“Yixing gege!”

Yixing flinched at the high pitched voice calling him as he was walking back to the dorm. Minseok who was walking next to him looked at the pink haired boy hurrying towards them.

“Who’s that?” The cat eyed boy asked knowing he had encountered the male just a few times but not remembering his name.

“Candy floss…”

“Huh?”

When Luhan reached to them, he noticed Minseok and suddenly blushed at the cute student. “H-hi…” He stuttered shyly and bowed politely to which Minseok chuckled and patted the first year’s shoulder. “No need to be so formal.”

Luhan straightened up still feeling his cheeks burning. “I was going to walk with Yixing gege but I see that you accompany him so I don’t want to disturb or anything…” The boy muttered quickly.

“It’s okay to walk with us. I am Kim Minseok by the way. You are?”

Luhan’s face brightened with a sempai-noticed-me smile. “Lu Han. But people call me Luhan.”

Yixing started to walk and the rest followed. He was glad the attention was not on him.

“Minseok hyung, what do you study?”

“Electronics.”

“Oh me too! But I never saw you, how come?”

Luhan would have noticed if his crush was studying in the same building.

“Ah, I tend to not mix with the crowd much and go to classes early.” Minseok explained calmly. “How do you like the lessons so far?”

“It’s very interesting!” Luhan said cheerfully. “The project we are working on seems really great and it feels like we’ll be accomplishing something huge!”

Minseok nodded. “Yes, it is true that… Oh, excuse me. I need to talk to that student over there.” The cat eyed boy walked towards Chanyeol and Sehun who were also going back to the dorm. “Oh Sehun!” Luhan felt left out and puffed his cheeks. That Oh Sehun better not be more important than him.

Sehun looked at Minseok uninterested. “What is it?”

“Is it possible to have a talk with you in private in my room?” Minseok gave his best smile which made Luhan suddenly boil in jealousy. The pink haired boy noted the appearance and name of the chic student who was looking at his crush like he was only a crumb on the floor.

“Why?”

“Sehun, just go.” Chanyeol told his friend. “Maybe you’re in trouble.” The tall boy knew that Sehun could make rude remarks and cause trouble.

“I haven’t done anything!” Sehun protested and rolled his eyes at the shorter second year in defeat. “Fine. It better not take long.”

“It won’t be.” Minseok assured with a peaceful smile. “Knock room 006 in an hour.”

Luhan fumed. Oh Sehun was going to see the lover of his life’s bedroom and hang out in there for some time. He shook his head to get some unwanted images out of his head. No, it won’t be like that. Luhan wasn’t even that close to Minseok to even stop this. He sighed loudly to which Yixing saw. He didn’t say a word but kept it in the corner of his mind. It might seem nothing but to Yixing, it may be the start of some complication.

**********

Sehun went in Chanyeol's room after dinner. Luckily for him, the door was slightly open. He looked angry and appalled which was surprising to Chanyeol who was used to a composed Sehun. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol turned their heads from their homework to give Sehun some attention.

"Sehun?"

"Who do they think I am?! A hero?" Sehun sat on the giant's bed. "If they think being heroic would bring some good they are wrong.”

Chanyeol figured it had something related to his meeting with Minseok. He brought himself next to Sehun.

“What happened?”

The blonde boy looked at his friend in despair. “They want me to hack, Chanyeol. To help them in their cause! You know what that means? Being illegal again!”

Sehun was a hacker few years ago. Ohorat he was called by his clients. He hacked the MISC industry and could change the percentage of compatibility thanks to a program. He needed the profile codes of his clients and then he made sure to adjust the compatibility needed. Sehun had a lot of money in his pocket however he was caught after months of hacking. He almost was secluded with MISC employees for three whole days. Chanyeol didn’t know what he was told during these days but Sehun wasn’t able to hack again, scared to go back into MISC’s hands. The raven haired boy knew his best friend suffered greatly from it and had nightmares for months.

