The group of three leisurely exited the open doors of their school with broad grins over their faces, ties loose and shirt pulled up from their pants. On campus, it was obligatory to look proper, in which to boys meant shirt tucked deeply inside the black pants, tie tied tightly around their necks and the three buttons buttoned. The rule about dying your hair wasn’t allowed, but the teens did it anyway because who in their right mind wouldn’t?

Luhan and Jongin had both dyed their hair blonde, however Luhan’s were a more golden yellow and Jongin a platinum-whiteish blonde. The third boy, Oh Sehun, had a rich almond-brown tone color. Unlike the other two boys, Sehun’s hair was untouched, but it was a handsome kind of tousled that could have girls swoon over him.

But, for Sehun’s case, girls didn’t swoon over him. He’d never gotten a love letter or confession in his locker nor had he had girls come up and flirt with him or expose skin. But then again, he wasn’t really the type to talk to girls. He just… couldn’t. It was like someone held him back and forced him to only hang out with people of the same gender. But his shyness held him back even more and so he had only managed to befriend two people – Kim Jongin and Luhan. Or, more accurately, they’d befriended him.

It wasn’t easy for Sehun to make new friends because of the insecurity, and with him living far away from his parents masked that shyness very well. If his mom knew about that, she’d immediately have him go home and the life out of him with her bear hugs, and no, Sehun would very much not die from such an intimate closeness.

The boys was headed to the café where they usually met up before splitting ways. That was one thing he hated – knowing that after an hour, he’d be separated from the only friends he had and had a long forty minute bus ride to look forward to. If his confidence had been just an ounce bigger, he’d be completely fine with it all, but he wasn’t, so even as they walked and cracked jokes about the day’s endless lectures, the thought of being left alone swirled around in his head like a warning before the storm.

“Oh, right. I need to go a bit earlier today. I’m meeting up with my girl”, Jongin said as they reached the turquoise painted shop just around the corner of their school.

Sehun swallowed hard and jerked his head towards the boy, who’s lips curved into a smug grin. Last time they’d talked, was Jongin’s hour long rant about how he’d never ever get a girlfriend again and how rude and fake they all were.

“Aye, what happened to bros before –“, Luhan began innocently, but stopped midsentence to chuckle lightly, his hand reaching the back of his head to scrape his nails in punishment. “I thought you said you were done with girls”.
“Yeah… well, that was before I met Hyeri”, Jongin snorted, his whole face shining up as he snickered.
“And… you met her… where, Jongin?”, Sehun asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he pushed open the door.

Before he heard the answer from the natural cocky boy, he looked over the sea of tables and looked for an empty one. Since it laid close by their high school and a university, reverie was one of the café’s that pulled in a whole lot of money. The interior was simple, yet gave a warm and homey feeling – something Sehun absolutely loved.

He removed his jacket and hung it on a chair and pulled up the sleeves on his shirt.

“So, Hyeri”, he said teasingly and shot Jongin a look.
“Yes, Hyeri. My muse”, Jongin chortled and sat down on another chair, next to Sehun. “We met at a–“.
“Night club”, Sehun and Luhan said at the same time, similar expressions spread over their faces.
To that, Jongin’s grin faded into a thin line, his eyes darkening before his friends. “Yah, I’m not always going to clubs, you know–“.
“But you’re there at least every Friday, sometimes Saturdays’ too”, Luhan piped and chuckled.
“Am. Not”.
“If not the club, then where?”.

Jongin hesitated before letting out a sigh, his head hanging low as if in shame before he revealed where his new ‘muse’ had entered his life, which was indeed the nightclub. But not the one he always went to, but some new place in Hongdae. Sehun stopped listening to his poor excuses and grabbed his wallet to go order.

He drummed his indexfinger on the leather item and impatiently waited in the rather long line. Before him, people were sighing and asked their friends what was taking so long. A couple minutes later, Sehun began questioning the same thing. The answer to that thought came immediately as a cup suddenly fell and splattered over the floor.

“Aish, you stupid girl– clean this mess up right away”, someone sneered, the voice sounding familiar in Sehun’s ears.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t see where– I will clean right away!”, another voice, taut and feminine, spoke.

Sehun couldn’t get a grip of the situation, since the crowd of people hid the scene perfectly before him like a fence. But he quickly decided that it wasn’t any of his business, no matter how curious he was.

The people walked forward, ordered and had their drinks served to them at a much quicker pace and before one knew it, Sehun stood and was going to order his usual –

“Chocolate bubble tea, right?”, the boy chuckled, recognizing Sehun on the spot.

Sehun widened his eyes at the young kid and nodded his head in reply. Impressive, he thought and watched as he went to work right away. After one minute precisely, the plastic mug with a green straw stuck inside, stood before him.

“That was fast”, Sehun murmured lowly and took out the right amount of money for the drink.
“Ah, nae”, the boy beamed and accepted the money. “Please enjoy your drink!”.

Without saying another word, Sehun grabbed the cup and sipped the drink immediately. He leisurely returned to his seat with the two boys and watched them discuss heatedly about Jongin’s life – because that topic seemed to always trigger something in Luhan.

It was weird how the two were really close, but could furiously shoot lasers with their eyes when talking about girls. Luhan was single, for all Sehun knew, but he thought of girls as precious dolls one should only love from afar and to never harm of any sort. Jongin was… well, Jongin. He didn’t really care. He didn’t objectify them, exactly, but there was something along those lines that sculptured his image of girls.

“And it’s not like I’m using them. I’m always open and friendly with girls, but it’s them who only wants me for my body”, Jongin sighed and leaned back in his chair, glancing over at Sehun, finally noticing him sitting with them. “Oh, give me”.

“But I still think it’s wrong. Rather than having physical contact with them, wouldn’t it be nicer to actually get to know them?”, Luhan asked, his voice calming down slightly.

Sehun took a final sip and handed it over to Jongin. “Hyung, there’s no point in talking about this. And it’s his life, let him live it however he wants”.

“But that lifestyle is wrong, Sehun”, Luhan childishly retorted and snatched the bubble tea away from Jongin. “Karma’s going to find its way towards you, Jongin-ah, and I’m only saying this because I care about you, okay?”.

To that, Sehun laughed.