Alessa tensed as she faced the male before her.

“Chanyeol, I~” She shut close, not knowing how to continue.

Okay, so, whoever’s assigned up there, can’t you at least be gentle with me?

I can’t deal with everything at once!

Chanyeol gave her a small smile as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

“I know this must be so uncomfortable for you, and I’m sorry. I’m just not the type to keep things, Alessa. When I feel something, I say it.”

I would have loved it if you didn’t say it.

Why can’t you be like me?

“No, no, I mean…I just..I just..” Alessa puffed her cheeks, she could feel the crazy butterflies in her stomach again.

“I guess this means my breakfast invitation is cancelled?” He said playfully with a tilt of his head.

Oh my god, who would say no to you?

Wow, Alessa, please do not up.

“No, is it okay if I make a run for it?” She blurted out, her eyes widened at her mistake. Chanyeol grew confused.

Great.

You’re the best, Alessandra, you idiot.

“What?”

“I—I’ll see you inside. I need to change so~”

“Hey, hey, take your time.” Chanyeol caught her arm before she could turn away from him. The girl paused, her forehead creasing. He leaned forward to brush her hair away from her forehead, Alessa tensed briefly but she didn’t react.

“You don’t owe me anything, you don’t have to say anything. Just,” He looked at his hand on her arm before continuing.

“Please don’t avoid me, I…I really like being your friend.” He said with a small smile before letting go.

Alessa gave him a small nod before walking towards the house, Chanyeol let out a big sigh and plopped down on one of the lounge chairs.

Jaehyun looked at his friend worriedly as Lucas sat down next to him. Class was about to begin and it was clear to him that the other male was stressed out.

He could feel that Lucas was angry.

“Ya, is everything okay?” He whispered, Lucas’s forehead creased before giving him a terse nod.

“Ahee’s not with you?”

Lucas exhaled and nodded back, he took out his laptop and pulled his chair closer to the desk.

“I received an invitation to your mother’s birthday party, when did she come home?”

That made the youngest Wong halt, he turned to Jaehyun.

“My mother’s what?”

“Her birthday party. She even called me up to ask for Ahee’s address so she could mail her an invitation.” Jaehyun said to him as he browsed on his phone, Lucas started to shake his head.

“W—When did she call you?”

Jaehyun was distracted as their professor stepped in the room, the students all straightened up. Lucas stared at his friend as he started to take out his laptop and textbook from his backpack.

“Hyung, when did she call?” He snapped, his tone impatient, the room grew quiet and all heads turned to them. Jaehyun’s brows rose before replying.

“Yesterday, why~”

Lucas bolted out his seat and wordlessly left the room.

“I didn’t know we had an unexpected guest, so what now, after letting your brother walk out, Chanyeol can just waltz in~”

“Don’t start.” Alessa pointed out as they headed upstairs, Chanyeol had just left a few minutes ago after having breakfast with the two.

Dylan paused, his friend looked tensed. Too tensed.

Alessandra was never the type to be jumpy or tensed. He watched as his friend walk to her room and took off the slides she was wearing, Dylan narrowed his eyes at her before plopping down on Alessa’s bed.

“Have you heard from Lucas?” She asked as she sat down infront of her vanity. She started to brush her hair and do her makeup.

“So, are we ever gonna talk about what happened between you and the big guy?”

Alessa stopped, she turned her head to him.

“Come on, people saw what you two did..or you know,” He pursed his lips at her and made kissy noises, she was so tempted to throw her makeupbrush at his face.

“No. And no. It was all for show.” She muttered as she faced the mirror again

“Come on, at some point, you have to give me details.” Dylan whined childishly as lay down and stretched his legs.

“So, when is he going to tell you that he likes you? It seems pretty obvious to me.” Dylan hummed, Alessa balked at him.

“Wang Hedi, I swear to god, I’ll~”

“Oh my god, he already confessed!” Dylan squealed and leapt towards his friend, Alessa closed her eyes briefly.

“That’s why he’s here this early, he wanted to explain himself!” Dylan raised his fist in victory, Alessa smacked his arm.

“Dylan, don’t~”

“And typical you, now you’ll begin avoiding the guy, a little disgusted and appalled by the fact that he confessed to you. So, you’re going to trick yourself into thinking that you’re already not into him.” Dylan said mockingly, Alessa sighed and continued doing her makeup.

“Lao po, I mean it. Don’t push him away. He seems sincere about you.”

“I don’t need a weakness, Dylan. Not now.” Alessa replied, meeting her friend’s gaze through the mirror, Dylan shook his head at her.

“He’s not a weakness. He won’t be.”

Chanyeol looked at his secretary as he checked the article online, he had released his official statement regarding the engagement.

And there were a lot of reactions, but he was pleased that Alessa wasn’t being mentioned.

“Miss Gong has been calling, sir.”

Chanyeol looked up from his laptop, his eyes went to his phone, Seolah had been leaving him messages ever since he released the statement.

“She wants to set a meeting, sir.”

“I already told my parents about the truth, they supported my decision to this. They already spoke to the Gong elders, what else does she wants?”

His secretary grew worried; his boss was never the type to lose his patience. He was always cool with a lot of things, not the impatient type. But at the mention of Seolah, he grew aggravated.

“Sir, I think you should know this,”

“About what?”

“You asked me to take down all those articles about vice president Wong the other day, remember?”

Chanyeol nodded back, his secretary swallowed before speaking.

“I took the liberty of tracing where all those information and rumors came from.”

“Didn’t you mention it was from a blogger or something?”

“Yes, but all that came from miss Gong. Gong Seolah met up with a reporter and told him her tale.”

Chanyeol halted, he started to shake his head.

“And is Alessa aware of this?”

“There’s no way of knowing, sir. Why?”

“If Alessa finds out then Seolah’s done for.”

Chanyeol eyed his phone again as it continued to ring, he let out a small sigh before answering.

“Seolah,” He answered, there was a short pause before the girl spoke again.

“Oppa, can we meet up? We need to talk. How could you drop this bomb on me?”

“Seolah, I already told you that I couldn’t do it. I~”

“Yes, I did. But, how could you do this? People are laughing at me,”

Chanyeol frowned, he didn’t think about that. All he wanted was to be free of the engagement.

“Seolah, I~”

“As if that Alessa hasn’t done enough, I almost died because of her!”

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