Chapter 22

Today the Interactive walls surrounding the dining hall (and the roof too - which was added later coincidentally after the first Harry Potter movie was released), was displaying digital images of exotic creatures gliding in the deep blue sea, accompanied by the eerie ambient noise of the deep water. The room was dimly lit, only a bit brighter than a movie theatre.

Sehun was not amused. “Somehow the school thinks that the imagery of bizzare species living at 4000 feet depth will increase our appetite,” he commented. The Director of School Operations had always been an over-the-top crazypants. For all he knew, next week they might end up eating their lunch in a rainforest.

Kyungsoo looked up, staring at the angler fish that emitted bioluminescence light swimming above him in daze. “I know. As beautiful as they are, they are not edible.”

Sehun cocked his head upward to look at the possibly the ugliest animal on the planet, which Kyungsoo wished to eat. Nothing about Kyungsoo could shock him anymore, he decided.

“They probably won’t taste good because of the absent of light, the crushing pressure, and the low levels of oxygen and nutrients,” Kyungsoo concluded after gathering a few thoughts. “Many of them are poisonous, anyway,” he added.

“What a shame. They could have been an exquisite gourmet,” Sehun commented lightly, raising a hand when a waiter nearby saw him.

The waiter warmly greeted them and directed them to a table for two.

There were no unnecesary noise inside the dining hall; most of the students were staring down at their tables - looking for menus, ordering, or simply having a quick surfing on the internet while waiting for their lunch to be delivered (Exo school outfitted itself with tables that were also internet-surfing touchscreens).

Kyungsoo looked at the menu without interest, scrolling up and down the page after briefly reading the description.

“Why are you sulking? You said you want to have Korean food for lunch,” Sehun murmured, glancing up at Kyungsoo. The boy’s finger was sliding along the touchscreen to turn page after page fast that Sehun doubt he was seeing anything. That was odd. Kyungsoo loved to eat. When he was choosing his menu of the day, he usually had that estatic type of happiness on his face - he was very much like a small boy opening up his Christmas presents. Paying for his lunch was another thing, though.

“These are nothing like what we had at your home,” Kyungsoo glumly said. The menu was not what he had expected. They were all too sophisticated for him. Fried kimchi that was cooked with butter? Mashed potato with cheese? Grandpa would be so furious. Hah! Grandpa would say.

Kyungsoo sniffled. He missed Grandpa Oh.

Sehun ordered some dishes and looked up from the menu to see a sad eyed boy clamping his lips together, his arms were crossed over his chest. “Home sick already?” My home sick?

Kyungsoo nodded and exhaled deeply. He uninterestedly picked the cheapest menu on the list (he knew as a scholarship student he could have anything for free, but old habits die hard), and scanned his student card on the card reader to finalize his order, after which a countdown timer of seven minutes was automatically starting - everything he ordered (Kyungsoo only chose a dish) must be ready to be served in no more than seven minutes. His heart jumped a little when his total purchase was shown on the screen. With that much amount of money he could feed himself for a whole week! Kyungsoo mentally shriek, his face contorted in pain. But again he got everything for free, Kyungsoo reminded himself. At this Kyungsoo let out a sigh of relief. His eyelashes fluttered as he tried to calm himself down. He shouldn’t cry over the money he didn’t have, which he didn’t use to buy the meal that could have fed him for the whole week. Kyungsoo felt his heart skipped another beat.

Sehun amusedly watched Kyungsoo’s internal struggles. What was going through Kyungsoo’s mind was so easy to read. Three months had passed, and still, Kyungsoo always had those little panic attacks everytime he wanted to buy something.

“Say, Sehun,” Kyungsoo started, his eyes beamed at Sehun. A brilliant idea came across his mind.

“Hm?”

“Why don’t I cook for our lunch? We can eat them here, and get cold water for free.” Kyungsoo bent toward Sehun conspiracily. “This way we can cheat the system.”

Sehun cringed. That would be horrible. One, because he couldn’t always know what Kyungsoo might put in his food - Sehun was too young to die, and two, because that would be too embarrassing. Actually, no, there was only one reason. Sehun was too young to die.

