“I made a new friend.”

He burns holes in the History textbook as Mr. Ban, a middle-aged man wearing glasses with slowly growing gray hair and wrinkles by his eyes explains further of the topic they are discussing. Kyungsoo wonders if he is really is forty or already nearing fifty, he makes a ticking sound in his head, counting down the seconds for the bell to ring because he for sure knows whatever the old man in front of him is rambling about isn't even going inside his head nor will it stay and Kyungsoo knows he would have to recap everything back on his own.

After what seemed like forever, the bell finally rings and Kyungsoo exhales a sigh of relief as he clears up his table, putting aside the textbook as he stands up and leaves his seat, exiting the classroom. He wonders if he should join the pair for recess since he wouldn't want to have guilt in his gut and throw up everything he ate eventhough it would probably be just ham sandwich and milk.

Being too absorbed in his own thoughts, he doesn't realise Jongin had been by his side until the latter clears his throat. Kyungsoo flinches, slightly surprised and turns his head to face the latter, he exhales a sigh, "God, you scared me. Don't do that, I've had enough scarings for today itself," his voice slightly airy than usual.

Jongin nods his head, hands in his pocket, he replies, "Yeah, I can see that. You looked like you've seen a ghost— what's wrong? Did somebody ask you something? Did someone find out?" Kyungsoo simply shakes his head, Jongin puts his hand on the latter's shoulder, calling his name, "Soo, something is definitely wrong and you surely have something you're hiding."

Kyungsoo flashes a smile, one that can reassure Jongin before he answers, "I'm just tired, Jongin— I didn't get too much sleep last night but don't worry yourself for it, you know how I am, right?" Out of the blue, Chanyeol walks towards the two and slings his arm around Kyungsoo, as if they knew each other for ages, earning a look of disgust from Jongin. The trio were never a fan of the basketball captain, he seemed to have some sort of a trick up his sleeve to make the three crash and burn.

Nonchalantly, Chanyeol greets, "Hey, Jongin." The latter simply gives a nod, his eyes trail over to Kyungsoo, wondering what had happened earlier because he saw the pair before he entered his first class in the morning and he knows it isn't something nice. Chanyeol says, "I hope you don't mind me joining the three of you at your lunch table, I mean, Kyungsoo said it was fine."

Jongin's eyes bulged out of his socket, he looks at Kyungsoo then towards Chanyeol, he says, "Could you give us a moment?" grabbing Kyungsoo's arm harshly, furthering the distance from the giant. He then lets go of his grip, "What happened early this morning? Don't lie to me."

Kyungsoo looks at his arm, he says, "Thanks for making my arm hurt, jerk." Jongin shrugs his shoulders, he still wants the truth behind Chanyeol's sudden approach, he can't risk having Kyungsoo being bullied or blackmailed because of Soojung and him. After much contemplation, Kyungsoo lies, "I just happened to make a new friend, give him a chance?"

Soojung comes walking with Jinri by her side, she waves to the two males, adorning a warm smile on her face. Kyungsoo looks at Jongin, he whispers softly, "You said so yourself, no one has to know and well, if you don't want him to fib anything, then just give him a chance, okay?" Jongin groans inwardly but gives in anyway, after all, he knows Kyungsoo has his way around people no matter which clique they belonged to.

The tension amongst them at the cafeteria are hanging in the air and Kyungsoo is at the verge of hanging himself from such pressure but after much thought, he tries to lighten the mood by nudging Jinri. He knows that the lassie has been crushing on Chanyeol for quite some time and oftenly sneak glances of him during cheerleading practice. She clears and asks, "Are any of you guys free after school? Maybe all of us could hang out together."

Kyungsoo nods his head, This is better than nothing, he thought and replies, "Yeah, totally. I heard that there's a new cafe by the ddokbokki stall we love to hang by." At this very moment, Jongin and Soojung has their foreheads creasing, they never hung out at a ddokbokki stall; moreover, they never hung out in public – it was crashing either one of the three houses after school.

Jinri nods her head and agrees, "Yeah, I heard about that too but don't you guys–" Jongin interjects, "Sounds great, right angel?" as he turns his head to Soojung although she has no idea where this is leading; she beams, "Oh, definitely! Let's just hope neither of us end up in detention." Kyungsoo's eyes twinkle as his ears perk up at the mention of detention, he fishes out his phone and sends a text to Soojung before keeping it back again.

Chanyeol simply smiles like some sort of a maniac and nods, "I got no practice today, what a coincedence." Soojung feels her phone vibrate and takes it out, she reads Kyungsoo's text and leans in close to Jongin despite feeling slightly uncomfortable at the close proximity. She whispers, "Kyungsoo suggests that the three of us get detention to avoid this rendezvous."

Jongin looks at her with soft eyes, full of warmth and for a moment, she feels that giddy feeling all over again but remembers that they are fighting and it was all an act to keep Chanyeol away. Soojung returns him a small smile and slightly gasps as he plants a soft kiss on her cheek. Chanyeol thought, I will get to the bottom of this, I'll make sure of it.

Author's Note:

starting from chapter three, calloused aka azel, will be the one writing for If I Speak. to my readers, I, inculpate, am sorry if you are surprised at this change of events. i believe this is better than discontinuing the story and i believe azel will deliver the story just as brilliant.