Chapter 7:

“Chanyeol this is my ing day off!” I growled, stuffing my face into my pillow, digging into deeply until I had successfully blocked out his voice.

And then Baekhyun climbed on top of my back.

“Kyungie!” He cheered.

I winced in pain.

“Yah!” I hissed. “Have you forgotten-“

He cut me off with a squeak, immediately jumping off in realization. The boy stood next to Chanyeol, by my bed, glancing at my apologetically.

“Sorry!” He immediately piped.

I flinched, lifting up my shirt, revealing the ugly bruise that was still evident on my stomach. Through the mirrored back of my iPod, I realized my face still looked like a graveyard of dead, purplish unattractive skin.

Suddenly, I was reminded of the soft feeling of Jongin’s fingertips again the bruise on my face.

“This makes you look uglier,”

 I shook my head and grabbed, for support, onto my two friends, who had snuck into my apartment and insisted on taking me out to breakfast on my day off, which I wouldn’t have minded had they not arrived at 7 in the morning.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun brought me to my feet and guided me to my closet. Baekhyun immediately started to search for a “fabulous” outfit but I kicked the two dopes out before they could cause any real damage.

Painfully, I changed and rejoined them, 10 minutes later, after brushing my teeth and making my body appear remotely acceptable.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun then proceeded to link arms with me while we walked out of my apartment, causing us to look like complete idiots.

“What do you guys think you’re doing?” I groaned in frustration, with narrowed eyes.

“Just trying to make sure you have a good day today!” Chanyeol exclaimed. “You’ve had a pretty rough week!”

I scoffed at his understatement.

“Rough is only the beginning…” I mumbled, not mentioning the emotional pain that weighed me down in the middle of the night when I was supposed to be sleeping.

“We’re going out for breakfast!” Baekhyun cheered.

I made sure my baseball cap was snuggly fit on top of my head. I thought about my principal and wondered if he was ever going to want it back. From the looks of it, Jongin still possessed his hat too.

I sighed, looking over occasionally at my over-excited friends. I supposed breakfast would’ve been nice anyway. Actually, I was happy that neither of them had decided to coerce me into making them food at this hour.

We walked a few blocks down the busy morning streets, despite it being the weekend. Cars were always buzzing around like the driver had places to go far more important than anyone else that existed.

The sky was set to a drizzly theme, clouds occupying all the space that was present in the sky. Even though it wasn’t necessarily the rainy season, the damp weather managed to squeeze into the autumn time frame.

This also meant that the sidewalk was also soaked with the rain, if it was even possible to drench concrete. Either way, the solid substance we strolled on was doused with water and an assortment of minerals, speckles of sand and whatever was once stuck to people’s shoes and now smeared onto the pavement.

“What beautiful weather,” Chanyeol blindly stated, smiling widely as he snuck a glance at Baekhyun, across my body. The other boy returned the stare.

They were so hopelessly in love that it wasn’t even humorous anymore. I desperately wanted them to get together. I didn’t care if it made me feel like a third wheel. It almost pained me to watch them. I knew they were too afraid to admit they were gay. That was the only obstacle the remained between the two. No one dared separating them anyway.

“Guys,” I started, wiggling my way out of their grasps and making sure their bodies were pushed together. “How much longer do we have to walk?”

Baekhyun pointed straight ahead of him, a slight grin pressed into his lips that I didn’t doubt for a second was the result of Chanyeol’s large arm wrapped around his shoulders. His feminine, slender finger was directed towards a tiny breakfast café.

“You could’ve just said we were going El Dorado,” I informed the two, but smiling myself.

I probably should’ve recognized it anyway but I’d been so consumed in my own thoughts that I hadn’t taken any notice to the path we’d taken.

I took the liberty to open the smooth glass door. We entered the calm shop.

The floor was a very light Maplewood, which stretched throughout the entire floor. All over the walls fan art, most likely done by children or abstract artists, was littered. There were about five small, circular glass tables and two booths that were located by the window.

A scent of fresh strawberries mixed with something more sugary, that I couldn’t quite figure out, filled my nostrils pleasingly.

 I was reminded of how much I loved this place and how long it’d been since I had last eaten there. The only time I could recently remember was before my parents left.