“No,” Sehun firmly said. “If you don’t take your free meal, you’ll be wasting what is yours to have.” He looked at Kyungsoo firmly. “You’ll be wasting your money,” he added for the effect.

Kyungsoo gasped sharply. He never put it that way. “B-but you’re wasting your money everytime you buy this ridiculously expensive food.”

“I’m rich,” Sehun simply said.

“I know you’re rich.” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t mean you have to eat rich people’s food 24/7. I can cook for you too.”

“Rich people have weak digestive system. You can’t cheat our low immune system.”

“Hey!” Kyungsoo protested, which made Sehun crack a smile. “My food won’t get you sick!”

Kyungsoo’s food arrived, and so their conversation ended there, much to Sehun’s relief. Sehun’s order came a few minutes afterward.

“Let’s dig in,” Kyungsoo whispered to himself, soundlessly clapping his hands together.

***

Kyungsoo finished his last spoon of kimchi fried rice, and raised his head from his perfectly clean plate to look at Sehun. He swallowed and frowned. “Why did you order so many?” He gave a disapproval glance at Sehun’s untouched plates - both were desserts. Sehun seemed didn’t have any intention to finish them, judging from the way he was eating right now.

Sehun shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

“You better finish them all,” Kyungsoo warned him, as he opened his bag to take out the book he just borrowed from the library today. Maybe he could read a few pages before lunch time was over.

Sehun looked at the plates of small pastries, thinking what he should be doing with them. He actually ordered the sweet one for Kyungsoo (Kyungsoo was too stingy to spend money on anything - his money or not). Now that Kyungsoo had been busying himself with his book, Sehun couldn’t find a way to give it to him. Maybe he could give it to Kyungsoo in a non-common way? There should be someone who needed to finish the sweet pastries, and that someone certainly would not be him.

He took one from the plate and held it close to Kyungsoo’s lips, and amazingly, without realizing it, Kyungsoo slid the round pastry into his mouth and started to munch it slowly. His steady gaze showed he was completely absorbed in the book he was reading.

Sehun was impressed. He took another one and brought it to Kyungsoo’s mouth. He wondered how much amount of food would fit in the space. Kyungsoo took it, but since he was still munching the previous one, he temporarily kept it in his right cheek. Sehun held back a chuckle. Kyungsoo looked like a chubby little hamster.

Suddenly Sehun felt a strange feeling on his back, as if something was watching him intently. He looked over his shoulder, but could not see too far due to the dimly light.

The dining hall’s spooky under-the-sea theme was starting to get into him, Sehun concluded. He shivered and glanced around, praying that there was no supernatural thing involved. Finding nothing peculiar, he breathed a sigh of relief and returned his attention to Kyungsoo. Amazing. Kyungsoo hadn’t noticed his mouthful situation. He kept chewing and chewing, eyes never left his book. Sehun coudn’t help it. He fed Kyungsoo one more pastry, which was stored in Kyungsoo’s left cheek. Kyungsoo’s ability to keep his lips tightly closed against pressure from the inside was absolutely fascinating. Sehun choked back half a laugh, and that was when Kyungsoo finally realized what he had been doing.

Kyungsoo’s eyes were wide open. He couldn’t open his mouth without spilling the food he didn’t remember was having. Kyungsoo chewed and swallowed, chewed and swallowed, until he was able to speak rather normally. “Sehun! What are you doing!” He grumbled around the food in his mouth.

Sehun couldn’t breathe. “You really do eat anything,” he said with a laugh.

“I don’t,” Kyungsoo denied, not so fiercely. At the same time, Sehun had slipped the last brown pastry between his fingers and put it between Kyungsoo’s lips.

Kyungsoo opened his mouth with little to no resistance. He had not had a proper chance to taste it before, he almost felt regret. This was delicious, Kyungsoo thought.

“See?” Sehun chuckled, poking Kyungsoo’s puffy cheek pouch with his lean index finger. Kyungsoo was soft like cookie dough.

That eerie feeling on his back came back again.

Sehun abruptly turned around to catch the culprit. This time he succeeded.

A tall male sitting a few tables behind gave a surprise squeak and hid his face on the table. He kept the stance and tried to stay very still. That was a stupid move considering he was at least six feet tall. Not to mention his strawberry blond curly hair lit up like a Christmas tree.

