Tao walked towards the cafeteria;

“Oh crap!” Tao hit himself.

Tao forgot to ask Kris about the mysterious woman at his door. Well not directly ask; that would entail Tao basically telling Kris he stalked him. Tao just wanted to get something out of Kris. Spill the beans and whatnot

Tao barely goes to the cafeteria for food but this time something felt different; He was Mr. I-do-what-I-want-when-I-want after all. He got a milk carton and apple from the lunch lady like the first day of school. He sat at an empty table at the back of the cafeteria near a trashcan.

Tao made sure no one sat beside him; and nobody wanted to. They were all afraid of him.

Feeling glad about people leaving him alone, Tao ate his apple in peace.

He sipped on his milk carton once in a while but he wasn’t the type to drink until the food was finished

Whilst Tao was staring at the half eaten apple, he saw Kris make an entrance.

Zitao’s peace was ruined with girls squealing all over the place

Tao fisted his hand again to control his anger.

Kris sat down on the Opposite side of Tao; furthest from him in the cafeteria.

Kris ‘choice of lunch was unseen by Tao due to the distance. But Kris was all alone too.

But not for long. The “Wu Yifan groupies” have arrived by his side like some sort of inseparable, annoying body guard swat team.

The table was full of laughter and giggles. Ocassionally, one of the girls would touch Kris’ golden hair or his porcelain face. Kris just smiled like an arrogant .

Tao finished his lunch and was about to throw his milk carton in the trash can when he heard a ruckus on Kris’ side. The whole room’s attention was diverted to the opposite side.

It was the captain of the soccer team; He was shorter than Kris by 2 inches but he was muscular and he looked like he was looking for trouble.

The room made a circle of people around the two of them. A fight might start any moment.

Apparently the captain flipped over Kris’ lunch and Kris wasn’t too happy about that. But why would he do that to a new student?

Tao headed over to the crowd to have a good view.

The soccer player wasn’t playing games this time “How dare you. Who do you think you are? Coming here and trying to steal my girlfriend, stealing all our girlfriends?”

Kris’ looked down. He cleared his throat. “I wasn’t. I didn’t do anything; we’re all just friends. Plus I didn’t know they were taken. They all just approached me. I promise you nothing happened”

“Son of a b- They approached you? Who the hell believes that? Just because you’re from a foreign country doesn’t mean you’re superior. In any way. How could you not know she was with me? How dare you imply she and all our girlfriends approach you?” The man spat in Kris’ direction

“Listen, I didn’t do anything wrong and the fact you’re causing a mess of all this is illogical. You have no sufficient evidence and you’re just assuming this whole thing out of insecurity of your own manhood because you don’t trust your own girlfriend. And you ruined my lunch, so whose fault is it really? ” Kris smiled as he said this. He was in a tense situation but he was still composed and calm as if he was talking to an agreeable person. Kris didn’t realize the insult he just threw on the captain of the soccer team.

“Oh, he’s done it now” Tao mumbled; trying to approach the front of the crowd.

The captain of the soccer team cussed then approach Kris. They were face to face. Any sudden movements might cause a brawl.

“WHY YOU LITTLE . I didn’t understand much of what you were saying but I got one thing. Your one little smart who thinks he’s better than all of us. Am I right guys?” He asked for the soccer team

The team cheered “yah”

“You just made me look like an in front of these people and you tell me I’m insecure of my manhood?! Look at yourself, you look like a ing girl. Hey I might just replace you after I’m done with Sun-Yi” The muscular man stared up at Kris. He made a rude comment about his own girlfriend too.

Tao got in front of the crowd. He stared at Kris and laughed; if there’s one thing he agreed with the captain, it was Kris’ femininity. Tao looked to his left and there was Sun-yi, teary eyed.

Kris’ happy demeanour suddenly turned cold. He looked serious this time. He stared down at the captain.

“Don’t talk about your girlfriend like that” Kris replied. Tao has never seen Kris affected by anything until now.

“Make me. She’s my girlfriend. Not yours, so she’s my property” The muscular man looked like he was getting ready for a fist fight.

Tao looked at Sun-yi; She had a shocked face on.

“I mean it. She’s probably approaching me because maybe I’m better than you” Kris smirked

The muscular man pushed Kris “Maybe? You? Better than me? Punk you’re full of ”

Kris didn’t fight back “You’re right. IAM BETTER THAN YOU”

With those four words out there, the captain punched Kris so hard in the head you could hear a crackle of bones. Kris was on the floor with a bloody lip but still conscious.

