Luhan woke up the next morning to find Kai not there he checked his phone and saw that it was 10 o’clock. Luhan groaned and sat up.

“I slept in, I need to stop otherwise when school starts I will be late every day.” Luhan says and gets up.

Mariah on the other hand had been awake since 7. She knew in two days it was finally time for her to go to school. She was excited and also frightened. She knew school here was different.

Mariah was sat down when the doorbell rang. She jerked up and ran to the door and opened it. She saw Kris standing there smiling.

“Hello!” Kris waved. “Hello Kris what brings you here?” Mariah asks.

“I was seeing if you were busy today?”

“Oh, I am not but I told dad I would stay home today since I was out for two days.”

“That is alright then, I also wanted to say I am sorry about the other night, I did not mean to kiss you…”

“Oh Kris it’s okay let’s just go back to normal and think none of this happened.”

“I can’t Mariah… because I am in love with you…”

Mariah stands there stiff. “You like me?” Mariah asks.

“Yes I do and I am not going to put it away and I know you don’t love me but I just had to let it out because you are my best friend.” Kris says.

“I know Kris… you are my best friend too, I was just stunned that you kissed me.

“He kissed you?” a voice says from behind Mariah.

Mariah’s eyes widen and she turns around. “Luhan?” Mariah says as she sees Luhan at the foot of the stairs.

“He kissed you?!” Luhan says almost yelling. Mariah sighs and moves towards Luhan. Luhan moves up one stair.

“WHY DID HE KISS YOU!?” Luhan says yelling. Now Kai, Luhan’s mother and father and also Mariah’s father are crowded around the three.

“It’s not what you think Luhan please calm down.” Mariah says.

“HE KISSED YOU AND YOU ARE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN!” Luhan yells again.

“Kris moves in front of Mariah. “Listen Luhan it was my fault and I kissed her please do not be mad at her.

Luhan clenches his fists together and punches Kris in the face. Kris falls backwards onto his back.

Everyone gasps. “LUHAN!” Mariah yells and runs next to Kris. “It’s okay Mariah.” Kris says.

Kai steps in and moves Luhan back. “Calm down man.” Kai says.

“Leave me!” Luhan moves away from Kai. Mariah helps Kris up. “I thought you were better than that.” Mariah says and runs out of the house.

“Mariah wait!” Kris yells and runs after Mariah. Luhan sighs and watches Mariah and Kris leave.

“Luhan to your room now!” Luhan’s mother yells and Luhan storms to his room Kai following him from behind.

The adults all walked away.

Kris stops as he looks around. “Where is she!? Mariah!” Kris yells as he looks around an area which he lost Mariah at.

“Where could she have gone, damn you Luhan.” Kris says and heads off again.

Mariah had hid down an alley way, she did not want Kris to find her and she needed time alone. She arrived at a nearby park. She sat on the swing and let her legs dangle. She looked to the ground and felt tears form in her eyes.

She whipped her tears away. “I hate you Luhan!” Mariah yells. She looked at her watch and saw it was only about 11. She did not want to go back home, she wanted to be alone.

 

Luhan sat in his room alone. He cannot believe Kris kissed Mariah. “If it was by accident I don’t think I would mind but he did it on his own. I feel so betrayed. I hate Mariah for doing this! Why does she have to be friends with him?” Luhan sighs and lays on his bed.

Kai had gone out to find where Mariah was. He saw how hurt she was by how angry Luhan was so he wanted to take her back home. With no luck after 30 minutes of searching Kai decided to go back home.

Kai walked back into Luhan’s room. He decided to just ignore him and lay on the bed. Neither one talked so they both just laid there.

Kris had also given up after searching for Mariah for an hour. He went to the hotel he was staying at. He laid on the bed and all he thought about was Mariah and hoping she was okay.

“Luhan I will kill you if she is not alright I swear.” Kris says to himself angrily.

Kris then fell asleep after a while.

Mariah spent most of her time at the park. When she checked her watch again it was 2 o’clock. She had been there for 4 hours. She still had tears in her eyes and she was still on the swing. She did not want to move. If she left she would probably be found by Kris and she wanted to be alone and somewhere no one could find her.

