Previous chapter:

Luhan, who had finished his moment with his dad, turned around to see all of his friends hugging each other. He smiled. He felt that the moment he moved into his dad’s house, everything would change. He would flip over a new leaf, and happily get along with their family’s son.

However,

little did he know,

His whole world was about to get flipped over in a matter of seconds.

Chapter 6:

Three kids strolled along the sidewalk, backs aching and shoulders heavy, a result from the night before. Everyone was still tired from all of the commotion yesterday and it was a given that there would be even more of a commotion at school. Basically summing it up, no one was prepared and no one had the energy to even try.

“Remind me never to sleep on a couch ever again.” Kris said, frowning as he used his right hand to massage his left shoulder, switching after a few seconds.

Xiumin, who was stretching his back and arms simultaneously, groaned as he made an effort to loosen his tensed muscles. He nodded at Kris’s comment.

“Don’t get me wrong, but I won’t be doing that again either...” Xiumin faltered off as he saw Luhan trudge alongside them. “...unless something like yesterday happens again.”

Kris mustered a smile as he watched Xiumin glance at Luhan worriedly. “I doubt something like yesterday will happen again. It’s pretty miraculous, to have your house collapse because of such a small earthquake.”

Xiumin shot Kris a glare, somehow thinking that Kris was trying to make Luhan feel worse, and Kris shut up, sulking that he got a glare even though he had tried to do a good deed.

“Kris means you...you’re lucky!” Xiumin said, trying to make up for Kris's blabber mouth.

Luhan looked up at him.

“Huh?”

Xiumin grinned. “Think about it. Your house fell down because of an earthquake that didn’t even shake that much. That’s pretty miraculous already.” Xiumin looked at Kris. “As Kris had said. On top of that, your appa’s chingu happened to see your appa on TV and invited you to stay at their house. Doesn’t that mean you’re reallllyyyy lucky?!”

Luhan blinked.

“Uhm. If you say so...” Luhan’s lips slowly crept into a smile.

Xiumin gave Luhan’s shoulder a squeeze for comfort, and Kris, who had been there the whole time, pretended to shudder.

“Guys, stop being so lovey dovey when I’m here,” He whined. “It makes me feel like a third wheel!”

Luhan burst out laughing as Kris made a miserable puppy eyed face. Xiumin smacked Kris hard on the shoulder, while avoiding the look on Kris’s face.

“Yah, chugo shippo?! Do you wanna die?! Who said we were a lovey dovey couple?!” Xiumin released his anger on Kris.

It was almost as if smoke was coming out of his ears and his face was burning red. In other words, a hot baozi. Just the thought of it made Kris join in on the laughter. To tell the truth, both Kris and Luhan knew how fun it was to tease Xiumin. Although, of course, Luhan didn’t dare do it much. Even Xiumin himself knew he was vulnerable to teasing (which is pretty much saying something).

As the three finally reached the front gates, there was an enormous crowd of people trying to get in. Everyone instantly quieted down as Luhan joined the crowd along with Kris and Xiumin. Murmurs began to spread as the crowd started to form a small space for Luhan to walk through. Luhan, giving everyone an “What are you guys doing” look, hesitantly took a few steps forward. Xiumin took Luhan’s back and Kris followed behind. Walking down past the crowd, Luhan thought, felt like an eternity. He was completely self conscious of the fact that his father had appeared on TV and so had his other friends. Kris had it bad though, since his only appearance on TV had been him getting hauled onto an ambulance stretcher. Kris shook his head at the thought.

After several minutes or so of ignoring obnoxious comments made by several students in the crowd, Luhan finally reached the front. His face almost immediately turned red as he found the source of the student traffic in front of the school. What made him angrier was the fact that the school guards were standing to the sides, enjoying the embarrassing moment.

“Hey, Lulu!!” Kai exclaimed as he spotted Luhan in the crowd.

