Chapter 29:

I was almost positive, maybe not a hundred percent sure but pretty sure, that my cursing could be heard down the street. Frantically, I searched through my notes and stacks of paper that I considered my homework. No matter how hard I tried (or not hard because I was genuinely ready to chuck a baby out the window) I couldn’t make the slightest sense of what was in front of me.

“, Jongin!” I desperately hissed.

The fluffy, epitome of sunshine wobbled out of the bedroom, hair askew and violently out of place. His eyes were half closed, unready to open for probably another few hours. It literally took Jongin half a day to actually wake up.

“What?” Said human entity mumbled groggily.

“I-I can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“School, this homework, everything!” I yelled, probably a bit too loudly for morning Jongin to handle but I was so beyond caring that it was funny.

It was two weeks after Christmas and I had to go back to school. School.

“Kyung,” Jongin opened one of his eyes halfway. “I did your homework for you. I don’t see a problem.”

I tried not to notice that he was ambling around my apartment in sweats and no shirt, casually snooping for food that required “no effort to assemble”.

“Yeah, thanks Sherlock,” I starkly retorted. “I don’t understand .” I threw my hands up dramatically in the air. “I am going to ing FAIL.”

Jongin was apparently not ready for this in the morning. He kind of, sort of eyed me in an almost contemplative way before taking a sip of the orange juice straight from the carton.

“And how many times do I have to tell you not to do that?!” I almost, but not quite, managed to pop a gasket while simultaneously waking Jongin up at a slighter faster pace than usual.

“It’s not like you mind,” Jongin answered, watching me through half lids before he took another sip. “Why are you so uptight this morning anyway?”

I actually took a seat on the couch in an attempt to calm my heated self. During the process of my calming I shot a few glares towards Jongin who spilled cereal all over the table because he could hardly see the bowl.

“I told you,” I finally said a minute later. “That even though my homework is done, I don’t understand a word of it. I’m going to fail my tests.”

After Jongin cleaned up his cereal from the table he promptly sat next to me on the miniature couch, casually draping an arm around my shoulders.

“They’re going to cut you some slack,” he informed me. “You’ve been in the hospital for nearly three weeks. I don’t think they’re going to ing expect you to come back knowing everything.”

I gave him a sideways glance.

“Yes, but they are going to wonder how I did my homework if I didn’t understand anything.”

“Just say you forgot.”

“Oh my god, Jongin,” I threw my head back and rubbed it against the cushion a few times. “I can’t just do that.”

Jongin cracked a smile.

“Well sure you can,” he remarked cheekily.

“Yeah, you can,” I told him. “Coming from me it’s…ugh.”

“Well the principal likes you,” Jongin reminded me.

I almost smiled.

“He liked the fact that I paid attention to you actually,” I corrected him.

“Yeah and he’s just a nice guy,” Jongin added.

“Well, yeah. That too I guess,” I agreed.

Silence split the two of us apart for a second.

“I can’t go back!” I finally screamed, thrashing around a few more times.

“Oh wow look! There’s the school!”

“I’m going to kill you,” I informed my boyfriend, pushing away his slender finger that pointed towards my impending doom. “No really,” I added when he looked unconvinced.

Jongin shrugged and mumbled something along the lines of I’d like to see you try but I was becoming too distracted by my own panic to even make an impish response.

To add to my list of great things about the day, rain softly started to pour down and then it turned into some sort of violent thrashing that abused the roof of the bus, which soon would stop too far from the school.

I looked at the distance between the bus and the school and was heavily tempted to swear out the bus driver because there weren’t even any buses between us and the school but I refrained.

“You’ve turned me into an awful person,” I informed Jongin, standing up with him following.

“Oh, it was always there,” he answered me. “The little, perfect demon inside of you just needed to be woken up.”

I tried to hide the look of incredulous disgust on my face.

“Don’t worry,” he added, sneaking a peck on my temple. “I love it.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes but linked arms with him anyway as we sprinted through the rain in a desperate attempt to meet shelter in a timely matter. Of course the fact that we did this only hindered our journey because my clumsy feet may or may not have slipped on something nonexistent and sent the two of us crashing into the concrete, unshielded from the downpour.

I was on the verge of complaining while Jongin broke in to robust laughter, probably earning some looks from other students who too decided to run desperately through the rain.

It wasn’t clear to me whether they were shocked because we were lying in a compromising position or if it was because Jongin, the emotionless bastard as they knew him, was laughing profusely in the thick rain.

Before I could voice my opinion, Chanyeol and Baekhyun popped out of nowhere. No, literally. I had no idea where the hell they came from. But Chanyeol and his giant limbs bounded forward, followed by Baekhyun. He scooped me up and cautiously approached Jongin, who stood abruptly before Chanyeol was put into an awkward situation.

“Can we please go inside?” I wondered, teeth chattering. “Recovering from pneumonia here.”

I said it even though I felt 95% better than before.

We made it inside and Chanyeol shook out his frizzy hair much in a way that a dog would. And then Baekhyun decided to comb through it with his fingers like he was the groomer.

