Luhan had expected the slap, the tears as the girl hit on his chest, asking for a reason. He had been through this countless times, Luhan did feel bad initially but as time passed, he simply felt annoyed.

He grabbed both of the girl’s wrists, “Accept it, we are already over. You have your fun and I have my fun, that’s all there is to our relationship. I told you not to expect anything more because this is purely a physical relationship.”

“What about all the ‘I love you’ and –“

“I did feel so at the beginning but not any longer.” Luhan told her with annoyance before releasing her wrists and walked away like usual.

Tiffany Hwang was a girl who had a smile that could melt the coldest heart or so she had been told. She was popular and like any other popular girl, she had her share of admirers who she turned down with a polite smile. It wasn’t that she didn’t want a relationship, she didn’t want people to see under mask that she would don every day without fail.

“Hey! Have you heard? Luhan dumped another girl again.” Taeyeon informed her once she saw Tiffany. “But then again, what is new?”

Tiffany simply shrugged because Luhan was a player and everyone knew that but what she didn’t get was why the girls still agreed to go out with him when they knew that it was a doomed relationship from the start?

Seeing how Tiffany wasn’t interested, Taeyeon switched to talking about their homework and the upcoming party that will be held in Jessica’s house. Tiffany simply nodded as Taeyeon chattered on because what else was new?

What exactly is love?

Luhan wasn’t sure how to answer that question, he might had been in countless relationship but he didn’t like them that way. They were simply warm bodies to accompany him when he felt the loneliness suffocating him at night.

He took a long drag of his cigarette as he looked up at the skies, wondering how it would feel to be able to fly and be free. It would probably feel like jumping off a building and plummeting all the way down.

It was so tempting to simply step over the ledge and let himself fall.

“Are you planning to jump?” Someone asked him. “I don’t think that it is a good idea to do so.”

He turned around and came to face with Tiffany Hwang, the most sought after girl in the school who turned down all of her admirers with a smile. “Mind your own business.”

“You are so different from the rumors,” Tiffany smiled at him. “You are supposed to be really charming!”

“I am charming if I have someone I want to impress but I don’t have anyone that I would like to impress now.” Luhan turned his back on her and hoped that she would get the hint to go away.

Instead of taking the hint, Tiffany walked towards him and stood next to him. “The roof is my favorite place in this school –“

“Honestly, I don’t really care about that.” Luhan cut her off. “Are you going to sleep with me? If you are not then do go away and leave me in peace.”

She wasn’t offended and Luhan thought that this girl must not be right in her brain as her smile grew wider. “I am not going to sleep with you because you are not my type. But I like to be friends with you.”

“I don’t need friend,” Luhan told her harshly. “I am fine by myself and –“

“If you are fine then you won’t think about jumping down from the ledge and end your life once and for all.” Tiffany said quietly. “People who thought of doing that are not fine at all.”

Luhan didn’t reply her as he threw his cigarette on the floor and stepped on it. “Please don’t act as though you know what you are talking about.”

Tiffany only let her smile dropped when Luhan was nowhere in sight, she looked up at the skies. “I know it all too well.”

Tiffany was like a pest that never go away and Luhan was seriously annoyed by her. She made him felt things that he didn’t want to feel yet he wasn’t able to stop going to the roof.

She was there again as he went to the roof with food in her hands this time, there was even a mat on the floor for them to sit.

“I made lunch today!” Tiffany said to him excitedly. “Here, this is your share. I didn’t know –“

“Why?” Luhan didn’t take the box in her hand. “Why didn’t you go away? Stop all these, I am not a person that –“

Tiffany scurried to his side and cupped his face, making him looked at her. “You are precious and I am not going away because you are my friend.”

Both of them stayed in that position for a little while as they looked at each other in the eyes, Luhan being the first one to look away. Tiffany satisfied with this improvement went back to her side of the mat and handed Luhan his share of food.

Luhan accepted it with resignation in his eyes, he opened the box and started eating. Tiffany simply looked on with a smile on her face. She had to admit that with Luhan, she could drop her façade of being this popular girl and be herself, this was the reason she kept coming back here even when Luhan pushed her away.

“This ,” Luhan grumbled. “I don’t understand how the rolled egg can tasted this sweet and this rice can practically – “

Tiffany simply let Luhan grumbled on because at the end of it, he finished everything in the box.

Ever since then, both of them had been spending more time together against Luhan’s better judgment. Like today, he was dragged to the mall because Princess Tiffany wanted to buy a dress.

He might complain incessantly but he felt different with her, the loneliness that threatened to suffocate him in the past? He hadn’t feel that way for a little while now, he hadn’t even went in search of people to sleep with him or anything. That void he had was filled by this girl who had a smile brighter than the sun.

Luhan looked down at their hands, Tiffany had grabbed his hand again in her excitement as she chattered on about the different kind of dresses which Luhan had no interest in.

 “Luhan!” Tiffany whined. “Are you listening to me? I am –“

“Whatever,” Luhan told her. “I bet you looked good in anything.”

Tiffany blushed when she heard what Luhan had said because this was the first time that Luhan had told her such a thing ever since they started spending more time together. They were about to go into one of the boutique when she heard someone calling her name.

“Tiffany Hwang, how have you been?” A girl asked with a sneer. “Is that guy your boyfriend? I have to say that you – “

“Don’t!” Tiffany shouted. “I-You got the wrong person. I am sorry!”

“I didn’t get the wrong person, how was it possible that I couldn’t recognize my own elder sister?” The girl walked closer to them and Luhan could feel Tiffany’s fear as her hand trembled. “Really? After what you made mother do, you didn’t even visit her once? You are cruel and heartless.”

