Stab.

Stab.

STAB STAB STAB

“AI, STOP PLAYING WITH YOUR FOOD!”

Kyungsoo stopped what he was doing for a moment to scold a certain girl for goofing around at their table in the school canteen and not minding her manners. The girl looked up to glare at him for interrupting her train of thought so rudely.

“Okay, mom!” Ai yelled back with a sarcastic undertone.

Not exactly in the mood to respond and react to Ai’s minuscule provocations, Kyungsoo simply rolled his eyes and shook his head, returning his attention back to Tao who was sitting next to him and engaging in a mutual conversation with the shorter boy.

Piqued because Kyungsoo completely ignored her, Ai gritted her teeth and slammed the chopsticks she used to stab her food a few moments before against the table, using the unnecessary amount of force. Couldn’t he notice that she’s vexed and agitated about something and ask her if she’s okay, at least? But nooo, all Kyungsoo and that loose-mouthed Tao care for are their gossips and the latest rumors to catch up to.

Pay attention to me, goddamn it!

“So, as I was saying,” Tao cleared his throat and resumed his talking, “that girl is said to be pregnant because someone saw her disposing of the pregnancy test in the washrooms and apparently it was a positive one.”

Tao heaved a deep breath and continued. “Now, I don’t know all the details, but I know for sure that she has a boyfriend of a year or so. Still, there’s a bit of controversy on that matter.”

Kyungsoo frowned at what Tao said. “A controversy? But isn’t it obvious? She and her boyfriend didn’t pay enough attention while doing “it” so she ended up pregnant and miserable, right?”

Tao quivered his brows and sighed. “It’s not exactly that simple. There was this party a few months back and there are at least twenty people who witnessed her getting into a secluded room with some guy, who, by the way, wasn’t her current boyfriend.”

Kyungsoo gasped and covered his mouth with his hand.

“Are you sure about what you’re saying, Tao?” he inquired in a tone which sounded much like a whisper, “People get really drunk at those parties, how can you truly believe someone that they have actually seen it?”

“Because I saw it too, Kyungsoo.” Tao flashed him a knowing look. “And you know very well that I’m not really a big fan of alcoholic drinks. But if you still have suspicions about whether they really did it or not, I can simply inform you that half an hour after they went in, the guy she was with came out of the room, looking very disheveled, and shouted around about how he got laid for the second time that evening and high-fived some random dudes.”

Kyungsoo just kept looking at Tao speechless, his mouth covered by his hand and eyes widened to the size of saucers. When he regained his ability to speak, Kyungsoo asked to drench his curiosity.

“And who’s that she had one-stand with?”

Tao smirked smugly and gestured with his head across of them. “I guess it won’t be such a surprise to you, since you know about his reputation as much as I do.” Tao inhaled before he spoke out three words.

“It’s Park Chanyeol.”

“PARK CHANYEOL?!” Kyungsoo repeated much louder and made Ai choke on the carbonated drink she was drinking.

“Wow, I can’t imagine him becoming a father, if, of course, she decides to keep the child.”

Ai coughed and hit her chest with her fist repeatedly, feeling both scared and conscious of Kyungsoo and Tao possibly noticing her reaction to the spoken name, but it never came, so it left her a bit disappointed. Am I invisible?

Tao shook his finger at Kyungsoo. “Actually, I don’t think he’s the father as much as other people do.” he stated, “I’m even pretty sure that he isn’t, might I assert.”

Kyungsoo arched his eyebrows in confusion. “Wait, how so? You just said tha—”

“I know what I said,” Tao cut him off before he sighed, “I know for a fact that Chanyeol is extremely careful when he has with random strangers and there’s no amount of alcohol that can hinder those precautions of his. And I know this from numerous dependable sources.”

“Well that is sure quite interesting,” Kyungsoo nodded his head, “I guess Chanyeol is not going to buy her story if she tries to convince him to being the father of her baby.”

“Of course he won’t!” Tao laughed “That guy only looks stupid, but he knows way better than that.”

“Good for him, I guess.” Kyungsoo chuckled and nodded his head.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY ‘GOOD FOR HIM’?!” Ai spluttered, slamming her clenched fists against the table, making everything perched on it clank and rattle from the impact.

