~*.*~

Seyoon was already preparing dinner for her and Kai when Kai suddenly popped out into the kitchen.

“Woah! You surprise me,” Seyoon said while tightly gripping the knife in her hands. “Don’t do that again.”

“I’m sorry. Is the dinner ready?” asked Kai.

Seyoon swayed her head. “What do you want?” she asked.

“Hmm?”

“Why are you here? You never help me cook so it’s unusual that you’re here. What do you want?”

“Nothing. I just want to talk to you. Is there anything wrong with that?”

“Could you prepare the noddles?” Seyoon asked as she handed Kai a pack of buckwheat noodles. “What do you want to talk about?”

Kai started preparing the pot to boil water. “Uhm…By the way, do you enjoy going to the pet café? I am wondering if you want to go again,” Kai said to her.

Seyoon stopped chopping for a while. “The water is overflowing! Look what you’re doing,” she said to Kai.

“Oh, sorry.”

“About the pet café, well it’s a nice place. But, I don’t think I should go there with you,” said Seyoon.

“Huh? You said it’s a nice place. Why don’t you want to go there anymore? Don’t you like it?”

“It’s not that. It’s just that…” Seyoon looked at Kai who was obviously having a hard time just preparing the noodles. “You should let the water boil before you put the noodles.”

“Oh yeah. I forgot,” he muttered.

“How would you forget it? It’s not even in your memory. Sometimes, asked Kyungsoo to teach you how to cook,” she said to him.

“Why? I don’t need to learn how to cook. You’re there to cook for me forever,” he said with a smile on his face.

The comment somewhat caught Seyoon off guard that she unevenly cut the tofu she was slicing. “What are you saying?! Stop joking!”

“Hehe. Sorry. So, let’s go back to the pet café. Do you really hate it? Is it because you don’t like dogs?” he asked again.

“No. They’re cute. It’s just that I found out that Krystal brought you there…”

Kai suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked at Seyoon. “How do you know that? Did Jessica-noona…?”

Seyoon nodded to him. “Don’t worry. I didn’t tell her that you and Krystal are dating.”

“That’s not the point. Even if Krystal brought me there that doesn’t mean that you’re not allowed to—”

“I know. It’s just that, you know, Krystal brought you there and you rarely go outside together. I think she brought you there so it could be your special place. Like, it’s a place where the two of you could be together without hiding anything, except from Jessica-unnie. I don’t want her to think that I am entering her territory or something,” Seyoon muttered.

Seyoon heard a chuckle from Kai which made her look at him with a frown. “You’re thinking too much. Besides, Krystal is not like that. We’re friends and that’s not her territory so I am free to bring my friends over.”

“Do you think she really feel that way? I mean, we’re not doing anything wrong because we’re just friends and I know that Krystal knows that but I just think that we need to be more careful.”

Kai, after hearing what Seyoon said, just nodded as a response but Seyoon could see his crestfallen expression.

“But I will go back there for sure,” she said which made Kai looked at her with a grin. “-With Chanyeol.” Kai’s face turned into a pout. “And maybe I could bring Kyungsoo, Sehun, Baekhyun, and Lu—” Seyoon stopped when she realized what she was about to say. “Ahh, I should prepare this now. I’ll just call you when I’m done.”

“Oh…” Even though Seyoon was smiling, he knew it wasn’t really what she felt inside. “Seyoon?”

“Hm?”

“Can I ask you to do something for me?” Kai asked.

“What is it?”

“Could you prepare my lunch for tomorrow?”

“What? You want me to make lunch for you for tomorrow?” Seyoon asked him which Kai nodded in return.

“Aren’t you having lunch with…?”

“No. She’s been busy these days preparing for a competition and college entrance exams. You know, since she’s aiming for—”

“For the scholarship, I know. But, wouldn’t she get mad if she found out that I prepare—”

“Don’t worry. She won’t. Just prepare it for me, please,” said Kai as he clasped his hands and pleaded in front of Seyoon.

“Okay. Don’t worry. I’ll make one for you,” Seyoon said before she resumed preparing their dinner. Although she enjoyed spending some time with Kai the last time, she kept on reminding herself that every moment she had with Kai were temporary. She would never have him because he was somebody’s.

“Seyoon?” Kai asked again.

“Yes?”