Before I could say anything about the soaked clothes that I sported, a girl was suddenly in front of me.

“Hey, Kyungsoo-ssi,” she said.

I didn’t tell her that I had no idea who she was.

“Hi,” I replied in a friendly tone.

Her uniform was also soaked, along with her short, black hair that clung to her neck.

“I just wanted to say,” she began. “That I saw you at the talent show, and you were amazing!”

“Thanks?” I questioned uncertainly.

“Oh and you too, Baekhyun-ssi!”

Before Baekhyun could express his gratitude she skipped away, most likely because of her immense embarrassment from actually talking to us. I suspected that it took a lot for her to even say anything judging from the tinted state of her cheeks.

I couldn’t deny that I felt infinitely happy inside but I kept that to myself.

“Okay then,” Chanyeol laughed. “It looks like you guys have a fan!”

“Looks like it,” Baekhyun agreed.

We parted ways at our lockers except for Jongin and me because our lockers were located near each other’s. The panic inside me grew as I exchanged books and pencils for what I needed for my first class.

I’m going to fail. I’m going to fail. I’m going to fail. What am I doing with my life?

While we walked to class a few others approached me and told me that they liked my performance. I even blushed a few times because people that hated me said something nice. It was interesting because no one had hated since I met Jongin but I didn’t even mind anymore.

I felt that they were less afraid of him because of me. Maybe they were grateful. Maybe they weren’t. It’s not like I could tell really. Honestly, I didn’t care about what people thought of him anymore because I knew who he was. It used to bother me that people didn’t see him for what he was, a genuine, kind human being (for the most part). But then I realized that I liked being the one that he showed that side to. It was like I was special. It was like that part of him was for me.

“You know it’s a shame that you have to go to class,” Jongin muttered lowly.

“My god, Jongin,” I answered. “Just go to your class already before you‘re late, dongsaeng.”

“You didn’t let me finish,” he quietly said against my ear. “Seeing you all wet is really hot.”

I could say the same.

“Yah!” I scolded instead, slapping him away from my face and pushing him in the direction of his classroom. “Go to class Kim Jongin!”

Needless to say Jongin with the addition of not knowing anything about the lesson forced me to be a little distracted in the classroom.

“I definitely failed,” I grumbled.

“No you didn’t.”

“I’m telling you, I did.”

“Kyungsoo, you don’t fail at things,” Baekhyun argued.

The four of us walked along the rain soaked streets, heading to the coffee shop. I was about to take my first shift in almost a month. Thankfully, Chanyeol decided to take his shift at the same time as me, just in case my cluttered brain got confused during my time off.

“I wonder if Maggie Ann will show up,” Chanyeol said. “I haven’t seen her in a few weeks. I kinda miss her.”

“Same,” Baekhyun responded. “She’s definitely the best foreigner I’ve met.”

I put on my apron and it almost felt foreign because it seemed so long since I’d been here yet it was only about a month. Though the job could be annoying at times I had to admit that I missed it. The aroma of coffee was always welcoming and the shop had that classic feel to it because it wasn’t a chain.

“Do I need to show you where the cups are?” Chanyeol joked, wiping at some of the counters, obviously displeased with whoever worked last because they weren’t cleaned very well.

My guess was Yixing, the Chinese transfer student who could hardly speak Korean. He was so absent minded that he forgot to do simple things like cleaning counters and it made me wonder why our boss even hired him. It was probably because he was hot.

“How about a warm up?” Chanyeol continued to mock me.

I rolled my eyes at his effort to be funny.

“Everyone want their usual?” I asked my friends and received a nod in response.

I began to make Jongin’s first really because it was out of habit. He liked iced, black coffee with three shots of espresso. Then again, he liked the three shots of espresso because he hated sleeping. I remembered the haunting nightmares that plagued his sleep. So he decided to stop sleeping altogether. But then I taught him how to sleep again. So it goes.

Baekhyun was kind of a girl. He liked those blended iced drinks with 70% sugar and 30% coffee, ordered even on freezing cold days. I agreed that they were good but I really didn’t consider it coffee. In a way, it sort of reflected his personality. He wasn’t a particularly dark person, not saying he didn’t face obstacles in life worth scarring, but he was almost annoyingly optimistic, almost. I usually wound up enjoying his bright personality in a world so dimly lit.

Chanyeol was classic, easy. He liked regular cappuccinos. Much like Baekhyun, it didn’t matter what kind of day it was; he always wanted a cappuccino. If it was swelteringly hot and sticky and absolutely miserably heated outside, he still ordered one when we went for coffee. I had to admit it. He and Baekhyun had been a match made in heaven. They were more than likely soul mates.

Yes they were my best friends but they understood each other on such a deep level that I wouldn’t be able to comprehend. It was the level that I reached with Jongin but I knew I could never completely see Baekhyun the way Chanyeol did, or vice versa. But I also realized they’d never see Jongin the way I saw him. Yet, I knew them much longer than I knew Jongin.