Mariah then decided to leave the park. She started walking towards a place. It took her about 10 minutes before she arrived. She had her headphones in and was listening to Haru-Haru by Big Bang.

The place she arrived at was a sauna. She came here a lot to be alone and it was such a nice and warm place to be at. She walked in and got her locker key and changed into the clothes provided. She walked in wrapping the towel in her head. She had a drink and she walked into one of the sauna rooms.

She sat there inhaling the scent of warm air coming into the room. After she finished her drink she laid down and fell asleep. It was about 4 when she woke up. More people were in the room. She felt my body sweating so she walked outside the room and feel the cold breeze in her face.

“I should go home now… hopefully I do not run into Luhan.” Mariah changes out of her clothes and gives back the key. Mariah walks outside and see that it is raining. She sigh as she realises that she does not have an umbrella. Mariah quickly runs out into the rain.

When Mariah arrives at the house soaking wet. She sneezes and walks into the house. Mariah sees her father coming towards her.

“Mariah! You are home!” Mariah’s dad says and sees her all wet. “Mariah you are all wet let’s get you dry come on.” Mariah’s father said and walked her to her room.

On the way to Mariah’s room the door to Luhan’s room opened. Mariah’s eyes widen as she sees Luhan open his door. Both look at each other but Mariah walks into her room first.

Mariah’s dad sighs and walks in. Luhan sees them and sighs, he saw Mariah was soaking wet. “What happened to her?” Luhan says to himself. He then shrugs and walks away.

Mariah’s dad dries her up and lays her on the bed. Mariah sneezes again.

“Baby girl you must be sick, sleep and get better please.” Mariah’s dad says and walks out of the room.

Mariah sighs and closes her eyes drifting off to dream land.

• 2 days after –

Mariah and Luhan still were not talking, Kai had tried to talk Luhan into talking but he never budged. Mariah was sick the past two days and she wanted to go to school this time. She was still not 100% but she needed to go to school.

Mariah woke up and put on her school clothes and headed out. She walked outside and saw Luhan and kai hopping into the car. Luhan’s mother saw Mariah and yelled.

“Mariah! Want a lift?” Luhan’s mother asked.

“Mum she does not need a lift she can get Kris too take her.” Luhan says and glares.

“It’s okay, I will just walk.” Mariah nods and heads off. She felt her heart break when she heard Luhan say those words.

Mariah started walking towards school. Luhan and Kai drive past her. Luhan looks away and goes onto his phone.

Both Mariah and Luhan and Kai arrive at school. Kai left Luhan to go find Mariah since it was her first day. Kai found Mariah at the front of the school. Kai walked over and smiled at Mariah.

“Hey! Welcome to Seoul High school.” Kai says.

“Thank you Kai, where is Luhan?” Mariah asks.

“I left him so I am not sure, I did not want to have you lost on the first day of school, by the way are you okay? You look a little pale?” Kai asks.

“Yeah, I am just getting over being sick you know…” Mariah says.

“Oh yeah, you were soaking wet when you came home, I am really sorry about how Luhan acted two days ago.” Kai says.

“It’s okay, I miss Luhan but I don’t think he misses me.” Mariah says.

“He misses you, he just does not want to admit that he was wrong for getting angry and that he misses you.” Kai says.

“Alright if you say so. Well what do we do now?” Mariah asks.

“Well I will show you to our spot, where Luhan and I sit, but just ignore him and ill talk to you, after we will go get your timetable.” Kai says and links arms with Mariah and drags her to their spot.

Kai and Mariah arrive at a spot behind the bleachers. Luhan was already there. Mariah sighs and stays close to Kai. Luhan looks over and sees Mariah and Kai. He feels his heart accelerate and he tries to not talk.

Kai and Mariah sit down. “This is a nice place to sit.” Mariah says.

“Yeah we have sit here ever since freshman year.” Kai says and looks over to Luhan.

“I will be back in a second.” Kai says and walks off.

“Kai!” Mariah yells but Kai had disappeared already.

