The sound of the elevator door rings loudly at Sehun’s ears, bringing him back to his reality, as he stepped out together with other students. He sighed under his breath, a little irritated at how some people don’t know what distance is with him occasionally being bumped into. This is what reminds him to choose morning classes, he thought with eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. He’d been in an initial sour mood and he blames not getting enough sleep from the previous all-nighters he had done and juggling between his club activities and computer games. (can’t be blamed on the latter part since that was his way of relaxing). Sometimes, he wonders what came into his mind to commit in all these stuff he’d get himself into. His phone buzzed, breaking his trail of regret as it vibrates against his denim pocket, pressing the call button.

“What?” Sehun grumbled, adjusting his shirt over his jacket.

“The weather’s killing you, huh?” It was Soojung and he couldn’t help but imagine her smirking through the line. Eleven-thirty, his watch says and it explains the noise in her background. “Join me for lunch today, Hun. I’m just at the student kiosk near College of Finance.”

“Some other time, Soo… I have straight classes today.” Sehun responded. Ah, he raised his hand up to shield his eyes from the peak of the afternoon— today seems a little hotter compared to the previous days, Sehun thought, quickly ditching his denim jacket before fixing his bag pack over his shoulder. “Your class is supposed to end at twelve sharp. Did you even attend any of your classes today?”

“I failed to attend my 7am class and the next class after that but its okay. They only had another lecture for Introduction so I’ll just prepare for oral recitation next week. Sometimes, I wonder why I even synced your classes with mine when we have different majors! Now, I’m suffering.” Soojung explained with a sigh, “Where are you right now? I want to see you.”

Sehun can only grin, somehow the black cloud on his shoulder is lifted as he can imagine Soojung’s playing with anything with her hand as she mumbles over the line. “I’m on my way to my next class but I’ll buy for a drink first.”

“That vending machine near your building?”

“Yeah.”

And Soojung hangs up.

Sehun turned to his phone, checking whether she really hung up on him and she did. He shrugged, headed on the nearest vending machine to grab a cold drink thinking of being replenished on this hot afternoon. He draped his denim jacket over his shoulder, arms crossed as he waited for his turn as two person form a queue in the machine— checking on the glass for drinks he may want to try. He wasn’t really fond of vending machines as he is more of someone bringing his own tumbler or drink of his own (so waiting like this wouldn’t be such a burden) but Chanyeol unfortunately knocked his tumbler down earlier and yet to replace it.

“Girl, look at how pretty my notes are! But, too bad I’ll never study them” One of the friends gushed, shoving the notepad on her friend to peek.

“, you should only use highlighter to highlight the important part.” She emphasised.

“And everything is important.” She said as a matter of fact and Sehun doesn’t know if he should react back like the way how her friend just fell on an awkward silence right after that… because , same. She’s hopeless.

“Why did you even take Modern Mathematics I if you’re just going to doodle all through your lecture? You’re wasting your time.” Her friend pointed out, indecisive on what drink she should take from all the delicious choices.

“Kim Jongin happens to be in that class, too!” She squealed in delight, grabbing her friend on her shoulders as she shook her up—to be honest, he could sympathize with his cousin because they were there to learn but some women get to interrupt that rhythm by doing disturbing things. “Most women in my class joined in just to take a look at him. His seatmate was obviously ogling him all throughout the lecture that Jongin has to excuse himself.”

“Damn, that’s awkward and ing weird. I mean, who does that? Making it obvious on your crush would just ruin everything for you.”

“Are you still going to take that long?” Sehun argued, “If not, can you step aside and gossip elsewhere?”

Two heads swung at his direction, eyes wide and they wouldn’t even hide being intimidated after all. Why wouldn’t they when he certainly looked like he’d eat them alive with just his glare. All at once, they scrambled their way away from the vending machine to give him space. He rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he face the machine.

“That’s not how you treat women, Sehun. How will you get a girlfriend if you look so scary?” Soojung poked his shoulder lightly to make her presence known.

