Check the previous chapter first to know where we had stopped because this chapter completes it rights way!

“Okay..” I uncertainly started, allowing myself to sit on my instead of my numbing legs. Baekhyun, as if having no personal decisions of himself, followed my suit; crossing his legs over each other, and then dropping his head on the palm he had propped over his thigh. He was making himself comfortable, I should only do the same. I leaned on the wall using my back and pursed my lips. Perhaps I didn’t have a personality of my own too.

“Who will start?” I ask, narrowing my eyes in a threatening manner, almost like I was daring him to say something stupid.

“I will, since I have every right to do so.” He replied with a smug smile, and despite his personality shift, he was still annoying in a sense.

I waited for him to drop a question, but he didn’t, not for a whole minute. He was just staring at me as if I’m an expensive piece of antique in a shop, or a puzzle he couldn’t decipher. The golden in his eyes was long gone by now, but it didn’t make him (or his eyes) any less beautiful, which was irritating, because it meant I was affected by him, and the last thing I wanted to be was affected by him.

It wasn’t because of his personality, or himself in a whole. It wasn’t because he was Baekhyun, as simply as that. It was because I didn’t know what it was like to be so drawn to someone, so attracter; so.. affected, in a way. I didn’t understand it, and I couldn’t calculate the results, so it was scary for me, someone who was so used to a singular emotion from my Mom, and new ones from my new family members. But what was it between Baekhyun and I? I wasn’t stupid, and neither was he. We both knew something - although vague and none of us wanted to admit - was going on between us, brewing like an aching storm waiting to swipe everything in its way, but what was its origin or where it was coming from, I didn’t know.

“Are you going to say something or stare like an idiot?” I blurted out after a whole three minutes (I wasn’t really counting) with him just looking at me without bothering to blink. My words seemed to bring him out of whatever it was he was drowning in, and he blinked, moisturizing the dryness in his eyes. I thought catching him in a staring haze would bring him shame, embarrassment that he was looking with a gape to his mouth. But no, it only made his lips curl into a smug smile, and he leaned his chin over his pretty hand.

“Does staring at you make you uncomfortable?”

“Yes, actually, it does.” I answered quickly. If he thought his words would make me shy away, or blush, then he was wrong. He looked a little surprised at my answer. Good, he shouldn’t underestimate me. “It’s irritating. I feel like I’m being scanned like a rat lab.”

He cleared his throat, scratching his left eyebrow with his free hand, looking away, before looking right back, the smugness in his smile intensifying.

“Are you sure it’s not because you’re, I don’t know, fl—“

“Don’t you even dare say what I think you’d say.”

“What was I gonna say?” He lifted his head from his palm and looked around him like he was caught doing something suspicious. His eyes were a little wide and they held a sort of excitement that was almost childish. When he was genuine, he was less annoying. “Does your witchy magic allow you to predict someone’s speech? Is that it? You know what I’ll say before I say it?”

I released a heavy, tired sigh. “No, but it has its own kind of advantages, like sensing for my personal annoyance and eliminating the source quickly without being able to control it.”

Baekhyun’s dark eyes shifted, the excitement in them waning, until he was looking at me blankly, no emotion in his eyes. The piercing of his soft lips once again caught the golden light of the sun, reflecting it on his supple skin, giving a rosy, healthy tint to his cheeks. The hallway we were sitting in was shadowed by the tall building of the school, so the sun was limited here, but the rays that could reach him made him appear ethereal. It was unnatural. Werewolves were always otherworldly, but he was more so.

“You’re ting me.” His voice brought me out of my haze this time, and broke my concentration with admiring his nice visage to focus on him. He had a little smirk adorning his pretty lips, and my heart paced. Did he notice I was staring at him, yet again? “I know you’re lying.”

“Not really.” I shook my head both to divert my attention from measles, pointless thoughts and to pour my focus in a better place. “My magic does that in some cases.”

“You’re serious.” I could see him swallowing, wetting his dry throat. He threaded fingers through his rich, midnight hair in poorly hidden nervousness. I bit my smile. Did he think I was suddenly dangerous to be with, and that he needed to be cautious? Good for him, he needed to be steady on his feet all the time around me, dangerous I was or not.

“Yup, more than serious,” I nodded my head vigorously, a smile taking over my face. A smile I couldn’t suppress any more, not when he looked terrified. “Glasses and dishes used to explode in my hands when I got frustrated with them.”

“Why would you get frustrated by glasses and dishes?” Now he sounded utterly confused, as if he couldn’t understand for the life of him why people got so annoyed with goddamn dishes. Dishes were like a damn tree in itself, a tree that kept growing and growing all the time. Every time you chop down a slice, it grows back relentlessly. It doesn’t seem to have a permanent cure, for it was a disastrous poison that crept along your house all the time. Yuck.

“I don’t like cleaning nor do I like doing chores,” I shrugged my shoulders, despite what sort of memories my own words brought upon me. “Something I used to do a lot when I was living with my mother.”

