in his boyfriend’s hold, but let his smile slip as a tinge of uneasiness spiked his gut.

Luhan is lying. There is no way I am falling for that.

Now if only there is a way to find out what exactly is going on…

-

The streets were bustling due to the office crowd heading for lunch. It made Jongdae feel a little claustrophobic, but it wasn’t a new feeling. The 21^st century generally felt so much more… Crowded than the 10^th century. He couldn’t quite understand how. Are people just more fertile here, or something?

It had been a hard decision, but with Yifan’s constant encouragement, Jongdae decided to pay an unexpected visit to Minseok and Luhan. He wasn’t sure if any of them knew about his and Baekhyun’s situation, and he sure didn’t want them to worry about him. But he really missed Minseok, after not seeing him for seemed like eternity.

He scanned the roads, and caught sight of a familiar diner in front of him. Of course, I am back here again. He wistfully recalled the day when Yifan, Luhan and himself set Baekhyun up with Jongin.

If only I knew what would happen back then, he thought with a faint scowl.

The crossing light started flashing. With a start, Jongdae hurried across the pedestrian crossing, chiding himself for once again forgetting to check the lights.

In his haste, his arm accidentally knocked into someone who was walking beside him. Jongdae mumbled an apology and bowed quickly, trying to scoot out of the way. However, he was stopped when an arm reached out to grab him.

“Jongdae?”

Jongdae felt an ominous twist in his gut as he glanced up, taking in the sight of the taller man who was looking back at him hesitantly.

Jongin looked incredibly awkward, pursing his lips into a small line. He seemed almost as nervous as Jongdae himself.

And Jongdae’s stomach lurched when another smaller figure slipped up to them, asking in a concerned tone, “Jongin, what’s wrong?”

Baekhyun.

-

Jongdae.

Jongin is holding on to Jongdae.

What?!

Baekhyun felt his eyes widen into saucers and his jaw drop loose. Of all possible places, Jongdae appears on a busy street, in front of Jongin?

That was when it struck him. He was out with Jongin, the two of them, and Jongdae had just seen them together.

Talk about coincidences. The worst possible coincidence in what could probably be his entire life.

But Baekhyun realised that a tad too late, because Jongdae had already pried his arm out of Jongin’s grip and had taken off in the opposite direction.

!!

Ignoring Jongin’s alarmed shout, Baekhyun started to chase Jongdae through the crowd. He knew the younger wasn’t a fast runner, but Jongdae was definitely smaller and thus able to manoeuvre the crowds better than himself.

After a good five minutes of running, a familiar figure entered his vision. Jongdae was leaning against a wall, panting wildly and frantically scouring the streets. His eyes widened when he noticed Baekhyun, and he scrambled to run away. However, Baekhyun was faster.

“Jongdae!” He managed to grab the younger’s wrist and pull him towards himself. Jongdae, utterly exhausted from the intense running, couldn’t bring himself to break free anymore. Baekhyun tugged insistently on his hand until Jongdae reluctantly faced him.

“Jongdae will you listen to-” He was cut off by the other shaking his head slowly. “But why not, Jongdae?”

“What have I done wrong? I just want to talk to you, but you keep on-”

“That’s what’s wrong!” Jongdae yelled, catching Baekhyun by surprise. “You do not even know where you went wrong!”

“But I-”

Jongdae had already freed his arm and started walking away.

Feeling the anger and frustration of being wronged building up in his chest, Baekhyun broke into a run and grabbed Jongdae’s shoulders roughly. The Prince squeaked in surprise as his body jerked backward from the force, and Baekhyun used the momentum to spin him around fiercely.

“Baekhyun what are you…”

Before he could finish his question, Baekhyun stepped forward until their chests collided, and mashed their lips together.

He didn’t know what came over him. Maybe it was the need to prove to Jongdae that he was being sincere, or the pure desperation to instil some understanding of his situation into Jongdae.

Jongdae shifted uncomfortably, raising his hands to bat at Baekhyun’s sides uselessly. He was completely powerless against the death grip that the older had on his upper arms. Eventually, he gave up and slumped tiredly against Baekhyun, causing him to stumble back alittle.

Baekhyun wrapped his arms around Jongdae, deepening the kiss. It was nothing like the one they shared by the railing overlooking the canal that night, this was more demanding and filled with pent-up emotion. The kiss was fierce, rough, bruising. 

Baekhyun had many a time imagined kissing Jongdae like this. But this was absolutely, completely wrong on so many levels.

Jongdae was the first to pull away. There were teardrops glistening at the tips of his eyelashes, and his lips were red and trembling. Baekhyun took a step, swallowing hard. Jongdae shook his head again, visibly shaken.

“Baekhyun, please do not do that again.”

Baekhyun felt a sting in his heart, like he was shot. “W-what?”

“Do not simply kiss people just like that.”

And he was gone.

The onlookers who had witnessed their exchange had all left, one by one.

Only Baekhyun himself remained, staring dully at the direction from which the other had left. He couldn’t bring himself to move, to pick himself up from where he had been hurled to the ground and shattered into a million pieces.

What have I done…

Why do I keep making things worse for us?

He felt a presence beside him, and warm hands began to massage his arm gently.

“Baekhyun. Baekhyun, let’s go.” Jongin muttered, his quiet voice piercing through the air like cut glass.

Baekhyun heaved a shuddering breath, and allowed himself to be led away by Jongin.

-

Chanyeol buried his face in his hands with a deep sigh.

Sehun sat cross-legged beside him, rubbing his back comfortingly.

