Baekhyun’s POV

The confrontation between Chaerin and those girls became a hot topic in the campus. Chaerin’s reputation has gone downhill. Everybody in the school is completely convinced that she’s a lesbian, despite having no concrete evidence. Her two day absence sent me into these unwanted worry and guilt. Guilty because I was partially involved. Probably if I we didn’t last year about her deep voice, this wouldn’t have happened.

Two days. She’s back again.

And she acted so… so Chaerin. The usual calm, no expression and silent Chaerin.

Things looked well.

But, I wasn’t too sure…

*****

2 days after incident…

The moment Chaerin entered the classroom, everyone went quiet. Baekhyun could almost hear his breath with the silence that engulfed the classroom. Everyone’s attention was on Chaerin. As they gawked at her, she on the other hand looked unshaken. In fact, in Baekhyun’s eyes, she looked peaceful and somewhat relieved. She settled on her assigned chair and took out her books. She sighed. Then her face painted a rare smile and took down notes.

“Wow,” Baekhyun heard Kyungsoo mutter near his ear. He looked at him questioningly, a tiny bit annoyed that he’s also looking at her.

Kyungsoo whispered, “Isn’t she impressive? She’s still going on with life despite what happened to her.”

“Are you complementing her?” Baekhyun hid any sign of irritation, a feeling that is itching to come out.

“Of course, she deserves it. May she be a lesbian or not, she’s a strong woman. My kind of woman,” Kyungsoo smiled.

Baekhyun glared at him.

“What?” Kyungsoo asked, puzzled by the random scary glare that he’s facing from his friend.

“Nothing,” Baekhyun managed to control his expression into a calm one and faced in front of the class, pretending to write something down.

The teacher came in and class started. She started to write down stuff on the board.

Baekhyun copied what’s written when suddenly his pen broke. He continued writing nonetheless.

“Baek, you’re writing with a broken pen,” Chanyeol, who noticed the sound of something breaking in two, informed his friend.

Baekhyun stared at his pen, too shocked to even react. Just how strong did he grip it to break, he thought.

“Here, I’ve a spare pen. Use it,” Kyungsoo from behind Baekhyun’s chair said.

He felt the pen beside his face but he didn’t look behind to say thank you. He accepted it without looking back, his teeth gritted together so forcefully.

And the pen broke again.

***

The day went on fine. The talk about Chaerin died down. Baekhyun was quite impressed by how civil the class turned out. Nobody said anything, well not in front of her anyway.

But he’s extremely annoyed. My kind of woman, that’s what Kyungsoo said.

During break time he went to one of the secluded place in the campus.

“To hell with that!” He shrieked, kicking the wall. He was on his own. Staying with the gang seemed to suffocate him because of the alien feeling that’s brewing deep down.

He res