"As you all know, it is compulsory for all students to participate in community service. Over the course of this next term, everyone will be required to volunteer in one of the organisations on this list," Lu Han's Homeroom teacher pointed to the sheet of paper that was being handed around the class, "the groups, dates, and location have been decided for you already, and they have already been put up on the school notice board. As this is involves the whole school, there will be a mix of first, second, and third year students. Most importantly, there will be no swaps or changes." The teacher eyed the class, stopping on Lu Han, Xiumin and Suho, "Are we clear?" She raised an eyebrow at them, specifically targeting her three good looking students. 

"Y-yes miss." They nodded nervously, feeling like tiny mice under her intimidating gaze. The class broke out into murmurs if discontent and anger whispers. Lu Han heard one of the female students behind him whisper to her friend. 

"That so not fair, what if I'm in a group with people I don't even know. Or in a group with Nayoung or her little posse? That would so much." 

He rolled his eyes, feeling spark of annoyance. Why did everyone hate the girl so much? She wasn't that bad. 

As soon as the bell rang, Lu Han made his way to the corridors, but a large crowd had already gathered in the hallways by the time Lu Han had gotten there. There was a whole lot of noise accompanied with the overly energetic students as well. The male was unwillingly dragged into the commotion by a few students behind him as they rushed toward the crowd, trying to find out which group they were in, and more importantly, who they were with. 

He waited until the crowd had subsided a bit, then waded his way through. He found his name under the column titled 'Group 5'. They would be going on the fifth week of term. He bit his lip slightly. Group 5 was assigned to the children's day care centre a few blocks away from the school, but he at taking care of kids. The male sighed, what if he ended up making them cry? 

Lu Han quickly scanned through the list of names to see who he was with. A few names here and there jumped out at him, he wrinkled his nose in distaste when he read the characters 'Lee Minyoung'. She was a nice girl, but he didn't like her, not after what happened with Nayoung anyway. His eyes stopped on a name, and he felt a giddy grin grown on his features.

Lee. Kyung. Mi. 

Yes.

He didn't know who organised the roster, but he was eternally grateful. Lu Han did a mini fist pump,expressing his excitement with physical actions. This was so awesome he couldn't explain it. It had been so long since they'd had any time together. His eyes flew past the rest of the list, hoping that none of his friends would be there to block him. 

His happiness was short lived. 

Three characters made the smile on his face falter. The last name on the list stood out like bolded words. Kang NaYoung. He sighed, the disappointment dragging down on his shoulders like a dead weight. Whelp, there was his chance, gone with the wind. Lu Han felt a shiver run up his spine at the thought of Kyungmi and Nayoung together. What if they started fighting? But then again, he had a feeling Nayoung would be the one verbally abusing, while Kyungmi just silently took it in. The thought made him cringe. He was finally getting on well with the queenka as well. This would not work out at all.

~~~~

"Yah, did you see? They crossed Nayoung's name off of on the list." 

"What list?" 

"Y'know, the volunteering thing? They crossed Nayoung's name off. Apparently she wanted to change to another group."

"They let her swap? They didn't anyone else do it. That's so not fair."

"Geez, just because she's the daughter of the Kang's. What a snob, taking advantage of her position." 

"I know right?" 

Lu Han sent an angry glare at the gossiping girls as he walked past. Tch. What did they know? It was only halfway through the day and gossip about the queenka was flying around already. He was seriously so sick of it. Half the time it was just a load of crap. Curiosity got the better of him though, and the male made his way to the bulletin board again. He checked the list again, and frowned when he noticed the thick black line running across her name. So there was some truth behind those girls' words. 

He saw messy black writing on one of the other groups, and recognised it as Nayoung's name. Did that mean she wasn't going to be with them when they went to the day care centre? He felt a wave of relief wash over him, that meant no drama between the two girls. It was just him and Kyungmi, no one to ruin it or make a big mess out of it. But even so, a part of him was slightly disappointed by the fact that Nayoung wasn't going to be there. He was kind of curious of her reaction to kids. He wasn't sure why, but he couldn't be wholeheartedly happy with the news. 

He shook the feeling off and went off in search of his friends, wanting to know what groups they were assigned to. He found the bunch of boisterous guys in the cafeteria, as usual.

"Hey hyung! Where are you volunteering?" Lay asked as soon as he caught sight of the deer. 

"At the day care centre," he sighed and sat down on the bench.

His eyebrow twitched in annoyance when Kai laughed, "You? With kids? You've got to be kidding." 

Chen laughed, "But Jongin, you're on garbage duty with me and Baekhyun. So you shouldn't be laughing." 

"Wow, I feel sorry for you guys. We're all at the orphanage." Kris threw his arms around D.O, Sehun and Tao. 

"I think Nayoung's going to be on garbage duty with you Jongdae, you're doing in the third week right? She was just moved to that group." Xiumin rested his face in his palms, elbows propped up on the table. 

"She's probably going to be grossed out by the rubbish and make other people do it." 

Lu Han nodded, he had to agree with the baozi there. Every time Nayoung was on 'kitchen cleaning duty' he would always hear her squeal about how gross everything was. It was kind of funny actually, that is, until she got mad at him for laughing and decided to throw a mouldy banana at him. Tao patted Chen on the back, "You're in for quite a bit of trouble." 

"Hey guys, where's Kyungmi?" He asked the group of 11 guys, noticing that his girlfriend wasn't among them. 

"I was waiting for you to ask that," Chanyeol chuckled, "I think she was caught up in the library. Something about a history assignment." 

"Ahh, okay. Lu Han nodded and went back to eating his lunch. 

