When you woke up on Monday, you knew that it was going to be quite the eventful day. You had someone to talk to and the encounter was not going to be the most pleasant. As usual, you got to school early, hoping to relax a little before classes started. To your surprise, there was someone there before you.

“Baekhyun? I didn’t know you came to school so early,” you greeted. He gave you that cheesy smile you knew well.

“I could say the same. Wanna go inside? It’s getting hot already.” You nodded and followed him inside, praying that the awkwardness you felt creeping up on you wasn’t doing the same to him.

“So, why are you here so early?” You asked, walking aimlessly around with him.

“I actually came here to see you,” he confessed, taking you by surprise. “I have something to talk to you about.”

“What? I mean, sorry. What’s wrong?” you said, mentally smacking yourself. The night before you had figured out that you needed to talk to Baekhyun before moving forward with anything with Kai; you just weren’t expecting it so soon, and were hoping that you could avoid a confession from the former if possible. Apparently it wasn’t.

“Let’s find somewhere to sit, first.” He pulled you into the closest classroom, and you took a seat at the nearest desk. To say you were dreading the words that would next come out of his mouth would be an understatement.

Baekhyun was a good friend. He obviously liked you, and you knew that you couldn’t reciprocate those feelings. You felt horrible that you had fallen for his best friend, but could your feelings be helped? If it were him that had been the one to tease you all this time, would it have been him that you’d fall in love with? You had no answer to that question, and it was no use dwelling on it now that you had sorted out your feelings. You didn’t want to hurt Baekhyun’s feelings, but you knew it would hurt him more if you didn’t address this and let him get rejected by seeing you with Kai.

“Okay, shoot Baek, what’s going on?” You said, trying to keep the façade of being calm. In a way you were calm, but the sense of anxiety beat that part of you down.

“I like you Kaemi,” he said, and you could see how the corners of his lips turned up into a small smile when he said your name. You were about to replay when he held up a hand to stop you and continued on.

“I like you, though I’m pretty sure you knew since I kissed you on Friday.” He took a deep breath, and you could see the sadness that flashed through his eyes. “I like you, and I’m pretty sure you don’t like me back. You like Kai, and I’m okay with that.”

Well that was unexpected.

“What are you saying right now?” You asked, more out of shock, than actually being upset at his words.

“I know you like Kai,” he repeated, almost laughing at the look you had on your face. “It’s kind of hard not to notice it when you’ve liked someone for a while and they act one way around you but a completely different way around the one they like.” You let his words sink in. Had been obvious? But, you had only just come to the realization that you liked Kai.

“You weren’t obvious,” he assured, and you smacked you hands over your mouth, realizing you had voiced your thoughts without meaning to. “I just noticed it a few weeks ago, but… I still had to try you know?”

“I’m sorry,” you said, grabbing his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “I really am sorry that I can’t like you the way you like me.”

“It’s okay, Kaemi. I saw this from beginning. But, you know; can’t go down without a fight, right?” He chuckled and you let out a small giggle.

“Baekhyun, the girl that you end up with is going to be one lucky girl,” you said, and then a thought occurred to you. “We’re not going to be awkward from now on, are we?” He shook his head no.

“How could we be awkward? Even though I’m a little hurt, I’ll get over it. Besides, it’s Kai I’m more worried about being awkward. He knows I left early today, and I’m pretty sure that he thinks this conversation is going a lot different than reality.”

You took the time to think about how Kai and Baekhyun looked ready to pounce on each other the day before, and you realized that Kai thought you liked Baekhyun and so was going to accept his confession.

“That little kid is worried over nothing,” you muttered, eliciting another laugh from Baekhyun.

“You should confess soon, though,” he advised. “You know if you wait any longer you’re going to be using a walker by the time he get’s around to doing it himself.”

“Someone told me something oddly similar yesterday.”

------

You were worried when Kai didn’t show up for first period. Was he really that bothered by the idea of you and Baekhyun that he would not come to school just to avoid you? But your fears were dispelled when he showed up for your second class, and he took his usual seat near you. You tried to get his attention to ask what was up, but he seemed to be unusually interested in what the teacher was saying and ignored you.

