My first instinct was to punch him the face. How dare he have the nerve to say something like that..and to my face!

Luhan, obviously sensing my building anger began to stand up, “Look, I’m sorry Chanyeol. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but I stand by my decision and I would appreciate it if you didn’t stick your nose in my business.”

I stood up abruptly and hissed, “Sit. Down.”

Luhan, shocked by my sudden outburst had no choice but to sit down. It was evident on my face that I was not messing around.

“Here’s the deal Luhan,” I said harshly, “We both agreed that you would get the hell out of his life after we, yet again agreed, that he would be much, much better without you.”

Luhan interrupted at this point, “I know that’s what we said! But Chanyeol, I can’t change the way my heart feels! And I’m honestly trying to be a better person! I’ve kept all the gifts Sehun has given me recently and plan to give them all back to him along with some money I’ve gotten from doing odd jobs around town.”

I shook my head angrily, “Don’t you get it Luhan? It’s too late! You’ve already hurt him! You need to leave now unless you want him to be hurt even more so.”

“But, I’m really trying Chanyeol,” Luhan whimpered, “I just want to be with him…”

I sighed heavily, “Luhan, sometimes, it just doesn’t work out.”

My thoughts drifted back to the events of the weekend and I said bitterly, “Sometimes, two people are just not meant to be together...”

Luhan laid a gentle hand on my shoulder, “I’m going to fight for Sehun, Chanyeol, regardless of what you say. I’m going to right my wrongs, I swear. And it would mean a lot to me to have your support.”

I noted Luhan’s determined look in his eyes and his strong grip on my shoulder and before I knew it, I was nodding.

“Fine. We just want him to be happy.. .Please make him happy.” I sighed.

Luhan broke into a huge smile and hugged me tightly, “Thank you Chanyeol, I’ll do everything I can to make Sehun happy.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

With the semester more than half over, I was beginning to stress out. Assessments started piling up and I was staying in the library so much that it had almost become my second home. Thankfully, I had my study buddies who kept me sane.

“Oi Kai, what did you get for number seven?” I whispered to him.

When I didn’t get a reply for a few seconds, I glanced over and saw him snoring over his chemistry and physics textbooks. I stifled a giggle and proceeded to ask Sehun instead.

“Sehun! Have you done number seven yet?”

Sehun was startled from his daydream by my voice and he scratched his head confusedly, “Mianhae hyung, what did you say?”

I chuckled, “Ah no worries, let’s take a break. We’ve been at it for almost 4 hours now and Kai here is already out.”

Sehun nodded solemnly whilst closing his textbooks.

I frowned, “Sehun, is something wrong?”

I noticed him bite his lip in hesitation before quickly shaking his head, “Anni, everything’s fine. Just…stressing about uni you know..”

I cocked my head, “Are you sure? You know you can talk to me about anything.” I smiled encouragingly.

Sehun took in a deep breath before whispering, “It’s…about Luhan.”

“Oh! Um..what about him?” I asked.

“He’s..been acting really odd lately.”

“Odd? How so?”

“Well, we haven’t been hanging out as much. But that’s fine since we’re both stressed out about uni I guess. But he’s also returned the last three gifts I’ve bought him!”

I was happy Luhan had kept true to his word, but I definitely couldn’t let slip the reason he was doing this.

“Oh..well, I mean you do spoil him.. He probably doesn’t want you to dote on him too much.”

“But I want to! And I like doting on him!” Sehun said stubbornly.

I mentally kicked myself as Luhan’s strategy was not going according to plan. Instead of Sehun being happy, he had just become suspicious and worried.

“Look Sehun, I’m sure Luhan has a good reason for all of this… Just give him time..” I said gently.

“You think so?”

“Definitely. Now you just concentrate on doing question seven so I can copy off you.” I grinned cheekily.

Sehun rolled his eyes but continued to open his textbook anyway.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 Tao had kept Baekhyun in the dark about the Kris situation as well so we were both stumped as to what had happened that day.

“I just don’t understand why he wouldn’t tell me! I mean, I’m his boyfriend!” Baekhyun whined.

