[Sera]

The past few days have been rather peaceful.

Kang Heesun would occasionally steal glances at me and whenever she could, I would earn myself glares from that shameless girl. And when I meant by ‘whenever she could’, those glares only happened when the boys aren’t around me.

Shameless as she was, she would still continue to try and flirt with the boys but none of them showed any signs of interest and to her chagrin, they don’t even bother to look or acknowledge her. And, even Kai, the most playboy-ish of them all, didn’t even knew she existed until the day she latched herself onto him like a parasite.

Let’s just say she went home crying instead of revealing the truth that she got thrown onto the floor and Kai spat at her for her audacity.

Do I feel sorry for her at all? Nope, and probably never.

The twelve of them still follow me around in school and Jieun likens my situation to an owner with twelve loyal puppies.

“They’re so protective of you! C’mon Sera, I won’t believe you if you said that you don’t like even one of them.”

Sometimes I think I’m better off without a friend. I’m kidding. I love Jieun to bits now.

Every morning, noon, and evening, I would be whisked off (without being consulted) for meals with them. Jieun would join us for the lunches in the canteen and I couldn’t help but notice how her eyes always seem to flit to a certain one amongst them.

I’d like to play cupid, but then again who am I to assume that she likes that boy. And, whatever happened to my motto ‘Stay out of trouble’. Sighs.

They are pleasant to be with; gorgeous and courteous. I still ain’t gonna say that they’re thoughtful when I’m still be taken away against my will. Tch. After being with them for about a couple of days, I felt strangely at ease. I was comfortable and I could converse with them easily, though they would constantly need to prompt me for sometimes I didn’t feel like talking.

Sure you might think that being with the most gorgeous boys in school would have its perks — sense of security, protection, eye candies, blah blah blah. But there are cons too, and I swear sometimes I regretted agreeing to Yixing-oppa’s request.

“Yixing-oppa, could you pass me the napkins?”

“Yeah sure, here you go.”

“Sera.” A deep voice boomed from across the pavilion. “W-What did you just call Yixing-hyung…?”

I looked up from my messed-up ham sandwich where mayonnaise was dripping out of it and was surprised to see eleven dumbfounded faces. Yixing-oppa was biting on his lower lip and pointedly avoided my eyes.

“Uh… Yixing-oppa…?”

“I KNEW IT.”

“I thought I heard it wrongly, OH MY GOD.”

“Sera! How could you! You should have called me oppa first…”

“Now now, Baekhyun-hyung, don’t be so sad. You should only be when she calls me oppa first.”

“Shuddup Kai!”

And the park instantaneously buzzed with loud requests and pleas.

Yep, so now I have to (read: was forced to) drop the formalities. And of course, after kindly (read: grossly) calling them ‘oppas’, the twelve of them got even more clingy towards me.

I solemnly swear I would murder Chanyeol and Baekhyun one day.

Seriously, those two beagles are the epitome of annoyance and irritation. Shooting me blinding smiles, sending me flying kisses whenever Yixing-oppa isn’t around, scooping me into their arms without bloody consulting me, and pinching my cheeks. Let me clarify that Do Sera’s cheeks are not for pinching.

Usually, Jongdae-oppa would be the one to initiate conversations with me and when things were getting lively, Yixing-oppa would appear or when they made eye contact, Jongdae-oppa would whimper and awkwardly bid me goodbye before trudging over to a guffawing Luhan-oppa. Weird, definitely weird.

But nothing, I repeat, nothing is weirder than that boy named Zitao. Remember those times when he was being all hostile towards me and he blamed me for ruining his oh-so-mighty reputation?

I wish I could go back to those times.

Right now, out of the twelve of them boys, he is the most clingy, most ‘lovesick’ (in Jieun’s words) one of them all. Talk about a sudden change of attitude. In that morning after the dinner with them, that boy stopped glaring at me and instead, he smiled brightly at me. And he ruffled my hair and called me ‘mei-mei’ in which I learnt from Yixing-oppa that it meant younger sister in Mandarin.