“Chanyeol-yah!” A cheery, baby face Korean girl piped up from a podium.

She bounded over to us and embraced Chanyeol into an extremely tight hug, with little intention of letting go. I hardly noticed envy in Baekhyun’s eyes. Wondering why, I took a closer look at the girl.

She had short hair pulled into two low pigtails, a round face, big eyes and heart shaped lips that had a dash of baby pink on them.

Oh hell. It was Chanyeol’s cousin Maesoo. She grew so much; I completely forgot what she looked like.

“Maesoo-yah,” Chanyeol laughed, putting her down.

She had a waitress’s uniform on and in her right hand she already clutched some menus.

“You grew up!” He deeply cried. “Can’t believe they’re letting you be a waitress now. Last time I saw you, they were letting you put cherries on top of sundaes!”

She nudged him, slightly annoyed at his reference to the past.

“I see you brought Kyungsoo-oppa and Baekhyun-oppa!” She nodded towards us, flinching when she noticed the condition of my face.

“Last time we saw you, you were only twelve!” Baekhyun giggled, arm slung around Chanyeol’s shoulders.

She observed the two with intently, carefully training her eyes on Chanyeol’s fingers that were wrapped around the latter’s waist, drawing little patterns into his side.

I couldn’t tell if she was curious, angry or slightly amused. The girl just playfully twirled the menus for a few seconds before directing us to a booth.

“Please sit here,” she informed us with a smile. “I’ll let you look over those for five or ten minutes.”

“Thanks, cuz’!” Chanyeol called as she disappeared into the kitchen, receiving a few stares from some other customers.

“So,” Baekhyun started. “How are you Kyungsoo-yah?”

Another waitress had come by and set waters on our table. I gingerly took I sip, eyeing him as I consumed the cold liquid.

“Why do you ask?” I wondered.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol unattached themselves from each other and both looked at me, curiously.

“You’re hurt,” Baekhyun’s eyes now lowered, sadly. “You should really show your wounds to someone.”

Chanyeol’s eyes became glaring, opposite of Baekhyun’s and he seemed angry.

“Ch-Chanyeol?” I asked, leaning over. “You okay?”

“No! I’m not okay!” He burst out.

Baekhyun immediately clamped his hand over the latter’s mouth and shot apologetic looks towards all the staring people in the room.

His hand lingered a few seconds before dropping.

“It’s not okay,” Chanyeol mumbled. “What they did to you. They deserve to be beaten…or at least turned in. It’s not fair.”

The poor boy looked so upset and flustered that I reached over and flicked his forehead.

“Stop worrying about me, big guy!” I joked. “I can handle it myself.”

Chanyeol was about to say something but Maesoo came back to us with a tiny notepad.

“Got any ideas what you guys want?” She questioned.

We all immediately glanced down at our untouched menus.

“U-Uh…French toast!” Baekhyun spoke up on a whim.

“Same,” Chanyeol immediately responded.

“How about some eggs and toast,” I added, flipping through the menu, trying to remember what my old favorites were.

“Sure,” Maesoo agreed, scribbling all of this down on her notepad. “Any drinks?”

“Orange juice!” We ordered at the same time, nearly laughing because some things just didn’t change.

When Maesoo left to retrieve the orange juice, Chanyeol’s glare became fixed on me.

“This is all Kai’s fault,” he hissed.

“No,” I immediately argued, questioning why I took little time in standing up for him. “It’s not his fault. He didn’t do anything to get this attention at school.”

Well, he didn’t do anything at our school.

The three orange juices were placed on the table in short, stubby, round glasses. All three of us wrapped our fingers around the cool cups and took sips at the same time.

“Why are you vouching for him?” Baekhyun asked.

“Did I tell you he saved me?” I answered. “He saved me from getting hurt too badly. If he hadn’t come in when he did, I’d be in the hospital.”

I didn’t realize how snippy my voice was getting so I urged myself to calm down.

“Sorry,” I whispered. “It’s just…I don’t know.”

After about another twenty minutes of awkward small talk, our food arrived. Baekhyun and Chanyeol lapsed into their normal habits. Chanyeol tried to feed Baekhyun, ended up failing and getting syrup all over the other boys face. So he took his finger, wiped up the sticky substance and it.

