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The said greater good turns out to be the Christian Picnic hosted by the Union the following Sunday.

It’s all the same to Seungwan, though. Picnic, barbeque, bar crawl – as long as there are things to be done and the girl has an excuse to bask in Joohyun’s holy presence. It’s nearing 4pm and the red head has never wanted so badly in her entire life for her afternoon Biology class to just finish already. Not even when BBC One randomly decided to start the broadcast of a Blackadder marathon in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon some five weeks ago.

She quietly groans to herself, completely giving up on the lecture that she cannot hope to comprehend. She’ll need a tutor soon, but she’s running out of options. None of her friends are good at the subject, and once her mother gets a wind of Seungwan’s recent stream of test failures, she’ll insist on hiring an actual paid help. And then the red head’s band practice time will be reduced to nothing.

The singer groans again. It’s not that she doesn’t care about her studies, not completely anyway – but why does knowledge always have to stand in the way of her happiness?

She turns around, bored, and end up catching Chanyeol’s eye. He’s barely hanging in there, his head threatening to fall on his chest, he’s this tired – he probably stayed up all night again, playing League of Legends.

Practice in my room? He mouths, making a gesture as if he were playing the guitar. She shakes her head and he frowns.

‘I told you I was going to be helping Joohyun.’ She reminds the boy the moment they are free to leave the classroom. She swings on her heels back and forth, barely concealing her excitement. The drummer looks like he wants to comment, but in the end just shrugs.

‘See you later, then. I guess somebody does has to take one for the team, after all.’ He murmurs – to what exactly he is referring, Seungwan doesn’t really know, but she also doesn’t particularly care at the moment. She makes sure that her bag sits well on her right shoulder and sprints to the Eastern building, where she knows that she would find her crush, the latter’s brother, and probably the younger brother as well, if Sehun didn’t beg off under some false pretence.

He probably couldn’t, because Joohyun continues watching him like a hawk.

‘You’re here.’ Joohyun Bae’s expression is surprisingly unmoving as she greets the read haired bane of her Trent College existence. Seungwan doesn’t know whether she should treat her behaviour as a good sign, but she ultimately decides to just go with the flow for now. She’s never been much of a worrier.

‘You told me to come.’ Instead, she gives Joohyun what she thinks is her best smile, but the older girl merely sighs in exasperation. She clearly remains unimpressed.

‘Oh course I did. Leave your things on the side and follow me.’ The clip board in Joohyun’s hand looks almost threatening as the girl gestures with it to the corner of the room where all the students’ bags have been placed for the sake of convenience. Seungwan carelessly throws the bag on the ground, her eyes never leaving the older girl.

‘Done.’

Joohyun sighs again, this time with more impatience.

‘So what can you actually do? Summoning the evil doesn’t count.’

‘But just think of all the fun that we could have, showing the fire tricks during the event-‘ Joohyun’s pointed look effectively shuts Seungwan up before she can finish another one of her lame jokes. This is the president’s territory and she clearly isn’t about to waste time on useless bickering. ‘What are the options?’ The read head adds quickly, her small voice ending up being unnaturally high pitched.

In all the time that Seungwan has known the brunette, today certainly feels different. The singer doesn’t know whether it is because they finally meet on Joohyun’s conditions, or whether the brunette has decided to change her attitude towards the red head. Either way, it feels slightly more intimidating than Seungwan is accustomed to.

Truth be told, Seungwan only ever likes riling Joohyun up so much because of how easy the girl is to tease. In other words, the red head is all talk and no real bite. That, and the mischief in her actions and words is the only thing that the older girl reacts to and Seungwan really wants her attention to remain on herself.

The red head doesn’t really know if she would be able to handle the sudden shift of power in their strange dynamics.

‘You can paint the posters with team S. Lord knows that they need a divine intervention if they are going to finish them all by this Saturday.’ The brunette drawls, sending the group working next to them a sharp look of contempt. The venom is clearly meant to be heard, and has a few of the members duck and blush in shame, as they try to make up for their slow pace with newly found energy. ‘And where is Yixing? He was supposed to be helping out since after lunch.’