“I’m not looking for a distraction.” Sehun met her gaze in response, eyes softens upon seeing her, before he turns back to the vending machine, trying his hardest not to take any second glances at her. He finds her cute with the way her hair was braided, with few tendrils fall on either side of her face. “And stop worrying on my love life when you don’t even have one either. No guy ever tried to court you.” He teased.

Soojung gasped loudly, pointing at him with hatred, “And you wonder why that’s the case? Because you three would always gang up on the guy who dares to show any kind of affection on me! Remember that Culinary guy who manned up and delivered a cake—“

“We were hungry from a basketball game and you just happen to have a food. And it’s really a good thing you didn’t eat that cake because the next thing that happened, Jongin had a stomach ache.” Sehun rolled his eyes, “And my Dad who hates cooking could even bake a better cake than that.”

“That was Jongin’s karma because that’s not even his to begin with! And you remember that Sports guy who did this very romantic gesture, even gave me his varsity jacket to mark his territory but you let Chanyeol to bully him and you threw his jacket away.” Soojung crossed her arms, sending a glare at his direction.

Sehun’s lips curled into a smug smirk, “And if you fell in his games, you’ll be just another bimbo added on his list. You cannot be with playboy and think that you can try to change him into a better man because that’s just falling in another trap. A man like that wouldn’t change.”

“Okay…” Soojung’s expression shifted from frown into a coy grin, leaning against him as she s her arms around his torso, forcing him to look at her. “I get it.”

“What?” He arched an eyebrow, flicking her forehead, “Stop doing this before people will think something’s going on.” He murmured under his breath— , he feels a little light-headed and as a pre-med student, that was because his heart cannot pump blood effectively because it is beating so damn fast and there’s not enough blood flow in his brain.

“I can’t help it anyway… If you were even lucky enough to have me in your life, why would you even share me? Why would let other people steal me away from you, right? I’ve known you as someone who wouldn’t share his things because you are that selfish.” Soojung pressed her lips lightly on his shoulder before she eased back on her position, chuckling on herself as she points out at his ears, “Your ears are flaming red, love. I can’t believe I have this effect on you! Am I making your heart beat faster? Are you having a heart attack, Doctor?”

“I wouldn’t dare provoke a sleeping bear, Soojung. You would be surprised on what’s coming to you.” Sehun cupped his ears, turning back to the vending machine. “You really need to look for your own boyfriend so you can stop pestering me with your crap.”

Soojung bit her lower lip, knowing full well that she got him. She leans by the vending machine and man, she cannot help but momentarily check him out— he looks so divine despite wearing just a casual dark tee over jeans, topped with his denim jacket. He’d always want to remain low profile yet his confident demeanor, towering height and damn attractive face would always distract other people. “What’s your next class?”

“I still have fifteen minutes grace period before General Chemistry.” Sehun responded, breathing evenly to calm himself down, pressing the button for the ‘pocari sweat in can’, ‘sunkist orange’ and ‘gatorade’ and watched these drinks drop at the receiving pocket of the machine. He bends down to get his drinks, offering the Sunkist orange at Soojung before he slides the Gatorade on the side of his bag, “I hate how the weather deceived me earlier and almost made me suffer in heatstroke with this weather.”

Soojung’s lips tug in a small smile, appreciating the drink from him. “But your rooms have air condition! It’s just a short walk before you get to stay in a cold place again. What time will your class finish?” She asks, watching as Sehun reached for his denim jacket’s pocket for a ply of tissue to wipe off the surface of the can.

“Six-thirty.”

She pointed at him, aghast. “What are you doing?”

Sehun raised the can up for her to see, followed by his smudged tissue with visible dirt. “As you can see with your eyes, I’m wiping this. Can’t you see?”

“I…did not know that.” Soojung’s mouth slightly fell agape. She’d always pop her soda cans open the moment she get a hold of it. She never imagined the filth it has as it looks clean for her; no smudges or dirt in it so she really thinks it’s safe.

