third bloom

{where Luhan's physical abilities were useless but his math ability, more useless}

Let say Luhan was a well-practiced soccer player. Well, he was and he had one room dedicated only for his trophies and medals to prove that. So, what did these awards get to prove about his ability to catch a falling body? Nothing.

       He was an idiot who had his feet tangled as he stumbled on the asphalt concrete of a very steep road, rolling down before he hit another lamppost at the end. How's that to test his physical abilities? Useless.

       Lucky enough, Minseok just almost—almost was the keyword here—fainted but not really as he sprung to life with a few slaps from his own hands. This was Minseok we were talking about here—the 173 man of steel who never ever get exhausted just because he wasn't able to have lunch or breakfast or even the dinner prior that day. He always got by with a few sting on his face to wake himself up. So, what did these prove about the person Luhan hated the most, the one who stole the title being the fairest of them all? Minseok's a real life Superman.

       So, Luhan hit his head to the lamppost, reopening the wound he acquired from hitting his head on the floor due to intoxication the other day; the result was a fountain of blood (though it was just a small ooze but as we all know, everything in Luhan's eyes were magnified to great exaggeration. That drama queen!) that gushed out of his head. Seeing as the red liquid appeared in his peripheral vision, the deer caught in the headlights screamed before he eventually fainted. His sight turned from crimson to black. But wait! There's more to the colors he had seen; perhaps the warmth that slowly enclosed around him, the feeling of being lifted, and the voice calling his name before he totally out. He thought he just saw an angel too close to his face. 

       "Blah, blah..." an incoherent mumble escaped his mouth.

##

"He's fine, mom. He's far from dying. Ah—You know how dramatic he is—Yeah. I'll call again. The prin—"

       Luhan stared at the ceiling. The familiar cream-colored walls greeted him, that and his brother's familiar and always annoying voice indicated that he's nowhere near the treacherous jungle of the outside world, but in the comforts of his own house. The question was how.

"-cess is awake. Gonna give him some debriefing."

       He immediately gathered himself up to see Yifan sitting near his bed, eyes locked on the mobile in his hands without bothering to look if his poor brother, who almost lose his precious life in the place of the unknown peasantry, was alright and still alive. Obviously, he was still alive but a little show of concern wouldn't hurt, would it? Heartless brother!

       "'Marry me.' I can't believe you really said that to him. It's a good thing Minseok doesn't understand Chinese or else I might have said to mom that you already have a fiance of your choice. She doesn't have to line you up to several blind dates for that matter. Shall I tell her?"

       "Whoa—" Luhan opened his mouth in an exaggerated sense of disbelief. "I NEVER SAID that kind of !" 

       When did he even said that? He never said that. As far as he could remember, those two words never escaped his mouth. And as far as he could remember again, he was saved by an angel. In fact, he was supposed to save Minseok from falling but—

       "Minseok. Is Minseok alright? He's...is he dead?!" 

       Yifan got surprised when strong hands gripped his shirt and frantically shaking him, Luhan's nostrils were as wide as his eyes shooting laser beam of rage at him. Oh well, to distinguish the fire, he let out a hearty laugh.

       "Why are you laughing? Tell me, is Minseok alive?!"

       "Who do you think called me with a panicky voice crying that my brother fainted after hitting himself to a pole? He even carried you all the way to the nearest hospital which is two and a half kilometers away from where he found you."

       "He—he," Luhan stuttered, falling on his knees on the carpeted floor with a dramatic teary eyes of shock. "He did that for me?" he muttered, clutching his chest, eyes wavering.

       Yifan brushed the place where Luhan touched him as he spoke to him with an unsympathetic voice, "He wasn't able to go to his second job and he's late for his third job because of that."

       "Because of me?" Luhan sent him an accusing finger. "Wait! You knew? You knew all along that he is...he is." He wetted his lips, bit his tongue yet he the word of Minseok's real state couldn't escape his mouth. Still, he was in the state of doubt.

       "Tell me it's staged. That is all a dream. Or maybe, that is just a movie set and Minseok only happens to play the role of a poo—poo..."

       "Poor. That Minseok's poor, belonging to a family whose income wasn't enough to send him to a good university but he still able to do so due to his high grades and merit-based scholarship."

       Luhan's face contorted uglier than what he already appear, mouth twisted horribly as he nipped at his bottom lip, eyes wavered, squinting them every now and then. Yifan knew what his brother was trying to do so he decided to finally leave him to have some self-reflection. Might as well let him realize his faults all this time. But who was he kidding? He enjoyed seeing Luhan like that, almost on the verge of crying out, thus he left his phone in a place that could capture Luhan's ugliest crying angle without the other knowing.

       He heard a loud wailing as soon as he closed the door.

##

Luhan was handsome, but it was also a given fact that Chen was more handsome. So, whilst the latter was busy checking himself out on the rearview mirror when a very exhausted-looking with dark-rimmed eyes and a face with no facial cream Luhan entered his car, he was beyond amaze and as his natural reaction he laughed, internally of course. Too early for an early fight against his friend. He'd save his mockery later. Thank you.

