The morning sun disturbs the relaxed sleeping face of Sehun. He opens his eyes lazily, followed by a grunt, when he slowly rises from his bed and immediately covers his eyes from the bright sun rays.

He brings his hand to his hair and runs it over it once.

"Another long day ahead."








Sehun rushes to the front porch with his bag dangling to his side as he sweeps his bangs away from his face. He goes to school with a driver, like Baekhyun. Among the three of them only Luhan drives on his own while the other two would always have to be carpooled to and from the school. Sometimes, when they go out together, it’s always Luhan who drives them home which would always be accompanied by complaints and nagging from the eldest on the way. That is, if any of the two even hear him especially when they’re both sleeping soundly or just too drunk to function.

He stands and waits a little more in front of his house as the van seems to be slightly running late while his driver maneuvers it out of the garage. He checks the time displayed on his phone’s homescreen when he hears the door from the neighboring house shut. His head automatically turns to its direction.

The school playboy comes out of his own porch and is busy on the phone. He lets out a cheery laugh and the wind carries it to where Sehun is currently standing. Sehun watches how Jongin smiles at his girlfriend from yesterday through the phone and realizes he’s been staring when the van lightly honks at him the moment it has parked in front of his house. Sehun jumps, a little startled, before he immediately fixes his gaze forward and maintains his straight face.

He steps onto the van and off it goes.



Meanwhile, Jongin catches a glimpse of the van speeding its way on the other side of their gate, momentarily distracted from his conversation.

"Yeah." He turns to his phone with another smile on his face. "I'll see you later."

He hangs up and pockets his phone. His car stands in front of him so he reaches for the car door and pauses. Jongin sighs.

"Another long day ahead."








Sehun smirks when he sees Baekhyun and Luhan arguing on their way to the classroom. They always meet in the corridor of their first period anyway.

Luhan stops and rolls his eyes when they meet Sehun halfway. When he hears nothing from the youngest, he raises his eyebrow at him in question as if to say 'Well, what can you say?'

A sly smile creeps on Sehun's face.

"I knew this would happen."

Baekhyun just puffs his cheeks.

"Whatever. I can do what I want," he says with a growing bad mood.

"You lost the dare then. The dare is for all of us to be blond together. You cannot just dye your hair into grayish brown when you want to! What even is grayish brown?" Luhan argues more.

"Chill. It's ok with me." Sehun raises both his hands. "The dare was for all of us to turn up blond to school. We've done that. So all's good."

Luhan opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out.

Sehun laughs a little at his expression before giving Baekhyun a knowing smirk.

"Fine. This is why you guys never win. You're not competitive enough."

And Luhan storms to their room ahead of the two.








"Tell me if I'm wrong." Sehun whispers behind Baekhyun while they queue in the cafeteria. "You changed the color of your hair because someone complimented your hair yesterday. You’re bothered."

He gives him a knowing look.

Baekhyun scoffs. "It's got nothing to do with him ok. We're done with the deal, what's wrong with changing it now?"

Shrugging, Sehun crosses his arms. "If you say so."

Minseok comes in and cuts the line again, standing in front of Baekhyun. And Sehun sees him.

"Ok, Baek. Here's another dare. You up for it?" Sehun challenges, facing his friend with a smug look.

Baekhyun raises a brow.

"It's really easy." Sehun waits for an answer.

"What is it?"

"I dare you to ignore Chanyeol for as much as you can."

"Seriously?" Baekhyun wants to laugh. It's like he's being asked to drink after eating; it's something he would die to live for. Ignore Chanyeol.

"Yeah, that simple."

"Deal."

"Deal." Sehun gives him a sly smile. "Oh and here he comes."

Chanyeol reaches them just in time and Sehun has seen him coming.

"Hi Baekhyun." Baekhyun freezes in his spot as he narrows his eyes on Sehun who's sniggering slightly in front of him.

"Oh wait, Minseok, I'm coming with you."

Sehun hurriedly grabs his tray and walks away to follow Minseok, not before giving Baekhyun a teasing wink.

"Uh... Hi." Baekhyun responds with his head bowed down, cheeks reddening at the realization that Sehun had set him up. Chanyeol watches as he just stands in line, the rest of the students waiting behind him to get a move on.

