“What the was that for?” I screech at Chen, after watching Tao’s slumped figure recede into the distance.

“I’m shaking things up for you,” he responds tersely. He slings an arm over my shoulder, effectively pulling me down to his eye level. He stares me straight in the eye.

All I have for him right now is contempt, but he doesn’t seem fazed at all by my glare.

“You said you wanted help getting Tao to like you, that’s exactly what I’m doing!”

“What the Chen?” I growl, shoving him away.

“How the does saying we’re a couple get Tao to like me?”

“Kris, you’re really dense,” Chen laughs at me, slapping me on the arm.

“Can’t you see Tao already likes you? I’m making sure Tao is jealous, and trust me, from the look on his face, he totally is.”

I cough, looking Chen in the eyes. He’s dead serious.

“But what…?” I splutter.

“Kris. Trust me, I’m good with this. Tao’s going to get so angry he’s just going to have to confess to you.” Chen says with a smirk.

I give him a small smile, sincerely hoping he’s right. God knows I’ve been pretty much horrible to Tao his whole time here, and when I try to be nice it becomes an absolute mess.

“You’re going to have to stop pretending to be cool, Kris.”

I turn to Chen, staring him dead in the eye.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

Chen sighs, running a hand through his hair.

“Kris, I’ve known you since we were kids. You always tried to impress people because you’re insecure.”

I furrow a brow in confusion, and Chen pokes me.

“Kris, seriously. You try to act cool and y around others because you don’t think they’d like you otherwise. You need to get past that and not act like a complete jerk. We may not hang out much anymore, but trust me, I’ve been watching you.”

Chen pauses, before giving me a hug.

“You need to give up that façade you put on, because people will surely like you for who you really are, I know your friends have already gone past that. Baekhyun, Kai, Luhan… me. They know who you really are, Kris, and they accept it. Now you need to accept it too.”

Chen walks away, leaving me alone to think about what he’s said. He’s totally right, of course. I can’t believe I never realised it for myself.