I slide into the seat next to a glum looking Kris who immediately lights up when he realizes that its just me. School has finally started again, and thankfully, none of my classes has awarded me with tests unlike the ever so unlucky Lauren and Kai. Lauren swore that she saw her teacher cackling madly in his office when she passed by, but something tells me I shouldn’t believe her. Maybe it was the demented look she had…

 “Hey, Kris. I haven’t seen you in a while,” I greet casually, prodding his arm as I grin. He rolls his eyes and attempts to swat my hand away as usual. When I get tired of playing the same game for a few minutes with the frustrated Kris, I finally take my hand away and start eating. I realize I haven’t eaten lunch with Kris for a while now…before the whole ‘Mai-ordeal’ started. Speaking of which…where is she anyway? I haven’t seen her around too.

“Hey Kimmy, I haven’t heard from you in ages. What’s new?” He spoons a mouthful of salad to his lips, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. Same old, same old Kris, I thought.

“Nothing,” I answer quickly and start eating my own chicken tenders. I look down somberly at my poor selection of food compared to Kris’ optimal diet kind of food. But of course, this guarantees me a higher satisfaction lunch. I chew quietly, contemplating if I should tell Kris about Baekhyun and Luhan.

“Hey Kimmy, have you seen Mai around?”

“No, why?”

“Hmm, nothing. Well, let’s just say that I had a little talk with her…and yeah, fixed everything,” he beams proudly and I stare at him.

“How?” I ask slowly.

“It’s my secret weapon.”

“You don’t have any, you dork,” I scoff.

“Oh please, Kimmy. I do have a lot. One of them…is my charisma,” he smirks again and winks at me. I make gagging noises, which is displeasing to him.

“You should stop winking at me. Don’t you have Abbey? What happened to her anyway?” I voice my thoughts aloud. Kris’ eyes bulges and he makes a move to shush me as if I just divulged a national secret.

“Shhh, not too loud. She is just well and fine,” he assures me hurriedly and his eyes dart around nervously, being all to aware of…zero people paying attention to us. Complete zero.

“Kris, you idiot, why would anyone even be listening? Its none of their business anyway,” I mumble and shove another piece of the chicken to my mouth.

“I admit, that was stupid move. I keep thinking she goes to school here,” he scratches the back of his head and sighs, annoyed at himself.

“So…what is up with her?” I ask, grinning mischievously. I finally get to taunt Kris and I am not passing this chance up.

“Nothing,” he avoids my gaze but I tap the table impatiently. When he still doesn’t look at me, I cough conspicuously.

“Okay okay! I took her out on a date a few days ago,” he blurts out. I wait for a blush to appear but its just wishful thinking on my part. Kris is too cool to blush.

“What did you guys do? Watch a cheesy romantic movie?” I chortle.

“No, I took her out to…um…do something very special.”

“Such as…?”

“Such as playing laser tag,” he mutters quickly and puts his head down, once again avoiding me.

“Oh my gosh.”

“What? Is she here?” he jumps and looks around quickly before glaring at me as I dissolve into laughter at the new jumpy Kris.

“Wow, Kris, never knew you’d turn like one of those lover-boys,” I tease. Kris ignores me and pouts.

“So did you ask her?”

“About?”

“To be your girlfriend of course,” I wave impatiently. He is too slow sometimes.

“No! Of course not! This kind of thing takes time,” he gives me an affronted look and once again I laugh. Who knew indeed…

“Okay, well when are you going to ask her?” I wiggle my eyebrows and this seems to annoy him even more.

“When are you going to ask Baekhyun to be your boyfriend?” he answers back and I freeze.

“What?”

“You heard me,” he smirks. I would like to rub that off his face very much now.

“Who told you…I didn’t tell anyone…” I gape.

“No one had to tell me. I can read you like an open book,” he boasts. “When are you going to break it to Lulu? You know he needs to know…as soon as possible, preferably. He has been very distracted in our dance practices lately,” Kris tells me. This is not what I want to hear. He is just bringing out one of my many worries again. I was up last night just thinking of what to say to Lulu. I even practiced in front of a mirror, imagining a sad Lulu or possibly angry Lulu in front of me, anticipating his responses.

“Yeah…I’m telling him straight after this. I don’t have any more classes actually,” I start playing with my food, no longer having appetite.

“Lucky you. Well unlike you, I am a very busy boy. I have lots of important work to do,” he announces.

“More like catching up, probably. Go ahead then,” I shoo him away since I see that he has emptied his plate and is ready to leave soon.

“I will. Well, good luck talking to … everyone,” Kris pats my back in a brotherly way and I smile at him.

“Thanks…for everything.”

“I didn’t do anything,” he says and he shakes his head as he walks away, waving goodbye to me. I wave back and sigh hopelessly. I am not looking forward to this. Just before I stand up, someone else slides into the seat across me, her eyes scrutinizing me from top to bottom.