~~~~

"Kyungmi!" The said girl lifted her head at the sound of her name. She met eyes with Lu Han, and smile spread across her features. 

"Lu Han oppa." 

When the male reached her he pouted, "That was such an unenthusiastic response. I haven't you all day, and all I get is this very bland 'Lu Han oppa'?" 

She blushed in embarrassment, "N-No, I'm just kind if t-tired, that's all." More blood rushed to her cheeks when she realised she was stammering. 

Lu Han smiled, it was cute when she was flustered. "Come on, I'll walk you home." He grabbed her hand before she could protest and pulled her along.

"It's fine, I can walk myself, your house is in the opposite direction."

"But I insist." He turned left as they left the school gates, walking in the direction of her house.

"But I don't want to waste your time." Kyungmi tried to turn him the other way. 

Lu Han only pushed forward, rendering her efforts completely futile, "Kyungmi, let me be a good boyfriend would you? Geez, I feel like you're rejecting me," he pouted, pretending to be sad, "First it was that unenthusiastic greeting, and now you won't even let me walk you home? Don't you like my company anymore?" 

"Nonono I just thought you might be busy and should go home early to get your work done I didn't mean it that way really oppa I'm really glad you're walking me home." Shook her head furiously, words flying out of in one long breath. Lu Han sighed with a smile, she never really got the hang of jokes very well, but she was still cute nonetheless.

He flicked her forehead, "I'm just kidding." 

"Oh.." 

The two lapsed into a slightly awkward silence. 

Lu Han let his thoughts wonder, he had to plan out what he was going to do when he got home. The male readjusted the weight of his bag on his back, damn his maths textbook was heavy. 

First, he'd find out why Nayoung swapped groups. He was pretty sure the girl adored kids, she was always going on about how cute they were all the time. And with that stubborn nature, something like Kyungmi being there wouldn't have made a difference. Heck, she'd usually take the chance to cling to him. So why did she move? The question had been bugging him since he saw her name crossed off his group, and moved to Chen's. 

After that he'd get going with his maths homework. Lu Han's eyebrows knitted together in a frown. He kind of regretted procrastinating so much now. The male had left it up to the last minute, and now had to cram everything in one night. Oh well, there was no use worrying about it now. He habitually reached out to grab Kyungmi's hand, swinging their interlocked arms back and forth as the two walked. 

__________

Nayoung sighed as she collapsed on the couch, arms crossed and a permanent frown on her face. She glared at the air, "Aishhh..." 

This isn't fair. 

The girl pouted and angrily blew her fringe away from her eyes. It really wasn't fair. Why was she stuck on garbage duty now? She wasn't allowed to volunteer at the daycare centre, so the teachers had transferred her to another group. Nayoung was fine with that, slightly disappointed, but she could deal. But the. She found out where she was assigned to. The girl was expecting something like a nursing home, or the dog shelter, but no. She was stuck with garbage duty. 'Contributing to the sustainability of the environment' as the teachers liked to call it. Nayoung didn't even understand why they had to change her group. Just because she had already been to the daycare centre before didn't make a difference. So what? Did they really have to go as far as to take her out of the group? 'We're letting you broaden your perspective.' They said. 'Exoerience new things'. They said. What a load of crap. 

