“Go away! I don’t need you!”

“Jongin…”

Mom…

“I’m so sorry, my baby.”

No…

“Go away! Leave me alone!”

No…don’t…don’t go…

“It’s the only thing you and dad ever do to me anyways, leaving me alone!”

“Baby, it’s not that—”

Mom…

“Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up! I said leave me alone!”

“O…Okay…”

No, mom…

Don’t leave me…!

Don’t go!

I’m sorry—!

It’s already nearing eight in the morning when Jongin’s eyes snap open.

Despite being buried underneath thick bedsheets, Jongin can still feel the cold nipping at his toes and the faint breeze entering through the open windows is reeling him back into consciousness. The sky is already a bright, cloudless blue, his mind just beginning to grasp the dull thumping of the live music from outside the resort and the crashing of waves against the shore.

It takes him a couple minutes to sit upright and he shivers as the chilly wind caresses his arms. Something wet trickles down his temples, seeping into his hairline. Jongin blinks at the ceiling and he wipes his eyes, realizing just then that he’s been crying in his sleep. A pang of ache settles rather deep in his chest as he recalls his dream.

It’s the same dream, over and over again. Jongin would always find himself crying after waking up so abruptly whenever that blurred figure of a woman in his dreams, the one he calls his ‘mother’, slowly disappears into the darkness. Jongin doesn’t really understand why he is filled with a great sense of both anger and guilt in his dreams. He would always beg for that woman to not leave him whenever she starts slipping away from him.

Jongin isn’t certain if this woman really is his mother, or if it’s just a fabrication of his mind. A part of him has a feeling she is, but another part of him doubts it. His dreams always feel so real but then again, Jongin doesn’t remember anything like it happening in his real life, so he’s perplexed whether he should take this chimera in his head seriously.

The chilly breeze slipping past the white curtains carries the scent of the ocean with it, drying Jongin’s tears. He wipes them and shakes his legs out of his bedsheets, stretching his arms and lazily padding his way to the comfort room with eyes still heavy with sleep. He’s so disoriented he doesn’t even notice that there is another person occupying the place aside from him. He takes his toothbrush from the lower cupboard, letting out a big morning yawn in the process.

The moment Jongin looks up to check himself in the huge mirror in front of him, his blood freezes at the sight of the purple bruise displayed so provocatively on his neck.

“Relax, this will only take a second.”

“Don’t cover it. Let them see.”

Sehun’s husky voice whispering so close to his ear last night comes slamming back to haunt his tormented soul and all the fine hairs on his back stand, goosebumps breaking out all over his skin.

Good God…he totally forgot about last night’s events. How stupid can he possibly be?

Jongin’s hand instantly shoots up to cover his hickey, unadulterated shame filling him and waking his senses in a split second. The pink tint on his cheeks darkens at the sudden flood of recollection inside his head of Sehun doing this ery to him without even giving him the slightest bit of warning beforehand—without asking for his freaking consent. Oh my God.

Sehun is a ing douche, honestly. That guy really wants him dead. He can still feel how Sehun’s hot tongue slithered against his skin so vividly in his mind and he lets out a soft whimper of embarrassment, unable to contain the feeling of shame within him.

However, that small whimper gets instantly replaced by a startled shriek when he sees Sehun’s barely clothed reflection in the mirror. The younger boy spins around, aghast, back pressed against the marble countertop of the sink. He holds his toothbrush close to his thundering chest, looking so flustered and horror-stricken that Sehun kind of wants to snap a photo of his hilarious morning face.

He’s . Sehun’s . Why is he . Jongin holds Sehun’s dark eyes, silently freaking out. Oh my God Jongin you really have no brain. He’s in a bathroom for heaven’s sake, of course he’ll be .

The only problem is…why the does it have to be now, of all times?

Sehun looks surprised as well, but it’s a little more contained on his part, unlike Jongin who is gawking at him without his knowledge. It seems like the older male is just about to take a shower, a black towel wrapped dangerously low around his hips and hair still tousled from slumber. Jongin is so red and his blush only intensifies when his eyes fall on the older male’s sculpted chest and the ripples cut into his defined abs, his wide, horrified hazel eyes never missing a single detail. And when he spots that little intricate tattoo of a Phoenix inked on the left side of Sehun’s hipbone, Jongin almost had a mental breakdown.