Sehun turned to her, shaking his head knowing full well how she gets her drinks. “Next time, either you order straw or wipe the lids of your drinks before you drink them. I’ll see you later.” As he attempts to walk away from him, she called him. “Let’s have dinner! I’m craving for sweet and spicy chicken.”

Sehun snorted, “It’s Friday, Soojung. Your sister called me to remind you.”

Soojung scowled, hastily crossing her arms over her chest. She knew he meant for her to return at their village where their parents are currently staying. She’d want to try being independent, trying to live with only her own however, they’d always reason that she was young hence, both she and her sister are sharing an apartment in the city which is two blocks from their university. She likes the idea of living in her own space, not with someone who’d argue with her when she left her dishes in the coffee table unattended or empty milk cartons by the refrigerator.

“Can’t I just stay overnight at your dorm? I can sneak in again.” Soojung suggested.

“I told you that was the last time. You can’t just stay in my dorm as much as you like, Soojung. You know it’s a boys’ dormitory and my landlord is strict when having a woman visitor.”

“And I’m not just any other girl! I’m—“ And before Soojung can even finish what she says next, Sehun beats her to it. He nodded, raising his arms in surrender, “We’ll get dinner then I’ll drive you home. There’s no in-between.” He finalized.

“Promise?”

“Yes.” Sehun confirms.

“Okay.” Soojung rolled her eyes with a smile, skipping away from the vending machine to her next class.

 

 

“Oral recitation next week.”

Their professor’s last reminder before he dismissed the class. Almost everyone has left in haste, as if they were that eager to leave the room— and Chanyeol may want to if it wasn’t for his cousin who stood in his seat in a lazy manner. Whenever they shared the same class together, Sehun always choose to be the last one to leave room with the reason that he doesn’t want the hassle of being bumped to or be close with their classmates. Chanyeol doesn’t know if he wanted to drag him out or just punch his lazy as he waited for him to fix his things, shoving his laptop and notebook inside his bag so they can walk through this long, old hallway of their old building. It was known in their university that science majors like them suffers for almost all their classes be in the oldest buildings around the campus— and to show how old their buildings are, elevators were always crappy and always under maintenance, leaving them to walk on the staircase.

“Jongin and the gang are in The Box for Happy Friday.” Chanyeol broke the silence between them, eyes glued on his phone. “And I said we’ll be there in a sec. You don’t mind that, right?”

“Yeah, I needed a good drink. This week punched me in the guts and I can barely breathe.” Sehun lets out a long sigh, stretching his arms up; in which Chanyeol laughed at— (because same.) “But tonight’s not the night that I’ll vomit my guts out. I need to drive Soojung home.”

“I got you.” Chanyeol clapped his shoulder, slinging his arms around his cousin’s broad shoulders as they sped off; They were just one block away when Chanyeol halted on their tracks, cringing as he pointed at the black cat that has emerged from the shadows that crossed their path. “Did you see that? A black cat just passed... Do you think the myth is true about black cats?”

Sehun stares at him in disbelief, as if his cousin had grown another head— despite his towering height and sometimes intimidating gaze, his cousin is surely naïve at times. “It’s just a myth, Chanyeol. Just because a black cat crosses your path does not mean something bad will happen.” He assured.

The Box is considered a safe haven for college students like them who look forward for a place to rest their tired souls with cold beer and good music. It was meters away from their university but they didn’t mind the long walk on it as they enjoy the cold breeze of the young night. Ah, there it is— the red glare of light from the acrylic signage on top of the house reflects on his eyeglasses as they walk briskly heading towards the entrance. Even from the distance, Sehun could strongly feel the vibe, smell the spilled booze and lit cigarettes in the air and it’s just enough to make him think that nothing is wrong in the world…at least for a moment.

