Kris eyed his Shadow with pity, heart going out for his poor soul as Nara hiked her bag over her shoulder and all but ran towards the door where Tae and the rest were waiting to leave for the university. She didn’t spare Chanyeol even a glance.

Chanyeol, who’d been quite hopeful that his mate might’ve come around after spending the night alone, wilted with a sigh. Obviously, the girl still hadn’t changed her mind.

‘She’ll come around,’ Kris said, patting his shoulder sympathetically.

‘Yeah…’ Chanyeol mumbled, obviously not believing him. Kris bumped his shoulder, pulling him along quickly so they could follow and keep Nara in sight.

Now that Evil’s main minion was securely confined within the HQs, spirits were running high. Kris silently observed the group.

Tao and Raina were giggly as usual, holding hands and blushing like crazy – at least Raina was, while Tao smirked smugly.  

Mei was all but snuggled into Luhan’s side, walking a little distance away from the rest of the group as Luhan whispered sweet nothings to her; Kai observed the couple quietly, walking behind them.

Sehun, holding Tiffany’s bag per his habit and an arm draped over her shoulder, nodding occasionally to show he was listening.

Baekhyun and Chen, not so subtly cheering on D.O who was walking beside Kyra. The Legend threw a glare at the pair but was easily distracted when Kyra touched his arm. That only made the duo hoot loudly but Lay, walking alongside, hushed them. That led to a sort of bumping tickling round, causing loud laughter to ripple through the group.

And lastly, Tae earnestly talking to Nara, who was listening just as earnestly. He couldn’t hear what either of the girls were saying but Chanyeol sighed, no doubt picking on Nara’s thoughts through their link.

‘I just don’t get it…’ he muttered sadly.

‘Give her time, man.’ That’s all Kris could say. As if hearing him, Tae glanced over her shoulder, catching Kris’s eye. She smiled widely, throwing a quick wave and then nudged Nara.

The girl looked at her friend questioningly before following her lead and smiling over her shoulder too. It faltered when her gaze landed on Chanyeol and she stumbled.

Instinctively, Chanyeol shot to her side, somehow managing to reach her before she’d even straightened. Tae smiled encouragingly at Chanyeol, not that he was looking at her, his eyes fixated on Nara.

She was staring at him with such intense longing, it made Kris question if she’d really proposed that they split up or if his Shadow was over-reacting.

‘Nara-‘         

‘Chanyeol-‘

Kris decided now was a good time to hurry everyone else along. He quickened his steps, reaching the troublesome duo before they could look behind them and cause any trouble for his Shadow. ‘Hurry up, you’ll all be late!’ he ordered, just loud enough for his voice to carry.

Predictably, Mei squeaked. ‘Oh god, I can’t be late!’

‘Hurry Sehun!’ Tiffany poked him along. The rest also quickened their paces, leaving the couple behind.

Kris smiled to himself, letting his steps slow down.

‘That was sly,’ a voice commented somewhere near his ribs. He glanced around before looking down to find Tae walking beside him. She smiled the pretty smile of hers, eyelashes doing that fluttery thing. He wasn’t sure if it was intentional but whatever. It was cute.

He shrugged. ‘I didn’t do anything.’

She looked at him for a moment before humming. ‘I see.’

They walked in comfortable silence for a while before she spoke up again. ‘So, you have classes now?’

Kris glanced down at her. ‘Hm? Oh yeah, I have early classes today. I’ll be free before noon, I think.’

‘Oh great, I get free early too.’

‘That’s nice,’ he commented off-handedly.

‘Isn’t it?’ She smiled. ‘How about we grab some coffee afterwards? There’s this cool place-‘

‘We could go to the Black Pearl,’ he said.  

‘God no, I don’t want to hang out where I work!’ She shuddered. ‘That’s beyond lame. Besides, I don’t want Ken hovering while I hit- er, talk with you.’

‘… okay.’ He nodded, smiling when she cheered. ‘That excited?’

She eyed him in a way that made him suddenly self-conscious. ‘You have no idea.’ Just like that, she was back to normal. ‘We’re gonna have so much fun, yes! Oh, how about we go to the park as well? I heard there’s-‘

He let her talk, humming, nodding and occasionally giving his input until they reached the university gates. He glanced back but Chanyeol and Nara were nowhere in sight.

‘I hope they make up,’ Tae muttered, frowning. ‘I don’t think I can take another night of explaining heartbreak to Nara.’

Kris smiled. ‘You’re a very good friend to her.’

She beamed. ‘Thanks, I try my best. Okay, Professor Wu, see you later.’ With a wink and a wave, she vanished.

‘It’s Teacher Wu,’ Kris corrected no one before sighing and heading for his class.

………………………………………

Chanyeol groaned as something dug into his back but he wasn’t willing to part from his mate long enough to check. Nara seemed to agree with the sentiment, tightening her fingers in his hair and letting out the most delicious sound he’d ever heard.

His body felt like it was on fire but he was enjoying himself too much to bother.

Nara, his sweet, smart Nara… her brain truly was on another level. He hadn’t really understood why she’d decided to break up with him, too distressed to even try and listen to her reasoning.  Because if he had, he could’ve easily convinced her change her mind, just as he’d done now.

She was worried that her research was getting compromised. That she wasn’t spending enough time taking notes and more time kissing and that her objectivity in the research was compromised. That he was a distraction because she couldn’t think clearly with him around.