Sehun narrowed his eyes. “Student Body President Park?” He asked. Because the noise level was low, his voice was clear enough to be heared by everyone at Student Body President Park’s table.

The questionable figure jumped in his seat and straightened his back with both arms stretched against his sides. “Ah. Ahaha,” he awkwardly laughed. “President Oh, is that you? I didn’t see you from here,” he said as he abruptly stood up. The white napkin on his lap fell on the floor under the table. He walked over toward Sehun and Kyungsoo’s table, leaving the rest of his friends who continued enjoying their meal as if there was nothing happened.

“It’s nice to see you here. We’ve been looking for you,” Chanyeol greeted Sehun. He fumbled with the crumpled papers in his right hand, moving it to his left hand so that he could outstretch the now empty hand for a handshake.

Sehun stood up to greet President Park back and shook his hand.

President Park stole a glance at Kyungsoo, a wide nervous smile stretched his lips. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair to fix it. “Kyungsoo, I believe?” He mumbled at Kyungsoo without looking at him.

Kyungsoo nodded and stood up. “Nice to see you again, President Park,” he beamed at Chanyeol, offering his hand for a handshake which was taken almost immediately. Large hand enveloped his smaller one and shook it energetically. “Chanyeol. Just call me Chanyeol.”

When the handshake was over Chanyeol didn’t let go of Kyungsoo’s hand.

Sehun cleared his throat.

“Sorry. Ahaha.” Chanyeol released Kyungsoo with an awkward laugh.

“So,” Chanyeol stole a glance at Kyungsoo and reluctantly shifted his attention to Sehun, “I have the material we will be discussing at today’s meeting for you.”

Sehun stared at what Chanyeol was holding in his left hand. The stack of papers looked like freshly washed laundry which had been twisted and squeezed hard to wring out water.

Chanyeol followed Sehun’s gaze and looked at his hand. His eyes creepily widened and he looked mortified. With a suspicious gasp he quickly hid it behind hid back. “Ahaha. I meant I have the material on my table, I will give it to you later.”

Suddenly everything went dark. Gradually, the colors of summer painted the pitch black screen, spreading like forest in blaze.

Probably a new commercial or a teaser video for a kpop group’s comeback, Sehun thought.

Every pair of eyes in the room was transfixed on the roof to see what was going to be shown.

A brown butterfly with pale gold color shading the edges of its wings, was flying freely from the farthest part of the interactive wall to the roof. In the background of the scene was a solemn melody of string orchaestra.

A long haired girl donned a pale brown dress, long and flowy, walked from afar. Grace and elegance encompassed her, from the tip of her toes to every shaft of her long hair. Her delicate fair bare feet touched the ground with light pressure, but still the softness of her caused every flower and plant she passed wither. She stopped and raised her head.

Chanyeol looked like he couldn’t breathe. His eyes were wide open as he put his hands to his chest in a cupped position, as if he was getting ready to catch his heart whenever it tried breaking out its way from the ribcage.

The motion was slowed down, giving the scene a dreamy vibe. The girl’s face was shot closely that Chanyeol could see the feminine flutter of her long eyelashes. She was strikingly beautiful. The lines of her face were soft and ethereal like the delicate crescent of a new moon, taking on the glow of moonlight. She raised a hand to let the butterly flew and perched on her finger, a faint smile tugged the corners of her lips.

The mysterious girl lifted up her chin and let her big honeybrown eyes looking straight at the camera. The girl’s hauntingly beautiful eyes were staring at the audience unwaveringly even when her body was dispersing into thousands of brown butterflies.

The scene blurred out and replaced by pale golden screen with a butterfly shaped perfume bottle with clear brown liquid in it. The music faded into faint siren sound akin to a flute and a soft female voice mysteriously whispered a name, which was grandiosely appeared below the perfume bottle in bold gold color: ‘D’Lulu. Autumn.’

The room went black again. The dull humming of the deep sea came back, along with the exotic creatures on the screen-walls and the roof.

The dining hall was not so quiet after that. Everyone was talking about the new perfume brand, and the mysterious gorgeous girl they hadn’t seen before.

