“Kai…” a soft voice echoed inside the room. Kai stretched his arms and legs, opened his eyes one at a time, trying to get into reality. When he finally woke up, he saw Seyoon standing at the foot side of his bed.

“It’s…ah…you only have 30 minutes to prepare,” she said to him.

“Oh my…” Kai quickly leaped from his bed, removing his pajamas until he noticed that Seyoon was still standing there. “Ah…” he glanced at her. Seyoon who got the message, left the room and quickly closed the door.

‘What are you thinking Kai? You’re not in middle school anymore,’ he thought to himself. He had quick bathroom fixes, wore his uniform, and grabbed his bag.

He went outside expecting Seyoon had already left. However, she was still there waiting for him. The two walked the streets without talking. Sometimes, they would glance at each other just to make sure the other one was still present. As much as possible, they tried to match each other’s pace.

At the entrance of the school was a familiar scene they’d seen a few years ago. Maybe the news has already spread like a lightning bolt. Girls swarmed the entrance, waiting for faces they’ve wanted to see so much. The two got near a flock of girls blocking the entrance.

“Yo! Look what we have here, Kai and…” Luhan looked at Seyoon and gave her a warm smile, “Kai’s only fan.”

“I said stop calling me that. I have a name,” she said coldly while looking at him with fierce eyes.

“Are you two having a morning date, huh?” he asked teasingly.

“NO!” They both answered him with glaring eyes.

“Hey Luhan, let’s go! We still have to get our schedule from the office,” said Xiumin who was surrounded by a lot of girls.

“Ok! I’ll get going. I don’t want to disturb you two. See you,” he said waving at them.

When Luhan was gone, Seyoon tried to talk to Kai. All this time, she was holding a box in her hand, the breakfast she prepared for the guy in front of her. If only he woke up early, she wouldn't have to pack it for him.

“I have to go,” he said without looking at her. Kai hasted towards the entrance. As Seyoon expected, she was there, Krystal. Although they never talked in front of other students, just a simple glance, a smile, walking side by side with a distance as if they were just walking together unintentionally, Seyoon knew he was there for her.

“Seyoon-ah~!” Chanyeol suddenly came running towards her. He was trying to catch his breath from running too fast.

“I am sorry. I wasn’t able to wake up and…”

“It’s okay. Here, I thought you were dropping by. It’s the breakfast that I made for…” Seyoon thought for a second whether she’d tell Chanyeol or not. “…you.” She said smiling at him. Although she doesn’t want to lie to her friend, she doesn’t want the food to go to waste. Besides, Chanyeol has been a great help to her and always there for her.

“Really?! Thank you! Oh, it’s almost time. We have to hurry,” Chanyeol grabbed her hand as they came running towards the school building, passing bunch of girls blocking the entrance.

---

“Oh! We’re in the same homeroom. Great!” said Xiumin as he entered the room together with Lay.

“So it’s true that you’re here. Good to see you again,” said Sehun, who just heard the news from Kyungsoo.

“Ha…” Chanyeol entered the room, panting. Seyoon came after him.

“Annyeong,” Lay bowed at the two of them as they entered.

“Annyeong,” Seyoon greeted him with a smile.

There are two vacant seats inside the class, one is beside Kyungsoo and the other one is beside Seyoon. Kyungsoo, who was sitting in front of Seyoon, offered his seat to one of the boys.

“I’ll just sit here. I have poor eyesight,” said Xiumin as he took the empty seat beside Kyungsoo.

“Mind if I sit here?” Lay asked Seyoon politely.

“No problem,” she replied with a smile.

Chanyeol who was sitting beside Sehun and behind Seyoon, frowned at what he saw. ‘They seemed to get along well together,’ he thought.

“Wait! If you two are here, where’s Luhan?” asked Chanyeol.

---

Once Luhan entered the room, the girls started to gossip and talk. “Oh, it’s you two!” he said as he saw Kai and Baekhyun talking at the second row. Kai’s face automatically turned stern whenever he sees Luhan. Baekhyun, on the other hand, gave him a slight welcoming smile.

“Only the two of you? Where are the others?” asked Luhan.

