“You can’t deny the fact that he likes you now,” Ollie nudges me. I ignore her. Is this for real? Could it be that Kai actually has a thing for me? I mean, I don’t mind a cute guy liking me but at the same time...if he were to confess, how would I respond? I don’t know if I want to make things official, and I certainly don’t want to get murdered by Kai’s fangirls. I’m overthinking this, aren’t I?

“(y/n)?” Ollie touches my shoulder. I look at her with sad eyes and her expression turns into surprise. “Why la? What’s the matter?”

“I don’t know what to think of this.” I kick the sand.

“Well at least it’s the end of the school day. You won’t run into him. Just go home and rest, okay? It’s not like he actually confessed. Don’t worry about it.” Ollie gives me a hug and sends me off.

When I arrive home, Suho (he’s my brother in case he’s forgotten) hands me money. I look at him questioningly and he smiles at me. I shudder and ask him what the money's for. He continues to smile and suddenly makes a straight face.

“Go buy some ramen; we have nothing to eat for dinner.”

“You go buy, man! Why you make your little sister do this, huh?” I hand him back the money. “Besides, mom won’t allow ramen for dinner,” I add.

“She’s not even home and won’t be back until like 11. And she told me to cook ramen for you for dinner. Since I’m cooking, you go buy.”

“I don’t want ramen.”

“Then go buy ramen for me.” He places the money back in my hand.

“Oh my goodness you’re so…” before I can finish, Suho’s phone rings and he answers it. He waves to me and walks into his room. I can’t with brotherhood anymore.

But my curses for my brother end when I hear my own stomach growling. I look at the money in my hand. It’s enough to buy ramen and probably some chips for myself. I groan but set my bag down and walk out of the house.  

    I run as fast as I can just in case I meet anyone I don’t want to (yes, Kai is one of them). I arrive at the store and grab a pack of ramen, a bag of chips, and when a bar of chocolate tempts me, I grab that too. I quickly pay for my things and open the exit.

    “(y/n)?”

    I freeze. Oh no…

    “Another errand?” Kai looks at the bag of groceries I’m holding. I try my best to smile.

    “Yep. That’s my life.” I laugh stupidly and then wave goodbye. I start to walk away when I feel someone take my bag. It’s Kai.

    “Let me help you. We can walk home together.”

    “Aren’t you going somewhere? You’re dressed as though you are.” I eye his outfit, which is like screaming how he is the perfect boyfriend material and I notice his huge bag of books. And here I am still in my uniform.

“Besides, my groceries aren’t heavy,” I assure him and try to take it back. He doesn’t let me and holds it away from me.

    “I was going to go to the library but changed my mind after seeing you,” Kai says and glances at me with a grin. Er… I pray I’m not blushing too hard. Before I can tell him to just go to the stinking library, he opens my bag of groceries and checks what’s inside.

    “Ramen?”

    “Uh yeah, it’s dinner.” He raises an eyebrow.

“I didn’t know you liked ramen. Oh, and chips. Oh, and chocolate. Are these your favorite?” he asks. Is he the airport security? Why is he digging through my stuff? I just nod. He beams and closes the bag. We walk in silence.

“Um,” Kai clears his throat after a while, “Sorry about today. I overreacted with the whole seating arrangement thing. I hope I didn’t make you feel overwhelmed.”   

So you do know, huh? I look at him but endup saying nothing. He eyes me nervously.

“Did I make a mistake?” he asks. His eyes are staring at the ground as his lips form a small pout. He looks like a puppy that’s waiting to be scolded.

“No,” I say, confused. Why is he acting like he’s sinned greatly against me? Sure, he made me feel a little embarrassed after making it a little too obvious he might actually have a crush on me, but it’s not something so terrible to look like the apologetic pup he's resembling.

I shake my head to assure him and he sighs of relief.

“I thought maybe you wanted to sit next to that Park Chanyeol,” Kai tells me.

“I don’t care who I sit next to,” I lie. I honestly wanted to sit next to Ollie since I’m most comfortable around her. Kai looks relieved, then his face turns sad, like another downcast puppy. I look up at him with a questioning face. He glances at me with his brown eyes and walks faster.

“What’s the matter?” I say, catching up.

“...”

“...Did I make a mistake?” I repeat Kai’s previous question.

“No...I just… I don’t even know why such a small thing as this is making me feel so disappointed,” Kai runs his hand through his hair before facing me, “But...you’d rather sit with me than Park Chanyeol, right?”

“Pffttttt…” I can’t help but laugh. Kim Kai, why are you so cute? Every sentence he says hammers through me, assuring me of his feelings towards me. But I can’t ask him about them. I wouldn’t know what to say or do next. Kai flinches at my laugh and I want to .

“I don’t know… we’ll have to see about that.”

“...”

“...” I turn to face him since he’s not saying anything.

“...well I don’t regret using my president card.” Kai hands me my bag of groceries and I notice his ears are red.

“What?” I ask him, then notice we’re already here in front of my apartment building.

