Chapter 12 - Chen

"Lara, what will you do tomorrow?" Asked Chen suddenly approaching her.

"Oh tomorrow. Tomorrow’s Monday and I have to go to school. Ah, right. Tomorrow’s your turn to be with me, right? You can walk me to school, Chen." She told Chen realizing that tomorrow is Chen's turn to be with her.

Luhan who heard what was Lara said suddenly spoke.

"Lara, are you still going to continue to go to school?" Asked Luhan.

"Yes, I am. I'm not going to stop going to school just because now you’re living with me." Lara said, gesturing to all of the boys.

"I think it's not a good idea." Said Luhan again. Now with a serious face.

"What? Why?” Asked Lara, demanding an explanation.

"You should be aware of the danger that threatens you out there from now on." Said Luhan.

Xiumin, Kris, Suho, Lay and others were immediately rushed to gather and approach Lara in order to discuss this matter more clearly.

"But, going to school is something that I must do. I’m already in my senior year now. It will only take one more year for me to graduate.” Said Lara.

"Lara, from now on you must pay attention to other things besides the normal things you usually do. Because now the enemy will start attacking you, you should not give them the opportunity to do so." Xiumin, who seemed quiet but he always worries about Lara’s safety.

"Xiumin is right, at least if you really have to go to school, let us also go to school." Said Suho, trying to offer a solution.

"Oh, okay...But is that possible?" She muttered.

"The process of applying to school may be easy, but the preparation and transfer process will certainly take a long time." Said Lara.

"I'll try to help." Said Kate. She heard a serious conversation while passing through the living room and decided to listen to her as well.

"I have several informants in your school. To watch over you in case anything happens. I will try to contact them and tell them there will be 12 new students tomorrow." She said.

"That's great. Thank you Kate!" Said Luhan, Suho and Xiumin almost in unison. She just nodded and smiled looking concerned.

KNOCK KNOCK

Lara, who was currently in the study room heard a knock on the door. She went to open the door and she saw Chen.

"Oh, Chen." Said Lara.

"Hi!" Chen said cheerfully.

“What are you doing right now?” Asked Chen curiously.

“I’m doing my homework.” Answered Lara.

“Can I see it?” asked Chen enthusiastically.

“Sure, come on in.” she said as she told him to go in and then closed the door.

She then sat back down and continue working on her homework.

‘Chen, remember! Don’t do or say anything too excessive towards the Princess.. Not until her power awoken.’ Luhan’s word rang in his head.

Chen was standing next to Lara and watched her doing her homework. Chen felt a little upset because he did not understand and could not help Lara with anything. He also tried hard to restrain himself from saying or doing anything excessive toward Lara. He wanted to do affectionate action towards Lara badly.

She sat in an armless chair. Then suddenly Chen hurried to her right side and sat next to her. He put his cheek under his palm and leaning towards Lara as he watched her.

Lara who was concentrating on doing her homework was somewhat distracted knowing that Chen was looking at her.

She was finally looked at Chen, wanted to ask why he kept looking at her.

Chen, who was smiling as he watched Lara was a little bit surprised when their eyes met.

"What’s wrong? Do I bother you?" asked Chen who assuming Lara’s facial expression that looked annoyed.

She bit her lower lip before saying, "No. But, I'm not accustomed with you who kept looking at me." she said.

"Forgive me. All right, I'll try not to looking at you very often.” said Chen.

She nodded and smiled slightly.

Chen finally tried to focus his attention to the homework that was being done by Lara. Then paid attention to her face again. Not too often this time, because he did not want Lara to feel annoyed again.

'She often frowning her forehead. Is the homework difficult? Ah, I wish I could help her." said Chen in his mind.

"Lara, is there anything I can do?" asked Chen to Lara.

"Well ... if you're curious. The homework I’m doing right now is to write an essay. I got a lot of things in my mind, I wish I could immediately write everything down before I forget." said Lara looked serious then, writing down word by word quickly.

“I’m going to try to help you, okay.” Chen murmured softly.

Lara who was fully concentrating was not responding to Chen and continued to write her essays.

The next second, Chen’s hand held Lara’s right shoulder. Then Lara felt some kind of energy from Chen’s hand.

Not knowing what kind of energy that she received from Chen, Lara could actually wrote her homework as quick as the speed of lightning strikes.

"Lara, because you started spending time with Lay last night, then I'm also going to start spending time with you tonight." Chen said again.

'How did he knew that I start spending time with Lay last night? Oh, well..' Lara thought to herself.

"Okay, I understand." said Lara.

A few minutes later, Lara finally finished her homework. She turned to Chen, smiled and told him, "I'm done with my homework." said Lara who was then face to face with Chen.

"Oh really? Yaaaaay." Chen said cheerfully as he clenched his hands in the air and cheered.

"So, what would you like to do now?" asked Lara to Chen.

"Can I you to bed? It's late now and tomorrow morning we have to go to school together, right?" said Chen

"Oh. Yeah, all right." said Lara. She never thought that Chen would say such thing.

