“Open your books, page 394” the history teacher ordered once he set his foot in the classroom. Papers reluctantly flipped were the only sound heard in the class aside from the ague-inducing grazing of the chalk against the board. The book was very heavy and thanked the lord that we didn’t have to carry it around the whole day.

It had been exactly two days since the funeral and I was proud of myself for I haven’t broke down in a cascade of tears, only few ones sliding every now and then when remembering something dear that was between me and Baekhyun, like the dog in my locker.

Rob was still not adapted to neighborhood, and I was afraid it might get lost if I leave it alone, so I took a huge risk by bringing it in my bag and keeping it in the locker.

When I came back to school Monday morning, I had to deal with the inquisitive Lee Namji who pestered me nonstop about my tired form and puffy eyes; really, they weren’t that puffy. I hadn’t told her about the real reason, but instead lied and said that I watched ‘Miracle in Cell no.7’. Surely, she didn’t quiet believe me at first, saying that I wasn’t the type to cry nor watch that kind of movies, but Chanyeol popped out of nowhere and joined my cause, confirming that the said movie could make the toughest man cry, and encouraging her into watching it.

I couldn’t/didn’t want to tell her or anybody else because I wanted to avoid all the drama and tear-shedding afterwards; I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me. I was grateful for Sehun though who hadn’t told anyone the real reason why he was absent the whole Saturday; or maybe he did. I had no idea.

In fact, we hadn’t spoken to each other since the whole car thingy. He drove me home silently and left after I mumbled a small thank you and stooping in a perfect ninety degrees bow.

After two hours of history and another two of theoretical physics—in which we had a bloody test—, I dashed out of the class and went straight to my locker, opening the bag slowly and revealing a fury head and wide twinkling eyes. I grinned and patted the dog’s head, and all of a sudden, it barked in a high-pitched sound, making me widen my eyes as I blocked its whole face with my hand and turned around, already finding some students looking at me strangely. I gave an awkward smile before turning back to the dog and pushing it inside the bag once more.

“Let’s go” I mumbled to myself while I held the bag in my hand, hurrying down the stairs and out of building A and heading up the building next to it.

Not a minute later I was on the rooftop, effectively ping the bag so Rob could come out. It was a sunny day and the dog started jumping around and barking all it wants. Rob surely was heavy, but not big in size; in fact the dog looked like it would never grow up.

My stomach growled after few minutes; I had to bring packed food if I was going to ditch lunch at the cafeteria with friends, but I was so hasty so I just grabbed something for the dog, bone-shaped crackers in which it dived once I uncovered the package.

“Yuri?!” the stupefied tone matched the puzzled expression Kai had on his face once he stepped into the rooftop. I felt my mouth drying up as his eyes landed on the dog before I could do anything to hide it. He crouched down and put a box to the side.

“That’s …” I cleared my throat, “I can explain—”

“—that’s her dog” my stomach lurched forward as soon as Sehun made an appearance and I knew I was blushing madly, for I could feel the heat searing my cheeks. He held a plate from the cafeteria in a hand, and a chess pack in the other.

“So cute!” the boy with light mocha skin hooted a squeal and held the dog high up in the air. “He’s heavy though. Sehun you had the same, right?”

I looked up at Sehun to find him already settling down, humming in response and avoiding eye contact at first, but then he gazed at me with his hooded eyes and spoke “You do realize that bringing any sort of pets to the school can lead to expulsion”

“I know that very well,” I mumbled “that’s why I’ve been trying to be as discreet as possible”

“It could’ve been someone else instead of me and this ” his voice had a hint of reprimanding. Kai shot him a dirty glare and unpacked his home-made lunch

“Don’t worry cutie, we won’t tell on you” he said, “Meanwhile, you should try this, I don’t know whatever the hell it’s called, but it’s really good”

The food in the box was a one course dish; Kung pao chicken on top of a bed of rice, a treat I haven’t had in a while.