The two boys were startled by the girl’s sudden outburst of anger, so they froze in their seats, looking at her in shock and bewilderment. Ai’s eye focus alternated between Tao and Kyungsoo consistently, judging them in silence for what they had said just a few seconds before.

“Good for him? Good for him, you say?” Ai fumed.

The girl was thrown in a state of utter turmoil when she heard what her two friends went on talking about, being in disbelief after having found out what kind of person Chanyeol truly was. So he wasn’t just a regular , huh? He was something much worse. Something Ai hated and despised from the bottom of her soul since forever. A playboy. A shameless individual. A person who doesn’t respect women and lives off by exploiting them and their feelings, all that while not caring about anyone else but himself.

No wonder he seemed so egoistic the first time she saw him.

And what was it that Tao and Kyungsoo were talking about? Yeah, good for him for not getting into trouble, for which, in all honesty, he deserved to be dragged into. Good for him for being such an alpha male, for being the role model all those stupid teenage boys from her school look up to. Probably even these two es of her friends think highly of Chanyeol and his past and current actions concerning “scoring girls”.

“You know what, it doesn’t matter that the two of you are gay as hell, all men are the same, gay or straight! None of you use those brains you were bestowed upon your birth, all the thinking you do is done with your !” Ai couldn’t keep it in anymore after being forced to listen to their dumb opinions. “I hope every single one of you experiences a heartbreak so tough, you will feel your whole being shatter and break in irreparable pieces! Then you’ll get how every girl feels when her feelings get hurt and stomped over by some ’s thoughtless words or actions!”

With that, Ai shot up from her seat, attracting attention from the students all around their table with the noise she made by pushing the bench a few inches back with a high-pitched screeching sound.

“I hope you’ll be able to swallow your food now, after spouting such poisonous and inconsiderate words!”

She swiftly her heels and sprinted towards the exit, weaving through the sea of students giving her weird looks and barely moving out of her way. Kyungsoo and Tao watched as the girl disappeared out of their sight, their mouth gaping at what they had just heard, not being able to understand what was it that made the usually frivolous and flippant girl so gravely angry.

“Ai, please, how many times do I have to apologize?” Kyungsoo sighed exasperatedly, his palms pressed against the desk of the girl whose attention was bound to the screen of her smart phone, busily typing away short texts.

“I don’t even know as to why exactly I have to apologize? I mean seriously, it’s not like I said anything that hurtful or directed to you in person. It’s just...” Kyungsoo paused for a moment to send the girl who was not looking at him a remorseful look. “It would be nice if you could just explain to me why you got mad so I can properly apologize. So both me and Tao can. Please?”

After a long time of ignoring from Ai’s side and one-sided conversation from Kyungsoo’s, she finally picked up her gaze to look at the boy before her blankly.

“Minnie said ‘hi’.” The girl said out of  blue.

“Huh?” Kyungsoo’s jaw slacked.

Ai slanted her lips with a hinge of frustration and turned the screen of her phone towards Kyungsoo. She pointed at it with the index finger of her free hand. “This. I was texting him this whole time and when I mentioned that you’re bothering me at the moment he told me to say ‘hi’ to you in his stead.”

Kyungsoo oh-ed and slowly nodded his head in understanding. “I see. Tell him ‘hi’ in my stead too,” the jet haired boy smiled, “and oh- wish him getting well soon, too!”

The blonde frowned at Kyungsoo and remained motionless as if she was contemplating about whether to comply with what the boy told her to do or simply ignore it. After another moment of pondering she went back to texting her absent friend, typing a bit longer text message than her previous ones, waiting approximately five seconds until her phone vibrated again and taking less than a second to read out the answer in her head, before reading it out loud.

“He said ‘Tell him I said ‘thank you’. And that I can’t wait to finally meet him’.”

“Text him that the feeling is mutual!” Kyungsoo laughed both because of his early blooming friendship with Minseok and Ai’s obedient behavior towards him.

Before the girl could even type one more letter on her phone, the English teacher entered the classroom, immediately taking in Ai with a phone in her hand and scolding her with a loud shout.

“Hey brat, put away that or I’ll confiscate it this instant!”

Ai glared up at Heechul and gritted her teeth. Whilst not breaking intense eye contact with the teacher, she shoved her phone in her pencil case and zipped it with a jerking motion. Heechul merely rolled his eyes at girl’s actions and reverted his attention to the students who were hurriedly going back to their respective seats