Chapter 5 – Talk Talk

Wednesday, 3^rd of January 2020, EXO’s Dorm, Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s Room, 5:15 AM

AUTHOR POV

Chanyeol woken up early in the morning and it seems that he just awoken from some bad dream. The dorm that Chanyeol and his friends are staying in have two beds for each room and because he is the closest with Baekhyun, he is sharing the room with him. When he woken up just now from his dream he screamed and this has caused Baekhyun to waken up too,

Baekhyun: “What’s wrong?”

Chanyeol: “Nothing, it’s just a bad dream….”

Baekhyun: “Is it about her?”

Chanyeol: “Yeah….who else is giving me nightmare….even my parents worst scolding don’t give me any nightmares….”

Baekhyun: “Sigh...it’s been like three years now….you should forget about it already…and maybe it is time for you to forgive her….”

Chanyeol: “Forgetting about it…I might just do that…but forgiving her? It will takes more time for me to be able to forgive her for what she did….”

Baekhyun: “You know what? I heard from Kai that you are getting closer with that new girl, Taeyeon.”

Chanyeol: “Not that close….we’re just talking about the plan for the event….”

Baekhyun: “Still…do you like her?”

Chanyeol: “Why are you asking me this?”

Baekhyun: “Just out of curiosity.”

Chanyeol: “I only know her for a couple of days…it’s crazy to think that I like her…”

Baekhyun: “Just saying that you are probably opening yourself to one girl since that incident, which is of course making people guessing about your feeling toward her….”

Chanyeol: “Yeah but it doesn’t mean that I like her, it’s just that I feel comfortable talking to her, that’s all.”

Baekhyun: “Yeah okay….whatever it is that you are feeling, I hope that you can share it more with me.

Chanyeol: “I will Baek…it’s just that I am not seeing her as someone that I like for now, if I feel something different I will tell you about it.”

Baekhyun: “Okay Chanyeol, do you want to go back to sleep then?”

Chanyeol: “I don’t think so, I better prepare myself earlier today, at least it will takes my mind off the bad dream, I’m going to go and wash my face now.”

Baekhyun: “Okay then…..”

Chanyeol gets up from his bed and each bed rooms in the dorm have their own bathrooms so he doesn’t need to get out of the room to go to a shared bathroom. He turns on the water tap and splash the water into his face and after drying his face up with a towel, he almost fall down because he sees Tiffany’s face crying on the mirror. He blinks his eye several times and finally her face is gone. After having a bad dream about his previous incident, he saw her face during that incident,

Chanyeol: “Tiffany….it seems that everything that I do, you will always be there. Even though I am trying hard to get rid of you….it seems there is no running away from you….I don’t know whether what Baekhyun told me about forgiving you is the right thing to do or not, but I am not considering it at the moment. I hate you so much and every single day I keep telling myself that you are doing it on purpose to hurt me….but seeing your crying face that day….is it true that you are not doing it on purpose? Sigh….whatever it is….and no matter whether I am going to be close with that girl, Taeyeon or not….maybe I have to talk with you, face to face and solve this grudge between us once and for all…I don’t know whether I am ready to forgive you or not, but I do know that you attitude in school is getting worse and worse each year because I keep ignoring you…sigh….it’s only the beginning of my high school days but it seems that so many thing will happen….interesting.”

Before he takes a shower, he goes out to check on his mobile phone. Baekhyun has gone back to sleep. He unplug his phone from the charger and there are 2 messages on the messenger, the first one is from Kai and it seems that he sent it on 00:30 AM,

Kai: “Ya, I have a good talk with Suho and it seems that he is supportive about our idea to do a performance with Taeyeon. I know that you want to talk to him yourself, but he keeps asking me where we go earlier and every lies that I pulled up, he just doesn’t believe me…I have no choice but to tell him about it and since Yuri is there too, it seems that he isn’t suspicious about you and Taeyeon…in the end, he is okay with it, and he will talk to you in the morning….sorry Chanyeol, don’t be mad at me…hehe..”

Chanyeol is scratching his head immediately after he reads the message from Kai, he is mixed between happy and upset after seeing that message,

Chanyeol: “Jongin-ah…I don’t know what are you thinking but you will give me quite a headache with Suho and the others…”

He lets out a huge sigh and then he reads another message and it surprises him because it is from Yuri, he wonders why everyone keep sleeping so late today and sending him messages on messenger, that is quite weird for him,