He was about to get up when the captain was going to pull another punch out.

Tao didn’t care about anything or anyone. This mentality was in Tao’s mind. But his body’s contradicting actions beg to differ.

Tao rushed to Kris’ side and stopped the following punches. With a high kick in the air, the mighty captain lies, fallen, cold and bloody unconscious.

Tao looked please with himself, staring at the still captain on the floor.

Tao looked around and everyone was staring at him with such fear. Inhaling deeply, Tao relished in the sense of fear people had of him. Years of Wushu training was not in vain.

Tao faced Kris who was also looking directly at him. At his whole being

Tao wanted Kris to have the same fear as the people in the crowd. Tao sensed fear but there was something else. Kris was ing smiling at him, like Tao was some sort of savior.

 There wasn’t fear in Kris’ eyes  anymore instead there was this feeling of hope in Kris’ eyes when he looked at Tao.

Tao looked down at Kris in surprise, he felt knots in his tummy.

Kris showed a hand to Tao; to queue Tao to help poor Kris up.

Tao smiled as well. He took Kris’ hand.

Kris was about to get up holding Tao’s hand when Tao pulled him in and pushed his face down.

Kris was back on the floor again. He had an irritated face on.

Tao poked a tongue at him. “You wish”

Looking at a crying Sun-yi, Tao ordered “Sun-yi, this is your boyfriend’s fault so its your responsibility. Apologize to him and will someone get him to the clinic? I really hate used napkin left on the floor” He referred to Tao as a used napkin because he was bloody and he took a shot at his girly-ness. Tao wanted to burst into laughter at his comedic genius but he was too busy looking bad . He walked out of the crowd with everyone moving to the side, as to not block his way.

The bell rang on cue. Tao skipped the rest of the day but was back in the nick of time for Gym class.

Tao entered the court wearing his gym uniform except he rolled up the sleeves and didn’t wear the prescribed shoes.

As Tao entered, people stared at him with an awe. The coach reprimanded Tao for his disregard of school policies.

“Zitao! You’re wearing the wrong shoes, roll down your sleeves son! And wipe that smile off of your face” Coach Hyung scolded

Tao ignored him and instead just stared at him. It seems like everyone was using his other name today.

“ZITAO! I’m serious! We aren’t starting unless you change” Coach Hyung pointed out

Tao rolled his eyes “Aren’t you happy I actually attended you’re class?”

This was probably the fifth time in the past 2 years that Tao attended gym class. He only attended during tests but he passed the subject because he always got perfect in every one of the tests he took. His athletic skill was unquestionable though he never made any school team, it’s not that he chose not to try out for anything; as if he had to, it’s just that his grades were never up to par with the requirement to make the team.

“And I should be gracious to have you?” The teacher retorted

“Okay, I’ll leave” Tao suggested

“Wait, wait. Okay. You can participate in class” Coach hyung sighed

Tao smirked

Coach hyung started the session. He told the students to make a line with 3 rows and 5 columns. He walked back and forth in front of them as they assembled. After they did so, he told them to do warm up exercises.

“Okay, today we will be playing dodge ball. The rule of the game is to hit the opposing team’s members until none of them are left or if the five minute time limit runs out; whoever’s team has the least members loses ” Coach Hyung picked up a red rubber ball.

“Who wants to be a team leader?” Coach Hyung asked

No one raised their hand.

Tao peeked and a few girls were nudging Kris to join, it was odd since Kris was in no shape to be participating in gym class after all the ruckus that happened this morning.

Kris even had a huge bruise on his left cheek. Tao chuckled to himself

“No takers? A leader’s job is to choose s. Now unless you want me to separate you from your friends, someone ought to raise a hand” The Coach span the ball in his hands

A girl raised her hand but when called, he pointed at Kris.

Puzzled, Kris pointed at himself in a questionable way.

The Coach misread the reaction as Kris volunteering himself. He called on Kris.

Kris looked down as if to accept the decision and looked up to smile like he freely wanted to be a leader.

Kris stood on Coach Hyung’s side

“Ok, we need one more leader? Who wants?” He asked informally

Tao found the groupies annoying and Kris even more for succumbing to his fan’s wishes as if he didn’t have a choice.

Tao thought to himself. He didn’t want to be on Kris’ team at all. In fact, Tao relished in the thought of hitting Kris legally without any consequence.

