Chapter 21

You are My Destiny

Raina was severely torn between following her mentor's advice and giving into what her heart demanded.

'Go with your heart,' Tiffany told her, sipping her juice and for once willingly snuggling against Sehun's chest. Raina suspected it had something to do with the cold shoulder the boy had been giving her the entire week, not once bugging her about hanging out with him and just stalking off to cuddle with Tao, much to Raina's annoyance, soon as they were done studying.

At first, Tiffany had been all I'm-fine-its-not-like-I-wanted-to-cuddle-anyway but she'd thrown her pride away and dragged Sehun down the moment he'd stood up to leave, making him crash back on the ground. She'd clung to him like a limpet and refused to let go until he'd grumbled and wrapped his arms around her.

Raina had wisely refrained from pointing out the triumphant smirk on his face, figuring he deserved at least this much after going an entire week without his cuddles. Besides, it wasn't like she enjoyed seeing him snuggled up comfortably against Tao's wonderful looking chest.

'But…' she whined, not really sure if she could do what her heart demanded – which was jump Tao the moment he was alone and snuggle like there was no tomorrow. Or make out, she didn't mind either. The thought made her blush but Tiffany clucked her tongue dismissively. 'No buts. It's between you and Tao anyway, I don't know why you dragged Baekhyun in in the first place.'

What could Raina say? She hadn't dragged him or anything, he'd butted in to help her. And given her tendency to sort of lose coherence around handsomeness, she'd kept silent which meant yes where she came from.

'Psh, it’s the twenty-first century. Only 'yes' means 'yes'.'

Okay, so maybe she was kind of afraid she'd lose her nerve. Besides, how did she know if he even wanted her around? He'd been avoiding her like plague since the lecture Mei had given him and…

'You're both idiots.' Sehun muttered, pulling Tiffany closer and burying his nose in her hair. She would've been irritated if he didn't sound so content. She still gave him the stink-eye, which he ignored as he continued, 'I thought Tao was bad but its honestly worse listening to you complain about this. If you're so desperate, go jump him. He's not going to mind, trust me.'

'Really?' She sounded ridiculously hopeful to her own ears.

'Yes really, now go away!' Sehun shooed her with his foot, 'I wanna snuggle.'

She hurried off because she did not want her eyes scarred with the sight of Sehun and Tiffany making out. Mei and Luhan were already bad enough. She wasn't exactly any closer to answers than she'd been earlier but she figured she'd take Tiffany's advice and follow her heart. After all, Baekhyun's advice hadn't helped her make much of a headway other than that first time and she wanted to be claimed sometime before she was an old maiden.

So the next morning, she got up earlier than usual and was done with breakfast before Tao had even showed up, so she was ready when he was finally done.

He didn’t seem to mind her trailing beside him, though. In fact, he slowed down to let Mei – dejected because Luhan would be gone for a solid week and whining about it to Kai who was nodding sympathetically – get ahead so they could be alone, since Baekhyun and the rest usually took their time leaving.

She was trying not to read too much into the situation – could be a coincidence, for all she knew – but then something brushed against her arm and glancing down, she realized it was Tao's hand. He didn't look at her when she glanced at him, looking cool and bored but his lips twitched when she took hold of his hand, still eyeing him quizzically.

Seeing the almost-smile reassured her she was doing the right thing; and then, his fingers intertwined with hers and she couldn't control the grin on her face any more than she could the blush on her cheeks.

Her face felt on fire by the time they reached the university and she was reluctant to let go but they had to separate for class. Tao stopped outside her class and waited. She didn't realize what for until he squeezed her fingers and she realized she was holding his hand in a death grip.

Blushing harder, she let it go and looked up to say goodbye. But of course words didn't make it past because everything decided to slow down and anything not Tao faded into the background.

His lips pulled up at one side, the smirk even more potent up close, eyes dark and tinged faintly red. 'See you.'

She gulped and nodded, not trusting herself to speak – she was sure she'd squeak embarrassingly or croak like a frog – and watched him strut off until he vanished from sight.

……………………………..

Tao wasn't expecting Raina to slide next to him when they gathered in the cafeteria but he wasn't going to complain. Especially since Mei was too busy sighing for once and didn't seem to notice he was blatantly disregarding her advice.

He pulled Raina's hand in his lap, making her shift closer until her leg was pressed against his and then, went about slowly intertwining his fingers with hers, trying not to grin when her face went through a series of shocked expressions before settling on something partway between embarrassed and blissed out.

Baekhyun, who'd slid in beside Mei and was patting her shoulder consolingly, eyed them suspiciously but Tao feigned the bored expression he'd perfected – he was cool, okay? – and Raina only blinked when he asked why she was red.

'Fever,' she muttered, giving a fake cough.

Baekhyun's brow arched but he didn't probe further, possibly because Chanyeol had wandered in with Nara and slipped into a separate table instead of joining them. A moment later, Tae joined their table and both she and Baekhyun got busy trying to eavesdrop on the couple.

They gave that up though when D.O joined them as well.

