Between the small gaps that separated the crowd as every person collides shoulders with hesitant halts in thought of alternate free-pathway routes, Kyungsoo scans around the area with a time table, wrinkled and creased from his tight grasp and nervous pinching. He had been doubtfully hoping that he would be somewhat calmer with the few people who would roam in the main entrance hall. There would be no more than ten to twenty people walking around, talking amongst a small group of friends or occupying themselves with personal technology devices, but the pushes and shoves of eager peers that made his sweat bead at his forehead proved him wrong. The sour taste stuck to the tip of his tongue, so pressing it against the roof of his mouth, he clamped his lips shut. The distance of two feet was probably the furthest he could go in the span of one minute, and he immediately regrets not coming an hour early, but thirty minutes late instead.

            He crosses his fingers tightly, anticipating the moment where Luhan and Baekhyun would come in and save the day, but second and fourth years were scheduled to start classes later in the week. So broodily, Kyungsoo waits quietly and nervously, rocking back and forth not only to find some sort of composure, but to secretly tip toe to see over high shoulders.

            He considers getting a schedule change for late night classes rather than day, but the line looks almost unmoving. He moves quickly anyways, hiding between two others who are too immersed in their cell phones to worry about the time.

            It’s as if there’s someone keeping their eye on him, forcing him to keep his gaze on the floor, but it isn’t long before he moves his eyes upward to ahead of the line where he finds a familiar face. They’re staring back with a monotone expression, eventually looking left and right before waving a hand towards him in attempt to call Kyungsoo over. Kyungsoo looks around to see if anyone’s paying attention before zooming over and cutting in line behind the blank boy.

            “It would have taken hours for you if you were still back there,” the boy says, turned to the side with a notebook in hand. “I’m glad I saw you when I did.”

Kyungsoo smiles with thanks him with a nod.

Oh Sehun never was one to talk a lot, and the two weren’t exactly close, but Kyungsoo knows that he and Luhan have had a thing going on for years. It seemed like Sehun became his personal guardian once they met, and it was weird considering that he was a high school student dating a first year in college, but Kyungsoo never really minded- especially when they all officially began hanging out. It would be Luhan’s last year of college, but age never really did apply dating-wise past the age of eighteen.

He remembers when Luhan had been too bedridden to be able to take care of the shop in the spring of three years past, disappearing off the face of the earth for a good two weeks before returning with excellent health, a bright face and a unexpressed boy behind him with a close distance. He eventually began to talk, and although it wasn’t much, it was enough for him to be trustable. That was before Minseok returned from his trip to China.

Kyungsoo reaches for his phone, holding his schedule carefully between his plump lips and checks the time. It’s nearing lunch, and he has yet to even get to the front of the line.

“Luhan…he offered to take me out to lunch after registration was finished.” Sehun muttered. “It’s up to you if you want to come along, but…”

“Oh,” he replies, removing the paper from his mouth, a bit surprised. “That’s… I think I’m okay. I have some things to do back at home, so,” he shrugs. He links his fingers together and shifts his weight. “You know…Thanks for asking, though?”

Sehun eyes him for a second, but eventually nods, pressing his lips together to form a frown. He turns back around, and the line moves forward.

“That’s too bad…” he says lowly, rubbing his arm. Kyungsoo keeps his mouth shut.

The line moves forward again, and Sehun looks back to Kyungsoo with a small smile before heading to one of the booths. Waiting patiently, he checks his schedule one more time before someone calls the next person in line.

He trots up to the third booth quickly, pulling out his ID and handing it over to the adviser along with his changing request. She looks up at him before highlighting the courses on the paper and logging it onto another.

“Psychology on Saturday nights? Are you sure?”

Kyungsoo smiles awkwardly. “I have nothing to do…on weekends.”

She stamps the paper once, then once again. “No friends to hang out with? There are barely any other people taking that class, you know.”

“My…My friends are busy on the weekends with their classes, so…” He shuffles his feet.  “And I can focus better with less people…”

The adviser hums and nods, handing Kyungsoo back his schedule. “Good luck. I look forward to seeing you again this year, mister Do.”