Luhan’s face was miserable as he eyed Kai up and down, the situation before him finally settling in. Kai, on the other hand, didn’t seem to notice Luhan’s expression, nor care to consider his feelings. He was leisurely perched on the fifth step of the stairs leading to campus, wearing a bright orange bandana which literally had “Eathquake Doantions” written on it with sloppy handwriting. Let’s not mention the spelling yet. Moving on. He wore a bright orange and yellow safety guard vest that usually crossing guards wear to let people cross the road. If he wore that to catch people's attention, it sure worked, alright. In addition to his clothing, Kai hung a handmade cardboard box around his neck to free his hands, those which were holding signs that proclaimed a friend of his had gotten into a terrible accident and had nowhere to live.  A piece of paper was taped to the front of the cardboard box, the word “Doantions” sloppily scrawled over it. On the very top of the box, a small slit was carelessly cut open to slide in bills and coins.

“...Wow.” Kris managed to utter as he stared at Kai up by the top of the steps. “This is the first time I’ve seen Kai productively doing something.”

Kai, who didn’t hear his words, kept shouting for Luhan, thinking Luhan hadn’t heard him the first time. Xiumin elbowed Kris in the stomach for speaking positively about Kai, and after sending Xiumin a glare, he added in a few words.

“Well, though what he is doing, is in fact annoying the hell out of us.” He said, awkwardly shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

As Luhan quickly dashed up the stairs to where Kai was, in front of the whole crowd of people, Kai started his advertising again.

“Please donate for the needy! An earthquake destroyed one of our student’s houses and he has nowhere to live now! Please donate!” He shook his cardboard box and a few coins jingled inside.

As students began to leave the crowd to head for class, some quickly rushed past Kai while others shuffled through their bags for some loose change to drop in the box. Luhan pulled on Kai’s arm.

“It’s almost time for class, Kai. Change out of your clothes and get ready!” He said almost demandingly, frowning.

Kai shook his head no. “That know-it-all kid didn’t show up yet, so it can’t possibly be time for class.”

Luhan bit his lip as he heard Kai use the nickname he made for Sehun. Sure Sehun was smart, but that wasn’t exactly why Luhan fell in love with him. Well, at least, not the main reason why. Luhan thought fast. He didn’t want Oh Sehun to see him like this. He didn’t want his pity or money either. All he wanted was for Sehun to at least look at him. He should at least consider this much, right? He tried again.

“Kaiiii, look what time it is!” Luhan whined. “Everyone’s leaving already!”

He pointed to the now emptied out lot in front of the school. Unfortunately for Luhan, Kai stood firm. Luhan turned to Kris and Xiumin for help, and Xiumin did nothing but shrug and point straight ahead.

Speak of the devil, right?

Luhan quickly glanced at his watch, impressed. Oh Sehun strolled through the gates exactly two minutes before class was scheduled to start. Although his hair was a bit on the rough side and and he seemed to have carelessly thrown on the loosely hanging tie on his neck, Luhan couldn’t help but stop and stare at his beautiful form. It was yet another day in Luhan’s eyes in which Sehun seemed to be sparkling, more handsome than anyone or, as a matter of fact, any thing that he could imagine.

“Ah, the main character finally shows up.” Kai said somewhat loud, enough for Sehun to hear from afar.

Sehun, who looked in a rush, absentmindedly skipped up the steps, way past Kai.

“YAH! Oh Sehun! Are you not going to stop there?!” Kai shouted. “So you’re rich and smart and you think you got everything, huh? You can’t even stop to donate some money to your fellow student in need?”

Luhan’s face went beet red.

“Kim Jongin...” He started, gritting his teeth. “I told you we should go to class...”

Kai’s eyes slightly widened in response to Luhan using his real name, but his attention faltered when Sehun turned around and cooly approached the five. Kai frowned, unsatisfied, as Sehun pulled out 1000 won from his wallet and handed it to Kai. Kai stared at it with an unpleasant look on his face.

“I thought you were richer than that.” Kai shot at him. “A measly 1000 won?”

Sehun gave Kai a stare before he scoffed at Kai’s laughable attitude. “Okay. How much do you want? 5000 won? 10,000 won?”