“I have one last thing to ask,” he said.

“What is it?”

---

“Where’s Luhan?” Xiumin asked Baekhyun who was at the same homeroom class as Luhan.

“I didn’t see him when the bell rang. I thought he was already here,” Baekhyun replied.

Chanyeol and Seyoon looked at each other and all Chanyeol could do was to give her a smile but Seyoon still seemed downcast.  

---

Luhan was on his way to the dance practice room when a strong hand grabbed his shoulder. When he turned around, he saw someone unexpected.

“What do you want?”

“Rooftop.”

Luhan thought for a second before he nodded. He didn’t what this person was thinking but he knows that it would be interesting. Besides, he, also, wanted to talk to this person.

---

“Something’s really weird about him lately,” said Lay. “He’s not that lively when we’re hanging out.”

Xiumin nodded and added, “He even skips dinner twice. It all happened after that modeling job that he got. I really wonder if something happened there that he doesn’t want to tell us,” he said.

Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Sehun looked at Seyoon who seemed to be shrinking on her seat as Xiumin continued to talk.

“Maybe he’s just undergoing some mood changes,” said Kyungsoo.

“Or maybe he’s homesick,” said Sehun.

“Right! Maybe he’s homesick. How long have you been away? I’m sure he just misses his family,” Baekhyun added.

“Well, we didn’t think about that. Maybe, he is missing his family,” said Xiumin. Lay just nodded at the corner.

Chanyeol looked at Seyoon and held her hand. “It’s okay,” he whispered to her.

“Thank you.”

---

When the door to the rooftop closed, the person who brought Luhan turned around to face.

“What do you—” Luhan supposed to ask him when he saw the person handing him a box. “…want? What is this?” he asked.

“Lunchbox. Seyoon made that. You’re not planning to skip lunch again do you?” the person asked him.

Luhan stared at the lunchbox for a while then smirked. “Isn’t this for you Kai?” he said.

“No. It’s for you. It’s just that Seyoon thought it was for me,” Kai said to him.

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t tell Seyoon but I planned to have a chat with you today. Hopefully, a friendly chat,” said Kai. “Mind if we sit?” He went to one of the stone benches where he and Seyoon used to sit the other day.

Luhan joined him, still holding the lunchbox that Kai gave him. “What about you?” he asked. Kai looked at him with a confused face. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“Oh. I have my own,” he said as he took out another lunchbox from his bag. It was actually the lunchbox that Krystal gave him before she went to the practice room.

“So, what do you want to talk about?” Luhan asked as he opened the lunchbox. Just by the smell of it, he knew he couldn’t resist eating it. He held the chopsticks tightly with his hand as he grabbed a slice of the omelet.

Kai could see on the corner of his eyes the lunch that Seyoon supposedly prepared for him. He, then, started opening the lunch made by Krystal. ‘There’s a great difference,’ he thought. Nevertheless, he started to grab a bite. “You already know what we are going to talk about. You were there right? Last weekend.”

Luhan stopped for a while. “You and Seyoon, what is it really between the two of you? The two of you living together, wearing wedding attires, your parents were there, your close friends were there. What is it really?” he asked.

“I don’t know if you would believe it or not but our parents arranged us into a marriage, a forced marriage if that’s what you wanted to call it,” Kai replied.

Luhan’s eyes grew wide although he shouldn’t really be surprised as everything already made sense to him after seeing Seyoon in a wedding gown. Luhan bit his lips before he started taking another bite, or rather, big consecutive mouthful of food.

Kai looked at him and sighed. “You don’t have to be mad at her. She has done nothing wrong. We know that even though we are against it, our parents would still do everything to make us agree with them so we have no choice. But Seyoon and I already agreed that it is just the contract that we are after for. No…no romantic relationship whatsoever,” Kai added. He heaved another sigh before he ate the same amount as what Luhan had eaten earlier.

“I know,” Luhan said to him. Kai looked at him with his mouth full. “I know there’s nothing going on between the two of you. After all you…” 'You already have a girlfriend,' he thought at back of his mind. He looked at Kai, “You only see her as a friend, am I right?” After a few seconds, Luhan still didn’t hear Kai’s answer. “Right?” he repeated.