'He's very understanding.’ she muttered to herself as she smiled.

Then they both went into Lara’s bedroom.

Chen then went to tuck in Lara in her blanket as she climbed into bed. Then Chen stood beside Lara, in doubt of what he should do.

Seeing Chen’s facial expressions who intermittently confused and sad and confused and then hesitated, she was sympathized and finally said, "Chen, what’s in your mind?"

“Hm..can I..” Chen said hesitantly.

“Yes?” Said Lara curious of the continuation of Chen’s request.

"Can I give you a goodnight kiss?" asked Chen again still somewhat hesitant.

"Oh?" said Lara rather surprised with what Chen just said.

'Is giving a goodnight kiss a usual thing of people from EXO planet?’ Asked Lara in her mind.

But, seeing Chen’s facial expressions she then agreed.

"Okay..You may give me a goodnight kiss." she said a little embarrassed by her own words.

Chen’s face turned bright suddenly and he looked so happy. Lara then smiled because of it.

A moment later, Chen prepared to kiss her.

Lara closed her eyes. Her feelings was mixed. She had never been kissed by a boy before, except her father.

She waited, did not want to open her eyes before Chen done kissing her.

Chen kissed Lara’s forehead gently. She could felt Chen’s gentle lips on her forehead.

That moment, Lara felt her heart fluttered because of Chen’s actions.

She finally opened her eyes and looked at Chen.

"Good night. Sleep well.." Chen said softly.

"Good night, Chen. Thank you." she said blushing.

Then Chen covered her with her blanket once more before went out of her bedroom.

"Lara...wake up. The sun has rise." said a voice in her ear. She was not fully conscious when she felt a hand her cheek gently.

"Lara, wake up...You'll be late for school." said the voice again.

Hearing the word 'school', Lara remembered that she have to go to school and eventually opened her eyes.

She could see Chen sat down beside her and smiled widely.

"Morning, Chen..." said Lara

"Morning Lara !!" Chen said in a voice an octave higher.

'How can he be so cheerful even in this early morning?’ said Lara in her heart.

'But that's good, it gives a good atmosphere for me to get started today.’ she said again.

She immediately got up from her bed and began to take a bath and change clothes after Chen went out of her room.

20 minutes later Lara was done taking a bath and changed into her school uniform. She tried knocking on the door to see how the other guys were doing but strangely none of them replies from their room. Feeling worried that they might hadn’t awake, Lara decided to get into one of the rooms but did not find anyone there as well as in other rooms. She hurried down the stairs and went into dining room. There, the boys from EXO Planet were already gathered and waited for her to eat breakfast. Lara was amazed to see them.

Lara noticed the boys and found that only 11 of them were present in the dining room at the time.

When Lara wanted to ask of Kai’s whereabouts—and wow! Lara was again amazed by herself because she could already memorized the one who was present and not present in the room, but she did feel like she already have a bond that had lasted long time ago with these guys—the dining room door was then opened and Kai stood there seemed just woken up from his sleep.

"Why did not anyone wake me up?" he whined.

"We've tried, but you did not wake up." said Sehun

"It's your own fault for not waking up." added Tao

"Never mind, Kai hurry come and sit. We need to eat breakfast and go to school soon. We can't be late." Suho said interceding their fight.

Kai followed Suho’s orders and directly sitting at the dinner chair.

Afterwards the 13 of them eating breakfast together.

"All right. Kate, I’m off to school...” exclaimed Lara to Kate after finishing breakfast.

"Be careful. Stay near them." said Kate gesturing towards the EXO guys.

. "Do not worry, Kate. We'll keep her safe." Suho said.

Kate smiled and nodded in agreement.

They were then rushed off to school. Because it would feel less efficient driving a car to school, they decided to walk together.

Since that day was Chen’s schedule to spend time together with Lara, then the other 11 guys from EXO Planet gave them privacy by keeping a distance while Chen and Lara walked together.

At the back, the rest remained cautious to their surrounding and watch them but with a considerable distance so that Chen and Lara would not be disturbed.

"Why can’t I walk beside Princess Lara?" Sehun said sullenly.

"I want to hold her hand...!" Kai whined.

"Guys, we should give them privacy. You will get your chances to be with her later. " Suho said.

"But my turn is still three more times." Kai said as he breathed.

"Well, do you want to swap turns with me? I’M THE LAST ONE!" said Chanyeol annoyed.

"What...? No way hyung! No way...!" Kai protested.

"Then be quiet and patient, Kai." D.O said trying to calm the irritated Chanyeol.

Meanwhile, Chen did not hesitate and immediately took Lara’s hand while on the way to school. Chen’s sudden action surprised Lara a little bit.

She wanted to tell Chen that she still hadn’t accustomed being treated that way and that he could not suddenly held her hand like that.

"Chen ..." Lara said slowly.

Chen then turned to her, smiled and said, "Yeah, what’s wrong?"