When she was either around or not, I was always the one doing the chores around our house, either be it cleaning the dishes, dusting the desks, or sweeping the floors. I did most of these things, even when I was fairly small. When I had been learning, she’d show me how to do things, almost patiently so I didn’t end up ruining her house; something she screwed a lot of men to achieve. Of course she’d teach me carefully.

I hated every second spent in cleaning. Maybe because I knew I wasn’t doing it out of love. We were traveling a lot, so none of the houses we left in felt like true homes, which would explain why I hadn’t felt thrilled with cleaning them, attending to them - not like there was any sort of thrill doing chores. But I didn’t just hate doing them, I loathed doing them; intensely. Perhaps it was because Mom wanted me to do so, and I always hated anything she asked me to do. Maybe because I wanted to do things that had bigger value, instead of having no values at all, considering we left all of the houses we lived in behind. Perhaps it was even because she’d sit around and watch me work obediently, without a squeak of protest; while she dragged her beady, watchful eyes over my body relentlessly, searching for a flaw.

Perhaps it was all of these reasons combined.

I shook my mind out of the gutter and when I looked at Baekhyun, I found him to be watching me again, with curiosity in his eyes he didn’t dare voice, for whatever reason. I think he was just cautious with me, stepping on thin ice, searching for an okay subject to prod and levitating over ones that are easy to crack; like my mother. It was a nice thing to do, and so I appreciated it.

“That was your question, by the way. Now I deserve to ask one.” I said, triumphantly in a sense, and Baekhyun didn’t miss the winning smile I so easily allowed to grace my face.

“You’re cheating!” He exclaimed, crawling toward me through his bottom, dragging his legs on the concrete. He resembled his age by that gesture. “That’s not a real question, and I was eluded by the conversation.”

“Not my problem. Question for question, be fair, wolf boy.” My grin turned smug, cocky, and it seemed Baekhyun saw some kind of stubborn determination in it, for he easily gave up, slumping over himself and sighing through his nose. I grinned even more.

“Okay, fine, alright. Ask away.”

He didn’t crawl backward to his previous place, remaining sitting closer to me. His eyes were shaking, despite setting them on my own, locking our dark browns together. His small, gentle lips were pursed, the gold of his piercing digging more into his flesh, pulling out an unconscious grimace from my face. His body, that was typically tall and wide, seemed to grow thin, wary, and was wrapped around his limps. It didn’t seem like he took notice of his sudden change of aura, anxiety glowering all of his senses just because I was going to ask him a question.

What was he afraid to express?

“You’re nervous.” I noted, copying his previous position where he put his chin on his palm, scrutinizing him with my propelling eyes. My words were like magic for they elicited a small smile out of his beautiful mouth.

“You were nervous just now at the mention of your mother,” he pointed out. “Don’t pretend you weren’t. I’m not the only one with tendencies to get uncomfortable at personal things.”

Well, I wasn’t going to pretend, really. I had my secrets (they weren’t secrets precisely. They were just things I was uncomfortable with sharing so quickly) and he had his. I wasn’t going to judge, and I wasn’t going to force them out of him either, despite my curiosity. I didn’t ask him something yet, and he was already filled with cation. It wasn’t like he had severe secrets or anything, did he?

“Can I ask my question now—“

The shrill, yet muffled sound of the school bell right behind us cut my voice straight into halfs, and I ended up pulling a crooked wince from my body.

“You hear this?” Baekhyun instantly pounced on his legs, standing rigid and tall in front of me. I could easily detect the cheerful sparkles of joy in his tone. I narrowed my eyes. “This is the bell, for first period. We have to leave for classes.”

“You actually care about classes?” As I said that, I was standing up myself, dusting my backside from any dirt and debris that stuck to my uniform. Baekhyun watched distractedly.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

I shot him a look as if he were absolutely clueless, and I could catch the grin he tried to suppress, mixed with a light of confusion in his inviting eyes. Was he an idiot? No, that wasn’t right. He wasn’t an idiotic person, so why the heck was he so surprised I asked that?

Seeing the kind of expression I was shooting him, he dragged a hand on his face.

“What kind of an idea do you have about me?”

“Do you really want a truthful answer to that question?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, walking away from me toward the end of the hallway, exposing himself to the light of the sun and the large, front yard of the school. “Tell me while we go to class.”

“We’re going together?” I rolled my eyes, but my legs were following after him nonetheless. I stood beside him, eyeing the scenery he paused at to wait for me with boredom in my eyes. I traced my eyes back toward him and his bleak expression, and blanched. Why was he staring at me like that?

“Seriously, what do you think about me?”

Oh, he was still sore about that, wasn’t he?

“Well, a lot of things.” I replied truthfully. Baekhyun had many sides to him, that was what I concluded about him. He gave out the expression in which a situation called for. He didn’t do genuine, he didn’t do smiles. He gave what people didn’t expect of him sometimes, just to mess with their patience. He was a typical teenage boy with issues. That was that, a result to the person he was today. Why did he think I thought of him differently?

“Come,” He rolled his eyes this time at my cropped answer, and I didn’t mind. “I already have so many tardy slips, I don’t need another.”