Yuri: “Hey Chanyeol, you probably already sleeping so just read it when you wake up in the morning. It’s quite a good conversation that we have earlier tonight with you, Jongin and Taeyeon. Even though the conversation is a bit serious at times but we are having so much fun right? And please don’t think that I like either you or Jongin, don’t worry, that won’t happen…hehe…I’m just telling you this because I’m glad that I can make new friends…and it seems quite amazing considering how you have that past with Tiffany yet you still want to be friends with me, who is a close friend of hers. So…listen…I don’t know what your deal with Taeyeon is, I don’t know and frankly I don’t even want to know. I have no business in meddling with your thoughts and feelings toward another person, but still I think it is only fair for me to tell you this since I am Taeyeon’s close friend. Whether you like her or not, whether you are attracted to her or not, I hope that you take everything slowly. It is probably for the best for you not to have too many thoughts about her…I told you about her past right? Which is why I want you to befriend her…but that’s it…not to think about dating her, or going out with her….just don’t. It has been a while since Taeyeon is this comfortable with a boy her age and I think it is because you are someone that is quite comfortable for her to speak to and also because she thinks that you aren’t doing all this just to make her your girlfriend. So if you can keep it that way, at least for now…that would be for the best. I heard something quite concerning from Taeyeon’s friends in Japan and I hope that you can be a good friend for Taeyeon so that she can forget about her dark past….and maybe someday, you will learn to forgive Tiffany too for what she did. I’m not telling you this because I am her friend, but I think harboring hate that long to someone is not really mentally healthy….just saying…don’t be mad at me because I am telling you this okay? Hehe….okay then, I’ll see you at school tomorrow, good night Chanyeol….”

Once again, he lets out a huge sigh after reading Yuri’s long message in the messenger and after he reads it, he toss his phone to the bed and then he sits down on a chair and he lies his head down on the table in front of him,

Chanyeol: “Taeyeon and Tiffany….these two are quite troubling my mind right now for an entirely different reason. Why do you have to do that in the first place, Fany? Sigh….do I look cheap if I forgive hear? People would think that I am an easy person if I forgive her too easily….but at the same time it seems that everyone that is close to me keep reminding me to forget about this past and forgive her. Weird huh….I always thought hating Tiffany would makes me life better, ignoring her and making her mad because of it used to give me quite a satisfaction, like I am having a small scale of revenge toward her but now I am not so sure any more about it. It seems that I shouldn’t be acting like that toward her, especially after the incidents, she keeps trying to say sorry to me for two weeks and I keep ignoring her like she doesn’t exist. This is quite confusing and I wish that I can solve it right away….sigh….I think I better talk to her….fast….before she have that performance with Taeyeon. Knowing what she is like right now, she probably planning something bad toward Taeyeon because I saved her that day. Does this mean that I am doing this for the sake of Taeyeon? Am I attracted to her know? Sigh…I don’t know….but one thing that I know for sure, I don’t think my bran can handle this much thoughts early in the morning, I think I am going to think about this more at school later….”

He gets up and then he is going to the bathroom to take his shower. After he closes the door to the bathroom, Baekhyun suddenly opens his eyes and it seems that he isn’t fully asleep all this time. He checks once again as he is looking toward the bathroom door and once the sound of the water is running, he quickly gets up and then he goes toward Chanyeol’s bed and because he knows what the passcode for his phone lock, he is able to access the content of his phone and immediately he is opening the messenger application and of course he reads the messages from Kai and Yuri,

Baekhyun: “Sigh…you silly boy….you just don’t want to admit it don’t you? You even go as far to lie toward us about meeting her and Yuri with Kai. It is things like these that make us always telling you that you should be more open with us. We are your best friends and none of us will mock you or think that you are an easy person if you just forgive Tiffany and forget to the boy that you were before. I still remember you back then. You are a cheerful person and you always pull pranks on me and the others. We have known each other since before the incident so I know what kind of a person you are and I hope that maybe…the key to makes you back to who you were, lies with this girl, Taeyeon…and indirectly….Tiffany will have a part of this too. I hope that you will be able to forgive her and lift off that burden in your heart.”

Later on that day….

SM International High School, A bench near Athletic Track, 12:10 PM

It is currently lunch break at the thigh school and this morning, there is nothing interesting happening in the class. Tiffany doesn’t really bother anymore to annoy Taeyeon at all and even some of the teachers that have been warned by Ms. Ara about Tiffany’s incident with Taeyeon and Chanyeol on the first day are confused as well because it seems like there aren’t any problems between them at all. The teachers thought that Tiffany’s plan to perform with Taeyeon is just her way to create a distraction for the teachers but they all still believe that in the end, Taeyeon will be the victim of bully from Tiffany, so they are keeping a close eye on Tiffany and Taeyeon. During the lunch break, Tiffany needs to face the problem that she is currently having with Kyuhyun and it seems that he is quite displeased with her as they are having their conversation while sitting down on a bench,

Kyuhyun: “So…it’s true right? The boy of your dream and Taeyeon went out on a date last night.”

Tiffany: “That is not a date, I already asked Yuri about it.”

Kyuhyun: “Date or not, the fact that those two are getting close with each other is really uncomfortable to see, you need to do something about this.”

Tiffany: “Why are you meeting me now here oppa? I thought we discussed about this on the phone already.”

