Chapter Four

There's No Avoding It

"But I don't want to forget."

His words rang in my ears.  My mouth hung open, as if to say something, but I didn't utter a word.  What was I supposed to say?  Was I just supposed to evade this forever?  Or was I supposed to admit to both him and myself that that little kiss meant more than it should of.

But I couldn't accept that...

To my relief, before I had the chance to respond, the teacher, Ms. Yoo, raised her voice.  "Eun Mi," she scowled, "Why is it that you're the only student not in uniform?"

"I think this sweater is much more comfortable than the school blazers," I laughed.

"Well that's great," she flashed me a sarcastic smile, "I'd want you to be comfortable in detention after school today."

"Aish--" I cringed, "Sorry, but that doesn't fit my schedule.  You see, my boyfriend, Oh Sehun, wouldn't be happy with that, so..."

"Oh Sehun?" she grimaced, but  gave me an empty grin, "I suppose I can let you off with a warning this time."

I smirked and leaned against the back of my chair.  Ms. Yoo continued with her class, but I was too distraught to pay any attention.  Taking deep, long breaths,  I attempted to sort out my thoughts, but I could only determine one thing.  Though I wished I had never kissed him, I had no regrets.  And that confused me even more.

At long last, the bell that dismissed us to our fifth period classes sounded.  I sped out of the classroom, not giving Chanyeol the opportunity to speak to me.  After nearly stumbling down the staircase, I slowed down as I neared the gym.

Quickly, I changed into my P.E uniform, I returned to the basketball court in the gymnasium.  The crowd of students was rowdy, as usual, and my head was throbbing.  I couldn't calm myself down.  Leaning against the wall, I closed my eyes and breathed slowly.

"Hey, Eun Mi," Min Seok said slowly, leaning against the wall beside me, "Why did Chanyeol want to talk to you?"

"What?" the others clamored in unison, but I only blinked in confusion as a response, unable to process his question at first.

"Was he bothering you?" Sehun asked.

"No," I responded a bit too quickly, "He asked me something about the homework we had."

"Sure," Luhan rolled his eyes, "The obvious candidate for valedictorian needed help in math from you."

"Are you calling me stupid?" I laughed, not really offended by his insult.

"You didn't even do any homework this week end," Kai narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Why would I?" I simpered, "It was assigned over the week end."

"Still," Luhan pressed, "He wouldn't need any help from the likes of you."

"Maybe he was helping Eun Mi with her homework?" Tao suggested.

"Was he?" Luhan cocked his head to the side.

"No," I spat, "Just drop it you guys!  I already said, he had a question about the homework."

"What ever," Sehun scoffed, obviously not believing my excuse.

There was a short silence before Kai spoke up.  "Anyways," he began, "Do any of you wanna come over today?"

"I can't," I lied, "I have to study."  It's not that I didn't want to hang out with the guys, but I had too much on my mind at the moment.

"Since when do you study?" Tao chortled.

"Since I saw my grade for English class," I shot back.

Tao only chuckled slightly.  "I have no time study Engrish, okay?" he spoke in broken English.

In sixth period that day, I anxiously watched the clock.  I hadn't spoken much in clas, and the others didn't really seem to notice that I'd been quieter than usual.  Or, if they did, they made the right decision of not bothering me.  But when the final bell rang, I could no longer escape talking to them.

"You okay?" Sehun lightly bumped into my arm.

"I have a headache is all," I rested my head against his shoulder as we walked forward.

"Then rest today, arasso?" he kissed the top of my head and the back of my hand with his thumb.

"Oh get a room," Kai teased.

Ignoring his comment, our group exited the school building.  Kai, Tao, and Luhan boarded the school bus to Kai's house, but Min Seok, Sehun, and I continued forward.  Because Min Seok and I didn't live to far from the school, we would typically walk home together.  Why Sehun was following us, I didn't know.

"You're bus is back there," Min Seok directed Sehun in the opposite way of where we were headed.

"I'm walking Eun Mi home today," Sehun pulled me closer to him. 