‘He had been here until three o’clock.’ One of the girls finally meets the president’s eye long enough to convey the message. ‘He should be coming in shortly. He said he had something to take care of.’

Joohyun nods once in acknowledgement, before looking back at Seungwan, expectantly. The latter frowns, not understanding.

‘What?’ She asks, confused. Joohyun scoffs.

‘Are you going to get down to it or not? I don’t have all the time in the world.’ The older means her words to sound annoyed, but the nervousness and tension that they carry easily sips through. Joohyun is terribly, terribly anxious, that much quickly becomes clear to Seungwan. For some reason, the picnic seems like an important event; so important, in fact, that Joohyun would risk Seungwan’s presence at the event if it meant that she would receive additional help with preparations.

Any fight that Seungwan has had in her suddenly leaves her. There would be no messing with Joohyun’s head today.

‘I can probably try, but it might all go to pot. I’ve never really been good at drawing.’ She shrugs, puffing her cheeks – the childhood habit a sign of uncertainty. Joohyun gives her a disapproving look.

‘You just have to colour the letters, Seungwan. It’s not rocket science.’ The Christian Union has always done all their advertisements by hand. According to Junmyeon, it shows real dedication, unlike simply printing the pages off, is what Sehun says.

Speaking of Sehun.

‘Where’s your brother?’ Seungwan chimes in, looking around. On the contrary to what has just been said, the red head is still standing there, having no intention of picking up a brush – certainly not in the immediate future.

‘I told you to stay away from Junmyeon.’

‘God, I meant Sehun. You have too many brothers, honey.’ Seungwan cannot help but send Joohyun a greasy grin, the action which has Joohyun huff.

‘Please, stop taking the Lord’s name in vein in my presence. And I don’t know where Sehun is. He should be here already, but he’s obviously not. Shouldn’t you be more knowledgeable about his whereabouts? He is clearly preferential to your company over even his own family’s.’

Seungwan has no response to that, and neither is she given time to think of any, seeing how Joohyun storms away the moment after. Her twin brother calls for her help with the location planning and that forces the red head to turn around and approach the miserable looking members of team S. She raises her hand in a lazy wave. She recognises a few faces, although she’s not really on speaking terms with any of the students.

She’s easy-going, though, so she’s going to try.

‘I’m Seungwan. What do you need me to do?’

Joohyun has placed Seungwan in a group working as far away from herself as possible, and the singer has no doubt that it was purposely done. People painting by her side are not exactly on the chatty side and with all those chorals softly playing in the background, putting her own earphones on would probably be frowned upon. That leaves Seungwan with longingly staring at the brunette working across the room from her and it certainly doesn’t help the former’s hand-eye coordination.

Some twenty minutes and three unevenly coloured posters later, Seungwan is about done with Christianity.

Bored out of her mind and put in an alarming state of catatonic lethargy, she nearly jumps up when she feels a hand on her shoulder.

‘What a surprise to see you here.’ She turns around to see Yixing Zhang smiling down at her. She blinks and reluctantly returns the smile.

‘Hi. Yeah. I’m pretty gobsmacked myself, if I’m to be honest.’ Her blank expression prompts him to chuckle lowly.

‘It’s never too late to turn to God.’ He responds, rolling up his own sleeves and sitting next to her. He then takes a thinner brush and attempts to subtly even out the messy lines of the singer’s lettering, although it is probably way too late to save this disaster in the making. A comfortable silence follows.

Turning to God is probably the last thing on Seungwan’s mind right now, but she’s not about to burst the secretary’s bubble. For the most part, he’s too kind for her delightful display of sarcasm.

‘Did you and Sehun come together?’ Seungwan asks Yixing, spotting her friend rearranging his own bag in the corner of the room. Catching her eye, he merely nods at her before approaching his twin siblings. Seungwan thinks that she hears a soft murmur of Junmyeon’s lecture on punctuality.

