003
impulse
"You?" Taeyeon hissed under her breath to a speechless Onew after the dean had let them go. "Of all people, it had to be you."
"I-"
"Whatever," she sighed. "Just...meet me after school at the cafe. And please, no drinks." Giving a small apologetic smile, she headed in the direction of her next class while he stood there, caught between fear and the dorky smile growing on his face.
- - - - - - -
"Hey, Key!" Sooyoung hurried into her Art class that afternoon, apologizing to the teacher for arriving late as she took her seat behind the table she shared with the young man. He looked up and blinked, returning to his notebook where he was doodling absentmindedly. "Did I miss much?"
"Nope." The tall brunette nodded and gave a light shrug, taking her own things out when another latecomer strode through the door with a lazy smirk on her face.
"Miss Hwang, would you mind telling me why you're late?" The teacher tapped his foot and crossed his arms, awaiting a reply.
"I was a bit busy with my previous teacher and I just left that class, sorry Sir," Tiffany replied innocently, earning a quick nod and trying to find a seat. Realizing everywhere she usually sat was taken, she was forced to share the table that the other two were seated at. Throwing a dirty glare towards Sooyoung and a bright smile to the only male, she began sketching in her own notebook.
"Um, Tiffany," Sooyoung started hesitantly. "There are other tables you can sit at other than mine, you know."
"I don't think Key minds me being here, do you?" She looked over at him, smirking when he shrugged himself. "See? You just seem to have a problem because every guy you know ignores you for me. Just like Eunhyuk, hmm?"
Just then, Key flinched a bit, his empathy picking up on the sting Sooyoung felt from that comment. He normally wasn't tapped into many people's emotions but he spent so much time with her that it became easier as time passed. The two weren't considerably close, but she'd been nothing but nice to him despite his usually dismissive responses to her. He watched quietly as she gritted her teeth, a huge grin still on her face for the older woman.
"I don't care about Hyuk anymore, Tiffany. And Key's a friend. Not my fault you're running around taking everyone's ex-boyfriends and making them hate you."
"Really now?" Contorting her face intro a frown, Tiffany stood up, watching to make sure the teacher was focused on his own work and lifted a small container of paint from her bag, opening it and before Sooyoung could stop her, she threw the entre tub of the blue liquid onto the tall brunette's shirt. Everyone at that point seemed to sense that something was wrong and looked up, their eyes wide at the sight of the two girls glaring at each other and the mess that was made.
"Mr. Choi, can I please go to the restroom?" Sooyoung called, her voice steady and unchanging. He nodded once and she bolted out the door, tears of humiliation welling up in her eyes. She ran into the girls' restroom, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Aside from the stain on her shirt, she felt like she was nothing against Tiffany. She never wanted a fight, but it was times like these she really wondered if the older woman was right. Her eyes were bulgy, unlike the other's small, bright ones. Her legs were too thin. Hair was too long. The list could go on.
Wiping at her eyes with her sleeve, she the water and tried to rinse off the paint.
Meanwhile in class, Tiffany sat with a smug expression on her face, the others whispering to themselves. She was about to make conversation with Key when she looked up and saw him with his head on the desk, his book pushed aside.
"Key, you okay?"
"Mmhmm," he mumbled, rubbing the sides of his head gently. There was no way he could explain the reason for his headache was his empathy acting up. He was thankful for having Sooyoung around because of her cheery nature which usually made him feel better, but it was times like these when she had rare moments of sadness that made his own ability hurt him. Without an excuse from the teacher, he ran out of the room with his bag and slowed in the hall, stopping at the door of the restroom nearby and waiting for the tall brunette.
"I guess this will do," Sooyoung sighed inside, rolling her eyes at the watery stain over her white blouse. "Jessica will really enjoy this one." Shoving the door open, she jumped at the sight of her friend. "Huh? Key, why're you here?"
"Figure you'd not want to stay in that shirt," he mumbled softly, taking a clean blue button-down shirt of his own out from the bag and handing it to her.
"You walk around with extra clothes?"
He shrugged.
"Thanks," she smiled gratefully, taking it from him and hurrying in to change. When she stepped outside he was already gone, no surprise to her. He wasn't one to say much and didn't usually stick around.
- - - - - - -
"She what?" Jessica shouted, quieting down at the younger woman's glare. The two were out of class, deciding not to go and staying in the school's nearby garden. "And you let her?'
"I didn't realize what she was doing!" Sooyoung defended herself. "Besides, I'm lucky I got Key's shirt or I'd be walking around with a big blue blob on my shirt."
"Oh, so that's Key's shirt, huh?" The older woman leaned forward with a playful smirk, earning a smack on her arm.
"Don't look at me like that. You know we're friends."
"True. So did you hear? That idiot Jonghyun was caught ditching our Biochemistry class today. He thinks he's so cool cause he gets away with everything." She rolled her eyes.
"Seems to me like you do, too."
"Huh?"
"Why else would you be talking about him?"
"I don't associate myself with stupid people like that."
"Uh huh, sure."
"I'm serious!"
"Right," Sooyoung snickered.
- - - - - - - -
The five had gotten home earlier than expected, thanks to none of them having classes. Minho had gone straight to bed after spending time at the gym with Yuri again and Taemin had just changed planted himself in front of the TV to play video games. Jonghyun sat at the kitchen table with Onew and was chugging down a bottle of milk while Key was sprawled off on the floor next to them, absentmindedly playing a game on his phone.
"So, I might leave in a little while to go tutor Taeyeon," Onew finished his story, the other two men sighing in relief that he was done.
"Mr. Kang wants to talk to me about ditching class when I'm clearly not," Jonghyun snickered, earning a light tap on his head.
"Jonghyun, go to your classes please." The oldest gave him a stern look.
"Speaking of which, I heard that Tiffany Hwang dumped paint on Sooyoung and she ran out crying. That true, Key?"
The youngest of the three looked up. "She wasn't crying, she was just upset. I think I could tell."
"So how did she get your shirt?" Jonghyun smirked. "Don't think I didn't see her in that blue shirt of yours that you always have with you."
"She was a mess, just thought I should help her."
"Aw, does Kibummie have a little crush?"
"No."
"He does," Onew joined in with a laugh.
"No, damn it!" he snapped, tugging at his hair and storming up the stairs. The two fell silent in confusion before Jonghyun cleared his throat and stood up.
"I'm gonna go check on Taemin. Onew, you talk to him."
"Alright." The older of the two followed behind Key, opening his door to find him on his bed with his head in his hands. "Care to explain?"
"Sorry," he muttured, meeting his gaze. "It's just...when Sooyoung was sad, I got this horrible headache and I felt terrible. Only after I helped her I felt better. I know I'm empathetic more than usual towards her since we're friends and all, but why is it literally painful now?"
"Well..." Onew thought, scratching his head. "It can either be that you have to distance yourself from her to weaken your friendship and you'll feel less empathetic, or it's just like the older wolves had told us awhile back."
"You don't mean..." Key trailed off, fully remembering.
"One of you likes the other and that's causing your empathy to be stronger than usual. Seems to me like one of you have some confessing to do."
- - - - - - -
{ A/N } hey there dear readers!! thanks for the subs and comments lately, i really appreciate it. ;u; this chapter was supposed to have jongsica as well, but it's rushed and i wanted to post an update, so next chapter maybe? happy reading!!
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