A

"What would you like to eat?"

Tao points at the menu that's hanging in the display section of the cake place. Kyungsoo looks around, falling open at just how pretty all of the cakes look, much too pretty to be consumed. falls open a second time when she notices the price for a small cheesecake. It's safe to say that she won't be able to afford anything here.

"I'm not really hungry," Kyungsoo lies, unconvincing even to herself. She had skipped lunch to go stay in the library, not wanting to risk encountering Taeyeon and facing the older girl's wrath. Even if she didn't encounter Taeyeon, she would still not have gone to the dining hall. Eating alone would attract too much attention and cause her to be mocked by her peers.

Tao raises a perfect eyebrow, looking unconvinced. "Really? We can split a cake if you like. I can't finish one on my own and neither Sehun nor Jongin like strawberry cheesecake."

"I love strawberry cheesecake," Kyungsoo can't keep the excitement out of her voice. It's what she would get if she could afford it and by splitting the bill with Tao, it becomes affordable, even for her.

"Great, it's my treat," Tao says, quickly. She reaches into her bag, presumably to pick out her purse but Kyungsoo grabs her wrist, letting go a second later in embarrassment at her bold action.

"We'll split the bill in half," Kyungsoo's voice isn't loud but it's firm. She's got some money that she had been stashing away to get Chanyeol the game he wants for his birthday. It feels like a waste to spend it on cake but there's no way she's going to let someone she just met treat her to anything, no matter if they insist or not. She can always do some more work for the ahjumma next door to earn the money back. 

"I invited you, it's only suitable that I pay," There's a gleam in Tao's eye that would make a weak person back off immediately but Kyungsoo inherited her stubborn nature from her sister, and there's no way she's going to back off on this.

"We're splitting the cake so we're splitting the bill." Kyungsoo counters. It's nearly unheard of her to be so forward around someone she's basically just met, even if they have been in the same class for half a year, but there's no way she's going to give in and let Tao pay. It's her pride at stake here. Especially as she's older than Tao, if anyone should be paying, it's her.

"It's my treat."

"No, it's not."

"How about I pay?"

The two girls stop the arguing to see Jongin standing in front of the counter, looking sheepish. Kyungsoo immediately searches for Sehun and is relieved to see him sitting in one of the booths and using his phone, not paying attention to what's going on with the rest of them. Even if she embarrassed herself in front of Jongin, at least she didn't embarrass herself in front of her actual crush.

"You'll pay for me?" Tao's expression goes so warm and gooey in a second that Kyungsoo is finding it hard to believe it's the same person that she was arguing with a second ago. The power of cute guys on a girl is scary, Kyungsoo thinks.

"I kind of already did," Jongin's smile is sincere as his hand nervously rubs the back of his nape. "Sorry about it. I just didn't want you to the argue any longer."

“You’re such a gentleman,” Kyungsoo swears that she sees actual hearts in Tao’s eyes as the Chinese girl latches onto Kai’s arm and looks up at him adoringly. Kai just gives a little shrug in response. 

"We should get go sit down before Sehun gets annoyed. I'll bring the cakes back." Kai suggests. Tao nods, finally detaching herself from Kai and walking back to a now sullen looking Sehun.

Kyungsoo waits for a few seconds after she's left before she speaks to Kai, giving a small bow as she says. "Thank you for paying. I'll pay you back later."

Kai looks taken aback for a second before he says. " Don't worry. I'm happy to."

He laughs shyly, and suddenly Kyungsoo is unable to keep eye contact with him and is forced to look at the ground. She's seen a fair share of nice smiles but Jongin's smile is so radiant, it reminds her of the moon. As beautiful as but not as prominent as the sun. She can see why Tao would have a crush on him.

Blushing furiously, she gives one last bow before walking over to the window booth where Tao and Sehun are sitting. The two of them are deep in conversation when she gets there, that it takes a second for either to react when she slides into the seat next to Tao. She glances at Sehun who's sitting with his back to the window, so the sun reflects off his platinum hair, making him look like an angel. He has a soft smile on his face too, but it's gone the moment he spots her.

