"What was that all about?"

"What do you mean?" Kris blinked, unable to understand the other's apparent frustration.

Tao threw his hands in the air. "Are you planning to tell the whole world or something?"

"About.. what?" Kris asked carefully. 

"About us!"

"Oh." 

"Oh? Oh?" Tao repeated while his eyes broadened dramatically. "Say something, you fantastically lamentable assbasket!"

"Fantastic.. what now?"

"That's not important!" Tao screeched before he abruptly plopped down on the ground. "I don't want to live the rest of my life with cats! Or pandas or chickens or cockroaches or whatever the hell they have in the zoo!"

"Huh?" To say that Kris was confused would be an understatement. But, he crouched down anyway to be on the same eye level with Tao. "I have no idea what are you talking about, but I'm quite sure they do not have cockroaches in the zoo?"

Tao snapped his head up and glared at the other. "Again, not important, you asshat."

"Okay, then what is?" 

"Us!"

"Us? Alright, what about us?" Kris chose to sit down on the ground as well since his feet were starting to become numb. "Talk to me. I won't be able to know what exactly is bothering you unless you tell me."

Tao groaned out loud to express his frustration. "What is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean what's wrong with me?" Kris asked back, furrowing his brows. "There's nothing wrong with me."

"Urghh, I don't care!" Tao stomped his feet childishly. "I want to break up with you!"

"Break up.. with me?"

"Yes, you." Tao huffed while crossing his arms and squinting his eyes. "I absolutely do not want to live the rest of life with a whole bunch of animals breeding in my house!"

"Huang Zitao, what are you talking about?" Kris said with a hint of frustration lacing his tone. "I don't understand. What do you mean you want to break up with me and what does it has anything to do with animals?"

"I. want. to. break. up. with. you, Kris. freaking. Wu!" Tao said the word one by one as if he was talking to a kindergartener.

"Ok, but why?"

"What do you mean why? It's because I don't want to live with animals for the rest of my life!" Tao stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. (If you haven't figure it out, it's not.)

"Yes, but what does your life and mine has anything to do with those animals?" Kris asked back. He was trying to figure the whole thing out even though he was growing more and more confused by time. 

"You're ruining my life!" Tao lashed out.

"Huh?"

"Baek started calling you as my boyfriend earlier and when I tried to correct him, he said something that made me realise that this whole thing about being your pretend boyfriend is such a crappy idea in the first place." Tao resumed, starting to sob. 

"What exactly did he say?" Kris prodded.

"He said that he knew that you are technically not my real boyfriend, but I might as well just get use to people saying s like that since I agreed to help you fooling those dumb es."

"And, that's a problem because?"

"Because you're not my real boyfriend!" Tao snapped while glaring at Kris. "Any potential future boyfriend of mine at school would obviously start distancing themselves from me now because they think I'm taken by you when in fact, I'm not! There goes my chance of having a romantic high school experience like the one in those American dramas! Now, I would never get to kiss anyone in the janitor room or flirting in the class while the teacher is not looking or thrashing the teacher's car together and all!"

"Thrashing the teacher's car together?" Kris stared at the other weirdly. "What kind of dramas have you been watching?"

"A good one." Tao snarled, clearly didn't appreciate the other questioning his choice of drama.

"Alright, but that still doesn't explain the animals."

"If nobody wants to date me, I would've obviously ended up of being alone for the rest of my life. Then, I will start adopting animals out of boredom to the point there's so much animals around me that I could possibly open a goddamn zoo." Tao sobbed even harder while doing some dramatic gestures. "And, it is all because of you!"

Kris didn't reply right away. He looked down, seemingly deep in thought. About five seconds later, he burst into a loud laughter out of nowhere. He was laughing so hard that people were starting to stare at him as they walked by. Embarrassed, Tao hit his arm while frowning.

"Stop it, you're embarrassing me." Tao whispered.

"I'm sorry." Kris managed in between his laughter. "But, you're just so funny."