Nodding in return with a slight bow, he looks around at the other booths for Sehun if he were still going over his courses, but after seeing no sign of him, he starts slinking past the other people in attempt to find the nearest exit. Finally at the entrance, he sighs heavily and trots towards the door.

Calling his name from afar and waving his hands, Luhan attracts Kyungsoo’s attention just as he’s about to turn the corner. He walks up to him quickly, wiping his forehead from sheen sweat. Luhan’s mouth hangs open, a personal habit of his, and he shoots a quick glance at Sehun as well.

“Kyungsoo!” he breathes, slouching forward. “You, uh, did you…Did you not want to eat with us?”

Kyungsoo opens his mouth to say something, but is troubled when he can’t find much of an excuse. “I don’t have any money,” he replies, looking as regretful as possible. Just as Luhan’s about to speak again about what might be ‘I can pay for you,’ Kyungsoo quickly thinks of another excuse. “A-And! And, I have some food at home that I wanted to finish before it got bad, so…”

“Ah…” Luhan nods slowly. “But…Don’t you at least want us to drive you home?” he laughs nervously.

By this point, Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. “I live down the street…You’d literally drive for…not even that long…”

“I mean…We can walk you home…and…”

Sehun tugs on Luhan’s sleeve who’s acting way too anxious for his own good, and Kyungsoo can’t put a finger on why. “I’m fine…” he mumbles, turning around and starting his way home before the older could try and convince him any further. Luhan reaches out, only to be stopped by Sehun, and Kyungsoo ignores the two as they talk amongst themselves lowly, still keeping an eye on him.

As soon as Kyungsoo knew he was out of sight, he sighed again and walked at a calmer pace as he made his way home.

--

            Within two weeks, Kyungsoo had gotten used to his new schedule, glad that he didn’t have too many classes to work with. It allowed him to work on most weekdays, giving him enough money to last with just enough food appropriate for him and nothing else. Every now and then, Baekhyun and Chanyeol would have some free time, but most of the time, their conversations were held at work when customers were scarce. Luhan and Sehun would often tag along as well, but their constant worries about Kyungsoo confused him a lot.

            Just the other day, Kyungsoo remembered how Luhan kept asking him if he was eating healthy enough. Kyungsoo nods, confessing that he eats at least two meals a day, but Luhan shook his head repeatedly. “That’s no good,” he said, digging through his wallet. “Here. These are two prepaid cards. I’m not telling you how much is on these babies, but make sure you buy yourself some breakfast every now and then, alright?”

            Kyungsoo’s too shocked to even decline the offer, and even Baekhyun and Chanyeol have their mouths gaped open, but eventually, he’s forced to keep the money. He tucks it in his phone case and thanks Luhan, to which he replies with a bright smile and a thumbs up.

            Sehun is oddly quieter than he already was, often distracted and looking away from the group. The weird behavior coming from the two is enough to make Kyungsoo uncomfortable to the point where he begins trying his best to avoid them as best as possible.

            Sooner or later, Minseok tells them to get back to work in time for “high school student happy-hour.”

--

            On the fourth day of his psychology class, Kyungsoo unconsciously learns that his professor Kim Joonmyun has a fiancé named Kim Jongdae who just so happens to work at the small thrift clothing shop across the street from the café. It also turns out that Jongdae was close friends with Minseok back in college, and Kyungsoo officially began to believe that the world was indeed what some people call ‘small’.

            Joonmyun is one of the youngest instructors in the university, if not the literal youngest, but whenever hopeless and desperate college girls come up to him with their flirtatious looks and choke-inducing perfume, he simply holds up his left hand and flashes his ring finger with a smirk. Taken aback and left heart-broken, the girls would pretend they never saw him walking down the hallways, speaking not once when in his presence ever again. That actually happened.

            His structure is also relatively smaller, generally speaking. Kyungsoo studies the interaction between him and Jongdae and unwittingly concludes that Joonmyun, although spitting scolding’s and complaints most of the time, is submissive compared to Jongdae who is a little too insouciant and drowsy for his own good.

