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Unable to take Luhan’s annoying knocking, Sehun replied.

 

“What do you want?!”

 

“Can you tutor me now?? Please?? Pretty please??” Luhan pleaded from outside.

 

“YAH!” Sehun yelled, throwing a pillow at his closed door. “DIDN’T YOU READ MY NOTE?? LEAVE ME ALONE AND GO DO THE PROBLEMS FIRST! WHY ARE YOU LOOKING FOR ME ALREADY?!”

 

This time, instead of getting mad, Luhan couldn’t help but think Sehun’s tantrum was adorable. Too adorable. So adorable, he didn’t know how much more he could take.

 

Aw man, I sound like I’m into tsundere guys now.

 

Luhan shrugged. There was no helping it -- it was Sehun he was in love with after all. Just as Sehun believed it was all over, Luhan began to knock again. Sehun wanted to cry.

 

“Leave me alone already...please…” Sehun whimpered, burying his head underneath the covers.  

 

Chapter 29:

Sunday rolled around bright and early, but so did the snow that piled up for inches outside. Luhan woke up to the warmth of his comforter wrapped around him like a cocoon in bed, and he snuggled in deeper as he relished in the qualities of a Sunday morning. There had been reports of a snowstorm the night before, and he was somewhat upset that the inclement weather decided to come on a weekend, but what better excuse was there to sleep in?

 

He had woken up twice before in the morning to take a peek outside the window next to his bed, but always ended up falling back asleep after witnessing the snow falling a little lighter than he had expected. He also had a pretty great dream about being best friends with Hanyu Yuzuru, the Japanese figure skater who snagged gold at the Pyeongchang Olympics, and he fell back asleep several times just to continue his date with him.

 

Just because he liked Sehun didn’t mean he couldn’t have some Olympic crushes. Sehun couldn’t stop him from having his own personal indulgences.

 

Before Luhan could decide to fall into a deep slumber once more (to meet his Yuzu), there was a knock on the door, followed by two more before the door was opened.

 

“Luhan?” Mr. Xi whispered softly. “Are you awake?”

 

Luhan grumbled as he rolled around in bed to face the familiar voice. Today was Sunday, the only day his dad could take off work at the restaurant and spend time at home with everyone. It was also one of the only days his dad could come in and wake him up in the mornings. Luhan rubbed his eyes, which were reluctant to open after having been closed for so long.

 

“I’m awake now.” Luhan mumbled, squinting at the excess light in the room now that his door was open. “D..do you need help with...with shoveling the snow?”

 

He sat up and peeked through the blinds to see the snow still falling, but much heavier than when he checked earlier in the morning.

 

“The snow is still falling too much to shovel...Sehun woke up early to help his dad shovel, but since then, the snow has piled up again.”

 

Luhan scrunched up his nose at the mention of Sehun.

 

“Sehun helped shovel?”

 

Mr. Xi walked over to Luhan’s bed and lightly flung the bedsheets off of Luhan’s body.

 

“Yup, like the model son he is.” Mr. Xi chuckled. “Now get up so we can eat breakfast.”

 

The sudden chilliness in the air caused Luhan to shudder. He scooted closer to his bedsheets to seek warmth. Mr. Xi frowned.

 

“Luhan, I’m only going to ask once.”

 

Luhan peeked out from under his covers to see his father with his arms crossed. A father with crossed arms was a scary father he did not want to mess with. After properly receiving the glare, he quickly lifted himself up and reached over to grab a sweater from the end of his bed.

 

“Okay, okay, I’m getting up, dad.” Luhan said as he begrudgingly threw his sweater on. “I’m up, I’m up.”

 

He threw the rest of his blanket off of him, but he couldn’t bring himself to part from his mattress.

 

“Good. Now go clean yourself up and then get some breakfast.” Mr. Xi said firmly, stepping aside and holding the door for Luhan to walk out first. “I’m not leaving until you get out of the room, Luhan. You’re just going to crawl back under the covers, aren’t you.”

 

“You know me too well,” Luhan grumbled.

 

Mr. Xi chuckled. “Whose son are you? Of course I know you well.”

