He ignored her call for the 9^th time. She sent about 11 text messages to him, and Sehun sighed long. “C’mon, take a hint.”He cursed inwardly.

“Who?” Kyung Soo asked, while shaping the cue stick tip. “Krystal?”

Kai stopped shooting the cue balls momentarily, and hold the stick up on the board, “Is it her?” he asked, looking sharply. Sehun looked at him blankly and shakes his head.

“No,”Sehun answered in brief. “It’s Yoona. She wants me to have dinner with her.”

“Not going?” Kai asked, “I think you should,” He tried to convince him. Sehun sat in silence, looking unbothered. 

“I’m not.”Sehun said, after a minute.

“Your father won’t be happy.” Kyung Soo said, hitting the cue balls.

“I don’t really care.”He said, his tone clear and serious.

“I really can’t see why you don’t like her.” Kyung Soo commented, “She’s pretty, she’s from a good family and she’s really nice.”

“We are incompatible. We have nothing to talk.” Sehun said honestly. “It’s awkward being with her.” He shook his head and went frigid.

“You are not a people person, are you Sehun?”

“Nonsense, I love people. I just don’t like them being around me.” Sehun joked. He got up to arrange the cue balls on the pool table. ”There are times, you just meet someone and you click. There is no tension, no awkwardness. You feel comfortable. I don’t feel like that with her.”

“Have you ever felt that comfortable with anyone before?”Kyung Soo scoffed, messaging Sehun’s shoulder.

Sehun smiled slightly. He took the cue stick Kai passed him and he started aiming for the target. “So when is the party?” He asked, casually straying from the topic.

“Let’s do it on Tuesday.”Kai suggested, “The same place?” Baekhyun nodded, sobering up.

“Let’s invite everyone.” Sehun said suddenly, ‘All the final year students, including Haru.” He smiled as he pocketed the solid colored cue balls.

“I thought you don’t like her.”Kyung Soo asked, surprised with his proposition. “What’s with the sudden friendliness?”

”She’s ordinary,” Baek Hyun, said suddenly, looking like he ate something sour. “You sure about inviting her?”

“She’s unexplainable, but not ordinary. She is so much more, she is funny, honest sometimes even rude, and you’ll never know what she do next.” Sehun said, sounding almost too fondly.

Baek Hyun stared as if Sehun had lost his mind. He then walked towards Chanyeol who was sitting at the corner on a large couch, leaving Kyung Soo, Kai and Sehun at the pool table.

“Did you hear that?” Baek Hyun asked, almost as a whisper. Chanyeol just nodded, looking serene, while eating caramel popcorn.

“This is not a time to be relaxed, Chan!” Baek Hyun hissed quietly, “Don’t you think this may lead to something else? Something big? What happens if he starts to like her?” he asked, alarmed.

Chanyeol smiled, while popping another popcorn into his mouth , “Sehun is an idiot, it will take him time to catch up."

//

There was a long charged silence in the dining room. Lay looked tired, his eye bags were on show, and he looked unusually pale.

“How’s school?” Lay’s mother asked, when they were having dinner together. His father wore a large brimmed reading glass, and he wasn’t paying attention to the conversation.

“Good,” Lay answered, sparing glances at his father, looking seemingly nervous.

“Your grades are dropping,” his mother said, as a matter of factly.

‘I was quite busy this month,” Lay said, exasperated. “I was in charge of the filling and we had a competition last week.”

“You think excuses is going to save you?” his father suddenly voiced, disapprovingly, “When you take over my position in the future, do you really think you can give excuses for your failure? People don’t listen to that. People don’t buy that. You must always win. No matter what.”

Under the overhead light in the dining room, Lay looked pretty pitiful. “I’m sorry, father.” he apologized sadly.

“Sorry doesn’t fix things.”his father spatted. “I can’t let an incompetent boy to run my company in the future.”He said seriously.

Lay contemplated on what to say. He bowed slightly and apologized once again before leaving the room, his food looked barely untouched.

//

Sehun smirked at the ramen cup in front of him. He took the glued chopsticks and break them into two. He then rubbed them into his palms and started stirring the noodles.

He slurped the noodles and started to chew them slowly.

“This doesn’t taste that good,” he groaned. He lift the cup to examine the labels, “This is the exact same one,” He mumbled, “Did I do it wrong?”

He took another mouthful of noodles, and yet he didn’t feel the taste he felt at the store. He pushes the cup away from him and stared at his bedroom wall.

“Strange,” he sighed long, “After eating with with another person, eating alone now seems too lonely.” he smiled faintly.

He got up from his chair and went to reach his iPhone on his bed. “I don’t have her number.” he mumbled, toying with his phone. He look around his room and compared it to the one he saw yesterday. Her room was not even half the size of his. His room is much darker, the furniture make most of his space, and it was honestly way too big for him.

He sat on his bed, his hands touching the black satin bed sheet,“I jumped into a girl’s bed yesterday. What was I thinking?” He asked himself, almost horrifically, after recalling the incident. Suddenly his phone vibrated, and Sehun almost jumped to his feet.

Yoona.

He breathed out in frustration and answered the call. “Hi,” she greeted in a sweet voice. “Were you busy today?” she asked.

“No.” he answered shortly.

There was a moment of silence.

“Do you still remember the dinner tonight?” she asked. Sehun scratch his eyebrows and closed his eyes tightly. “I’m not coming.”

“Why?”

“You know why.” he answered back, “We talked about this.”

“We can postpone the din-”

”I’m making excuses, I’m avoiding you. I spend time to things I care about, but I don’t for you. I don’t want to say it out loud, but I really hope you understand.” he cuts her off, trying to be polite. “Good night.” he said lastly, before cutting the call.