Could he just say that he loved her lack of filter? He could feel the beast inside him puff up with pride at distracting it’s genius mate so thoroughly but he was trying not to be too smug.

He’d addressed her questions one by one, providing solid, practical solutions that wouldn’t compromise her research. He promised to leave her alone for at least a couple of hours in the evening so she could focus on note-taking and formulating her research work. And if she ever felt like he was being too distracting, she had his explicit permission to kick him out. And as far as objectivity in research was concerned, he cited the very valid argument that her work was qualitative and subjectivity was a part of the process. Being a participant observer, she could hardly expect to stay objective.

But, he’d argued, if she was still concerned, they could work on establishing inter-rater reliability. He would help develop some objective checklists and find assistants if it came down to it.

The long and short of it was that Nara was convinced after his rather passionate arguments in which he’d been blindsided several times by her desire to have him rumble against . And the moment he’d stopped, she’d simply said, ‘Okay, now kiss me.’

He’d obliged immediately, pushing her into the small alcove in the wall beside them. They’d been making out since and he had lost all sense of time, only knowing that he didn’t want to stop. Nara was right there with him, humming her agreement.

They might have continued indefinitely but the thing poking his back – a gate knob, presumably – gave away suddenly and they went stumbling to the ground. Chanyeol curled himself up so Nara wouldn’t get hurt but it ended up with his head banging painfully against the ground, making him see stars before he out.

He lay winded, groaning for a painfully long moment before Nara’s voice reached him. He opened his eyes but everything seemed blurry. He blinked slowly, trying to clear it up when he felt Nara move close. He felt her examining his head and asking him to identify himself.

‘Chanyeol,’ he groaned after a moment.

‘And who am I?’

He smiled dopily. ‘You’re cute.’

‘Thank you but what’s my name?’

He sang, ‘Nara~’

‘Do you know where you are?’ she asked, moving closer. Her silhouette appeared over his head and he tried to lift his arm but it felt surprisingly heavy. ‘I can’t see you,’ he complained.

‘Oh dear,’ she muttered quietly before she vanished.

‘No,’ he cried, ‘don’t go!’

He attempted to sit up but dizziness hit him so hard, he would’ve fallen right back had Nara not caught him.

I’m not leaving, her voice echoed in his head.

Okay, he responded in kind, the reassurance making him sleepy.

Don’t sleep, she told him, making him pout. I think you’re concussed.

What’s that? he asked.

Just then, a loud ring jarred him, making him groan because the sound made his head throb. Nara rubbed his back and made him lean against something, maybe a wall. The position helped with his headache but the world still felt dizzy and his vision was still more blurry than clear.

‘He hit his head,’ Nara was saying, ‘I think he has a concussion… we are at-‘  Chanyeol tuned her words out, focusing simply on the soothing sound of it. He pushed against Nara’s link with him, smiling when she pushed back.

‘I love you,’ he told her happily. ‘Very much.’

‘Okay, this is worse than I thought.’ Chanyeol didn’t like this sound as much as he’d liked Nara’s voice. This was masculine, which meant it was a rival and he needed to warn him off because Nara was-

‘Hey Chanyeol, it’s me, Kai… I’m gonna take you to Suho.’

Chanyeol shook his head, then groaned when his head throbbed. ‘No… Nara…’ he whined.

‘She’s also coming with us,’ Kai reassured him and Chanyeol felt her small hand slip into his, tangling their fingers and pressing the palms together so that her heat seeped into him. It relaxed him and then, there was a jolt that made him black out again.

………………………………………

Tae felt her spirits drop at the sight of Kris outside her classroom. He didn’t even have to say anything, it was written all over his face.

‘I’m-‘ he began but she stalled him.

‘What happened?’

She could guess it has something to do with Chanyeol and Nara because her friend still hadn’t shown up.

‘Chanyeol had an accident,’ Kris explained, rubbing his face. He sounded tired.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked, stepping up to him. She had to look up to see his face clearly but it didn’t look too well.

‘I’m fine… just, he’s my Shadow, so his pain kind of seeps into me.’

‘Oh… is it that bad?’ she asked, feeling a little bad for her earlier ill feelings.

‘I guess we’ll see when we get back.’ He smiled apologetically. ‘I’m really sorry, but I have to take Lay back and…’

‘Hey, it’s okay.’ Tae shrugged, smiling. ‘This comes first, of course. Um, is Nara with Chanyeol?’

‘Yes.’

‘Okay, let me just get my things. I’ll come with.’

‘Sure, meet you at the gate?’

She gave him a thumbs up, watching him leave before pouting. It’d be a lie to say she wasn’t disappointed. She had been looking forward to hanging out with him but she supposed it’d have to wait.

Nara had better make up with Chanyeol after this or Tae would have words for her.  

………………………………………

A/N

Hellooo ~ 

I'm sorry for being totally awol but life. I just opened my WIP file today and found that I'd last opened it on 6th of last month O_O seriously, I've been too busy and I'm kind of upset with myself for not writing more. Anyway, accept this measly little update. 

So... Obsession ~ there are so many fan theories going on and each one is just sooo exciting. I'm looking forward to it even if I'm sad because there's no Minseok or Kyungsoo or Yixing :( but its super exciting too because EXO... or rather X-EXO... I don't know what is real any more. But here's to EXO - our boys will be enlisting soon and it will be a while before we get a full group comeback. Anyway, no matter what, let's support EXO and be happy :) 

I'll try my best to update on 27th, so that we can have some fun together. Until then, bye ~