“Thank you, all of you, for turning in your projects,” their photography teacher said at the end of class. It was almost lunchtime and barely anyone was listening, besides Chen and Ellie. They were both intently listening to the teacher as they were both happy about the outcome of their picture. It took a while, but Ellie was satisfied with the outcome and thought that there would’ve been no better picture that any of them could’ve thought of.

            “Good job partner,” Ellie whispered to Chen who in return gave a smile.

            After much thinking, Chen decided not to chance anything and to just live life the way that he was used to living it, for now. He thought things were going good with Ellie and he didn’t want to have the random chance of ruining what might be something perfect in the future. Then again, there was no guarantee that they would get together in the future or even a guarantee that Ellie would perhaps return his feelings. Sometimes Chen thought that it was too good to be true.

            The rest of the morning went smoothly for the seating partners who managed to complete a majority of their assignments. The rest of them were due the following week. “Hey guys!” Jiyeon yelled as soon as it was time for their lunch break.

            “Oh, Jiyeon, hey,” Ellie said putting on a smile. Chen sighed at the sight. It was something that he had grown used to seeing, the way that Ellie acted differently around Jiyeon than around him or even Kris. Chen wondered if she acted like her real self around that Luhan guy who he hadn’t heard about since that night, even though it was only a couple of days ago. Chen figured that Ellie might not want to talk about him and he was perfectly fine about that, but there were questions that he had in his mind.

            Chen wondered how Luhan would know about his brother. Chen wondered if they had some sort of connection to each other, but he didn’t know Luhan that well and asking Ellie about it would seem weird. Chen figured that the only way to figure anything out was to just see how things went for a while and see if he would ever run into Luhan again.

            “You two, ready to go to lunch?” Jiyeon asked as she looked at Ellie and then at Chen.

            “Sure, you coming?” Ellie asked turning to look at Chen.

            “Yea, sure,” he said nodding his head as he grabbed his packed lunch and made his way outside with the girls.

            Once they were outside, Jiyeon managed to make Chen sit down next to her. Jiyeon wanted to be close to Chen and wanted all of Chen’s attention on her, but she found it difficult, especially because she already knew that Chen probably had feelings for Ellie. They hung out a lot and it seemed like they were hanging out more times than Jiyeon even saw Ellie throughout the week.

            “So, Chen, what are you doing after school today?” Jiyeon asked attempting to start up conversation.

            “I don’t know,” Chen said shrugging his shoulders. “I’m going to do whatever I feel like doing.”

            “You know, maybe, I was thinking about it,” Jiyeon began. She didn’t exactly know how to phrase it, but she wanted to spend time with Chen and have Chen fall for her and return the same feelings that she felt for him.

            “Thinking about what?” he asked in a mouthful of food.

            “Maybe I could come over to your house later,” she innocently said.

            Of course she didn’t know. No one knew besides Chen, but at the mention of house, Chen immediately froze. It wasn’t something that he liked to talk about and it wasn’t something that was virtually known to everyone, but for one thing, Chen didn’t like anyone at his house. Not even his own relatives had been to his house before. He wouldn’t allow them. Whenever they would ask he would always make up some lame excuse about something in order to get out of the commitment of having family over and entertaining them.

            “No,” Chen flatly said.

            “No?” Jiyeon asked. She wasn’t used to getting rejected by anyone on anything. It seemed like Chen was the only one.

            Not intending to eavesdrop, Ellie heard Jiyeon mention Chen’s house. Truthfully, she was always curious about it but she didn’t want to pry on Chen’s private life. Ellie remembered how quiet he was when he first came and she thought that maybe he just liked keeping his private life private, unlike Jiyeon who liked to tell everyone practically everything about her life.

            “Yea, no,” Chen repeated. “I don’t like anyone coming to my house.”

            “Is it messy?” Jiyeon asked.

            “If you want to say that,” Chen said rolling his eyes as he gathered his lunch and got up. “Sorry, I should get going.” As Chen began walking away, he saw a very familiar figure walking their way. Luhan.

            “Oppa?” Ellie asked as soon as she saw Luhan’s figure come to the place where they were eating lunch. “Why are you here?”

            “Why am I here? To see you,” he said with a light laugh. “What else would I be doing at a high school?”

            “How did you even know what high school I went to?” she asked.

            “I saw you in your uniform one day,” he said shrugging his shoulders.

            “Oh,” Ellie quietly said.

            “Who’s this?” Jiyeon asked suddenly forgetting about Chen and looking at Ellie and Luhan, who had just decided to take a seat next to Ellie and put his arm around her shoulder. “Are you two dating?”

            “This is—,” Ellie began, but before she could finish, Luhan interrupted.

            “I’m Luhan, Ellie’s boyfriend,” he said as he extended his free hand for them to shake. “I believe I already met you,” he said looking at Chen. “But I don’t believe I’ve met you.”

            At the word boyfriend, Chen stopped in his tracks. He couldn’t believe that that Luhan guy was dating Ellie. Then again it could just be a trick of some sort, but Chen was sure that it wouldn’t be a trick. Ellie didn’t say anything rejecting the idea of having Luhan as a boyfriend. When Chen looked back it seemed like Ellie’s face was red. Did that mean that they were actually dating?

            So many thoughts began going through Chen’s mind at once. Somehow he was angry that he wasn’t able to say anything to Ellie first about him liking her and somehow he was happy that she was happy, but he was sad that he didn’t have her and Luhan did. However, Chen figured that Luhan would be a much more stable person than he was. Anyone would be a much more stable person financially and family wise. Anyone was better than himself he figured.

            “So Jiyeon,” Luhan said after getting through all of the introductions. “Are you and him dating?”