 

Luhan lightly scoffed at his father’s arrogant remark, but hid a smile that showed he secretly enjoyed when his father displayed his pride in him, the son that couldn’t do anything as well as Sehun and the other kids at school.

 

He glanced up at his father who was standing by the door waiting for him, and he suddenly remembered.

 

His mind must have been hazy with sleep earlier.

 

He never had a proper chance to talk to his father about everything. There was so much he had wanted to tell his father, there was so much he normally would have told his father about by now. But now that he was in front of him, he didn’t know where to start.

 

“What is it, Luhan?” Mr. Xi asked, starting to sound a little concerned.

 

Well here goes nothing.

 

Luhan let out an audibly shaky breath he didn’t know he was holding in.

 

“Dad, I...I--” Luhan started, fidgeting with his fingers. “I -- I just, I don’t know -- I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you.”

 

“Luhan, I know. I know, it’s okay.” Mr. Xi said with a meager smile. Although he wasn’t sure what Luhan was going to tell him, he knew enough to see his son struggling. “You don’t have to force yourself.”

 

“No, no, dad. You don’t know.” Luhan blurted out as his dad slowly made his way into the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

 

“It’s not okay. It’s - it’s not okay.” Luhan mumbled. He faltered when his dad ended up taking a seat next to him on the bed. “I -- I meant to tell you...I meant to tell you sooner, that I--”

 

Mr. Xi put an arm around Luhan’s shoulders as Luhan tried to form words, words that were all at the tip of his tongue but he just couldn’t get out. Only tears fell. Mr. Xi said nothing, only rubbing Luhan’s arm as he tried to comfort his son.

 

“D-dad,” Luhan said between small sniffles. “I...I like guys.”

 

Mr. Xi laughed.

 

“Luhan, I know.”

 

Luhan briefly looked up at his dad who was staring back at him with his usual honest eyes and dad-like smile.

 

Why does he sound so...so not surprised?

 

“B-but, I didn’t get a chance to tell you myself, and you had work yesterday so I didn’t get to tell you in person, and you had to find out from the dinner when S-Sehun read out my letter, and I wanted you to be the first to know about everything, but I didn’t know how to mention it to you and whether you would find it weird, and...and I...I...I like Sehun.”

 

This time, Mr. Oh smiled at his son.

 

“And you must have an eye for things like your mother. He’s definitely a good catch.”

 

Luhan blinked away some tears as words magically started to pour out of him.

 

“You’re not weirded out that I like guys?” Luhan asked.

 

Mr. Xi shook his head.

 

“You’re not...mad?”

 

Mr. Xi shook his head no again.

 

“Are you disappointed in me? You must be.”

 

Mr. Xi sighed.

 

“Gosh, Luhan, really? You make it sound like you committed a treacherous crime and you’re confessing to it right now. I was worried you were going to mention something actually really really serious.”

 

“But some people think this is weird...and don’t parents usually want grandchildren...?” Luhan pouted, eyes swollen  and voice slightly hoarse.

 

“Hey, silly. No matter who you like, I respect your decision. You know what’s best for you, and I know that whoever you pick will be someone worth it. Guy or girl.” Mr. Xi said, trying his best to make every word count. “And, well, you could always adopt kids with Sehun, you know? I wouldn’t mind. As long as they’re raised by you, I will have amazing grandchildren. Don’t worry about what other people think.”

 

Luhan’s eyes began to tear up again.

 

“I...I thought about telling you about this many times, but I didn’t know how to and I felt bad for keeping secrets from you, because I promised to tell you everything. But for some reason I just couldn’t, and nothing this past week worked out the way I wanted it to. And I was just upset and mad and frustrated.” 

 

“Luhan, Luhan, look at me.” Mr. Xi said, grabbing ahold of Luhan’s shoulders to force his son to look at him. “I’m sorry I made you worry like this. It’s my fault that you didn’t feel comfortable enough to tell me everything. I should’ve been more open and loving to you, enough that you wouldn’t worry about such trivial things.”

 

He wiped a few tears away from Luhan’s cheeks.

 

“I’m sorry. And yet I promised your mom I would raise you well and give you enough love to make up for both of us.”

 

Luhan quickly enveloped his dad into a hug while crying.

