*Two days later

“Is the project going well with Robot Panda?” Amber asks at the beginning of their second class; this class is their only one where they’re all together.

“Yeah, today we have it fourth period or something like that and we’re starting the slideshow today.” Victoria says, “What about you?” She asks Luna and Krystal who both shrug.

“Josh asked me about you.” Luna rolls her eyes.

“What’d he ask you about?” She asks.

“If you were dating anyone else, asked that about ten times.” She says.

“Did he not believe you or something?” Sulli asks. Luna shrugs.

“Chen did too, but only once. He asked if you were alright and I said you were fine.” Krystal says.

“Chen’s nice, he took the break-up well, and he became your friend as well, right?” Amber asks.

“Yes.” Victoria smiles. She looks around the room to see him on the other side of the classroom, he turns his head and sees her. He gives her a bright smile, she smiles back.

Tao sees Chen smiling at someone, he follows his gaze and sees Victoria smiling back at him, just a friendly smile but it makes him slightly jealous, why can't she smile at him like that? Because you act like a freaking robot, that’s why! He tells himself. Should he try being nicer? He tried a few times but it only actually works with his friends, not with anyone else, especially other girls. Well, he used to be nice all the time, but then after her, he turned bitter and cold.

If he wanted to be nicer, the question was how? Smile at the girls he would usually ignore, too much, joke around with his friends, maybe, what about—

“Dude, you’re staring at Victoria, stop before everyone else notices.” Xiumin says.

“What?” He asks confused, he was? “I was just thinking about a project.” He mutters. Xiumin rolls his eyes.

“Yeah right.” He whispers. Tao scowls and mock punches him in the arm, maybe a bit harder than he meant to, don’t lie to yourself, you meant to hit him hard.

Class ends and Victoria is packed up in about thirty seconds.

“Hurry Krystal, you’re so slow.” She teases.

“I’m going as fast as I can.” The maknae grumbles, “How come you’re so fast?” She asks picking up her bag.

“I guess you can call it a gift.” Victoria grins, “What was your project about again?” She asks.

“How a book is written, the first person view, second person, and so on. We’re talking about which is the best way and why but it’s mostly about opinion. We also look at how popular books were written and if that played a role in that book becoming more famous, apart from the plot of course.” She explains.

“That’s a good topic.” Victoria says.

“No, I’m late!” Tao curses and runs out the classroom not looking where he’s going. He’d been reading again and lost track of time, it was only until Xiumin had to bring him back on track again.

He hates being late, he always feels embarrassed and he hates being under time pressure. That’s why he always does his work quickly so that he has no pressure and can relax.

He speeds up but then runs into something knocking it to the ground. The first thing that hit him was a fruity smell, cherry? Strawberry? Irrelevant. He just ran into a person and knocked them to the ground, probably a girl. He opens his eyes and the girl he ran into is Victoria, oh great, he thinks. His heart is pounding in his chest, what is this? Stop it, he tells his heart.

Her eyes portray shock, irritation, and when (probably) she realises it’s him her eyes get a slightly cold edge to them. He opens his mouth to apologize but then makes the decision to get off her and quickly run to his next class, smooth, Zitao, smooth, he inwardly groans, he should’ve apologized.

Victoria had just taken her books out of her bag to see if she had them all when the person ran into her sending the books flying, she landed hard on one of them with her arm, that’ll leave a bruise, she thought. She opened her eyes to see that it was Tao that had run into her.

His eyes are wide and he’s very still. God he’s heavy, she inwardly groans but her heart quickens as she holds his gaze, stupid heart, stop this! Then he gets up but doesn’t help her up, I can accept that, but will he apologize? She thinks but as soon as she finishes that thought he runs off down the hall, I knew it, she sighs disappointed.

“Are you okay?” Krystal asks holding out her hand. Victoria takes it and is pulled up but immediately groans, wrong arm, “That jerk.” She scowls in the direction Tao was running to.

She picks her books up with Kystal’s help and they go to class. The class goes by relatively quickly and about five minutes before it ends Victoria realises that her next class is with Tao for the project, she looks at her arm and sees a big red mark on it, stupid panda.

Should I apologize or not? Tao runs his hands through his hair. That had been the question running through his mind the whole time, she already thinks you’re a jerk so it probably won't help.

Yeah but what if I don’t apologize and then she’ll think I’m even more of a jerk, he tells the voice in his head.

Just say sorry about running into her and for not saying anything, you were in a rush and you didn’t see her, the sensible part of his head says. Now he knew how he was going to apologize, he knew when: next class, but the real question was, could he do it? It shouldn’t be a hard thing to do but somehow it is for him, how did that song go? Sorry is the hardest word? No wait, sorry seems to be the hardest word, a very fitting phrase for him. It’s one word, two syllables, what was so hard about that? Oh yeah, making it sound genuine. He’s already a cold person so making something sound like he was really sorry (which he was, he had a lump of guilt in his throat) would be a challenge, this is a girl you knocked over so for once in this robotic state of yours be kind!

Class ends and he gets out of his seat quickly and makes his way to the next class. He looks in the classroom, he’s one of the first ones there, on the board it says: Get in your pairs. That should be easy, he just has to sit in his usual spot. With a few minutes to spare, he takes out his book and starts to read while still worrying about how he’ll apologize to Victoria.

“Good afternoon class, put away your stuff and get to work on your project!” The teacher brings Tao out of his book. He closes it and puts it in his bag, he looks next to him and sees Victoria silently writing in her notebook. He takes his laptop out and opens the PowerPoint they started.

“So, which slide should we work on first?” He asks.

“You choose.” She says.

“Fantasy then.” He says clicking on the slide. They work for a bit, Tao notices that her left arm is still at her side, which is weird, she usually always moves it while she writes. He looks a little closer and sees a bright red mark on her arm, was that from the fall? The lump of guilt in his throat grows slightly, “That mark on your arm, was it from the fall?” He asks.

His voice surprises Victoria, it doesn’t have any of the cold or bored tone it usually has, “Oh this? Uh…” She’s not sure whether she should say yes or no.

“I’m sorry for knocking into you, I was in a hurry and I wasn’t looking where I was going. I’m also sorry for not apologizing immediately, as I said, I was in a hurry.” He says.

She’s silent, did that not come out right? He thinks nervously, hang on, since when am I nervous?! He hasn’t been nervous in ages, what was happening? “It’s fine.” She says not cold for once, “Let’s continue with the project.” She says pulling the laptop to the middle of the table.