“So did you see Kai today? I think there was something different about his hair,” Luhan commented, picking through a bag of neon gummy worms until he found a blue and pink one. He popped it into his mouth, and continued browsing tumblr when he was actually supposed to be writing a 3000 word essay. However, he only had a paragraph and a half completed.

Yixing, who was on the other end of a Skype call, frowned slightly. “Luhan, you shouldn’t eat gummy worms at night. It’s bad for your teeth.” He was also writing his history essay, which was already at 3 pages. He was pretty much done, in the final stages of editing. “And finish your essay. It’s due tomorrow. I know you’re on tumblr, looking at pictures of EXO.”

Luhan sighed, and minimized tumblr. “Okay, mom.” After a moment of silence, Luhan spoke again. “You have to admit they’re pretty good looking. Don’t you think Sehun looks like the maknae? Like they both have the droopy eyes...” Yixing let his best friend ramble about the new rookie group, although he also found them quite good looking.

Luhan’s tone suddenly become serious. “Hey, you know that party we’re going to this weekend right?”

Yixing frowned. “Yeah, what about it?” It was another one of their ‘networking days’ that all the wealthy businessmen and their children attended to meet one another. They usually went with their fathers, having to be professional and act poised and sophisticated. Yixing disliked these gatherings, because of the amount of people there gave him anxiety.

“I’m gonna ask Sehun and Kai if they want to work as waiters,” Luhan said, pulling out his phone. “Sehun mentioned he wanted to earn extra money through more legal means.” He laughed as he said the word legal.

Yixing’s heart jumped to his throat. “You’re gonna ask Kai?” As much as he wanted to see Kai, he was afraid that Kai’s presence would cause him to blow his professionalism.

“Too late,” Luhan said. “I just texted Sehun.” There was a pause, and then a ring from Luhan’s phone. He placed the phone in front of the webcam. “Sehun said yes. He’s making Kai go with him.” Luhan grinned at his friend.

The brown haired boy sighed. “Are you sure this is a good idea? What if I lose my composure? What if they do something rash? What if something goes wrong in general?”

Luhan shook his head. “You’re being paranoid again, nothing is going to happen. If anything, you’ll just get to see Kai more, right?” He flashed Yixing a smile.

Yixing sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

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“Hey, can I ask a favour?”

Joonmyun suddenly sat up and stared at Kyungsoo, who was sitting in front of him. They were studying for a physics test at Kyungsoo’s apartment. Kyungsoo’s apartment was closer to the school, so the pair often went there after school to study. Also, they could be alone, away from prying eyes.

“What is it?” Kyungsoo asked, tilting his head slightly.

The short haired boy paused before answering. His brow was furrowed, and seemed to be carefully putting his words together. “There’s a dinner party this weekend,” he started. “Would you like to work as a waiter for that night?” His voice was full of uncertainty, his eyes looking anywhere but at Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo thought for a moment, trying to remember if he had anything planned for the weekend. He was supposed to go to the museum with his parents, but that excursion was clearly cancelled after the events 2 nights ago. He shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t see why not.”

Joonmyun relaxed visibly, clearly relieved. “Thank you,” he said.

“Why are you acting so weird about it?” Kyungsoo asked bluntly. He usually would have just let Joomyun’s strange behaviour be, however, lately Kyungsoo started calling people out more often, as well as smiling less.

His friend’s expression turned grim. “I… I just want you to be there.” He seemed to be in a limbo of defeat and defiance, like he was fighting something he had no chance against. “It would make me feel better…” he paused. “If you were there.”

Kyungso sighed. He didn’t like seeing his friend in such distress.  He gently tapped Joonmyun on the arm, who looked up in surprise. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll go.”

A wisp of a smile played on Joonmyun’s lips, so faint that Kyungsoo thought it was just his imagination. He felt his heart beat faster for a split second.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments before Joonmyun looked up again. “Can I ask you another favour?” His expression was troubled again. Kyungsoo wondered how his emotions changed so quickly. The smaller boy nodded.

“When we’re at the party, you must not show that you know me.”

Kyungsoo was taken aback by the sudden request. “What?” he said in surprise. He felt a stab of betrayal shoot through his chest. He thought they were friends. Was their friendship something Joonmyun was ashamed of?

Joonmyun’s brows furrowed, his expression twisted like he was concentrating very hard. “My father is going to be there…” he trailed off, hesitating before speaking again. “It’s safer for you if we pretend we don’t know each other.” He was definitely hiding something, but what that was Kyungsoo did not know.

Kyungsoo decided to dig deeper. “Joonmyun, tell me what’s wrong. What’s your father going to do?” Although he was still offended by his friend’s comment, he was worried that something might happen to his friend. After being friends with Joonmyun for a while, Kyungsoo knew that Joonmyun’s father was not someone you wanted as an enemy.  

“You don’t know me, and I don’t know you, understand?” Joonmyun’s voice suddenly became steely cold, his eyes blazing. Kyungsoo flinched at Joonmyun’s burst of anger, involuntarily shuffling back in his seat.

As quick as it came, Joonmyun’s rage subsided. He rubbed his temples and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Please. Just do that for me.”

Kyungsoo nodded shakily. “O-okay.” He sighed inwardly, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to get answers out of Joonmyun. He tried his best to understand, because he knew the amount of control that Joonmyun’s father had over his son. He glanced at his friend, who was now furiously scribbling formulas into his notebook, his mouth still pulled into a grimace.

The pair stayed in a heavy silence for the rest of the study session, leaving Kyungsoo alone with his thoughts. It was quite obvious to him that he had feelings for Joonmyun, though he only realized exactly how strong these feelings were recently. He had always played them off as a close friendship, but those feelings grew as the years went on. That comment Joonmyun just made hurt Kyungsoo more than the other boy knew. Was it because he wasn’t rich? Because he wasn’t going to inherit a huge company? To be honest, Kyungsoo didn’t even know if Joonmyun liked guys. Pain stabbed at his heart as he came to this conclusion. Kyungsoo did his best to push away these thoughts and focus on his homework.  

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A/N: Hello! I think I can actually keep these weekly updates up now haha I'm pretty happy with this upload scheduele, cause it gives me time to read over the chapters and ensure that I am keeping story and characters consistent. Well, as best as I can anyway (consistency is hard when your story is like 3 years long T_T)

Anyways thanks for reading, leave a comment letting me know what you think of this story! And thank you to all those who are subscribing, it really means a lot to me :)

I'll do my best to make sure I have another chapter up next week! :D