 

“Dad, it’s not your fault. You have no idea how grateful I am that you’re here.” Luhan mumbled into his dad’s shirt. “Thank you so much for being my dad. I love you.”

 

Mr. Xi smiled as he returned his son’s embrace.

 

“I love you too, Lulu. A lot more than you’ll ever imagine.”

 

After a minute, Mr. Xi pulled away.

 

“Okaaaaay.” He said, standing up from Luhan’s bed. “That was enough emotional rollercoaster for a morning. You’re making me cry. I’m glad we cleared things up, but let’s forget this ever happened now.”

 

Luhan laughed.

 

“Why, are you feeling awkward?”

 

Mr. Xi cleared his throat.

 

“Well, you know, I was never meant to be an emotional guy.”

 

Luhan rolled his eyes as he used his sweater sleeves to wipe the rest of the tears from his face.

 

“Says the person who was bawling when I graduated middle school. And the person who was bawling on my first day of high school.”

 

Mr. Xi laughed sheepishly.

 

“You wouldn’t get it. It’s a dad thing.” Mr. Xi winked. “Now get your ready, and I’ll see you downstairs.”

 

“Yesssssss, sir!” Luhan saluted.

 

“Oh yeah, by the way,” Mr. Oh said, his head peeking through the bedroom door. “Before you were born, your mom and I had a talk about what we would do if our son was gay.”

 

Luhan blinked at him. “What?”

 

“Oh. Before you were born, we both agreed that if our son was gay, we would still love him the same, as much as we possibly could. After all, he is our only baby.”

 

Mr. Xi grinned at Luhan before he made his exit. However, as the door closed, Luhan could hear him say, “I can’t believe my intuitions were right. I don’t even get anything, but technically I won the bet...”

 

Wow, did dad and mom really bet on me?

 

 “And dad, I’m not even with Sehun yet, stop talking as if we’re going to get married!” Luhan shouted, hoping it’d get past the door.  

 

As Luhan heard his father’s laugh and his footsteps retreating, he got up from his bed in a daze. He didn’t know it was possible to feel as exhausted as he felt even though he had just woken up twenty minutes ago. He quickly left his room and slipped into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

 

Ah...my face is all swollen now...

 

He made faces at the mirror as he brushed his teeth, splashing some cold water on his swollen cheeks. He continued to brush his teeth until his mouth was tingling from all the minty toothpaste foam. Luhan could hear the front door opening and Sehun walking into the house as he finished rinsing his mouth nice and clean.  

 

He quickly wiped his face with his towel and scurried out of the bathroom and down the stairs.

 

~*~

“I’m back.” Sehun said, sighing as he pulled his snow boots off of his feet. He placed them on the shoe rack and took off his coat, making sure to fling off all the bits of snow from his outerwear before officially stepping into the house. “Are we having breakfast?”

 

“Yes we are, hurry and come help set the table!” Mrs. Oh called out, her back turned from Sehun as she flipped two omelettes over two frying pan. “Stop grumbling!”

 

Sehun shot his mother a glance that she couldn’t see. He quickly stretched his arms over his head, ruffled the dripping water from his hair, and walked into the kitchen.

 

“Even when I grumble, you know that I’ll always do whatever you say.” Sehun said, opening the cupboards and taking out the plates.

 

“Oh, really? Then how abou--”

 

Sehun intercepted. “Anything except getting back with her.”

 

Mrs. Oh scoffed. She then walked over to the table with a spatula in one hand, pan in the other, and began to plate the omelettes. Sehun followed her and laid down the utensils.

 

“You thought that would offend me again?” She said. “That used to bother me, but now I know that Luhan is here, I’m not too worried about you being forever alone. You know that for me, it never had to do with her being the daughter of a CEO or being qualified to date you. I just wanted you to have someone that could take care of you, and tolerate a brat like you. Mentioning her isn’t going to work anymore, so you have to come up with a new come back line now.”

 

“Mom!” Sehun whined.

 

“What?” Mrs. Oh said blatantly. “You know it’s true.”

 

She unloaded an omelet from the frying pan to a plate.

 

“I can tell that there’s something special with this one, Sehun. He’s special, and you are supposed to be smart enough to figure that out yourself. Heck with it, you’re supposed to be the smartest one in this family!”