“That’s Kung pao chicken” to my surprise, Sehun clarified before me and Kai nodded absentmindedly. I tentatively joined him on his Kung pao, which turned to be delicious.

“Since when you bring packed lunch?”

“Since my aunt thought it was nice to visit us the afternoon; she said that cafeteria food is unhealthy and will make me fat and sick, so she insisted on making a lunch box for me, but there’s no way I’m showing up at the canteen with this, I’m not a third-grader or something” he huffed and shoved more rice and chicken in his mouth. Kai had too much pride after all.

“How long is she going to stay?” the pale male inquired after he finished his lunch and started setting the board for the chess game.

“A week maybe? I don’t know how much I can stand her presence” he spared me a quick look before turning his attention back to the food “Don’t get me wrong, I love my aunt, okay? It’s just that she tends to be over caring sometimes”

“You can’t blame her though” Sehun interfered, “she only has girls, it’s only normal if she wants to treat you like her son”

“You didn’t say that when she tried force-feeding you her sweet and sour pork, or when she constantly interrupted every stage of Dark Souls II, until I locked the door from the inside”

Sehun looked at him with mock confusion before he broke into a grin “You’re right, she’s horrible” the tan guy sniggered as he seemed totally nonchalant of his friend being somehow rude about his aunt. They appeared to be really close to each other, a kind of friendship that I really appreciated, and kind of envied.

The chess game started and Kai looked pretty excited to beat Sehun in it, though the later one remain as calm as possible, doing his every next move with wise calculation. Rob would bark every now and then and snuggle to Sehun’s thigh; noticeably, he flinched and covered it with the ‘I want to readjust my sitting position’ pretext. He had a dog anyway, why would he act like th—

Unless something happened, like ... I directed my frown to my lap, my eyes accidently landing on the watch around my wrist.

“Guys, I think we should head back, we only have five before class”

“Really now? I was about to dominate this here” olive-skinned Kai whined but started gathering the pieces hurriedly, not forgetting his empty lunch box. While I was struggling to get the dog in the bag, Sehun casually left the tray from the canteen on the floor.

We went out the doors in a bolt of silent jogging; the rooftop was a restricted area for students, and we were doing more than breaking the rules, or maybe it was just me, for I have broke into a teacher’s office, and brought a pet to school.

I dawned on that Sehun and I shared the same English class that afternoon, so it was no surprise when we stopped at the same class. He bid Kai goodbye before making his way to his seat, while I stayed by the door, occasionally checking if the teacher was coming.

“You can leave the bag with me, I’ll put it in my locker on my way” Kai offered nicely and I couldn’t help but smile as handed it him, mumbling a silent prayer that the dog wouldn’t bark.

“I wanted to ask you something”

“Shoot”

“What happened to Sehun’s dog?” my question seemed to have caught him off guard, but he quickly regained his composer and sighed loudly. “The thing is, Sehun’s dog died, and not just a normal death. The dog was actually sick, and Sehun insisted that there could be something that can save it, but his father was and still is a callous man.” He glanced sideways, “Anyway, he shot the poor little thing in the backyard of their house. Sehun was only ten back then, it left a bad impact on him” the information had efficiently affirmed my suspicions; it explained why the boy tensed up whenever Rob got near him.

Not wanting to hold him any longer, I told Kai that he should go and hide the dog quickly before he got late for class. With a casual wave, he sauntered away and I went inside the class before grouchy Mr. Kim would make an appearance.

I was walking out the school’s gate after I retrieved the cute pet when somebody called my name.

Sehun appeared with two copy books in hand, throwing them at me. They would’ve landed on my face if I hadn’t swift reaction skills. I caught them with an ‘ouf’ before I glared viciously at him. He grinned in mischief as he announced that I should solve all exercises from math’s book and physics’ book page 102 and 147 respectively, and then walked ahead of me.

“You do realize that you have your whole life to be a jerk. Why don’t you take a day off?” I squeaked loudly as I fell into his steps, totally astonished by his rudeness to me.

“You do realize that your slavery duties end in less than two weeks; I shall take advantag