The next day found her rushing to get to her locker once again. Somehow, she’d managed to sleep in. Then again, it probably had something to do with the late night ogling spree of one of her favourite singers. She was just a girl, leave her be.  

She ran in the building just as the bell rang and she cursed under her breath. ‘, , …’ she muttered, dodging the sudden of people heading away from the lockers. ‘Excuse me, incoming…’

No one really paid mind and she cursed her inability to resist her favourites, simultaneously cursing their sweet vocals for luring her in. Stupid, perfect beings, making her late…

She was so occupied, she didn’t see the person coming towards her until she’d bumped into them. Since she’d been running at full speed, everything went flying, herself included, upon impact and she would’ve fallen on her , second time in as many days, if not for the strong arm suddenly wrapping around her.

Whooping at the sudden jerk, she put her hands out to avoid crashing into the person’s chest and closed her eyes, braced for impact. It didn’t come and a light chuckle had her looking up.

‘Hello.’

Speaking of perfect beings. She gulped, suddenly unsure if she was awake.

‘Hey, you okay?’ He looked concerned, sparkly doe eyes staring at her and she felt momentarily lost, his voice sounding eerily akin to wind chimes. She swore she felt a light breeze on her face.

‘Mei?’ The sound of her name jolted her out of her daze.

‘Huh?’ she responded intelligently.

‘You alright? I’m sorry, I didn’t see you coming.’

Luhan still hadn’t let go of the arm he had around her and Mei had the embarrassing suspicion she would squeak or squeal if she opened . So she nodded, trying to smile and ignore how his arm tightened when she discreetly tried to pull away before loosening.

They stood facing each other, the rush around them completely forgotten. She bit her lip, feeling supremely awkward. Bumping into him once was cute. Twice in two days was just stupid. He’d think she was a klutz or worse, that she’d been planning this.

Luhan rubbed his neck in a surprisingly cute gesture, looking sheepish. ‘That’s the second time now.’

‘Hmm?’

‘That I’ve bumped into you and made you drop your stuff…’

‘Oh.’ Well, when he put it like that… ‘That’s okay.’

‘I’m sorry, I really need to watch where I’m going.’

Without prompting, he joined her in helping pick her things, which was very chivalrous of him if you asked Mei. He even put his hand under the potted plant to pull out her cute mechanical pencil, the one Minyoung had given her, not seeming to mind that his pants got dusty from kneeling on the floor.

‘Here you go…’ He placed it in her palm. ‘I hope we got everything.’

She mentally eeped at him referring to them as ‘we’ before nodding. ‘That’s all. Thanks a lot, it would’ve taken me a long time.’

‘No problem.’ He glanced at his watch, blanching. ‘Shoot, I’m late. See you around.’ With a wave, he raced off and Mei stumbled to her locker in a dream haze, not sure if she was still drooling on her keyboard, ogling JB or if this entire interaction had actually occurred.

A light beep alerted her and she grimaced. She was so, so late for class. Maybe she should skip it…

A shuffling sound made her look up… and up and up. Oh Sehun may be thin and lanky from a distance but up close, he was nothing short of a giant. And that glower did not do him any favours.

Unconsciously, she stepped back a couple of steps before remembering Sehun’s locker was between hers and MInyoung’s.

Seeing him also reminded her that he’d accompanied her to her home, albeit unintentionally, so she should probably be nice. He only looked prissy but Mei believed that in his heart of hearts, Sehun was a really nice guy.

‘Hello.’ She smiled at him brightly.

He stilled, stopping whatever he was rifling through in his locker and turned his head to look at her very deliberately, eyebrows shooting up and glowering even more than before. Mei smiled determinedly. ‘How are you?’

He stared at her suspiciously before grunting and grabbing his books before shuffling away. Mei followed him, seeing as they were in the same class. Besides, no teacher picked on Oh Sehun for being late, so maybe she could sneak in with him as well.

‘Oh Sehun!’ Their teacher yelled the moment he stepped in and Mei winced. ‘This is the third time you’re late this week.’

Sehun didn’t bother with a reply, just dropped into his permanent seat at the end and leaned back, looking at their teacher defiantly. The teacher looked like she’d explode into confetti so Mei knocked on the door to distract her. ‘Mrs. Jung?’

‘Mei?’ Unlike Sehun, her name was uttered in bafflement. Her night-time ogling sprees aside, M