            “Dating?” Jiyeon asked in surprise. She wasn’t expecting such a question from a stranger. Most people would assume that they weren’t dating simply by the way that Chen looked like he was about to leave. “Why would you think that?”

            “I don’t know,” Luhan said shrugging his shoulders. “I just feel like there’s something going on between you guys.”

            “Well there’s—.”

            “We’re dating,” Chen said as he sat down and put his arm around Jiyeon much to her, Ellie, and Luhan’s surprise.

            “Chen,” Jiyeon said looking at him.

            “Shh, we can tell our secret now,” Chen said putting his finger on Jiyeon’s lips. “We’ve been secretly dating ever since I got here. That’s why I acted so quiet and detached. I didn’t want people knowing that Jiyeon was my girlfriend.”

            This time, Ellie’s head was spinning. She didn’t want to believe the relationship, but there was something about the way that Chen said his words that made her believe him. It was something about the way that he just looked at her without blinking an eye as he said those words that made her believe that he was telling the truth. There was no way that any normal person would be able to look that convincing when telling a lie. It wasn’t possible.

            “So, um, oppa,” Ellie said attempting to ease the awkward situation that they were currently in. She could see Jiyeon’s face being as red as a tomato and Chen being calm as always, were they really dating? “What brings you here?”

            “I just thought I’d see my girlfriend, is that so much of a problem?”

            “No…but…” Ellie began. She didn’t know what to say. Was she really his girlfriend? He had never officially confessed and he never really asked her. Was that considered being a girlfriend then? Was she allowed to hold the title?

            “Well, if you don’t mind me,” Chen said getting up from the table. “I have to go home now.”

            “What about afternoon classes?” Ellie asked.

            “Skipping,” Chen simply responded. He knew how bad skipping was at the school. If he skipped any class he would already be at least a couple of days behind, but it was a risk that Chen was willing to take. He didn’t want to be around Luhan and Ellie anymore and he definitely didn’t want to be around Jiyeon for more than he had to be. He was worried that she would get the wrong impression about them “dating” but it was a spur of the moment thing. It was something that came out of his mouth that he wasn’t able to control, it wasn’t entirely his fault, it was the appearance of Luhan.

            “You can’t skip class, though,” Ellie attempted to reason.

            “It’s alright, just say that I went home sick. I was sick recently, right?” Chen asked. “You tell me.”

            Without a second word, Chen walked away back into the school to grab his stuff. He pretended to be sick for a while as he exited the school, but once he got far enough from the property, he acted like his normal self. He kicked a stone as he walked all the way home. Skipping was a bad idea, but just how much longer was he going to have to be in the awkward atmosphere? Chen figured that at least being lonely at home was better than having Jiyeon hang all over him for the rest of the day.

            As Chen neared his home, he found something suspicious.  The front door of his house was open, it wasn’t locked. Chen was sure that he had locked the door that morning since he wasn’t a careless person. The only reason the door would be open would be because his mother was home. Now Chen wished he had stayed at school. He didn’t want to spend time with his mother, he didn’t want to breathe the same air as her, and he surely didn’t want to live in the same house as her. Chen would move out, but he had nowhere to go and he didn’t have money. In the end, it was impossible for him to move. Chen couldn’t even move to family members, they didn’t know about his situation and explaining things to them would only make it worse.

            “Hello?” Chen asked as he cautiously walked up to the door and pushed it open by just a little. “Is anyone in here?”

            Picking up a stone that was nearby, Chen threw it in the house, only to hear it echo. Figuring it was safe, he entered and made his way towards the living room, only to see his mother on the ground and a guy standing over her with a needle in her arm. “Hello,” the guy said without even batting an eye.

            “What…what are you doing to her?” Chen asked. He was sure that he was giving her drugs, just what drugs he didn’t know.

            “Just knocking her out for a little while,” the guy said shrugging his shoulders. “We’ll be taking her with us.”

            “Taking her with you? Why?”

            “We want her gone as much as you do,” the man simply said shrugging his shoulders.

            “I don’t even know who you are.”

            “She does that to you, doesn’t she,” the boy said pointing to one of the visible bruises that Chen still had.

            “I-I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Chen stuttered as he quickly attempted to hide his bruises from sight.

            “No need to lie, I know all about it,” the man said as he pick Chen’s mother up. “She abuses you, doesn’t she? She gets drunk, she gets drugged up, and she comes home and beats you whenever you do something wrong. Even if you don’t do something wrong she just gets her anger out on you, right? You’ve been to the hospital a couple of times because of her, haven’t you?” Chen stared at the man in disbelief. “So, I’m going to take your mother with me if that’s alright.”

            “What are you going to do to her?” Chen asked.

            “Nothing illegal,” the man assured. “Just making sure that she keeps away from you. So, are we allowed to take her?”

            “We?”

            “Let’s not get into too many details now. It’s just a simple yes or no question, Chen.”

            Chen wanted to ask how he knew his name, but he figured that little questions were for the best for everyone. Sighing, he nodded his head. “Yes, take her. I’m tired of seeing her. I’m tired of her doing this to me. I’m just tired of her. I want her gone.”

            “Good choice,” the man said nodding his head as he made his way towards the door. “Oh and for future reference or just in case you need to know something, my name is Lay. Feel free to contact me anytime, my number is written on the fridge. Goodbye, Chen.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why does Lay want Chen's mother? Is Ellie really dating Luhan? Will people believe Jiyeon and Chen are dating? What will Jiyeon do now to Chen? Will Chen be able to win Ellie's heart? What about Kris? How does Luhan know Xiumin?

Here is Chapter 18. Hope you enjoyed :D

And we finally found out a little bit more about Chen's personal life. Where will the story go now?