SweetbabyJesusisthisguyevenforreal…ohmygodlookaway. LOOK AWAY. Jongin practically begs inside his mind, but his eyes choose this exact moment to betray him and he shamelessly ogles the sight before him with his cheeks ablaze.

“Take a photo. It’ll last longer.”

Sehun’s voice is clear in Jongin’s ear, monotone as ever. It snaps Jongin out of his fantasizing and the younger boy lifts his gaze to meet his, mouth agape. His eyes are blinking rapidly and he inhales sharply through the mouth, watching Sehun’s lips pull back into a smirk.

“What…?” Jongin stammers nervously, face colored a humiliated glow of red that Sehun thinks couldn’t be redder than any ripe strawberries at the moment. His amused chuckle resounds throughout the tiled bathroom as he ventures over to the porcelain bathtub, filled with steaming water that is ready for him to use.

“If you wanted to shower with me, you could’ve just said so. I don’t mind.” Sehun gives a nonchalant shrug.

It takes a moment for Jongin’s malfunctioning brain to register Sehun’s words and when it does, he makes a strangled sound and takes a step back, blindly reaching for the doorknob.

“I’m—wha—excuse me…?! I don’t want to shower with—n-no—don’t take that off!” Jongin almost squeals. He squeezes his eyes shut and turns his head to the side, on the brink of fainting. Sehun raises a brow at him and Jongin misses the glint of hilarity that flashes in his usually blank eyes. The younger boy doesn’t even have any idea how much Sehun enjoys making him flustered.

It’s not like Sehun’s really going to strip off with Jongin inside, but it doesn’t hurt to and make him think he’s about to, right?

“I have to take this off.” Sehun deadpans.

“W-Wait—not while I’m here!” Jongin cries out, hand still skating behind him to open the door with his eyes shut tight. Where the hell is that goddamned doorknob anyway?!

“What’s wrong with stripping off while you’re here?”

Goodness gracious, this is downright embarrassing.

“Are you seriously asking me that…?!” Jongin opens his eyes and shoots Sehun a weak glare, except the older guy isn’t even in the least intimidated by it. The younger boy immediately regrets even opening his eyes because once again, Sehun showing him this much skin is making him want to die this instant. He really doesn’t want to cuss but…damn you, Sehun. Goddamn you. Damn you to hell.

Jongin looks like cornered cat and the multitude of expressions crossing his face are too funny to ignore that Sehun bursts out chuckling. He shakes his head. It’s just eight o’clock in the morning, but Jongin is already amusing him a ton. Their day hasn’t even fully started at that.

Jongin finally finds the doorknob and he yanks the door open, practically flying out of the huge comfort room and slamming the door close behind him, the banging sound echoing across their hotel room. He rests his back against the door, fanning his hot face and trying fruitlessly to tamp down his raging heartbeat. Calm yourself, Kim Jongin.

What the hell was that even?

It’s only been days—six days, to be exact—since Sehun began to wreak havoc on his emotions again and he doesn’t even know what will happen in the following days of him living with Sehun alone.

Why is Sehun acting like this? He’s confusing the out of Jongin. Calling him his fiancé rather smugly, dropping sentences that make Jongin flustered as hell, back hugging him, calling him babe, giving him a ing hickey—all of it happened within the span of just a week. His actions make it seem like he’s not as straitlaced as he used to be.

What the hell exactly happened back in New York?

***

The moment Jongin steps inside his classroom, he hoists his jacket’s collar up and tucks his chin in against his chest, shoulders hunched. Good thing the weather is fairly cold today, so no one will (hopefully) question him if he decides to zip his jacket all the way up to his chin. Several of his classmates greet him upon his arrival and he greets back rather timidly, deliberately avoiding Hyoyeon and his other classmates who are shooting him knowing grins. They’re still not over about me and Sehun, are they.

