“He s-s-seriously a-asked you o-o-out?! Oh my God!”

Kyuhyun just rolled his eyes but smiled as Ryeowook and Jonghyun doubled over in laughter. “I-I don’t know wh-whether to laugh o-or c-cry now for Jihun. His best friend…hahaha!” Ryeowook managed to get out between his laughter.

“I would give anything to be there when it happened. How did he take it?” Jonghyun wanted to know.

Kyuhyun just shrugged, “I think Hyunwoo took it quite well. I did ask Victoria for advice though how to handle him. Which reminds me, none of you were supposed to know,” he tried to suppress them with a frown but he wasn’t really bothered. He was just as surprised but somewhat amused as well.

It was probably the most ironic thing in the world that after that debacle with Jihun, Kyuhyun would find out that Jihun’s best friend, Hyunwoo…well there was no other word for it, actually had the “hots” for him. Ryeowook was right. He didn’t know if he should feel sorry for Jihun. He got punched by Siwon, got suspended from soccer, and now he was about to find out that his friend was actually gay.

If this was karma, then it was the iest payback of all time.

Ryeowook wiped his tears as he finally calmed down, “Well, what did you expect? Minho saw the whol-…speak of the devil, here he is!”

True enough, Minho was walking towards them. He sat down on the empty seat beside Kyuhyun and was instantly bombarded with questions from the other two. Kyuhyun just looked on in amusement as Minho exaggerated how Hyunwoo had begged Kyuhyun’s forgiveness for his friend’s behaviour and practically acted like Romeo, promising to turn back on everything for him if he would just go out with him.

“Pfft!” Kyuhyun snorted, “He didn’t say that exactly.”

“But that was the gist of what he was trying to say,” Minho grinned then he suddenly hid his face in his hands, “But hyung, ugh, it was so embarrassing to watch the two of you!”

“And who told you to come and watch?” Kyuhyun retorted, “I don’t even know what you were doing there. You’ve never gone to that part of my college before.”

Minho’s expression lost a bit of its merriment, “Oh that. I was looking for you.”

“So?”

“I-…ah. I’ll just tell you next time,” Minho averted his eyes.

“Hey, not fair! What’s the big secret?” Ryeowook wanted to know.

Minho just smiled and quickly assured the smaller boy, “It’s nothing important, hyung. Just something I wanted to ask Kyuhyun-hyung about.”

They chatted about the Sigma Mu Halloween bash after that since all of them skipped attending it aside from Minho and they wanted to know what happened. Apparently, after all the preparations and major lead-up to the party, it wasn’t well-attended. There were now rumours that the Upsilon Gamma fraternity, Sigma Mu’s long-time rival, was going to sponsor a concert. Basically, they were going to make sure that it would be a success…to add further embarrassment to their rival. 

As Ryeowook and Jonghyun were immersed in a conversation about the relative merits of the Kyu-line signing-up as a band to perform in the concert or attending the event as ordinary audience and therefore, free to get drunk and hurl drunken insults at everyone who will actually perform, Minho shifted uneasily in his seat and glanced once or twice at Kyuhyun. 

“Alright, spill it,” Kyuhyun whispered, “What did you mean over the phone?”

Minho smiled. This was one of the things he liked about his hyung, he caught on well. Minho bowed his head and pretended to examine his shoes so the other two wouldn’t hear. He whispered hurriedly, “I wanted to tell you sooner, hyung but you were always busy. That’s why I had to seek you out the other day. I need to say this in person. I need to explain. Can we talk somewhere else? I can’t say the details now but I have to warn you. It’s about our gam-…”

“Hey Changmin! Over here!”

Kyuhyun and Minho both looked up as Ryeowook waved their friend over. Minho gasped and Kyuhyun wanted to as well. Although probably not for the same reason. Kyuhyun almost gasped because Siwon was with Changmin, as well as Donghae. As for Minho, Kyuhyun was too preoccupied in telling his brain to tell his heart not to be stupid and beat normally for him to analyze why Minho should suddenly become agitated. 

Seriously, it wasn’t like Kyuhyun had never seen Siwon in a body-hugging sweater and tight jeans before. He has even seen him in less in the locker rooms. So really, there was no explanation for why he suddenly found it hard to breathe. Maybe because Siwon was smiling in that way of his, dimples on his cheeks and that glow in his eyes as his gaze alighted on Kyuhyun. 

Or so Kyuhyun wanted to think but he was sure that Siwon never looked that way at Minho, Donghae or any of his friends.