“Well, no news is good news I guess. At least I can officially close that chapter of my life.” I said cheerily.

Baekhyun eyed me worriedly, “Yeollie, you don’t have to keep a strong face for me.. You can tell me anything.”

I shook my head, “No seriously hyung, I’m fine. Honest. This was just a stupid crush; I was just being silly. And now, it’s completely and utterly over.”

Baekhyun sighed and pulled me in for a hug, “Alright Yeollie, whatever you say. But for what it’s worth, I just wanted to say that I do think he liked you from all the stories I’ve heard from you and Tao.”

I hugged him back and muttered a grateful “Thank you.”

The next day was the first time I had to walk back into the chemistry tutorial room after the incident.  I had debated on whether to keep a cool, calm façade or to look him straight into the eye and demand answers. Having told both Sehun and Kai of the events that had unfolded over the weekend, they both had conflicting ideas on how I should act.

“Uh no idiot, he should definitely play it cool! Let him show Kris who’s in charge here!” Kai argued.

“What?! If he does that, he’ll never know the true meaning of why Kris was acting like that! Which, by the way, I still think he did for an unselfish reason in the name of love.” Sehun retorted.

“Oh my god Sehun, how many times have I told you to stop buying those damn romance novels!” Kai groaned.

“..I can’t help it..Since Lulu hasn’t been around lately, I needed something to keep me occupied..” Sehun said softly.

Kai and I gulped, we had obviously reached a sensitive point and I decided it was time for me to step in.

“Look guys, I appreciate where you guys are coming from, but I think I’m going to have to have to go with Kai’s approach. I just..can’t handle looking at him right now.” I sighed.

Kai fist-pumped into the air whilst Sehun patted my shoulder gently.

“Alright, but I still think you need to hear him out before you make any rash decisions.” Sehun muttered as we walked into the classroom.

We decided to sit at the back of the classroom since it was the furthest away from Kris. I had mentally prepared myself on how I was going to act upon first seeing him, but nothing could prepare myself for the sight that reached my eyes.

Kris usually dressed impeccably in a dress-shirt and jeans, but today he looked nothing short of a slob. He walked in in a hoodie and tracksuit pants with a baseball cap pulled low over his head.

“Ahem, good morning class,” He said softly, “Please excuse my appearance today. I uh haven’t been feeling very well.”

I could’ve sworn I had also seen bloodshot eyes before he turned to the board to start drawing carbon diagrams.

“Psst Chanyeol, look what you’ve done to the poor guy!” Kai smirked.

“Yah! Surely that isn’t about me!” I countered.

“Nope, that’s definitely all your doing.” Sehun nodded.

As the lesson drew on, Kris just got more and more frazzled. He ended up spilling his coffee mug all over the table and then almost tripping on someone’s bag. But I knew it was something to do with me since he never once walked past our table to ask us how we were going with the worksheet.

“Look, Chanyeol, you gotta man up and ask him for answers.” Sehun muttered after Kris accidentally dropped a stack of papers.

Kai nodded in agreement, “Yeah, you can’t keep him in that kind of pain.”

“What about me guys?! I got hurt in this too!” I argued.

“Yeah well, I know it’s not a competition.. But he seems to be doing way worse.” Kai shrugged.

“Aissssh…” I moaned.

Deep down, I knew they were right. And I did want answers from him. But I was just so scared of being rejected once again.

After seeing the intent gazes from both Sehun and Kai I knew it had to be done.

I raised my hand and called out, “Um, Excuse me Kris-ssi, can you please help me with question five?”

Kris, obviously startled to hear me directly addressing me almost choked on his sip of coffee. He nodded and proceeded to walk over whilst the rest of the class began packing up.

“Good luck!” Kai said cheerfully.

“Wait, where are you guys going?” I called out.

“It’s the end of class! And you need some privacy!” Sehun said with a wink before walking out the door.

Kris said his goodbyes to the class before finally closing the door and turning around slowly.

The seconds ticked by slowly; neither one of us knowing what to say. I could hear the loud footsteps of the classes next door moving to their next class, but inside, it was still so quiet I could hear my heart beat.