CHAPTER 032: Exams And Parties    

          "Calm down," Chanyeol grabs the pen in your hand and pulls the notebook to his side and away from you. 

  You look at him in desperation. You need to study!            "Give it back, please," you beg.    Chanyeol shakes his head and smacks your hand when you try to reach for your calculator a second later after he took it from you as well.           "You've been studying nonstop. I think it's enough. Your eyes are gonna fall out and your brain is gonna dry up, Hana."    You roll your eyes and cross your arms across your chest, "That's impossible, unless you're dehydrated because supposedly your body is 90% water but then again-"   Chanyeol puts a hand on your mouth. You frown.            "I get it, I get it. But seriously, stop studying, you're gonna die. Look at yourself!"    You shift uncomfortably from your wooden seat in the school's library. It's true that you haven't stopped studying for a second, but the exams are so close- in 3 days to be exact- and you need to score the highest and become the best. That's just how life works. One needs to work hard to succeed! And this will all pay off at the end. Scholarships don't just happen.    Yet, you're a mess. Your eyes are red from lack of sleep, your hair looks like a birds nest from lack of 'making myself look presentable' time and your hands are shaking from stress. Not to mention the worst part, you got a bunch of pimples from all the stress about studying.   Tao actually volunteered to pop it earlier, but you rejected the idea. On the other hand, Eunsul was much more happy to use his help.           "Since Hana doesn't want to, how about you help me? I got this pimple on my back and I can't reach it."           "Oh, I got you!"            "Don't be rough, Tao. I'll kick your ."   You can pretty much say that Tao has her back when she needs his help! (A/n: I'm so sorry for this pun.)                    "Do I look that bad?" You frown.    Chanyeol nods his head, "Like a zombie."             "Yeah, you're not the only one to tell me that. Also, have you seen my pimples? I wanna die because of them."   Chanyeol rolls his eyes, "Everyone gets pimples, Hana. Sadly, you're getting yours out of stress. Luckily for you, they're not prominent. Maybe you should rest."    You sigh. He's right.             "Do you want me to drop you home in my car today? You'll get home faster than using the public bus, that way you can rest more."    You smile at him, "Thanks, I'd like that." And then you put your head down on the table, taking a nap for a couple of minutes before lunch is over.   Chanyeol smiles and pats your head.           "Good. Either way, I know you'll ace the exams. Like always."    You hum, not really playing attention.    Chanyeol has been around you more often than not and its quite comforting, almost like the old days. You wonder if he is still making up his mind about his feelings towards you or if he already did and is too shy to tell you how he feels yet.    You sigh. He still makes you feel warm inside, but the feeling... The feeling doesn't make you as dizzy anymore. It just makes you blush and feel just a bit of tingles on the tip of your fingers.    Even later as he's dropping you off at home, there's just a comfortable and nostalgic atmosphere.          **********************                "Dinner is ready, come eat," Kris opens your door, not even bothering to knock.           "I'm not hungry," you dismiss him.    He sees you on your bed, sitting down with a calculator on your left hand and a pencil on your right hand, looking down at a thin workbook with scribbles of numbers all over the page.    Next to you are two thick textbooks, the spine of the books reading, "Calculus" and "Literature" and then at the corner of your bed are a bunch of other textbooks and he reads the spine of those- Anatomy, economics and even English, just to name a few. He manages not to gape, but then he notices all the crumpled paper balls on the ground and just can't stay quiet.            "Don't you think you take studying to the extreme?"    You don't look up at him, "Nope."    You're sitting with your legs crossed, wearing a pair of pink shorts and a big black T-shirt, also rocking a very concentrated look on your face. Your hair looks greasy, too. And something tells Kris you haven't had a proper shower in a while. This is also very shocking considering that you're almost a clean freak when it comes to your room and your body. Kris has observed that your school notes look computerized and that you shower like twelve times a day. Which is ridiculous! You're wasting so much water! Don't you care about the environment?             "What about dinner?"            "I said I wasn't hungry."             "You've been saying that all week. When was the last time you ate?"    You still don't look up, "I passed by the fast food place by the school and bought a sandwich."            "When? Two days ago?"    You type in a number in your calculator. "Nope, this morning."    Kris wants to smack you. "A stupid sandwich is not gonna make up for your lack of food intake. You're gonna die if you don't eat."    You make a face and for a second Kris thinks he finally made you snap and get a good reaction out of you and that now you'll finally listen to him but you instead groan out, "! I got number 54 wrong? How?" And then a second of staring at the paper, you say, "Oh, I forgot to round up my answer. A simple and deadly mistake."            "Okay, am I invisible?"    You frown and then look up at him, "I'm sorry, what was it?"    Kris glares at you, irritated. "Nothing. Just come eat dinner. Everyone is waiting downstairs."           "I said I can't, Kris. I'm busy-"   Kris doesn't let you finish as he marches towards you and grabs you like a rag doll, despite you trying to pull away. He grabs your arms first and then your thighs and somehow, you don't even know how, he has you on his shoulder, your face facing his .    