“Enjoy your ramen, (y/n).” Kai walks away. I stare at him until he’s gone into his building and out of sight. I then go inside.

Suho yells at me for taking so long as soon as I open our apartment door but I just throw the bag of groceries at him. I’m busy thinking of two things: how I’m going to survive tomorrow with Kai right next to me and how to explain the fact that time flies when I’m with him to the point of me being disappointed when we part.

***

I was so scared for today to come. But surprisingly, Kai hasn’t said a word to me all day, besides greeting me in the morning. Come to think of it, my mind’s been so busy on Kai that I even forgot about my milk man. He hasn’t failed me a single day with his milk; it’s on my desk after lunch every day. I’ve tried to stay in the classroom all lunch to catch who it is, but every single time, my stomach screamed at me to feed it so I couldn’t. And Kai, who clearly knows who it is, won’t even tell me. Maybe Kai isn’t telling me who it is because my milk man is like some huge competition (so vain, I apologize). I’m about to nudge Kai to bring the matter up when the last bell of the day rings. Kai grabs his bag and runs out of the classroom. What’s up with him today?

“Are you ready to go?” I look up to see the owner of the voice.

Chanyeol. Oh that’s right. I promised to get ice cream with him. I nod and quickly pack my bag.

“Ollie, you too. Let’s go,” Chanyeol says. I nod and motion to Ollie, whose cheeks are flushed. Huh?

“Ollie, you okay?” I ask her as we wait for our ice cream. It’s a pretty cute shop with a colorful interior and I’m impressed Chanyeol knows such a place. I face Ollie with a worried look.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she says as she fans her face. Wait a minute… I’ve noticed her face red and hot every time this one guy talked to her…

“Here Ollie,” Chanyeol hands her her ice cream cone and then hands me mine. I thank him and observe Ollie’s face, which is growing redder by the minute. I cannot believe it. Does she like Chanyeol? I smile at the thought. Awww, she’s so cute.

“What’s so funny?” Chanyeol asks me, and I remember how I’m smiling like an idiot.

“Nothing,” I tell him and he smiles at me before continuing to eat his ice cream. Then his face lights up.

“Hey, let’s take a picture!” he says. A picture? I shrug but Ollie nods shyly. I can’t help but laugh at her and they both look at me funny. I shake my head and say, “Okay okay. Let’s do it.”

Chanyeol holds up his phone and we all lean in to take a selfie. I try to make Ollie go next to him but she doesn’t budge. I end up standing next to him and he takes the picture.

“Yes, we look so great,” Chanyeol holds up his phone. We do look like we’re having a pretty good time. I smile at Ollie and Chanyeol, who are now in a conversation. I totally ship it.

***

*Kai’s Perspective after school the same day*

    I couldn’t even say goodbye to (y/n) because I was so worried about my Mongu (my dog). He’s been sick ever since last night. When my sister texted me during first period that he was brought to the nearest vet, I couldn’t help but worry all day and run to him as soon as I could. I texted Sehun and Baekhyun, who came running after hearing about Mongu. They cared about him just as much as I did.

    “Bruh. Have you seen Park Chanyeol’s instagram post?” Byun Baekhyun asks after we made sure Mongu was at rest (sleeping, not dead). I start at Park Chanyeol’s name. I hate that guy.

    “Instagram?” Sehun leans in to see Baekhyun’s phone screen. I’m about to lean in too when Sehun screams, “DAANG!”

    “What?” I ask them both and they shake their heads.

    “He’s trying to steal our sister-in-law man. You better act fast before he gets her,” Sehun says jokingly. Anger burns inside of me as I grab Baekhyun’s phone. I know they’re talking about (y/n). Just what is it now…

    I blink at the phone screen.

“...”

What in the world? I stare at a picture of Park Chanyeol holding an ice cream cone. Next to him is (y/n) and also Ollie. The three of them are smiling. I’m relieved there’s Ollie too, and not just the two of them. I feel my face grow warm at (y/n)’s smile. I’m so tempted to screenshot this and just crop the other two out but I remember this is Baekhyun’s phone.

“What do you mean? There’s three of them. He’s not trying to steal (y/n).” I hand Baekhyun his phone back and pull mine out to screenshot the picture.

“Yeah but swipe right man,” Baekhyun hands his phone back and I take it.

I swipe.

As soon as I do, I almost throw the phone out the window. I see just a picture of (y/n) eating and smiling. She doesn’t seem to know he’s taking her picture. Park Chanyeol...he took a picture of just her and uploaded it on Instagram?! I’m so angry I can’t speak. I keep staring at (y/n) through the phone screen and her pretty face makes me even angrier. I hated the fact that he got to see this in person and not me. And how dare he take her picture?! I would have broken something in the room if Baekhyun and Sehun hadn’t calmed me down.

*Little did Kai, Baekhyun, and Sehun know that there were more pictures of just Ollie, ice cream, and of the ice cream shop itself, not just of (y/n). They just didn’t swipe after (y/n)’s picture.*

***