Tao gritted his teeth. "What's so funny, Wu?"

Kris waved his hand around, unable to talk due to his excessive laughter. He just kept on laughing as he held onto his stomach, probably starting to cause all of his stomach muscles to get tight.

"You know what, I'm leaving." Tao gave up, holding his hands up in surrender. He began to make a move to stand up, but Kris managed to catch his arm.

"Wait, no."

Tao rolled his eyes before removing the other's hand using force. "I do what I want, Kris Wu."

"No, wait for me!" Kris was left scrambling after Tao as the latter walked away faster than you can blink an eye.

~~X~~

"So, what are we going to do here?" Chanyeol asked as he snatched Yixing's unfinished drink.

"Did you just drink from someone else's leftover?" Baekhyun questioned back, looking disgusted.

Chanyeol shrugged. "It's not just anyone. He's my friend."

"Yes, but still.." 

"It's fine." Chanyeol waved his hand dismissively. "You can drink from it too if you want. Here."

"Euww, hell no."

"Your lost." Chanyeol proceeded to empty the content of the cup while Baekhyun watched with undisguised look of horror. Baekhyun wasn't exactly such a clean freak himself, but he absolutely despised the thought of sharing anything with someone's saliva on it. Call him a weirdo or anything, but he simply can't stand the idea.

"Why did I always end up with you all the time anyway?" Baekhyun muttered, more to himself. 

"That's what we call fate and destiny, princess." Chanyeol interjected. It was a surprise that he even heard Baekhyun especially since he was making such a loud noise as he gulped down the drink. "Fateful meeting, don't you agree? I've always thought of that from the very first moment I met you."

"Are you proposing to me or something?" Baekhyun said dryly.

"No, not yet." Chanyeol winked. "We can consider that option after we finish high school though."

Baekhyun snorted loudly. "In your dream."

"My dream had always been full of you and you know that."

"Have you always been this dumb and cringey?"

"Only after I became your chosen one."

"It was just a one-time thing!" Baekhyun groaned, not even trying to disguise his frustration with the other. "It meant nothing to me."

"Still doesn't change a thing." Chanyeol replied back with a smirk. 

"I was sixteen!"

"So do I."

Baekhyun promptly crashed his head onto the table before proceeding to bang his forehead several times against the hard surface. In the back of his mind, he wondered for the umpteenth times already why did he even bothered doing that back then.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" The whole circle cheered while one particular boy looked extremely conflicted. He alternated a look between two other guys, weighing his option.

"Come on, Baekhyun! Just pick one of them and get it over with!" His senior hooted while surpressing his laughter. Baekhyun smiled without humor, internally already thinking of 1001 ways on how to kill the clueless guy.

"Do I really have to?" Baekhyun asked reluctantly.

"Of course! You picked the dare!" A female senior answered him this time and she looked rather ecstatic to see his suffering. That heartless . 

"I choose..." Baekhyun gulped, his gaze lingering a tad bit too long on a certain male.

"For the record, why did you choose me on that day?" Chanyeol asked with curiosity, completely disregarding the other's apparent annoyance with the topic.

"Certainly not because of your look." Baekhyun grumbled. 

"Oh please, you know that's not true." Chanyeol teased while wiggling his brows in a suggesting way. "The option was either me or that Chanwoo guy. I don't mean to brag, but I'm definitely way superior in term of look compared to him."

Baekhyun raised a brow, unamused. "Excuse me, but that's my ex you're talking about. I don't do ugly motherers so that should tell you just how much superior he is compared to you."

"Aha! So, that's why." Chanyeol snapped his finger, happy that he was able to retract that little information at last. Then, he furrowed his brows, just realising the later statement. "Wait, did you just say I'm ugly?"

Baekhyun shrugged. "If the shoe fits."

"My shoe?" He spontaneously looked down to his feet. He raised his feet one by one, making sure that both of his shoes fit right in. "It fits perfectly."