“Who are you talking about?” Kyungsoo joined the conversation as he sat on his own mattress. He didn’t get everything since he didn’t know about Sehun’s background but he knew that Sehun was being asked to join something illegal.

“Some older guy. I don’t want to get involved anyway.”

“What was their cause?” Chanyeol inquired curiously. What kind of reason students would want the help of Sehun? It must be something huge.

“Nothing important.”

Obviously, Sehun knew what but didn’t want to talk about it. The topic was in dangerous waters.

Chanyeol sighed and ruffled Sehun’s hair. “Do you want to grab some bubble tea?”

Sehun’s eye had this glint of interest. “Yes!”

His best friend chuckled. “Kyungsoo, you can come if you want.”

**********

Flashback in Minseok and Jongdae’s room

“It IS important Oh Sehun! People are ignorant. We are all being manipulated in this world! I know you managed to pierce MISC’s barrier and…”

Sehun regretted his decision of entering this room. It smelt fishy the moment he was asked to meet the cat eyed boy.

“I learnt a lesson that day. I know what to not meddle with. You guys don’t know what they can do to you.”

Couldn’t people just understand? It was useless to fight a war already lost in advance. That time, it was only for the money.

“So, you’re going to just live your life knowing that you have the ability to change everything?”

He seemed desperate. Not everything was all roses and rainbows. Sehun knew that at least. But nothing could be done.

“Change everything? What kind of nonsense are you saying? We live in a perfect world! If we change it, the world will be in chaos. People will be lost. I saw things! I don’t want to bear the pain to see it again.”

Yes, the world was perfect this way. Society was doing what was best for you. Why complain? People had good lives.

“You don’t know everything. It might have some bad things but mostly good. We will be able to live true happiness.”

Bull.

“What happiness? Is happiness worth security?”

Sehun knew he was right. He saw it. They showed him the harsh reality. He was also blinded with fairytales he had discovered himself until he was caught.

“Sehun…” Minseok tried to stop Sehun from walking out and reason him once more.

“No. I won’t help you. That is my answer.”

The door banged shut.

**********

Baekhyun cursed under his breath when he saw Kim Jongdae in the middle of hacking the school's data. Of course Baekhyun wanted to be first. He didn't think TheBigTroll had the exact same idea to stay back in school late in the middle of the night and hack the school’s camera.

"You can do this Chen!" Baekhyun could hear from his hiding place under one of the secretaries' desk. It made him roll his eyes. Chen? Weird nickname.

Baekhyun adjusted his cloth mask on his mouth covering his nose better. He heard some noise from afar and started to panick as he saw Jongdae way too concentrated on his own stuff.

He slipped out his hideout and tapped a scared Jongdae who almost screamed but Baekhyun covered his mouth on time. He pressed his index on his covered lips making the other nod. Baekhyun took out Jongdae's pad off the support and led Jongdae in a closet quietly and swifly. The steps came closer and the door creeked open. Baekhyun saw through the closet holes a tall figure but he couldn't figure out what the stranger looked like with the lack of light.

Then the silhouette went away and Jongdae let out a relieved sigh. Baekhyun went out and checked that the stranger wasn't around. The other boy poked him. "Who are you?" He whispered to his savior. Baekhyun looked at Jongdae. Could he reveal his identity? "Be more careful. Your plans might get spoiled and you would get into too much trouble." Baekhyun muttered into a changed voice.

"Are you… Eyeliner?"

Baekhyun shrugged before disappearing from Jongdae's sight. He wasn't lucky but he knew he would be another day.

**********

The next day, Luhan approached the blonde hair guy who had a date meeting with Minseok. He wanted to know if they had anything going on or it was only a friendly discussion.

“You!”

Sehun was eating breakfast in the dorm cafeteria, alone. He looked up the pink haired boy a bit startled by the tone he was called. Luhan sat in front of him and detailed the man. He frowned because Sehun WAS handsome and he felt immediate competition. Maybe Minseok liked tall, confident, manly guys. Sehun perspired manliness. Not that Luhan didn’t feel manly himself. Hell, he might look feminine but he was manly. That was what he assured himself.