Kyuhyun: “I just want to remind you again so that you are not forgetting that BoA noona, who is in charge of discipline in this school still not calling you her for a meeting to her office thanks to me. I keep you in check for her, even though we know that your stupid incident making things hard on me, but that is part of my deal with you…you also want something from me right? The student council will be accepting new members starting next week and if you want to be in the same task group as that boy you better get your act right. I give you a deadline that is quite long not for you to be slacking off and if I want to do this myself, I can force her to be my girlfriend, but that is not the way I want it to be, I want it to happen naturally and that is why I enquire your help for this.”

Tiffany: “Yes I am fully aware of what you are doing for me and I am not forgetting about it….don’t worry oppa…”

Kyuhyun: “Of course I need to be worried, especially that you are quite stubborn to not tell me a single hint about your plan at all…I think you better tell me about it now…since it seems whatever it is that you are planning isn’t quite working, you might as well let me know about it, maybe if I think it will be good in the end, I wouldn’t be worrying about it too much.”

Tiffany: “No…”

Kyuhyun: “No? You are refusing to tell me? What about if I refuse to keep my mouth shut too? I lied to BoA noona about your behavior in the middle school, even though she wanted to place you on her shortlist. The shortlist that is filled with students with bad attitude, bad behavior, failing grades and a simple mistake will be costly for these students in the list…do you want to join them? Or do you like the freedom that you are having now? You can shortened your skirt, the top button of your shirt, wear these flashy hair accessories…it is because that BoA noona isn’t keeping an eye on you and your friends because I keep telling her that I know you well and you are willing to change in this high school because you know the rules in this school and the disciplinary system that this school has….tell me then…do you want that to change just because you are being a rock headed girl that is so stubborn to not tell me what is you so brilliant plan to make Taeyeon mine?”

Tiffany: “Sigh…you know what oppa? This is your last year in high school, enjoy your power while it lasts….you can’t hide behind BoA unnie all the time or any other senior staffs in this school that you are close with…you can’t extort me or any other students like these all the time.”

Kyuhyun: “Oh yes, I know this is my last year, which is why you should do well to impress me or I might just leave this school and leaving all the stains of your sins for all the staffs to know so that you without me here in the school anymore, you will face them on your own, and I bid you good luck with that.”

Tiffany: “Yeah okay whatever oppa, so you want to know what I am planning?”

Kyuhyun: “Yes please?”

Tiffany: “Sigh….so you asked me to do this as natural as possible right?  So in order to do that, I have to get Taeyeon to join my social group and if she listens to me well then it should be easier from that point on. I thought because she is new in this school she can have me as the girl that she depends on beside Yuri and gradually I will create some situations where you will look like a hero incidentally that always saves her from tricky situations that might embarrass her, I will make her remember you as someone that she is really feeling grateful of….and from there, it is only a matter of time until she fell for you….”

Kyuhyun: “Sounds really simple and I think it is not a bad idea after all….”

Tiffany: “Yes of course I believe no matter how stubborn she is, in the end she will listen to me well, but now I have few problems here, not only that she is more stubborn that I thought she would be but she is a fighter type too, I can see in her eyes when I asked her to perform with me on the event like she is telling me indirectly that she is challenging me to create some more accidents for her and she will fight me back for it. She has a fiery personality and it is a bit hard for me to approach her, but luckily she accepts my invitation to perform with her so I have to do this the soft way, instead of going rough on her and of course the other problem is Chanyeol, I don’t understand how a boy like him, who has been avoiding girls since what happened between me and him that day manage to be close with Taeyeon that fast. It worries me too, because I like him too….but you don’t have to worry about anything….for the sake of being close with him through your help, I will do anything it takes, even if the whole school are questioning my so called reputation because I am going soft with Taeyeon, I don’t care…I just want him and I don’t care about anything else…”

Kyuhyun: “Interesting…it seems that I have nothing to worry about then, you have that kind of determination so I believe that you won’t let me down…about your boy, Chanyeol, he and his friends were asking me a favor and I have to teach him and his friends a lesson because he is getting too close with Taeyeon…”

Tiffany: “What favor? Please don’t ask your friends to beat up on him….anything but that….and don’t embarrass him either in front of everyone in school, I don’t want him to go through something like that again….”

Kyuhyun: “Oh don’t worry, things will stay between me and them and it will not involve no one else at all, you don’t have to worry about anything at all….”

Tiffany: “It’s good then…what is your deal with them anyway?”

Kyuhyun: “Oh that is something that I can’t tell you just yet because it will involve some school’s secret that you are not allowed to know just yet…you will have to see what happen later in this school, big things are going to happen and you will amaze about what I will bring into this school, I will leave my legacy in this school before I leave….”

Tiffany: “For other people you might sound like a man with ambition, but to me you are just an oppa with a hunger for power and fame.”

