“In friendship.” Joon answered with a gleaming face.

 

“. . . What?” Luhan raised an eyebrow at her request. “You almost killed me, dragged me here against my will and expect me to be friends with you?”

 

“Yes.” She nodded, seeing that her actions were justified.

“Answer me this, why do you want me to be friends with you?”

The brunette blinked for a moment before she looked down, stalling the time for her head to come for a reasonable answer. “Hm. . . well you see. “ Joon reached towards her wallet and looked through the contents, it was obvious to both of them she had no answer.

“You’re obviously stalling.”

“No, I’m not. Ah! The reason why I want to be friends with you is because you like to eat!” She pointed at him, putting away her wallet.

“What kind of reason is that?”

“Well, you can’t choose your friends you know.”

“I’m quite sure the phrase is you can’t choose your family.” This girl is an idiot, he thought to himself before turning to the direction of his home. “And I reject your request if you couldn’t already tell. Thanks for the food though.” He gave a quick wave and left the other standing alone.

Walking down the damp alleyway, Luhan sighed to himself feeling quite irritated. “Do you really think you can leave that easily?” The voice of Joon followed after him as she walked behind his footsteps, leaving a clear distance of four feet in between them, just in case.

Refusing to answer he gives her the silent treatment and continues walking but down a different route so she wouldn’t know where he lived. He had already lost the time to visit Eunjung’s grave and would never attempt to now with the nuisance stalking him at the moment. In this case, running wouldn’t have been the best idea. She would most likely follow after him with ease. How does one even shake off a stalker in the first place? Report them?

“If you keep following me, I’ll report you to the police- “ He turned around only to find himself talking to empty space. “Guess she got bored.” He scoffed to himself. Typical. People always leave if they aren’t interested enough. Checking the time, the blonde scowled. He should’ve finished his visit to the cemetery by now. If only his time wasn’t wasted awhile ago. Another reason why he loathed being pulled in by society.

Luhan landed on his bed upon the same time he did everyday, approximately the same time today luckily as he skipped visited the grave today and waited for tomorrow. The feeling of a full stomach lured his eyes to close as he drifted to slumber.

He held dark strands of hair, intertwined between his fingertips as he felt their silkiness. Luhan loved long hair. In his arms was a resting female who snuggled against his chest for the comforts of his warmth. He peered down to look and breathed in the scent of his girlfriend, the smell of fluffy cotton and spring breeze spread through his mind.

“Oppa~” Her round eyes fluttered open under long eyelashes that encircled her chocolate pupils. Her hand reached up to caress his cheek, the soft touch of her skin brushed against his as his lips bared a lovely smile.

“Yes?” He spoke sweetly to her. A voice that he hasn’t used in so long.

“Do you think we’ll ever get married?” She returned his smile, revealing dimples upon her clear cheeks.

Luhan blinked before letting out a chuckle and nodded. “I’ll propose to you when we both graduate.”

“Promise?” Eunjung held up her delicate pinky to his to which his own wrapped around hers.

“Promise.”

Tears poured out of his awoken eyes as morning greeted him with warm rays of the gleaming sun. It was the least frightening of his dreams, and perhaps the most comforting of all of them. However, it was the one that brought Luhan to the deepest of his misery.

Sobbing echoed through his small apartment as the blonde melted away into the folds on his blanket. The sounds of his cry were finally ceased as he heard the ticking of the clock. School would be starting within an hour. He pulled himself out of the bed and dragged his body to the bathroom in preparation for today’s useless education.

Fresh and tearless once he left the shower and clothed himself, Luhan’s hand grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. He heaved a great groan to himself as he left the apartment only to be greeted with. . .

“Morning!” Joon’s face popped beside him, causing the blonde to nearly trip over and fall.

Astounded, Luhan cried, “What the hell are you doing here!?”

“Oh, I didn’t want you calling the police so I followed you home without you knowing. It was a little hard at first, in fact I lost you for a couple seconds but I managed to find you at the last minute where I saw you go into this building.”

“. . . . How long were you out here?” He asked nervously.

“About an hour and a half.”

 

“What the hell. Go away before I call the cops to get you.” Luhan threatened her once again, he really was in no mood to deal with her this morning.

“I’m sorry, but since I’m already here, I can only go back to school the same way you do since we do attend the same school anyways. Plus, it’s not against the law just to be here.” Joon crossed her arms triumphantly.