"How are you gonna get home then?" I added.

"I'll just go to Min Seok's house," he shrugged.

"But my parents hate you," Min Seok argued, "They never want me to have anyone over again.  Not after seeing everything you guys broke."

"Seriously?" Sehun scoffed, "Well then, Eun Mi, can I hang out at your place for a while?"

"My mom hates you, too," I pursed my lips.

"I guess I'll just walk home," he laughed.

As we to my street, which was just to the left of the Academy, we noticed another student walking a little ways ahead of us.  Though he wasn't even facing us, I looked to the ground in attempt to hide my blushing face.

There's no avoiding you, Park Chanyeol, is there?

"You wait here," Sehun walked ahead of me, "Min Seok and I have to have a word with this kid."

Yet again, I only watched as they confronted Chanyeol.  I could hear every word of the conversation from where I stood, and, from the sound of it, the boys weren't to pleased.

"So," Sehun barked, stepping infront of Chanyeol, "I heard that you were pestering my Eun Mi today?"

"Pestering?" Chanyeol huffed, "I was only talking to her."

"About what?" Min Seok smiled innocently.

"I don't think you'd want to know," Chanyeol clenched his fists around the straps of his backpack.

"Alright, don't tell us," Sehun remarked sharply, "But just stay the away from Eun Mi."

Chanyeol shot me a worrisome glance over his shoulder, but I couldn't meet his gaze.

"Take that black eye as a warning," Min Seok growled, noticing how Chanyeol looked at me, "If we see you hounding Eun Mi again, it won't just be a few cuts and bruises."

With that said, Chanyeol hurried away, intimidated by the boys.  Sehun and Min Seok returned to my side, both with a prideful smirk.  Min Seok jokingly took me into a possesive embrace.

"Let us know if he annoys you again," he over-dramatically declared.

"You guys are too over-protective of me," I said as Min Seok let me out of his hold.

"What were we supposed to do?" Sehun whined petulantly, "Let him keep harrassing you?"

"No," I took his hand in mine, "You were supposed to let me handle it myself."

"Well he's never going to speak to you again, so there's nothing to worry about, anymore," Min Seok proclaimed.

"What ever," I softly laughed, "Bye."

I waved to Min Seok as we passed his house.  He parted from our group of three and started toward his front porch.  My house, as it just so happened to be, was next door.  Sehun stood next to me as I unlocked the door.

"See you tomorrow, Jagi," he puckered his lips, expecting me to kiss him.

I chuckled before pressing two fingers against his lips, "That's all you get for now."

"Tease," Sehun stuck out his tongue, and I mirrored his immature expression.

He only laughed before walking away.  I kicked off my shoes by the door and closed it.

"How was school? my mother asked me from her seat on the couch with very little enthusiasm.

"Boring," I replied with equal fervor.

I started down the hallway toward my bedroom when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket.  I opened the new message.

Baozi^^:  You and I both know that excuse about helping

Chanyeol with his homework was bull!//tell me

what REALLY happened (>.<)                       

I sighed bitterly before typing my response.

Eun Mi: Come over and I will explain~~

Considering how Min Seok only lived one house away, it was barely a minute before I heard him knock at my door.  I welcomed him inside by forcefully pulling him into my room with a tight grip on his wrist.  I slammed my bedroom door shut.  I twirled my wrists, trying to cand gather my thoughts but to no avail.  I threw my hat to the floor in frustration.

"Are you alright?" Min Seok knit his brows, "You're hyperventilating."

I pushed him onto my bed and sat beside him.  "I kissed him," I blurted before my nerves got the better of me.

"What?"

I recounted to him everything.  Every  little  detail.  i told him how I found him in the library that day.  How my heart flew when I kissed his cheek.  How I ran away.

"I can't just ignore it," I choked on my words, "And I don't know why, but I don't want to..."

"So you're cheating on Sehun?" Min Seok accused, a hint of anger in his voice.

"I don't know," I raked my fingers through my hair, "Am I?"