‘I ran into him at the entrance of the building just now.’ Yixing supplies, before turning to where Sehun has been roped into preparing the decorations for the event. The older boy sighs. ‘Although I’m afraid that he doesn’t like me very much.’

‘If it is indeed so, I’m sure that it happens merely by association.’ Seungwan makes a sympathetic face. That’s all that she can muster, considering all that she knows about Sehun. She’s certainly not about to comfort people who make her friend miserable.

‘You must be right.’ Yixing quietly concurs, and lowers his head to the project at hand once again. They have worked in relative peace for a good while, when a shadow appears, looming over them for a few seconds before the pair raises their eyes. It’s Joohyun.

‘Yixing, I didn’t realise that you’ve come back.’ She’s all pretty smiles, looking at the boy and completely ignoring Seungwan. That doesn’t prevent the latter from openly staring and immediately losing concentration - and consequently, staining the drawing in front of her with the excess of yellow paint.

‘Hi. I had to step out for a little while, sorry about that. We’ll finish this up before Sunday, though, I promise.’ The secretary looks up briefly, sending Joohyun a somewhat forced smile and focusing back on his work.  That doesn’t discourage the president in the slightest.

‘I’m certain that you will, but the team’s delay is not your fault to begin with, so don’t take it to heart.’

‘Well, now that I’ve joined, I intend to see it through until the end.’ He corrects himself, leaving Joohyun with nothing to say.

Yixing continues drawing. Joohyun continues fidgeting by his side. Seungwan continues staring.

‘Could I see you outside for a moment? I have something that I would like to ask you. Privately.’ The emphasis placed on the last word is the only acknowledgement that the red head will probably get in this situation. The secretary’s hand stills above the paper, but he quickly collects himself and nods.

‘Sure. Lead the way.’

As soon as the door closes behind them, baffled Sehun appears by Seungwan’s side.

‘You’re seriously something else. Are you planning on hanging around here more often from now on? Because I need time to get used to my two worlds colliding.’

‘What’s the deal with your sister and Yixing?’ Seungwan disregards her friend’s statement entirely and gets straight to the point of her interest. She’s eying the entrance, intrigued.

‘Beats me.’ The boy eventually responds, his gaze moving the door as well. ‘For all I know, she’s trying to talk the poor chap into yet another charity project. He’ll end up completely overwhelmed.’

‘Well, it looked to me like she was chatting him up. First in the canteen and now here. And it was bloody awkward, if you ask me.’

Sehun shrugs.

‘Brilliant.’ He snickers, completely disinterested in the topic. ‘As I said, I don’t know and I don’t care.’ He looks at his friend’s handiwork. ‘What in the world is that?’ He points to the picture.

‘A banana?’ Seungwan responds innocently, but there is mirth dancing in her eyes.

‘Why would you feel the need to draw a banana on a poster advertising a Christian picnic?’

‘I don’t know?’

‘Try again.’

‘Ok, then. Because I’m an incorrigible spawn of Satan, who enjoys drawing objects of ambiguous meaning on religious posters. Better now?’

‘At least it’s not a complete lie.’ Sehun points out to the corner where Seungwan has watched Joohyun work all along. ‘I suggest that you ask my sister if you can join the cooking team instead. You’re good at it. Well, better than you’ll even be at drawing, anyway.’

‘Oh, do you think that would work?’

‘As long as you don’t disrupt the preparations, she’ll probably take any help. She’s been going frantic over this the entire day.’

‘Yeah, she does seem on edge.’ Seungwan agrees, picking up on the change of topic.

‘Junmyeon told me last night that our parents are coming to the picnic next Sunday.’ Sehun breathes out his response, his voice subconsciously becoming lower. The red head turns to him, not really comprehending the underlying meaning, but he offers nothing else and she doesn’t press.

She may not understand what would prompt Joohyun to react so strongly to her parents’ sudden visit, but she does get what it signifies for Sehun. She puts a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

‘Do you want me to be your girlfriend again?’ She looks at him in worry. He actually breaks out in laughter.

