The dorm where Zitao's currently living was just a block away from the university. Every time he wakes up late, all he had to worry was taking a bath and breakfast. Then, he could just run the distance from the dorm to the university campus and could also grab something to eat on the way.

That was why even it was already the ungodly hours of the night, Zitao was still wide awake. The lone light in the dark room was the brightness emitted from the laptop on the bed which Zitao was facing, him laying on his chest and feet hanging in the air.

On the computer screen, a lot of tabs could be seen. Twitter, facebook, tumblr, weibo, youtube, asianfanfics, livejournal, and another two. He was currently on tumblr, scrolling down on his dashboard, and randomly giggling at some funny posts.

Some time later, Zitao could feel his heavy eyelids dropping. He checked the time and it was already half past three in the morning! He didn't notice he was using it that long. He decided to stop there and go get some sleep.

~~~~

"Baek, I need some help here. Stop flirting with that weirdo for a moment." Minseok said as he stood at the counter. The queue of the waiting costumers was increasing. Minseok had his hands full and busy while Baekhyun, his co-worker, was also busy with other things.

Baekhyun was with Chanyeol, his boyfriend of two years and was also a costumer that moment. Baekhyun works along side with Minseok at the cafe. It was almost noon, the reason why a lot of costumers were filling in. He had to help Minseok, even if Chanyeol was a part owner of the cafe, because Minseok will pull every hair on his body one by one if he wont stand and help. He loves Minseok but it was scary as hell if the baozi-cheeked man was angered. So he rather help him.

"I'll be back later." Baekhyun pecked Chanyeol's lips and dashed to the counter to help.

This was what Zitao saw as he walked in the cafe. His face sneered as he saw Baekhyun on tiptoe and kiss the yoda-looking guy. That was probably the guy Minseok always talked about when complaining about work. He walked further in and scanned the area, looking for someone. He spotted his target.

"Ummaaaa~!" Zitao briskly walked his way to Junmyeon at the far end of the cafe near the wide glass windows. As he neared, he noticed some other two guys were sitting with his mother figure. He slowed down and waited for Junmyeon to introduce him. It would be rude to sit with them since they were with Junmyeon first before him.

Junmyeon stood and motioned for Zitao to sit. That was when the two guys noticed him. One guy had this droopy eyes and had dimples so deep even Adelle can't roll. The other guy--

"Mr. Wu?"

"Oh, Mr. Huang."

"You knew each other?" The guy with the dimples asked.

"No, Yixing. We just mentioned each other's name just for the sake of doing so. It was just a wild, wild guess." Kris said sarcastically.

"Oh." The dimples guy smiled at Zitao. He extended his hand as he introduced himself to the panda. "Zhang Yixing but you can call me Lay."

Zitao accepted the waiting hand and gripped it firmly. "Bond. James Bond."

Junmyeon laughed at Zitao's joke.

"Huang Zitao. You can call me Zitao or simply Tao, whatever you like."

"They're my friends Tao-Tao. I met Kris back from Canada and Lay... Where did we meet, Xing?"

"Xing, huh? Is there something I should know, hyung?" Zitao leaned closer and whispered to Suho. Yixing was talking at the same time.

"Huh? What are talking about?" Suho asked him, a little bit flustered at the question.

Zitao didn't respond. He was eyeing Yixing as the other was now talking to Kris.

"Oh yeah. How was your work? Are you done with it?" Suho asked, changing the direction of their talk.

Zitao tensed up. He reminded himself not to tease Suho because a disaster would be waiting for him. He pulled off a fake smile, looking anywhere but Kris' direction.

Kris turned his attention at the agitated male beside Suho. He raised an eyebrow, not sure what the two were talking about. Suho saw him and explained.

"Well, Tao here was given something to work on for sleeping during class."

"Hyung~~" Zitao whined. "You didn't have to tell them the sleeping part." He pouted and looked down in embarrassment. Why of all days, of all people, did it have to be today and Kris to be listening?

"Oooooooh... I always sleep when I was in college. Thank heavens Lee sungsangnim didn't mind as long as I do good in his exams." Lay commented.

"I also have this student who slept in one of my classes and later made a shame on himself." Kris said mockingly. He was clearly referring to Zitao; only he and Zitao knew the meaning in his words.

Zitao turned beet red.

"I-I'm halfway through it." Zitao was lying. He had not done a thing about it yet. Well, there's still more days to do it, he reasoned to himself. Zitao checked the time from his phone and suddenly jerked.

"Holy crap! I'm going to be late! I gotta go, umma! Bye!" Zitao hastily got up and left the table in a blink of an eye.

They laughed.

"He was the student I was talking about earlier." Kris said and leaned back on his seat.

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah..."

They laughed again.

"No wonder he was so shocked to see you here and... and so perturbed when I mentioned about his special work." Suho managed to say between laughs.

"Oh... Gotta get going. I'm also running late for my class."

"Bye, man." Lay said.

~~~

"Keep all your notes away now."

"! Why did I forget about this? Dammit!" Zitao cursed.

"Why would you forget about his quiz? I always see him around and his face always reminds me of it." Kyungsoo said.

"You can copy from me, if you want. Use your awesome ninja moves to your advantage, man." Jongin remarked.

"As if he can wushu his way to get answers. And besides, it's a bad idea to copy from you." Kyungsoo retorted, amusement glistened in his eyes as he faced Jongin.

Jongin eyed him critically but later softened. Who can stay mad at the black-haired, wide-eyed, heart-shaped mouth when smiling, short guy? Jongin smiled back and ruffled the other's hair. It took a lot of Kyungsoo's patience and self-control not to jump Jongin right there, right now.

Sehun nudged them with his elbow as he sat straight up. Kris was approaching their direction; all the other occupants in the room following the professor's way.

Kris reached a hand with palms open as he stood beside Sehun a good foot away. They looked at the extended hand then at Kris.

"Uh.. What is it Mr. Wu?" Kyungsoo broke the silence.

"Mr. Huang. Flash drive."

"Eh? OHHH.." Zitao rumaged in his back pack, looking further in when he failed to spot it.

"Check your laptop. Maybe it was still attached?" Jongdae, a classmate sitting in front of them, suggested.

"O-okay." He opened the laptop case and yes, Jongdae was indeed right. He opened the laptop but immediately closed it shut. Displayed on the screen was a very inappropriate video. Zitao was supposed to safely eject the stick but decided not to take anymore risk. He pulled it out and handed it to Kris' impatient waiting hand.

Sehun laughed as soon as Kris reached his table.

"You were watching when you were supposed to study?! Hahaha" Sehun clutched his stomach tightly as he continued cracking.

Kyungsoo's eyes widened while Jongin laughed along with Sehun.

"I WAS NOT WATCHING !" Zitao shouted... for everyone to hear... including his professor.

'Ooooh'-ing sounds emitted all around the room. Some snickered and laughed while others shrugged.

"Way to go, Huang!" "Yeaaaah~! Baby!" "Faster! Faster!" "Hit that right, baby!" "Oh yeah!" All reactions erupted from the students.

"Maybe you should deal with your habit about shouting and screaming, Mr. Huang."

Before anyone could start cracking again, he added, "Okay. Now shut up. We're starting." He gave the test papers around.

"This day totally ! This'll forever be one in my most embarrassing moments of all times." Zitao sighed and took the test paper handed to him from the front.

"Yeah.. Totally ." Zitao added as he read the contents of the test paper. He softly dropped his head on the wooden table and took out a long deep breath.