The guy, whom I knew I recognized, was looking at me like I just ran away from some mental hospital. Okay, so, I might’ve yelled a little too loudly considering our proximity, but I was pretty sure that he was the same guy I met at the back of my school two days ago. He looked more handsome today, mostly because his hair wasn’t a mess, but what really gave it away was the lollipop. There’s no way I could make a mistake.

I leaned forward on the bar to inspect his face a bit closer, “We met in Seoul High School two days ago, remember?” I said, pointing at myself. My voice was full of unrefined excitement. Just when I thought I had fallen into the deepest pit of hopelessness, a small miracle popped right up in my face (well, more like I popped into his). I felt like the luckiest person on our planet. No, scratch that, I felt like the luckiest person in the universe!

Kai blinked rapidly when I looked at him in anticipation, hoping he would recognize me. “Oh…” He took out the lollipop with a pop and pointed at me with a small grin on his face “You’re the girl who got bullied!” He placed his elbows on the bar counter and leaned closer too, instantly repelling me backwards a little because our faces were definitely too close (even for such a handsome guy).

“Hey!” I cleared my throat, trying not to show how uncomfortable I was when our faces were that close.  Even if he didn’t do it on purpose, I felt like he was violating my personal space. But fortunately, he didn’t seem to notice it. “I wasn’t bullied. I was about to use some of my karate moves and then you, rather untimely, showed up…”

His laugh rang in my ears and I felt my lips curling up unconsciously in a small smile. It was strange how his presence instantly ebbed a lot of my tension away, considering we barely knew each other. One thing, however, I knew for sure: Kai was the opposite of Baekhyun; every time I saw Kai, he’d be smiling cheerfully, while Baekhyun would be scaring me with his biting attitude. I couldn’t even imagine how these diametric people could be friends. Too bad I hadn’t met Kai before that two-faced bastard. Kai definitely wouldn’t have treated his girlfriend—fake or not—with such inhospitality.

“By the way,” Kai’s eyes turned into small crescents as his lips widened into a bright smile, exposing his white teeth. His smile was so genuine and precious, and I had (much difficulty) to keep myself from smothering his cheeks, “how did you get here?” He tilted his head “This isn’t exactly where I’d think to find a minor like you.”

“Yeah? Well, neither should you find Baekhyun, but here he was anyway.” I scoffed when that jerk’s face crossed my mind again and memories of what he just tasked me with resurfaced again. I huffed, not at all attempting to hide my frustration, “he forced me to come here to pay for his party’s drinks.”

Kai blinked few times and I realized that he always did so when I said something shocking. “Wait,” he straightened himself up and looked at me suspiciously “So you really know Baekhyun?”

“I told you before. I’m his girlfriend,” I decided not to expose my lie because Kai and that jerk were apparently friends, and I didn’t want to find out what Baekhyun would do to me if I told Kai what was really going on between us. It was better to keep the secret, especially because it seemed that Baekhyun didn’t tell him anything about our fake relationship.

Kai ran his hand through his hair and looked at me again “You’re not lying, right?” he asked with a sparkle in his eyes and hope in his words. Was he that excited about Baekhyun having a girlfriend? I nodded hesitantly, and he snorted, mumbling something about ‘unbelievable’ and ‘what’s going on’ but because music in the club was too loud, I could only pick up a few broken fragments. Just when I was going to ask him for explanation, the bartender from earlier came to us and whispered something into his ear, to which Kai nodded at. As the guy made his exit, Kai turned in my direction and our eyes met again. “Okay,” he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to gather his thoughts “I don’t have much time, so can you explain everything to me? I mean…” he paused to find the best words but then sighed with resignation, “how did it happen?”

Should I come out with the truth? He seemed to be a nice guy, and maybe he could help me to get rid of Baekhyun? But again, everyone at school, myself included, was completely convinced of Baekhyun’s kindness, so perhaps Kai’s politeness was just a pretense as well. Birds of a flock fly together, and Kai’s friendship with Baekhyun was enough for me to be wary of him.

I took a deep breath, ready to play the role of a good girlfriend again. “Well, you know,” I mumbled, faking embarrassment, “two people meet, they fall in love…” I shrugged, trying to blush. “It was like love at first sight.”

Kai’s whole body shouted liar! as he gave me a dubious look, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows after hearing my apparent love story. Seeing as he wasn’t buying it as easily as my classmates were (although that time, our relationship came out from Baekhyun in the flesh), I wanted to give up. I felt tired, frustrated, and extremely sleepy at this hour, and the last thing I needed was to convince Baekhyun’s friend that Baekhyun and I were very much in love with each other. Besides, I hated Baekhyun to his very rotten core, so how could I come up with a convincing alibi when my own body felt like retching at the very thought of