“They belonged to another homeroom class,” Baekhyun replied.

“So, you are separated from your fan, huh?” Luhan teased Kai, who couldn’t show a single smile at him. Kai just turned his gaze somewhere else, trying to avoid the annoying guy beside him.

“I wonder if there is a vacant seat for me,” Luhan said as he stood in front. The girls automatically went back to their seats. He noticed the vacant seat in front of Kai.

“Can I sit here?” he asked the girl sitting beside the empty seat.

“Sure,” the girl smiled at him as she offered the vacant seat.

“By the way, I’m Luhan. And you are?”

“Krystal,” she replied. Both of them are smiling to each other.

Baekhyun looked at Kai, whose face was unexplainable, a mixture of annoyance and anger.

 

~*~

“Hahahahaha! What’s that?” Chanyeol asked Kyungsoo and Baekhyun who walked together hand in hand. They were wearing the same white dress with smudge of blood all over.

“What are you laughing at?!” Baekhyun broke away from Kyungsoo and gave Chanyeol a headlock. “This is our costume.”

“We were drawn to wear these costumes. It was inspired by the movie, “The Tale of Two Sister”,” said Kyungsoo.

“What about you? What is that? Why are you wearing a bathrobe?” asked Baekhyun to Chanyeol.

“Uh…nothing.” Chanyeol tried to revert his gaze somewhere else.

“You’re hiding something. What’s inside that bathrobe?!?” Baekhyun and Kyungsoo grabbed Chanyeol and removed his bathrobe. The two were surprised by what they’ve seen.

“You! HAHAHAHAHA!!!! You dare to laugh at us, but you…” Baekhyun continued to laugh. Kyungsoo, who was dying of laughter, fell from his seat.

“It..It’s not my fault. This is what I’ve drawn last week. Out of all the costumes, I got this,” said Chanyeol who was trying to hide his face from embarrassment. He was wearing white cycling shorts, and nothing else.

“Chanyeol, here’s the white body paint you’re looking for,” said one of their classmates.

“You’re only wearing that and you’ll cover yourself with white body paint…Jjang! HAHAHAHA!” Baekhyun and Kyungsoo continued to laugh their hearts out.

“It’s not my fault that I got ‘toshio’ from ‘The Grudge’ as my costume. Ah, this is embarrassing. Good thing, I would cover my face with paint and only have to hide inside the closet and wait for the people to come. I won’t surely come out only wearing this.”

While they were talking, Seyoon suddenly came wearing a long white dress, with her hair all in front of her face. “Hi!” she greeted them. Chanyeol, who just noticed that it was her, quickly grabbed the bathrobe and covered his body.

“You’re lucky. That was one of the easiest costumes,” said Kyungsoo.

 “No. I actually got another one but since I have the longest hair in our class, they decided that I’ll just be the ghost,” said Seyoon.

“Whatever it is, if Kai saw you with that costume, he would surely run. That guy is really afraid of ghosts.”

Seyoon looked left and right looking for someone. “Where are Kai and Sehun?”

“Oh those two? They weren’t able to help us with the preparation of the haunted house because of their dance practice so they were assigned to give out leaflets to promote our haunted house.”

“Ahh…No wonder I haven’t seen them a lot these days,” said Seyoon.

“It seems like Kai was determined to win against those new students,” said Baekhyun.

“I really hope they would win,” said Chanyeol.

“They would surely win,” said Kyungsoo.

“Ah, one of the tombs is not here,” said one of their classmates. “I think we left it inside the props room.”

The three, wearing costumes they don’t like, were trying not to volunteer to get the tomb. “I’ll go get it,” said Seyoon. She left the room to get the tomb in the props room located at a isolated warehouse at the back of their main school building.

---

To get to the props room, students would have to travel a long grass covered path with few tall trees. Once anyone gets there, it sure feels creepy especially when there are no people around.

“Ahh, I’m so tired. Handling out leaflets is not an easy job,” said a student who was wearing a mascot. He was too tired that he went at the back of the building to get away from the children chasing him, and the noisy crowd. He sat near one of the trees to get shaded from the sun.