‘No, thanks. I think that our first break up explicitly taught me not to get involved with you ever again.’ She giggles as well, glad that she’s lifted his mood. ‘And anyway, that act wouldn’t slide the second time around. You’re too red and have too much attitude now. Plus, I’m pretty sure that either Junmyeon or Joohyun has already told them about your unhealthy interest in the same .’

‘Yikes.’ Is Seungwan’s only comment. ‘Well, if it gets too much, you know where to find me. I’ll embrace you with all the lesbian love that I can muster.’ She makes an exaggerated kissy face at him, aiming for his left cheek.

‘I hope you don’t expect me to break down and cry at your mushy confession.’ He deadpans, his outstretched arm preventing the girl from approaching him any further. ‘Thanks, though.’ He adds quietly, before clearing his throat. ‘Joohyun is back. I’ll take over here; you ask her about the cooking part. I don’t know what it is about Christian picnics, but they always need all the cake that they can get.’

Seungwan catches Joohyun just as the latter returns to her station in the corner of the room. The brunette looks extremely upset, a blush refusing to leave her cheeks. All the signs spell humiliation, the singer notices. One look at Yixing confirms her theory – utterly uncomfortable is probably the most accurate description of the boy’s expression. 

Seungwan briefly wonders what exactly happened between the couple on the corridor just now.

‘Joohyun.’ The red head announces herself, and the president turns around.

‘What.’ She snaps, taking everyone - but mostly herself – by surprise. She takes a deep, calming breath, before trying again. ‘What is it?’

‘Gee, enough with all the loving. You’re seriously spoiling me.’ Seungwan deadpans.

‘Is there a reason why you came here? Other than to annoy me, that is? I thought I made it clear that you were to help with the posters.’ Joohyun’s entire being screams angry, but the red head takes it in stride. She’s had many months to learn the art of letting go with Joohyun Bae.

‘Actually, I don’t think that I’m cut out for that.’ Both her and Joohyun’s eyes briefly wander to Yixing and Sehun, who are trying their best to improve the drawing that she has just been working on. ‘On the other hand, Sehun just informed me that you need volunteers for the cooking team. I’m a decent cook, but an even better baker.’

‘You know how to bake.’ Joohyun frowns, looking at the other girl in disbelief.

‘Why of course I do. My mother isn’t running a baking empire for nothing.’

‘Your mother’s business skills have nothing to do with your being able to produce a high quality, nutritious pastry.’

‘Well, in my case, it does. We bake together all the time.’ Seungwan insists. That’s pretty much the only activity that we engage in when she actually bothers to remember about me. But the singer doesn’t add the last part.

‘…If you somehow manage to poison us all, Seungwan Son, I won’t leave you alone. You have my word. It has to be perfect.’ Despite the threat, Joohyun visibly deflates. She moves away, making room for the other girl to sit down.

‘So what’s the plan?’ Seungwan pulls the clip board closer before the older girl has a chance to react. What greats the former is a jumble of words and a random assortment of foods. The red head frowns and looks back to the president. ‘That’s it?’

‘These are just initial ideas. I was about to start preparing the menu in detail when you interrupted me.’ Joohyun refuses to meet the singer’s eye, but her cheeks redden again, this time in embarrassment.

‘Well then, what did you want to put down here?’

‘Well, you know… Sandwiches and such… Cake.’ A prolonged silence that follows has Seungwan’s lips split in a wide, teasing grin.

‘In other words, you have no idea what you’re going to serve your holy congregation.’ Seungwan laughs, wiggling her eyebrows at Joohyun.

‘Stop calling it a holy congregation.’ The older girl scoffs. ‘ And I’m in control of the situation. It’s just that our Union’s resident baker graduated last year. It’s my first time preparing everything by myself, so of course I can get confused.’

‘Well I could help, then… but only if you ask me nicely.’

The two girls engage in a brief staring contest, during which the read head continues to grin stupidly, and Joohyun’s expression hardens.

‘Is this another one of you emotional blackmails?’ The latter finally voices out. ‘Because I resent that. I can find somebody else if I really want to.’

