Chanyeol helped Kyungsoo put all the letters and gifts into two paper bags, with him asking whether to include the bra, which Kyungsoo only tossed into the nearest rubbish bin, shivering at the thought of whoever gave that to him. Kyungsoo was waiting for Chanyeol to mercilessly about it, but he didn’t.

And that, already, was too strange.

In the next three days, even more letters and gifts were mysteriously snuck into the smaller one’s locker. If Kyungsoo had been reading or responding to them, Chanyeol had no interest in knowing. Still, Chanyeol didn’t say anything out of the ordinary, just observing the growing amount of admiration with a hint of irritation almost. Younger students, their fellow juniors, and mostly seniors would stop to talk to Kyungsoo in the hallway or outside the campus more frequently now, sometimes even absentmindedly bumping Chanyeol to the side. Kyungsoo would be surprised initially, and then would smile and reply affably, as if these people had been friendly with him all along.

That Thursday, they attended their classes uneventfully until it was time for lunch. While their school had free lunch included in their tuition, Kyungsoo often brought his own and they always tasted way better than any dish that their school canteen ever provided. Today was beef brisket with rice, but Kyungsoo had packed kimchi spaghetti today.

The moment Kyungsoo removed the lid of his lunch box, Chanyeol was already salivating. Kyungsoo had to grin as he pushed the container towards his best friend, who enthusiastically dug in with Kyungsoo’s fork, while Kyungsoo took a bite of the beef from Chanyeol’s plate, using Chanyeol’s chopsticks.

“They put more oyster sauce this time,” Kyungsoo casually commented, scooping up some rice, again from Chanyeol’s plate, as the taller one was already half-way through the spaghetti. “It’s a bit salty.”

Chanyeol chuckled, his mouth full of pasta. Leave it to his best friend to guess the ingredients used in any food, and he usually would end up being right.

“Hey, Kyungie!”

Kyungsoo looked up and grinned at Tiffany noona, who was sitting at another table with male and female senior students.

“Let me know if you’re up for the movies tomorrow after school.”

Kyungsoo’s smile grew even wider. “Uh… sure, noona…” He then looked at Chanyeol, who seemed to be too concentrated on shoving forkfuls and forkfuls of spaghetti into his mouth.

His kimchi spaghetti couldn’t be that delicious.

“C-Can Chanyeol go with us?”

Chanyeol gripped the fork in his right hand tightly as he heard Kyungsoo ask this.

“Of course!” Tiffany replied, giggling, touching her cheeks as a flush came across them. She forgot that Kyungsoo was glued to the hip with the tall school band guitarist. Chanyeol was also part of Kris’ rap group. She didn’t mean to overlook him. “Chanyeol-rah! Do come with us! It will be fun!”

Chanyeol reluctantly glanced up from his meal, unaware that he had kimchi sauce all over his mouth. His first instinct was to say no, but the most popular senior students were already looking at him expectantly and Tiffany noona was even looking apologetic. “Uh… I’ll check with the school band if we have practice tomorrow. I’ll… let Kyungsoo know.”

“Araseo!” Tiffany answered, smiling in relief. She waved at them and then went back to chatting with her friends.

“Yah…” Kyungsoo whispered, nudging at him.

Chanyeol frowned, putting down the fork.

Kyungsoo reached to wipe Chanyeol’s mouth with a tissue, but Chanyeol only yanked it away from him so he could do it himself.

“Why are you mad?” Kyungsoo asked, more hurt that Chanyeol was leaving the spaghetti he had cooked for him unfinished, when there were only two or three mouthfuls left, rather than his harsh behavior just now.

“Tiffany noona only invited you, remember?” Chanyeol snapped quietly, about to get up when Kyungsoo stopped him by gripping his forearm. “It’s embarrassing that you have to ask her to include me!”

“It’s not like that…” Kyungsoo tried to explain, still holding on to Chanyeol’s arm. Why was his best friend being so weird? “If you don’t want me to go—”

“Ka! Who said you can’t? I don’t own you! Don’t twist my words, Kyungie,” Chanyeol retorted angrily, taking his arm out of Kyungsoo’s grasp. “And when did people ever call you Kyungie, anyway?” (Go!)

Kyungsoo felt tears stinging his eyes, and he didn’t know why. He lowered his gaze to his lap. “My family calls me Kyungie.” He knew he’d told Chanyeol that, but he didn’t understand why the taller one didn’t remember. “Tiffany noona just…”

“You’re close to her now, I get it.”

“I told you, it’s not like that. We had so much fun last Friday and we went out for coffee on Saturday—”

“Are you dating her?!” Chanyeol felt his face heat up. This was the first time he was hearing about this, and it was almost a week ago! Was that why Kyungsoo didn’t even text him the whole weekend, because he was busy with his new friend?

Kyungsoo’s large eyes grew even rounder. “Ani! We’re… I think she just likes me as a dongseang or…”

“Thanks for lunch.”

“Chanyeollie…”

He knew Kyungsoo was not to blame for his oversensitivity, but he was still mad at him, for some reason. He didn’t even know what to say to him at this moment. He just knew it was time to step back before he said anything more that he was about to regret. “I’ll see you later.”

And with that, he left the cafeteria as calmly as he could, even walking past the senior students’ table. When they greeted him as he walked past, he managed to give them a polite smile, nodding slightly and then exiting altogether.

Kyungsoo sat there stunned for a few moments. What just happened? He didn’t know that Chanyeol would be that selfish about Kyungsoo making new friends. But Chanyeol wasn’t like that. His best friend was very friendly and bright and happy all the time. Why was he being like a bomb about to go off at any second? What was wrong?

He quickly packed his container and headed for the exit himself, only nodding hastily at the people who greeted him on the way—he didn’t even recognize their faces, as his tears were dangerously forming at the brims…

“Whoa!”

Kyungsoo suddenly bumped into a very tall’s person’s chest, who was about to enter the cafeteria. He swallowed, about to apologize, when the other person caught the tear that streamed down his squishy cheek.

“Gwaenchanah?”

Kyungsoo blinked repeatedly as the handsome face leaning down to check on him came into focus. The towering basketball player was in his varsity captain’s uniform, most likely having just come from practice at the gymnasium. “D-De, Kris hyung.” He sniffed and quickly wiped the rest of his tears with the back of his hand.

The next thing he knew, he was being handed a f