Jongin spots his best friend chewing bubble gum obnoxiously, looking undoubtedly classless with his feet propped up shamelessly on the empty chair in front of him. He notes that the other has his immense focus on his phone, not even realizing his presence near him. Only when Jongin drops his bag on his seat does he perk up, and at the sight of him, a sly smirk quirks its way into Baekhyun’s lips.

“Well, well. Look who’s back,” Baekhyun completely abandons whoever it is he’s texting and turns his full attention to Jongin, who sits down on his chair rather cautiously. Baekhyun rests his chin on his palm and watches Jongin shift uncomfortably in his seat. “I know it’s kinda gross but, how’s the honeymoon?”

Unwanted images fill Jongin’s head at that simple question and he scoots his chair a little bit farther from Baekhyun, spluttering, “Shut up!”

Baekhyun pays Jongin no heed and grins. “Your abandoned me to deal with school alone yesterday. I hope you’re happy.”

“Alone? Don’t kid me, you have more friends than I do,” Jongin rolls his eyes at Baekhyun’s drama, checking his collar to see if it’s perfectly concealing his deepest, darkest secret. He can’t let Baekhyun see the dark spot on his neck or else, someone is going to meet their death today.

“Unfortunately I didn’t want to hang out with fakes yesterday so I went to recess alone.” Baekhyun gives a small shrug of indifference. A furrow tugs at Jongin’s brows.

“Well, then why didn’t you let Jisoo tag along?”

The question gets Baekhyun stiff for a couple seconds, before he gives another careless shrug. “Broke up with him the other day.”

Jongin stares at Baekhyun’s face for a long time as the other averts his gaze somewhere else, seemingly not giving a . After a pregnant pause passes, Jongin lets out a sigh of resignation and shakes his head. “You’re hopeless.”

“Well, the guy wanted to take our relationship seriously. I’m not one for commitment,” Baekhyun leans back on his seat, finding a more comfortable position. He shoots Jongin a pointed look not even a minute after. “But seriously, back to topic. You didn’t forget my souvenir, did you?”

Jongin’s heart races in nervousness at that, but he does dig his hand into the pocket of his jacket to fish out a bracelet, made up of a mixed assortment of seashells. Baekhyun’s face almost lights up like a bright fluorescent bulb when he sees every letter of his name painted on every seashell, also in different colors.

Jongin smiles at the drastic change in his best friend’s expression. “Sorry if that’s the only thing I got you. We kinda had an early flight schedule so I bought the first thing I could see and had it customized. That thing is a bit expensive though, it cost me a lot so take care of it!”

“Aw, you’re really so romantic, that’s why I love you!” Baekhyun bounces on his seat giddily and pecks Jongin’s cheeks, much to Jongin’s chagrin and delight of their classmates who still stand by their belief that Jongin and Baekhyun are ‘secretly in love’.

Wiping his cheek in disgust, Jongin fixes his collar again and asks, “Do we have any assignments?”

“Lucky for you, yesterday’s classes were all just lectures. I still can’t believe I survived those two hours of listening to that penguin’s voice,” Baekhyun scoffs upon recalling a thought. Jongin’s brows furrow in confusion yet again.

“Penguin?”

“Kyungsoo, duh,” Baekhyun murmurs begrudgingly with a sour look on his face. Jongin bursts out giggling at that.

“Why do you always call him so many things?” Jongin sniggers. There was only one word Baekhyun used to call Kyungsoo back then, and it’s ‘baby’ (not that Kyungsoo knows) but now, it’s replaced by demeaning things and Jongin wonders just how deep his best friend’s hatred for Kyungsoo really runs. “If not jerk face, then asswipe. If not those then it’s either owl or leprechaun. And now penguin? Seriously, you have real guts to call him that, considering he’s taller than you—and our teacher, at that.”

“He’s not taller than me!” Comes Baekhyun’s indignant denial, though Jongin only shakes his head, muttering, ‘sure, sure’. Baekhyun huffs at him, eyes narrowing. “Whatever. He’s not taller than me. And why the heck are you all covered up anyway? The AC’s been down since yesterday.”

