Taemin instantly pulled aside the charismatic student and laughed awkwardly, while glancing at Jonghyun. The lyrical genius still was confused about their attitudes. Taemin covered Minho’s lips and shook his own head, indicating that there was nothing about it at all.

“Who is it?” Jonghyun asked with a lifted brow and gentle smile.

Minho looked at him with a blushed face. He could not say anything because of the handsome player covering his mouth. Taemin shook his head continuously and looked from one of his roommates to the other one. He put his arm around Minho’s shoulders, pulled him closer, so that their heads stuck together and turned away from Jonghyun.

“You can’t.” Taemin whispered to him and shook his head again, “He’s seeing Key… He’ll reject you. He rejected Suho... because of Key...”

Minho glanced at Taemin’s face from aside and then Jonghyun approached them from back and stuck his head between theirs, making his cheeks touch the others. He put his arms around the shoulders of his friends and tightened his grip.

“What’s going on here?” he asked with a smirk, “Are you two…?”

Minho shook his head from left to right rapidly, while Taemin chuckled in amusement.

“Right!” Taemin lied and pressed his flat hand on Jonghyun’s head to push him away, “We were about to kiss, but you caught us.”

Jonghyun stumbled backwards and the double-lidded eyes of Minho became bigger, as he could not believe what Taemin had said. The blonde senior lifted a brow in disbelief. Minho’s face was all red. His flirtatious attitude was gone. He became shy and nervous about this matter. Normally he would go all out on Taemin to tease the handsome player, but this time he was not able to act like he usually did, because he was close to talk about his real feelings towards his other roommate.

“I’m just joking.” Taemin added truthfully and patted Minho’s back, “Like he said, he’s dating senior Donghae.”

The athlete gulped, while Jonghyun looked at him with a disbelieving expression. He was not totally buying it, but he went with it as he did not want to put any pressure on his beloved roommate. He sighed and put his hand on Minho’s shoulder with a gentle smile. He congratulated him on his relationship with the captain of the football team. Taemin turned away and facepalmed with a hiss. He could not believe what a stupid situation this had become. The less he could believe that Minho liked their roommate. Jonghyun then excused himself and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. Minho finally took a deep breath and fell back on his bed in relief.

“Phew!” he sighed and chuckled sadly, “What irony, right?”

Taemin walked to him and turned Minho’s chair around so that the rest of it was between his legs when he sat down. Taemin took a deep breath and shook his head. He put his arms on the rest and placed his chin on his wrists that were crossed.

“I see... That’s why you can’t stand Key…” Taemin finally realized and pouted, “No wonder you don’t like him. I wouldn’t like the person, who snatches Kai either.”

Minho laughed to his words. The handsome player rocked the chair a little and kept his roommate in his eyes. He still pouted to Minho’s situation.

“How?” Taemin finally asked him, “I always thought that you were dating one of the girls, maybe Seohyun, or Sulli… For a while I even thought you dated Jungah. I never noticed anything about your feelings towards him. , you even hardcore flirted with me days ago!”

Minho sat up on his bed and hugged one of his huge pillows. He buried his blushed face in it and shook his head.

“I’m flirting with everyone… except him.” he admitted after a while and lifted his chin to look at the bathroom door, “I can’t flirt with him… I’m scared he would notice…”

Taemin realized that he had indeed never witnessed their roommates being flirty with each other. He smiled to Minho, but then he knit his brows in worry. The handsome student sighed and got up from the chair to take place next to his friend.

“So, are you dating Donghae to get over him? Is it working?” he asked all curious and leaned closer to Minho’s face to stare him right in the beautiful eyes, making it impossible for his roommate to escape or lie.

Minho sighed, as he felt uneasy about this question. He had dated some girls before too, but Donghae seemed to be the right one. Although, his heart still responded to matters that involved Jonghyun. Taemin shook his head and got up from Minho’s bed. He went to the piano in the middle of the room and pressed the keys carefully, only to be scolded by the lyrical genius, who shouted from the bathroom to get away from his piano.

“Don’t tell him.” Taemin suddenly said and lowered his head, “I don’t want us to separate because of this…”

Minho put away the pillow and sorrowfully lifted the corners of his lips. He nodded as the smile slowly vanished from his face.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

Four weeks had passed since Kyungsoo’s attempt of suicide, and it was Monday again. He had started to attend his courses without skipping since last Wednesday. He sat in the canteen together with Sehun, Yixing, Suho and Baekhyun. It was still weird that their group had split up like this. Except for Kai and Kyungsoo, they talked to each other, but they avoided sitting together, to make it less awkward and easier for the two. It was a difficult period of time for them, yet they needed to accept the decision of their friends. Kyungsoo had left the group chat as well and  was no longer aware of the messages the boys sent each other, to make fun of themselves, to fool around or ask about studies. Kyungsoo was coping with it all. He also had his therapy sessions, which helped him a lot. At the beginning it was kinda weird, but now it all became normal to him and he no longer felt awkward or embarrassed about it. There was still something different bothering him though. Sehun. The tall student had accompanied him all the way to his place every single day, he had brought him their chemistry and math’s notes and had explained everything so that Kyungsoo would not fall back on them. Sehun was not pushy though, he never mentioned something about his feelings towards him anymore, since he did not want to put pressure on him. Sehun had meant it when he said that he would be waiting for him.

“Did you hear about the new exchange student?” Yixing asked his friends and scrolled through the school’s chat that was going crazy over some new dude, “He’s Chinese too.”