Mariah sighs and looks around awkwardly. She sees Luhan also sitting there quietly. Mariah feels her head getting dizzy. She shakes it off and goes to stand up but falls over.

Luhan sees and quickly rushes over to catch her. “Mariah are you okay!? Mariah!?” Luhan yells as Mariah becomes unconscious. Kai comes back and sees Mariah.

“Luhan what happened?” Kai asks walking over.

“I don’t know she just collapsed.” Luhan says picking Mariah up. “I will take her to the nurse’s office.” Luhan says and rushes off with Mariah in his arms.

Kai chuckles to himself. “That went not how I expected. I hope Mariah is okay though, she looked so pale.” Kai says.

Luhan runs past all the students in the hall way. Luhan could hear murmurs from people as he rushed down. He ignored it and just ran to the nurse’s office. When Luhan arrived he opened the door. The nurse came over.

“What happened to her?” She asks. “She just collapsed and became unconscious.” Luhan says.

“Oh well lay her down here, is she new?” The nurse asks.

“Yeah she started today, her and her father live with me.” Luhan says.

“Okay well you can stay as long as you want and I will let your homeroom teacher know you are here.” The nurse says.

Luhan nods and tells her his homeroom class. The nurse leaves and Luhan is left with Mariah.

“I wish that I was there for you when you were sick, I was just so annoyed at how Kris kissed you, I did not think of how it would have hurt you. I tried my hardest to avoid you but I guess I can’t.”

Luhan hears the bell ring. “I don’t want to leave you…” Luhan sighs and stands up, he kisses Mariah’s forehead. “I love you Mariah. Luhan walks out and heads to class.

 

Mariah opened her eyes and looked around. She saw that she was inside the nurse’s office. “How did I get here?”

“Your friend Luhan came and brought you here.” The nurse says as she emerges from the door.

“Oh… alright then.” Mariah says and stands up. She feels a rush come to her head and she sits back down.

“Whoa… head rush” Mariah says. The nurse walks over. “Honey you need to stay here and rest I am not letting you leave.” The nurse says and tucks Mariah in.

Mariah closes her eyes and falls asleep again.

Half of the day had already gone. Mariah did not see Luhan at all while she was in the office. She kept wondering where he was. She was hoping he would come see her.

Mariah looks over to the door and she sees it open. She sees who comes through the door and she sees Luhan walk in. Mariah’s heart races as their eyes lock together.

An awkward silence fills the air. Mariah smiles softly. “Come and sit.” Mariah says and sits up and pats the space next to her. Luhan slowly walks over and sits next to Mariah.

“Mariah I…” Luhan says. “Luhan, please let me talk. I don’t know if we can work out if this sort of thing happens again, it’s been three days, and you hadn’t even seen me or talked to me. I just don’t know if we can still do this.” Mariah says.

Luhan sighs and grabs Mariah’s hand. He entwines his hand with hers. “To be honest I did not want to tell myself it was my fault that day, I wanted to think it was your fault but when you collapsed today I felt like the most worst person in the world and I don’t want to lose you.” Luhan says.

Mariah sighs. “Luhan I am sorry but this is not going to work, I needed you there for me when I was sick…” Mariah says and stands up letting go of Luhan’s hand.

Luhan stands up also and walks around to Mariah. “No please do not say that, I cannot lose you Mariah.” Luhan says.

“Don’t you mean if I lose you then you’re just like the rest? That I am a bad person?” Mariah says.

“No I am not going to say that if I lost you it would be like losing myself.” Luhan says.

Mariah looks into Luhan’s eyes. “Do you actually mean that?” she asks.

“I mean it with every fibre of my being.” Luhan says and takes her hands.

Mariah smiles softly and kisses Luhan. Luhan kisses back. “I love you Mariah.” Luhan says.

“I love you too Luhan.” Mariah says and kisses Luhan again.

Luhan and Mariah walk out of the nurse’s office hand in hand. “Just to let you know all of your classes are with me.” Luhan winks.

“That’s good, I won’t get lost then.” Mariah laughs and they head off to the bleachers.

Kai was sitting down behind the bleachers when Luhan and Mariah walked over to him.