Damn, the atmosphere inside were quite humid and dense that he’s quite thankful he ditched his jacket; the place is crowded with different students drowned in their own conversations as they passed through one table from another; sometimes walking over spilled puddles of drinks, not giving a damn care on their messed up sneakers and downing a few hard shots from a few of the crowd. Sometimes, Sehun just doesn’t understand why his group always choose the farthest booth which makes it quite difficult to refuse a crowd of drinkers’ table (whom they all knew since most are his cousins’ acquaintances). It’s just disrespect to refuse their shots.

“Here!” Jongin called on, waving his hands in the air to get their attention. Sehun kept his eyes on them, feeling the rush of excitement to see their faces when something bumped into him and with quick reflexes, catches her by her shoulders just before she could lose her balance. His eyes darted down to meet a pair of big, surprised eyes, feeling a small part of him satisfied to having met someone whom he doesn’t need to look down on because of his towering height. Their faces are just a few inches apart, her cheeks partly flushed probably from the drinks she consumed, that he could feel her warm breath brush against his skin.

“Sorry about that.” She managed to speak in her sultry voice, standing back on her feet as she steps out of his space, to move away from their close proximity. She must have gone to the bathroom and unfortunately stumbled upon a case of beer on the floor. He cleared his throat to break off the silence between them, with her gaze falling back into that calm gaze of his.

“You okay?” Sehun asks, suddenly even surprised to hear his voice sounding a little concerned and caring (when in fact he’d just use that tone to his best friend).

“Yeah, tipsy but I can manage. Thank you.” Her lush lips forms into a small smile, before she chuckles softly as she curled a few strands of her hair behind her ears. He knows what alcohol does to a man and he’s sure it is taking its toll on him (and he blames those countless shots he had taken just as they have entered the room) as he catches himself gazing back on her angelic, soft features then down on her stained-red lips and ing wonders what those lips can even do. He sighs, calming his escalated heart rate as he smiles back to her.

“Are you with friends?”

“Yeah…” She peers behind him, in which he followed to see a crowd near the “And they are actually looking for me right now. Thanks for saving me back there. I’ll see you around.”

And she leaves, walking on his side and purposely brushes her shoulder lightly against him, catching her sweet scent. Okay, Sehun doesn’t want to admit but he finds her appealing— a white simple tee was a perfect fit for her petite figure, tucked down on her black denim that hugs her thin legs that she looked perfect for a casual Friday night of drinking.

“Why did you just let her go like that? You should have gotten her name, Hun.” Chanyeol whisper-yelled at him, trying to look back on their shoulders to take a second look at her while they were heading on their table— he cannot believe his cousin was that lame to let such golden opportunity to meet other people who could potentially be his lover. He snickered, nudging him slyly, “She looked back at you, bro! , she’s clearly into you!”

Sehun annoyingly pushed him, sending glares at his direction. “Stop it!" He hissed.

Chanyeol stuck his tongue out, “You’re a .”

 

 

Pushing through the back door of the pub, Sehun made his way to the back alley with a purpose. He needed a breather from the rowdy crowd inside and it doesn’t sit well with him that their other friends were all making out with their ladies’ of the night right in front of him— a little respect for the only single in the clique, s. Walking outside, he walked through the parking lot for freedom, hissing under his breath to fight off the cold breeze of the air that hits him and joined his cousins. With Chanyeol seated at the pavement with a lighted cigarette in between his fingers watching Jongin pacing in front of him with his phone pressed on his ears and animatedly arguing with someone.

“Lover’s quarrel?” Sehun asked out of curiosity as he crouched down beside his cousin where they both watch Jongin fuming out in irritation. Out of three of them, they all know Jongin has quite the temper and would prefer to stay out of his bad side. He particularly doesn’t believe in ing sunshine and rainbows on certain situations unlike Chanyeol who prefers to be laid back.

“School stuff.” Chanyeol responded, offering him a pack of his cigarettes. “Try this new pack I bought yesterday.”

