Chapter 7

“What’s with the long face?”

You rolled your eyes as you continued to stare out of the window from inside the big SUV. It was not the usual car that you always take to go to school. No, it’s not. It was freakin Do-eyes like the wheels of a truck-Kyungsoo’s car. Since you had no way of objecting to your mother’s orders, you had no choice but to show that kid around your school as well as be ‘best-of-friends’ with him, like what your mother had said to you this morning.

And also because of that, the Do family had wanted the two of you to carpool each other alternately every week. Which meant for the rest of the week, you had to go to school in Kyungsoo’s giant SUV.

Why does a puny guy like him need a car as big as an elephant?

“I said, what’s with the long face? That’s kind of unfair you know. I’m the one who should be upset here.” Kyungsoo said and glared at you with his arms folded and his legs crossed over each other.

“Whatever, we both didn’t ask for this.” You mumbled back, wanting to stop the conversation. Mr Lee who was sitting at the front beside the driver glanced at the both of you through the rearview mirror and chuckled.

A few minutes later the car arrived to your school and you quickly took off your seat belt and just as you were about to open the door, you felt someone tugging your arm. You pulled your arm away in annoyance and glared at him. But his look was different suddenly. He looked, kind.

“Listen, we got off to a bad start and I don’t think we should act like this towards each other. Wanna start over? Hi, I’m Kyungsoo.” His lips, you noticed, formed a heart shape when he smiled and he reached out his small hand towards you for a handshake. You stared at him, your face emotionless.

“I’m Hae Ra. Your class schedule should be inside your bag. I’ve given the map of the campus to my butler, you can take it from him. I hope you can read maps Kyungsoo-ssi.” You said in a monotonous voice and opened the door of the car. You rolled your eyes and closed the door before he could say anything. You weren’t in the mood for any talking anyway.

You were walking towards your locker when you see a familiar figure leaning against it. You groaned and rolled your eyes.

Great, can my day get any worse?

“Oh someone looks happy today? Good morning Hae Ra.” Chanyeol said sarcastically and smiled at you. You just nodded at him and placed your bag in the locker while at the same time taking out the books you needed for your first class. Seeing how you were ignoring him, Chanyeol sighed and leaned against the locker next to you.

“Giving me the silent treatment today huh? It’s okay, it’s okay. That just means I get to talk to you more! You cannot believe what Baekhyun said about you yeste-“

“Yah, you’re supposed to show me around! Not give me a stupid map!”

Chanyeol stopped talking and stood up straight, looking at the opposite direction. You sighed, knowing who’s voice it was and just continued taking out your stuff from your locker. Chanyeol raised his eyebrows and leaned in to you.

“Uh, I think he’s talking to you.” You looked at him and he had his finger up, pointing towards Kyungsoo who was already standing behind you, his arms folded against his chest.

“Damn right I’m talking to her. Yah, your mother told you to be nice to me-“

You slammed your locker shut, causing both Chanyeol and Kyungsoo to jump and you blew the loose strand of your hair that was on your face. “And I remembered your father saying the same thing to you this morning on the phone Kyungsoo-ssi.” You hugged your books close to your chest and looked him in the eye.

Kyungsoo was about to make another snarky comeback at you but Chanyeol suddenly took a step forward, blocking your view of Kyungsoo. Compared to Chanyeol, Kyungsoo now looks so vulnerable and little. You could tell that he was intimidated by Chanyeol’s height by the way he took a step back so that it won’t seem that Chanyeol was towering over him.

“I don’t know who you are but I don’t think she wants to talk to you.” Chanyeol said with a firm voice.

Kyungsoo gulped and his lips before looking at you. Again, that same expression he had in the car appeared on his face.

“Okay, I’m sorry. Again. We got off to a bad start. Why don’t we just start off as acquaintances huh?” He sighed and reached out his hand again for you.

Chanyeol was still glaring at him but you tugged on his sleeve. “It’s okay. It’s just a handshake.” You said and shook Kyungsoo’s hand. Chanyeol pouted and moved aside, putting his hand in his pocket. Kyungsoo relaxed a little.

To your surprise, his hand was soft and delicate. You thought they’d be rough and cold, seeing how his character was. When you noticed that your hand was holding his a little bit longer than it should, you quickly retracted and hugged your books again.

Kyungsoo smiled and again you see his lips forming a heart shape. Hm, weird.

“Okay okay that’s enough. Let’s go to class Hae Ra.” Chanyeol said and lightly nudged your shoulders. You could see Kyungsoo’s smile was starting to disappear and you felt a little guilty.