"Then, wear it." Baekhyun replied with a sardonic smile.

"I am wearing it right now." To further prove his words, Chanyeol lifted his feet and placed it right into Baekhyun's lap, meaning to give the other a closer look. Baekhyun clearly failed to understand his intention when he instinctively pushed Chanyeol's feet so hard, the taller one didn't have another choice but to end up of sprawling on the floor.

"What did you do that for?" Chanyeol whined as he struggled to sit up, his  hanging in the air for the world to see. 

"I could ask you the same question." 

"I was trying to let you have a closer look at my shoes!" Chanyeol said defensively as he managed to crawl his way back onto his seat. 

Baekhyun facepalmed. "That's not what I meant, you idiot."

"You told me to wear my shoes when I'm already wearing it, did you or did you not?" Chanyeol pressed. 

"Park Chanyeol, did you or did you not go to school for the past few years?" Baekhyun narrowed his eyes. "It's an idiom. I - D - I - O - M, idiom for God's sake!"

"... like the capital city of Italy?"

"That's Rome, you uncultured walnut!"

"But, Rome is in Europe."

"You do realise Italy is a European country, right?"

"It is?" Chanyeol's eyes widened to the size of a saucepan, looking as if he was genuinely surprised.

Baekhyun groaned and promptly let his head fall into his arm.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE!"

~~X~~

"Huang Zi Tao, talk to me." Kris pleaded as he trailed after the said male all around. "What did I do wrong?"

One.. Two.. Three..  And yet, Tao still refused to talk to him. He was blatantly ignoring the poor guy now, not even sparing a glance as he opened the fridge to grab a bottle of juice. Then, he hopped onto the kitchen counter, crossing his legs once he was comfortably seated. Kris made a sad face, unhappy that he was being treated this way. 

"For the umpteenth times, Park Chanyeol, Rome is the capital city of Italy and Oslo is not the capital city of Canada!" Abruptly, the silence was broken by the loud voice of none other than Byun Baekhyun as he trudged into the kitchen with Chanyeol tailing after him like a lost puppy.

"You're wrong. I've read a book once and it definitely mentioned Oslo as the capital city of Canada!" Chanyeol insisted. 

Baekhyun stopped and looked at him up and down, without a doubt judging the tall male. "Do you even know how to read?"

"I do!"

Having heard them, Kris furrowed his brows with a look full of unvoiced questions. He shifted his attention towards the pair, momentarily abandoning Tao.

"I have no idea what are you guys on about, but the capital city of Canada is Ottawa actually." Kris voiced out, unsure if they were even looking for an answer. From what he heard just now, Chanyeol seemed pretty adamant about his mangled memory. 

"Kris!" Chanyeol scolded. "Not you too!"

"I told you."

"No, ignore him." Chanyeol said dismissively, turning back to Baekhyun with a determined look. "He can't possibly know s like this."

"Excuse me?" Kris looked rather offended. "Dude, I was born there!"

"You are?"

"Oh now, you're talking to me." Kris said sarcastically while turning around to face Tao.

Tao, who had just finished drinking his juice, huffed. "Fine, I won't talk to you. If you don't want, I'm even tenfold, no hundred or even thousand and thousandfold doesn't want to talk to you!"

"Wait, no. That's not what I mean." Kris was in full panic mode now. He didn't mean to snap at the other, but he was getting rather offended by Chanyeol's stupid statement, thus his accidental reaction. "Talk to me, please? With cherry, err Prada, Chanel, Dior on top?"

Tao sniffed in disdain. "I don't even like any of those brands."

"Damn, you're so hard to please." Kris mumbled to himself. "Alright, what is it that you like? Gucci, isn't it? Well, please with Gucci on top then?"

"Limited edition one."

"Whatever you want."

Tao tapped his finger against his chin, considering the offer. Sure, it wasn't like Kris was offering to buy any of that for real, but Tao was considering it anyway because he was just weird that way.