Steadfast, Sehun opened the pack with his other hand, gently clenching the filter in between his lips before withdrawing it out while his other hand fiddled with his back pocket for his lighter to light it up. With the lighter in his hand, he pressed his thumb down to spark flame with his other hand inches away to cover the flame from the breeze of the night, leaning a little to light the tip of the cigarette. Inhaling, he savoured the menthol passing through his chest and exhaled slowly, flaring up the tip of his cigarette.

“May I remind you, this report is due on Monday and I’ve done my ing part! You need to send me your part tomorrow or I’ll kick you out of the group.” Jongin argued, hanging up on the call, “Damn it.”

“This tastes good, but I’d still prefer my menthol.” Sehun approved, jokingly blowing smoke on his cousin’s face, earning a punch on his shoulder.

“Stupid.” Chanyeol spat, inhaling through the of his cigarette before purposely blowing it on his face.

“I thought you quit?” Jongin glared at Sehun’s direction, watching him rolling the stick in between his fingers and the puff of smoke coming out of his nose as his exhaled. Out of the three of them, Jongin hasn’t dared to follow through with this unhealthy habit and believes they are both hypocrites as they were studying to become Doctors.

“Thank you, Jongin, but I don’t need another lecture from this unhealthy habit of mine. I’ve already got that from Wendy even if she’s miles away from me.” Chanyeol laid back.

Sehun stared at the stick in between his fingers. “I need this to keep me relax and to keep me awake from the stress of being a pre-med student.” And he could see Chanyeol aggressively nodding his head along (because that, yes it is).

“Keep you awake? Isn’t it better if you just rest? Take some sleeping pills?” Jongin says, “Are you even getting any sleep?”

Chanyeol snorted, rubbing the tip of his stick on the ground to put off the flare, before tossing it behind him. “We’re lucky if we get four hours of sleep. Jongin, just stick with your life and we’ll deal with ours, okay?”

“Soojung is going to kill you if she finds out you’re smoking. You know how she hates smoking.” Jongin says, guilt-tripping him knowing full well how strong her influence was in his life and is one of the few people he actually listens to.

“You think I didn’t know that?” Sehun exhaled, letting smoke come out in between his lips. He knows how cigarette smoking affects his body and increases higher risk of many different cancers but it’s just too hard for withdraw from such habit he had been sneaking in ever since he first tasted cigarettes. He blames his curiosity for this killer stick but he doesn’t regret on trying it. “I’m being careful— I spray perfume all over me, I sanitize my hands and pop some menthol candy before I meet her just so she wouldn’t smell cigarette in me, okay? I got this—”

Chanyeol scoffed, “Wow, at least someone’s getting some action tonight.”

Sehun’s eyes gaze upon the certain situation happening in the dim area of the alley few steps away from them. It may be a little awkward for them to see a couple going on at it but Sehun could sense something isn’t right— he kept his eyes on them, his eyebrows furrowing in concern with the way how the girl was trying to pull her hand from the guy’s grasp in protest.

“That doesn’t look like consensual.” Sehun commented; his chest constrict in rage as her whimper of protest passed through his ears , watching her trying to push him away as he forced to kiss her; His hands closed into a fist on his side, he particularly doesn’t need to be in a brawl right now but if the situation demands it, so be it. What he hated the most are men who think they have the right to abuse women on their weak state.

“You can see the lady doesn’t want you.” Sehun called, gaze giving off aggression. He demanded, “Get off her.”

The guy pulled back from the woman’s neck, tilting his head over their direction and shed light on his face— Chanyeol pulled the woman away from him, throwing his jacket on her shoulder as he whispered her to escape the alley. And it just caused for Sehun’s fist to itch as he recognize that familiar glint on his eyes, the annoying smug smirk plastered on his lips that just triggers aggression in him. They’d been in this same situation before when he discovered that this bastard dared to play with Soojung’s heart over a ing bet between his friends and he was just thankful that his cousins stopped him before he could even throw a punch on his face.