Kyuhyun: “Think of me what you like, I don’t care about it at all….so anyway, I have to go now, I have a lot of planning to do as the student council will play a large part in the principal’s farewell event, can’t help it…I am a busy person after all, bye bye Fany…”

Just like that he left Tiffany alone in the bench as he heads back inside the school. Tiffany just keep shaking her head and letting out a big sigh, it seems that she is not having an easy time too in fulfilling his request. She is just telling him about her determination and more convincing things to him so that he won’t be worried about her. Before she even manage to get up, someone’s hand is pushing on her shoulder and she is sitting down again on the bench and that person quickly takes a seat beside Tiffany,

Tiffany: “Oh it’s you Yuri, what’s up?”

Yuri: “What is your deal with Kyuhyun oppa?”

Tiffany: “Why do you want to know?”

Yuri: “I am not stupid, Fany. I know that Kyuhyun oppa is quite a powerful student in this school because he is quite close with the staffs and teachers in this school and seeing how you have such a serious conversation with him means that you have something that you are planning behind everyone’s back.”

Tiffany: “Must you think so low of me all the time? Maybe I am attracted to him you know and I talk to him so I can get close with him.”

Yuri: “If you tell something like that to an idiot that never set a foot in the same school as you, then that idiot might believe it, but sorry Fany, everyone that knows you in this school and from middle school know very well that you only have your eyes on one boy, so spare me this crap about Kyuhyun oppa, what are you planning with him?”

Tiffany: “Nothing at all Yuri and you don’t have to worry about a thing, it won’t be about your new best friend, Taeyeon anyway….if you are worried so much about her…”

Yuri: “It’s not what I am trying to say here….”

Tiffany: “Whatever it is that you are thinking you better throw your thoughts away so far that it will never return again. If you are thinking that I am using the event in order to do something to Taeyeon, then you are wrong. I am simply just feeling bad about what I did with her earlier and I want to make up to my past mistake with her. She is a new student in this school and more importantly, she is a close friend of yours, I am really making a mistake by introducing her to our school like that, I realize that I can’t be like that to every new students in our school.”

Yuri: “YOU? YOU feeling sorry about what you did? Wow Fany, I don’t know whether you just become cleverer in lying and deceiving or you knocked your head somewhere that you become like this now.”

Tiffany: “Hey don’t be like that….everyone can change you know? Especially that the disciplinary staff in this school is so strict, I need to watch more of my attitude in this school. I can’t really risk earning any bad reputation in this high school…”

Yuri: “Sigh…I don’t know Fany…I know you well for years so it is quite confusing for me about your attitude right now. On one hand I truly wish that you become your old self, the cheerful girl who always help other people and like pulling pranks that are not embarrassing other people or attempting to humiliate other people. You used to joke around with us, with other students….but that thing changed you so bad….and you have to admit, whether it is intentional or not, what happened to Chanyeol is really inexcusable and you shouldn’t change your attitude just because you are fed up of being ignored by him….you can just....well…if you can’t solve things out with him, maybe move on? There are a lot of other boys in this school and you are a pretty girl with a killer eye-smile, you won’t find it hard to find someone to date here in high school.”

Tiffany: “That’s true…same goes to you…you are pretty, you are athletic and damn you got one hell of a body…I’m sure a lot of the school boys want to date you…then why you reject those who approaches you since middle school?”

Yuri: “Because I want to focus on my athletic career.”

Tiffany: “See? You have your own reason and I have mine…it might be different but still we have our own reason right? So you still want to ask me anymore questions? I can ask you the same thing and you probably will give out the same answer as me when it comes to boys…”

Yuri: “Sigh…fine, I won’t ask you anything anymore, you can choose to believe me or not but I am just worried about you. I heard not so good rumors about that oppa. I respect him as a sunbae but I am not sure whether you should be planning things out with him…he is dangerous and we just entered the high school, you should be more careful.”

Tiffany: “Thanks Yuri, but you don’t have to worry about me, you know that I can take care of myself just fine right? Thanks for your concern though…”

Yuri: “Just be careful okay? I am not going to object anything that you are doing as long as you know the consequences of your own actions if you are doing something that is quite troublesome.”

Tiffany: “Yes I know, don’t worry….then….if you are done with being the serious Yuri, maybe we can eat lunch now? And get Taeyeon too to join us, maybe I can discuss with her about planning our performance.”

Yuri: “She is currently on the library to sort out her text books, yesterday some of the books aren’t available yet so she is doing that right now, we can hang out together after school ends if she is okay with it.”

Tiffany: “Yeah I would love to, we can ask the others as well to join us…”

Yuri: “Perhaps it will be better if it is just the three of us, that way she can feel more comfortable, as you know…you asked Yoona and Seohyun to helped out with your stupid prank and she noticed it, so I think it would be better if only the three of us that are going together after school ends today.”

