fourth bloom

{where mimicking Shakespeare wouldn't make Luhan any more romantic and less a failure}

"Well, hello!"

       Chen grinned, cheeks elevated tad too high, almost resembling one of those silly caricatures in their university publication. His feline eyes thinned in amusement. Not far from him, Yifan was observing the whole mess his brother left. The pasta on the floor was already half way swept by Minseok. Yifan wasn't surprised to see him working as a waiter (or working in general). What was surprising was to the coincidence of seeing him just right where they chose to eat. Luhan didn't even like the place nor suggested it. It was destiny, maybe, or the gods were just punishing his brother for his betterment.

       "I never thought I'd see you here," Chen said to Minseok who was still in a mild stupor after Luhan shouted at him and ran away. Chen could clearly see his worry-filled expression.

       "Is Luhan mad? Are you sure I — I didn't do anything offensive?" Minseok started to act fidgety, voice broken.

       Chen clenched his fists, restraining himself for having the urge to pinch Minseok's cheeks or better yet, record these over-the-top cute moments with his phone. It would surely be a potential lure to have best friend kneel before his majestic presence and be his slave. Although, he was still unsure why Luhan was acting too queer all of sudden when his hatred for Minseok was obviously dominating in the past few days. What could have changed his airy brain?

       "No, you didn't," Yifan said calmly as he gave Minseok a squeeze on the shoulder.

       "I don't understand," Minseok murmured, despondent. "I—I think Luhan hates me," he stuttered, lowering his head as he fumbled with the strings of his apron.

       Chen couldn't stand it anymore, bringing his phone out to expertly snap some stolen shots. An early investment for blackmail.

       "Why would say that?" Yifan asked while his eyes trailed on Chen, who obviously was up to no good again, as the younger was insanely grinning while taking pictures of the oblivious Minseok.

       He jabbed the younger's stomach with his elbow, earning a painful and surprised groan from him. "What the hell, Yifan."

       Yifan glared at him. "What did you just address me?" said in a very low voice but enough to remind Chen that he's the oldest and definitely the authority among the two of them. The younger scowled, having no choice as put away his phone. 

       Feeling the stabbing glare straightly directed at him, Chen whispered, quivering, "Yifan-ssaem."

       "Luhan always runs away whenever he sees me."

       "It's okay, baby," Chen cooed as if talking to a child, yet it never left Yifan's eyes when the younger placed his arm on Minseok's shoulder, rubbing it in a very sensual way while stealing few pictures in a not-so-secretly secretly way.

       "Don't think too much about it," Yifan comforted him all while swatting away Chen's face with his huge palm. "My brother rarely got the chance to receive genuine concern from someone, well, not as close to him as, let's say, Chen." Yifan saw the younger nodding though a scowl was still etched on his face especially when Yifan's hand smelled like garlic bread. "He's just not used being surprised by how you treat him. You're quite unique compared to others," specifically sending Chen a glare.

       "He's unique. I'm fab. End of the story. You know what? You should also stop comparing me to others because I am who I am." 

       "Whatever. Well, we have to go to make sure that my brother wasn't run over by a car or a truck."

       "Alright," Minseok whispered. Yifan was still unsure if the boy believed what he had said; he didn't look convinced at all.

       Before they left, he made sure to leave a huge tip for Minseok.

       (Though the money came from Chen who almost made it out again without paying for his meals before Yifan pulled him back harshly and forced him to pay for all their meals with the additional generous tip. The younger even insisted for not giving a tip since everyone knew how absolutely rich Minseok was and was only probably doing part-time to experience peasant's way of life. The idiot that he was, Yifan thought. If only he knew the fact that almost hit Luhan to the core.)

##

Luhan winced in pain, scraping the blood in his nose that had already dried up from him running too fast. When he thought he had already survived the mind war, drowning himself to Yifan's artwork in their own home gallery, images of Minseok—kneeling in front of him, face too close to his front, his cheeks blushing (Luhan just made that up), and his small and soft fingers that almost touched his willy—reeled in, torturing him once more.

       ", go away..."

       His phone vibrated soon after. Chen had just sent him a shot of Minseok's back tightly hugged by his skinny black jeans.