"Uhm." Chanyeol starts and pulls Baekhyun's tray forward to give space to everyone behind him. Baekhyun realizes this so he stuffs just anything on his tray without checking what he’s taking (a banana, two of them, to be honest) and grabs it with both hands in a rush.

"Would you mind eating with me? I mean..." Chanyeol starts to rub his neck while Baekhyun seeks help from Sehun who’s obviously ignoring him.

"Uh."

Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol and the latter only has a sheepish smile on his face, almost as if shy to have asked him that. It sends an uneasy feeling to the pit of his stomach; especially that the giant’s cheeks seem to be pink in color at the moment. Everything about Chanyeol just infuriates him. Baekhyun bites his lip as he looks at Sehun again who's, apparently, busy talking with Minseok with his back him.

"Fine." He says in defeat. Chanyeol just smiles gratefully.



"You are mean." Minseok, to whom Baekhyun's discomfort with Chanyeol is not a secret, looks back from Baekhyun to Sehun.

Sehun laughs. "It's not my fault he can't say no to Chanyeol. Why do you think he results to hiding than confronting him? Baekhyun is too naïve to understand things."

"And you're mature?" Minseok mocks.

"At least I know what I want." Sehun shrugs at the same moment Jongin passes by their table. His confidence fades away in an instant. "Yeah, I know which it is, alright."








"So?"

"So?"

Sehun smirks as he pulls the straps of his bag tighter. Baekhyun has been frowning a lot that afternoon but he couldn't blame Sehun. Not when he’s going to be titled the sore loser again.

When Sehun doesn't hear anything from Baekhyun, he smirks more.

"You lost~" He sings.

"That shouldn't count. It took me by surprise. I'd do your dare starting from now, right now."

Tapping his finger to his chin, Sehun feigns having second thoughts on giving him a second chance.

"Hmm. Ok, this will be your last chance Baekhyun." Sehun wags a finger in front of his face warningly.

Baekhyun catches it and pushes it away. Challenge accepted. He shrugs and prepares to leave.

"By the way, I haven't seen Luhan since this morning. Where could he be?"

It's Sehun's turn to shrug.

"I have no idea."








Sehun has left Luhan his 6th IM but the latter seems too busy to even pick up his phone and send back an "I'm busy." He chucks his phone back to his bag as he steps in to his van and off he goes.

It's 6 in the evening and Sehun has had enough of the internet; there's nothing interesting anymore. He's scrolled past Victoria Secret angels but nothing is that great to grab his attention either. Deciding to just go, he pulls out his ipod and earphones before tucking his wallet into the backpocket of his loose pants to go out for another round of jogging which he does regularly.

The subdivision Sehun lives in is a really great place for jogging. The compound is peaceful; the roads are quiet except for a few other vehicles entering the said subdivision. The residents are friendly too. Well, most of them.

Sehun glances at his neighbor's house while he puts on his running shoes.

Most of them, but him.

He's neighbors with Kim Jongin. No one knows about it. Not even Luhan nor Baekhyun. They don't really have to know that the one who lives beside him is the campus playboy. Luhan knows better than to befriend the person who's dated half the population of their school. Baekhyun will surely shake his head the moment he learns that Sehun resides near a person he doesn't approve of, next to Chanyeol.

Sehun turns up the volume of his ipod and starts jogging around the area like he usually does. He's passed his house twice minutes later, sweat forming ever so slightly at the sides of his face. At the same time, a woman is walking the other way with her fluffy white Samoyed and Sehun smiles up at her. She lives nearby, about two houses away, and is a really nice neighbor to them, especially to Baekhyun who loves playing with her dog named King. He waves at her and she does too, not exactly watching where he's going.

Sehun collides hard with someone else. He loses his balance but the person he bumps into is quick enough to pull him back to give him more footing, grasping him by the arm and shoulder tightly enough to steady him.

"I'm sorry." Sehun unplugs one of his earphones as he faces his ‘savior’ properly. Only to feel frozen in place the next second.

Jongin lets his arm go and just purses his lips, not so much recognizing him as he leaves almost just as fast as he came. His back is all Sehun watches as their distance grows bigger. He doesn’t even get the chance to thank him. Sehun breathes.

There's really nothing to be surprised of. Jongin has always ignored him. As if on cue, Mariah Carey’s I Still Believe starts playing. Sehun feels like having a headache; Byun Baekhyun has messed up with his playlist again.