Chapter 4

Luhan had always been fascinated by the various things that girls could find attractive. Some boys could spend hours spiking up their hair with no reactions from girls while on the other hand, his old friend Minseok could cause dozens of girls to squeal and whisper excitedly about his cuteness by doing as little as sneezing.  

Luhan wasn’t doing much. He was sitting alone at a table at his first class, which was a vocal class (finally, something he was familiar with!), and trying to concentrate on his book. He could already sense the stares he was getting as girls began piling in just to watch him. It was very distracting. Most people were outside talking to their friends and catching up on what happened over the summer, but he was inside as he didn’t really know anyone yet, and he doubted Oh Sehun counted.

Sehun. He tried not to think about the awkward mess that was the night before. He didn’t see Sehun again after their collision until he came back to their room after dinner. He only recalled them speaking one sentence to each other.

“So, I guess we’re roommates?” Followed by an awkward half-smile which Luhan thought looked more like a smirk. Sehun was one of those people who always looked slightly judgmental of others whether they were smiling or frowning.

“Yeah,” Luhan responded.

Both ignored the tension in the air and went to sleep. When Luhan woke up the next morning, Sehun was already gone.

He could have at least offered to walk me to my first class.

“Hello,” he heard a voice say, and he was pulled out of his thoughts. He looked up to see that a boy had sat down next to him.

“Hi,” he said.

“My name is Jongdae,” the boy said. “Are you new?”

Luhan nodded. “Yes. My name is Luhan.”

Jongdae raised his eyebrows. “Luhan? Are you Chinese?”

“Yes.”

“I speak Chinese.”

“Really?” Luhan tried unsuccessfully to conceal his excitement.

Jongdae laughed. “Yes. Do you want to talk in Chinese?”

“No. I want to improve my Korean.”

“But I want to improve my Chinese.” Jongdae pouted, and Luhan burst out laughing: He looked ridiculous.

Sehun sat alone in the library, browsing articles on his phone so he could avoid looking like a loner.

“Hey.”  He felt the couch sag a little next to him and the smell of cinnamon and spice filled the air.

He smiled, already knowing whom it was.

“It’s been a while,” he responded, putting his phone away so he could talk to Jessica.

“Mmm-hmmm. How was your summer? I see you’re a celebrity now,” she said with a teasing grin. “Any luck with that certain girl you’re trying to impress?”

“Shut up,” he whined, and whacked her playfully. She laughed, ignoring the dirty looks she got from girls seated not too far away.

Rumors had always been circulating that Sehun and Jessica were dating. Even his friends had about it sometimes and suggested that they get together. In reality, it wasn’t like that at all. Jessica was a girl he had known for so long that he couldn’t see her in that way anymore, and he knew she felt the same about him. She was one of the few people he could relate to: both of them were known for their poker-faces and they usually came off as stuck-up or cold, when in reality both of them were just not good at expressing their feelings. Jessica was a friend of a lot of his friends too, which made her the object of jealousy from girls of all grades. She didn’t care, though, and this was something Sehun had always admired about her: her ability to just ignore what others thought of her, and worry more about what she thought of herself. He hoped that one day he could do the same.

“But seriously. What’s new?” she asked.

“Everything is pretty much the same. Wait…I have a roommate now,” he replied.

“Oh, so do I. She’s new. Her name’s Tiffany…” she glanced at him, looking for any sign of recognition.

“Don’t know her,” he said bluntly. Then, trying to sound uninterested, he asked, “Do you like her? Did you guys, like, get along well?” He wanted to know if he was the only one who felt distant from his roommate.

Her face lit up. “Oh yeah. She’s from California, like me. We were actually born in the same hospital. She sings, too. I like her. By the way, I have vocal class next and I’m supposed to meet her there. You should start walking, too.” She stood.

He followed her, wondering if he and Luhan could ever possibly be as close as she was with Tiffany.

“What’s up, Sehun?” Jongin slung an arm around his shoulder as they neared his Literature class.

Jessica began walking toward her vocal class, which was right across the hall, when Jongin called, “You gonna say hello, Sica?”

Jessica playfully stuck out her tongue and waved goodbye, entering the classroom.

“You gonna say hello, Sica?”

Luhan looked up at the sudden sound of the booming voice. He was surprised to see Sehun with a tall boy with tanned skin. They were saying bye to a pretty girl with wavy caramel hair.

Is she his girlfriend? He tried to get a better look at her. Why do I even care?

