"Class dismissed." Kyungmi's science teacher collected his books and left the classroom, leaving the students to wait for their next teacher. Kyungmi stared out the window toward the other school building. Lu Han was having a methods class over there right now. She puffed out her cheeks cutely, worrying over her boyfriend. He seemed so tired this morning, he had dark circles that were almost as deep as Tao's. And even though she had to admit a panda like Lu Han was adorable, she knew he wasn't in the best condition, and it made her worry to no end. Since Lu Han had got married to Nayoung— Kyungmi cringed at the thought— he seemed tired every day. But what had actually happened to make him look so dead? 

The girl was taken from her thoughts when her ears recognised a familiar voice, "Minyoung-ah, did you see her this morning in the library? She was in such a rush." 
"You know how she told you to meet her yesterday during lunch, did you actually go?" 
Kyungmi turned toward the direction of their voices, realising it was Minyoung and her friends. 

"No, I didn't go." Minyoung laughed and a large smile pulled at her lips.
Her friends laughed along with her, "You should've come to the library this morning. She was panicking so much, hilarious." 
The girls laughed loudly again, "She totally deserves it."

Kyungmi couldn't help but cringe at their mocking laughter. That was quite harsh. She knew she should have said something, but no matter how she willed her feet to move, they wouldn't. She couldn't say anything. She couldn't bring herself to stand up for the person that had treated her like trash. She couldn't bring herself to help the person that had given her so much pain. And so, Kyungmi turned a blind eye and pretended she didn't hear anything at all.

~~~~

Lu Han laid his head in the table and let his eyes droop. He was so tired, the urge to sleep was so strong he couldn't even keep his eyes open properly. He groaned in annoyance when Chanyeol nudged him roughly.
"Lu han hyung, what happened? You look like a sleep deprived zombie." The elder male only mumbled an incoherent reply and dropped his head on the table again. 
His friends laughed goodheartedly, and patted him on the back. 

"There there hyung," the maknae ran a hand through his hyung's hair, the way a mother would to their child. This made the others at the table laugh again. 

"Shut up guys." Lu Han didn't even bother to lift his head up and only mumbled into his sleeve, waving an arm around to shoo his dongsaengs away. 
He let his mind trail off, his friends' conversations becoming distant murmurs. 

"Lu Han oppa.." Kyungmi hesitated for a moment, not sure if she should continue, "How's Nayoung doing?" 
At the mention of the said girl's name, Lu Han shot straight up. It was like all the tiredness just vanished, disappeared as soon as Kyungmi had uttered that sentence. He turned to his girlfriend with a raised eyebrow. Did Kyungmi just ask about Nayoung? And was that worry in her voice? He wasn't worried about the queenka, or even vaguely interested, it was more of the fact that Kyungmi was asking about Nayoung that caught his interest. Or so he told himself. 

"Why are you asking? Did something happen to her?" He turned to his girlfriend curiously, frowning when he noticed a slight tint of guilt in her eyes. 

"You know the group project we had to do? The one that due tomorrow? Well... I overheard a conversation between a few girls in my class today," she swallowed nervously, unsure if this was the right thing to do, "Nayoung's partner, Minyoung, she left all the work to Nayoung. I was just wondering if she seemed stressed out or anything." 

"Ahhhhh. So that's why." Lu Han nodded to himself, causing his friends to look at him strangely. Yeah they were definitely missing out a big chunk of information. He rested his head on his palm and explained, "She kept me up all night yesterday, it's probably because she was trying to finish the project." The deer shrugged boredly, trying to act as nonchalant as possible. But that was far from what he was feeling. He reminded himself that it was none of his concern, that he shouldn't care about Nayoung's troubles, but he could feel it. That tiny little twinge of guilt in his stomach. Maybe he shouldn't have yelled at her last night, maybe he should have been a little more understanding. 
 
Ugh. His emotions were starting to act up again. And what made it all the more confusing was that he didn't know why this was so. 

"Nahhh, I don't think she'll stay up so late for an assignment. She could just ask for an extension, or she could just snitch on Minyoung or whatever her name was," Sehun pointed out the fact, chewing slowly on his biscuit as he spoke. 

"It's just one assignment, I don't think it's that much if a big deal. She probably stayed up playing games or something," Tao nodded with a thoughtful gaze. 

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" Taemin joined the table and sat down, Kai right behind him. 

"Why are you guys here? I thought you had dance rehearsals or something." Chanyeol turned to face the two best friends, raising a questioning eyebrow. 

"Oh, it got cancelled," Kai waved a hand in a carefree manner.

"Minho's got soccer practice, Key and Jonghyun disappeared and Onew's sick, hope you don't mind if I intrude. So what are you discussing so seriously?" Taemin asked, laughing cheerfully with the rest of the EXO boys. 

"We were just wondering about Nayoung," Baekhyun turned his head back to the rest of the boys, "but seriously guys. It's just a project, no big deal. She's got perfect grades anyway, I really don't think Nayoung would work so hard just for one project."  

He was quickly cut off by Taemin, "She would though." The group all turned to him, wondering what he meant. Lu Han noted that most of his friends seemed surprised, they probably didn't know Taemin and Nayoung were close. The male was about to continue, to explain his reasons to his stupefied friends, but stopped halfway. It seemed like he had realised it was personal information that shouldn't be disclosed.  