Tiffany: “Okay if you say so, I think there is another workshop today for students who haven’t join the club, maybe we can meet over there then?”

Yuri: “Yeah sure, I’ll be there….”

Tiffany: “Has she picked any club though?”

Yuri: “She’s going to join drama club since I am in there but she still undecided for the other club.”

Tiffany: “Why don’t she….”

Yuri: “Join the cheerleading club? Sorry no offense Fany but I think she will hates you more if you asked her to join cheerleading club, she just doesn’t like cheerleading for some reason.”

Tiffany: “Oh okay, never mind then…Let’s grab something to eat then, we can talk more at the cafeteria.”

Yuri: “Yeah sure my stomach is grumbling already.”

Later on that day after the school ends

Near the school’s sports equipment storage, 3:15 PM

Kyuhyun sent a text message earlier to Suho and they agree to meet him in this spot after the school ends. Of course Kyuhyun doesn’t really state his true intention on the text message and this of course makes the 6 boys confused about this meeting,

Kyuhyun: “From the look on your faces, you all must be confused about why I call you here.”

Suho: “Yes we are, I thought that you already gave us an instruction for the deal…we are working hard for the event to impress you.”

Kyuhyun: “Oh that is good, I admire your diligence in your attempt to impress me, but I am afraid that things have changed slightly about our deal.”

Suho: “What are you talking about?”

Kyuhyun: “So we are going to re-visit some of our previous conversations. Your initial request is to ask 6 of your friends, who are Chinese and I think two of them are South Korean but they live there since they were young. I don’t want to bore you with details since these are your friends, so I am going to list them by their call name; Kris, Xiumin, Luhan, Lay, Chen and Tao. You want to bring these 6 people to our high school despite of course you are fully aware of our school’s rules. Then of course with the arrival of the new student, Taeyeon you all are being more confident that I can pull of this deal, of course there is an exchange for my favor…and that of course I requested two things from you all, for you to pay a certain amount of money and because Suho and Sehun’s parents here are of course in the spare parts manufacturing business, I asked you to give my father machinery manufacturing business discounted prices, which of course are not too much to ask right? But of course things changed a bit now…I already increase the price of my favor…and now that price just got doubled again.”

EXO: “WHAT?”

Kyuhyun: “Yes for this favor, the price now has gone up to 50 Million Won and you don’t need to give me any deposit payment or anything like that, just get that money ready when the transfer papers for those kids are officially stamped by the school’s administration staff.”

Baekhyun: “50 million? You’re kidding us right hyung?”

Kai: “Oh God….”

Sehun: “Sigh…..”

Kyungsoo: “How in the world that we are going to get that?”

Suho: “We are just school boys hyung, even your original request is a bit crazy…”

Chanyeol: “……………”

Kyuhyun: “Well this is a take it or leave it offer, if you want me to go ahead, then give me the money, your parents have fulfilled their part of the bargain, only the money is the thing that you owe me.”

In the midst of all this, everyone is looking really worried except for Chanyeol. There is a hatred in his stare and it seems that he is really displeased when he hears what Kyuhyun has to say to the group regarding their request,

Kyuhyun: “Ah, what is wrong with this boy? Your friends are worried but it seems that you have other kind of worries here as you are staring at me like you are about to kill me.”

Baekhyun: “Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol: “Why don’t we play it fair hyung? We can agree to your demand if you tell us about the reason why you increase the price?”

Kyuhyun: “What does it even matter?”

Chanyeol: “Just so you know, Kai and I yesterday saw someone like you on our way to the bus station. So I assume that this sudden increase in price is because you saw something that you don’t like yesterday and my guess is not something to do with Yuri because you know her for years since middle school, which means it has something to do with the new student, Taeyeon. You don’t like seeing me and Kai hanging out with her and Yuri yesterday. I know your reputation hyung, not only that you are students that academically excellent but you are also excellent in terms of girls, every girls that you want, she will be your girlfriend, and I guess you want Taeyeon too huh? That is why…because of your jealousy you increase this price? Do you have any idea that not all of us have a wealthy parents to give us this kind of money??? I worked my off in my part time job so that Suho and Sehun here are not covering all the money that we have to give to you using their parents’ money!! Yet now you are increasing it even more, stop playing us like this!”

It seems that Chanyeol’s words has ignite the anger in Kyuhyun because he is about to step forward to lay his hands on Chanyeol but he is being stopped by Baekhyun who is holding on to his wrist,

Kyuhyun: “What do you think you’re doing? I need to teach him some lesson in manner! I offer you guys a way in getting your friends into this school yet this stupid boy blabber out some non-sense with his mouth and accusing me of those things!”