"Can you give me some food as well?"

"You got it."

"Deal!" Tao clapped his hands excitedly, seemingly not fully aware that Kris wasn't going to buy any of that for him. "So, you were born in Canada?" 

"Yes."

"How in the hell did you end up here then?"

Kris rolled his eyes. "I moved here obviously. My mom got a job offer that she just couldn't refuse."

"What is it? Office job at Samsung or something?"

"No. She's a makeup namer." Kris deadpanned.

"Wait, what?" Tao had to strain his ears to make sure he really heard that right. 

"She's a makeup.. namer."

"You meant, makeup artist?" Tao repeated, unsure.

"No, makeup namer." Kris corrected. "Basically, she has to brainstorm and come up with fancy names for all of these makeup products and collections."

"You get paid for that?!"

"Yes."

Tao blinked once, twice. "WHERE DO I SIGN UP?"

"No idea." Kris shrugged. "She just received the offer one day and here we are today."

"I need to meet your mom!" Tao exclaimed as he started shaking Kris hysterically. "Imagine all of the cute names I could come up with for all of those Gucci products! A cute little bag could be the PANDA REVOLUTION COLLECTION!"

"Panda what—"

"Whoa, slow down there, panda boy." Baekhyun suddenly interrupted. 

"Yeah, what's the rush?" Chanyeol added. "I would've wait a couple of months more if I were you, before you get into the whole meeting the parents step."

"No, you don't understand." Tao said with an almost fanatical glint in his eyes. "This could be it. My ultimate dream coming true!"

"Wow." Chanyeol mused while folding his arms against his chest. "I didn't know you were that into Kris."

Kris attempted to intervene, sensing that Chanyeol and Baekhyun were deeply misunderstanding the whole situation right now. The keyword here being attempted because he didn't even manage to get a single word out before Baekhyun beat him to it.

"Of course he's super duper into him." Baekhyun smirked. "They are boyfriend and boyfriend after all."

Chanyeol's eyes widened to the size of a saucepan. "What? Since when? When did that happened? Why am I not informed of this and wait, you're gay?" His gaze abruptly landed on Kris with a quizzical look.

"Oh, he's so gay alright." Baekhyun tsked.

"I'm not gay—"

"He's gay."

"Yeah, I think I can see it now." Chanyeol hummed in agreement as he was assessing Kris from head to toes.

"Excuse me," Kris scowled. "I'm still here and I can hear you perfectly fine." 

"That's the whole point."

Tao quickly interfered before Kris could start gutting Baekhyun alive like a fish. 

"Relax, y'all. He's not even my boyfriend anymore." 

"He's not?" "I'm not?" Baekhyun and Kris spoke in unison, looking equally bewildered. 

"Yes." Tao shot a pointed look at Kris. "I told you I'm breaking up with you."

"When did you guys even start dating each other?" Chanyeol chimed in with curiosity, but of course they completely ignored him. The poor guy was that easy to ignore.

"But, why?" Again, they simultaneously voiced out.

Tao responded by glaring at both of them. "I - do - not - like - cats."

Baekhyun furrowed his brows, not getting the meaning behind those line. Chanyeol was just equally confused and partly annoyed as well since none of them was paying any attention to him. Meanwhile, a look of realisation dawned upon Kris after he heard that.

"So, that's what you mean!" Kris exclaimed, finally getting it. "I didn't know you were being completely serious!"

"I you not I am being completely serious here, Kris Wu."

Kris blinked. "B-But—"

"Let me get this straight." Baekhyun interrupted. "You are planning on breaking up with him because you do not like cats? Am I the only one or that doesn't seem to add up at all?"

"Pandas too." Tao confirmed while nodding his head, failing to understand Baekhyun's confusion.

