Crap! I knew it! I knew I wasn't a weak whiny girl! Ugh!

I curled up on my bed pressing my hands on my abdomen.

Oh, periods! No wonder I was so emotional last night. Goodness! Why do we girls have to go through this every freaking month?!

It was as if my uterus was twisted into knots and pricked with thousand nails! It really didn't help me to calm the urge to kill someone right now. Like seriously! I just had this urge to torture someone. The first person to walk through that door would be my victim.

"You're still in bed?" Lay's voice greeted me as he entered my bedroom.

Okay, I wasn't expecting him to be the first one.

Who did you expect then, Jumie?

Oh, I don't know! Maybe a burglar worth my torture? A monster? Or a pudgy robot that would let me torture itself without resistance? Just anyone- anything!- but Lay or my family members!

But on second thought, the idea of torturing this bag of chips sounded very appealing right now. He kept on trying to get me up no matter how many times I tried to resist. 

Ugh! Couldn't he just leave me alone to rest for the day? Couldn't he tell that I was in a state of psychotic mood swings and was trying very hard to hold the urge to kill him on sight? How long had we been friends? Had he still not learned the symptoms when the devil visited girls every month?

Oh wait! I forgot! This is Lay we're talking about! Sigh. Why did I befriend this clueless guy?

Oh well! Let the torture begin!

"Ack!" He winced and jumped a bit when I pinched his waist. "What was that for?" He frowned, rubbing his waist.

"Leave me alone, Lay!" I lay back down and pulled the cover up to my head, but Lay pulled it down again. 

"You have a class in half an hour, Jumie!" He nagged as he tried to pull me up grabbing my arms.

I tried to fight him, and somehow in the process of doing so, I managed to grab his hair.

"Ya, ya, ya!" He groaned in pain, trying to pry my hands off his hair.

He managed to pull my hands away (only after getting elbowed on the cheek which- in my defense- was purely accident) and grabbed my wrists afterwards.

"Jumjum, why are you acting like this?"

"I never ditched the class, so I'll do it today!" I retorted, trying hard to fight his strength and free my wrists.

"What? Why? Oh come on!" He successfully made me sit.

"You don't understand!" I lashed out at him, crying.

What the hell?! Why am I crying now?! Damn this mood swings!

Lay seemed taken aback and his grip on my wrists loosened, so I took the chance to lie down again, closing my eyes. But Lay didn't give up. One of his arm went under my back while the other one under my thighs. And just like that, he picked me up effortlessly.

"Let me down! Let me down! I don't wanna go!" I whined and kicked my feet in the air, trying to wriggle free. But he was surprisingly too strong, so I started grabbing his hair and pulling his ear.

"Ouch! Ya! Ah, ah, ah!" He protested, but he still didn't put me down until we reached my bathroom. 

After setting me down inside the bathroom, towering with his height he looked down at me in the eyes. A playful lopsided smile decorated his face and his messy hair crowned his head.

"Now take a quick shower." I opened my mouth to say 'no', but he pressed his index finger on my lips, shushing me. "Or I'll have to shower you myself."

My eyes went wide and I slapped his wrist away. "Then I'll shout and let the whole house know you're a ert!" I crossed my arms.

Lay just chuckled. "You know your parents want me to be their son-in-law, right? Do you think they will believe you?" He winked.

I frowned and pursed my lips, mentally huffing. I hated to admit he was right.

He smiled and patted my head. "Don't take too long. I'll wait outside, kay?"

"Fine!" I agreed through gritted teeth and pushed him out of the bathroom, slamming the door in his face afterwards.

Once I was finished taking shower and changing clothes (thank God I stored sanitary pads here and had prepared my clothes yesterday!), I came out of the bathroom and found Lay putting the stuffs that I needed inside my bag. He smiled when he looked up and saw me. He gave me my glasses and then dragged me out of the room without another word and out of the house after a quick goodbye to my parents.

When we had to part to our own classes, I chose to ignore him and walked straight to class. I was still annoyed by him, but I knew that deep down I was secretly thankful he forced me to wake up. I just remembered that I had a quiz today.

How wonderful!
Not.

And when I thought my day couldn't get any worse, I just realized that I forgot to bring extra sanitary pads to change. I mentally groaned knowing it was because Lay dragged me out in the morning. For that, I immediately sent him a text.