 

Sehun rolled his eyes as he took a seat.

 

“Well, sorry for disappointing you. I see nothing special about him. He’s not good at school, he’s super clumsy, and he’s way too transparent. I just get mad when I think about him.”

 

Mr. Oh, who had just entered from cleaning off his car, chuckled as he heard Sehun’s reply.

 

“Be careful, son. You know it’s been proven that there is a really thin line between love and hate.”

 

“Please don’t start talking about psychology. You know I’m more of a scientific person.” Sehun sighed.

 

This time, it was Mr. Oh’s turn to roll his eyes. “No, Sehun. You can’t just disregard a whole scientific field.”

 

Mrs. Oh groaned at an inhumanely loud volume.

 

“Not this talk again, please.” She met eyes with Luhan’s father, who had just exited his own bedroom to eat breakfast.

 

“Sorry, Mr. Xi. Sehun and his father are being intellectuals at the table again. And on top of that, Sehun’s being the rude brat he is, and he’s being mean about Luhan. I’m so sorry.”

 

Mr. Xi laughed.

 

“Don’t worry about it, I’m kind of used to it by now.” He said. “No need for apologies, we’re family! And don’t badmouth your son like that. Nothing he said was wrong -- it was all true.” Mr. Xi chuckled sheepishly. “Luhan is clumsy, not good at school, and very very transparent. But at some point, those could all be good things. Hopefully, Sehun will see that soon...”

 

Almost as if the angels have descended, at this moment, Luhan chose to tiptoe down the stairs to join the table.

 

“Luhan!!” Mrs. Oh rejoiced, as someone who could speak on the same wavelength as her finally appeared. In her hand was a plate of breakfast food catered just to Luhan’s taste buds, with a slice of french toast, a light sprinkle of powdered sugar, and a side of fruits. “Join us, join_”

 

She stopped Luhan from walking any further and held him at arm's length. Everyone heard as she put Luhan’s plate of breakfast food on the table with a clunk. She scanned his face, and Luhan smiled sheepishly in hopes of escaping the scary TSA investigation.

 

“Mrs. Oh, what are you doing?”  

 

“Did my son bully you again?” She blurted out loud.

 

Luhan blushed.

 

“I’m fine, it’s nothing. Really, Mrs. Oh.”

 

Mrs. Oh patted his cheeks a couple times and stared at his eyes.

 

“Luhan, no, you’ve been crying! You look terrible, look at your eyebags. Oh my gosh!”

 

Sehun stole a glance at him before returning his attention to the food in front of him.

 

Luhan aired out his cheeks into a pout as he stared at his reflection through his empty glass of orange juice. He thoroughly looked like crap. His Sundays back then were a lot more laid-back because he didn’t have to care about how he looked, but now every day was a struggle within the house. Only Luhan knew the real struggle of having to compete with Sehun, someone who looked good no matter how much he didn’t try.

 

“I didn’t do anything, mom. Stop glaring at me.” Sehun said bluntly as he put down his cup of coffee.

 

Luhan, who’s attention was now on Sehun, smiled as his thoughts wandered back to the previous night’s events. He remembered opening Sehun’s present and feeling the happiest he’s ever felt in a while. Not even Xiumin treating him to bubble tea could top what he felt last night.

 

Luhan shook his head as he suddenly realized how infatuated he was becoming with Sehun. He closed his eyes tightly.

 

I’m supposed to stand strong! Stop daydreaming about him, Luhan!

 

When he opened his eyes again, Sehun was staring at him from straight across the table.

 

“Are you okay?” He asked.

 

Luhan blinked at Sehun and stared at him for a few seconds. Mr. Xi, who was quietly having his breakfast at the table, coughed a few times and kicked Luhan under the table. Luhan jumped a little from his seat.

 

“H-Huh?”

 

Mr. Xi rolled his eyes.

 

“Sehun asked if you were okay, Luhan. Are you?”

 

Luhan’s face turned beet red.

 

“Y-Yeah, I’m okay.”

 

No, no I’m not.