Baekhyun opened his mouth to say something, planning to inquire further since it was just not making any sense to him. He fully intended on getting to the bottom of this matter, not only because he was just naturally an interfering busybody but also, because Tao was a dear friend of him no matter how annoying he can get sometimes. However, two eerie things simultaneously happened all of a sudden, causing all of them to freeze on the spot. A loud, rapid sound of something banging against something hard was echoing off the four corners of the kitchen while the light overhead started flickering on and off. The eerie part? The sound was coming from underneath them instead of upstairs or anywhere else in the house.

Chanyeol swallowed since his mouth suddenly felt impossibly dry. He wordlessly closed the distance between him and Baekhyun, grabbing the other's arm despite the other's immediate protest.

"What's that sound?" Tao choked out, clearly terrified out of his mind. His eyes kept on shifting all around, searching for the source of the noise despite his best effort to tune out the sound.

"It's coming from down there." Kris pointed out as he strained his ears to listen more carefully. 

"Down?" Baekhyun questioned with furrowed brows. "We've only been here for a few days, but I'm pretty sure there's no basement or whatsoever in this house. At least, not as far as I can see since there's no room or stairs to indicate its existence."

"I know." Kris agreed. "But, listen carefully and you will see what I'm talking about."

There was a moment of silence as Baekhyun tried to follow Kris' suggestion. Meanwhile, Chanyeol and Tao waited with bated breath, not liking the situation at all. It definitely wasn't helping that the silence only seemed to make the noise sounded even louder than it already is, accompanied by the humming of the light as it continued to switch on and off. It was hard to determine what was making the noise, but it wasn't a pleasant sound for sure. Then, it abruptly stopped. All of them exchanged a look with each other, bewildered.

"Is it ov—" Tao stopped talking at once. A look of pure terror quickly replaced the short-lived relieved look plastered across his face just a second ago. He hopped off the counter in a flash before he practically threw himself at Kris as he scrambled to seek for comfort in the other's much larger stature. Chanyeol wasn't any better. He quite literally glued himself to Baekhyun, accidentally ramming hard against the other's back in the process. It was sure to leave a couple of nasty bruises by tomorrow and Baekhyun was not happy with that.

"Oh God, make it stop!" Chanyeol yelled, cowering behind Baekhyun while covering his ears.

"I don't even know where it's coming from." Baekhyun retorted back, more concerned with his aching back at the moment.

Kris on the other hand, had to handle a badly shaken Tao as the latter practically strived to become one with his chest. In another word, the boy was suffocating him to death with his tight hug around his body particularly around his chest since that's where he sneaked his arms. Kris patted the other's shoulder lightly as an indirect sign of quiet plea for him to loosen his grip a little bit. Unfortunately, Tao didn't get the hint. Instead, he tightened his grip even more especially when the new noise only seemed to intensify by the minute. And in that moment, Kris officially hated whatever was making the damn noise.

"Tao, relax." Kris said with a soothing voice, desperate for the said boy to calm down. "It's nothing. That's probably just a cat."

It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't a complete lie either. The previous loud sound of something banging against something hard indeed had vanished into thin air. But in its place, now came this chilling, unpleasant sound of nails scratching against a hard surface repeatedly. It wasn't as loud as the previous sound, but it was definitely more unsettling. One that gave you goosebumps and made you rub your arms up and down to get rid of it so you won't think much of it.

"Bull." Tao bit back, his voice slightly muffled by Kris' shirt.

"Don't think too much of it." Kris urged, slowly working on getting Tao to release him. "It will only fuel your fear and make you hear things that are not there."

"No!"

Well, that didn't work. Despite his current state of terror, Tao was actually far more alert than Kris realised. The moment Kris placed his hand on Tao's arm, the latter quickly realised what he was trying to do and went on full defense mode. His nails dug into the skin on Kris' back, resisting Kris' attempt to pull them apart. 

"Ow! Ow! Have you never cut your nails or something?" Kris whined, fearing for his life because he felt as if his skin was peeling off and he might bleed to death anytime soon. Talk about being a dramatic queen.