“It’s not that bad, babe. It wasn’t as bad as the one from 2 months ago-”

Chanyeol cut him off with an exasperated whine. “But that’s 2 months ago! My finals are coming, and yet I still perform like this…” He crumpled his test sheet and flung it to the ground weakly. “I don’t know what to do anymore…”

Sehun bit his lip nervously. He had never seen Chanyeol like this before, and it honestly scared him. Another overwhelming surge of guilt flooded him as he remembered what he actually came over for.

Given the state of Chanyeol currently, Sehun didn’t want to break the news to him, but he really had no choice.

“Chanyeol… actually I…” When the other didn’t respond whatsoever, he furrowed his brow and took a shaky breath. “I’ve been chosen to go on an exchange program for 2 weeks…”

The medical student didn’t even flinch. “Okay,” he mumbled into his palm.

Sehun wrapped him in a tight hug, swallowing his guilt when he felt the other’s stiff muscles against his chest.

“I’ll be back before you know it, okay?”

Chanyeol sighed deeply. “Okay.” He twisted in Sehun’s embrace and returned the hug, somewhat weakly. “I’ll be fine.”

The younger male somehow didn’t feel convinced by his words. Knowing Park Chanyeol, he would probably put a lot of other things before himself. Like his grades, his boyfriend and his roommate Byun Baekhyun.

“Promise me you’ll take care of yourself?” Sehun raised his pinky and nudged Chanyeol in the arm with it.

 The medical student grunted alittle and hooked their fingers together. “I’ll survive.”

Sehun was already starting to regret about this trip.

--

The lecture hall emptied slowly, students filing out of the doors one by one. The lights were dimmed, whiteboard cleaned, projector turned off.

“Don’t leave too late!” Kyuhyun waved with a cheerful smile. “Goodnight!”

Yixing returned his coursemate a grin and a playful salute. He leant back, folding his arms behind his head and waited for the echo of the closing door to fade away before tilting his head to his left.

“You’re not still angry with me, are you?”

Baekhyun barely lifted his head off the desk.

Yixing reached over and poked his best friend with a pen, eliciting a disgruntled whine from the other.

“You’re not, are you? For standing you up during lunch that day-”

“No, for goodness sake!” Baekhyun finally mustered enough strength to flip his head up and grab Yixing’s annoying pen. “That was ages ago…”

“Then what’s wrong?” Yixing mentally heaved a sigh of relief, as his greatest fear at that moment was Baekhyun hating his guts, and it seemed like that wasn’t the case. Thankfully.

But not to his relief, Baekhyun was now slowly, lifelessly disassembling his pen and scattering the innocent parts on the carpeted lecture hall floor.

“You okay?” Obviously not, but something told Yixing to tread carefully around Baekhyun for now.

The other made a vague noise. “Personal matters.”

“…Boyfriend matters?”

Baekhyun whimpered softly. “Don’t… mention… boyfriend… to me…”

Yixing twisted his head towards his best friend incredulously. “Are you crying?”

“No!” Baekhyun sat up with a huff, directing a very strong gaze upwards while blinking vigorously.

Yixing shook his head slowly. “What’s up with miserable love lives nowadays? I encountered one the other day in the music room…” He started shoving his worksheets into his bag and got up, failing to see the other male glancing sharply at him. “Grumbling about some stubborn man that he’s absolutely smitten with. Really, people these days. Must be the hot weather…”

He gestured at the pen parts on the floor. “Take that as a kind sacrifice from me for the sake of your misery. See you tomorrow!”

Yixing left with a faint smile, slinging his bag over his shoulder. Rounding the bend, he stopped to glance at his watch quickly. 5:45PM… There’s still time to pop by the music room for a short piano session.

The corridor was dimly lit, as usual. Music students seem to be really underusing their facilities, Yixing thought absent-mindedly as he padded up a flight a stairs towards his usual music room. If I were a music student, I’d be here until nightfall.

He arrived at the music studio, and pressed a palm against the door to push it open. However, a sound resonating from inside made the history student halt in his footsteps.

Someone was inside – so he's not alone today.

Yixing’s hand clenched into a fist.

That someone is crying.

Hello I'm back ^^

Ouch, sorry for the long absence. Well just a heads up, I might not be continuing my other fics, due to various reasons (like writers block, among others). I'll still do this one though :) I've had a special bond with this fic the moment i started writing it, so I don;t think I can just quit it like that :)

I'm in the midst of my exams now, just posting this as I've written it some time back. 

Congrats to EXO for winning their 3rd triple crown for CMB! :D:D woooo~ 

On a slightly sadder note, I am really sad that Tao is leaving. I understand his situation though, after all his dad wanted him to leave and I know he's a good son, so he'll leave. I've heard about all those articles of Tao getting injured numerous times and with the lack of proper recovery time between each injury, they just accumulate and leave him physically weaker and weaker wih each comeback. I'm really upset with SM about this - why can't Tao recuperate properly, why must he do all that flips and difficult dance moves? 

I don't really know who to blame right now. Is it Tao's dad's fault for driving Tao to a corner? Is it SM's fault for driving Tao's dad to a corner? Is it Tao's fault for not being more careful and also not being more firm about his stand? Could it even be us EXO-Ls fault for putting such high expectations on Tao?? Maybe it's not time to point fingers. At this point, I'm ready to face any decision. Tao is probably going to leave, that's 99% confirmed. I support his decision, becaue as an EXO-L, I can feel his love for EXO and I know he doesn't want to leave his brothers. No one wants him to go, we all love him, but some things can't be overcome with just EXO-L love alone :(

Sorry for talking so much gosh. It's just all this news always makes me very uneasy. I guess SM's plan of a twin K and M group has proved to be a failure. It was perfect when it lasted, and it seemed like a genius idea while it lasted, but...

Okay really I should stop talking and go to bed. Bye ^^

Whether 12, 11, 10 or 9, I will always support EXO <3