“Right. So, I hope that you’ll treat her the way you treat her before. Please stop avoiding her. It’s not only you who’s affected here. Seyoon is…Seyoon is extremely worried about you,” said Kai.

The two remained silent for a while as they finished their lunch.

~.*.~

 

Luhan skipped lunch today and Seyoon wasn’t really happy about it. In fact, instead of feeling sad or guilty, she felt mad as ever. She had no choice but to talk to Luhan today or else she might explode of too much worry and guilt.

When the bell rang, she immediately fixed her things and grabbed her bag. She didn’t even hear Chanyeol calling her name. She was only focused on what she was about to do today. That was to bring Luhan to an empty room where she could to talk to him. She just hoped that she won’t explode in anger when she would talk to him – it would just make things worse. She walked to the hallway and there were already students walking outside. After all, it was already the end of class.

She walked on the hallway but her eyes were narrowed on the door of Luhan’s classroom. She waited until Luhan came out, hoping that Kai won’t come out before him. She waited patiently and when he saw the boy with medium blond hair, she immediately grabbed his hand as she tried to walk run fast to escape from the other students’ stares.

When they reached the hallway leading to the student council room, she slowed down a bit before she opened the room, shoving Luhan inside, and locked it. When she was about to turn around, she was surprised when Luhan suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace. Her head was against his chest and she could feel his rapid heartbeat. Seyoon couldn’t move anymore because of shock when she heard Luhan’s soft voice.

“Sorry,” he said softly. “Sorry.”

“What are you saying? I should be the one—”

“Shh…” He tightened his embrace. “It’s not your fault Seyoon, not yours.”

“But Luhan, Kai and I…”

“I know. You don’t have to explain. Just let me hug you for a bit. I miss you,” he said.

“What do you mean? I haven’t explained anything.”

“You don’t have to. I already know it. And whatever it is that you have with Kai, I don’t care. I want to be with you Seyoon. I will wait. I will always wait for your answer. I love you,” he said. Seyoon felt the sincerity in Luhan’s words. Although she was embraced tightly, she could still feel the gentleness in his embrace. She didn’t know but she didn’t move an inch or pull from his embrace. She just stood there, speechless; everything inside her head turned into a vast blank page.

‘What should I do?’ she asked herself.

---

When Kai saw Luhan being pulled by Seyoon, he couldn’t help but follow the two. He was worried that Luhan still wouldn’t understand Seyoon. He was worried that he would get mad at her. He was afraid that Seyoon would get hurt again and he didn’t want that to happen. After looking for the possible place where they went, he finally reached a room at the end of an empty hallway. And on a vertical glass near the door, he saw Seyoon…being hugged by Luhan.

~.*.~

“Seyoon?” Kai asked again.

“Yes?”

“I have one last thing to ask,” he said.

“What is it?”

“Will you smile a true sincere smile if you resolve your problem with Luhan?”

Seyoon chuckled. “What are you saying? Am I not smiling a sincere smile? I am.”

“No, you’re not. It's not the same. Will Luhan return that smile to you?” Kai asked her again.

“I don’t know. But it will be better if Luhan and I will get better again,” Seyoon answered. But she knew that there was still someone more capable of bringing a real smile on her face, but it seemed unreachable…now. 

---

Luhan was about to leave after eating lunch and gave back the lunchbox to Kai when Kai called his name.

“Luhan.” Luhan turned around and saw Kai’s serious face staring at him. “Don’t give up on Seyoon,” Kai said to him.

Luhan was shocked at first but he tried to maintain a neutral face. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t give up on Seyoon. I don’t like this arrange marriage to stop her from doing or getting what she’s supposed to have. She deserves someone who would truly love her, like you.”

Luhan stared at him, surprised by his words. ‘Why are saying that to me Kai?’ he thought. “Don’t worry. I didn’t plan to stop. I won’t give up on her.”

~.*.~

 

“I hope to see your true smile again Seyoon.”

 

 

 

 

 

---

A/N:

Don't give up. We didn't give up. And they're coming back! I thought I would not be able to post this. My mind exploded yesterday after EXO's comeback announcement. I am still in shock right now.

Pardon me. ><

Lol. Our Ggamjong and Xiao Lu. Kya! They are all cute!!!!! Can't wait for the teasers on the 17th. ^_______________________^

(credit: tumblr, rightful owner)