"Hey Soo," Tao sounds happy as she reaches out to pinch Kyungsoo's cheek. "I was just telling Sehunnie about how Jongin bought me a cake. He's so dreamy, right?"

"I guess," Kyungsoo picks her words carefully, hoping not to make Sehun more annoyed than he seems to be at her. It's disheartening, to have her crush hate her before she's even said a word to him but she isn't going to let it hurt her, not now. "If he's your type."

She realizes she said the wrong thing a split second later when Tao perks up like a puppy that's just been given a fresh bone. "What's your type, Soo?"

"I don't have a type."

"Lies," Tao giggles, fumbling around her purse to bring out a tube of sparkly lipgloss. "Come on, tell me. I'll tell you mine and so will Sehun."

"I don't want to." Sehun shakes his head.

"Please Sehunnie," Tao whines, batting her eyelashes at Sehun and puffing her cheeks cutely in an attempt at aegyo. "If you love me you'll do it." 

"Who said anything about me loving you?" there's a small smile on Sehun's face now. "If anything you're a pain."

"That's so mean," Tao starts to pout. She turns away from Sehun, facing to the side instead. Kyungsoo clutches at her bag awkwardly, not knowing what to do in the situation. She had thought Tao was just joking but there's a hint of hurt in her voice that Kyungsoo easily picks up on. Sehun seems to do so as well, as he quickly speaks up.

"I was kidding. Sorry," Sehun says, running his hands through his hair. "I'll tell you my ideal type."

Tao perks up so fast that Kyungsoo starts to doubt the girl was actually hurt in the first place. "Kyungsoo, you go first."

"I guess I would want to date a person that's kind and funny. A gentle person that's my friend as well as my lover." Kyungsoo eventually says, after thinking hard for a moment. She's careful to not specify any gender, even if Tao seems nice now, who knows how she might react to finding out about Kyungsoo's biuality.  Their country is notorious for being homophobic.

"Nicely said," Tao gives Kyungsoo a small thumbs up. "What about you, Oh Sehun?"

Sehun shrugs. "I like y, fierce girls. Big s are necessary, and so is being skinny."

A small twinge tugs at Kyungsoo's chest. She's none of those things. She isn't y or fierce, neither is she skinny. Her s are average sized at best or small at the worst.

"What about cuties like Kyungsoo here?" Tao wraps her arms around Kyungsoo's waist and cuddles closer to her, resting her head against Kyungsoo's chest. "If I were a guy I'd marry her immediately. She's definitely wife material."

"Who's wife material?" At the sound of that voice, Tao lifts her head and looks up at Kai, who's carrying the cakes in his hands. He sets them down on the table before he takes a seat next to Sehun.

"Soo-ah," Tao giggles as she pulls the plate with the cake strawberry cake towards her and Kyungsoo. She picks up one of plastic forks next to the cake and hands the second one to Kyungsoo. 

Jongin doesn't reply to the comment, instead, he looks slightly embarrassed as he turns his gaze away. Sehun raises an eyebrow, tapping on Jongin's shoulder and quietly saying something that Kyungsoo can't overhear. 

Feeling shyer than ever, Kyungsoo digs her fork into the cake to cut out a small piece which she hurriedly slides into . The instant the cake touches her tongue, it's like a burst of flavor on her tongue. She lets out a little moan of surprise at the taste.

She continues eating the cake with continued gusto, too preoccupied to notice both Jongin and Sehun staring at her with eyes that contain less than innocent intentions but Tao does and she sends a warning glare in their direction while moving closer to the oblivious girl.  

Half of the cake is gone before Kyungsoo realizes that Tao hasn't taken a single bite of it yet. Against all her urges, she stops eating and peers up at the tall girl, "Aren't you going to have any?"