“You seem to be winning the bet,” Ryeowook managed to say to Kyuhyun in hushed tones before Siwon and the others could be within hearing distance. He looked at the others with a teasing glance but Jonghyun just shrugged and Minho… Minho suddenly stood up.

“I need to prepare for class,” Minho announced as he took his backpack and told Kyuhyun in a very casual way, “So I’ll just call you, ok hyung?” Then said his goodbyes just as Changmin and the others reached their table.

“Why was Minho in a hurry to leave?” Changmin whined as he plonked down beside Jonghyun, “I was hoping to hear from his story.”

Donghae sat down on one side of Kyuhyun while Siwon sat on the other. “What story?” Donghae asked curiously.

“I’ll call it The Forbidden Love Confessions,” Changmin answered quite merrily. “You see Minho overheard a veryinteresting conversation between Kyuhyun and Hyunwoo here,” he wiggled his eyebrows at Kyuhyun while Ryeowook and Jonghyun started to chuckle.

“Huh? Hyunwoo?” Donghae was suddenly alert. He turned to face Kyuhyun, “He’s best friends with that jerk. Did he also say something rude to you?”

Changmin suddenly clapped his hands in glee, “Not at all! Quite the opposite really. You see Hyunwoo actually has a crus-…OW!” 

“Oops, sorry. Didn’t know that was your foot,” Kyuhyun said hurriedly and caught Changmin’s eye, trying to signal to his friend to cease and desist from further revealing what happened. From the corner of his eye, he could see Siwon narrowing his eyes. He quickly tried to change the subject, “Anyway, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

“You’re always hungry,” Changmin said slowly, getting Kyuhyun’s message but confused why he didn’t want it known. The others started to talk about what to get for lunch.

“Does he like Kyuhyun?” 

Everyone fell silent at Siwon’s question. On the outside, Siwon looked his charming self. He was smiling actually and looked so polite in asking that Changmin gulped and cleared his throat before answering, “Um, yes.”

“Oh.”

Ryeowook stood up, “You know, I just remembered I promised to have lunch with Victoria. She wants to ask me the recipe I use for bibimbap.”

“I’ll go with you, hyung,” Jonghyun offered as he also stood up and gathered his things to follow Ryeowook.

“Aish, I forgot to finish that paper we need to submit this afternoon. I better start doing it now,” Changmin said as he fixed his books.

“Aw, that’s too bad. Anyway guys, what do you want to order?” Donghae asked Siwon and Kyuhyun.

“Uh hyung, do you mind helping me with the paper first? I know you took Psych101 before so maybe you could help me? I’ll treat you to lunch.”

Donghae blinked in surprise, “Huh? You’re smarter than me Changmin-ah. Besides, it’s embarrassing for me to tutor you. I only got a C+ on that subject.”

“Doesn’t matter, I really need you to come with me now,” Changmin smiled charmingly even as he took Donghae’s arm…not too gently.

When they were left alone, Kyuhyun had to comment dryly, “My friends are so subtle, aren’t they?” He cursed them in his head.

Siwon just chuckled, “They are, actually.” Then he suddenly turned serious, “So about Hyunwoo…”

“I turned him down,” Kyuhyun interrupted. “I’m doing him a favour. It would never work between us and he needs to pick his friends first.”

“Oh, I feel bad for him.”

“Feel bad for him? Then why are you smiling?” 

Siwon’s smile grew wider, his dimples showed, “Oh, I didn’t know I was smiling. I’ll stop now if you don’t want me to.”

Kyuhyun forced himself to roll his eyes. Normally, this kind of behaviour would have greatly annoyed him but here was Siwon, trying to act cute and he resorted to the best way to show that he wasn’t amused. 

Of course, he only succeeded in making it look like he was trying to flirt with Siwon. Because seriously, he also couldn’t help the corners of his mouth from twitching and he fixed it. 

And only managed to come up with a pout.

“What?” Kyuhyun asked suspiciously.

“You’re cute when you pout.” Siwon smiled.

“Haha, very funny,” Kyuhyun retorted without heat and he continued to pout even more which made Siwon smile even more. And Kyuhyun wondered if he was actually, maybe, doing this on purpose. Good God! If any of his friends saw him now...

"How's the hand?" he hastily changed the subject.

"Mmm? It's fine now," Siwon replied then he suddenly asked, his voice dropping in concern, "But are you okay?"

Kyuhyun had to snort, "Of course, I am. I wasn't the one who got suspended," he pointedly reminded him. Then he blushed because he suddenly remembered what Siwon said about his suspension. He frantically wracked his brain for something else to say but it wasn't necessary though since the older boy seemed to be struggling with something himself.