But honestly, even though she was bothered by it, a small part of her was kind of glad. At least she didn't have to see Kyungmi and Lu Han together. That was a plus. If she were in there, she'd just end biting someone's head off. Just thinking about made her sick. Who wanted to watch them be all lovey dovey? Acting like a gross couple with too much PDA. Ew. No thanks. She'd rather stick pins in her eyes. 

She groaned and flailed her arms and legs, trying to release some of her frustration. Where the hell was Lu Han anyway? Why wasn't he home? He said he'd help her with her science homework today. Pfft. What a liar. He wasn't even home. She stared despairingly at her phone, he hadn't even picked up any of her calls. 

Nayoung bit her lip, he was probably with Kyungmi. Again. There was a spark of anger mixed with her annoyance, but she willed herself to ignore it. The girl sighed, it was always Kyungmi, everything was always her. And she was just the other girl. Second place. The girl tended to always get upset when she was at home alone. Her thoughts would always wonder, and somehow she'd find herself doubting herself, unsure of herself, loosing confidence in herself. It was a habit she was trying to get rid of. Nayoung shook her head to dispel her thoughts, willing herself to ignore the subtle cold emptiness in her chest.

"He better be home soon." 

~~~~

Lu Han came home late in the evening. The male hadn't even noticed that it took so long himself. But as soon as he got home he was greeted by a less than content Nayoung. 

"Yah, where were you?" She glared at him with sharp eyes, intimidating and authoritative despite being so small. 

"I was just walking home." He rubbed the back of his neck, already knowing how this was going to end. 

"It doesn't take that long to walk home, you were with Kyungmi weren't you?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him to hide the disbelief and anger she was feeling. Lu Han closed his eyes for a brief moment to escape her piercing gaze. He didn't want to reply because he just knew she was going to get upset again. 

"Yah Lu Han, answer me." Nayoung didn't even bother to use honorifics, continuing with the unnecessary interrogation.   

"Hey Nayoung, let's just drop it okay?" The male tried to steer the subject off. He didn't want her to be mad. 

"No, I won't drop it. Tell me where you were." The tension between the two was so thick, palpable enough to slice through with a knife. 

Despite Lu Han trying to stay calm, frustration was bubbling inside of him, "Look, I'm sorry okay? So can we just forget it?" 

Something shifted in Nayoung's eyes. Anger? Or was it something else? He didn't quite catch it, but he knew she was really pissed now. "You're sorry? Don't lie. You're not god damn sorry." Nayoung wasn't even sure why she was so hurt and angry. It wasn't like this was a new thing. Lu Han always did this. Maybe it was just all the stress that had built up from the past week, or maybe she was just naturally a drama queen, but Nayoung couldn't stop her voice from rising. She couldn't stop the negative emotions from flooding her thoughts. 

Lu Han sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He hated this, having this conversation every time he came back after hanging out with Kyungmi. "Nayoung, let's drop it okay? Please? I really hate having arguments with you." 

"I'll drop it when you stop seeing her."  

"I don't understand your motives Nayoung. I don't get it, why do you hate her so much?" 

Nayoung clenched her fists, he always asked that same question over and over again. She turned her head away, breaking eye contact with the deer. The girl left him, trudging up the stairs in a heavy silence. She could hear his distant voice behind her and she bit her lip, clenching a fist to control her emotions. His voice was sharp, laced with annoyed frustration. 

"She's my girlfriend, I'm allowed to hang out with her. You have no right to be angry." There was a moment of silence as he collected his thoughts. When he spoke again his voice was calm, serious. 

"Why do you hate it so much?" 

Nayoung completely ignored him, slamming the door to her room loudly as soon as she got there. 

Because it freaking hurts. . 

______________

Hello my lovely readers <3 we're up to chapter 19 already woah XD I hadn't even notice. Now that I think about it, this story is quite slow paced. hehehe. Sorry if it's boring or anything, I just personally prefer stories that have slow development in romance because I feel that it gives more time for character development, and you can understand their thoughts and feelings better. Not sure about you guys though C: 

Thankyou for subscribing, upvoting, commenting. I'll be back next week for chapter 20. I love you all