"It's fine," Tao shakes her head. There's a soft smile on her face. "You can have it all."

"I don't want it all. Half of it is yours."

"I'm not hungry. You eat it."

Instead of arguing with Tao anymore, Kyungsoo breaks off a piece of the cake and brings it towards Tao's mouth. "Open up."

There's a look of surprise on Tao's face for a second then she smiles and does just that, allowing Kyungsoo to feed her small bites of cake.

"I hope this turns into lesbian ," Sehun whispers to Jongin, not low enough as both Kyungsoo and Tao hear him, the former of who blushes deeply at the statement. “I’ve never seen with a fat girl before.”

"You're disgusting Oh Sehun. This is why you're never going to get a girlfriend." Tao rolls her eyes. She links arms with Kyungsoo and cuddles into Kyungsoo's side. "This is why I only go for real men, not high school boys."

‘’Sehun, please stop talking,” Jongin groans, looking as mortified as Kyungsoo feels. He gives her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Sehun lacks a brain to mouth filter.”

“It’s fine,” Kyungsoo lies, hurriedly. She stands up and gives a small bow that makes her hair cover her face like a comforting veil. “I should get home. I have things to do.”

“I’ll come with you,” Tao stands up, grabbing her purse and slinging it on her back. She flips her dark hair over her shoulder, pursing her lips angrily. “I’m done here for today. Thanks for the cake Jongin.”

“You’re welcome,” Jongin’s voice is soft and comforting. He gets out of the chair and holds out his arms for what Kyungsoo assumes to be a hug while blushing.

It’s a little embarrassing as Kyungsoo has never really hugged a boy other than family but Jongin is nice and she really thinks they can be friends. She moves closer shyly and ends up being pulled into a large bear hug that ends with Jongin giving her unconfident peck on the cheek that makes her go red all the way to her toes. His lips feel pleasantly cool against the warmth of her cheeks. Once it’s over he steps back and Kyungsoo is forced to keep her head down in embarrassment.

"Okay lover girl, let's go," Tao says, nudging Kyungsoo. 

She bounces over to Jongin, flinging her arms around his neck and planting a solid kiss on his cheek. "See you later JongJong."

"Where's my goodbye kiss?" Sehun calls out as he leans back in his seat. Tao rolls her eyes and sticks out her middle finger at him, puffing out her cheeks and blowing air kisses.

Kyungsoo is giggling as they walk out.

-

"Is this really where you live?"

Tao's eyes are wide as she stares at the front door of Kyungsoo's apartment. All of a sudden, Kyungsoo feels a glimmer of embarrassment as she realizes just how small her home is, even for an apartment. She's never thought of it as being small before, being close to her family meant that there was never any need for her to get her own personal space, but for a rich person like Tao, her house must look tiny.

"Yeah," Kyungsoo mumbles as she unlocks the front door. She steps in, holding the door for Tao who only looks too happy to be let inside.

"It's so cute," Tao exclaims, unreservedly walking past Kyungsoo into the living room. "Can I see your bedroom? I bet it's pretty."

Kyungsoo's face flushes a bright red. Her bedroom is cute, maybe a little too cute her age considered. The walls are a pale, baby pink and covered with paintings of her family, done from when her parents were still alive. At that times she shared a room with Chanyeol who hadn't been happy to have a girly pink room but he had never been good at saying no to his baby sister.

"We should work here instead. There's really nothing in my room," Kyungsoo suggests, hoping Tao wouldn't press forward.

Annoyingly but not surprisingly, Tao does, grabbing Kyungsoo's arm and looking at her with such strong puppy eyes that Kyungsoo can nearly see the tail. "Please? We can do makeovers it'll be so much fun I promise."

The look on Tao's face is impossible to say no to, Kyungsoo uses to justify the way she instantly nods. Plus, even though she doesn't like to admit it, she's always been soft-hearted despite her small stubborn streak. Saying no to a cute face is impossible for her, a trait she's certain she inherited from Chanyeol.