'Ya, are you sick?' Chen sounded genuinely worried, putting a hand up on his forehead. 'Why're you acting so strange?'

D.O growled irritably, smacking his hand away and staring at his tray as if it had offended him greatly.

'I think I'll ask Lay to check him,' Baekhyun muttered, earning himself another growl before D.O snapped at Chen again. 'Don't touch me!'

'He seems a little hot,' Chen muttered, having slipped his fingers around D.O's neck to take his temperature. 'I think you'd better call Lay…'

D.O slammed the tray on the table forcefully, making them flinch before Kai offered to switch places with him so Chen would stop feeling him up. Tao only smiled because Lay and Kris had also just shown up – unlike other teachers, Kris preferred to join them in the cafeteria – and it meant sliding even closer to make room for the duo.

He thought about giving Kris a little cold treatment but discarded that idea when Kris, upon seeing their clasped hands, stretched his long limbs and deliberately spread out so Tao'd have no choice but to press really, really close against her and then, struck up a conversation with Tae so Baekhyun would be distracted.

Much as he didn't want to… though who was he fooling? He didn't like staying angry at the person he'd once considered equivalent to his father. Sighing, he cast Kris a happy smile and he only arched a brow in acknowledgement, before suddenly dragging Lay over to their side as well 'to make room for Sehun and Tiffany' who'd just shown up.

Tao couldn't stop grinning.

………………………………….  

Kyra was seriously considering turning in her application for a few days off until this… heat would wear off. She cringed at the use of the word but honestly, she didn't know how else to describe it.

It wasn't just, as Lay had said, that she found all sorts of touch beyond unbearable – which she did – but there was more, a lot more. Like the constant hyperarousal, her body seemingly sensitized to D.O's pheromones because nothing else would explain the sudden flashes of heat at even the slightest thought of the Legend. The desire to just go to him and let him have his way – or have her way with him – got downright irresistible at times.

And then, there were the dreams.

She'd always known she had an unhealthy obsession with Beast from Beauty and the Beast – and she wasn’t talking about the Disney version – but honestly, this was the first time she was realizing the full extent of it.

Apparently, this heat thing also unleashed any reservations she might've had in her fantasies and she'd been suffering through a bout of intense, explicitly detailed dreams involving one very bestial Legend and herself as his helpless victim. The worst part, however, wasn't the dreams – she'd always known her preferences – but their aftermath.

Because while the heat was unbearable even when she wasn't doing anything, after the dreams, she was literally a writhing mass of frustration with no way to ease herself. It had gotten bad enough at one point that she'd almost made her way over to D.O's room, intent on marching up to him and demanding him to take responsibility.

Fortunately – or maybe not – the phone hand rung at that point, snapping her out of the haze and she'd hurried back, buried herself underneath the covers despite the discomfort and forced herself back to sleep.

Things were bad enough that she'd taken up reading YA novels involving werewolves and a searched the internet for anything that might explain to her what was going on and most importantly, what could be done.

So far, all her search had taught her one thing – mpreg was pretty popular when it came to werewolves.

That and apparently, nothing short of getting laid was actually going to help her get rid of it. She was also kind of dreading her 'heat' was cyclic – assuming she was the omega in the relationship which she thought was likely because D.O kept sniffing her, so maybe that thing about omega's scent attracting alphas held some truth? She hoped it wasn't true though – going through this crap once was more than enough.

From her readings, she'd also figured that she was actually at the peak of her cycle right now – that would explain her almost embarrassing reactions to even the thought of D.O and his eyes and his voice…

The only good thing seemingly coming out of this was that she was getting increasing flashes of what she assumed were memories she'd locked away, without the accompanying headaches. She figured it was because she was already in enough pain that her body couldn't cope with more.

Like last night. Suho had taken them to visit the HQs which were almost completely renovated and the huge mansion had been eerily familiar. She hadn't had any trouble remembering where she'd been staying with Raina, nor the room in which Chen had lain, attached to the heart monitor and stuff. It had been all entirely too clear inside her head and she'd wandered through the hallways, remembering.

In the corridor leading to Chen's room, she'd been bombarded with the strangest vision of D.O putting flowers in her hair. It was so out of character that she'd blinked, wondering where the thought had come from before realizing it was a memory.

It had vanished as quickly as it'd come but left her feeling nostalgic, and a song she could've sworn she'd never heard stuck in her head. She'd still been humming it at night, trying to remember the entire tune when Angel had heard her and helpfully told her the name of the song, along with the tid bit that it was one of D.O's favorite melodies.

Apparently he used to sing a lot when they'd come to Oulphesden. It was strange, definitely not something she'd associate with him but apparently, it was his passion – after world-domination. It made her very, very curious about listening to it first-hand because the voice inside her head, the one humming the tune, was beautiful but she would think about that after she was more in possession of her senses because the thought of his beautiful voice was the wrong kind of thought, going by the mini-explosions in the pit of her stomach… and other, less decent places.

Putting on the song on her iPod – the stupid thing wouldn't just leave her alone – she closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat. Thankfully, there weren't any cases scheduled for her today and she could just browse through the case files when she felt a little better.