Baekhyun: “Calm down hyung, my friend here is really tired and he doesn’t know what he is talking about. He is just upset, I hope that you can forgive him hyung….we will agree to your demand…but you need to give us more time. You were telling us that you can get it done in a month right? So that our friends won’t be lagging behind in terms of their study? Give us 2 months two make the full payment, but you have to still finish their papers in a month. We will give you half when the papers are ready and the rest will be ready in another month. Let them enter our school first and if we fail to pay you, then you are more than free to kick them out of the school.”

Kyuhyun: “See? I love a more education conversation like this unlike with your friend over there. Very well then, there is no reason not to trust you. I can find you all in this school anyway if you don’t fulfill the payment within 2 months…and please keep this one in the leash. If he keeps telling people about that kind of fake rumors, he will end up in trouble, just saying, haha….”

He walks away from Chanyeol and his friends and it seems that Chanyeol is keep staring at him in a very cold way and Suho scolds him for it,

Suho: “Come on, get a grip of yourself, he just doubled the price again and if you keep that kind of attitude do you want him to double it again?”

Chanyeol: “But he was being unfair, I exactly know why he did it to us.”

Suho: “Then shouldn’t we be angry at you and Jongin then? If what you are saying is true, it means that you two are the cause of this….do I look like I am angry to you even now?”

Chanyeol: “……………………”

Suho: “Yeah, so you need to calm yourself down and we better figure this out together. What you are saying is true and if you like that girl, I don’t even care if you keep going after her even if Kyuhyun hyung really likes her, I don’t care any of that, now out of all of us, the parents with the financial power to cover this are only mine and Sehun’s, the rest of you just contribute all you can, we won’t blame you and don’t think that this cause is stupid. Those 6 friends are counting on us, they are not here just to join our group and perform together, we know them well and remember our memories with them…so we all need to calm down and figure this out…can you do that Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol: “Yes…I guess I can….”

Suho: “Good, now Baek here has a good suggestion to extend the length of the payment…50 Million Won is a lot but we are not going to falter because of it. We might have to strike an agreement with our parents for this…I won’t ask money from my dad, but instead I will loan this money from him and I will repay him back in the future…I believe if the 12 of us are together, we can be more than just an underground group, we can go mainstream and we can be signed by a huge entertainment company and by that time, repaying the loan to my parents are not going to be as much troubled as we are now, do you all agree with me?”

The rest of EXO: “YES!”

Suho: “Good…now let’s plan for the performance first, OUR performance first. The performance with that new student can comes later because we need to discuss things with her…come on boys, let’s go to the studio to practice some more.”

As they walk toward the bus station, Chanyeol is wondering whether that surge of emotion comes because he feels that Kyuhyun is playing with them in the deal that they have in place or is it because that he suspected that Kyuhyun is attracted to Taeyeon. At that moment Chanyeol himself is not sure which one of those two that describe his real feeling about this but at the moment he needs to focus on the group practice first. He is not worrying too much about what he thinks about Taeyeon right now, especially that he remembered about Yuri’s warning to him on the message that he read earlier in the morning.

Meanwhile on the other side of the school, the workshop for the club activities are still held today and Taeyeon just finalized her enrollment in the drama club while leaving her other option left open for now at least. Yuri already asked her whether she wants to hang out together with Tiffany and without hesitation she told her that she wants to. The three of them are now walking together exiting the school gate as they go toward the nearby bubble tea café near the school and after getting their drinks, all three of them sits together and Tiffany starts the conversation,

Tiffany: “So before we talk more about our performance, I want to apologize for being so rude…I know that you must be pissed off at me about that prank…I’m sorry…I know Yuri must told you already about my group and my reputation at school and I think It’s not going to serve me to do the same thing in high school, I’m sorry Taeyeon.”

Taeyeon: “Yeah okay, it doesn’t matter, I know that I am a new student and things like that are expected…I forgive you already.”

Yuri: “Okay if you two are okay about it already I suggest that we don’t talk about it that much.”

Tiffany: “Yeah sure…so have you got any plan in performing?”

Taeyeon: “Yes, a singing duet performance with you, I don’t want any dancing or playing any instruments, just focus on singing…I have a feeling that you are a good singer.”

Tiffany: “You should hear me singing first before judging me…but yeah I will admit that I am a good singer, hehe…”

Taeyeon: “So….since there is only the three of us here, do you mind if I ask you something Tiffany? It is a bit of a sensitive question though.”

Tiffany: “What is it?”

Taeyeon: “What happened between you and Chanyeol?”

Yuri: “Uh……..”

Tiffany: “That’s okay…it’s good that she asked me instead of asking him, I don’t know what kind of reaction that he will give if you ask him about this, he probably going to flip out or something.”

Yuri: “Are you sure that you are fine to talk about this Fany?”

Tiffany: “Yes, I might as well tell her, since she is new to us, everyone in the school probably know about this anyway, since it happen on middle school. So you want to know about it?”

Taeyeon: “If you are fine in telling me a story about this then I would love to hear it from you.”