"Fine," Kyungsoo relents, watching as Tao grins like a bonafide Cheshire Cat. She makes the decision not to mention the fact she has no makeup in her room apart from some lipgloss that's only used for formal occasions. "Don't be disappointed when you see my room. It's nothing special."

Tao is nodding when the two of them finally hear the shuffling of footsteps as a familiar figure emerges from the stairs shirtless, with just a towel wrapped around his waist. 

"Soo is that you? Did you do laundry 'cause I'm missing my underw-" Chanyeol cuts off when he finally notices Tao standing next to his sister. He blinks, looking confused. "I didn't know you were having a friend over."

Kyungsoo's eyes go as wide as saucers in horror at the situation. A look at Tao confirms that the other girl is blushing for once, her tan cheeks have managed to take a rosy tint as she looks politely at the ground, but the staring from the corner of her eye isn't as covert as she probably thinks it is.

"Oh my gosh," Kyungsoo squeaks as she runs to Chanyeol, her bag falling to the ground in her haste to get to him as quickly as possible. She shoves at him, doing her best to push him back up the stairs and shield him from Tao's eyes at the same time, a nearly impossible task considering how much taller he has than her, despite his lankiness. "Oppa, please go put some clothes on." 

"Hey, you're the one that didn't tell me you had someone over." Chanyeol protests, trying to dodge his tiny sister's relentless blows.

"I hate you Oppa. You're the absolute worst." Kyungsoo wails. It was supposed to be perfect, both her siblings were supposed to be out of the house until late, leaving Tao with enough time to come and go without meeting them, meaning she couldn't be embarrassed. Why did Chanyeol have to go and mess everything up?

"Why're you being so mean?" Chanyeol complains, rubbing at the spots where Kyungsoo is hitting him. "Stop! Crazy girl! This is assault!"

The sound of Tao's giggles draws Kyungsoo out of her state of angry mortification which gives Chanyeol enough time to slip from her hold and give her a wide berth. She ignores him and looks over to see the Chinese girl laughing, a genuine smile on her face this time.

"You two are the cutest siblings I've seen," Tao says, in the midst of her giggles. "Are you always like this?"

"What do you mean? We aren't different from any other siblings."

"Really? My brother and I don't act anything like you two. For a second, Tao stops laughing and looks at the ground, her face unreadable then she goes back to normal so fast that Kyungsoo is unsure if it was just her mind playing tricks on her. "Can we hang out with your brother?"

Kyungsoo's reply is instantaneous. "No." 

"Come on," Tao says, walking over and nudging at the smaller girl. "He seems really cool. It'll be fun."

"Absolutely not," Even though Kyungsoo is lenient about a lot of things, this isn't one of them. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that her brother and Tao together would be a bad idea, even though she's only known Tao for less than a day, she knows enough to conclude that for her sanity and the sanity of everyone around them, it's best if her brother is as far away from Huang Zitao as possible. Plus, she knows how easily Chanyeol falls for people and Tao is pretty and would probably get along with him well. The last thing Kyungsoo wants is for her brother's heart to be broken by a rich girl.

"Come on Soo, you heard her, I'm cool," Chanyeol announces confidently from the side.

Without hesitating, Kyungsoo takes off her shoe and flings it as his head with enough strength and precision to earn the commendation of a pro baseball player. As intended, Chanyeol's quick reflexes save him and he runs back up the stairs before Kyungsoo can find anything else to throw.

"Let's go to my room now," Kyungsoo suggests, hoping to distract Tao from her goal of hanging out with Chanyeol. "We can talk there."

Tao nods eagerly without a complaint, following after Kyungsoo when the older girl starts to go up the stairs to get to her room. Kyungsoo lets out an internal sigh of relief to see that Chanyeol's door is closed when they walk past it.

