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“I am really going to kill this jerk one day,” Luhan gritted his teeth, glaring laser beams into Sehun’s back.

He followed Sehun all the way to school, keeping the distance in mind every step of the way. It was painful, honestly, to keep track of the distance, but Luhan was determined to never cross Sehun’s tracks again.

Unconsciously, though, this morning turned out to be the same as every other morning he has had since the beginning of high school. Nothing has changed; maybe it’s become even stronger than before since he now lived at Sehun’s house, but

Every single thought always returned to that one same subject every morning. What subject, you ask? Here’s a hint: it’s three characters.

OH. SE. HUN.

Chapter 9:

Students’ gazes all shifted towards the wary boy who entered the classroom dejectedly, dragging his feet with him. It was a rare sight, for the boy was always one for smiles and laughter. The teacher was ready to discipline her students, but everyone quickly turned to the front as the school bell rang, signalling the start of class. The boy slowly brought himself to his seat and plopped his head onto the desk. Kai, who had been watching every single movement the boy had made, quickly ripped a piece of looseleaf from his notebook and scrawled a couple of words onto it. He folded it into a paper airplane and launched it while the teacher turned to write a couple of words on the whiteboard. With much experience, the plane swiftly landed right next to Luhan’s head on the desk and Luhan sat up to unfold it.

야아, 왜 늦었어? - 종인

Yah, why are you late? - Jongin

Luhan sighed. He didn’t even want to talk about the reason why he was almost late to class today. What would he even say? That he lived at Oh Sehun’s house now? That he walked with Oh Sehun to school today? That Oh Sehun threatened him to keep quiet about it all? No, he couldn’t. For all he knew, Kim Jongin was a blabber mouth and once word got out, the whole school would know about it -- which, of course, is one of the reasons the whole school knows Luhan confessed to Sehun in the first place. Xiumin and Kris were absent today; he got texts this morning from both of them saying they called out sick. School without them was painful and Luhan knew that on days like this, he had to watch his mouth (an exception being around Tao, since Tao was somewhat trustworthy).

That reminded him.

I still haven’t found my confession letter yet...Did someone really pick it up?

Just the thought of that scenario made Luhan crumple up the piece of paper Jongin had sent over to him. The horror it would be if that person revealed his letter to the whole school. Luhan didn’t think he could take another blow like that.

Jongin frowned as he saw Luhan shape his note into a wrinkled paper ball. He was dying to know why Luhan, the only try hard good student in Class F, was actually late to class. It had to be something important since Luhan had been aiming for getting to school before the bell rang every single day. Nothing explained why Luhan destroyed his little question too. Luhan always answered his notes, even if he risked getting in trouble with the teacher.

Tapping his foot impatiently by the side of his desk, other students turned to look at him with annoyed stares. He made a face at them and watched them turn back to the front of the room. Suddenly, in the middle of Jongin’s temper, a clean cut-edge paper airplane landed smoothly onto his desk. He stretched his neck back to see Kyungsoo’s smile mock him. He decided to face front again. Quickly unfolding the airplane, his facial expression darkened as he read the words Kyungsoo printed neatly on the piece of paper.

내가보고 루한과 세훈이 아침에 함께 학교에 걸어! -경수 ❤

I saw Luhan and Sehun walk to school together this morning! - Kyungsoo❤

Jongin suddenly felt the urge to punch someone in the face hard -- That person, meaning, none other than Do Kyungsoo. Whether Do Kyungsoo was trying to be nice and tell him some information, or he was trying to be a jerk and get Jongin all riled up, Jongin knew the answer very very well.

There was still fifty minutes left in class and if it were up to Jongin, he would’ve already been out of his seat and pulling Luhan out of the classroom. However, it wasn’t up to him and he knew he would just be in hot water with Luhan if the teacher gave Luhan the judging look twice in a row. Jongin knew how much it mattered to Luhan that he didn’t get disciplinary looks as much as Jongin himself did. Luhan actually wanted to graduate high school and be able to enter a college that was willing to accept him for his qualifications.

All Jongin could do was clench his teeth and wait for his moment to come.

~*~

“Yah, don’t run, Jinyoung!” The teacher called out as the lunch bell rang and students rushed out of the classroom in a hurry to be first on the lunch line.

She sighed when her warnings did not reach their ears.

“It’s okay, sungsaengnim! You tried your best.” Tao comforted the teacher, giving her a thumbs up as he walked over to Luhan’s table where the rest of his friends gathered.

“Only you would say such a thing,” The teacher laughed, smiling at Tao’s words. “Thanks for being one out of two people who listen to me speak during class.”

“No problem, saem!” Tao winked as he settled himself in one of the chairs next to Luhan and Kyungsoo.

He leaned in.

“So what’s the scoop? I missed out on all that glaring and smirks in action during class because, unlike someone,” Tao glanced at Kai, “I was actually paying attention.”

Kyungsoo chuckled.

“Luhan and Sehun walked to school together, man. The word’s spreading but the volume’s died down a bit since that trio of Sehun’s has been threatening everyone to keep quiet. I gotta admit that trio IS impressive sometimes.”

Tao gaped at Luhan.