[Sent 12.36]: YOU ARE GOING DOWN, MISTER!

I then took a deep breath to calm myself down. 

Breathe in.
Breathe out.

I seriously needed a place to rid myself of this crazy moods. The rooftop of the Music Department building popped into my head and I decided to go there to destress myself.

Lay showed me the place two years ago. He liked going there because one, it was his department's building; two, there was this beautiful little greenhouse; and three, no one really bothered to go up there except for the person who tended the plants. The place easily became our escape once in awhile especially when Lay wanted to compose songs peacefully.

I hope he's not there at the moment though. I had been avoiding him all day. Seeing him would only give me high blood pressure. 

I went up the stairs and was about to open the door when I heard laughters from the other side. I knew those laughters very well! I opened the door a bit to peek. And I was right.

There, sitting on the old bench with their backs on me, were Lay and Hwayoung.

Why are they together?

Now don't get me wrong. I would be happy if two of my best friends became friends. Especially knowing Lay might actually have feelings for her. So I got nothing against them getting together- Kai probably would- but I didn't. No, not because I wanted to be with Kai, but because I wanted Lay to be happy.

However, seeing them together right now stirred a strange feeling inside of me. Probably because they laughed like they had known each other for a long time. But then again, that was always how people interacted with Hwayoung. Making people comfortable in such a short time had always been Hwayoung's forte.

Somehow that made me nervous. The thought of losing Lay as my best friend to Hwayoug unsettled me. I wanted them to be friends, but I didn't think I could handle losing another best friend. They might stick with me now, but gradually Lay would love her more. I was sure of that. And I wasn't sure if I would ever be ready for that.

"Your new song would get a good grade, I'm sure!" Hwayoung chirped, patting Lay's shoulder.

Wait, what?! New song? My heart was suddenly picking up its pace. How come he never told me? I felt a prick in my heart.

How could he?! He promised he would let me be the first to listen to his new songs!

My chest tightened.

"You think so?" I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Yeah! Seriously though," Hwayoung sounded excited, "I didn't know you're such a talented composer AND dancer too! You got some moves!"

He's a WHAT?! My jaw dropped. DANCER?

I knew Lay's a splendid musician, but a dancer? How come I never knew that? What was that? Why didn't I know that? Why didn't he tell me? Why was he keeping secrets from me?

I almost stumbled back as I suddenly felt my heart twisted. Why I was feeling that, I couldn't really understand. Oh wait. Maybe I did. It was the mood swings. Yes, that must be it! But mood swings or not, I knew this one thing. I was annoyed and I felt betrayed.

My phone pinged with a message as I soullessly walked out of the building.

Potato Chips [13.12]: Hey, where r u? I'll wait for you at the parking lot after your last class, kay?

I shoved my phone back into the pocket of my jeans, not bothering to reply. After my last class for the day ended, I decided I still didn't want to face Lay. I was still hurt. He kept secrets from me. Was I not his best friend? Or was I the only one thinking of him as my best friend?

********

I was just walking around aimlessly around the campus while waiting for Jongin to finish his class when I got curious and entered the Music Department building. I was going to look for Jumie and Lay but decided against it. I figured I didn't really want to meet Jumie right now. It hurt to know she was the one Jongin had set his eyes on. Even though it felt good to know that I meant something to him, I was still only a friend to him while she was something else. Something probably more in his eyes. I didn't hate her though. I just needed a time alone for now.

I heard the sound of various music instruments and singing voices coming from behind different doors along the hallway as I walked past them. I went up the third floor by the elevator and walked around, peeking in some rooms to see several students practicing. After awhile, I found the stairs leading to the rooftop and decided to go check it out.

When I arrived, I was surprised to find a beautiful little greenhouse sheltering some plants at a corner. Not far from it was an old wooden bench. I walked to the edge of the rooftop, breathing in the tranquility and taking in the view of the campus' premise.

This place is nice!

The place made me smile somehow, like I was free of any burdens. Since no one was around and the place was quiet, with probably a silly grin plastered across my face, I decided to practice dancing here. In a week, we needed to come up with a modern dance coreography for a song of our choice.

I the music in my phone and set the volume high. No one would be bothered here anyway.