Kyungsoo's room is tiny but Minseok says it has a lot of personality. The walls are painted a pale pink that's gotten even more faded over the years so that now it's more white than pink. Her small bookshelf containing classic literature in both English and Korea and her school books is next to her clothes drawer. The bed is covered with Minnie Mouse sheets from a past trip to Tokyo Disney land as well as her collection of prized dolls and teddy bears. 

"This is so adorable," Tao squeals, immediately lounging for Kyungsoo's bed and picking up one of her dolls and poking at it. "I just knew you were the cute type."

"I'm not," Kyungsoo tries to deny but it's already too late. Tao just smiles knowingly, and picks another one of Kyungsoo's dolls, making it run up and down the bed.

"Sure," Tao winks. She drops the doll on the bed, sitting upwards with her feet Indian style. "We should watch a movie or something. Do you have anything Disney?"

"A movie sounds great but I actually have homework." 

"Do it later."

Kyungsoo opens to protest but gives up a second later. She knows Tao's going to convince her anyways.

"I have little mermaid, rapunzel, Cinderella and lion king. Which one?" Kyungsoo asks as she heads towards her CD case where she keeps her movies. They're in use pretty often as both her and Minseok are Disney fanatics and Saturday morning Disney movie marathons are a regular occurrence in their house. 

"Little mermaid," Tao states with a small clap of her hands. "It's my favorite childhood movie."

"Mine too," She knows it's a popular favourite movie but it's still nice to have something in common with Tao, no matter how small it is. No matter how nice Tao is to her, the fact they live in different worlds is still on Kyungsoo's mind. Tao is an heiress, while her family struggles to make ends meet.

"Yay!" Tao's tone is genuine. She opens her purse and brings out a small hand mirror and lipstick, carefully reapplying it as Kyungsoo puts the movie disk into the CD player before sliding back into bed.

They're both cuddled in bed, duvet wrapped around the two of them when the movie starts. Kyungsoo soon feels herself being into the magic of the movie once again despite having watched it dozens of times and Tao leans into her, resting her head on Kyungsoo's shoulder. 

"Can I ask you something?" Kyungsoo says once the credits roll, her voice small. She looks down at her lap, clutching lightly at the fabric of her skirt. "It's about Sehun."

"What?" Tao's tone of voice makes it obvious that she knows just what Kyungsoo wants to ask.

Deciding to not beat around the bush any longer, Kyungsoo hesitantly asks. "What's your relationship? You seemed close today." 

"He's my best friend. We've been best friends since we were kids." Tao's voice is quiet. She turns suddenly so that she's faced against the wall and Kyungsoo can't see her face any longer. "He's the one person in the world that I absolutely trust. I care about him more than anyone else in the world. You like him don't you?"

The last sentence catches Kyungsoo off guard."I don't-"

"You're really bad at lying," Tao's voice is slightly breathless. "I'll help you because I know you're a good person. I've met many girls that only wanted to use him for his money or looks. I can tell you aren't one of them."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me," Tao finally turns over. Her eyes are wide and focused on Kyungsoo and despite her always thinking she's good at reading people, she can't tell what the Chinese girl is thinking at all. "Just don't hurt him. He acts tough but he's gone through more than anyone. Don't ask me for details because I won't tell you. Just please, don't hurt Sehun."

Tao's eyes are still unreadable but her hands are shaking slightly, she looks Kyungsoo straight in the eye and a horrible sinking feeling comes over Kyungsoo. There's a glimmer of pain in Tao's eyes, and suddenly Kyungsoo is regretting ever bringing up the topic in the first place.

"What about Kai?" She asks, mainly to deflect the subject from about Sehun but partly out of her own curiosity. The boy seemed nice enough when she met him but her gut instinct told her otherwise.

A look of surprise comes over Tao's face. "What about Kai?" 

"What's your relationship with him? You and Sehun."

Tao answers after a short pause."He's my best friend too. He's also important to me."