“What’s going on between you two?” D.O. asked at lunch, sensing the awkwardness. You looked first at Kai, who avoided you gaze, and then at Baekhyun who rolled his eyes and stood up.

“Kai, you’re coming with me,” he said, and yanking the younger boy out of his seat, exited the cafeteria.

“Is there something going on between you three that I should know about?” Suho asked, giving you the overprotective-oppa look.

“Basically, Baekhyun got Oppa-zoned this morning, but Kai thinks otherwise,” Eun Chae said, coming to sit at the table with you and the remaining four boys.

“Wait, you already talked to him, Noona?” Sehun asked, and you nodded. “I thought you were going to wait and see how today went.”

“I was until he was also at school early and brought it up himself. He technically rejected himself for me,” you explained. “I feel bad, but he said it’s okay, so I have to take it at that.” Sehun nodded, while D.O., Suho and Chanyeol just pretended to know what was going on.

When Kai and Baekhyun returned a few minutes later, Kai looked extremely less troubled, and you let out a sigh of relief. Baekhyun must’ve told him the truth about this morning.

“You okay, Kai?” Chanyeol asked, his eyes flickering between you, Kai and Baekhyun.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he said, and his voice sounded…expectant? He turned to you and gave you a smile. “Sorry I’ve been acting weird. I was just a little worried about something.”

“Oh,” was all you could say in reply, and even though you weren’t looking, you could see that Eun Chae had slapped her hand in exasperation on her forehead. “I hope everything’s okay.”

“Well, I better be going to class,” she said, standing. “Come on Kaemi, let’s go.” She pulled you away just barely after you’d finished packing your lunch up, and when you looked back, you could’ve sworn you saw a flicker of disappointment in Kai’s face.

What was that all about?

------

Alright, here goes nothing.

You had been thinking about this over and over for the past few days, and finally, you couldn’t procrastinate anymore. You and Kai had returned to your usual level of banter, but for some reason it felt different. You weren’t sure how much of your conversation Baekhyun had relayed to Kai, and you sure hoped he hadn’t revealed your plan to confess to Kai.

Tugging at the hem of your dress, you walked over to the lunch table.

“Kai, can I talk to you for a minute?”

The boy in question looked up from his lunch to find you staring at your feet nervously, and he frowned.  

“What’s wrong?” he asked, instantly scanning you over to check for… well he didn’t know but his eyes did it on their own, somehow trying to make sure you were okay. Okay, so maybe Baekhyun hadn’t told him anything.

“Nothing’s wrong, I just need to talk to you,” you said, suddenly grabbing his wrist and pulling him out of the cafeteria, much to the surprise of everyone with the exception of the three who were in on the plan.

Shocked that you were being so forward all of a sudden, he let you pull him away until he realized that you were in the school’s courtyard. He dug his heels into the ground, and you nearly fell back when you couldn’t move anymore and were jerked to a stop.

“Kaemi? What’s thins all about? What’s going on?” He pulled you to him, resting one hand on your shoulder and using the other to lift your chin so that you were face to face. His eyes were beautiful, and you had to remember to speak.

“You win.” He was confused, and taking advantage of his confusion you tore yourself out of his grip and raced back towards the building. He followed, just as you had planned, though you had to duck for cover a few times to make sure he didn’t catch you too soon.

Finally, you made it to your destination: the school’s back garden. You rested against the wall of the science building that it bordered, and tried to catch your breath. It would have been an easy task, had the boy you’d led not nearly scared you to death by slamming his hands into the wall behind you, trapping you there.

“What. Was. That. All. About.” He breathed, his face flushed from the chase. You noted how his nostrils flared just a little and it took all of your self-control not to giggle at how attractive you found it.

You looked away from his face, sure that if you kept staring, you’d trip over the confession you were about to make. He growled in protest and forced your face back towards his.

“Look at me,” he said, his voice threatening. “Kaemi, what are you even talking about?”

“Kai, I…” You paused and closed your eyes. Taking a deep breath, you tried to calm the nerves that seemed to think that a game of contact sport was the appropriate thing to do at the moment.