Tiffany: “So one day during the first year of middle school, we have a parents day festival, that is the day where all parents of the students in our school from 1^st grade to 3^rd grade are going to attend a festival created by the school and some of the students will perform on the stage, pretty much similar to what our school is going to have for the principal’s farewell event.

Taeyeon: “Okay so what happened on that event?”

Tiffany: “So even though that not everyone required to perform, there is this part of the festival where a video will be played on the stage and all of the students recorded their greetings and say things about their parents or what they want to say to their parents. At that time I and Chanyeol are friends, even though we aren’t really close with each other he likes to joke around with me and at that time I am getting to know some of the girls in our group now, so definitely it is a time where I am getting to know everyone in school.”

Taeyeon: “Okay and then what happened?”

Tiffany: “So in order for that video to be compiled, two students are assigned in each classes to record all the students’ footage and at that time, Chanyeol and I are not in the same class, but the student that is assigned on his class to take the footage is happen to be Jessica, who of course I am in bad terms with her now but back then she was one of my best friends and I asked a favor from her. Because the recording are to be done after the school, I asked her to lend her camera that is assigned to her to me so I can interview him. Of course Jessica just accepts it because it doesn’t really matter whether the student is going to be interviewed by someone from another class so yeah I went and interview him, but the thing is…Jessica doesn’t tell anyone else about it and neither did I….”

Taeyeon: “Isn’t that good?”

Tiffany: “For the sake of not getting scolded by the teachers…yes it is good…unfortunately I forget something…even though it is the time where everyone is getting to know everywhere because it is only around 2-3 months in since the school began, me and Jessica aren’t exactly friendly with everyone, especially the boys, because there are a few students that asked us out but we rejected them and sometimes we did it in a very mean way but we thought that we were just having fun at that time.”

Taeyeon: “Okay I still don’t get the connection between this and Chanyeol?”

Tiffany: “So three days before the event, there are three different people that is in charge of editing and compiling all the footage and at that time, Jessica just have to taunt the person that is in charge of editing the video in the class because she rejected him. She told her, ‘Oh well, this must be fate that you are the one editing the video for me…please take care of my video so well and maybe you can have a chance with me…or with Tiffany….oh wait…who am I kidding? I’m pretty sure everyone in this video would stand a better chance than you! Hehehe…’ That’s pretty much her words to that boy.”

Taeyeon: “Oh wow…no wonder…I thought that either of you two will be the one that pay the consequences because of it….”

Tiffany: “We never thought about it that way back then…so…yeah…the stupid thing is…the only boy that is in Jessica’s camera file? It’s only Chanyeol, she went on to interview all girls except for him so this boy who really hates us watch the footage and he recognized my voice instantly and also thinking that this is Jessica’s video and her words to him before, he asked around about Chanyeol and somehow he found out that I like him. This boy is a 2^nd grader, so he is an oppa for us, it’s easy for him to ask around in school to the 1^st grader. So weird enough, I got a call from the school’s journalism section they told me that want are interviewing the 1^st grader and ask about their impression about this school, but the truth is…that oppa set me up so that he is able to get a recording of my voice….and also Chanyeol’s voice. This oppa is an expert in graphic design and programming so he and a couple of his friends that hated us…well…did something quite bad.”

Yuri: “I still remember it correctly until now….that memory…oh God….”

Taeyeon: “What happened?”

Tiffany: “During the festival, it is time for that video to be played, strange enough my greeting video isn’t tampered by any reason whatsoever and when it comes to Jessica’s class, she is safe too…but when it is Chanyeol’s turn….sigh….his parents and his older sister were there in the festival with him. Usually the video of a student would show the interview with that student’s face talking without the interviewer are shown, but somehow….during Chanyeol’s turn…it is entirely different. There is an opening title of the video, ‘Only for Chanyeol, created by Tiffany and assisted by Jessica’ and at that moment on I have a bad feeling about it. He somehow managed to edit Chanyeol’s voice so his greeting video would be like this, ‘Hi, this is Chanyeol and I am making this video for the festival. My father is working hard in the office, pretty much as his boss’ lapdog, doing everything he can to his boss’ in order to get a promotion then of course our family financial condition is not getting better so it is more humiliating to see that my mother also working at home…using a camera in her laptop to show her body to people on the internet to earn money….my sister and is really burdened and the payment of this school is really giving us a hard time.’ After that disgusting fake interview finished then a clip of me laughing and smiling is shown and in the end, she uses a real clip of me during my interview with the school’s journalism staff, ‘Hi everyone! I hope that you enjoy this hot news! SM Middle School, fighting!’ and I can’t do anything to stop it….”

Taeyeon: “Oh wow…….that is so horrible….”

