Chapter Seven

Yixing

Lay walked inside his dorm room feeling good about what he had overheard in the halls.  The Chinese man was just passing by innocently and well, Lay couldn't deny the smugness building up in him.  His smile was unusually huge and at this, Xiumin raised a brow.

"What are you smiling so hard about?"  Asked the oldest member as he ate a mocha bread.  Lay chuckled a bit in his throat.

"Oh, nothing hyung."  Lay responded and flopped onto the couch folding his hands behind his head and moved his foot.  Lay sat there, grinning to himself and Xiumin couldn't tell why he was so happy.  Lay just closed his eyes and hummed to himself in a happy tone.  Xiumin ignored the man and went back to eating his mocha bread with diligence.  Lay replayed that conversation in his head over and over and over again.

A happy sigh escaped him.

He was enjoying now.

Moments before...

Getting back from the dance room, Lay huffed and cleared his throat.  He was practicing really hard these past few weeks.  To the point where some of s were concerned that maybe he was over-working himself.  The 23 year old denied the accusations.  He couldn't feel it, to be honest.  He couldn't feel his body be tired.  And he had a pretty good hunch to himself as to why.

Lay was not naive.

He knew something was wrong with him.  That's why he closed himself off in the practice room.  He hated the past few weeks.  It's not to say he wasn't happy.  Because Lay is happy.  He was just...annoyed.  

'It's all Chanyeol-ah's fault.'  The 23 year old told himself as his strides got longer and powerful.  Just thinking about Chanyeol gave Lay a headache.  He wasn't proud of it.  Not really, Chanyeol was a very good friend to him.  Lay bit his lower lip.  'And that's the most annoying thing!'

Chanyeol was still Chanyeol.

He was still his dongsaeng that cared so much for him.  Chanyeol was one of the few that who were worried that he was over working himself with dancing.  Chanyeol was still happy.  He was still silly.  And stupid.  And talkative.  And so damn...  Annoying.

Lay ruffled his hair, frustrated with himself.  Squatting down in the middle of the hallway, Lay tried to clear his head.  He did his best to get rid of the irritation and anger he would feel whenever he thought of Chanyeol.  Or whenever he saw Chanyeol.  Or heard Chanyeol.  Because when there was Chanyeol...

He thought of Bom.  He saw Bom.  He heard Bom.

"Aaaahhhhh~!"  Lay groaned to himself, feeling defeated by the complicated feeling.  "Argh!  Forget it!  Just don't think today!"  Lay told himself standing up and determined.  The Chinese member didn't make it far because up ahead he heard a voice.

"What?"  A deep voice asked, shocked.  

Lay pursed his lips.  'Speak of the devil.'  Lay thought and tried to walk the other way, wanting to take the long way back the dorms now. 

"Y-You...  Bom-noona...  Wh-What?!"  

Lay's ears perked at the tone of the voice, Chanyeol, had used.  Curious, he slowly walked back and crept up to the wall, careful not to be seen by the Not-So-Happy-Virus.  Lay could hear Chanyeol's hard breathing and it was obvious he was talking on the phone.  'Hmm...'  Lay thought and eavesdropped on the conversation.

"Wh-Wha...  Oh Bom-noona...  I-I...  Of course I'm happy..."  Chanyeol spoke roughly.  Lay raised a brow at this, feeling amused at the slight sarcastic and hurt tone which was evident in Chanyeol's voice.  He could hear Chanyeol's rough steps and Lay knew he was pacing.

'What're you talking about with Bom-sshi?'  Lay wondered and continued to listen in.

"He's a great fit for you!  Y-Yeah.  .......  Oh really?  ......   ....   ..   Dong-wook hyung said that?  A-And........he did WHAT!?"  Chanyeol nearly screamed into the phone.  Lay had to cover his ears but quickly went back into the gossip.  Lay could feel his heart thumping loudly and he anticipated very hard for Chanyeol's next words.  "Th-That's very...  That's really something!  Aha...  ...no, noona.  I haven't asked out anyone yet."  Chanyeol started to tap his foot.  The hurt in the younger man's voice made Lay smile to himself and he felt like he was listening in onto something good.

'Mmm...  Keep going.'  Thought Lay with anticipation.

"Ah, I sound not that excited?  HA!  Noona!  You're funny!  I'm happy for you!  ....what?  Of course I'm happy!  I'm g-glad that...  Dong-wook hyung and you are..."  Lay could hear the bile in Chanyeol's throat and could imagine the tall male try to gulp it down.  "Yeah, you two are cute together.  Very cute.  I'm glad you're dating now, noona.  Really."  Lay tried to stop the smile on his face as Chanyeol continued talking.

'Oh my goodness...  This is good.'  Lay told himself.

"I'm...  Yeah!  I hope you two treat each other well!  F-Fighting noona!"  Lay his lips in at the obvious pitch Chanyeol had used, throwing the mood off.  He could tell Chanyeol noticed too.  "Ah, sorry.  Choked on air, hehe...  No, but noona.  Good luck with your new beginning.  I...  If he treats you bad or does anything, don't hesitate to tell me!  I'll beat him up for you!"  Chanyeol laughed weakly.  Lay heard a sudden thud to the ground.  Surprised, Lay peeked from behind the corner of the wall and saw Chanyeol in a rolled up position.  He was still on the phone but one of his hands was gripping his hair tightly.  

'Chan-ah?'

"Yeah noona.  ...I know.  Haha, okay then.  ...mm, yeah.  I'm glad he makes you happy.  I-I gotta go practice right now so...  Oh?  O-Oh, okay then.  Good luck on your date!"  Lay watched as Chanyeol's grip tightened and he could see visible pain of Chanyeol trying to maintain a happy aura through the phone.  "Yeah.  I miss you too."  Lay saw Chanyeol just drop his phone to the floor and stayed in the hallway, rolled up like that in the hall.

Lay wasn't sure if Chanyeol was crying because the tall member was staying perfectly still in his fetal position.  As much as Lay would regret it later, he was happy.  So happy he rushed to the dorms ignoring Chanyeol completely.

And here he was.  Lay was humming happily to himself.  He thought back to the conversation and couldn't help but feel less irritated and less angry when thinking about Chanyeol.  It was like a weight was lifted off his shoulders.  And Lay stayed that way, weightless in the world enjoying the feeling before he knew would go away.

Because once the reality of Bom being in a real relationship sank in, Lay couldn't help but feel that he would be depressed after that.  But that was for later.

He was enjoying now.

(A/N:  Yixing!  You bad guy!  ....but I still love you.)