“I checked your schedule this morning. You have English class first. Take the stairs to the right and go up three floors. The classroom is right at the end of the hallway.” You quickly said before turning on your heels and walked briskly to your class with Chanyeol.

“Thanks!” You heard Kyungsoo shout and Chanyeol just scoffed beside you.

“What are you two, related or something?”

As usual, you and Chanyeol were spending lunch time at the rooftop only this time, instead of looking through your phone and ignoring him, you were seated upright doing your homework against the wall. You were so tired yesterday after having dinner with the Do family that you totally forgot about it. You managed to beg your teacher to let you submit it at the end of the day without getting detention.

Chanyeol found a baseball at the corner of the roof and kept throwing it against the same wall you were using, letting the ball bounce back to him. It didn’t hit you but it was getting annoying, having the ball bounce right beside your face whenever you wanted to write. But as usual, you ignored him and tried to concentrate on more important matters; your homework.

Stupid brat with his heart shaped lips. Why do his lips even do that, is that normal?

“Stupid shortstuff. Arrogant prick. Think he’s so good looking huh? Well, at least I make him look like an elementary school kid with my height.” You heard Chanyeol mumbling to himself. It seemed like he was thinking the same thing as you too. But it was getting annoying as his throws became much harder and the wall shook even more, making it more difficult for you to write.

“Yah! Can you quit it? I’m trying to work here!” You glared at him. Great, now I got two s to avoid.

Chanyeol caught the ball and folded his arms. “It’s oppa to you. How many times must I repeat myself? Oppa. Come on, repeat after me.”

“Aish, you’re so freakin’ annoying! I just want to write in peace!” You huffed and glared at him.

Chanyeol just stared at you with his large brown eyes and then he suddenly turned his back against you.

“Here, write on my back.”

“Excuse me?”

Chanyeol turned his head and looked at you with a genuine smile. “Use my back as your desk. The wall is way too upright for you to write. You’re gonna get a backache.”

“No thank yo-“ You were about to refuse his offer but then you saw the look on his face. Those eyes, there were so…beautiful. You felt like you saw them before. And you didn’t know why every time you look into those eyes, you couldn’t help but do as you were told.

Chanyeol had a triumphant smile when he saw you hesitantly shifting closer to him. He turned back so that you could properly use his back as support for you to write.

“Don’t move so much or I might poke your back.” You ordered him and he nodded.

You sighed and decided to focus on your work. The faster you get it done the better. You didn’t want to be held back by detention. You wanted to head straight home to your pool. Not being in it for one day was unbearable. You had a lot on your mind.

The both of you kept quiet for a while. You were too engrossed in your work, and Chanyeol was just picking on the weeds that were growing between the cracks of the concrete floor and tossing it to an unknown area. The distant sounds of the students chatter and the birds made the whole atmosphere very soothing.

You were almost at the last bit of your essay when Chanyeol started talking again.

“Hae Ra, do you really not remember me?” He said while fiddling with the dandelion he plucked.

“Hmm? Remember what?” You hummed, eyes still glued to your assignment.

Chanyeol chuckled at your response, his back moving up and down causing your pen to poke a hole in your paper and poked him. He screeched and you slapped his back.

“Yah! I told you not to move! Now look what you made me do you pabo!” Your pen had stained the back of his school blazer and you quickly used your sleeve to try and make it disappear. Of course that only ended in vain since you managed to make the stain even worse.

“What did I say about you calling me ‘yah’? And you called me a pabo?! It’s ‘oppa’ to you and don’t fret about the stain. It’ll come off with water.” He said and took off his blazer. You couldn’t help but notice how nice his arms were and tried your best not to stare.

Chanyeol looked at you and a frown appeared on his face. “Look what you did to your sleeve.”

Without warning, he took your arm and inspected the stain on the sleeve of your blazer. “Take it off.”

Your eyes widened. “E-Excuse me?! What did you say?”

“Your blazer, take it off so I can wash it for you. They have a dryer in the boy’s locker room that we could use. So we’ll be able to get it cleaned and dry before the day ends. That is unless…you’d like to go there yourself.” He gave you a cheeky grin which made you slap his arm.

“Shut up.” You said and handed him your blazer as you were told to. He smiled triumphantly and collected both blazers in his arms before standing up.

“You know, even though you’ve changed, deep down, I know you’re still the same.” He smiled before waving at you and headed towards the stairs.

You just stared at him until he disappeared down the stairs.