 

His eyes flickered toward Sehun’s unwavering ones and immediately flickered away. No one ever knew what Sehun was thinking when his facial expression was like that. Luhan’s been watching him for almost four years and hasn’t been able to figure it out. It was even more nerve wracking observing his gaze up close.

 

“Let’s eat, let’s eat!” Mr. Oh said, as he motioned for Luhan to pick up his fork and knife. “Your french toast is going to get cold.”

 

“Ah, right!” Mrs. Oh chimed in. “Hurry up and try it! I don’t know if you’ll like it, but I tried my best.”

 

“Thank you, auntie!” Luhan smiled before cutting into his toast.

 

Sehun sighed as he put down his fork and knife and got up. Everyone turned to stare.

 

“I’m done eating breakfast.” Sehun said. “I’m going to go up and change because I’m still wearing the clothes I wore when I was outside shovelling the snow.”

 

Mrs. Oh, who had been preparing to scold her son for leaving the breakfast table early, closed . Her son did, in fact, help out a lot with the snow outside.

 

“Okay, go ahead. You’ve worked hard, Sehun!” Mr. Xi said with a smile. “Thank you for helping us this morning.”

 

“It’s nothing,” Sehun said, giving Mr. Xi a slight bow before excusing himself.

 

Luhan munched absentmindedly on his piece of french toast as he watched Sehun ascend the stairs.

 

~*~

“Ugh,” Sehun groaned as he sat down on his bed after changing his clothes.

 

Everything was sore. Everything. It’s been a while since he had to shovel so much snow, but he didn’t know that he wasn’t working out enough. He shouldn’t be sore that fast.

 

“It must be because I spent so much time getting distracted by Luhan,” Sehun mumbled as he rolled onto his stomach. “I haven’t been following my weekly workout schedule as closely as I wanted to.”

 

His eyes found his alarm clock standing idly on his nightstand. It read 11:00am.

 

Man, what am I going to do for the rest of the day?

 

Suddenly, his phone began to vibrate and ring by the edge of his bed. Sehun rolled over once to grab it with his right arm and he swiped the call to accept it.

 

“Yeah?” Sehun said into the phone.

 

The person on the other line scoffed.

 

“You’re not even going to greet your friend properly now?”

 

Sehun grinned as he heard the annoyance in his friend’s voice.

 

“Okay, okay, Baekhyun, what do you want?”

 

“Still not polite, but I’ll take it.”

 

Sehun could almost see Baekhyun huff in disapproval. He loved his friend.

 

“Anyway, Chen, Suho, and I were planning to meet up later to study for the math midterm. Since, you know, we don’t need much review on anything else except for that one. Maybe like half an hour of review and then we can go out and find something else to do in the snow?”

 

“Hmmm. With Chen?” Sehun asked. “He doesn’t normally tag along to our sessions.”

 

Baekhyun chuckled on the other line.

 

“I’m fine with it, I guess. Suho invited him to join.”

 

Sehun raised an eyebrow.

 

“Wow, Suho invited him of his own free will? That’s surprising.”

 

Baekhyun laughed and said something else, but this time, Sehun suddenly stopped listening.

 

“Sehun....Sehun? Hello? Is there someone on the other line?”

 

“Baekhyun.”

 

“...Yes, Sehun? You’re starting to scare me.”

 

“Midterms are this week?”

 

“Uh, yes, your majesty. They’re this Friday. Where have you been?”

 

“Clearly not here. Hey, Baekhyun, I’ll talk to you later. I can’t go today, but have fun.”

 

“W-w-wait, wait, Sehun, you can’t go? What do you mean? You’re the key to our success! Not like we aren’t already on the way to success, but you- you always go! We always make plans to cram some last minute studying before midterms!”

 

Sehun sighed. “I can’t today, I’m sorry.”

 

Just then, Sehun heard some shuffling and some muffled voices.

 

“Pass him the phone! Let him talk to him --” and it got louder. “Hello? Sehun? It’s me, Chen.”

“Yes, Chen?”

 

“Just ignore all of them, I’ll handle the situation over here. YoucanjustgoandhelpLuhanpassthetest--”

 

Sehun could hear the phone get yanked out of Chen’s hand and someone yelling at Chen, calling him useless and not fighting for the right cause.