It was interesting how relationships with people worked like that. Some things just fell in place. I mean, yes it was rather sloppy the way Jongin and I collided, kind of like a train wreck but maybe not that much damage was done. We had to fight and eat each other up before things got better but boy did they get better.

I tried not to think of Jongin kissing me up against a wall as I watched is seductive lips on the straw of the drink I’d just made him.

He kept staring at me too.

“What?” He wondered.

“Nothing,” I immediately responded.

“You’re obviously thinking about something.”

“Just thinking about what an you are,” I lied.

He probably noticed but didn’t comment any further. The boy continued to slurp his coffee. It seemed like he was enjoying it but I could never be quite sure because of his blank expression.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun had just left because they saw Maggie Ann on the street. However, instead of bringing her in the shop, Chanyeol asked me to cover for him while they talked to her. I strongly suspected they were planning a surprise birthday party for me. My birthday was coming up and judging by the excited looks they were giving each other and the enthusiasm of their chatting, they were definitely plotting something.

“Oh man,” I sighed.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Stop doing that,” Jongin almost whined.

“What?”

“Saying nothing,” Jongin remarked. “Don’t pretend I can’t read you.”

I looked at his messy wrinkled shirt, almost laughing because it hadn’t dried properly after the rain. He had serious eyes but almost a playful expression. No wonder I was in love with him.

“Just thinking about how much I love you, jerk,” I told him.

Jongin’s brow shot up in an interested manner.

“Well, that was a change of heart,” Jongin commented. “First I’m an and now you’re telling me you love me.”

“You are an ,” I confirmed. “But I mean I still love you despite that. Don’t ask me why.”

The corners of Jongin’s mouth twitched but he didn’t quite smile.

“What if I never was such a jerk to you when we first met?” Jongin wondered, not looking at me but far away somewhere.

“Hmm…” I trailed. “Then I suppose I never would’ve dumped that coffee on you.”

Jongin snorted.

“You’re very lucky,” I informed him. “I’ve never done something so bold ever. You officially pissed me off to that certain degree and no one had ever achieved that. Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Jongin muttered rolling his eyes. “Was I your first kiss too?”

It was my turn to roll my eyes and along with that I scoffed.

“You wish. If it makes you feel better you were my first kiss with a guy.”

“Same,” Jongin answered.

“You little ,” I suddenly told him. “You turned me gay.”

Jongin clicked his tongue.

“Oh please, Kyung,” he said, opposite of me on the other side of the counter. “You were so gay to begin with.”

“Was not!” I indignantly argued.

“What guy can actually cook or clean?” Jongin challenged.

“Good ones,” I announced.

“Oh sure.”

“Come on,” I protested. “You were gay to begin with too.”

“Was not!”

“You were too!”

I thought Jongin was going to say something intelligent (or remotely so) but he pulled me into a sudden kiss, fingers wrapped around the back of my head, laced through my hair. His nose brushed against mine and our cheeks touched, tongues clashing with every movement.

He tasted of coffee and Jongin. By now I’d memorized his taste and sadly enough became addicted to it. Every lip bite, saliva exchange, or tongue collision sent me further and further into his trap that I hardly ever resisted.

I knew I’d have to stop this sooner or later because I was at work. There were cameras. We were in public. And I knew I couldn’t be at work.

“Okay, okay,” I said breaking it off. “You taste like coffee.”

“Aren’t you a detective now?” Jongin wondered smirking.

“Well, it tastes good,” I said.

“You mean you’ve never tasted it before?” Jongin wondered curiously.

“No,” I answered. “Not really. I’m not the person that just takes three shots of espresso. And iced coffee isn’t really my thing.”

“Hmm,” Jongin hummed. “Well I really like it. What’s it called anyway?”

“Oh what?” I broke into laughter. “So now you want to know?”

Jongin leaned in closer to me.

“Jesus Kyung I just wanted to know the name of the coffee that led me to have a relationship with a jackass like you,” Jongin retorted sarcastically, his breath fanning over my face.

“Oh I’ll tell you,” I uttered with a small smile which slowly grew larger.

I bent forward more so our foreheads were touching and then moved so my lips brushed against his ear. I responded in a short whisper.

“It’s called Venus.”

Fin.

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A/N: So guys, did you like it? I’m sorry if the ending seemed rushed but I really planned it out to end here all along but didn’t remember if I told you all or not???  BUT THE TITLE MAKES SENSE NOW. I plotted this from the beginning because Kyungsoo was all like “you want a v-“ but then would keep getting cut off by Jongin LIKE HA. There it is. So sorry you guys thought there was more?? Also sorry about anything that didn’t make sense or . Idek. I went back to reread some old chapters and almost cried because some of them were written poorly. I like totally reedited some. Anyways, comment with thoughts, upvote if you like, all that jazz. Message me if you have some feelings too. Hope you enjoyed because I know that I did. You’ve been a WONDERFUL lot to me. Thank you SO SO much. (this was my first ever exo fic so mistakes are everywhere). Thanks for reading~! ^^