Suho nodded and told them that the student came to take dance classes at the faculty. Baekhyun listened to their words all attentively. He knew about Chanyeol’s feelings for a Chinese boy from the past, so every time he heard that a student returned from China or exchanged here, he became a little anxious about it. But luckily, they did not mention Kris’s name. Sehun ate his lunch in silence as he did not care much about an exchange student. Kyungsoo was done eating and he got up first. He needed to hurry up to catch his senior at the music room. Lately he was not able to compose for the piano and this too bothered him a lot. He needed good advice from Jonghyun.

“I’ll see you guys around.” he said and walked away, but he was immediately accompanied by Sehun, who jumped up from the bench in no time.

The others nodded, waved and Yixing joked about Sehun becoming Kyungsoo’s private bodyguard. Baekhyun got up too and told Suho and Yixing that he needed to watch Chanyeol’s football match, as he had promised him to be there.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

Kai closed his locker, once again there was no package inside it. The senior had stopped a long while ago, and they had solely met twice for tutoring since their talk in the library. Taemin had shown him some ways to warm up in a more effective way, dance steps to keep his cardio up and made him do some push-ups and other workout routines to keep his muscles put. Day by day the awkward atmosphere among them became less of a worry for both of them. They seemed like getting over each other slowly.

Today Kai would have literary club activities, but instead he had agreed on tutoring with the handsome senior. Since the others of the club would never appear, and he did not want to keep spending his times in the library all on his own, without a goal, he had agreed to meet on Mondays as well.

“Aren’t you going to watch my match?” Chanyeol asked him and leaned with his shoulder on his own locker, a sulky expression gracing his face.

Kai looked at him with lifted brows and folded his hands apologetic in front of his face.

“I’m sorry, I really have to take this tutoring seriously. I’m already noted with bad remarks.” he explained and smiled cutely, “I promise, I’ll watch the next time!”

Chanyeol kept pouting, but then Baekhyun appeared and hugged him without a warning from behind. Kai giggled at their cute interaction. They did show affection in the university, but they did not kiss though since other students were watching them. The bullying had not entirely stopped yet, but it became less of a pain in the for the two. By now, they were almost used to it. Chanyeol smiled, ce and wrapped his arms tightly around Baekhyun, inhaling his fresh and soothing scent.

“Who needs you, if I have Baek to watch me!” the athlete joked and showed his tongue to his best friend, “Merong.”

Kai smirked amused by Chanyeol’s words and shook his head. Baekhyun grinned in his arms too and then let go of him. Kai bumped fists with his best friend and wished him luck, then they walked their separate ways.

When Kai walked to the dance practice hall, he passed the music room. The place, where Kyungsoo was perfecting his piano skills. Sehun sat at the desk in the far back and did his homework, while listening to Jonghyun and Kyungsoo coming up with new pieces. Kai watched them through the glass door for a while, when suddenly someone bumped into him from behind.

“Oh, sorry!” the foreign boy said with his hands folded and bowing all low, “Excuse me!”

Kai waved his hands mid-air and shook his head with a sheepish smile. He said, that he was alright and there was no need for apologies. He gently held the upper arm of the foreign student to make him straighten up. The apologetic guy had peach-colored hair and a small face, looking absolutely handsome and kinda petite, almost having a cute appearance. He wore simple clothes, street-style, and seemed like a dancer himself.

“Are you going to the dance courses?” Kai asked curiously and smiled cutely.

“Yeah, I’m not sure if I’m right though…” the foreigner admitted and scratched his head.

Kai chuckled briefly and informed the boy about the schedule of the dance courses, that took place on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He showed him the website of the university and explained quickly where he could look up for all the courses. Most of it changed weekly, thus all students needed to check their schedules every weekend.

“Oh, really?” the peach-haired student pouted and laughed, “What a complicated system. Well, I’ll get going then.”

He grinned but as he was about to turn away, Kai held his arm and immediately apologized to having touched him like without a warning.

“I’m being tutored today by one of the best dancers of this faculty…” he told him and added, “You can join us, there’d be only the three of us.”

The foreigner looked up with a baffled face, but he immediately grinned to both his ears and nodded.

“I’m Luhan.” he introduced himself and stretched his hand towards the sun-kissed student.

Kai grabbed his hand and smiled too.

“I’m Jongin.” he added to his cute smile.

Luhan peeked into the music room, to check if it was the dance practice hall. He noticed Jonghyun and Kyungsoo playing the piano, and then he spotted the tall student in the far back sitting and doing his homework. The foreigner could not take his eyes from Sehun.

“This way!” Kai tore him out of his thoughts and made him follow his steps.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

They entered the dance practice hall together and Kai was immediately pushed against the wall next to the door by the handsome senior, making the peach-haired dancer flinch in shock. He had no idea why Taemin nearly yanked the sun-kissed junior against the wall.

“I’ve been waiting half an hour!” the handsome player yelled at Kai and made him shut his eyes in fear, “Do you think I’ve got time all day long?”

Kai shook his head hesitantly and bit his lips. He clenched the handle of his sports bag, that was filled with his towels, water bottles and shoes with white soles. The footwear was a must in this room, because black soles would stain the floor, and this was forbidden. Luhan approached the senior carefully and tapped his shoulder. Taemin turned his head to the foreign student and lifted his brow all puzzled about him.

“Who are you?” he asked the foreign junior and let go of Kai.

“Umm… I was told that you’re tutoring dance lessons that I could attend today…” Luhan admitted and gulped, as the senior was kinda intimidating.

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