            The few students who show up to class that evening already look incredibly drained, and after an hour and a half of lecturing, students already begin to take their leave, rushing out of the class with half-lidded eyes and thin mac books and scruffy blankets. Kyungsoo notes the regret in ninety percent of the student’s eyes as they drift off into a barely conscious state. In the process of the ten minute ‘cooling break,’ as Joonmyun liked to call it, he turns his attention to Jongdae who looks just about ready to pass out himself. He rambles on about how ungrateful some of the students were, complaining about why they would bother to even take evening psychology classes, and Jongdae just nods with his eyes closed and feet perched up atop the front desk. “It’s suicide!” Joonmyun exclaims, throwing his hands up in the air. “It’s making me regret signing up for these damn lessons.”

            Joonmyun huffs and falls back into his swivel chair, angrily scrolling through his cell phone, and eventually, he glances up directly at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo nearly jumps in his seat, having not realized that he’d been staring the whole time, and quickly looks down at his notes with wide eyes and scribbles nonsense onto the paper.

            He considers bolting out of the class right then and there, but he tells himself no. He paid a good deal of money for this class, and there was no way that he would skip out of it any time soon. It was all or nothing, yet he can’t afford to do nothing.

            The rest of class consisted of watching videos about human behavior, and un-ironically switches to cognitive psychology. Joonmyun especially stresses motivation and decision-making aspects of the branch, and Kyungsoo makes himself promise that he won’t leave in the middle of a class possibly ever from the amazing vibes his professor gave off. Joonmyun doesn’t seem intimidating, but he can sure act like it.

            The horrid notes scrawled onto his notebook takes up nearly ten pages after another hour, and Kyungsoo contorts his expression as he presses into the palm of his hand from the pain of gripping the ball point pen a bit too hard. He packs up slowly as everyone else makes it priority to gather their things and leave. Being the last, Kyungsoo slings his bag over his shoulder and begins to walk up the stairs.

            “Kyungsoo,” Joonmyun calls, making him stop in his steps and turn around slowly. “That is your name, is it not?”

            Kyungsoo nods, making his way to the front of the room when he makes a calling motion towards him.

            “Your breakdown on the psychoanalytic theory of personality is excellent,” he says amusedly, “but, from what I’m taking in, it seems as if your ego is…suppressed.”

            Clearing his throat, Kyungsoo drifts his gaze elsewhere. “I like observing rather than acting.” He confesses. Joonmyun nods.

            “I bet you do, but you should really think about yourself a bit more.” he says with a smile, giving him back his paper. “I put some tips on there for you,” Joonmyun then leans in, whispering, “Don’t tell the others. Thanks for actually staying.”

            He presses his lips together with a tight nod and his face flushed, turning on his heels and walking back up the stairs.

            “Tell Minseok I said ‘hi’,” Jongdae calls out with a sheepish grin, and before he knows it, Kyungsoo’s already at home with his face pressed against his firm pillow left with some kind of sense of success.

            --

            Kyungsoo wakes up from the loud ringtone coming from his cellphone and answers it drowsily to which a distressed Luhan nearly yells into the phone.

            “Kyungsoo?!” he gasps. “Are you okay!?”

            Making a grimace, Kyungsoo rubs his eyes. “I’m fine…” he mumbles. “Why are you calling me?”

            “Work started an hour ago! You’re late!”

            “Work?” he questions, removing the phone from his ear to check the time. He screams to himself and immediately wakes up when he finds that three hours had passed since he had decided to take a nap from staying up all night for the sake of his studies. “Work…Work! I-I’ll be there in fifteen!”

            He doesn’t give Luhan the chance to confirm him before he hangs up the phone and dashes towards his closet and throws on his uniform. Within a matter of minutes, he’s finally able to run to the café and make it in time for lunch servings.

--

            Later that night, Kyungsoo is finally able to leave for the day, and he leaves with baggy eyes and whatever was left of his consciousness. He taps the doorbell on his way out, waving to the others who would eventually leave for the day as well, but he starts to think that no one should be this anxiously excited to finally go home by the end of the day. This was probably the best feeling of relief he’d had in a long, long time.

            The sun is just about to set when he pulls out his phone and turns the corner, scrolling through the feed on his social networking sites and checking missed messages from Baekhyun. He’d meant to check it earlier, but he skipped his break in attempt to make up for his missed work hours even though Minseok already excused it.

            The messages kept coming in while Baekhyun was on his break, (or sometimes, while Minseok wasn’t looking,) and he would shake his head towards Kyungsoo and make a texting motion with his thumbs. In return, Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and continued to wipe down counters.