"Oh right! You know Nayoung pretty well right?" Kai asked his hyung. 

The mood changed and everyone besides Kai stared blankly at the dance machines. They tried their best not to look too surprised. They couldn't get their mind around why someone like Taemin was friends with the bratty queenka. She was such bad company, none of them could think of a reason anyone would want to be with her. 

Taemin nodded proudly, "I know her better than she knows herself." 

Lu Han turned his attention to the SHINee member, resisting the urge to raise his eyebrows suspiciously. The way he spoke made it seem like he knew Nayoung like the back of his hand. He was so confident in what he said, like he had known her for years. He felt a spark of curiosity nagging in the back of his mind. How close were those two? How long had they known each other? However, there was a question that was hanging on his tongue, it took almost every ounce of his will power to keep himself silent. What was their relationship? Childhood friends? Or more? He found himself a little bit of reassurance in the fact that Taemin had a girlfriend, but there was still that little seed of doubt lingering in his mind. 

Lu Han realised that once again, he was asking himself why he cared. Why was he so curious about this girl's life? When he tried searching for an answer, he couldn't find one. Was it because it seemed like she had two personalities? Was it because they way she acted toward Taemin was so different than to everyone else? Just why was he curious? He didn't know, he simply was. 

"Well guys I'm gonna go, enjoy your apple," Taemin left with a careless wave of his hand, pointing to Xiumin's apple before he left.

"See ya hyung!" Kai called with a happy wave before they lost sight of the male completely. 

______

Nayoung was bent over her essay when she felt a presence to her left. She didn't have the energy to look up to see who it was, nor did she even bother. The girl was so utterly exhausted that she could barely lift her head. Her eyes kept drooping, mind shifting in and out of consciousness each time she blinked. She would drift into sleep, and then suddenly open her eyes to realise that she was at school, a four page essay still patiently waiting to be edited on the table. 

"Aish.." Her voice came out in a croaky whisper, and she had to rub her head a few times to get rid of a migraine that was already blooming in her mind. Nayoung couldn't remember the last time she had been this drained. She wasn't even sure if she even experienced something as exhausting as this in her life.

It seemed like such a insignificant reason to get worked up over. It was just one little project right? Wrong. Nayoung always handed her work in on time, and she always got full marks. For 5 years, she had a perfect record. From middle school all the way to high school, everything handed in on time, always. She would not let this taint her perfect score. She knew it seemed trivial, it wasn't like it would make that much of a difference, but it was a big deal for her. A very. Big. Deal. She didn't know why perfect grades was such a high priority for her, all she knew was that it was very important. 

The figure that had sat himself beside her, Lee Taemin, snatched the stack of paper off the table, "What's this? An essay?"The girl nodded sleepily, not even having enough energy to turn to look at him. Taemin noted the dark circles under her eyes with a frown. This was not healthy for such a young girl. 
"Have you been sleeping lately?"

"Mhmm."

 "What's this project about? How come you're doing it now?"

There was a sleepy nod.

"When's it due? Do you know that sleep deprivation can stunt your growth?" 

"Mhmm." 

Taemin gave her a long lecture, eyes travelling along the many words on the page, "okay so here, you need to find a better word for 'large'. You've been using the same words throughout the whole piece, expand your vocabulary..." 
Taemin trailed off slowly when he heard a yawn. 

"Are you even listening?" 

"Mhmm." 

"Lu Han and Kyungmi make a good couple huh?" 

"Mhmm." 

The male sighed at Nayoung when her head dropped onto his shoulder. She definitely wasn't listening, at all. The girl wasn't even responding when he said 'Lu Han'. She usually shot straight up with wide eyes as soon as the words 'Lu' left his lips. Taemin shook his head disapprovingly and began to read through her work, a red pen in his hand to fix errors and to write notes. He looked over to the weight on his shoulder, a gentle smile spreading on his lips. She was so hopeless. 

Aigoo.This idiot.

________

"Yah, look over there. What the hell? I thought Nayoung liked Lu Han. Why's she all over Taemin now?" 
Lu Han's ears perked up at the sound of his name. He turned to look in the direction everyone was pointing to. Nayoung was resting on Taemin's shoulder as the male was doing her work for her. His face twisted into a deep frown, and he found himself eavesdropping once again on the gossip from around him. 
He inched closer to a pair of girl's that were visibly sneering in that direction, "What the hell? Why is he doing her work for her?" 

There was a pause, and the other girl continued, "Did she bribe him? Why is Taemin doing this for her, ew, he deserves so much better."  

Lu Han's eyes travelled around the cafeteria until he spotted the duo. They looked extremely close, too close for being just friends. They looked so 'couple-y', so comfortable. From the way he saw it, they were either 'together', or childhood friends. He hoped it was the latter, but by the way it looked from where he was sitting.. Ugh. He didn't want to think about it. He wasn't jealous or anything, Lu Han told himself, it was just the thought that Taemin already had a girlfriend, and Nayoung was his 'wife' (He cringed at the thought) that was affecting him. What were people going to think? 