Tao his lips and raised his hand

The class looked back at him and the wicked stare on his face.

The coach was surprised as well “I’m glad you’re taking initiative son. I’m sure you will be a good leader”

“I know I will” Tao stood on the other side of the coach

Kris stole a glance at him. Blondie didn’t look happy.

“Okay, pick your members” Coach Hyung ordered

Kris and Tao had to decide who was first via rock, paper, scissors.

The two faced each other, Tao gave Kris a plastic smile

“Rock, paper, scissors!” The two chanted and motioned.

Tao looked down and shrugged. He was rock but Kris was paper.

Kris looked pleased.

“Wu Yifan, you will be picking first”

Kris was a good leader, no doubt. If only his choices were his own. Kris was forced to pick members of his fan club, ending in his team being all girls.

Feeling a tad angry, Tao was left with mostly males; some from the soccer team and some girls who were out casted by the groupies.

Tao felt confident against a bunch of lovesick girls. But he needed a contingency incase the part of s who were in the soccer team might turn on him but that wasn’t a big deal since their anger towards Kris seemed far graver.

Tao planned with s. He assured them that hitting a girl within these circumstances was okay.

The Coach divided the two groups and placed ten balls in the middle of them. It was first come, first serve.

The Coach instructed “When I blow this whistle, you have to rush in the middle and get as many balls as you can but you can only throw them when you get behind that yellow line”

Coach Hyung pointed at the court floor.

“Ok, ready” He blew his whistle

Tao and a bunch of the males from the soccer team managed to get 7 balls and Kris and some major fangirls only got 3.

The game went by far too fast. Tao eliminated the girl who nominated Kris by hitting her stomach and also hit some other chicks he found unbearable, Tao’s team members hit some more weaklings who complained about their nails, they attempted to hit Kris repeatedly but there was always a girl in the way. Kris’ team also had some hits. They tried really hard to hit Tao as much as they could but Tao evaded it easily except from Eun-mi who missed him by a hair on his head. The girls aimed for Tao and the other girls most of the time.

The first round ended with Kris having eight out of fifteen members and Tao having twelve out of fifteen members with two girls left in his team.

The coach reassembled the rubber balls in the middle.

He blew his whistle once more.

The rush started again. Tao’s team got 5 balls and Kris’ team got 5 as well.

Kris’ team was more aggressive now. They seemed like a human shield protecting their Oppa from harm. Many sacrificed themselves for him. It seemed admirable and stupid at the same time

Tao was having fun. He was getting a kick out of the other team’s squirming.

“ACK!” A girl from Tao’s team groaned

Tao gazed at her; she had a limp. He looked at the opponents on the other side, the enemy threw a ball her way.

Tao immediately ran towards the limp girl’s direction and moved her. He caught the ball in the nick of time and called for a substitution.

The limp girl was confused but she grinned at Tao and was very thankful.

Tao seemed not to care; it wasn’t a big deal but there was this weird happy feeling inside of him.

Tao became serious this time. He had no mercy.

He hit Eun-mi harshly and the people who tried to hit the limp girl.

He aimed for Kris most of the time. But Kris evaded it like a flimsy rabbit, throwing a few balls at him and mostly hitting the males on Tao’s team. Even when there was an easy kill, Kris never took it.

By the end of the second round, Tao’s team almost depleted most of Kris’ team with Kris having four members left including himself and Tao having seven members left with no women in his team. It was officially boys versus girls.

Before the start of the Third and final round, Tao mouthed at Kris. “I will destroy you”

Kris nodded and ignored it.

Coach Hyung blew the whistle.

Tao’s team managed to get 9 balls and Kris’ team tried very hard but only managed to get one.

Red rubber balls flew everywhere.

In a blink of an eye, two people were left in Kris ‘team.

Kris and a small, sickly girl with glasses was left of the all mighty Wu Yifan fan’s club, while Tao had five members in his group.

Tao refused to hit the girl and only focused on Kris. His team mates however wanted to win.

Clumsy, flimsy Kris turned into something different. From only evading, he started attacking and catching anything thrown his way. He was definitely leading his 2-man team. The girl tried very hard to avoid things thrown at her but often fell down and had no time to throw a ball back. Kris caught almost every ball thrown at her way. It was as if his driving force was to protect her.

Tao should find this admirable but instead, he found it extremely annoying and thought Kris was stealing the spotlight and being a false hero again.

