The Gold-Plated Child 

The entire hall focuses on the girl who was sprinting from one end of the room straight to the door as though they had nothing else to do.

Perhaps it was because she surprised them all so they had no other reaction other than to watch with fascination as she zooms across the room but still they all did not expect the impact that came.

As soon as she reaches the door, it swung open at that exact moment by a leather glad man and oompf! Like a nonsensical rom-com, they collide or more like she rams into him but unlike the rom-com dramas where they fall on top of one another and their lips touch, I mean think about how much that’ll hurt if that actually happens. Prepare for massive bleeding because your lips will be split apart. Lmao.

Back to the couple, they fall away from each other like normal physics working here and lands on their butts with the man shouting both in shock and in pain.

“What the mother-ing geebezus-” He shouts but stops the moment his eyes clear to see the girl in front of him. “Okay, okay. Miss Kwan. We saw each other just yesterday. No need to be in such a hurry. Geez. That ing hurts.”

She stands up quick as lightning and bows down to apologize and hoping to get away at the same time but a group of girls nears her and the first person grabs her by the arms.

“Are you alright?” She demands looking greatly worried as she scanned the girl’s body.

“Uhh… I think so.” Kwan replies shaking her head a little, looking woozy. “I should go.”

“WOOOOO! SHE’S A RUNNER, ISN’T SHE?” The guy at the megaphone shouts making everyone jump a little because with the commotion at the door, he seemed to have been pushed to the back.

He jumped down from the table and tried to swing his arms around the tall Chanyeol who looked shocked for some reason. He slung his arm and Chanyeol leans down comically to match the height of the shorter man and only then he rolls his eyes, grunts, and stands up again making the smaller guy return his hand.

And then as everyone watched, Chanyeol roughly pushes Minseok by his shoulders making Baekhyun and Sehun immediately come to stop the angered guy.

And so whilst everyone focused on the fight that was occurring between the smaller guy who was now laughing while the taller guy who was being held back by two guys, Kwan slips out unbeknownst to anyone there. Well, except for Junmyeon because he comes running out with her.

“What happened inside? What’s going on? Are you okay?”

Kwan continues walking as fast as she could while Junmyeon kept up with her.

“Nothing.” She replies hoping to be left alone while the guy only continued walking to match her pace.

“Why were they fighting? I mean I know both Minseok and Chanyeol to be troublemakers but they actually get along with each other.”

Kwan pulls a face at that, not quite believing him. The last few days with all the chaos, she had realized that not everyone in the city is to be trusted. They were all surprisingly like the aunties who do nothing but come to their restaurant to gossip with half-baked information.

She really did not expect that. She thought educated people from the cities would be better than those aunties who had received little education and has no exposure so she was now a little skeptical about everything.

She had more expectations from these city people to be quite honest.

So she gears up, gives a swift bow to Junmyeon, and dashes off to her dorm but then the city-bred of a man stops her by catching her arm.

“Seriously Kwan,” He begins looking serious, “Are you alright? We collided really hard before.”

She thinks about his question and realized that she had already forgotten about the collision. The only thing she wanted was a good measure of distance between that Minseok guy and her and his megaphone. What on earth is he even on? It was highly probable that he was drunk because no one on their right mind would act like that… or would they?

“Hello… I am talking to you…” The guy standing in front of her calls her out in exasperation seemingly curious about her wellbeing.

So she did what she can to make him stop being curious. Perhaps if she was in his place, she’d worry about him too.

She cracks her neck and stretches out her arms to show that she was okay. “I’m… quite okay.”

Nope. She wasn’t. Her waist did not really feel okay but a night’s rest would put it in place.

Junmyeon lets out a relieved sigh at that before becoming angry again. “Don’t you have eyes? Huh? Look where you are going and don’t run in a crowded area. What are you going to do if you get really hurt?”

Alright…? Kwan squints at him. Was he being angry or concerned?

So she nods, although it was a confused nod hoping this nagging gangster would actually let her go.

“Kwannie!” Someone calls her out from behind her and Kwan unconsciously lets out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, her roommate was here.

“Irene?” It was Junmyeon who acknowledges her first. He opens his mouth to say something but Irene comes to grab her hand and pushes Junmyeon away.

“Stop harassing my roommate, you stupid . Come.” Irene announces as she pulls her away from the man towards their dorm.

Kwan turns back a little to bow to Junmyeon noticing some people had come out and among them was Chanyeol, still looking mad. But when their eyes meet, they widened and softened considerably but Irene was pulling her so she turns away wishing, for the first time tonight that she could stay and at least congratulate her first friend on his victory.