“So I guess you two have stopped being mad at each other.” Kai winks at Luhan as he sees the two holding hands.

“Yes, sit down.” Luhan says to Mariah as he sits her on the chair. Mariah smiles and checks her phone to see a message from Kris.

Luhan also sees and he feels his blood boil. Mariah senses something and looks up to see Luhan looking at her phone. Mariah stands up.

“I will just go do something.” Mariah nods and walks away. Luhan watches and sighs.

“Is it bad that I feel like bashing Kris?” Luhan says as he faces Kai.

“Um… well I would say in this situation yes because you and Mariah just figured things out again and the problem before is exactly about that particular person who is her best friend.” Kai says.

Mariah stops when she is far from Luhan and Kai. She rings Kris.

• Phone Conversation –

“Hey Kris.” Mariah says.

“Mariah are you okay? Do I need to punch Luhan?” Kris asks.

“No Kris, we are all good now, but we hadn’t talked until today.” Mariah says thinking if she should tell Kris about her being sick.

“Good, if he does that to you again I will beat him up.” Kris says.

“Why did you message me anyway Kris?” Mariah asks.

“I just needed to see if you were okay and that I have exciting news.” Kris says.

“What is this news?” Mariah asks.

“I am coming to Seoul high!” Kris yells into the phone.

“OMG YES! When?” Mariah says excitedly.

“Look behind you.” Kris says and hangs up.

• End of Phone Conversation –

Mariah puts her phone away confused and turns around to see Kris. Mariah’s eyes widen and she runs towards Kris jumping and hugging her legs around his waist. “I cannot believe you are here.” Mariah says.

“I can see you are very happy.” Kris laughs. Mariah nods and smiles and hops down.

“This year is going to be so great! But have you been here all day?” Mariah asks.

“Yes, where have you been?” Kris asks.

“I have been over with Luhan.” Mariah says.

“Really? Because I have had all my classes today with Luhan and you were not in any of them.” Kris says folding his arms.

Mariah looks away. Kris then grabs her chin and moves it so she is looking at him.

“Lying is bad Mariah, now tell me where you have been?” Kris says and let’s go of Mariah’s chin.

“I have been sick since that day and I fainted today so I have been in the nurse’s office.” Mariah says.

Kris sighs. “Mariah, why did you not tell me that?” Kris asks.

“If I told you then you would find another reason to be pissed at Luhan and we just figured things out.” Mariah says.

Kris sighs. “I am better than that and I promise I will be friendly, hopefully he will too.” Kris says.

“Ahem.” Someone says and Mariah looks behind her to see Luhan standing there. Kris sees Luhan and smiles.

“Hello Luhan.” Kris says and holds out his hand. “Luhan looks at Kris before taking his hand. “Hello Kris, just to tell you if you try a move on Mariah again I will hit you.” Luhan says.

“Yes, I will not Luhan, do not make my best friend cry again and get sick otherwise I will hit you.” Kris says laughing. Luhan laughs. “Deal.” They both say.

Mariah smiles and skips to Luhan and holds his hand. “Let’s show Kris to our spot hey?” Mariah asks.

“Alright I guess we can.” Luhan says and Mariah drags both boys behind the bleachers.

Mariah introduces Kai to Kris and everyone sits down for the rest of the lunch break. Luhan sat next to Mariah and Kris sat next to Kai.

When the bell rang Kris, Luhan and Mariah walked off to P.E as Kai left to go to maths. Luhan and Mariah held hands as Kris walked next to Mariah.

“Mariah do you remember in P.E back in Australia when we had to do a 3K run every day?” Kris says.

“Omg yes! My legs hurt every day! I mean he made us play volleyball after the run and then cricket and soccer.” Mariah exclaims. Luhan laughs at her silliness.

Kris laughs. “You girls had less then what we had to do. We had to do 5K and then play basketball and Soccer.” Kris exclaims.

Luhan just continues walking. He let’s go of Mariah’s hand and walks faster.

“Luhan! Where are you going?” Mariah asks.

“I will let you two catch up.” Luhan smiles and speed walks off.