‘Am I dreaming?’ Chanyeol thought. He keep staring at the roof, hoping he would once again see the girl of his dreams. Should he collect a million butterflies to see her again?

An ugly giant fish with too many teeth swam slowly above Chanyeol. ‘It’s so ugly,’ Chanyeol randomly thought. He wondered if a person could be awake and have a dream in the same time.

If he was not dreaming, then the girl he saw that day was not a dream. If he was not dreaming now, he was not dreaming then. Chanyeol pinched his cheek hard. ‘Ouch,’ he mentally cried. It hurt so it meant he one hundred percent was not dreaming, unless he was dreaming about pinching himself so hard it hurt, which he was not.

Where can he find her? Where are you?

D’Lulu. The name crossed Chanyeol’s mind. Yes. They should know where she was.

“D’Lulu,” Chanyeol repeated, afraid that he might forget the name.

“D’Lulu.”

Chanyeol seemed dazed; his eyes looked unfocused as if his soul had temporarily left his body. Turning around, he left without saying anything to Sehun and Kyungsoo. At every few steps he nearly stumbled and fell.

Kyungsoo tilted his head sideways in confusion.

Yoo Jung, SM Student Body Secretary, approached Sehun. “We should arrange another meeting. We will email you the detail today,” she hurriedly said. After a quick goodbye she turned around and ran after her student body president. “Chanyeol!” she hissed. “Where are you going?!”

“There’s something wrong with his brain,” Sehun commented, watching the two of them left the dining hall.

“He must really like the perfume brand,” Kyungsoo said in empathy.

Sehun breathed deeply. Suddenly he felt tired. He sat back and rested his elbows on the table, clasping his hands together. Kyungsoo followed him and plopped himself down on his seat.

“Don’t you have anything to say about that?” Sehun asked.

“Huh? Ah, yeah,” Kyungsoo pondered the question before he answered, “I guess Park Chanyeol-ssi is a fan of Lulu’s perfume brand-”

“No, I was not asking you that.” A quizzical look was given. Sehun sighed. “I was asking you about the commercial video.”

“Oh. I think I looked quite pretty. The end part was kinda creepy, but the sight of it was oddly mesmerizing,” Kyungsoo cheerfully said.

“Kyungsoo, no.” Sehun pinched the bridge of his nose. He gave up and asked again more clearly, “Why didn’t you tell me about the commercial video?”

“Because Lulu said not to. It’s a surprise for you,” Kyungsoo replied with a giggle.

“Of course Luhan would say that,” Sehun defeatedly said.

Sehun remembered now; Kyungsoo indeed did some of the shoots in front of a large green screen, and was asked to do some questionable stuff Sehun didn’t fully understand at that time. ‘CG stuff’, good for nothing Luhan briefly answered when Sehun asked him about that.

Sehun shook his head and let out an exasperated sigh. He should have guessed that Luhan would have planned all the tricks and traps in his twisted mind.

“Lulu said everything was in the contract he gave you, though.”

‘Yo yo yo! Comic Sans size two, milky white color yo!’ Sehun could imagine Luhan saying that in his Chinese hip hop accent he only used when Luhan wanted to annoy him.

Kyungsoo was touched to see Sehun’s glum face. He felt very grateful to have someone who would worry about him that much. “Don’t worry, Lulu said he would give me CG s and soften my features so anyone wouldn’t notice it’s me, and he did exactly that.” He tried to calm Sehun down, which only worked until his next sentence came out. “I wonder what the winter version will be like.”

“There are more?” Sehun frustratingly asked as he grimaced.

“Of course. There are four seasons after all. Eh, Sehun, do you think grandpa will recognize me?”

Sehun rubbed his hands over his face and let out a muffled groan. “Please don’t remind me that.”

..............................................................................................................................................................................

A/N

Hello! Long time no see! *grins* I kinda back? (I hope you guys still remember this story omg it's been 1000 fullmoons, sorry ;;A;;)

PS. for my beta (you know who you are <3), I feel embarrassed to contact you because it's been too long since I updated this story. If you still follow this story please contact me I'll be very very happy to hear from you ;;;;U;;;;