Ignoring her at this point, Luhan walked to school with the shorter girl beside him. His irritation rising more with every glance he took at her. She was such a pest, taking away his attention and invading his precious personal space.

Joon walked beside him silently, it was probably for the best since she didn’t want to push it. Baby steps, Joon. Baby steps. He will help you eventually. She thought to herself, reassuring her motivation.

Approaching the school entrance, Luhan relieved himself with the calming thought that he could at least be separated from the annoying girl. Yet for some reason, she continued to follow him as he walked to his class.

“Don’t you have your own class to go to?” He groaned, entering his homeroom to which Joon continued after him, her sights distracted by something other than the blonde himself.

Luhan peered over to the brunette, whose eyes looked at the approaching Yixing. “Luhan! You made a new friend?”

“I don’t know her and I don’t know you. Don’t talk to me.” Luhan sat down on his own seat, coldly ignore the two beside him.

She glanced up at the much taller Yixing, waving to him slightly. “A-ah, I am his friend! I bought him food yesterday! N-nice to meet you, hyung!” She bowed before running out of the classroom frantically.

 

 

“H-hyung? Was that a boy you’re friends with Luhan?” He turned to Luhan, glancing down to see that he had fallen asleep already. “Ah, I guess I’ll take that as a yes. What a weird boy wearing the girl’s uniform though.” He patted Luhan on the head before walking over to his own seat as it was merely minutes before the class started.

Ever since the incident and the fight between all of EXO and Luhan, Yixing had been the only that bothered to keep in contact with the blonde. And he had persistently been doing so regardless of how much Luhan ignores him. The ‘boy’ that Luhan came with today had brought relief to the worried EXO member; perhaps Luhan was finally letting things go?

The bell rang signaling the beginning of class. Yixing occasionally glanced over to Luhan who was seat two rows before him, only to find the male asleep as usual. The two used to be closest in EXO because they had actually bothered to try in school for the sake of their future. Yixing’s notes were by far neater than Luhan’s who filled his notes with multiple doodles. He has missed seeing the notes that his friend took.

Lunch came by as Luhan didn’t get into trouble for sleeping away the lesson. The male watched Luhan get up and head to the cafeteria before he opened his own homemade lunch. Being the ‘mother’ of EXO, the male constantly worries and cooks for the other members, Luhan being the one who has the male’s focus upon.

Meanwhile, Joon greeted Luhan right at the entrance of the cafeteria, attracting eyes of fellow students who questioned their relationship.

Why would anyone bother with Joon?

Why is anyone bothering to talk to Luhan?

Is she harassing him?

Did he do something to her?

Small gossip had already began to form as Luhan sat down with his lunch with a Joon who had bought another large armful of sweet breads. Like yesterday, they ate in silence but Luhan was determined to finish his own food whilst ignoring the girl before him.

Several pair of eyes were already attracted to the duo at their lone table, as their awkward lunch was intriguing to capture attention of fellow students. It was clear to Luhan now that the more she continues to follow him, the more time he will waste and the work he’s put into for the past three weeks will be for nothing.

After finishing his lunch with ten minutes to spare, he looks up to Joon whom returns the glance, “I’m going to ask nicely once and that is it. Leave me alone, don’t follow me anymore, act like I don’t even exist, got it?”

“No.” She bit down on her bread, denying his request as if it were nothing.

“Then I’ll report you to the police for harassment and invasion of privacy.” Luhan gritted his teeth.

“Ok.” She gulped down the bread and moved onto the next.

“I’m serious.”

“I know.”

Her nonchalant attitude enraged him, “Why the hell do you want to be around me so bad?”

She sighs, “I suppose I’ll have to tell you sooner or later.”

“Tell me what?” He sat back with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t actually want to be your friend.”

“Then don’t.”

“But I do need you.”

“For what?”

“I want to be closer to Yixing.”

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Author's Note:

Yo ho! Gah, I keep forgetting to add these at the end of the chapter previously and I will try to do so more in the future! Thank you for reading Perception of Desires! I'm hoping to pace it well so I'm really sorry if it's slow to some of you guise!

Well, now we see that Joon actually had hidden intentions with Luhan! She isn't much of a tsundere, now that I'm realizing it. She just hasn't smiled once around Luhan;;

Regarding towards chpater updates, I plan on updating every two to four days. Since school is coming up next week, I'll most likely only be able to upate once every week. ;; w ;; I'm sorry! Ah, but I hope everyone had a great holidays! There should be another chapter before school starts!