Kris’ newfound bravery was effective in decreasing his team members. They both had an equal two members each; with Kris and the weak girl and Tao and the soccer team’s midfielder. Tao’s increasing rage grew evident with every ball he threw back.

Tao with all his might threw a ball aimed at Kris. Kris looked straight at it and forgot for a second he was protecting his team mate. Kris evaded and the ball hit the girl’s head. The force was so hard it made her fall to the ground and broke her glasses. There was a quiet pause in the court. There was only the sound of the small girl crying.

Kris called for a timeout and approached his team mate.

Looking at the girl’s face, she had a bruise on her left cheek. Kris pointed out that they had a bruise on the same place from the same person. The girl laughed as tears streamed down her face.

“Oppa, you’re funny” The small girl commented

Kris picked up her broken glasses “I’m so sorry; please forgive me. I should have been protecting you from that evil monster”

The girl looked at her broken frame but didn’t mind it anymore. Every pain seemed to go away when Kris was there. She laughed again from Kris’ humor, referring to Tao as an evil monster

“Hey!” Tao complained but maintained his silence quickly after. The small spark of a good feeling quickly turned into this self disgust with himself. Tao was indenial but he was feeling sort of guilty.

He resented the fact that Kris was seen as a hero again and himself as a villain, like usual.

Kris kissed the girls forehead and escorted her to the others.

The girl was filled with happiness; as if Tao never hit her at all.

The Coach blew his whistle. The game was back on.

Kris was still serious but this time it was intensified. He rolled his hand into a fist and grabbed the nearest ball he could find. You could see the veins on his arms by how tight he held the red rubber sphere.

Tao’s team mate was about to hit Kris when in a steadfast speed, Tao’s remaining team mate faltered by an accurate head shot as well.

Tao looked at his eliminated partner

“Don’t worry. We’ll win” Tao reassured

It was Kris versus Tao.

Tao charged first, he attacked Kris with every fiber of his being. He let out all his anger towards the guy and almost destroyed him with a lot of really close hits. Tao threw the last ball draining all of his stamina. He started to feel tired afterwards. He was frustrated that Kris avoided all of his attacks, all of his futile attempts

But Kris was relentless, he had a consistency in dodging the anger thrown towards him. He was calm in doing so but you could feel what he was really feeling inside.

He smiled as Tao did at the beginning of the game when Tao ran out of weapons. It was Kris’ turn.

Kris was just as harsh in attacking Tao; if not even more so. He wanted to avenge his team mate’s public defeat.

Tao was not easy to fall though, he had wushu training after all.

Kris’ strategy changed rapidly noticing Tao’s seamless escape. Kris hit in unexpected places; especially Tao’s weakspot: his right foot. It lagged just a little behind Tao’s body when the martial artist evaded attacks.

Kris focused his attacks on this.

Kris hit his second to the last ammo near Tao’s weak leg. Tao evaded it but it came close; far too close and he was off balance, he slipped and fell on his . Tao looked around for a ball but found none. He was screwed.

Kris approached Tao, weapon in hand. He looked around and down at Tao. The crowd as cheering

“Finish him! Finish him!”

Even the small girl Tao hit chanted “Kill him Oppa~!”

The unfamiliar aura Kris had awhile ago was gone. It was taken over by his calm demeanor again.

He motioned as if to finish off Tao.

Tao looked up at him; looking at Kris as if he was agreeing with the crowd/

“Finish me” Tao said with a slight feeling of fear in his heart.

Kris smiled. Kris was about to finish Tao off when.

*plop*

Coach Hyung whistled and the crowd stopped cheering.

Everyone was puzzled at Kris’ actions.

He didn’t finish Kris off. He finished himself off.

Instead of hitting Tao just as hard as he hit his own groupie, Kris handed the ball to Tao.

Tao caught the ball. Which in dodge ball rules, eliminates the one who threw the ball.

Kris eliminated himself and walked away to his team mates, leaving Tao undefeated but humiliated on the floor.

Kris' team lost but they were still celebrating. They were cheering happily.

Tao's team won. Tao looked around but there was no one to be seen, there was no prize to be won, there was no one with a friendly face.

No one helped Tao up. No one asked if he was okay. Tao propped himself up and decided to put an end to his eventful day.

Tao didnt feel all that bad though. He left school remembering he vandalized Kris' motorbike.

"I win" Tao was still smug.