“Come on guys, calm down and behave yourselves. Heechul is going to have your heads if you make him call your names for the second time.” Ai crossed her arms and frowned.

Kai blinked at her innocently before loosening the hold on Sehun’s collar and settling down in his seat. Embarrassed, Sehun coughed and neatened his shirt and tie before matching the seating posture of his friend. Glad that they had finally stopped fighting and bickering, Ai sighed slightly in relief and relaxed her body over the desk.

“So...” Kai cleared his throat and garnered the attention of the other two, “I haven’t talked to you in while.”

Ai arched her eyebrows at the statement and avoided boy’s gaze by looking at her intertwined fingers. “Yeah.” she mumbled, “I was busy. With school and... stuff.”

Kai nodded his head, staring ahead of himself. “I see.”

Sehun’s eyebrows knitted together as he observed the two in front of him. What’s the deal with these two? He then decided to inspect the situation on his own. “Since when do you two know each other?”

Ai looked up at him with an indescribable expression. “We went to the same middle school.”

“Oh, so you were classmates back then, too?”

“No.” Kai quickly corrected him. “We were members of the same dance club.”

Sehun eyed the two and noticed one thing they had in common - they both looked uncomfortable talking about the subject. He could’ve pried a bit further, but he had a hunch that he would better leave them be. It was a matter between the two of them after all, and as much as he hated to admit it, it didn’t concern him.

“Oh yeah, by the way, am I going to see you at the party this weekend?” Sehun tried to change the subject by directing a question towards Ai.

“Ah, I—” “Ah, she—”

Kai and Ai uttered at the same time before stopping to throw a look at each other’s face, etched with confusion. Sehun frowned again. What is it this time?

“I... I don’t really go to parties.” Ai muttered slowly while keeping eye contact with the tanned boy.

“Ah, that’s the same thing I wanted to say.” Kai blushed a little, he himself not even getting as to why exactly he wanted to answer in her stead.

“Why don’t you go to parties though?” Sehun broke the silence, making Ai turn towards him.

“Drinking, smoking, taking drugs and doing all kinds of lewd things, all whilst listening to gaudily loud music? Not exactly my style.” Ai scoffed with a snide snicker pulled on her lips.

“Not everyone does that. Some go to parties to simply meet people and vent out.” Sehun explained stoically, “I do drink, but my favourite part about parties is playing games and having fun. I think you should give it a shot.”

Kai carefully eyed Ai to see her reaction. Honestly speaking, he was really curious about her answer. And, although he would never admit it out loud, he wanted her to say yes. Ever since they started their lives as high school students and began attending numerous parties and after school activities, Kai had secretly hoped to meet Ai at one of those. But, unfortunately, it never happened, causing him to give up any hope on that kind of yearning.

Since the very start of high school, not only did he not get the chance to meet her somewhere outside of school, but even during school hours Kai couldn’t seem to exchange more that a handful of words with the girl. He was well aware that he was the one at fault for not really trying to approach her, but what could he do? As time passed he was slowly becoming conscious of the fact that the girl most likely avoided him. Even though he knew the reason, he didn’t deem it valid enough for her not to speak to him.

And now there she was - about to answer the question he wanted to ask her since long ago. He felt agitated with every passing second as Ai stared into space, contemplating about what to say to Sehun’s suggestion. Finally, she took a deep breath and uttered.

“I’m sorry Sehunnie, but I don’t want to go there after all. I would just waste my time doing that.”

Sehun took in girl’s apologetic look and sighed. “Alright then, I guess it was stupid of me to try to make you attend event you won’t like.”

“U-um, don’t you think it would be fun to try going there, Ai?”

An intruding voice piped from behind Ai, making the three turn around to discover the culprit. Ai’s eyes widened when she perceived flushed and panting Kyungsoo who seemed to struggle to keep his dilated eyes on the girl instead of looking at someone else. “I-I’m sorry for eavesdropping, I d-didn’t mean to do that!” Kyungsoo bowed in Kai’s direction, completely ignoring Sehun, but still not daring to look at the bronze-skinned boy.

“Kyung, what are you—” Ai began, but Kyungsoo stopped her by squeezing her shoulder with a more than necessary amount of force.

“H-hey, don’t you think it’d be fun? I mean, come on, you’ve never been to this kind of party!” Kyungsoo laughed nervously and sent a sign with his eyes to the girl who needed more than a few seconds to receive it. This is my chance to get close to him!

Ai grimaced in realization and sighed defeatedly. This is for Kyungsoo. This is for Kyungsoo, you need to do this for him. “I-I guess it won’t hurt, h-huh?” Ai smiled crookedly, but it looked nothing like a smile. “I should stop being so narrow-minded, right?” She glared at the black haired boy in front of her.

“Y-yeah, you’re really too much sometimes haha.” Kyungsoo stammered while mentally apologizing and thanking the girl at the same time.

Sehun clapped his hands in excitement. “That settles it then!” he pointed his finger at Kyungsoo, “You’re coming too right?”

Flushing beet red, Kyungsoo nodded fervently. “If it’s okay with you guys, I-I’ll come!”

“Why wouldn’t it be okay?” Kai laughed in amusement, making the jet haired boy nearly collapse from the overflowing heat in his cheeks.

Ai watched Kyungsoo’s embarrassing actions, feeling the second-hand embarrassment herself as she tried to hide her face in her hands. As if the situation wasn’t too awkward and tense already, Tao appeared all of sudden and bent down to pull an arm around Ai’s shoulders with a teasing grin on his face. “What am I hearing? Has the princess finally let her guard down and agreed to socialize a little bit?”

Ai shot him a glare whilst clenching her jaw. You’re ing dead after this!

Tao just batted his lashes at her and smiled sweetly. “This is great then, we’re all going to have fun together!” He grinned up at Kai and Sehun, “You guys make sure this kid has her own share of drinks! I’m dying to know how she acts when she’s drunk!”

Kai cackled with laughter and Sehun smirked evilly as he shot a thumb up. Feeling sorry for involving the girl in this troublesome situation, Kyungsoo flashed her a look full of pity, while Ai shut her eyes tight and cursed both of her friends in her head, vowing herself to pay them back one day.

“Aw, come on, stop making such a big deal out of it! You’ll survive!” Tao exclaimed while strolling beside his two friends down the hallway, his intertwined hands supporting the back of his head.

“This is all your fault! Wait, no. It’s mainly Kyung’s!” Ai glared at the boy to her left, he immediately avoiding her eyes by looking outside of the windows they were passing by.

“O-oh, look, it’s such a nice weather today!”

Ai gritted her teeth in annoyance. This midget sure has a nerve to ignore me after dragging me into his conniving scheme. Was it really necessary for her to go to that stupid party too? It sure as hell wasn’t in Ai’s opinion. She did promise to come but she never said