Two days had passed since the clarifying conversation with Sooyoung. Days in which the usual normality apparently returned, my friend no longer punished me with questions and reproachful glances and I therefore did not have to deal with things that burdened me. I had stayed away from Sehun as much as possible, just as he had from me, although I myself was a little surprised how easily I managed to do so without getting in rage and possibly causing the next scandal. 

Moreover, the rumours about what I thought would make me laugh - which was so far groundless for others - as well as the mishaps concerning the coffee were kept within limits, so that I was neither embarrassed nor compulsively forced to come up with a plausible explanation. It could be said that these two days passed to my complete satisfaction. But what was it called? Everything had to come to an end and you should stop hoping at the latest when it was at its best. 

It's a shame that it wasn't me who was responsible for this - for my taste - much too premature ending, but my teacher. Because if I had my way, this proverbial calm before the storm could have lasted much longer. »Good morning.« Mr. Lee greeted us students on Wednesday in the last lesson, after he finally found his way to our classroom after a fifteen-minute delay. 

Despite this delay, he seemed quite calm and relaxed and not as rushed as on the first day of school, when he had been strangely punctual with Sehun in tow. A unison murmur returned the greeting. »As announced last time, today we are dealing with the topic that you and your assigned partner should thoroughly work out for the coming year.«, he said after he carelessly threw a run-down notebook on his desk and positioned himself approximately in the middle of the board.

Tense, I chewed on my pencil. Our teacher took a piece of broken chalk and began to scribble something almost illegible on the blackboard. »Compulsion and freedom.«, he read the two words aloud, put the chalk aside again and wiped his hand on his dark gray pants. »Can one exist without the other? How do these two terms define themselves?« Waiting, he let his gaze wander through the rows of seats. 

Jisoo, who had thoughtfully scratched her chin with her fingers, first spoke her thoughts out loud. »Compulsion is staying here till 4:30pm and freedom is when we can go home.« A loud laugh went through the class - even I could hardly keep a grin off my face. Typical Jisoo.

»Interesting approach.« Mr. Lee replied after it had become quiet again. »But think about it: If you wouldn't feel the school as a constraint, could you actually enjoy your gained freedom afterwards? If you could do anything you wanted to do, where would be the challenge in your life?«

»In Jisoo's case, the answer is clear.« Chanyeol said. »Food!«, the others replied as if in chorus, whereupon another laugh began. Jisoo, who obviously didn't find the whole thing funny at all, pouted insulted and muttered something incomprehensible to me. I looked over at her and gave her a comforting smile, which meant something like 'Don't take it to heart like that'.

She nodded to me understandingly before her usual smile appeared on her face and she leaned back in a comfortable position. In doing so, she released the view of Sehun, and without me realizing it first, my gaze met that of the grumpy looking idiot next to my friend. He looked straight at me - while the smile was still on my lips - with a sinister expression.

I wanted to roll my eyes or stick out his tongue. I mean, was it forbidden in the meantime that I looked at my Girlfriend and wanted to cheer her up? Did I have to ask the idiot for permission? If he did not like it, he was free to look elsewhere, wasn't he? But before I could interpret too much into this moment, he turned away again. At the same moment, the laughter of my classmates diminished, so Mr. Lee started talking again.

»I now ask you not to maintain your usual seating arrangement during my lessons, but to sit down next to your respective partner« - an annoyed groaning and sighing made the rounds - »Jisoo, would you mind start?« Jisoo left her seat while my heart started beating in a faster beat. Oh God.. I didn't have to...

»Baekhyun, could you move one seat to the right?« I had to.

I gripped my pencil so tightly that my ankles were already white, while a queasy feeling in my stomach made my body shake. I curled my lips into a slanted smile, stand up and took two, maybe three steps in Sehun's direction before settling down in Jisoo's chair. The seat was still warm and it creaked suspiciously while I shifted my weight and I - together with the chair - moved as far as possible to the other end of the table.

During this moment, which could not have lasted longer than half a minute - maximum! -, I felt myself being stared at from all sides. By some less conspicuous than by others, but I was sure that the looks were directed at Sehun and me. Maybe they were just waiting for something to happen.

»What? What do you expect? You want me to slap him? Okay!«, I wanted to scream out and vent my anger, but of course I didn't let it show, sat there in a straight posture and looked at the wooden plate of the table in front of me, apparently interested. An agonizingly long second passed, during which I wished nothing more than that something would happen that had nothing to do with Sehun and me, so that there gazes was detached from us again. God, I really got paranoid already!

»Well, the next one.«, our teacher threw in, thus relieving me of my distress. A busy hustle and bustle now prevailed in the room, while my fellow students exchanged places among themselves. Only by the way I noticed that Seulgi sat down on my original chair next to Sooyoung. But I didn't care much about this, because a wave of relief came over me, because I knew now that I was no longer stared at. 

However, I suddenly became aware of the oppressively dark presence of Sehun next to me. I avoided to look in his direction, or even to make a sound. Even my breath became shallower - and quieter - while my heart threatened to jump out of my chest at any moment.

Not for the excitement, no. I think I was kind of... scared? Afraid? Terrified? Whatever you want to call it, I was afraid of the coming months. What if Sehun managed to draw me out in such a way that I did one stupid thing after another? What if just one false sound coming from his throat was enough to make me explode?

What if in the end he brought out all the bad things in me that I have always tried to hide - to repress - by a charming appearance? Damn, I was terribly afraid of discovering the same ugly creature I already knew from my mother. And I wanted to avoid that at all costs. However, the fact that I had more to do with this Jerk in the future than