When we finished eating, we chatted with Maesoo a little before splitting the bill. Well, Baekhyun and Chanyeol split it. They insisted since they always came over to my house for food and because I always made it for them.

*

“Guys, I’m fine!” I argued through the phone, painfully pulling my school shirt over my head.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun took turns arguing through the speaker.

“But you’re going to get ridiculed!”

I was about to answer but I snuck a glance at my baseball cap resting on the night stand. I sat on my bed and picked it up, tossing it between my hands before finally answering the two boys who I assumed had a sleepover after I left them yesterday.

“It’s okay,” I remarked, placing my hand over my bruise on my stomach that was still as tender as ever.

After a few more minutes of endless arguing with my two friends, I hung up the phone and left my apartment, slinging my backpack over my aching shoulder.

I sat on the public bus, cradling the baseball cap between my fingers. Some people stared at me because of the injuries but others kept their distance.

The party didn’t even start until I got to school.

The crisp air bit at my exposed skin, the falling leaves crunched under my feet and the sky was the shade of a defeated blue, unwilling to let the sun through.

“Oh Kyungsoo-sii,” A cold voice drawled. “You look pretty cute today.”

I recognized the face. It was one of the boys from the group that had taken the liberty to kick me in the stomach. Instinctively, I wrapped my arm around my torso and stepped back, walking in the opposite direction.

Thankfully, he didn’t follow me. Instead, I was stalked by the stares and curious looks from all of my classmates, observing my bruises.

I sat in my desk, fingers shaking under it as they held onto the brim of the cap. I was slightly nervous. I wasn’t scared to get beat up again, I was just scared that everyone was going to get the wrong idea.

My teacher’s eyes only lingered on my beat up face for a few seconds and never returned for the rest of class. I begged mercilessly in my head for hats to be allowed in school. But no amount of mental pleading would ever allow such reality.

However, there was some other rumor going around at the moment. I couldn’t quite tell what it was but it was distracting everyone from my current state. There was…a fire of some sort. I couldn’t tell. Some girl in another classroom, other than ours was wildly explaining it. I was pretty sure it was Luna but I didn’t have a confirmation.

Apparently her house caught on fire, a nasty flame setting ablaze everything she knew. I tried to hear the conversation without creepily bending over for a better range.

Once the bell rang, I remained in my seat until everyone had finished quickly shuffling out of the classroom.

The teacher was also gone by the time I lifted my arms and pushed myself out of my chair. Trying to stretch out my sore muscles, not successfully, I walked to the door.

“Hey, Kyungie!” Chanyeol jumped over to me, bounding down the hallway. “Did you hear about the fire?”

I nodded, shifting my books to my other arm as we walked down the busy hallway.

“Yeah,” I remarked. “I did.”

Chanyeol nodded, glancing around.

“Apparently, her baby sister was left in the house and they weren’t allowed to go back in but someone saved her,” Chanyeol explained while we walked.

I blinked, questioning and turned to him, slowing down our pace.

“Who?” I inquired, confused.

“I don’t know,” my friend replied. “She said it was some boy who had his face covered.”

I bit my lip, thinking hard.

“A high school student?” I wondered.

Chanyeol shrugged, speeding up our pace so the people walking behind us didn’t get slowed down.

I was deeply thinking about this. A fire. A fire. Where…and…

“When?” I asked him.

Chanyeol looked forward and ruffled his messy, fringy hair a few times before picking out a response.

“I think it was…Saturday,” he concluded.

“So…two days ago,” I confirmed, stopping at my locker.

Chanyeol nodded a few times, watching while I swapped books and giving me a contemplating stare because the hat was still in my hand.

“So how are you holding up?” He changed the subject and I rolled my eyes, my brain still processing all of the information about the fire.

“I’m fine, Chanyeol,” I protested. “So please stop asking. I know you care but you’re just reminding me of how hideous I look.”

That shut the boy up.

“Well, alright,” he finally agreed. “See you at lunch after this hour!”

I waved goodbye, getting ready to go to chemistry when I stopped in my tracks. The fire thing was still bothering me.

