First period for Chen went by smoothly. Other than the fact that he was bothered with what happened to Haerin, everything else was fine. The teacher was cool, the other kids weren't rude. Although the girls in the class kept giving him looks and he felt a little uncomfortable. But that's all good. 

Soon, the bell rang and one by one, students stood up and headed for the door. 

As the other kids left, he noticed someone else familiar in the classroom. 

Luhan? Chen thought. He's in this class too?

Then, Chen saw Luhan look over to Haerin's direction with uneasy eyes. When he saw Chen looking back at him, he quickly looked away and went outside. 

Huh, weird.

"Chen!" He heard Minyoung call his name and he snapped out of his thoughts. 

"What class do you have now?" 

"Uhm," Chen pulled out his schedule from his pocket. "Song writing in room 105." 

"Oh! That's the same as us too!" Minyijng smiled. "Come on, let's go before the second bell rings." 

Minyoung took her bag and slung it over her shoulder. 

"Haerin?" She worriedly looked over to her best friend who still had that distressed expression on. 

"Haerin?" Minyiung nudged you. "Hey, come on. We have to go for our next class." 

"W-what?" You looked at your best friend in confusion. 

"Are you okay? Are you sick?" Chen asked and you jumped when you heard his voice. 

"Why are you here?" You asked.   

"Uhm, I'm your classmate. I've been sitting beside you throughout the lesson." Chen said. She didn't know? But she acknowledged me earlier, didn't she?

"Oh, okay." You looked around the classroom. "Where's everyone?" 

Minyoung furrowed her eyebrows. "The lesson's done, Haerin. And we have to go to our next one now." 

"Really?" You said. 

"Yes, now come on!" Minyoung took your head and led you out of the classroom. 

Chen followed behind the two of you with a concern look on his face. Does Haerin's behavior now have anything to do with earlier? He thought as he remembered the scene with Luhan earlier that day. 

 

* 
 

Second period soon ended and it wasn't bad for Chen either. 

You, on the other hand, still weren't yourself by the end of second period and by then, Chen and Minyoung were considering sending you to the nurse's office. 

They suggested the idea but you insisted you were fine. Although it was clear to them that you definitely weren't, they still listened to you. 

At least Minyoung was still with you for third period right? 

Chen, on the other hand, had third period with the seniors. 

Minyoung had given him directions to where his next class was but he wasn't exactly good with directions. He got lost on the way but luck seemed to be on his side that day when he bumped into Baekhyun on the way. 

"What class do you have now?" Baekhyun asked as he took a peek of Chen's schedule. 

"Maths in room 301." 

"Oh! That's my class too!" Baekhyun said excitedly as he led him towards the classroom. 

For the third time that day, Chen had to introduce himself in front of the entire class.    

He was glad that there was an empty seat next to Baekhyun and sat there. 

During the lesson, Baekhyun nudged Chen and nodded down to the table. 

He looked at the table and noticed that Baekhyun had passed him a note. 

He took it and read the message. 

Did you have any classes with Haerin? 
 

Chen took a pen out of his pencil case and wrote back. 
 

After writing, he slid the note back to Baekhyun's desk. 

Is she okay? 
 

Baekhyun read his reply and frowned. 

Singing and Song-writing. 
 

Did Luhan do anything to her during singing? 
 

Watch out for her when you have classes with her, will you? 
 

Chen was about to pass the paper back to Baekhyun to read but he continued to write on. 

Baekhyun read it and hesitated. Should I tell him?

Chen saw Baekhyun sigh before writing his reply. 

Later when?
 

Half an hour after Chen and Baekhyun ended their conversation on paper, the bell rang for lunch time.

 

"So tell me," Chen said as the two boys started packing their bags. 

"I honestly don't know what I can tell you." Baekhyun rubbed the back of his neck. "But I guess you can know that Luhan is Haerin's ex-boyfriend." 

"They've officially broken up?" 

"Not exactly..." Baekhyun said. "They were never really together anyways." 

"'Not exactly'?" Chen furrowed his eyebrows. "What's that supposed to mean?" 

Baekhyun sighed. "Oh man, this is really hard," he muttered under his breath. 

"Okay. I can only tell you that Luhan's not a great guy and that he's not supposed to go anywhere near her." Baekhyun said. "As I said before, it's not my story to tell. If you sincerely want to know because you're worried for Haerin, then I suggest you try harder in breaking down that wall of hers and get her to open up to you." 

Baekhyun gave Chen a knowing smile. 

"How do you know? Did your mom tell you anything?" Chen asked. 

"My mom?" Baekhyun raised his eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" 

"Uhm, nothing." Chen said. 

"Well, I'm Haerin's brother. I know things." Baekhyun said. "And besides, it's really obvious that you kind of like her." 

Chen's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to deny but Baekhuun beat him to it. 

"Don't even try denying." Baekhyun laughed. "Relax. I think you're a nice guy and maybe, just maybe, you're the one who's going to finally fix Haerin's broken heart." 

He's saying the same thing his mother told me that night. Chen thought. 

"I just hope I'm not wrong and that you're really a nice guy and you won't go breaking my little sister's heart like the others did." Baekhyun said and left the room. 

"The others?" He repeated Baekhyun's words and pondered about what exactly he meant.  

 

* 
 

It was finally lunch time and the seven if you were at the school cafeteria having your lunch. Well, everyone except you. 

You were blindly staring at your food with such a sad expression that when your friends saw you, even they didn't have much of an appetite to eat anymore. 

"Haerin? Are you okay?" Xiumin cautiously asked. 

You didn't respond and continued to stare at your food. 

Xiumin looked up at the others and mouthed, "What happened?" 

Simultaneously, the five of them mouthed back, "Luhan happened." 

When Xiumim saw his friends mouthed Luhan's name, he assumed that you were just heartbrokened that he had dumped you. Close, Xiumin, but not close enough. 

The one-hour lunch break felt like forever as nobody dared to speak. 

When the bell rang again, everyone at the table sighed an inaudible sigh of relief. 

Everyone stood up and took their tray with them. They were about to leave when they noticed that you haven't even moved. 

"Haerin," Baekhyun lightly shook your arm. "Lunch is over. Come on." 

Slowly, you lifted your head and you looked around. You realized that the cafeteria was empty. 

"Oh, is lunch over already?" You said in a really soft voice. 

Baekhyun gazed at you with so much worry and concern. 

"Yeah, it is." He said.

Baekhyun knelt down till he was at eye-level with you. 

"Are you okay?" Baekhyun whispered. "Do you want to go home?" 

You shook your head. "I don't want to be alone. But I don't want to be here either." 

Baekhyun softened. "Just hang in there for a while more, okay? We'll go home the minute school is over, okay?" 

You gave him a small nod and Baekhyun smiled. 

Your brother helped you up from the chair and took your tray of untouched food for you and threw it away. 

The boys walked you, Minyoung and Chen to your next class first before walking to theirs. They didn't care that they were late for class but they ended up getting detention for later after school. 

The class you had now was guitar lesson. In SM Arts, it was compulsory to take up a class to learn an instrument. Either that, or you took dance classes. 

You especially loved this class because you loved playing the guitar. But today, you weren't even a tiny bit excited. 

You sat there like a doll for the entire class before the bell rang and you had to move to your next class. 

"Haerin, come on, let's go." Chen said. 

"What?" 

"Class ended. We have one more class to go before school ends." Minyoung said. 

"Just a little more longer." Chen smiled. "Hang in there, okay?" 

You felt a little bit comforted when you saw Chem smile at you but you didn't know why. The only thing you knew was that it felt reassuring.