When my feet moved to the beat and my body followed along, I felt free. I was in my zone now.

I didn't really know how long I had been dancing, but the next thing I knew, someone came up behind me and danced along. My eyes were widened but my feet kept on moving. It shocked me that the person was Lay. But it surprised me more that his feet could follow along as if he had known the moves.

And boy I tell you! He's one good dancer! Wait, no. Good would be an underestimation. He's a great one! Like seriously!

My surprise morphed into excitement and I grinned at him as our movements synchronized. I laughed when the music ended.

"You can dance!" I exclaimed over pants rather than asked as I grabbed my phone and sat down on the old bench.

Lay just shrugged, giving me his dimpled smile. He picked up his gig bag on the bench and sat down beside me. "What are you doing here?" He asked, wiping a sheen of sweat across his forehead.

"Just wandering around. What about you? Aren't you supposed to be with Jumie?" I teased.

"Well I often come here with Jumie actually." He smiled.

My eyes were widened by a fraction. They spent time alone here? A smirked curled on my lips as I wondered what they usually do here. Just the two of them.

"And I can't find her anywhwere." Lay rubbed his nape and sighed. "She's been avoiding me the whole day. Been sulky since the morning too. But I think it's good to stay away from her for awhile."

"What?" I knitted my brows. Lay and Jumie always stuck together like glues, so it was surprising to hear him say that. "Why?"

He suddenly chuckled and sheepishly ran a hand through his hair. "She was biting and pinching me since the morning."

Okay, WHAT? BITING? My eyes grew wide again and heat crept up my cheeks.

"I thought I would go bald with her pulling my hair. She pulled my ears too! She has been throwing tantrums. I don't know why. I honestly thought she was going to bite my head off when she glared my way!" He complained, but the smile never left his face. His dimples made him look extra cute!

Hey! Snap out of it, Hwayoung!

I looked away because for some reason his smile made my stomach churned with funny feelings.

His phone then pinged and when he read a message on it, he suddenly chuckled and showed me a text message from Jumie. I snickered at the message. Whatever Jumie was going through, she seemed extra pissed by Lay today.

"Hey, wanna listen to a new song I just composed?" He put aside his phone and took his guitar out of the gig bag.

Without much thought, I nodded.

"Tell me what you think later, kay? This one's for an assignment." He grinned.

His song was beautiful! His voice was very sweet too. Though actually he only hummed. But still, even his humming was seriously good. I complimented him on the songs and also his moves earlier!

We gave out little laughters before our eyes then met. He silently stared and smiled. I looked away and cleared my throat. The way he stared at me gave me that weird feeling again. I wondered if Jumie always felt like this when he looked at her eyes with his sincere and clear ones.

I was suddenly reminded of Jongin and abruptly stood up. He should be done with his class by now. I grabbed my bag and told Lay that I needed to go. He nodded and I dashed away to the door when it hit me.

Oh no! I sweated a lot from the dancing! I must be looking hideous! And smelly too!

I stopped and turned to Lay again. "Do I look horrible?" I asked him with a tinge of panic as I dug out a small bottle of body spray from my bag. "I'm not that smelly right? Oh no! My hair must be messy!" I comb my hair with my hands. "Uhoh! I gotta apply some makeup too!" I tried to take out my makeup pouch.

Instead of answering, Lay chuckled and I frowned at him. "What?" I raised a brow.

His chuckle died down and he smiled looking up at me from his sitting position. "You don't know how ridiculous your question sound, do you?" 

I just blinked, not understanding. He stood up and stared at me again with that smile. Geez! Could he not smile for once! 

"Just smile." He told me. "Your smile is your best makeup." Seeing how I only stared at him blankly, he chuckled again. "Don't worry about your appearance." He patted my shoulder. "You look good."

There it was again! That... that... fluttering feeling.

I took a step back and cleared my throat. "O-okay." I nodded. "Thanks, Lay." I tried to smile before walking for the door.

I paused when I opened the door and looked back at him. "You know..." I clicked my tongue and he looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Jumie's probably going through that monthly evil cycle. That's why she's like that since the morning."

He raised an eyebrow. "Evil cycle?" He frowned, looking confused . "I don't think Jumie has ever been possessed. What are you talking abou-"

Lay looked clueless at first, but his droopy eyes soon were rounded, and I imagined a light bulb turning on above his head. I giggled and shook my head. "Bye, Lay!"