* * *

Kyungsoo took in all the drama that had conspired just now with vigor knowing that all these don’t happen often. Chanyeol and Minseok nearly got into a heated fight or it was just Chanyeol because Minseok was still laughing about it, thankfully making Chanyeol huff and run out after Kwan.

Obviously, he and Jongdae followed behind like two lost puppies who’d gladly lap up any drama as though they were starved.

Hordes of people followed him out so that they filled the entire entrance so it was impossible for them to get out however, just a few minutes in people began to file in again looking disappointed that no more drama followed however, they began to narrate everything that had happened with huge grins on their faces.

Minseok was already on top of the table again with his megaphone shouting at everyone to get their drinks and ‘GET WASTED ES’.

Shaking his head slightly, Kyungsoo takes a sip of his juice and shakes his head at his senior Kai who was still filming everything with much concentration. The whole time, he had been filming dedicatedly without even moving a muscle only letting up an eyebrow when Kwan fell down on her .

For him, he had run towards Kwan to help her up but she got up rather quickly even bowing in apology for that guy they met in the chicken restaurant. He was still going towards her when a group of girls beat him to it and he had to stop.

And then all of their attention came to Minseok and Chanyeol who started fighting.

He did not know why but he turned towards Kai Sunbae who had a little smile on his face as he filmed the whole thing looking like he was thoroughly enjoying it.

He was surprised however when he spots Yixing Sunbae behind Kai looking bored as he looked at Kai’s screen like he couldn’t care any less. Wasn’t Yixing celebrating with Chanyeol just a moment ago?

But then it was no secret that Yixing and Chanyeol hate each other’s guts. From the gossips passed down from people to people, he had gathered the fact that Yixing was rather jealous of Chanyeol’s skills while Chanyeol was jealous of Yixing’s natural leadership which becomes a full circle of respect and hate relationship.

He sips and murmurs about all that had happened tonight with Jongdae and how Chanyeol had not come back along with Baekhyun while Sehun was back with two girls on each side.

Oh Sehun already looked a little drunk and the way he was smirking and flirting with the girls made Kyungsoo roll his eyes but for some reason, Jongdae pinned his eyes on the man.

“What’s so interesting there?” Kyungsoo jeers, “Wanna be him?”

As far as Kyungsoo knows, Jongdae wasn’t the type to flirt around. Instead, he had a particular type and when he was around them, he gets all flustered, unable to even string a sentence properly.

“Don’t you think that Sehun Sunbae is a much cooler dude than Chanyeol Sunbae? I mean I do understand that Park Chanyeol can never be beaten on the field but he steps out of there and he is rather… ordinary.”

Kyungsoo gives that a thought but he doesn’t agree. He actually appreciated that fact about Chanyeol Sunbae.

He doesn’t think people should be ‘star-like’ every single moment although to be quite honest, Chanyeol’s behavior the last time they had a meal was sort of a put-off. He was rude but then he was also probably having a bad day and his girlfriend broke up with him… so.

In fact, Kyungsoo thinks Chanyeol was quite human and he doesn’t really keep anything inside as well so it made him even more… reliable… of sort.

But he says nothing as the party grew wilder and wilder with Minseok being tossed into the air by his dude friends. Kyungsoo is always amazed at the amount of friends Minseok always had. It sort of feels as though Napoleon was visiting every time Minseok comes over.

Perhaps having an older brother who owns one of the largest bars in Korea helped. Minseok is always bragging about how he can take away barrels of best quality beers without letting his brother notice or take them all out to his brother’s bar to have fun or party.

Kyungsoo huffed and wished he had an older brother like that as well but all he had was himself and his parents… but they were okay and never lacked anything much so really… Not much of a problem.

That night both he and Jongdae staggered to get to their room despite having only drank two juices with minimum alcohol in it.

* * *

Chanyeol was fuming by the time he reached his room knocking over a lot of things and punching the wall several times. The ing nerve that Minseok had, the audacity to make fun of Kwan and ask her out just in front of him. It annoyed him to no end.

“It would be more fruitful if you keep a calm head in such a time,” Baekhyun calls out as he calmly walks into the room after him. “Minseok is only jesting as he always is. You should not take such jesting seriously.”

“He was ing with me,” Chanyeol growls at Baekhyun feeling overly annoyed. “Minseok always tries to get under my skin.”

“I wouldn’t lie and say he doesn’t but you know Minseok and his ways. He finds all of these… cruel things as something fun. Although you and I may not understand his way much, we all know that deep down, he’s a go