“You WALKED TO SCHOOL with SEHUN?!” He exclaimed in disbelief. He then lowered his voice a decibel. “Wow, dream come true with the love of your life much?”

“We just happened to walk to school at the same time, okay? It wasn’t like we were walking side by side or anything!” Luhan protested, fighting back.

Jongin sat there quietly, the unmistakable trademark pout on his face.

“I told you to try to look at me like a man, Lulu...What do you take me for?” He choked out.

Chanyeol patted him on the back.

“It’s okay, hyung. Luhan said that they weren’t walking together. It was coincidental!”

Jongin shot up.

“How can something like this be accidental?! This is Luhan and Sehun we’re talking about!”

Suddenly, there was a knock on the classroom door. Everyone in the room turned to look. Who in their right minds would knock on a classroom door before coming in? This was Class F, for gods sake. If they did that in Class A, then that would just be plain weird.

“May I talk to Xi Luhan for a minute?” A rather uninterested voice said from the doorway.

Everyone immediately hushed and with jaws gaping, turned to stare at Luhan. It wasn’t only Luhan’s classmates who were surprised. Luhan clearly remembered Sehun told him to pretend not to know him in school. What was he doing here, asking for him in front of everyone? He gulped and shot the teacher a glance. The teacher was too busy gaping at Sehun to notice. Her eyes were kind of glittering too. Luhan fought the urge to make a comment on that, and was startled by Jongin who had found his voice after a mere thirty seconds.

“Yah, Oh Sehun, what gives you the right to just barge into our classroom without notice?! You never go to this wing!” He spat out.

Sehun calmly replied.

“Well, I knocked before I came in and asked to see Luhan as politely as I could. Didn’t I?” He met eyes with the other students in the classroom and they automatically nodded. “And this wing isn’t just yours. It’s part of the school. If I can’t even walk down here, you guys shouldn’t be here either.”

Jongin quietly cleared his throat and the first noise that was made in the room was the sound of Chanyeol slowly clapping after Sehun’s explanation.

“That made so much sense...” Chanyeol murmured, eyes sparkling with admiration.

Jongin quickly kicked Chanyeol’s chair and after taking a peek at Jongin’s face, Chanyeol immediately shut up.

“Luhan, you don’t have to follow that jerk out. You can stay here, you know! This is your classroom after all.”

Luhan shook his head no. If there was something so important that Sehun had to walk to his classroom to find him, he wanted to know what exactly it was that brought Sehun here on his own two feet. He got up from his chair and his friends watched him silently as he stood up.

“Bring your lunch with you too.” Sehun said before turning around and walking into the hallway.

Luhan did as he was told and hastily fetched his bento box from his backpack before jogging out the door. Jongin looked like he wanted to cry and this time, Kyungsoo, Tao, and Chanyeol went over to comfort their friend’s loss. He was rejected twice in a row in less than five minutes of Sehun appearing. They had to admit it was quite a sad story.

When Luhan caught up to Sehun, he found the both of them in the courtyard of the school.

“So, uhm, what are we doing here?” Luhan said timidly, holding his bento box in his hands.

Luhan watched as Sehun scanned the windows of the school to see if there were any spectators. He examined the hallways and the parking lot nearby. There was no one in sight.

Sehun must know when some place specific has no people...He’s always eaten alone while studying and likes to spend time by himself. Though, of course, sometimes he eats with his friends if they insist.

Sehun walked back to Luhan.

“Give me your lunch.”

Luhan looked at Sehun like he was crazy.

“What?”

“I said, give me your lunch. Are you deaf?”

Luhan cleared his throat awkwardly and handed over his lunch. Sehun shoved his lunch box into Luhan’s hands and then opened the one in his hands. It was his.

“My mom accidentally switched our lunch boxes this morning. Anyway, thanks for the lunch box. Pretend you don’t know me again, starting from now.” Sehun said, walking back into the building.

“Wait! Are you sure she switched up the lunches?” Luhan followed, calling after Sehun.

“Open yours later and you’ll find out why.” Sehun commented with a straight face. “Now, stay there and enter the building five minutes after me. Bye!”

He swung the door to the school open and walked back inside. Luhan kicked the ground in obvious frustration as he watched Sehun leave. Why did he have to be commanded by that jerk all the time? And even worse, why did he always listen to his commands?

He looked down at the lunch box in his hands and thought back to Sehun’s words.

“Open yours later and you’ll find out why.”

Curious as to the meaning behind those words, he snapped open his bento box to take a peek inside. His eyes widened as if he couldn’t believe what he saw. Inside, Sehun’s mother had shaped the rice into a cute Rilakkuma bear and added side dishes surrounding the rice as a part of the outfit and background. At the bottom of the box, she used sauce to write the words, “Fighting, Luhan!”. Luhan suddenly laughed. The lunch was beautiful and smelled yummy, but he could only imagine one thing in his head.

How amusing it must have been to see the look on Oh Sehun’s face when he opened this lunch box.

He wished he could’ve been there.

~*~

A/N:

It’s been a while since my last update and I have my tests and quizzes at the end of MP1 to blame. Anywho, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! It’s time for me to think about what to write next...Hmmm...