"I want to go back to my room." Tao said, ignoring Kris' words. He looked up to gaze into the other's eyes, but he was very careful to not focus on anything that was visible from the corner of his eyes. 

Kris looked offended. "It's our room, not just yours."

"Whatever." Tao said dismissively, still staring. "Let's just go."

"Alright, but only because I'm running out of breath here." Kris muttered under his breath as he complied and carefully began navigating their way out of there. It wasn't exactly the easiest task in the world since Tao was still clinging to him like a koala.

"Quick!" Chanyeol piped up while prodding Baekhyun in the ribs. "Let's follow them! What are you waiting for?"

"Why would I follow them into their room?" Baekhyun replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Why would you want to follow them into their room?" Chanyeol asked back, brows knitted tightly together. As opposed to Baekhyun's tone that was just dripping with sarcasm, Chanyeol's was filled with pure confusion instead.

"I don't know. It was your suggestion."

"When the did I ever suggest that?"

"Just now!"

"No, I didn't."

"You so did!"

"Did not!"

"Stop lying!"

"Did ing not!"

"Liar!"

"What the are you guys arguing about in the middle of the night like this?" A leering voice appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, which belonged to Kyungsoo. He looked sleepy and annoyed all at the same time as he leaned against the wall while crossing his arms. "People are trying to sleep here."

"Kyungsoo!" Chanyeol exclaimed in relieve as he scurried off to latch onto Kyungsoo instead. "Thank goodness you are here since princess here is too much of a scaredy-cat to bring me upstairs."

"Are you sure he's just incapable of it?" Kyungsoo said back while eyeing Chanyeol up and down. "I don't think anybody would ever be able to bring you anywhere with that kind of height."

"Huh?" Chanyeol tilted his head to the side, confused. Then, he looked down to himself as well before it finally dawned upon him. "Oh! No, no, no, that's not what I meant! I'm not asking you to carry me or something. That's just silly because you guys are obviously too tiny for that. I'm just asking you to bring me to my room as in leading me to my room or guide me or whatever they call it."

"Did he just say I'm tiny?" Baekhyun growled while rolling up his sleeves. "I would have you know that I am 5 foot and 8 inches tall, you moron. You are just abnormally tall!"

"I am not abnormally tall. You're just tiny." Chanyeol argued. Then, he suddenly looked over Kyungsoo and retracted his hands from holding onto Kyungsoo's arm as if he'd been burnt while backing away slightly from Kyungsoo. Puzzled, Kyungsoo turned around and met eyes with Jongin. The latter was standing there while staring at both of them.

"Oh, it's you." Kyungsoo said curtly.

"Where have you been?" Jongin asked back while crossing his arms. "You haven't been in the room for the whole day and I didn't see you anywhere in the house."

"None of your business."

Jongin narrowed his eyes. "It is my business since you are my roommate now. If anything happens to you while you're in the house, I would be the one to blame."

"Wow." Kyungsoo said sarcastically. "Where is this spirit a few years ago, huh? Did you hit your head hard recently or something? Or did some magical tortoise uncle suddenly descended from the heaven to bestow this ability to you?"

Jongin's firm stance wavered as he slowly dropped his hands to the side and lowered his head. He heaved a deep, long sigh.

"Kyungsoo, I—"

"Save it." Kyungsoo snapped before storming away out of there.

"Is that our hint to go?' Chanyeol whispered, directing it towards Baekhyun.

"I think so." Baekhyun whispered back even though Jongin was perfectly able to hear them. Jongin gave one last look at them before making his way out of there as well.

"Awkward.." Chanyeol sing-song.

"I know, right?" Baekhyun mused before frowning as something occcured to him. "Wait a minute. Did you notice that the noise has stopped?"

"What? Oh." Chanyeol's eyes largened in realisation. "Let's get the hell out of here then before it comes back!"

"You are right. Let's go."

"Yay!"

"I'm so not going to carry you upstairs though."

"Don't worry, princess. I completely understand your tiny situation."