            The street looks clear, so Kyungsoo replies as he’s walking between the horde of people. Baekhyun asks about Luhan and why he’s so worried, and in all honesty, Kyungsoo really doesn’t know. In fact, he plans to ask him why.

            The soles of his feet slide against the gravel with low faint crackling. Accidentally bumping into another person, he apologizes only to be shoved by the people behind him. He panics and looks around frantically when he drops his phone. The people pass by, but he’s so flustered from searching around hopelessly that his vision blurs from the thin coat of tears of embarrassment that well up in his eyes. He thinks that he must look like an idiot, and his eagerness to reach home and hide away becomes even stronger.

            He eventually spots his phone and reaches out to the device on his hands and knees, and when he looks up, he pauses.

            On the sidewalk nearly ten meters in front of him stands a young man without expression. Staring straight at him with his dark eyes, Kyungsoo finds himself captivated and lost in the sharp shade of the street light against his bronze skin, the warm colored sky reflecting off the whites of his eyes. Even through the scream Luhan gives out when he comes running his way with Sehun, he’s unable to move a single muscle in his body because he’s numb.

            “KYUNGSOO!” Luhan screams as Sehun holds him back from stepping foot onto the street. Kyungsoo opens his mouth, but holds his breath in utter confusion and shock. Luhan’s voice cracks and breaks because perhaps he knows what’s going to happen- he’d always known. “KYUNGSOO! KYUNGSOO, LOOK OUT-“

            And maybe the strange boy is actually a sign, because his body is draped in loose black clothing and his ambience is kind of eerie, or magical, but there’s no time to think so desperately. He turns his head, and it feels like forever, but by the time his eyes widened to bright headlights and ears adjusted to loud honking and screaming, Luhan cries once more before everything freezes and the world turns black.

--

            Kyungsoo opens his eyes to find nothing. Everything is bright white and dead silent. He looks around, confused and bewildered, and focuses on the one in front of him. It’s the same young man as before, with the dark hair and perfectly shaped lips, a sharp beautifully sculptured jawline and the same dark, contrasting eyes. Kyungsoo lets out a shaky breath, standing up slowly with weak legs.

            “You’re lucky.” The one in front of him confesses. “If I weren’t there, you wouldn’t be here.”

            “Lucky?” he asks. The other nods.

            “My name is Kai, and I would like to make a deal.” He announces with a smirk. Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows.

            “Deal?”

            “A deal in which I give you another chance to live,” he explains, suddenly next to Kyungsoo with his head turned towards him. It makes Kyungsoo jump, stepping back a couple of steps. “It’s simple.”

            “Another…chance to…live?”

            Kai turns his head the other way to which an image appeared next to him with a blur. “Do Kyungsoo walks across the crosswalk at seven thirty-nine in the afternoon, cellphone in hand.” The image plays the scene of the group crossing the street. “Midst walking, he bumps into other civilians, drops his phone and attempts to reach for it when bam-“

            It happens a lot faster than Kyungsoo had experienced it. It shows the collision of the speeding car against his body, making him cringe at the sight.

            “He gets hit by a car, death on impact.” The screen pauses and Kyungsoo looks back at Kai with terrified eyes.

            “I am here to prevent that from happening, so I now must ask,” he fully faces Kyungsoo. “Do Kyungsoo, are you willing to make a deal with me for another chance at life?”

            “This is so…This is crazy! How can someone give someone another chance to live?” He almost laughs. “This is insane- I’m just dreaming. I’m dreaming.” Kyungsoo lightly slaps his cheeks with hopes of waking up, but nothing happens.

            “You’re insane.” Kai huffs, crossing his arms against his chest. “I take my job seriously, thank you very much.”

            He scrutinizes Kai’s figure and style carefully. “Then what are you?”

            Kai clears his throat. “I am ‘A special being who makes life contracts with people in desperate situations.’ I don’t know. Obviously not a demon. Nor an angel. It’s not really important, anyways.”

            Kyungsoo bites his lip nervously. “What’s the catch…?”

            Kai shakes his head. “No catch. Just simply terms and conditions.”