********

"Jumie, where are you going?" Mom shouted as I ran out of the house.

I didn't answer and immediately dashed out for the bus stop to go back to the campus.

Mom was surprised to find me coming home without Lay since she said Lay had promised to stay and join dinner later. I, of course, ignored the question because I really didn't want to think about him right then.

But then Mom apologized to me. I just blankly stared at her before she told me that we would go to Mokpo for the weekend getaway just like I wanted. I was confused at first as to why we were switching destination, but Mom told me that Lay talked to her last night before going home. He told her about the book and art fair that I had been wanting to go to.

"I'm sorry I didn't understand you, sweety," my mom told me. "I'm disappointed in myself. I'm your mother, but Lay knows you better than I do. Yet I'm thankful for that at the same time." She brushed a hand through my hair. "Jumie, are you sure you don't have any feelings for him?"

Well, I'm not sure about feelingS, but I did have one feeling for him at the moment. Guilt. And that was why I dashed out of the house, leaving Mom hanging with her question.

I left him while he was probably still waiting for me. I hoped he was smart enough to realize I ditched him, but Lay is Lay. And being Lay, he most likely would still be there at the parking lot as he had told me.

I was choosing between hugging or strangling him when I found him leaning against the side of his car at the parking lot just as I had initially thought. I heaved a frustrated sigh before marching my way to him.

I was going to lash out at him for being a doofus and staying here, but he looked at me with a smile that caught me off guard.

"Where have you been?" was his greeting before he grabbed my hand and opened the door of his car for me. "Let's go home!"

I was already home until I felt guilty for leaving you! I wanted to scream, but he was already ushering me inside the car.

When we both had sat inside the car, he started the car and reached for something at the back seat afterwards. He then gave me a plastic bag.

"I got you pain relievers," he told me as I took out a strip of tablets to relieve the cramps.

I was honestly taken aback and touched too at the same time. A smile slowly grew on my face. So he wasn't so clueless all this time? "How did you--"

"Hwayoung told me you may be on your period." He smiled, but I didn't anymore.

"Oh." I looked away. 

Still clueless indeed. 

I looked inside the plastic bag again and my eyes rounded.

"Oh! I bought you pads too. I figured you might not brought some extras because I dragged you out in the morning." He rubbed his nape and smiled shyly. 

Okay, I just couldn't imagine him walking along the feminine products aisle. He already looked clueless as he was. He must've looked extra clueless and lost there. It must be embarrassing for him.

I felt myself blushing, so I cleared my throat. "What, Hwayoung told you what brand to buy too?"

"No." He shook his head.

I blinked several times. "How did you know this is the brand I usually buy then?"

He looked surprised himself. "So I bought the right one?" A grin broke out across his face. And he strangely looked proud.

"Y-yeah." I slowly nodded.

"Well, I just chose that one because that's the only brand with blue packaging. And you like blue." He shrugged.

I was stunned for a moment and just stared at him with blinking eyes before I burst out laughing.

"What?" He raised his brows higher away from his droopy eyes.

"Thanks," I told him. "So I guess I can order you around now to buy me pads if I ever need to again, right?"

He just smiled and finally pulled the car out of the parking lot.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence along the ride, he suddenly chuckled and I narrowed my eyes on him. "Why didn't you just tell me you're on your period? I could've saved a lot of strands of my hair, you know?" He laughed.

But then I suddenly didn't feel like laughing along. "Why didn't you tell me you can dance?" I retorted with a little glare of disappointment. "I could've saved myself from crazy emotional pressure, you know?" I told him in the same manner he did.

He looked surprised when he briefly glanced at me before staring back at the road ahead. He pursed his lips and didn't answer anything.

I crossed my arms and looked away and out the window. "Just so you know, I ditched you."

I heard him let out a little chuckle again. "No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

"You didn't," he insisted and I finally turned my head to him.

"Yes, I did." I glared and frowned. "I went home because you pissed me off."

"Then why did you come back?" His lips curled into a little smirk.

I blinked and brought my gaze down.

Yes. Why did I come back? Oh right! Guilt.