Jongin’s whole body freezes at Baekhyun’s words. His eyes immediately dart out to check their classroom’s air conditioner and sees that the usual green glow in the corner of the machine, indicating that it’s running, is off. Here he was, confident that no one would point out his way of clothing, but then his very own best friend just has to be an attentive little .

What now.

“Even without aircon, it’s still cold, so,” Jongin wishes the ground would just swallow him whole when he sees the littlest hint of suspicion residing in Baekhyun’s almond eyes. He shifts uneasily in his seat yet again, returning the adequate space between him and his best friend, hands unconsciously fixing his collar while he looks out the window as a scapegoat distraction.

“Wait…” Baekhyun’s suspicious eyes narrow. Jongin feels his fingertips grow cold. “Take off your jacket.”

“W-Why?” Jongin almost squeaks. Baekhyun shoots him an impatient look.

“Just take it off.”

“I said why?”

“I need to check something.”

“It’s cold, I don’t want to.” Jongin grips the hem of his jacket tight in his grasp. Usually, whatever Baekhyun tells him to do, Jongin does it without hesitation (with the exception of the asinine ones) but today, he’s kind of acting a little…peculiar. Jongin is an idiot if he thinks Baekhyun doesn’t notice the way he subtly leans away from him like he owns some kind of a virulent disease.

“Why do you keep on doing that?” Baekhyun snaps in a whining fashion and he scoots his chair closer to Jongin’s, effectively diminishing the space Jongin has just put up between them. When he moves to touch Jongin’s jacket, the latter automatically slaps his hand away. “Yah, Kim Jongin!”

“I said it’s cold, I don’t want to take it off! Go away!” Jongin tries to leer at his best friend and this earns him a scoff from the other. Baekhyun drops back to his seat with a bunch of incoherent grumbling under his breath. He misses the way Jongin’s tense shoulders sag in utter relief.

This is Baekhyun’s fault in the first place. He’s the catalyst of this mess. Although he knows that Baekhyun hates Sehun to a certain extent (not as much as he loathes Kyungsoo, though) he’s always up for remarks involving Jongin and the older male. If he didn’t joke about that ‘hickey souvenir’, Sehun wouldn’t have heard it and he wouldn’t have had ideas about it.

If only Baek knew that his joke turned to reality…Jongin really can’t afford to let his best friend see what he’s hiding or else, all hell breaks loose.

***

The weather must be a bipolar . From freezing, it changes into breezy, and eventually settles for humid. Jongin knows the winter is slipping away but he had hoped it would stay for another week or so, just enough for this bruise on his neck to fade away.

No such luck then, because as soon as Baekhyun and Jongin set foot outside their classroom, the sunlight glares at them full on and Jongin can feel the slightest of heat gather inside his jacket. Nonetheless, he pulls his collar up and ignores the blatant staring of the other students. He and Baekhyun decide to pay a visit to the newly refurbished cafeteria on the other side of their building since the food there is heaps better than their own level’s cafeteria.

It takes them approximately fifteen minutes of walking before they arrive at their destination, considering their school is a little too huge for its own good. The pre-school, elementary, middle and high school buildings are miles away from one another, that is why students from the high school division don’t really bother going to the middle school division’s canteen anymore, opting to just deal with the greasy food in there. Contrary to popular belief, Seoul Academy’s high school students are the laziest bunch ever.

The campus eatery is littered with middle school students (and a few high school ones, thank God), not fully crowded unlike the other canteen, which is teeming with upperclassmen from the high school division. It’s in the style of a diner and it zaps away a chunk of Jongin’s meal plan every time he comes here, it’s Baekhyun’s newest favorite place to eat that doesn’t double as a study hall.

As they order, Jongin feels the unease get to him as his collar chafes his neck. It doesn’t help that a few of the underclassmen (one of them having the biggest crush on Baekhyun, Jongin remembers) are shooting them (specifically him) funny glances, wondering why on Earth is he covered up completely.

When the duo finally gets a table of their own, Jongin’s eyes fall on the LCD television on the wall near them. It’s replaying the interschool sporting competition last year, of which SA won again, for the fourth consecutive time. Seeing as his best friend is too b