Sixth Voice

A day ago,

“Hyung, what’re you doing here?” Baekhyun casts a peculiar gaze at the elder. He’s quite flustered when Lu Han suddenly shows up at his class.

Before Lu Han could reply, Jongdae adds in puzzlement, “Ah, hyung! What brings you here? We’re shocked to see you appear at our class all of a sudden.”

“Of course because I want to meet my lovely dongsaengs,” Lu Han chirps happily, ruffling their hair wholeheartedly. “Are you going to cafeteria, aren’t you?”

The two best friends nod. “Yeah, we’re going to cafeteria, hyung,” answers Jongdae leisurely.

“Then let’s go together!” the elder says and grabs Baekhyun’s arm only to follow his lead. Although they are bowled over of the unexpected situation, they merely tag along after their senior.

Reaching the cafeteria which is packed with students to please their growling stomachs, Lu Han simply asks the two sophomores to pick a table while he’d buy food for three of them.

“Hyung, these are too much!” Jongdae’s jaw drops in surprise as there are a lot of food that the elder has just bought just now. He wonders if they can finish them up or not.

“Don’t worry, Jongdae-ah,” he responds, smiling widely. “I’m treating you two today!”

Baekhyun, on the other hand, purses his lips as he eyes Lu Han fervently. “Something’s fishy here…”

Casually, Lu Han picks up a particular drink and takes a small sip of it. “Fishy? What do you mean, Baekhyun-ah?”

“This hyung must have had another agenda to do with us so that’s why he’s kind enough to treat us!”

Lu Han lets out a chuckle. “Agenda? I don’t have one, Baekhyun-ah,” he says and looks at the younger earnestly. “I just want to treat both of you, though.”

“Just eat, Baekhyun-ah!” Jongdae snaps. “Lu Han-hyung’s too kind to treat us! It’s not like you can eat this every day!”

“Fine,” Baekhyun growls slightly and later starts to tuck in.

When three of them are immersed in eating, Lu Han takes an initiative to slip in a cosy conversation. It would be not fun they only eat without saying any word to one another, wouldn’t it?

“So Baekhyun-ah… how’s your progression with Taeyeon-ssi?” It’s enough to make the said latter chokes on a mouthful of fried rice. He then gawks at Lu Han incredulously. “Have you guys started to date or she’s still contemplating over it?”

“Oh shoot, why did Lu Han-hyung mention about Taeyeon-noona all of a sudden?! I still haven’t told anyone about our relationship, for Christ’s sakes!”

“Yah Baekhyun-ah, since when you go out with Taeyeon-noona?! I suppose you never told me before this!” Jongdae looks at his friend in shock. Baekhyun has never told him about his relationship with Taeyeon so he is at complete loss of words.

“Errr… did I’ve said the wrong thing?” Lu Han says, wonderstruck. He thinks Baekhyun has revealed it to everyone else including his friend but it looks like he hasn’t. He suddenly feels guilty towards the younger.

“For God’s sake, yes you have, hyung! Oh God, why I’m going to explain to Jongdae-yah?”

Baekhyun glances momentarily at Lu Han and lets out an ‘it’s-okay’ smile at him before he pivots around the fuming Jongdae. “Okay, let me explain first… actually, I’d have wanted to tell you about me dating Taeyeon-noona but she wouldn’t let me do so. She said we should wait for a while before things become rather clear.”

The latter huffs slightly. “How long have you two been dating?”

Baekhyun ponders for a second before he comes up with, “almost two weeks?”

“Fine… I forgive you since it’s just recently happened,” he gives in and it makes Baekhyun relieved.

“You guys are so cute,” Lu Han pitches in and laughs amicably. Seeing these two best friends is just like literally seeing him and Minseok during the moments when they started to get close to each other.

Baekhyun and Jongdae cringe at the elder’s statement.

After they have done eating, Lu Han seems a bit anxious. He bites his lip, contemplating whether he should spill what has been in his mind since he first decided to go out with them. Baekhyun’s kind of right. He has something to ask them so that’s why he treated them today.

“Hyung, what’s up with you?” Jongdae raises an eyebrow after seeing how fidgety the elder is at the moment.

“Actually, I need your help,” emerges his jittery reply.

“Like I said earlier!” Baekhyun bursts out.  “Lu Han-hyung’s got something to do with us!”

“But don’t worry, dongsaengs! It’s not like I’d want to ask you to do bad things.”

“Then what is it, hyung?” asks Jongdae.

“I have something to ask you two…” he trails in, clicking his tongue nervously, “regarding Jongin.”

“Jongin-ah?” Jongdae blurts out in disbelief. “You mean Kim Jongin?” and when the elder nods in agreement, he could only stare at him dubiously.

“I’m out of this since I’m not really close with him.” Baekhyun raises his hands with a happy grin. “Hyung should ask Jongdae-yah since he’s pretty close with him.”

“Oh, really?” He gives Jongdae a questioning look and the younger could not help but approve.