Seyoon, who just came from the props room, was holding the tomb they forgot. The mascot student looked at the direction of the props room. Anyone who would see Seyoon would surely freaked out especially in the setting they were in. Much to his surprised, he saw Seyoon walking towards his direction with a tomb in her hand. He was so scared that he tried to stand up and run. But because of his heavy costume, he couldn’t run faster than he usually could. And after a while, ‘BAM!’ He fell on the floor. Because of his costume, he couldn’t get up like a turtle that fell on his back.

Seyoon, who saw everything, run into the mascot student. She shoved her hair aside and knelt near the student’s head. “Are you alright?” she asked him concernedly. The student in mascot couldn’t answer her properly because of his costume. He just nodded his head to tell her he’s okay.

“Let me help you,” she said. She grabbed the student’s hands, which were for the moment covered with like paws-like costume. She tried to lift the student but because of the combined weight of the costume and the body inside, they both fell on the floor. Now, the mascot student was on top of her.

“Ahh…you…are…heavy,” she said. The student, who noticed that he was putting all his weight on her, tried to get up with the strength of his arms and legs. He rolled sideways. Now, both of them were lying on the grass side by side. Seyoon stood up and grabbed the mascot’s hand and pulled him in a sitting position. After that, she went at his back and tried to assist him in standing up. After their success standing up, Seyoon noticed the leaflets on the floor.

“The leaflets! Don’t worry, I’ll pick it all up!” she said as she hurriedly picked all the leaflets scattered on the grass. After she handed him the leaflets, the mascot student bowed at her. She bowed back. “I have to go. I have to bring this to the classroom. See you again!” as she waved at him smiling, leaving him goodbye.

“Her smile…” he said. Suddenly the mascot realized that he was left there all alone. Not wanting to get scared again, he run towards the front yard leaving the spooky place behind.

~*~

Kai entered the cafeteria when he noticed that Seyoon joined the boys in their lunch. Ever since they moved in together, he noticed that Seyoon was not avoiding him anymore or tried to leave whenever he joined them during lunch. But as usual, they never talked.

“Oh, they were there. Xiumin and Lay and your friends. Let’s go!” said Luhan as he tried to grabbed Kai.

“No, I’m not going. I just went here to buy drinks,” said Kai.

“Huh? But your friends are there. Looked, even your fan was there,” Luhan said to him.

“Please stop calling her that if I were you. Besides, I have some things to do in the library. I have to go.” In fact, he doesn’t have anything to do in the library. Neither, he was avoiding Luhan, his friends, or Seyoon. It is just that today, he promised Krystal that he’ll eat lunch with her in the music room. Luhan just looked at him confused as he left the cafeteria.

“Hey!” Luhan went to his friends’ table. “Hi Kai’s only fan!” he said as he sat beside Seyoon, who was sitting beside Lay.

Seyoon looked at him, “How many times do I have to tell not to call me that anymore? Just call me Seyoon.”

“No. I’ll call you what I want to call you. By the way, what’s wrong with your idol Kai? I just saw him here but he said he has some things to do in the library. Is he avoiding you guys?”

Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, and Sehun looked at each other and at Seyoon, who was staring at her plate. “NO! Why…uhhm…why would he avoid us?” said Baekhyun forcing a smile at him. They knew perfectly the reason why Kai wasn’t there. But they can’t tell the three about his relationship with Krystal.

“He has a lot of homeworks to finish. Just let him be,” said Kyungsoo.

“Alright,” said Luhan who seemed satisfied with their answers.

“I’ll go and buy us drinks? What do you want?” asked Lay to the guys. Every one of them told their choice of drinks. He turned to Seyoon, “what do you want?”

Chanyeol looked at the two of them who were sitting closely to each other. “I know what Seyoon wants. I’ll go with you. I'll help you carry the juice,” he said as he stood up.

“Okay,” Lay replied. Chanyeol looked at Seyoon before he left the table. He didn’t want what he was feeling today. He knew there was something in the way Lay treated Seyoon. He was always kind to her. Well, he was kind to everyone. But he doesn’t want his instincts go to waste. He was just cautious of what Lay may cause in their relationship in the future.