“By the way, there’s ah-…,” Siwon began, then he chuckled a little self-consciously as he scratched the back of his neck, “There’s that new movie tomorrow night. I was wondering if you’d like to go? Wit- with me?”

Kyuhyun paused, wondering why Siwon had to always make sure to say that he’ll be going out with him because duh, obviously, he was the one asking. He also wondered why his heart always missed a beat when that happens but brushed it off as usual. He was so winning this game! He replied with just the right amount of calculated sweetness, “Sure. I'd love to.”

***************

Siwon was waiting for him outside his classroom on Friday afternoon. Fortunately, it was one of the Advanced Music classes and there were only a few students in the class. 

Unfortunately, out of the five students in that class, three of them were Zhou Mi, Ryeowook and Victoria which basically meant that everyone stood still in the corridor just outside the classroom and grinned widely instead of going their way like normal, non-interfering people would do. Except for that one unsuspecting classmate, Onew, who just cheerfully told them all to “enjoy the weekend” and went off. Kyuhyun decided that Onew will be his best friend from now on.

“Hi!” Siwon greeted him with a warm smile then seeing the others, he smiled and waved at them too.

“You’re both going to the movies…again?”

Kyuhyun forced himself not to cringe and kick Ryeowook for emphasizing that last word not so subtly. Not for the first time did he wonder why his friends were so giddy and excited in knowing he was going on what was obviously a date. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t dated before and they weren’t in high school anymore for crying out loud. They were all adults now… and he just admitted he was gay now.

Okay, that last thought probably explained a lot about his friends’ behaviour considering that this was probably the first time he went out with a boy. And not just any boy, but the campus hottie himself. Of course, except for Ryeowook, none of the others needed to know why he was doing this. It was after all quite understandable to be dating Siwon, bet or no bet.

“Yes we are,” Kyuhyun replied curtly then he turned to Siwon, “Let’s go.” And he hastily walked away, ignoring the teasing chuckles behind him.

The movie was actually bad, not that Kyuhyun had been paying any real attention. Nor Siwon for that matter. They had actually spent most of the time doing a funny commentary on the poor acting skills of the lead actors and the even poorer script of the movie with Kyuhyun managing to make Siwon laugh many times with his sarcastic wit. 

It was almost two-thirds of the movie when the other suffering movie patrons made it known that the two of them were making quite a noisy racket when Siwon, greatly amused at Kyuhyun’s latest jab at the futile attempts of the lead actress to look like she was sympathizing with her friend rather than looking constipated, laughed out loud and clapped his hands heartily. Everyone within their vicinity looked at them and shushed them and just continued glaring at them.

Siwon was wiping his eyes because he laughed so much that he cried and Kyuhyun suggested, “Looks like the others are not amused. Do you mind if we skip the ending?”

Siwon just smiled and readily agreed and they made their way out of the cinema. Because the movie wasn’t finished yet, the lights were still off and Kyuhyun miscalculated his steps and almost stumbled. Siwon promptly caught him and asked softly, concern clear in his voice, “Are you okay?” 

Kyuhyun managed a nod and Siwon held his hand as they went out.

Siwon didn’t let go of his hand when they had already reached the brightly lit lobby of the movie theatre. He still didn’t let it go as they went out and walked the few meters to the small restaurant nearby where Siwon insisted that he wanted to treat Kyuhyun to dinner to make up for inviting him to a bad movie. He still didn’t let go as they were guided to an available table and both he and Kyuhyun exchanged a few smiles and nods to classmates and some soccer team members who were also in the restaurant as they made their way to the table.

Kyuhyun knew they were going to be the topic of the day on Monday morning.

They ate their dinner with Kyuhyun more subdued this time and Siwon doing most of the talking. They chatted about topics here and there and Kyuhyun observed, quite objectively, in his mind that Siwon was really such a nice and funny guy. 

Too bad though that he would only be able to date him until Follies’ Night. 

As Siwon drove him back to his dorm, Kyuhyun’s mind began to race. He had a little over three weeks to make Siwon invite him to Follies. He supposed he could ask Siwon to go with him but the enormity of what it meant to go to Follies’ Night together weighed heavily on him. Only couples attended that event. It would mean acknowledging they were a couple, or seriously dating, if they went together. But there was no backing out now on their charm battle, he had already gone this far and he seemed to be the most successful one of them all. As he should rightly be. Being Kyuhyun, he had to add that thought. 