“Uh, what do you want?” Sehun finally asked being a bit uncomfortable being stared at for too long.

“Let’s be friends!”

“… No.”

Well that was quick. Luhan thought that if he could get close to Sehun, he could get close to Minseok more.

“B-but…”

“I have enough sufficient friends. So please go talk to someone else.”

Cold jerk. But Lu Han didn’t give up easily. He offered his hand to shake.

“My name is Lu Han!” He said as cheerful as possible.

“My name is I-don’t-care.” Sehun ignored the hand and continued eating.

“Hi! My name is Jongin!”

Luhan saw a tan boy sit next to Sehun. He was also handsome but had that sort of devilish smile on his face. Sehun had this pissed off face the moment he glanced at the other boy.

“Go away, Jongin.”

“Oh come on. You should learn how to socialize like Chanyeol! Making friends is important!” Jongin slung his arm around Sehun’s shoulders.

“Chanyeol is like that naturally but I am not.” Sehun pushed Jongin’s arm off him. Only Chanyeol could touch Sehun friendlily.

“Aw, come on! I am sure Luhan is really nice.”

“So is Kyungsoo.” Sehun replied sharply as Jongin was taken aback.

“Y-you…”

“Cat got your tongue?”

Luhan observed the two guys. He didn’t know what type of relationship they had but somehow, it felt kind of wrong in many ways. Clearly it was only one sided.

Jongin didn’t answer Sehun and instead extended his arm towards Luhan. “Nice to meet you Luhan. Let’s be friends!”

Luhan didn’t really want to be friends with that guy. He didn’t plan this through. However, he shook the tanned boy’s hand and smiled. “Sure.” It was still okay to be polite.

“Oh by the way, I am Sehun’s roommate and I know he’s a bit rude but I am sure you guys get along like we do.”

Luhan didn’t want the relationship Jongin had with Sehun. It didn’t feel like they got along at all. But since Jongin was Sehun’s roommate, he could get his way and make friends with Sehun then get closer to Minseok.

That sounded like a plan.

Baekhyun saw his best friend with two new faces. Well not exactly new since Sehun was in his class AND was a face he saw in Jongdae’s data which meant he also knew Sehun’s past. He wondered why Luhan even talked to them unless he had a purpose. Baekhyun was a careful person and didn’t hang out with anybody. He could hold a nice chat with someone but that would be it. The brunette still walked towards the group and greeted everyone. “Hello…”

“Baekhyunnie!”

Luhan was a ray of sunshine as usual.

“I was making new friends.”

“Not me.” Sehun scoffed.

The prince can choke on his cereal.

Baekhyun smiled politely. “I am Baekhyun, a friend of Luhan.”

Sehun just gave off the cold shoulder but Jongin smiled with all his teeth. “Hey, name’s Jongin. Nice to meet you too. What are you both studying?”

“Programming.” Baekhyun simply said and noticed no reaction from his classmate.

“I am studying Electronics. What about you guys?”

All along, Sehun didn’t participate in the conversation. Luhan sometimes tried to ask questions to Sehun but the boy wouldn’t budge in. On the other hand, Jongin was very open. They joked around nicely. Baekhyun and Jongin teased each other which was a nice sight.

“Sehun, I saw you had to go to second year’s room for something. You weren’t in trouble, were you?” Luhan attempted to joke but seeing Sehun’s frozen expression, it seemed that he was touching something forbidden.

“No. It was nothing important.”

If Luhan could punch the daylights out of Sehun, he would. Because his answer was a lie and Luhan managed to see the way Sehun’s mouth corner twitch in annoyance.

Baekhyun also noticed. The recruitment seemed to have failed. Sehun had a good potential but why didn’t he agree? It was something he would need to find out.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun's meeting is approaching~

Fast update since it's the holidays~ :D

SlayThePotato Out!