‘All I’m saying is that I want you to be nicer to me. So far I haven’t really felt any of your Christian love or kindness. Ask me nicely and I’ll help you.’

‘Well, you have never exactly given me any reason to shower you with affection.’ Joohyun bites back, immediately pursing her lips in regret of her outburst. She has allowed herself to be provoked by the other girl’s arrogant behaviour far too many times for her own liking.

‘Whoa. So the Queen B does know the meaning of sarcasm. I’m impressed. You had me worried for a second there.’ Seungwan’s delighted chatter is slowly drawing more and more attention to their table and Joohyun sends the red head a look of contempt.

‘Oh, shut it. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to beg you? I certainly won’t.’ She hisses. Seungwan shrugs, her expression turning serious.

‘Just ask nicely.’

Joohyun send the other a long look, probably trying to gauge the true intentions behind her request, but eventually gives in when she can’t seem to detect mockery.

‘Seungwan Son, would you be so kind to take over the cooking duties for the event? The Christian Union could really use your help.’

‘Only the Christian Union?’ The singer raises her eyebrows, not backing down.

‘I could use your help.’ Joohyun adds in exasperation. Seungwan regards her for a few moments, before breaking in a lazy, self satisfied grin.

‘Sure, why not.’ She chirps as if she didn’t just step all over the president’s pride. The older girl quickly realises that she’s been had. Again.

‘So what do you think that we should prepare? There aren’t many people that I can assign to helping you so it must be something that we can handle.’

‘No worries. I’ll get back to you on the menu by tomorrow.’ Before Joohyun has a chance to stop her, Seungwan rips the page out of the clip board. The older girl cringes.

‘It’s a clipboard for a reason, you know.’

‘Yeah, I never understood its purpose.’ Seungwan winks and the brunette turns away, looking annoyed, before snapping back up, the meaning of the words downing on her. She sees the singer get up from her seat.

‘Wait, and what do you mean by tomorrow? Just where do you think that you’re going now? There is no time to waste.’ The president stands up as well, frustration marring her otherwise gorgeous features.

‘Fear not, sweet cakes. It’s not like we were gonna churn up all that nosh this very instant. Let me sleep on it so I have the time to come up with something without you breathing down my neck. Unless you want to, then you’re more than welcome, of course.’ The grease in Seungwan’s voice has Joohyun take a tentative step back.

‘I don’t know if I can trust you.’ The latter argues her case.

‘Well, I guess you’re just going to have to take a leap of faith with this one.’ Seungwan smirks. ‘Seriously though, I’ll come through, so don’t worry. I’ll bring you the menu tomorrow, and we can discuss the details, holding hands like the good Christian Union members that we are.’

‘You’re not a member of the Union.’ Joohyun refutes, lips pursing in distaste.

‘Well, I guess I am now.’ Seungwan laughs, making little of the president’s opposition. ‘Gotta bounce now, my songs won’t sing themselves. By the way, I’m borrowing Sehun. Because the bass won’t play itself, either.’

‘Sehun has other responsibilities here.’ Joohyun murmurs, displeased, but the storm that is Seungwan has always crossed the room, in search of her belongings.

Both girls look around the room, but fail to spot the said boy.

‘Where is Sehun?’ Seungwan approaches Yixing for information, once she’s made sure that her friend is indeed missing. Yixing looks at her with an unreadable expression, so different from his usual pleasant façade.

‘He’s decided to take an early leave.’ The older boy gives a forlorn answer, resuming his work.

If Seungwan expects him to elaborate on the subject, she soon realises that she isn’t going to get anything more. So she leaves for her band practice, sincerely hoping that Sehun’s patience wearing thin is all that there is to it and that she’ll find her friend where they said that they would meet.

Because she honestly cannot imagine what else could be happening in the boy’s head.

Dear God, what do You think is more important, love or friendship? Because I don’t know anymore.

A/N: Sorry, I will have to post the next chapter around 08/29 instead. I'm moving flats and couldn't find the time to finish writing. Also, I'm removing the subscriber-only tag becuase it makes me bloody mad. Read the Foreward instead, please, if you haven't already.