Kai was rendered speechless for a moment. He thought he had gotten to Sehun when he said 1000 wasn’t enough, but for Sehun to ask if he wanted 5000 or 10,000 won was quite frankly unexpected. He was about to pick another fight with Sehun, but Luhan, seeing it was the clear opportunity for him to in, kicked Kai away. He didn't want to be the cause of Sehun being late for class. It would break his perfect attendance record, and he couldn't afford to let that happen.

“I don’t need any of your money,” Luhan said quickly. “It’s not like I’m poor or I’m a beggar or something.”

Xiumin nodded, giving Luhan encouragement from behind. Sehun raised an eyebrow.

“It doesn’t seem that way by the way your friend is advertising you to get money, does it?”

Luhan opened his mouth to protest, but Sehun cut him off.

“But then again, they [the students] said he was in love with you, right?”

He glanced at Kai and then back to Luhan.

“You two actually suit each other, Han. Have you considered him?"

He gave them a smirk before turning and walking towards the school building. Kai was shocked. Never did he imagine that he would receive blessings to get together with Luhan from his enemy. Oh Sehun just told him that he looked good together with Luhan! It made no sense at all. On the other hand, Luhan was fuming. He didn’t know what made him this angry about what Sehun had said, but he was just angry. Sehun had just called him Han, but the rest of that sentence just ruled out the effect of that nickname.

Did he just say that Kai and I suited each other?! But...he knew that I've always liked him. Why the heck would he say that?

“OH SEHUN, IT’S NOT LIKE I NEED YOUR HELP ANYWAY, YOU JERK!” He shouted impulsively.

Sehun momentarily turned back before shooting Luhan a small yet confident smile.

“Oh, really?” He called out. “We’ll see about that!”

With that, he swiftly turned back around and headed towards the building, hand waving Luhan and the others goodbye.

“What an idiot...” Xiumin muttered underneath his breath as Sehun disappeared from their line of sight.

Kris blinked. “What did he mean when he said, ‘We’ll see about that’? It somewhat sounds a bit...dangerous.”

Kai laughed. “What do you mean dangerous? That Oh Sehun can’t do anything to my Lulu when I’m around!”

Xiumin rolled his eyes.

“Whatever, Kai.”

He grabbed Luhan’s hand and locked their fingers.

“Come on, just forget what Sehun said to you. You said you would endure it on your last year of high school, didn’t you? You’ve already endured it for three years. You can do it.” Xiumin smiled.

He squeezed Luhan’s hand. Luhan stared at Xiumin for a few seconds before nodding. He gave Xiumin a smile.

“Come on, let’s run. We’re late to homeroom!”

Luhan and Xiumin took off, sprinting towards the school.

Kris, who was left behind again, cursed it off.

“Aish, I told them I was a third wheel and this is perfectly clear evidence.” He said to himself dejectedly.

He immediately took off to chase after the lovey dovey couple, in hopes that he wouldn’t be late for class. Kai, left standing alone, sighed.

“How could they just leave me here like this?” He asked no one in particular.

He was about to sit down on one of the steps, but his ears perked up as he heard the first bell ring.

“Oh, screw this!” He exclaimed, pulling off his bandana. "Luhan ignores me for a week whenever I'm late for class!"

He poured out the change from the cardboard box, filled it into his sweat pockets, and threw the box next to the trash can nearby as he began to sprint towards the school building. The trash collector ahjussi scowled as he saw Kai throw the box by the trash, and Kai quickly bowed in his direction with a sorry look on his face.

“Mianhe, ahjussi!!” He called out.

He zoomed off before he heard a reply. The ahjussi just sighed and shook his head in disapproval.

“Kids these days...”

~*~

A/N:

I’m sorry for the slightly late update, hehe~ School has really been catching up on me lately, so I haven’t got as much time as before to update. Anywho, welcome to all the new subscribers!! I didn’t think I’d get this far at all, and yet I already have 62 subbies. Love you guys (;

Any of you anticipating what’s going to happen next? Cause even as the author, I know I am...Aw. Luhan, are you sure you realllllyyyyy don’t need Sehunnie’s help? ;3

Comments and votes welcome for motivation! ^^