He sighs briefly. “What do you want to know about Jongin-ah, hyung?”

“Do you know why he stopped befriending Kyungsoo?”

“Kyungsoo, that wallflower?” Baekhyun butts in. “Ah, that’s why Jongin seems to have kept a distance from him! I didn’t know about this beforehand.”

Lu Han’s gaze averts back to Jongdae who’s been silent since he mentioned Jongin’s name. It seems like he knows a lot about the latter. “So do you know why, Jongdae-yah?”

“, , .”

“Yah, Jongdae-yah!” Baekhyun smacks his friend’s back. “Hyung’s talking to you yet you’re being silent!”

“Do you know why Jongin stopped being friends with Kyungsoo?” he repeats his question. “I do know they got into a big fight but I have no idea why it led to a fight.”

“If I have to spill the secret because of Lu Han-hyung asks me so, I’d rather be loathed by hyung. I don’t want Jongin-ah to throw me an absolute fit.”

As soon as he looks away from his eyes, Lu Han abruptly stands up, rendering astonishment to them.

Baekhyun glances at the elder frantically when he suddenly rises from his seat. “Hyung, where are you going?”

He fakes a sigh of reply and sends a furtive smile to Jongdae. “Looks like I have to ask Jessica-ssi. My friend, Minseok-ah, told me she’s a database. She knows everything about all the students’ profile.” How ironic Lu Han is. He knows by using the younger’s girlfriend’s name as the hostage, Jongdae could not help but end up conceding defeat.

“Alright, hyung! Sit down and I’ll tell you everything about Jongin!”

Baekhyun’s sure clueless but he doesn’t bother asking. He merely glances at his friend’s frantic change.

Lu Han, on the other hand, turns around and gifts Jongdae a jovial smile. “Good dongsaeng!”

“Ugh, why did he slip Sica-noona’s name here and how the heck did this hyung know about me dating her?!”

“And sorry Jongin-ah! I’ve got to protect my girlfriend rather than you!”

***

The present,

As Jessica has predicted, Krystal reaches Jung’s manor three minutes sharp after her sister’s leaving. Lu Han couldn’t help but be delighted upon her anticipated appearance.

“Oh, oppa… you’re here?” Krystal quirks an eyebrow quizzically, striding in her headquarter. “You want to meet, eh?” She places her school bag on the desk and heaves a sigh of relief. Having to study seven hours daily is quite exhausting. If her parents haven’t pressed her to go to school, she would have stayed at home and done things that she likes.

Lu Han nods slightly. “About your puzzle the other day… I think I’ve managed to solve it.”

“Really, oppa?” She becomes perked up impetuously. “That’s why you look quite vibrant today, oppa. If you haven’t, you’d have that grumpy face as you stomp off here,” she jokes, laughing heartily.

He goes flushed upon listening to her statement. Indeed, she’s undoubtedly right.

“Anyway, mind to tell me?”

Lu Han clears his throat before he begins, “You give me that piece of puzzle with a purpose, didn’t you?”

“A purpose?” Her eyebrows knit together in bewilderment. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you did want me to value a person’s heart, didn’t you?” he enlightens concisely, “and that person was Do Kyungsoo, your own classmate, right?” Baekhyun has notified him the other day that Jung Krystal is his classmate. So here, he can connect how the younger brilliantly set up this whole scheme.

A rather cynical laugh escapes her lips, almost throwing him off guard. Indeed, Lu Han is an outstanding, telepathic guy. “I wonder how you figured it out, oppa but I salute you for having a rather sharp mind.”

On the contrary, he doesn’t budge with her flattery. Instead, he remains still. Somehow, he could feel his body were electrocuting due to utter edginess. Despite being jittery, his gaze at Krystal’s eyes doesn’t waver at all. He wonders if he could read her mind, he would have gained the answer of the puzzle as easy as ABC. Yet, it’s a dream that will never come true. The younger has explicitly restrained his invasion.

“Then when you once said you’d tell me about my other ability if I can solve the puzzle…. it was merely a trap, wasn’t it?” His yet another counterattack flows out his lips smoothly.

“Well… you can say that, oppa,” answers Krystal leisurely, nodding at once. “But I don’t beg to differ.”

“Krystal…. you know that Kyungsoo’s got a serious problem but why you asked me to help him? You could’ve helped him on your own, though.”

She heaves a sigh. “Oppa, you know who is exactly Do Kyungsoo, right?”

“Yeah… I know him,” Lu Han hesitantly reacts as he has deciphered what does the younger think, “a wallflower.”

“Then can you see my point here?” she says and the elder then nods briskly. “I’d love to help him but he never talks to his classmates. Plus, I’m a girl and everyone knows who I am, right? I’m the younger sister of the school’s Ice Princess, Jung Jessica!”

“I get your point, Krystal… but the question is why I was the chosen one?”

The latter clicks her tongue and responds, “One word; unique.”

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