“And it’s ing Oh Sehun again. You know I’m starting to get annoyed with your habit of poking your nose on my business.” He tilted his head, snorting with his eyes glinting in annoyance. “And just like last time, you brought your cousins with you to fight for your own battles again.”

Jongin snickered, “You should actually thank us because he might have killed you back then.”

He burst out laughing, “Oh yeah? I’d like to see you try. He didn’t even strike up a punch! You know you’re only tough because you have a back up.” He challenged.

“It’s just pathetic that someone like you have to resort of taking advantage of someone in their weak state.” Sehun clicked his tongue, “Men like you disgust me.”

“In case you didn’t know, your best friend is a great lay. And she had done a great job satisfying me with that mouth of hers…” He taunted, “She’s very demanding as I her from behind, begging to be ed harder—“

“You son of a —“ It infuriated him, his vision red from anger as he charged towards him with a hard kick on his chest. His eyes blazed in furious, nobody ever gets to talk about Soojung like that.

Trying hard not to flinch from the pain, his enemy just curled his hand into a fist, aiming his punch on his jaw that made Sehun stepped back from the blow. The punch had caused his bottom lip to be busted and he spat the blood on the dirty ground. And this guy just got lucky as he threw on several punches on him—Sehun is aware that he’s the least of his cousins who have taste for blood but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t know to throw a punch or two.

Jongin was about to step in seeing that his cousin was being battered if only Chanyeol grabbed his arm, shaking his head as he muttered that this is between them. His enemy charged for another punch, but Sehun could see through his next move as he extended his other arm to cover him to throw a punch of his own, aiming for his nose.

“!” He groaned in pain, clutching on his broken nose as Sehun flinched as he wiped the blood cascading down his lips; he’d actually ignored the distracting pain on his body as he focused on his annoyance at him. “You ing broke my nose, !” He shouted.

“That’s what you deserved!” Sehun argued back.

As he charged towards him, Sehun blocked his fist, bending a little before he jabbed on his diaphragm— knowing full well that being hit in the diaphragm causes the lungs to ripple making it difficult to breathe. Sehun dragged him up by the collar of his shirt, throwing on hard punches on his face, hearing him groan in pain that brought satisfaction in his ears as he repeated them, erupting more blood in the scene.

“That’s enough!” Jongin roared, securing Sehun’s arm to stop him and with Chanyeol wrapping his arms around his torso pulling him back in an attempt to control him. “Sehun, you’re killing the guy! That’s enough.”

“Let me go!” Sehun struggled on his cousin’s arms, narrowing his eyes the guy who limply collapsed on the ground, holding on his stomach as he cried in pain— “I’m going to kill you, er! Stay the away from Soojung or I’ll ing kill you!”

Chanyeol gripped him harder on his grasp, pulling Sehun to retreat from the scene. “Enough, Sehun! Stop it!”

Jongin bent on the ground, reaching on his neck to check for pulse just in case he actually killed the guy but he could still feel beats of his pulse on his fingers. A flicker of fear reflected on his eyes earning a snort from Jongin. “Damn, Sehun really beat you to pulp.” Bringing out his handkerchief from his pocket, he lay it on his chest.

Chanyeol stifled laughter at Jongin’s sorrowful expression as if he totally damn cared about the guy. He shot him a firm look, “That’s a lesson for you, Sports boy.”

“Dude, you know better to mess up with us, okay? Try to get in our way again and expect your funeral next.” Jongin said with a smirk, before they all strolled out of the scene.

However, victory fell short.

“Wow. Just wow.” Jongin whistled lowly, shaking his head in utter disbelief. Both his cousins’ eyes widen in alarm as they all stared ahead at the end of the back alley they were just trying to get out of.

“ing black cat.” Chanyeol resigned.

”Guys, I don’t know if any of you knows how to pray but if you do… now would be the best time to do it.”