Love Me, Love Me Not

Watching some of the boys play football in the front lawn from the patio was like watching children going out for recess. One moment it was just like every football game as they were tackling each other left and right, but then Tao created a new rule in which they had to toss the ball into the basketball net to score a point.

“Isn’t that just football and basketball in one sport?” Baekhyun had asked him.

“Exactly!” Tao snapped his fingers. “I’ll call it basket... ball. Basketball. Ha, get it? It’s football and basketball combined— oh, wait.”

Sehun was one of the many others who bought a whole pack of sidewalk chalk and figured it was fun to doodle on the cement and planned to let some rain in the future wash out his mess for him before the villa owners could start pressing additional cleaning charges.

“Hey hyung.” Sehun called for Luhan’s attention while he poised a stick of yellow chalk just above the hard ground’s surface. “I can draw anything. Just name something.”

Luhan squatted beside him, rubbing his chin in thought and thinking of something difficult on purpose. “A rhinoceros.”

“Pfft, that’s easy.” Swiping the chalk over the cement, Sehun created what looked more like a demented dolphin with a beak.

“That’s ugly.” Kris appeared into the scene and rubbed off the chalk with the bottom of his shoe, destroying Sehun’s creation.

“Hey! I wasn’t done!”

“Whatever. I can draw a better one.” Kris snatched the chalk from Sehun’s fingers and bent over the ground to sketch his own rhinoceros. His expression said hard work and Picasso version 2.0, but his drawing said 5-year-old.

“Yours are both equally horrible,” Luhan concluded.

“It’s better, see?” Kris was insisting. “Right? Sora would agree with me.”

The three of them transferred their stares to me. I felt like I was cornered in an interrogation room. “I can’t really say?” Tilting my head to the side, Kris’ rhinoceros still looked like a rabbit with a long torso no matter what angle I would look at it from. It only looked like a rhinoceros when I closed my eyes and imagined. “I know! Whoever can draw a portrait of themselves the best is the artist.”

Luhan shoved past Sehun to grab blue chalk from the box and immediately drew the outline on the cement of what was supposed to be his head. Kris turned his back toward everyone to work on his masterpiece in concentration while Sehun reached for another stick of red chalk before beginning hesitantly.

Luhan looked up in the middle of sketching his ears at a sudden thought. “Wait, what do I even look like? Does someone have a mirror?”

“You look like this.” Sehun leaned over to draw the male reproductive organ on the sketch of Luhan’s cheek.

“Is that a peni—? God dammit Sehun.” Luhan pushed him by the shoulders, causing him to fall on his in hysterical laughter. “Sora tell him that’s cheating! Disqualify him!” He shouted in the tone of voice that a king might have used to sentence someone to be beheaded. Luhan’s chalk pointed at Sehun like it was his righteous staff.

Kris turned to peek at the commotion. He stared at Sehun’s addition to Luhan’s drawing. “That’s messed up. Why are the balls a lot bigger?”

“Shut up. I was in a rush.”

I pushed myself off where I sat and walked over to inspect the sketch. My gaze flickered between Luhan’s face and the drawing, pretending to compare. “It is pretty accurate.”

Sehun rolled on his back in laughter again while Luhan’s jaw fell like gravity’s will. “Do I look like I have male ia on my face?” He pointed to his cheek.

I gave him a look. “Do you really want me to answer that question?”

There was pause that had the atmosphere smelling like death as Luhan leered at me. “...Come here.” Locking his hand on my wrist and before I could escape to safety, Luhan pulled me down to his level until I was forced to sit on the cement. The chalk in his hand was dangerously close to my face while he anchored me down with his forearm.

“Stop, stop stop!” I screamed, squirming to no success. Why was he so heavy for such a skinny little ?

He made sure that my hands were far from being able to protect my face. “Hold still, I just want to draw one on your face and see how you like it.”

I was kicking in the air as soon as I felt the pressure of the chalk against my flesh. “Luhan! I’m serious, stop!”

Kris placed a hand on Luhan’s shoulder, refraining from him continuing. “I don’t think that stuff comes easily off of skin.”

“What?”

Sehun held up the box and pointed to the red font on front. “It says so here. The chalk’s not for kids. It’s for graffiti.”

A pause.

“GET THE HELL OFF.” I pushed Luhan aside with strength that I so abruptly mustered and could have used earlier. I furiously rubbed at my cheek with the heel of my palm. Sehun and Kris ogled the marking. “Is it off?” I asked the two of them.

Kris stifled a laugh. “You look like you have a blue bruise now.”

I threw daggers at Luhan while he crawled to me with the sleeve of his shirt pulled over his hand. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know. Sorry!” He rubbed at the spot with the fabric of his shirt, but I knew it wasn’t much success because the three of them were silent after he pulled away.

“I. Will. Kill. You.”

Sehun’s gaze flickered between the two of us. “So the wedding’s off?”

“Wait, wait.” Luhan stood and headed inside the villa. “Follow me.”

Without much of a choice, I trailed behind him because sitting and complaining wouldn’t have helped. Minseok, Chanyeol and Junmyeon were in the kitchen when we wandered in. They were sharing a bowl of strawberries that sat on the table between them while the TV on the wall was on a movie with Anne Hathaway. The three of them stared as soon as I walked in like I had a spotlight casted on me, but Chanyeol was the first to comment.

“Sora, did you apply the wrong color of blush on one side of your face or...?”

I gave Luhan a pointed glare as my response. He smiled sheepishly and pushed me down to sit near the table with the boys. “I’ll be right back with something to help. Don’t move!” Luhan sprinted away before I could open my mouth and complain.

Junmyeon chewed slowly. “Should I ask what happened?”

“Just something dumb Luhan did.”

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