After a while of fighting the position, you give up with a sigh, your body too weak and tire to continue. "You're not gonna put me down, are you?"    Kris chuckles, "Nope." And seconds later, he strutting down the stairs while carrying you like a sack of potatoes.    When he enters the dining room, Lucy gasps out, "Oh lord, what are you doing?"    Your dad looks really shocked, along with your mom. Reason why they're so surprised? Well, usually around exam time, you spend so much time studying that you never show your face around, and so having you around is kind of odd.    Lucy's husband Donhyuk, looks really confused, still not used to you two's behavior.    Kris gently puts you down and then pushes you down the dining table seat, making himself comfortable on the seat next to yours.    You sigh, annoyed and defeated. You can't believe you're not studying. The exams are tomorrow! And it's late, which means soon it'll be morning, which means that soon it will also be tomorrow, so tomorrow is basically almost today! Oh my god. You need to study. You try to raise yourself in panic but Kris squeezes your thigh so hard that you feel your bone break. You sit back down in intense temporary pain. "Ouch!" You yell at him.    Your parents are still in shock, so they don't react when Kris threatens you. "The moment you try to leave the table without finishing your food," he points at the plate of food in front of you, "I'm going to do that again and I'll make sure it hurts. A lot."    You send him a glare and sigh in defeat, sitting correctly in your chair, facing the plate of food.           "Good," you hear Kris say, and from the corner of your eye, you watch him begin eating, stuffing a meatball into his mouth.           "Hana, you look... Sick."    You look up at Lucy and try your hardest not to grimace. "Yeah... I've just...haven't slept much, I guess."            "Or showered," Kris adds. You ignore him.    Your mom and dad snap out of shock and try to eat, but not without keeping their eyes on you.            "Are you two okay?" Donhyuk asks your parents.    You mom doesn't say much but your dad does.           "Yeah, it's just that around these days when the exams occur, Hana never comes out of her room, yet... Here she is now...."    Kris makes a face. "So are you telling me you guys know she doesn't eat or sleep and just let it happen."    Your mom shrugs, "It's her education. As long as she does well..."    Kris wants to smack your mom on the face- but he can't because like, duh.   The conversation stops there, but a new one about the weather comes up, but is mostly between the adults.    You're quiet and Kris notices that you've got a very hard look on your face. Pure concentration, almost as if you are doing math.    Wait, are you doing math?    He kicks your leg and your eyes snap up, almost dropping the meatball that was suppose to go to your mouth.    You look at him. "What?"           "Your hands are shaking," he notices and it freaks him out. "Are you sure you're okay?"   You make a face and try to stop your trembling fingers. You're okay, this has happened before. It's fine.         "I'm fine," you voice out.           "Hey, honey," you dad says to you, "Maybe after the exams tomorrow you should go out and try to have some fun. Clear your mind from studying? How about that?"    You blink, "Okay."    Kris finishes chewing a meatball and glares at you, "Jesus, you even sound like a robot." He's about to open his mouth and give you a piece of his mind, annoyed at your stressing behavior. Also, at the way you blink your eyes as if you're in a daze. It almost looks like you're on drugs. Yet, he can't speak much because he begins to panic at seeing a trail of red  peek out your nose.    Lucy panics and almost faints.    "Blood!" She screams.   Lucy is extremely bad in situations where she sees the red liquid. It's like a phobia. It's odd.    Your mom yelps and your dad sighs, going to the kitchen to grab a napkin.    You don't even seem faced by the blood oozing out your nose and instead groan out, "Ah man, now I'm gonna stain my shirt."           "Your shirt is black," Kris retorts, yet he keeps thinking you're a psychopath.    He watches you lean your head back  and stand up, and he too stands and holds you in place, grabbing the napkins your dad hands him and placing them on the bottom of your nose, trying to keep the blood in place.           "Thanks," you mutter, a bit annoyed.    The tall male sighs, "No problem." And then after a heartbeat, "Let's go upstairs, I think you need to clean yourself up and you can also use a really good shower."    You pout, "I know..."    Your parents and the other two adults present don't say much and just watch you two go up the stairs.                ********************               "Lean forward," Kris mumbles and holds your hair up so it doesn't get wet. You hold onto the counter, leaning against the faucet so Kris can easily scrub the blood off with water, your eyes close and temples throbbing with an incoming headache.              "Ow," you say when his fingers are rubbing too hard against your nose. Kris grumbles, "Shut up, this is all your fault for not giving yourself a break."             "I get it, dad."    Kris sighs and turns off the faucet, his hands finally leaving your nose. He grabs a towel and starts cleaning your face with it, pulling you up to stand instead of leaning against the counter.             "It hurts," you whine.              "I'm going gently, Hana," he replies, pulling the towel away from you and hanging it up in a hook on the bathroom door.    He looks you up and down as you complain about studying and that nosebleeds are just a natural reaction that could happen to anyone. You look horrible and stressed and Kris feels compelled to turn around and turn on the bath faucet, letting the shiny, white ceramic bathtub fill with water.            "What are you doing?" You ask him, watching his actions wit