“What do you want, Mai?” I ask in a drawling tone. I am tired of her and her games. I most certainly do not want another encounter with her.

“I come here in peace.” She holds out her two fingers in a ‘peace’ gesture and I roll my eyes. Somehow I find that hard to believe.

“Did some aliens abduct you or something?”

“No, you stupid girl. Why don’t you just listen to me?” she says scornfully. Now this is the Mai I am used to. Okay, so no aliens came here to replace her.

“What?”

“So…I saw you…and Luhan…and Baekhyun, the other day-,” she starts to say but I interrupt her.

“None of your business. Nose out, missy,” I say with a cold tone. She narrows her eyes at me and flicks her hair back impatiently.

“Honey, I am trying to be nice here.”

“Since when are you even close to nice?” I ask in disgust but she ignores my verbal attack again. Something is clearly wrong.

“Would you just listen? Gosh, Kris was right, it is hard being nice to you.”

“Kris? What does he have to do with this?” I am beginning to feel suspicious. Of what? I don’t quite know myself.

“He talked to me, okay? Told me…things…and yadda-yadda, the point is, I have to be nice to you,” she drones, her face very sour as she reminisces about her conversation with Kris possibly. Maybe Kris worked some black magic on her…I wonder what he could have said to her…

“Okay, I’m listening…” I might as well hear her out. She might have some interesting advice, being the Queen Bee of the school and all.

“So here’s the thing. Who do you like?”

“Um…so what exactly did you see again?”

“Nothing but you staying with Luhan after Baekhyun sees you kissing Luhan,” she answers coolly.

“I did not kiss him. He kissed me,” I answer through gritted teeth. Why am I even agitated about this?

“Okay, well same difference. The thing is, I see you have a little something for Luhan…so why waste your time on Baekhyun?” she nods knowingly and I stare at her. Is anything…getting through her thick skull at all?

“Okay, guess what Mai? I think you have the wrong person or something, but yeah, I am just going to ignore you and pretend this never happened. We never conversed and yep, we will go about our own lives as usual, ignoring each other’s existence and all will be well,” I say as I try to get up but her small fingers holds my arm in a bird-like grip, her fingers and nails feeling like claws on my skin.

“Wait…”

I look at her expectantly.

“Look, I am sorry okay. I was mean and stupid and … irrational. I should have never done any of that to you. I’m sorry. I didn’t see it before, but now I do. Kris…helped me. And I am truly sorry. But really, Kimmy. You need to listen to me. You have chemistry with Luhan,” she says. Her eyes actually show sincerity. Should I believe her?

“How would you know that?”

“Because you have the same look Kris had when he told me about Abbey when I mentioned Luhan’s name.”

What? I don’t believe her. Not a single bit. You would think that I am more knowledgeable and aware of my own thoughts and emotions. But I am hesitant to argue with her. This is a waste of my time. I could be well on my way, breaking the bad news to Luhan now. It’s no use talking to her. Why is she interested in my love affair all of a sudden anyway? I am forced to remind myself that she never makes sense, so this is probably a normal behavior of a nosy gossip girl like her.

“Okay. I get you. Can we talk about this some other time? Because I have to go somewhere now. To see Lulu, in fact,” I tell her, checking the time on my watch purposely to get her to release her claws from me. I mean…fingers…

“So…you think I am right?” her tone is excited. Go figure.

“Yeah, um, I have to go. See you,” I walk away quickly the moment she loosens her grip. I dump my tray in the nearest trash bin and chant to myself to not look back at her. The truth is, I really did promise Luhan I would meet him where we met the last time, but five minutes ago. I am very late…and this is not a good start.

“So…I’m really sorry, Lulu. You can…hate me now or whatever you want to do,” I bend my head down, looking at the ground. Luhan has been keeping a neutral face the whole time I tried explaining to him. He didn’t interrupt me, he didn’t say anything, he only nodded a few times here and there to show me he is listening. In conclusion…he looks dead.

“Luhan? Are you there? I am so…sorry. I am, really. I … if you think we shouldn’t…be friends anymore…that’s okay with me. I’m…fine with it,” I mumble. I twiddle my thumbs nervously, waiting for him to say something. The wait is excruciating, the silence is agonizing.

“Lulu?”

“Kimmy…” I look up and Luhan steps forward and envelopes me in a hug. I am startled as can be by his reaction but I slowly raise my hand and wrap them around his waist, where they belong everytime.

“Kimmy, as long as you are happy, okay? That’s all that matters to me. Baekhyun won your heart, fair and square. I didn’t have a chance anyway. I should have known,” he chuckles, a little resentfully. I am touched…my heart melts for the thousandth time with Lulu.

“Lulu, you are the best. I am very blessed to have you in my life. I don’t deserve someone like you.” My voice is muffled from being stifled by his uniform. Lulu breaks away and looks at me. He pulls up a smile…a sad one, but he means the smile. I can tell. It’s a genuine smile, a Lulu smile…

“Wrong, Kimmy. I don’t deserve you. You only deserve the best and I am not the best for you. I guess I should settle for being your best best friend forever,” he chuckles and pulls me in for another hug. I laugh at him because that is the only thing I can think of doing.

