⇋

Sehun knows the boy is bad news.

Kim Kai, the notorious troublemaker, who never wears his uniform correctly―tie missing and shirt untucked. Who goes to class two days a week. Who hangs in the alley behind the school doing shady stuff with his equally bad news friends. Who rides a motorcycle and has new bruises on his face daily from getting into fights.

Who has the most bewitching smirk Sehun’s ever seen, a devilish quirk of the lips with a hint of teeth, hair messy and wild, tanned skin and arrogant eyes and crinkled shirt and―

“Yo. I find you interesting. Go out with me.”

It’s the last thing Sehun had expected from Kai when the boy had “summoned” him to the roof, and Sehun had prepared himself for a round of beating for “being a nerd” or some such bullying excuse, not this―

“You’re not gonna turn me down, are you?”

The words sound threatening, but his tone is nothing but smug as the other continues to smirk haughtily at Sehun, like he knows what Sehun’s answer will be―

When Sehun nods timidly, he tells himself he only accepts out of fear of being beaten up had he denied Kai, but―

The blush on his face and the erratic poundings of his heart when Kai pulls him into a victorious hug afterward tell him otherwise.

⇋

Kai tugs him out of class, urges Sehun to skip school and plops him down onto his motorcycle, linking Sehun’s arms around his waist as Kai settles in front of him and starts the ignition.

“Be sure to hold onto me tightly,” Kai tells him, glancing back to look at Sehun’s bewildered eyes. “Hug me like your life depends on it. Wouldn’t want you to fall off mid-ride and bruise your pretty little face like mine, hmn?”

I think you’re very handsome even with those bruises, Sehun thinks, but doesn’t voice out. He rests his cheek onto the broad expanse of Kai’s back, and feels his heart fluttering again.

It seems to do that a lot lately.

Kai takes him on trips through long-winding roads, through stretched out sceneries of trees and grass swaying, shows him cliffs with pretty city views and calm ocean waves when no one’s around to disrupt the quiet.

Kai shows him things he’s never seen before, lets him experience what he’s never thought would matter, always buried behind textbooks and trying to be the best student he can, and Sehun―

Sehun thinks he might like Kai a little.

Or a lot.

⇋

Sehun meets Kai’s father once.

Kai takes him to a lot of places, but never his house. However, one day, on a rare chance where Sehun had managed to convince him to attend school, he had forgotten his textbook at home and Sehun had nagged him enough on the ride that Kai had relented and turned around, heading back to his house.

They pull up in front of a gate, and Sehun has been distracted by how humongous Kai’s house is―a mansion! Like something out of a movie!―when a sleek black car also pulls up and out steps a mid-forty years old man in a posh suit narrowing his eyes in distaste at them.

“Really, Kai? This is how you choose to rebel us? By bringing a boy home? Do you want to taint our name so badly?”

The way the man had spit out “boy” like it was a disgusting term unsettles Sehun, and he clings a little harder onto Kai and tries to hide himself behind Kai’s back.

“I think you’re already tainting it enough with those ‘business deals’ you do, father,” Kai snarls. Then he turns the motorcycle around and drives away.

They stop a block away from the school, and Sehun guesses Kai has managed to calm down during the ride, for he turns to Sehun when they get off. “You’ve been quiet.”

“Kai…” Sehun begins, the upsetting feeling inside his stomach still present. “Did you want to date me because I’m a boy? And you had wanted to make your father mad?”

“Well, yes,” Kai answers without meeting his eyes, and Sehun feels his heart drop.

“Also because you’re such a goody-two shoes perfect student, and I had wanted to corrupt good little boys like you,” he continues, and Sehun sinks even more.

“And also, well…” Kai finally glances back at him, face pinched and looking distinctly uncomfortable when he says, “I might find you kind of ridiculously cute, even though you’re a total nerd.”

Sehun blinks, feeling like a weight has been lifted off his chest as his lips spread into a small, shy smile. “You know you can just say you like me,” he tells Kai, giggling.

“Pssh! You know I’m not one for mushy crap like that!” Kai protests, and Sehun giggles harder.

They end up not going to school that day, instead huddling in a small cafe cuddling in a booth, trading whispered secrets between covered palms.

Sehun feels the happiest he’s ever felt, his heart soaring out of his chest, only ever beating incessantly towards Kai.

⇋

The school year quickly ends, though, and try as he might, Sehun can’t get his boyfriend to tell him what the boy plans to do after this.

Kai is two years older than Sehun, and this is his senior year. What does Kai plan to do after this? College? A job? Or what?

But everytime he tries to ask, Kai always shuts off and turns moody, avoiding the subject. Sehun feels frustrated at not knowing, but he doesn’t want to push the other.

One day, Kai says, “I’m going to have a graduation party. You should come.”

Sehun is reluctant. “You know how I’m not good with parties or crowds of people, Kai.”

“Yeah, but. It’s your boyfriend’s graduation party. You can’t not come,” Kai insists. “Come on, pleaaaase, Sehun? Do it for me.”

Sehun makes a face, but feels himself caving, because the other boy is right.

“Besides. I’ll tell you what I plan to do after this at the party. Isn’t that what you’ve been wanting to know all this time?”

Sehun perks up at the words. He should feel happy Kai is finally going to tell him, but the suddenly serious gaze the older boy is giving