“Kai you remember how in ninth grade, I told you that I had never met someone as infuriating as you?”

“Yeah. It was because I kept teasing you about your hair that day. You had gotten a bad haircut,” he said, remembering the incident clearly. It didn’t surprise you that he did.

"Well, you really are," you giggled at his expression of shock, but quickly continued. “You also remember how before that, in middle school when you destroyed my pencil case?” He smiled, and nodded, and you smiled back. You pushed him slightly so that you could move a bit from the wall.

“Do you remember what you told me at the end of that year, just before we went home?” It took him less than a second to remember and he repeated his words.

“I’ll make you pay attention to me! Just you wait! I will definitely make you look only at me!” You stared at each other for a while. At first, you didn’t say anything, but then he started to smile, and then it turned into him giggling, then you, and pretty soon you were both laughing. You sat down on the ground, and he joined you, both of you still grinning from ear to ear.

“Is this a confession?” He asked, scooting a little closer. You could feel your face heating up, despite having been much closer than this before.

“Do you want it to be?” You quipped back in an attempt to maintain the bantering that was so common in your relationship.

He smirked, and you could see that spark in his eyes. “I seem to recall you said not to long ago that I had won.”

“I did say that, didn’t I?” you teased, making his smirk grow wider. “Though I’m pretty sure you cheated.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“It might be.”

“Guess I’ll just have to have to clear up any misunderstandings then.” And then he cleared the distance between your lips and his. Almost.

A mere centimeter before your lips touched, you were drenched in water. Springing apart, you nearly fell flat on your back. Looking up, you found a shocked Sehun and Chanyeol staring down at you both.

“Would one of you like to explain to me what the hell just happened?!” Kai shouted, standing and also helping you up. He glared at the two boys above you.

“Sorry! It’s all Chanyeol’s fault!” Sehun said, instantly ratting out his partner. Chanyeol whined and crossed his arms.

“At least I caught the bucket before it killed one of them,” he muttered. Really you were just looking for an explanation, not excuses.

“Someone just tell us why you are there and why you being there ended with us dripping like a slap-happy dog in a park fountain!” You shouted, inwardly groaning as you realized that Dayoung’s weird expressions were rubbing off on you.

“Well I saw in a movie once where the girl was confessing and they were in the rain and had a kiss and it was really romantic so I thought why not give you the same atmosphere.” Sehun confessed in one big breath. You gave him a skeptical look.

“So how did it end up not a few drops of water but a whole bucket?” Kai asked, effectively expressing the same thing you were thinking.

“Chanyeol knocked into me by accident and I kinda tripped and then… yeah.”

“Says the one who insisted on bring a bucket and not a bottle. You overdo things sometimes, you know, maknae?” Chanyeol scolded, earning a mehrong from the younger boy. In the mean time, you just rolled your eyes and turned back to Kai. He happened to be look at you at the same time, and his trademark grin broke out over his face again.

“Now. Where were we?” He asked, and before you could answer, he pulled you into one of the most passionate, searing kisses ever.

 A cheer from the roof made Kai smile against your lips and you didn’t bother suppressing the giggle that escaped. You pulled your head back slightly so that you could look at Kai properly.

“So…” you said, unsure of what to do next. You had thought about as far as a confession, so the aftermath plan was still a little fuzzy on the details.

“So…” Kai parroted, but then smirked. He looked down at your soaked bodies and you could tell that he was cooking up a plan.

“What’s going through that pea-brain of yours?”

“Are you insulting the guy whom you just confessed to?” He feigned hurt, placing his hand over his heart.

“Okay, let me rephrase that,” you said, rolling your eyes. “What’s going through that pea-brain of yours that I like so much?” He laughed at the amendment to your question, and began to pull you towards the front of the school.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Sehun shouted from the top of the science building. You looked at Kai.

“Good question. I’d like to know, too.”

“How do you feel about skipping classes?”

A/N: Okay. How’d you feel about that? And don’t worry; it isn’t the end. There’s still one more chapter, which will be the official end, and then a couple of bonus chapters. Comments are appreciated!