I felt guilty because he knew me like the back of his hand without me saying much, but turned out, I didn't know him that much. It wasn't fair that my secrets were like an open book to him while his secrets were not even detectable by me. I was such a horrible friend. But I wouldn't tell him that.

I didn't answer and only frowned, crossing my arms and looking out the window again. I was annoyed and frustrated for no clear reason again. Darn mood swings!

Before long, we finally reached my house. But it was suddenly raining. 

Oh thank you, sky! You must be feeling what I was feeling.

Lay pulled over on the driveway. He reached for an umbrella in the pocket behind my seat.

"Wait here," he told me before opening his door bracing for the rain.

He quickly opened the umbrella and rounded the car to go to my side of the door. The umbrella hovered over me as I stepped out of the car. Once he closed the door and locked the car, Lay put an arm around me and bring me closer to him since the umbrella was not that big.

I had always dreamt of this kind of romantic scene. You know, being under one umbrella hip by hip with the guy of your dream and all. But Lay was certainly not my dream guy. So it puzzled me when I felt funny in my stomach and a little flustered at the close distance.

What was happening to me? It wasn't like we had never been this close before! This must have something to do with my mood swings. Must be my period, I concluded.

"Jumie, are you sure you don't have any feelings for him?" Mom's earlier question popped in my mind out of nowhere as we jogged to the house.

Geez! Why were you reminding me of that, brain!

I frowned and shook my head. And just then I felt soaked. I thought I was just imagining it because I was letting out heavy fluids down there. But turned out I wasn't.

Lay actually left me, running to the house laughing.

What the hell?! "YA!"

Lay laughed louder as he ran with the umbrella. I thought he was going to run inside but instead he ran around on the lawn teasing me to chase after him. And I did.

"Why you little--! Ya! Zhang Yixing! What are you doing?! Come here, you potato chips!"

I could've just ran inside the house, but nu-uh! I needed to get my hands around his throat first!

He suddenly came to a stop and I almost bumped against his chest if he didn't put his hands on my shoulders. I just realized that Lay had abandoned the umbrella and was drenched himself just like I was. He looked down at me with a silly grin.

"Dance with me." He smiled.

"What the hell are you--"

His hands slid down to mine enveloping them in firm grips before we suddenly twirled around.

"Ya!" I protested gripping his hands harder. I felt a little dizzy, but somehow I could feel myself starting to smile. And I eventually laughed.

We gradually came to a stop and he suddenly pulled me towards him. I stumbled forward to him and felt his arm around my waist while his other hand still gripped mine. I naturally rested my other hand on his arm as he- without warning- brought me along skipping and twirling around across the lawn. Rain continuously poured over us and mud splashed under our feet.

Oh goodness! I'm so going to get a red nose tomorrow. But I'll worry about that later. We were laughing and we didn't care about that for now. This was too fun for me to worry! My heart was lighter and, though it was raining, imaginary gloomy clouds were dispersed above my head. 

We finally stopped skipping around and Lay rested his hands on my waist as we continued to laugh.

PMS undetected. Woots!

My laughter gradually came to a stop when I felt his eyes on me. I looked up through half lidded eyes- because darn the pouring rain!- and saw him smiling down at me.

"What?" I raised my eyebrows, a corner of my lips quirked up.

He just chuckled. "That's more I like it." He smiled and I frowned not understanding what he was talking about. "You laughing and smiling, I meant." He ruffled my wet hair.

"Lay! Jumie!" Mom called out from the door and we eased away from each other. "What are you guys doing out here? Quickly come inside, you two!"

We chortled as we obeyed and entered the house. Lay passed Mom after bowing and receiving some complaints about the mud from her. I just giggled and teased to give Mom a peck which she dodged. 

"You look happier," she noted and gave me the look that I knew too well looked like her question earlier.

Do I have feelings for Lay was what she wanted to ask. She must've seen us at the front lawn. Sigh. She ain't going to drop that hope, was she?

I just rolled my eyes and watched Lay disappearing into the kitchen.

Nah! I didn't have any feelings for him.

---

Hey! I'm back! :D
I'm sorry for leaving you all hanging with the story for months :(  You might have even forgotten where we left off. But I hope you like the update.

Anyway, what do you think about Jumie & Lay and Hwayoung & Lay? Who do you think Lay actually likes?