He noticed the reactions of the people in the room when she came in. He noted how boys looked up and girls shifted in their seats. He felt an uneasy feeling rising in his stomach: He knew these kinds of girls. They were the kinds that made being perfect look so easy. Wait, what’s wrong with me?

As if she had read his mind, the girl sat down right across from him. “Hey, Jongdae. Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

“Don’t scare him, Jessica. Anyway, this is Luhan.”

Luhan shook her hand. Her name is Jessica? But they called her Sica in the hall. Are they that close?

What’s wrong with me?

“Luhan, huh? Are you a Chinese transfer?”

“Yes,” Luhan replied, looking around because two new boys had seated themselves at the table. One had huge, round eyes while the other had rather small eyes but had them outlined in dark eyeliner.

“This is Kyungsoo and Baekhyun,” Chen introduced. The said boys smiled in acknowledgment. “Guys, this is Luhan. He’s a transfer from China.”

“Well, we have some Chinese friends. You’ll fit in fine,” Baekhyun encouraged him.

“So, Luhan, who’s your roommate?” Kyungsoo asked. Everyone else turned to look at him, curiosity in their eyes.

“Oh Sehun.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened bigger than they already were as did everyone else’s. They all looked at each other with knowing expressions and stifled smiles. It wasn’t until Luhan said, “What?” that they all burst out laughing and grinned at him.

“Good luck with that,” Baekhyun sing-songed. Luhan noticed that even when his voice was mocking, it still sounded musical.

“How are you surviving?” Chen asked, still laughing.

“I didn’t know that Sehun was rooming with someone,” Kyungsoo commented.

“I did. He told me this morning. But he didn’t say who with.” Jessica looked at him, and asked, “Seriously, though. Are you guys getting along well?” The concern in her voice was genuine and Luhan decided that he liked her.

“Well…we didn’t really talk much. We were kind of distant.” It was his honest answer.

The other boys continued to laugh, but Jessica smiled understandingly. “Don’t worry. It’s like that with everyone at first, but he opens up when he gets to know you. And when he gets to know you, you’ll find that he’s a good friend. Just give him time, and don’t misinterpret his shyness as arrogance.”

“Do you all know him well?”

“Yeah, we’re all very good friends with him, actually. We’ve all known each other since sixth grade.”

“Sica’s his girlfriend,” Baekhyun sing-songed again.

“Oh, shut up, Baek. He likes someone else. And besides…” her voice got rather quiet. “I like someone else, too.”

Everyone looked at her with curious Well-what-have-we-here expressions, but at that moment, the bell rang, and the teacher had walked in. Jessica’s story would have to wait for another time, because when class was over, she rushed out without saying another word.

“Do you have anyone to eat lunch with?” Chen asked.

“No,” Luhan said, again trying to sound casual.

“You’re welcome to eat with us.”

“Okay,” he answered in his best nonchalant voice. He probably did a bad job of sounding unenthusiastic, though, because Chen was smirking at him again.

“Just come to the table in front of the library,” Chen said, making his way towards the door. He stopped and put his hand on Luhan’s shoulder, and added, “Sehun’s going to be there, though,” before he left.

Luhan sighed as he watched Chen leave. There was no escaping Oh Sehun, was there?

A/N:

Nope, Luhan, there’s no escaping Oh Sehun. And yay ChenChen, Kyungs0_0, and Bacon have made their appearances!

And so did Jessica…don’t hate Sica guys. She is not a third wheel. I feel like I kind of gushed about her in this story. I can’t help it: She’s my ultimate female bias. (Ultimate bias is Luhan, but ultimate female bias is Jessica. She’s seriously my role model). Anyway. I’ll cut myself short before I write an essay about why I love Jessica. BTW- you will also be seeing more of Dara.

I’m trying not to rush the development of feelings between Luhan and Sehun, because I’m going for realistic here.

 And LOL at Sehun surfing the web on his phone so he doesn’t look like a loner. Does anyone else do that? I do.

I’ve seen articles and stuff about EXO making another 2013 comeback. Does anyone know anything about that? Is it true? As excited as I am if it’s true, I really hope they don’t overwork themselves. 2013 has been an amazing year for them already.

Until next time, guys ~

P.S: I noticed that the last chapter accidentally showed up as rated M. It was not supposed to be rated M. Nothing M-worthy happened. I corrected it, but some of you might have read it before I corrected it. I just wanted to let you guys know about that because some of you might have seen the “M” and thought, “Well that escalated quickly lol.”

This A/N is so long, sorry!