~~~~

Lu Han flopped on his bed, his perfect bed sheets scrunching up under his weight. He was so bored. He placed his rubix cube on his bedside table. He had probably solved it around twenty times by now. What was Nayoung doing with his laptop? He should've been online chatting to his friends and playing League of Legends by now. But because of that thoughtless, careless, clumsy, idiot, he was just lying here, bored out of his wits, with nothing to do. 

After another half hour or so of complete boredom, the baby faced male finally decided to get his laptop back. He didn't care anymore. So what if she was doing her homework? She could have done it on her own laptop. He made up his decision. He was going to get his damn laptop back. 

Lu Han barged into her room with a loud shout, "Yah Nayou-" his words trailed off into a dumbfounded silence when he took in the scene before him. The girl was asleep on her desk. Her hands were still lying on the keyboard of his laptop, head resting on her arm. Lu Han had come into her room determined to get his laptop back, but now, he wasn't so sure anymore. Yet again, Kang Nayoung had amazed him. He wondered how a girl so fierce, so selfish, so cold, a girl so bratty, could look so innocent and frail when asleep. The frown that seemed permanently plastered on her face was gone, her features gentle and soft, not at all like her usual fierce self. 

Lu Han slowly crept into her room, being careful not to make a sound. He checked over her shoulder and examined the pages scattered on her desk. And suddenly everything made so much more sense. He recognised the folded up blue coloured piece of paper on the edge of the table. Kyungmi had told him about a couple of weeks back. It was that paired assignment task she was talking about. His eyes travelled to the stack of paper to Nayoung's right.  There were red notes and scribbles all over her work, and Lu Han immediately recognised Taemin's handwriting. 

A wave of realisation swept over him, so he wasn't doing the assignment for her, he was only helping her edit the essay. The male slapped his forehead, cursing himself for being such an idiot. He was so stupid, making all these assumptions for no reason. There was a hint of guilt, and Lu Han was overcome with this sudden urge to help the poor girl. Now that he was actually close enough to her, he could finally see the dark circles, and lines of stress and exhaustion on her face. It made it seem she had aged five years in three nights. He should help her, to make up for being so harsh on her. Lu Han gently slid the laptop from under her, making sure she wouldn't wake up. He took the papers in his left hand, while balancing the laptop on his right. 

As he went through her work, he began to grow angry. He hadn't even gotten through halfway, but he was already furious. This assignment required so much detail and research. How could someone just dump all this work on her two days before the assignment was due?! Nayoung probably had no sleep while trying to get it all done on time. He would strangle those girls if he could. But then again, he had no right to talk. He had been one of those many people that had criticised her, that had judged her with a closed heart. He had blamed her for keeping him awake, told her to shut up, yelled at her, sneered at her, when all this time all Nayoung wanted to do was get her work done. 

Lu Han quickly printed off the sheets of paper, edited, corrected and free from errors. He had made sure to triple check every detail, he wanted it to be perfect. The male didn't even know why he was putting in so much effort, he was never even this careful to his own work, let alone someone else's. He placed the neatly stack papers on the side of her desk, feeling a smile tug at his lips at the sleeping figure before him. His eyes softened at the sight. She was like a small child, so innocent and pure when asleep. 

She almost seemed angel like. It was like a completely different person altogether. That was something he had noticed in the past few weeks, Nayoung seemed to have so many different colours to her. There was her usual self, the snobby little brat, and it annoyed him to no end. But then there were those rare moments that always caught his eye. Those little flashes of happiness in her eyes that almost seemed non existent. Those moments when she'd let her guard down, thinking no one was watching. Those moments when she wasn't Kang Nayoung the queenka, but Kang Nayoung, a delicate fragile girl. And it was because of those moments that Lu Han just couldn't hate her. 

Lu Han grabbed a blanket from her bed, draping it over her shoulders as the girl slept. His hands automatically came up to her face, hands brushing away a few stray strands of hair behind her ear.  The movement was so natural, he had done it before he even realised it. 

He chuckled softly, "Goodnight." 

And with a gentle click of the door handle, Lu Han disappeared from the room.

____________

Chapter 7 is up! *throws confetti*

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