Dear God, I want his hostility back.

But if there’s one thing I don’t want it back, it would be the cold and broken eyes Yixing-oppa used to have.

He and I clicked off rather well…? I don’t know how to describe the feeling that I have whenever I’m with him. Secure? Warm? Comfortable? It is like a mixture of them all but I can safely say that out of the twelve of them, I like him the best. Wait. What?!

Though I am curious about one more…

“Damn it, I ran out of washing powder. Ugh.”

It was Sunday. Having had my breakfast (without the boys for once, phew), I did some cleaning in my room. And when I was about to dump my clothes into the basin to hand wash, I decided to check the box of washing powder only to realise how light and empty it was.

Darn, I had better head out to get some.

Throwing the empty box into the bin, I stepped out into my room and walked towards my wardrobe. Flinging the doors open, I put on an oversized shirt and a pair of sweatpants. I grabbed my wallet and was about to sweep my hair into a ponytail when someone knocked sharply on my door.

Please don’t tell me it’s the boys again.

I ignored the knock and continued to tie my hair.

“Sera! O-Do Sera! Don’t you dare to ignore me! Open up now if not your neighbouring dorm mates will wake up from the noise I am making!”

Curse you Byun Baekhyun! I let out a silent roar of annoyance before traipsing across the room to open the door.

“What do you want?” I folded my arms and shot him the most irritated frown I could muster.

“Please don’t tell me you’re going out,” His eyes gave me look-over and if my arms weren’t folded, the poor boy might just be on the ground right then. “In what you’re wearing?”

“So what if I am? Is there a problem? It’s not as if I’m going out with you.”

“Oh, but you are.” A grin formed on his face and I noticed that he had applied eyeliner, again. Seriously, what is with you and eyeliner!? “Now, go put on something nice and you better come out in ten minutes.”

“And why should I?”

Gesturing to the empty hallway, he smirked and opened his mouth. I knew what that jerkwad was going to do.

“Alright, alright. You win.” I glared at him as he shut his mouth but that smirk remained.

“Good girl! Now go!” He whirled me around and pushed me back into my room. The door shut behind me and I came face-to-face with my wardrobe once again. Why am I even listening to him?

With a resigned sigh, I removed the clothes on me and put on a white tank top, faded denim shorts and tightly tied a red checkered shirt around my waist. Having laced up my red Converse highcuts, I retied my hair into a messy bun. I reopened the door and the boy was nowhere to be seen.

“If he wanted me to be on time, he should have at least waited. Tch.” I locked my door and had just kept my key when someone pulled my hand and I found myself being dragged along the hallway.

“Wonderful, milady. You are on time! Now let’s go, the others are waiting.”

And just when I thought this Sunday would be peaceful, I was being whisked away to who-knows-where against my will AGAIN.

In the car, Baekhyun-oppa kept his mouth shut. After asking twice of our destination, I gave up when he pointedly ignored me. Fine, be that way.

The car, a gorgeous Audi R8 Coupé, sped through the streets of Seoul and after I spotted the nth number of traffic lights, I dozed off.

“-era. Sera!” Someone shook me and while yawning, I automatically stretched my arms above my head like I always do after I wake up. My right arm hit something and someone yelped.

“I’ve almost forgotten that you’re one of u-” That someone mumbled under his breath and my eyes flew open to see Baekhyun-oppa rubbing his reddening nose.

“Oh, I-I’m so sorr-” I began to apologise but stopped short when a mischievous smirk crept onto his face. “Nope, I am not sorry at all.” And I slapped his arm while he laughed.

“Hang tight. I’ll open the door for you.” He smoothly slid out of his seat and my door soon opened. Rejecting his extended hand, I stepped out of the car and was fairly shocked to see five boys leaning against a black car. All of them glanced up and cue music from the one and only drama I ever watched (ie. Paradise from Boys over Flowers). And no, I would never visualise flower petals falling from the sky because excuse you, we were in a multi-storey car park surrounded by cement pillars and ceilings.

Definitely no flowering trees for pretty petals to fall from.

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