Hearing his voice and seeing his cheerful smiling face, there was a strange feeling surrounding Lara so she got rid of her desire to protest at Chen and decided to hold his hand back.

"Do you know what the students do when they go to school?" Lara then asked and changed the subject about the activities at school.

"Tell me..." Chen said, shaking his head, indicating that he did not know.

“The point is we learn something new in a variety of fields. All you have to do is pay attention to what the teacher taught, and also do what he asked you to do."

"But I'm not going to do it if he ask me to hurt you." says Chen.

"Of course not, teachers will not ask us to do anything like that, Chen. Do not worry." she said, chuckled a little.

"Oh, is that so? Then I will do it." said Chen again.

While chatting, they finally arived at school. At the school gate, a teacher was waiting for them.

"Good morning, Lara. I've heard from Kate last night that the school is getting 12 new students. I've got their registration files and uniforms. Come with me." said the teacher.

'Hm, so this is the informant Kate said yesterday.' Said Lara in her mind.

“Okay...” said Lara and followed the ‘informant’ teacher.

They then waited in the hallway while the teacher went into a room and back with 12 plastic boxes and began distributing it to the 12 guys.

“This are the uniforms and then this is the list of each student’s classes. I'm sure you can take them around the school during recess." Said the teacher again.

"Yes, thank you." She said showing her gratitude.

"No need to say thanks to me, Princess." The teacher said before finally smiled and left them.

‘Why do I keep hearing those words? Oh well.’ Lara thought.

"Well then, you should immediately change your clothes and wear this uniform." Lara said.

Then they rushed to the locker room. They changed clothes as fast as lightning and took turns because they did not want to be caught off guard even just for a second and loosen their watch protection against her.

Their uniform was also consisted of tie attributes. Because Lara assumed they might not know how to wear a tie, Lara also taught them and provide examples to put it first at Chen’s collar.

Others, especially D.O, Xiumin, Lay, Kris and Suho had managed to wear the tie themselves. While Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Luhan looked frustrated because they could not make a proper tie. Lara then helped them, fixing the right shape of tie.

Tao, Kai and Sehun who saw it too, carelessly tying their ties and ask for Lara’s help to fix it as well.

Lara, who already knew that they were doing it on purpose did not have any other choice and eventually helped them to fix the tie. She smiled while thinking that the guys did it on purpose so that Lara would help them.

"Well, you will be divided into three different classes." said Lara after they had wear their ties properly.

"Sehun, Kai and Tao. You are in class 1-A. D.O, Chanyeol and Baekhyun in class 2-A. Meanwhile, Chen, Lay, Suho, Kris, Luhan and Xiumin, you are with with me in class 3-A." said Lara explained the division of classes.

"What?!" Sehun said.

"Not fair." Kai added.

"Why should it be like that?" Tao whined.

"I want to be in the same class with you." said D.O, while Chanyeol and Baekhyun just shocked and opened their mouth wide as if not believing what they just heard.

Seeing their reactions sparked concerns in Lara’s mind.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t know that it would turn out like this. I do worry! Can all of you adapt well..." said Lara felt sad and turned her head down.

Seeing Lara’s reaction caused by their actions and realizing that Lara had become sad and worried, made them silent.

'Sehun, stop protests and don’t make Princess worry.' Luhan said quietly, through his telepathy.

'Kai, look. Don’t make Princess sad and stop whining.'

'Tao, come on. Forget it. Don’t you see you're making Princess anxious.'

'D.O, be patient for a while. You're just going to part with the Princess just a while in school. Moreover, we will be there to look after her.’

"Lara, you shouldn't worry, they certainly can immediately adapt well. Did you forget? We're from EXO Planet." said Luhan, trying to soothe her.

"Yes, Luhan hyung’s right. We have no problems in adapting. We were worrying about your safety because our class is apart." D.O added while Sehun, Kai, Tao and others nodded in agreement with what D.O was said.

"Oh, don’t you worry. I will be with Chen, Suho, Lay, Kris, Xiumin and Luhan. They can take care of me." Lara said.

‘Eventhough I don’t think it really necessary.’ she added in her mind.

School started to get crowded and the students started coming. They decided to immediately went to their respective classes though Sehun, Kai, Tao, and D.O didn’t immediately went into their classes before seeing Lara went first into her class.

In class, other EXO guys started to give more privacy to Chen and Lara in order to bring their bond closer.

The first lesson of the day is music class. The teacher then appointed Chen to come forward because Chen could not stopped paying attention to Lara while he should paid attention to the teacher instead. The teacher was then asked Chen to sing a song.

At first Chen was confused because he did not know what it was and how to sing, but after the teacher showed how to sing the song, Chen was slowly began to sing. Plain simple song but when Chen sang it, the song turned into a song that could melt the hearts of its listeners. Including Lara. Her heart then felt fluttered when hearing Chen’s singing voice.

Note: I don't think Chen is getting enough time to get closer to Lara. But, I'm confused what should I do with both of them?? >.< I may add some stories later.