Sehun laid back on his bed, sighing long. He couldn’t understand the notion of getting married to a stranger. He’s seen his own parents marriage fall apart in front of him. Had his father loved his mother? He never spoke of her. Sehun always imagined a traditional marriage between them, one built with the strong bones of respect, but stripped of the soft skin of love. 

What a scary thing, he thought.

///

It was Sunday morning, Haru woke up, looked around her room, and heaved a sigh of relief. 

She couldn't wait to do a load of laundry, bathe her cats, clean up the house a bit, cook a simple little lunch and finally taking a shower. She had absolutely no intention of leaving the house at all, and she resolved that she was going to spend the entire day in pajamas.

Turning to the stereo on her bookcase, she slid in a CD – Big Bang Hits, as a matter of fact. It was one of her favorite, and something she will always play at top volume when cleaning the house.

It took her almost 3 hours to get all her chores done. She came out of her bathroom, dressed in a clean set of clothes, with a towel wrapped on her head and went to her kitchen to taste the soup she cooked.

“Doesn’t taste bad,” she murmured.

She patted her hair dry and tie them up in a bun. She took her English novel and slumped into her bed, reading through the pages. Suddenly she heard a series of faint knocks on her door. Confused, she got up from her bed, and walked towards the door and opened it slightly.

“Sehun!” she sputtered joyously. “Come in,” she said, opening the door for him. “You came at the right time, I just made soup. I can’t guarantee the taste but I think it is edible.” she continued. She walked towards the stereo to stop the music and carried out rambling about her day. When she turned around, she saw him, still standing at the doorway, looking very glum and wretched.

“Are you that happy to see me?” his voice breaks.

There was something really melancholy in the way he asked, that it strike a twinge of sadness in her. She coudn't help but to wonder if there is anyone who greets him when he goes home.

“Yes, I am.” She answered back softly. “Come in.”

**

“Why do you always wear black?” Haru asked, while shoving a spoonful of rice in , “It’s really rare to see you in another color.”

“I like black,” He answered simply, “ It's a color that can't be violated. A color that simply keeps being itself and yet dominates itself more than all other colors.” He paused to drink the soup, “It hides a part of me. Although I hate it for the same reason.”He hold his spoon midway from his mouth, “This taste good.” he smiled.

She smiled back sadly, “What’s wrong?” she asked him concernedly after a while, referring to how sorrow he looked when he came to see her today. “Something bad happened?” 

“Nothing. I came to see you because I know you'll be spending your Sunday doing boring stuffs and plus I need some entertainment,” he snorted, shifting the topic.

Her jaw dropped indignantly, “How rude.” she laughed.

“By the way, the party is this Tuesday, we are inviting all, so come.” He invited her, sounding hopeful.

“Can’t. I’m working.” She said regrettably.

He hesitated, “It’s just for one night.” he insisted.

“I”ll take it under consideration,” she nodded. “I’m surprised that you invited me, I’m even more surprised that we are friends and now we are eating together in my house.”

“Well, I did say I enjoyed your company and you say everything I wanted to hear.” he murmured.

The simplicity of his response left her head reeling.

“You sure you don’t want to talk about it?” she asked, trying desperately to understand him. She thought the whole point of being in a friendship was finding someone who you could be yourself with, but maybe for Sehun, that was being a bunch of personas and masks. She couldn't imagine being surrounded with a lot of people and one could still feel lonely.

Sehun was frowning, trying to formulate his thoughts. “How do you compartmentalize yourself,” he finally asked, flushing slightly. His gaze had dropped. “ To take those bad memories and put them away, and just keep the good ones. I’m not really good at that.”

was a little dry, and she found that she didn't know what to say.

“I don’t,” she murmured. “We all have good and bad moments. That is what makes us who we are. It’s okay to have feelings. There is no need to pretend to be heartless. We can go numb, yes, but never heartless. We feel even we don’t want to. And it’s fine. It’s okay to feel.”

Sehun just stared at her, his eyebrows drawn together sharply, creating a line in his forehead.

“I realized that the world did not exist for my benefit. It followed that the ratio of pleasant and unpleasant things around me would not change. It wasn't up to me.I don’t have control over the things that happen in my life. It was clear that the best thing to do is to embrace yourself and to move on.”She said keeping her voice calm and even.

It was somewhat much more complex than that, but he nodded anyway. She laughed a bit. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation with Sehun.

“You know whenever I talk to you, it’s not just a “Hey whats up” conversation. It’s always something deep.” she chuckled.

“Good. I hate small talks.” He admitted. “What were you doing earlier?” he asked.

“I was reading a novel. A tragic love story. Like Romeo and Juliet.”

He his head. “I hate love stories, especially the tragic ones, but how does it go?” he asked uncertainly and uninterested.

“It’s about this Prince called, Pedro, who was in love with a woman, and his father, the King, ordered a few men to murder her to keep them apart. So when Pedro became the King, he hunted down all the assassins and ripped their hearts out using his bare hands, symbolizing what they did to him.” She said excitedly.

“Hmm, sounds like something I would do.” he muttered.

She huffed a soft laugh, “Oh yes, very Sehun-like.”

His eyes flickered, looking at her; her wheatish skin, her black eyes, and her laugh, soft and beautiful; she looked as though she were constantly getting ready to ask a question and to answer them. Even an  crafted doll could not have been as lovely, he thought. She looked so contended and comfortable and he was too. He wished he could lock this moment.

And he swore, at that time, his heart was beating unusually fast.