Mei had completely forgotten she’d exchanged numbers with Luhan until she received a text, telling her to come to the practice field stat.

Uh… she typed, I think you got the wrong number. This is Mei.

His reply came a moment later. Oops, sorry. I meant to send it to Minho :/ thanks for letting me know ;)

No problem.

And that was that. She didn’t think a lot about it until she got a text in front of Minyoung.

‘So you guys are chatting now?’ she asked, giggling meaningfully.

‘Hmm?’ Mei looked at her in confusion. ‘What?’

‘You and Luhan.’ She wiggled her eyebrows.

‘Not really, he sent me a text by accident, so I told him and he’s thanking me because apparently, he really needed Minho on the field.’

Minyoung made a face. ‘You’re being very matter of fact about this.’

Mei raised her eyebrows questioningly, so she elaborated. ‘I mean, don’t you like Luhan?’

‘Well, duh.’ Mei shrugged, going back to her book.

‘So, he’s talking with you and you guys are on decidedly friendly terms. Why are you so… I dunno, uninterested?’

Mei was about to tell her off but then she remembered that she and Minyoung actually spent a lot of time fangirling over Luhan, so an explanation was probably in order.

‘Well, I do like him but not like that. Not anymore.’

‘Really?’ She sounded disbelieving.

‘Yes, really. Besides, he’s a really nice guy. You know that, he even helped you out when you were about to pass out.’

‘Yes but he seems to like talking to you.’

‘I’m a likable person.’ Mei asserted, a little offended that her friend didn’t think a guy would talk to her just for her personality.

‘I don’t mean it like that,’ MInyoung laughed, reading her expression. ‘I just… well, Luhan isn’t exactly known for being friendly outside of his friend circle. In fact, he’s a little cold and standoffish to most people.’

‘Yes, well, most people also tend to explode first and talk later, so I suppose he has to put a stop to it somehow.’

Minyoung made a face, obviously not convinced but running out of arguments. ‘Fine. I still think he likes you.’

‘I think that you think too much.’ Mei replied smartly. Truth be told, she was missing Oh Sehun a little bit right about now. Usually, Minyoung was too preoccupied with avoiding him to focus her energies on Mei’s love life – or the lack thereof.

It wasn’t really her fault, though. There weren’t enough cute guys in her class. And she suspected that her obsession with her favourite singers had kind of ruined her for normal people.

‘I heard Luhan sings really well.’ Minyoung dropped the titbit in response. ‘Some of the girls once followed their team when they went to karaoke. Heard he slayed all the high notes.’

Mei gave her friend a stink eye. ‘Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.’

Minyoung blinked innocently. ‘What?’

‘Trying to get me to like him.’

Thing was, Mei was over her crush on Luhan. Sure, both she and Minyoung spent a lot of time talking about him. Then again, Mei had spent most of the freshman year teasing Minyoung about Sehun, until she’d unfortunately exploded in his face and developed a phobia. But prior to that, it had all been whispers and squeals and eyebrow wiggles whenever the guy passed by.

And since school was boring – like how much studies could one take before imploding, right? – they needed distractions and yes, she had, at one time, had a serious crush on Luhan but that was in the past.

Now, she was faithful to her favourite singers and no one could steal her away.

Minyoung tutted, eyeing her pitifully, which Mei thought was rich, coming from the girl who’d spent the past year hiding behind her to avoid Oh Sehun.

‘You did not just bring up Sehun.’ Minyoung gasped, offended.

‘Oh yes, I did.’ If Minyoung could bring her past crush up, so could she. Both girls stared at each other for long moments, willing the other to look away until a slight shuffle broke them off.

Minyoung instinctively ducked her head, glancing from behind her book and Mei subtly turned to catch sight of the guy passing them by.

She’d previously thought that Sehun frequented the library as an excuse to pick on Minyoung but the guy was a regular, even after he’d put a stop to his antics. He didn’t even look at them, his gait the same lazy, sleepy shuffle, expression bored, as he walked without any apparent purpose.

‘He’s actually kind of nice, you know.’ Mei commented. It was Minyoung’s turn to give her a look. Mei shrugged, raising her hands defensively. ‘What? I just think it’s pretty decent of him; he’s not bothered you once since you asked. That’s nice.’

Minyoung grumbled under her breath but didn’t deny it. Mei hid a smirk. Minyoung wasn’t the only one who could matchmake.

………………………………………

Despite her vehement denial in face of Minyoung’s accusations – that Luhan was interested in her – Mei couldn’t help but wonder if her friend had been right after all.

It seemed like Luhan really was interested in her.

He’d been texting her regularly, cute little messages filled with nothing but reminding her of his presence every time she checked her phone. At first, it had just been greetings: good morning, good afternoon, good night etc. She’d figured he was one of those people who just saved drafts for greetings and sent it to their entire contact list.

But then