Make a move now! Kyuhyun wondered how he should say good night to Siwon this time. On their last date, he had just been his normal, friendly self. Okay, “friendly” wasn’t exactly normal for him but he had this stupid game to win. And besides, he and Siwon had actually held hands for more than five seconds now… and also managed to broadcast the fact to probably the whole damn school if Kyuhyun guessed correctly what his classmates had been punching excitedly on their cellphones in the restaurant when he and Siwon sat down to dinner.

He was still deciding how “friendly” a good night kiss on the cheek would be when his dormitory came into view as well as a familiar figure outside the front doors.

It was Changmin and he looked quite agitated.

*************** 

“You look upset, Min,” were the first words Kyuhyun uttered directly to his friend as Siwon drove away. He only just managed to say his thanks and a good night to Siwon because Changmin had actually went to the car to fetch him.

Changmin just looked at him grimly and retorted, “I’m not upset!”

“Whoa! Ok then, you’re not,” Kyuhyun was a little bit surprised at the vehemence of his friend’s tone. He had been prepared to tease Changmin but seeing the odd behaviour the other was exhibiting, he refrained from doing so. His eyebrows rose up when Changmin suddenly sat down on the front steps and took out a cigarette and lit it. The last time he saw Changmin smoke was in 9th grade. The first and last time actually. He asked cautiously, “So what exactly happened to you?”

Changmin was silent for a few seconds as he took a long drag on his cigarette before he said slowly, “I went to see Yunho.”

Kyuhyun got even more surprised because this shouldn’t be surprising at all. Ever since after Siwon’s party, Changmin had started hanging out somewhat at the student council office on the pretext that he might be interested to run for councilor next elections. Of course, he went there to solely annoy Yunho. A tactic that had Kyuhyun shaking his head considering that they were supposedly doing a seduction game. So he couldn’t avoid teasing his friend a little, “Uh-huh. You really seem to be serious.”

And was taken aback at Changmin’s reaction.

“I am not! I’m just doing this for our bet alright?!” Changmin almost shouted as he threw down his cigarette in irritation and stood up to step on it and ground on it with a little more force than was necessary. 

“Alright, already. Geez, no need to be upset!”

“I already said I’m not upset!”

Kyuhyun put up his hands in mock surrender, “Okay whatever. So you went to see Yunho and…” he prompted.

Changmin began to pace, he glanced at Kyuhyun once or twice before he finally said, “Minho has a lot of explaining to do. He was the one who told me to go after Yunho because he said that he and Jaejoong had already broken up.” He put up a silencing hand as he saw Kyuhyun was about to interrupt, “I always thought the two of them together was just a silly rumour but haha, guess what, the joke’s on me,” he added with a bitter laugh. 

Before Kyuhyun could interrupt again, Changmin continued, almost spatting the words out, “They were together! And still are. I walked in on them kissing in the office.”

Kyuhyun’s eyes widened, not because of hearing that the rumour about Yunho and Jaejoong was apparently true but because he didn’t really pay attention before to Changmin’s actions regarding Yunho. Of course he had noticed that Changmin has lately exhibited signs that he was impressed by Yunho’s dedication to his job as student council president, not to mention his athletic prowess as the soccer team’s star player. Much too impressed, even if Changmin didn't admit it. 

Kyuhyun’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, his friend couldn’t afford to be that stupid. He asked again, “So why are you upset?”

“! How many times have I told you I’m not upset okay?”

Kyuhyun tried a different tactic and said with a smug smile, “So does this mean I’m really the frontrunner in our little game?”

Changmin stopped his pacing at once and laughed long and hard without any trace of amusement. He faced his friend as he said in angry tones, “Do you know what else I found out? Minho is in for some serious when I get my hands on him. Apparently, he tried to see you this afternoon but you went out with Siwon and only saw Ryeowook. He confessed the whole thing to Wookie.”

“Huh? Confessed what?” Kyuhyun was confused now.

Changmin stared at him, searching his face before he said almost spitefully, “Minho ing slipped up! Siwon knows about our game! He’s actually known about it for some time now. And of course, Yunho knows it too.”

Something suddenly squeezed Kyuhyun’s chest so tight at Changmin’s revelation that Kyuhyun thought he couldn’t breathe. Siwon knew! HE KNEW! 

Then what the hell was all… 

“So between them and us, you have to wonder,” Changmin continued in a very serious tone, his mouth set in a grim line, “Who’s really playing a game and who’s actually getting played?”

----TBC

A/N: I hope no one's too disappointed that it wasn't Siwon Kyuhyun was going to turn down. He has a game to win remember? *unsure* xD This is actually my first real update (as in new chapter) for the year and i'd like to thank all those who subscribed and have commented, some of you comment both here and on LJ on my fics, i'm quite touched.♥