       "You left me yesterday without a word and this is how you'll greet me in the morning." He grinned cheekily instead.

       "Shut up and drive."

       Luhan was handsome but Chen was more handsome. That's a fact and good thing it was a fact or else Chen wouldn't have let Luhan's words slide for telling him to shut up. Luhan's lucky Chen avoid getting mad for the sake of preserving his unyielding beauty. 

##

Luhan thought the best way to survive was avoidance. And by that he meant was to avoid Minseok who had, at least, five out of eight similar classes with him—yes, even though he majored in Business while Minseok was Architecture. It seemed like they shared more general education courses more than what he shared with Chen. It just meant he had to face the battles himself (not that Chen was in any way a special help because he's absolutely not!). But having someone giving him moral support while he faced his eternal battles, which might or might not be limited to Minseok and Minseok alone, would surely be helpful. And not Yifan's deriding smiling face obviously directed at him while lecturing in their Math class.

       It was over, ALMOST over, when the devil of his brother announced a very sinister plan he knew was made for him only, to make his life a living hell.

       "Let your seatmate check the answers to your homework."

       What? The , Yifan! This was his last subject with Minseok. He almost did it. He almost escaped the impending heart attack but Yifan, his ing brother, ruined it all. For one, he was sitting next to no one on his left and the person, who happened to sit beside him because the man came late and Yifan suggested that he'd take the last empty seat (which where Luhan put his bag [because he's a diva who never placed his bag on the floor]).

       "I'm afraid my handwriting is illegible. I'm sorry," Minseok said shyly, cheeks flushed pink. Luhan gulped, swayed his thoughts away, trying not to imagine anything dirty. Minseok was rubbing the back of his neck while his other hand accidentally brushed with Luhan as they exchanged their notes. It was a fleeting moment yet only rendered Luhan speechless and frozen.

       God, his fingers were soft...

       "," he cursed inaudibly.

       "You have a nice handwriting, you know."

       "Your fingers are nicer..."

       "What?"

       Luhan mentally facepalmed. He could see Yifan sniggering from the corner of his eyes. "." And while that intended to be just his mind speaking, he accidentally said it out loud, just enough for Minseok to hear it again.

       "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I just thought your handwriting is nice and all." Minseok lowered his head, slowly turning his back at Luhan.

       "No. It's not—you misunderstood." Luhan defended, panicking. "I'm just not use being praised." Lie. "That's all."

       "Oh. Well, they're really beautiful. Maybe you can teach me how to write legibly some other time." Minseok was smiling again.

       Minseok resumed in checking Luhan's homework while Luhan started to internally hyperventilate.  

##

"I think someone wrongly checked Mr. Kim's homework," Yifan said out loud in their lunch table. Both Chen and Luhan's heads were him.

       "What are you saying? I checked it correctly. It's not like I'm checking his wrong answers right even if they're wrong. I'm not that kind of—"

       "I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about this," he said, pointing somewhere Luhan didn't even bother to look.

       For all Luhan knew (and even if he wouldn't admit that his attention was solely focused on Minseok's rose tinted cheeks while he absentmindedly checked the other's homework), he was doing his job right. He supposed to shrug it off, taking it as another of Yifan's prank on him, when Chen started to laugh his arse out loud. Enough to get the attention of the whole restaurant they're eating at (because the cafeteria was boring according to Luhan but in reality, Yifan and Chen knew it was because Minseok was still nowhere to be found during lunchtime and Luhan was secretly looking for him).

       "So, the hate turns to love now, huh?" Chen commented a snide remark while playfully prodding him with his elbow.

       "What?" He chuckled nervously. "What kind of nonsense—" Luhan almost dropped the fork from his hand as he stood up, slamming his hands on the table. He whole plate fell on the floor instead. "I didn't write that," he screamed, pointing at the scribbled equation at the bottom of Minseok's notes. His meal was long forgotten on the floor.

       "Watch out. You might get hurt with the shards, sir!" Minseok came, clad in his waiter uniform, as he mopped the fallen spaghetti on the floor. Luhan stared at him wide-eyed, mouth hanging open. Damn, admit it or not, Minseok looked damn handsome in white button-up and black tight-fitting pants.

       "Oh my, there's sauce stain on your pants, sir," Minseok instinctively wiped the stain, unknowingly hitting Luhan in the place where no other hands should be.

       "Don't touch me!"

       Minseok lifted his head to apologize but it was too late as Luhan already scurried off to wherever his craziness takes him. (Not only because his nose started to bleed uncontrollably but also to hide the growing bulge in his pants.)

       "Did I do something wrong?" Minseok innocently asked.

       "No," Yifan and Chen answered in chorus as Yifan closed the notebook to hide Luhan's embarrassing equation (or confession). It would be revealed anyway but now was not the time.

9x - 7i > 3 (3x - 7u)

9x - 7i > 9x - 21u

- 7i > 21u

- 7i/-7 > -21u/-7

= i < 3 u

i <3 u 2

Comments are welcome. Thank you!