Tiffany: “I quickly run toward the backstage and I immediately destroyed the laptop that is used to play the video on-stage because I am afraid that there will be more ridiculous footage is shown but the damage is done, all the parents and the teachers and students that are attending the festival quickly talk among themselves and they are looking at Chanyeol and his family with a weird stare. His mother and sister are crying and his dad are quickly escorting them out of the school but Chanyeol who is clearly shocked and angry, run toward me and I remember his face back then….he stared at me like I am the most disgusting person in the world and he told me, ‘You stupid girl! I trusted you!!! I thought that you want to interview me because you want to be close with me even though you were in the other class…I thought you are making that effort in order to be close to me!! But all that just to humiliate me??? You are a DISGUSTING human being, you, Jessica and other girls that are your friends in this school, disgusting, you make me sick!! Everyone here that talked about my family after they saw that make me sick and it is all because of YOU! I don’t want to see your face again ever! Go to hell!!’ after that he pushes me until I fell on my back and since that day he is never the same again. I tried telling him that it was not me that did that but he didn’t want to talk to me. In the end, the frustration turning me into someone that I am not. I and Jessica find the oppa that did this and we pretend that we like him and take pictures of us with him while ing our shirts because we told him that we are grateful that he helped get rid of Chanyeol from our lives, he bought it so bad unaware that in a matter of seconds, the teachers and school’s staffs stormed the class that we were in and we immediately fake our tears and told them that oppa are going to us and he is kicked out of school ad sentenced for community service. The rest…well…I don’t think I need to tell you because there are nothing important about my middle school days.”

Taeyeon: “That is all one big misunderstanding….but I can understand why Chanyeol is really angry at you…but he at least should have listened to your explanation.”

Tiffany: “Yes he should but I don’t blame him for it….I guess I was mean to a lot of guys back then, that is why I became a matchmaker in the school and instead of targeting boys, we targeted girls…which of course is unacceptable as well…sigh…I don’t know…”

Taeyeon: “What if….I helped you to talk this out with him? I didn’t know him well but he seems to be able to talk with me comfortably, who knows that he might just listen to me?”

Tiffany: “I don’t know but I don’t think that it would work though.”

Taeyeon: “You never know until you try right? I’ll try to do this…but there is something that I want you to do if I manage to get you and Chanyeol to be friends again.”

Tiffany: “What do you want me to do?”

Taeyeon: “Stop harassing other students, be it boys or girls…you have a group and I think you can utilize it for a better purpose….if I manage to solve things between you and him…let’s be friends and I will join your group…but only if you agree that you won’t do everything that you have been doing all this time….”

Yuri: “Wow…that is unexpected Taeyeon….why are you asking of this from her?”

Taeyeon: “Because I think she is a kind girl inside….I am not a mind-reader or a paranormal expert but I can see that she is actually a really nice girl and someone that is really care to her friends…it’s just that…she is lost now….because of that incident with Chanyeol…and I believe once that is taken care of…the dark side of your heart will be lifted…and you will be enjoy school more, Tiffany and who knows…maybe we can work together to make this school even more prosper that it already is…”

Tiffany: “Taeyeon…..”

Yuri: “Tiffany please don’t be mad at her, she is just trying to be nice to…uhh….”

Spontaneously Tiffany holds Taeyeon’s right hand and she immediately let tears coming out of her eyes and she smiles at her,

Tiffany: “Thank you….please help me….I’ll do anything to be able to talk with him again…..all these years are killing me so bad….Please…help me…I will do anything that you want….just help me….please…”

Taeyeon smiles at her as she holds her hand back and she rubs Tiffany’s arm in order to console her. Yuri is really surprised for Taeyeon to suggest this because she thought that she has some sort of interest with Chanyeol herself. Tiffany who of course is a stubborn person herself surprises Yuri with her reaction to what Taeyeon said to her. Yuri is actually happy that Tiffany want to open herself up to Taeyeon like this, she already can see how Taeyeon will be someone’s special in this school. She already manage to change one of the most stubborn person in this school and there is this little jealousy inside of Yuri because she has been friends with Tiffany for such a long time. Yuri feels that she always tried to convince Tiffany stop with her antics but she always failed, but Taeyeon, only a few days in this school already manage to convince to do so. Yuri feels a little bit down about it but she of course knows that the important thing is to make Tiffany be like she was before, maybe Jessica will warm up to her again, who knows….but the most interesting for Yuri is…how is the relationship between Tiffany, Taeyeon and Chanyeol will develop. It is interesting.

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Sorry for the late delay of updating this chapter...if you follow my other story I explained how I got sick again and a bit stressed out with the hectic activities that I went through for the past few weeks so I decided to take it slow in updating the chapters because I dont't want to rush things and unable to put out a well written story for you as the reader of my story.

It will be like this for the next few weeks so I hope that my story will be long enough for you to wait patiently for the next update, hehe...

Oh there is no Minho and Sulli in this chapter and it has nothing to do with Sulli's revealed relationship, her relationship won't matter at all in her involvement in this story, don't worry. They will be back on the next chapter. Thanks guys!