 

“Okay. I don’t know who I’m talking to anymore, and I honestly don’t care. I’m hanging up now!” Sehun declared loudly into the phone.

 

Before Sehun could respond to the twenty “wait!”’s he heard, he pressed the end call button and sighed.

 

“I don’t have time for them anymore, I have to go tutor Luhan!”

 

The clock read noon-time.

 

“We can just eat a late lunch as we study.” Sehun said, quickly grabbing his pencils, pens, and materials and stuffing them into his backpack to carry over to Luhan’s room.

 

It didn’t matter what Luhan was doing at the moment. Whatever he was doing, Sehun was going to force him to study. And get into that top 50.

 

~*~

“Honey, are you sure you don’t want to join us and your father on our grocery shopping trip?” Mrs. Oh asked Luhan as she put the last of the washed plates back into the cabinets.

 

Luhan had helped out with washing the dishes after Sehun left the dining table to change his clothes. Now that the dishes were washed and the table was wiped down clean, the parents wanted to go out for a day of grocery and home shopping.

 

“Sorry, auntie, but I need to study. Maybe next time!” Luhan said, putting on his 'I would really love to, but I am actually busy' smile.

 

He wished all the adults happy shopping and watched them leave the house before he raced up the stairs and into his room. After pestering Sehun (which ended up backfiring), he spent almost all of last night trying to do the problems on the USB Sehun gave him. He got through half of them, albeit leaving half of that half only partially solved. In the end, he barely reached a definite final answer for any of the problems.

 

Well, his dad always told him that the outcome didn’t matter as long as he put his best effort out. And he did. Last night, at least. He hoped Sehun would appreciate it.  

 

Who am I kidding...I’m just going to get scolded by him again.

 

He quickly shuffled around his room to pack his pencils, pens, folders, binders, and notebooks. Lastly, he shoved all of the printouts of the problems he attempted to solve from the USB Sehun lent. Even if his progress would get Sehun mad, he was going to force his way into free tutoring lessons anyway. Sehun owed him that much, right?

 

As he exited his room and marched a few doors down, he released a stressed out sigh. It was time to face the scarily smart intimidating stupid and mean tutor that he was sadly in love with. As if that wasn’t enough, Luhan suddenly became the screaming mess no one expected as Sehun swung open the door that Luhan was in the middle of knocking. A frenzied Luhan felt himself lose balance so fast, he knew it was over.

 

“Wahhhhh! S-s-save--!” It was too late. He was falling forward in the most ungraceful way possible. He didn't even have enough time to look at how he was falling, and how Sehun was reacting to his top-notch clumsiness.

 

Not even the almighty Sehun, who had merely opened his own bedroom door, could save Luhan or himself from falling to the floor.

 

“--me!”

 

The next sound Luhan heard was a loud thump followed by a groan as he landed on the firm, warm ground. Warm? The next sensation Luhan felt was a rapid heartbeat fluttering and beating against his own, and a breath that was lightly blowing the bangs on top of his forehead. The ground beneath him gently rose up and down. He dared to shift his eyes upward.

 

That’s when he realized he had fallen right on top of Sehun.

 

And was snuggled deep into Sehun's chest, his face only a few centimeters from his very own. He just tackled his very own ticket out of academic make-up class. 

 

Man, why do I keep doing this to myself?

 

~*~

A/N:

I am back from the land of hopes and dreams, South Korea!

For those who don’t know, I spent the past month studying abroad at Ewha Womans University in Korea and it was the most rewarding and fun experience I’ve ever had. I got to meet a lot of different people, improve my Korean language skills, and eat so much good food!!

I started a blog at: therejamiegoes.blogspot.com and plan to post about some of my experiences in Korea along with pictures and the whole deal. So feel free to check it out if you’d like, or msg me if you have any questions or anything :)

ALSO, if you guys have any suggestions, thoughts, comments, anything you said out loud as you read through my chapters, please leave comments!!! I read and reply to them all, and they mean a lot to me. At least, they make my internship during the day less boring. So, please?? :) 

Last but not least, to everyone who got to read this author note, thank you so much for sticking with me throughout the journey and continuing to support my fanfiction. I love you all!

And of course, a warm welcome to all the new readers who joined the Kpopchicken fam <3