……………………………….

Raina was literally too happy for words because she'd spend the last forty-five minutes blatantly ogling Tao as he performed his martial-arts routine. He'd raised a brow when she'd slipped inside the gym, where the rest of P.E undergrads had gathered and she'd blushed but taken her place in the bleachers.

She didn’t think he minded though, if the way he'd been deliberately showing off was any indication. He was obviously the best in his class, effortlessly pulling off moves that seemed better suited for Kung Fu/action movies than the classroom and she hadn't been alone in the applause that had followed his performance.

She decided that being told to follow her heart was the best advice she'd been given after Kyra's suggestion that she take up dancing for major. For this, she supposed she could even forgive Sehun's obvious attempts to rub his cuddle-time with Tao in her face.

She was just re-doing her hair, pulling it up in a tight, high ponytail when the door to the studio opened and someone quietly stepped inside.

She honestly might've ignored it but for the sudden silence. It made her turn around, then gape in astonishment because…

'Tao?' Lay sounded pleasantly surprised, 'Can I help you?'

'Can I sit in this class? Don't have anything else to do…' Tao shrugged, looking bored out of his mind as whispers started up amongst the students.

Now that Luhan had graduated, Tao was in the top spots as the hottest boys on campus and obviously, his presence wasn’t as easily ignored as hers in the bleachers. She was beyond happy though. He hadn't seen her dance when during the showcase and it had upset her a lot. Now, though, she'd show him…

'Sure.' Lay smiled, the dimple flashing in his cheek. 'Although… maybe you can help? Raina's partner is absent today so if you could join her? It won't be too hard, we're reviewing the basics today.'

Tao shrugged again, not looking particularly interested… except his eyes, which had flashed red for a moment before he reined himself back in control. 'Okay, I guess.'

She wanted to kiss Lay because if there was one thing she wanted more than show off her dance moves to Tao, it was actually dancing with him. Bless Lay and his matchmaking soul, bless Tiffany and her sage advice, bless everyone and hallelujah because this was, hands down, the best day of her life.

It got even better when the music started playing and Lay started moving, holding a coat to act as his partner. Tao's hand landed on her waist as she placed hers on his shoulder and they started moving in sync with the steps, though she wasn't listening to the music or Lay's intonations of 'one, two, three, four' because everything else had vanished into the background and for her, it was only the two of them in that moment.

He didn't leave when the class ended, lingering until she was done changing so they could leave together. When she came out, he gave her a once-over before marching her back to the changing room and telling her to put the sweaty tank top back on.

'But it's sweaty!!!' she whined, holding the said top away and wrinkling her nose.

'It's better than the rag you're wearing!' he snapped from the other side of the door. 'Now change!'

'Tao…' she whined again, hoping he'd relent.

Which he did. Sort of.

She blinked when another shirt landed on top of her head and blinked some more before blushing as she realized it was Tao's shirt – the button-up he'd been wearing just moments ago. A smile broke out on her face as she hurriedly put it on before throwing the door open.

He gave her a heated once over before turning around and stalking off and she tried not to feel too gleeful or ogle his now-exposed arms too much as she followed after him.

She was so not returning this one either.

…………………………….

A/N

Hooray for Tao and Raina :D 

Poor Kyra tho :P

 

 

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Alisha0074 #1
Chapter 84: Yikes!!
Alisha0074 #2
Chapter 83: What future????? I'm going to reread....
thanks for the update!!!
Alisha0074 #3
Chapter 81: Thanks for the update!!! Its was nice to read this again.
As for the kris may I suggest something??
Alisha0074 #4
Chapter 79: Finally finally xiu can get his girl but now what do we do with kris?????
these elders ....
Crazydork22 #5
Chapter 79: Woohoooo! You go Xiumin! Get your girl!
topgirls
#6
Chapter 77: This update made my morning!! Keep up the great work!!
shenaya #7
Chapter 76: I hope you did not give up on this masterpiece.
Crazydork22 #8
Chapter 75: Oh my GOSH. I was so excited to see a new update on this. I went to read the chapter and I was confused because it didn’t seem to flow with the end of the previous one from my memory so I went back and....somehow I missed an update?!?!!!!! How did I miss two chapters??? And SO MANY XIUMIN LILY MOMENTS???? Ahhhhhhh!!! Okay so loved the Xiu/Lily, her payback was XD also big lol to some of them wondering why it was snowing. This newest chapter, yes! Xiumin! Put a ring on her!



As to real EXOland, oh my gosh I was so so so happy when Jongdae came to Baekhyun’s show! All the pics were LQ, but it was so lovely to see him. AND Minseok and Kyungsoo had their musical live streamed yesterday! I’m so proud of them! Minseok’s character is so adorable and meme worthy!
Alisha0074 #9
Chapter 73: Poor poor minnie!!!!
thanks for the update!!!!
Alisha0074 #10
Chapter 71: Thank you for you're updated!!! Glad to see my 2 lovely ppl falling back in line