            “Terms and-“

            “You’re asking way too many questions,” Kai sighs. “It’s on the contract,” he explains, a rolled piece of paper appearing out of thin air. It unrolls as he continues talking. “It basically says that I will let you live again, as long as you are willing to give me a few things in return.”

            Kyungsoo leans forward, examining the contract. “Which is…?”

            Kai smirks again. “Your soul.”

            Kyungsoo stares at him, horrified. Nothing leaves his mouth.

            “But don’t worry,” Kai reassures him. “It’s nothing like those mythical demon contract things. By your soul, I mean I am in charge of what will happen when you actually do die and so on. There won’t be any slavery, (unless I feel like it), no controlling your body, no sacrificing mortals to our ‘Dark Lord and Savior’ (not that there is one), and blah, blah, blah. None of that. So?”

            Kyungsoo calms somewhat, staring at the thin line at the bottom of the paper. A pen appears out of thin air this time, and Kai places it in Kyungsoo’s hand.

            “Sign, sign, sign,” he urges. Kyungsoo cautiously eyes him before signing slowly, and at the moment the pen detaches from the paper, Kai’s hand twists under it, the contract burning from small flames until it’s completely gone and the fire’s glow shimmers in Kai’s eyes. He clenches his fist when the few ashes settle onto the palm of his hand and Kyungsoo feels a tug in his chest, making him lurch forward with a grunt.

            “Excellent! Let’s move on, shall we?”

            With the wave of his hand, the scene around them suddenly morphs back to normal. It goes forward slowly, then rewinds quickly, and Kyungsoo’s standing on the other side of the sidewalk again with Kai on the other.

            He holds the phone in his hand, but this time, he pays attention to the sign, and when it’s time to go, he keeps his eyes on Kai who has a smile on his face. Getting closer, Kyungsoo touches his chest and feels a tight feeling, and he can’t tell if it’s literal or not, but he would guess that there were chains binding it to something.

            Just as he approaches him, Luhan comes running towards him with Sehun behind him.

            “Kyungsoo!” he heaves, touching his face. “Are you okay?!”

            He nods, still trying to process everything. Sehun catches up and stands behind Luhan. He furrows his eyebrows and slowly turns his gaze to Kai who has his eyes on Kyungsoo.

            “Who’s this?” Luhan asks first. He looks to Kyungsoo for answers.

            “He’s…”

            “Kim Jongin,” he says, holding out his hand. “My name is Kim Jongin. I’m Kyungsoo’s new roommate. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

            “Yeah, he’s…” he pauses, but then looks toward him with narrowed eyes. “Wait, you never said-“

            Kai elbows his upper arm, smiling at Luhan and Sehun happily. It doesn’t hurt, but the way he nudged him felt almost like a threat.

            “Well, it’s…good to know that you’re okay…,” Luhan mutters, obviously dazed. Kai extends his arm and wraps it around Kyungsoo’s shoulders.

            “We were actually just about to go home,” Kai coo’s. “You know, long day for him. Yeah, I couldn’t possibly let my precious roommate suffer…any longer…”

            Luhan tilts his head. “Suffer?”

            Kai frowns. “He’s tired…?” he tried. “He called me to come pick him up?”

            Luhan’s confusion softens. “Now that you mention it, he did sleep in today…”

            “Exactly! We will be leaving now,” he says, turning. “Later!”

Kyungsoo looks back and waves helplessly at Luhan who waves back just as confusedly. When they’re far away enough, Kyungsoo pushes away from Kai with a scowl.

            “Jerk,” he mutters, Kai chuckling as they make their way back to the apartment. “You’re lucky most of that was true.”

           Kai hums. “You’re lucky you’re alive.” He says, somewhat repeating his words from earlier. “Who were they, anyways?”

            “Friends.”

            Kai nods. “Friends, huh. They’re an interesting bunch. You know that brunette kid?”

            “Luhan?” Kyungsoo asks. “What about him?”

Kai smiles again.

            “He’s lucky, too.”

This is soooo overly procrastinated sorry im really busy with school.

Also, bad news about luhan today. I'm sure everyone is very upset, but it's for his own good. Hopefully he will continue to go off with Kris.

I'm hoping at this point that exo disbands and comes back together under another company, another name. For their health and freedom.