“I-I don’t know what you are talking about.” Tiffany was sweating as she tried to maintain the smile on her face yet there was a hint of desperation. “I have to go, look at the time. I am sorry.”

With that, Tiffany ran away from the both of them.

“Seeing as how you looked like a nice person, stay away from Tiffany. She is a jinx.” The girl told Luhan before walking away.

Staying away wasn’t a choice anymore, Tiffany was avoiding him at all cost and Luhan was annoyed again. He wanted to know what the hell was wrong with the girl, for some weird reason he wanted to do something for her because between the smiles and the laughter, she had given him a reason to stay alive.

Luhan wanted to chase away the fear he saw in her eyes and he wanted to see her smile at him again, he wanted to feel that weird fluttery when Tiffany accidentally brushed against him.

Is this love?

“You got dumped?” Taeyeon asked her when she told her that she will spend the lunch break with her later on. “You managed to last the longest though so I would say good effort.”

“I-We are not together. We are simply friends.” Tiffany clarified to which Taeyeon muttered a ‘yeah right’. “Taeyeon, really! We are simply friends and nothing more.”

“Tiffany,” Taeyon sighed. “When are you going to stop lying to yourself?”

It was coming back and Tiffany felt herself suffocating as she excused herself to the toilet. Her hands trembled as she splashed some water onto her face and told herself to put her mask back on. However, it wasn’t as easy as she thought because she saw the cracks in her mask made by Luhan and it was getting harder and harder to keep herself from falling for the guy.

Tiffany the water and stripped herself of her clothes as she stepped inside the bathtub, she placed the metal blade on her wrist before pressing it deeper against her skin.

This was it, she felt alive.

It was after weeks of observing the girl that Luhan finally managed to corner her in an empty classroom.

“Why are you avoiding me?” Luhan asked her after he locked the door. “I thought you say that we are friends?”

“I am not avoiding you,” Tiffany told him after she got over her shock. “We are too different and –“

“Stop lying!” Luhan stormed over to him as he grabbed her wrist, causing Tiffany to wince. He slowly took off her watch and saw the multiple cuts that Tiffany had hid. “Why? Why did you do this to yourself instead of coming to me? Why didn’t you give me a chance to do something for you?”

Tiffany snatched her hand back and clasped it behind her back. “I-Just leave me be, okay?”

Luhan scoffed as if he could leave her alone after seeing that. As if he could leave her alone when her eyes were telling him to get closer and hold her, as if he could leave the woman who managed to captivated him so thoroughly that he was consumed with the thoughts of her and only her.

He couldn’t.

For the first time ever, Luhan took a step forward and gathered a girl in his arms instead of pushing her away. There was resistance but he refused to let go and tightened his hold. “I am not going to leave you alone just like how you refused to leave me alone.”

“I-I am – “Tiffany didn’t complete what she wanted to say as she finally cried and completely threw her mask away. For the first time ever, she had someone to catch her when she falls.

They were sitting at the roof when Tiffany began her story. “There is this girl called Hwang Miyoung, she has a sister and her parents. Her father is a man who would hit her whenever he had too much drink. Miyoung is fine with it because she thought that this will pass but sadly, her father got drunk more often than not – “

“Continue,” Luhan held her hand. “I will be here.”

“Miyoung hated her father but she hated her mother even more because her mother was too weak to leave her father. One day, Miyoung was hurt so badly that she begged her mother to bring them away, to take them to a place far away from her father.” Tiffany took a breath before continuing. “Her mother told her that she can’t leave her father alone and Miyoung cried, she cried and told her mother that she hate her.”

“Tiffany, it is fine. I am here.” Luhan hugged her this time. “I will be here.”

“Then it happened again and Miyoung got hit again, Miyoung’s mother pushed the both of them out of the house before killing Miyoung’s father and then herself. However, her mother didn’t know that the door wasn’t close so Miyoung covered her sister’s eyes and saw ho-how her parents died.” Tiffany cried as the memory rushed through her. “This is all my fault, you know? If I hadn’t told mother that I hate her or anything, perhaps thing will get better and I wouldn’t have to – “

“It is fine,” Luhan cooed as he wiped Tiffany’s tears. “It is fine, it is not your fault.”

“This is how I cope, I cut because this pain is nothing compared to that time when I saw my parents died in front of me. I cut because every time, I close my eyes I am reminded again. Everyone I love will leave me at the end, my sister blamed me and looked what happened to my parents.” Tiffany cupped Luhan’s face gently. “I don’t want to love you but why are you making it so difficult for me?”

“Because I am not going to leave you to deal with this nightmare alone.” Luhan took her wrist, turned it and kissed her scars gently. “I am not going to let the woman I love, the woman who gave me a reason to live to stay in this nightmare alone.”

“I-I You stupid man! You stupid man who – I don’t know what I should say –“

“Just tell me that you love me and I will do the rest. I will protect you and hold your hand in this nightmare, I will slowly pull you out and I won’t let you fall.” Luhan told her with certainty. “Give me this chance to do this for you, let me love you because I am not going to leave you.”

“I love you, I love you.” Tiffany laid her head on Luhan’s shoulder. “Please don’t leave me ever.”

“Never,” Luhan promised her.

It wasn’t easy but Tiffany knew that she could get through anything as Luhan held her hand because this man gave her a reason to live as well. Both of them stood in front of her parents’ grave as Tiffany knelt down and let the tears go.

“Mother, please forgive me."

Afternote;

This is written due to a challenge from cassjaerinmiyasha. It is really hard for me to write this since I am more of a boyxboy writer but everything turned out well so hope that all of you will like this. Do comment your views below and tell me what you think because I am really interested to know your views. Until the next oneshot then.