From the look on Tao's face alone, Kyungsoo can tell just how much she must care about Sehun and Jongin and she hates to admit it, but it makes her jealous. The only friend she's ever had has been Taeyeon and even if they hadn't fought about Baekhyun, she isn't sure their friendship would have lasted. She liked Taeyeon, but she couldn't deny the main reason she had cared about their friendship so much had been from fear of being alone. 

"You're lucky," Kyungsoo says slowly. She's faced up at the ceiling in order to avoid meeting Tao's eyes. "To have friends you care about so much."

I just met her today, why am I telling her this. Kyungsoo thinks. She doesn't come to an answer.

"I think you're lucky to have a family that actually loves you." There's no malice hidden in Tao's words but the words themselves cause Kyungsoo to stare down in shock, especially the at ease way Tao says them, like she's talking about something normal. "It must be nice."

There's no good reply to the statement. Instead, Kyungsoo reaches her hand out to grab Tao's own, the way Minseok had done for her and Chanyeol when their parents first died. Kyungsoo had been too young to fully understand what was going on. She had spent most of the time after that throwing crying tantrums and demanding to see their parents, and Minseok had been the one to comfort her at her worst. The older girl had never needed to say anything, once she held Kyungsoo in her arms the tears always stopped.

"You do have family that loves you," Kyungsoo says, her voice quiet. "Sehun and Jongin. They're your family, aren't they?"

There's a pause for what seems like forever. Kyungsoo is on the verge of panicking when she hears Tao laugh, loud and clear like a bell.

"I've never thought of it that way," Tao's grasp on her hand gets a little tighter. "I guess you're right."

She looks like she's about to say something more but then the door bursts open and Chanyeol sticks his head inside, blissfully unaware he's intruding on a private moment as he asks, "Hey do you want to order pizza for dinner tonight? I found a great coupon."

"Get out!" Kyungsoo grabs the closest item, her prized hello kitty pillow, and flings it at Chanyeol with no hesitation. He gracefully takes the hint and backs off, closing the door so fast that the pillow bounces off it and falls to the ground.

"I'm sorry. He has no concept of personal space," Kyungsoo shakes her head. She lets herself fall back into the bed, grabbing another pillow and cuddling into it. "You were saying?"

"Nothing. It's pretty late, I should head home before someone in that house notices," With those words, Tao slides out of Kyungsoo's bed, grabbing her bag and shoes that had been abandoned on the ground. She makes her way to the door and, looking to Kyungsoo at the last moment. "We're all hanging out after school tomorrow. The mall downtown has the cutest stores. Plus it has a game store and karaoke place so the boys don't get bored."

Their class is having a big test the day after tomorrow. If Kyungsoo is as smart as people think she is, the best thing to do is politely tell Tao that she can't make it. Yet, she wants to go, more than anything. Against all her natural impulses, she nods.

"Nice. I'll text you once I get home. Bye SooSoo."

With those final words, Tao is gone.

It takes Kyungsoo about five seconds to fully realize that she hasn't managed to do any homework yet and it's already eight pm. It takes only a split second after that for her to go into crazy study mode, jumping out of her bed and picking her school bag from the ground. She empties her bag over her desk and puts on her reading glasses before immediately starting on her long calculus homework. She's spent most of her time after school playing around but now it was time for her to face the consequences, whatever they might be. Groaning, she prepares her mind for a long night.

She completely crashes at 1am and falls asleep on her desk, her face pressed against her English textbook as she snores unattractively. Fifteen minutes later Chanyeol comes into her room to find her in the same position, slumped over her desk with her head between an open book. She's so out of it that she barely stirs when he picks her up and carries her back into her bed, pulling the blankets over her and pressing a kiss on her forehead.

AN: this took so long im sorry, i was super busy in japan and after i came back i had to go to school and do work but im back now sorry. ((this story needs more baekhyun tbh i love him))

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