And so we did. We walked through the calm and quiet halls of the high school we both shared, weaving our glances through the endless, boring and shuddering lockers that held no taste or personalization. It was strange to walk beside Baekhyun like this, without a bigger purpose aside walking to class. He and I were not supposed to coexist so calmly, with peace, warmth from his body, and tranquility interwoven between us. It was especially awkward for me to maintain this silence, silence that I didn’t know the true origin of.

“Alright, spill.”

Baekhyun’s voice came out sharp, shrilly in a sense, and a bit croaky. I gave him an amused look, and he cleared his throat, an odd yet soothing redness flushing in his cheeks. He was as awkward as I was. The realization brought me peace.

“Do you really want me to tell you what I thought, and still think, of you?” I mused, “Does your ego in need of more inflation?”

“I’m just curious.” Baekhyun shrugged, the popping of his shoulders jiggling the piercing chain locked there, and I couldn’t yet swallow how differently casual he was suddenly being when we knew of each other’s secret identity. “I know what people think about me, I mean, I give them enough reasons to form an opinion about me.” He paused, turning to flash me the golden of his eyes. I was mesmerized. “But you’re new in here. You knew me closely due to your relationship with Sehun, and you’re curious. I’m thinking your opinions about me are different.”

“You’ll be surprised,” I scoffed, the sound faded and low. “I thought about you just as everyone did. Narcissistic, an idiot who is throwing his life away for a few cookie points. Also a big jerk, who thinks people are beneath him. You know, the normal cliché bad boy.”

“Wow, I’m disappointed.” Even then, he harbored a smile on his face, which was still uncomfortably strange to see on his face directed toward me. I shook the thought away.

“Not like I give a or anything.”

We walked a few more halls until I could spot my class. The door was still slightly ajar and I could spot a few students through the opening moving around, which meant the teacher was not yet present. My chest deflated in relief, relief I didn’t even think I’d feel. I wasn’t a good student, nor did I care to be one. I was just.. nonchalant. But I was still relieved with knowing I wasn’t late.

“Your class?” I heard Baekhyun’s mutter beside me, noticing the class I was eyeing with outmost concentration. I nodded. “I have English with Mr. Park, two classes from yours.”

He pointed at the door two doors away from mine, and I nodded again, keeping mum. What do people say in these situations? Do I wave him out? Bid him goodbye? Give him a hug? I didn’t know, I was extremely awkward. If things didn’t require sarcasm and tough exteriors, I blank out, not knowing what the heck to do.

It seemed that Baekhyun faced a similar problem, because he didn’t know what to say either. He kept looking away, to his class and then to mine, his pupils shaking and his lips spread apart, wide, ready to say something his head still didn’t register what. I avoided his stare as well - not like he was brave enough to look at me, just like I was - and shuffled on my spot, awkwardness swallowing both him and I whole.

After a minute, I gathered enough courage to turn around and leave, throwing a soft ‘later’ behind my back. I didn’t turn to see if he left, but his sharp eyes were on my back while I walked away.

-

In third period, Old English, I went to sit on the first seats, the one next to the window, mindlessly doodling around in my paper with old witchcraft signs that had perished with time and lost their powers. I hadn’t been given two minds to what was around me, so I wasn’t focused enough to sense the chair beside mine getting occupied, until someone’s head loomed over my shoulder, looking at my drawings.

I lifted my head up in alarm, and immediately eased back into my seat with a sigh. The vampire gave me a smile, a cunning one, and I released another dragging sigh.

“You’re sitting with me today?” I mused, returning to my drawings with less ferocity now that I was half protected by Jongdae’s body.

“Shut up. It’s not like you didn’t predict it.” I could sense the exaggeration in his tone and the roll of his eyes even while I wasn’t looking at him, dragging my hand across the paper into a sign of a clover. Clovers were weaker signs than triangles, which would be why they perished. Why would anyone use clover ruins when there are stronger magic than them?

“You’re ruder now that you know who I’m.” I told him, sparing him a glance, and the cat-like smile of his went dimmer, tripled by an emotion of annoyance.

“Well, you should be honored.” I heard him say, and my subconscious mind provided me with the idea that his voice was slightly more high-pitched than Baekhyun’s, whose tone of voice was soothing, low and numbing to the body. I shook the thoughts away. Why was I even thinking of such seamless thoughts? “I’m showing you the true extent of my personality.”

I draw a big X mark over my clover, demolishing its worth, and then dropped my pencil over my paper. I swiveled around in my seat to give him my ultimate attention, the solidness of my facial features shocking him a little, but he was great with masking his true feelings, so he didn’t show it. It didn’t mean I wasn’t able to unwrap him, however.

The light coming from the window fell over his face, accumulating the sharp edges of his face, and outlining his deadly cheekbones. His eyes were more bronze than dark brown, and the tick to his lips went downwards, sensing the storm building in my eyes.

“Okay, what do you need?” I said, no tune to my voice. I was expressionless, solid as I said,