“I better hug you all I want before Baekhyun takes away that privilege from me,” he whispers cheekily and I smack his arm lightly, bursting into laughter. Trust Lulu to take something serious and break away the tension. This is going better than I thought. He is more understanding than the Lulu I had in the mirror last night, who yelled at me and had tears in his eyes. I am happy and relieved that this Lulu…the real life Lulu… is taking it well. I am really sorry, Lulu. I hurt you so much, but I promise, I will try to make it up…

“Make it up by getting me chocolate cake,” he says out of the blue and I smack my own face.

“Did I just say that out loud?”

“Yep, you did.” I can hear the grin just from hearing his voice. I don’t have to see his face to know that my Lulu is back. My happy Lulu is back and this satisfies me more than anything else in the world right now. Baekhyun may be the one I love, but Luhan is important too. He is my best friend…the best friend I will always love to be around.

“I will buy you as many chocolate cakes as you want, Lulu,” I say while laughing. Am I actually tearing up now? I feel a single drop rolling down my cheek, landing on Lulu’s uniform. He remains oblivious and is abusing his hugging opportunity too much.

“And bubble tea?” He is milking this for all its worth, isn’t he?

“And bubble tea too. I will buy you the whole shop.” My voice starts to crack. Lulu, you deserve it. I hope you find someone better than me, someone who will never hurt you or wound your heart like I did. Someone who will love you more than she loves herself. Someone perfect…

He sighs and a bubble of laughter surrounds us. I feel his chest vibrates with life and its so infectious that I am forced to laugh as well. Is this wrong?

“I love you, Kimmy. Not in that kind of weird way….yeah, if you know what I mean,” he ends awkwardly. I do know what he means.

“I love you too, Luhan. Best friends forever,” I giggle.

“Forever,” he echoes and he snickers like an idiot. An idiot I am thankful for. An idiot that will always have a place in my heart.

Thank you, Luhan. I will find the perfect match for you someday.  Only the perfect one for you.

I am finally free. I am finally on the right track. I am finally making the right decision.

Adrenaline rushes all over my body, leaving me with a huge smile on my face, feeling sparkles of delight all over my body as I skip my way to the auditorium, where I know Baekhyun is. He told me he practices his solo there after lunch-time every Thursday. Since not a lot of the singers get the solo parts, Baekhyun says he usually has the room to himself.

I slow down when I am nearing the room, my heart beating sporadically. I am buzzing with joy, and I feel airy. I can finally do things right. I finally found my match. Things are going to be just fine. I am going to see Baekhyun, and I can tell him my final decision.

It’s him. I choose him. I love him. He is the one. I can already picture him smiling widely and I would do the same too. No one to come between us. Nothing can. I feel powerful and on top of the world already. I just need to go see my angel. My angel….I thought, lovingly. I can’t seem to get sick of thinking about it. Most would find it cheesy, but nothing is cheesy with Baekhyun. Nothing is ever wrong with him.

I pull the handle open. And clearly that is a very wrong move.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. I am wrong.

Because is it right…to see a familiar silhouette of Baekhyun…on the stage, deep in a kiss with Mai? He is too distracted to notice a heartbroken girl like me, standing by the door, quietly closing it again. My hands shake and my legs begins to be weak again. I am shocked, I am hurt. I feel like someone impaled a spear to my chest. I cannot breathe, my chest in constricted. I look around me, trying to make sense of everything. Why is there no flying chairs? Isn’t this just a dream? Isn’t this not…reality?

Because how can that be the real Baekhyun? Either that or…I must have mistaken what I saw…

My legs take me away from the scene, from the horror I just witnessed. They seem to know better than me. They seem to be thinking for me again, like always. I can’t have seen wrong. That was his chocolate brown hair…the hair I so miss seeing. That was his lean figure, the one I have memorized after seeing its shadow and trace everytime at night, etched so clearly in my brain.

Unfortunately, that was not the only thing branded on my mind. No, that was not it.

His body, close to hers, no space in between, even for a strand of hair. I couldn’t see his face, but I know that was Baekhyun. There is no mistaking Mai and her familiar tall legs and mini skirt with long hair down to her hips. No way at all.

I feel hurt. I feel crushed. There is no ‘top of the world’. I am falling deep into the pits of sorrow and misery. Whatever I felt just now…it was robbed of me, taken away just like that, in a snap of a moment. A single sight. That was all it took.

A single person.

A single heart to break.

A thousand pieces.

A million tears. 

A/N: SO.... eh he he he *awkward laugh* so i am going to head to bed right now, ridden with guilt... he he he...but yeah, i felt like updating tonight and yup....\o/  a long-ish chapter for you guys, my lovely readers! <3 enjoy! lolol