“I could swear…” I murmured to myself.

I thought that something over the weekend had made me think of a fire but I couldn’t put my finger on it. There was something in the back of my mind, itching its way up to the front, but concealed by other thoughts.

“It must’ve-“

The sound of a slamming locker cut me off and I snapped my head around, searching the semi-empty hallway and setting my eyes on the figure sauntering away. It was none other than Kai, Kim Jongin, my enemy/not so much enemy.

I didn’t really know what to call him but-

“Oh god!” I exclaimed. “Him!”

Jongin failed to hear my mini epiphany.

The burn. There was a burn on his arm when I saw him Saturday morning. I thought that it could’ve been a coincidence for a brief second but who else who hide their face and walk away like it was nothing.

I chased after him and tugged his sleeve.

Kai’s head impulsively spun around and his bored eyes became trained on me, along with everyone else in the hallway.

“You…” I trailed off as our eyes both made contact.

It felt like my heart was racing an endless sprint and my face was set ablaze with rising flames. Slowly, I retracted my fingertips from his uniform.

“Yes?” He wondered.

“Wanna?” I motioned to edge away from the students that stopped walking and weren’t minding their own businesses.

He followed me until we were alone in a darker hallway that was typically reserved for students that were taking extra classes, the reason it was mostly empty. Thankfully, no one followed us.

“Hurry up,” Jongin immediately spoke up. “We’ve got class in two minutes. Wouldn’t want to be stuck in detention with a shorty again.”

I crinkled my nose at the insult but willed my brain to focus on what I brought him over here for.

“The fire,” I got straight to the point. “It was you, wasn’t it? That saved the kid?”

Kai his plump lips, looking up at the ceiling.

“Why would you even think that?” He answered. “You think I’m a nice person?”

I wasn’t looking in his eyes anymore, just the bags underneath them. I really couldn’t think of any words to say to him because talking to this kid was harder than it looked. He may have been my dongsaeng but sometimes I felt like we were the same age or maybe he was older, despite his rudeness.

So instead of talking, I grabbed his sleeve again and before he could brush me off, I yanked it upwards revealing the burn on his forearm.

“How’d you…” He watched me, looking at the burn again.

I raised my eyebrows.

“I pay attention to detail,” I remarked.

“No,” he protested, shaking his head. “How do you know this is from that? You’re absolutely ridiculous to assume everything.”

I sighed, looking up at him.

“Why are you so secretive? Just tell everyone.”

Jongin’s eyes narrowed and he stepped back, a snarl daring to cross his lips. I couldn’t tell if he was mad or just frustrated.

“Alright, so what if I did save her?” He demanded. “It’s no one else’s business to know everything that I do.”

I folded my arms, watching him carefully.

“Maybe people will think you’re less of an ,” I suggested, intending to punch him emotionally but it only earned another eye roll.

“Honestly, ing honestly, Kyungsoo,” Jongin sizzled at me.

I flinched in the intensity of him using my name.

“Do you even think my reputation could get any worse?” He spat at my face.

I was the one getting the emotional blow, tightening my fists.

“Well, you-“

“No! Just ing shut up!” Kai was already walking in the other direction. “You don’t understand,” he mumbled more quietly.

Before I could even respond though, he was around the corner, already too far away from me.

I sighed, glancing up at the clock.

“!” I cursed quite loudly. Thirty seconds until the bell would ring.

This just isn’t my day.

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A/N: Guys. I have school next week. No. ing no! I hate school…so much. School means that I will have no life. …ugh. Sorry about that random rant. I just …you know…hate school with a passion. I know some people have school already. But yeah. I’m taking all these freaking impossible classes plus I have studio dance to go to and high school dance WASFEDGRHJKWSRGFD;MGJ. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I have dance. Twice on Monday and Thursday actually. FMLFMLFMLFML. Anyways. I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE ENJOYING. Don’t worry. It IS Kaisoo. They will fall into deep endless love in which your ovaries shall be destroyed beyond repair. Hopefully. So hang in there. AND I’M SO ING HAPPY THAT I GOT MY FIC BACK. Even though I have 60 less subs. Eh. Oh well. See ya. Comment with critiques etc.