"... I will count to three."

"Oh ."

~~X~~

"We need to talk." was the first thing that Jongin said when he entered his shared room with Kyungsoo. The latter was currently rummaging through his side of the closet, trying to find something to wear. 

Kyungsoo didn't reply, fully intended on ignoring the other. He simply concentrated on choosing his pyjamas instead.

"Do Kyungsoo, I am talking to you." Jongin said heatedly, disliking being ignored this way. His brows were all scrunched up together as he waited for a response from the smaller male.

At last, Kyungsoo found that one pyjamas that he had been looking for. He rose to his feet while carrying the all black sleepwear, still blatantly ignoring Jongin. He began walking to the bathroom, or at least he attempted to until Jongin grabbed him and made him face his dumb face.

"What?" Kyungsoo growled, speaking up for the first time since the past fifteen minutes.

"Talk to me, goddamnit." 

"I am talking to you right now, am I not?" 

"I meant, talk as in real talk. This is preciously what your problem is. You always keep it all to yourself, never bothering to tell anybody whatever is troubling you!" Jongin said exasperatedly.

"What for?" Kyungsoo had an indescribable look on his face as he stared into Jongin's face. It was a mix of somewhere between rage and betrayal. "Tell me, Kim Jongin. What for?" Kyungsoo pressed even harder. All trace of any emotion vanished into thin air as his face suddenly hardened, almost as if he just got reminded that showing his emotion is a sign of weakness.

"Soo—"

"Don't you ever call me with that name again, Kim Jongin." Kyungsoo cut off with a sharp tone. "We are not friends. That ended a long time ago. "

Jongin sighed and raised his hands in surrender. "Alright then. Just listen to me."

"What else is there to listen to? Do I really have to listen to your crappy advice on how I'm supposed to tell people about how I feel? If you can remember, I did that once and look at where did that bring me. To the hospital with my head needing an immediate five stitches." Kyungsoo said pointedly. "So, pray tell, Jongin, what for?"

"I don't know, alright?" Jongin replied in a frustrated tone. "I don't have the answer to that because I simply do not know. I don't know why I even bother because like you said, the story between us are long over. But, I do know that your tendency to keep everything to yourself is not a healthy habit and it is eating you up inside!"

"Why do you care?" Kyungsoo snapped. "You never seem to care before so why start now? After like what, five years? People would've agreed if I said that it's already too ing late!"

"I. do. care, Do Kyungsoo! You might not know it because I won't allow you but I do freaking care since the very beginning. Who do you think reported all of those s to the principal so they got the suspension that they very much deserve before they got expelled?!" Jongin snapped back.

Kyungsoo became stunned for a solid five seconds.

"What did you just say?" Kyungsoo said slowly, unsure if he had heard it right. 

Jongin realised a tad bit too late that he was so caught up in the heat of the moment that he ended up of disclosing something that he shouldn't have. Something that he decided years ago shall never ever see the daylight. He bit his lower lip anxiously, his mind running at an unbelievable speed trying to come up with some sort of an excuse or explanation or whatever that could serve as a distraction from his previous slip of the tongue.

"Nothing." was all Jongin can come up with at last. "Forget it. Pretend this conversation never happened."

Kyungsoo wanted to argue, but Jongin was already making large strides in the direction of the door. It seemed as if the other would be trying real hard to avoid him at all cost after this. Kyungsoo unceremoniously plopped down onto the bed when the door clicked shut behind him. He had a blank look on his face as he stared into the white wall. He didn't know what to think. Despite Jongin's insistence for him to pretend that the previous conversation never happened, he couldn't help but to think of it. What he thought he heard kept on replaying in the back of his mind and those words honestly bothered him a lot.

Kyungsoo sighed. "Kim Jongin, you are still such a pain in the even after all of this time."

That was his last words before he laid down on his back and closed his eyes. Soon enough, a soft snore can be heard from the petite male as the night went on.