"Yes, you are!" he suddenly burst, "Five years, Eun Mi!  You two have been together for five years!  Does that mean nothing to you?"

"It means the world to me!" I snapped brusquely, "That's why I hate this all so much."

"Well, what do you want me to do?  Lie to him?" Min Seok twisted his lips.

"No," I sighed, "Just-I don't want him to know.  It would break his heart.  And it will...never happen again."

"You don't sound too sure," Min Seok placed his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm not..."

"Okay," Min Seok spoke gently, pulling me into a hug, "I won't tell him, but you have to sort this out.  I can't even imagine how confused you must be.  Just know I'm always here for you."

"Thank you," I mumbled, burying my face in the crook of his neck, "If I didn't have you, Min Seok, I just might be lost..."

I folded my hands on my lap as he released me from his embrace.

"At the very least, Chanyeol deserves an explanation," he suggested, "And eventually Sehun."

Min Seok took my hand and stood.  He began to walk down the hallway, not beothering to tell me where on Earth he was taking me.  I followed him out of my house; he started in the opposite direction of his house.

"You have to talk to Chanyeol now," he demanded.

"You know where he lives?"  I raised a single eyebrow.

"He's lived down our street for years," Min Seok rolled his eyes, 'You haven't seen him leave his house in the mornings?"

"My bad..."

Min Seok jumped on his front porch and knocked his fist against the front door.  It was long before a rather confused Chaneol opened the door.

"Eun Mi?" the tall boy weakly grinned.

"And Min Seok," he introduced himself.

I elbowed his chest and stepped forward.  "You're right," I began, "we need to talk about what happened."

He opened his mouth to respond, but I rose my hand to silence him before he could.  "I don't want to forget either, but we have to.  For the best.  I'm with Sehun.  I'm happy with Sehun, so we just have to ignore everything that happened.  I'm sory for giving you false hope or whatever.  And I'm sorry for all of this, okay?  So let's just do what needs to be done and forget eachother."    I turned to walk away when I heard Chanyeol.

"Do you honestly think I'll let you go that easily?" he closed his front door, "There's nothing for you to apologize about, and I know that little kiss meant just as much to you as it did to me."

"And what exactly did it mean to you?" Min Seok growled, "You know nothing about Eun M.  Maybe it would help you to know that she has a boyfriend!  She said to forget it, so leave her alone!"

"That kiss," Chanyeol turned his attention to me, "it meant that you're not as bad as everyone meant you out to be.  i always thought you were much, much more than just the cold-hearted bad girl, and that kiss meant I was right."

I looked into his smiling eyes, and my heart thumped all over again.  I suddenly realized just how hard it would be to forget about him.

"Eun Mi, i trust you," Min Seok sighed.  He spoke to me but intended for Chanyeol to hear every word, "But I don't trust this guy.  If he hurts  you in any sort of way, tell me.  And, Eun Mi, you can't have them both."

"What?" I furrowed my brows.

"Sehun or Chanyeol," Min Seok pursed his lips, "You can have one or the other.  Not both."

With that being said, he left me with Chanyeol.

"I get the impression that he doesn't like me," he chuckled.

"What makes you say that?" I laughed.

It was awkward for a moment before Chanyeol asked, "Do you have your phone?"

"Yes," I pulled it out of my pocket.

"Can I?"

I nodded and handed him my phone, not sure as to what he was doing.  After messing around with it for a bit, he gave it back to me.  Looking at the screen, I found that he had saved a new contact to my phone.

"My number," he grinned, "Incase, you know, you need to talk to me about something again."

"Or, I could talk to you at the cafe across town tomorrow?"

"Did Lee Eun Mi just ask me out on a date?" he beamed.

"No," I smiled brightly in return, "but you could call it that if you want."

"So it's a date," he repeated with an even wider smile.

author's note:

:P  This chapter took long enough.  Procrastination is to blame.  Anyways, thank you to those who subscribed.  And how about commenting?  You know you want to!  Anyways, look forward to the next chapter.  I think I have a pretty good idea of what's to happen next//.  (^o^)