       The blood in his nose gushed like a waterfall.

##

The last of the tissue box was consumed half past midnight. Yifan was gravely worried about his brother even though it was an obvious fact about his brother being a douche. 

       He woke up in a very unpredictable hour of the morning, hearing ruckus outside his room. Although there's only one person likely to cause those weird sounds, Yifan was still half asleep to actually worry about his brother's idiosyncrasy. So he went back to sleep, only to wake up in the morning with their maid informing him that Luhan already left.

       That never happened before. He just wished no one would get hurt with the escape of his wild brother. Or maybe not when he saw Luhan 'peacefully' reading a book in a cafe near their school.

       "What are you doing here early in the morning?"

       "Good morning to you too my dear brother," Luhan greeted with an unbearable wicked smile. Yifan stared back at him suspiciously. "I just thought I'd have a morning walk and experience the beauty of our world once in a while. It's a perfect day, isn't it?" Luhan took a sip of his black coffee with his pinky raised cozily.

       Black coffee? Luhan never drank coffee without milk or cream before. In fact, he prepared drinking tea, saying how more sophisticated it was.

       "There's something wrong with you."

       "Nothing's wrong with me," the younger defended yet with few obvious coughs spewing from his mouth.

       "I'll call mom."

       "That's fine. I need to order new tailor-made suits from Italy. And please tell her, I need a new stylist. Metallic theme isn't working for me anymore."

       Luhan dipped his toast in the strawberry jam—no sign of fear in the way he bite on the bread or the way he flipped the page of the book he was reading. To be precise, he was unbelievably relax under Yifan's scrutiny. How did he recover too fast, Yifan didn't know but it was far too convincing to give him the benefit of the doubt. 

       "Fine. I'll go now only because I'm late. And if you need something, tell them to mom yourself. I'm not your personal assistant."

       Luhan only scoffed at him without even looking at him as he left. He saw Chen on his way out. The other had another of those suspicious grins etched on his face. He didn't know why he had to deal with these two immatures.

       Chen took the liberty to seat next to Luhan without a word, tugging him abruptly as the other placed his arm on his shoulder. "I never expect to see you here early." 

       Luhan replied, narrowing his eyes. "Ah, your invading my personal bubble. Move away!" He pushed him away but Chen's grip on his shoulder tightened that he could smell his friend's minty breath and close enough that moving his head would immediately have Chen's lips landed on his. Gross!

       "Leave me alone," he said, gritting his teeth.

       "Not until you hear my proposal."

       Luhan sighed, expecting everything that would come out of Chen's mouth were all mediocre and childish. "Sorry. Not accepting it."

       "But you haven't heard of it," the other whined.

       "I don't need to hear—"

       "I have pictures of Minseok from yesterday. All 157 of them in this USB. HD." Turning on his devious side, he grinned at him. "So, how about you clear my debt to your brother."

       Instead of the expected exciting reaction, Luhan only let out a chuckle. 

       "What? I'm being generous here. What do you want then? How about you let me drive your car for a day, huh? How's that for all of these?"

       Chen let the USB attached to a keychain dangled in front of Luhan as if rooting for a hypnotic effect. Yet, Luhan wasn't amused at all. Didn't even bat an eyelash for his lure. 

       "What's your problem? I saw how you react yesterday when Minseok came to clean your mess. I thought you hate him but it was so clear that you have a certain liking to him somehow. I saw how you froze in his presence especially when he" —Chen moved closer, his breath almost creating moisture inside Luhan's ear— "brushed the stain on your pants. You're aroused."

       As if being struck by the truth, Luhan quivered ever so slightly but then he let out a sound, a very sinister sound of his laughter echoing inside the cafe. Luckily, there were only few patrons during that time of the day. 

       "First of all, I ran not because I have a but because sauce stain is hard to remove and the pants I was wearing yesterday was custom-made. Besides, I don't really see the advantage of owning those pictures you're giving me. I think you got it all wrong. I don't like him alright. I just don't like being touched down there." 

       "So you're not buying them?"

       "Thank you for the offer but no."

       "Are you sure?"

       "Yes."

       "Even if—"

       "Do what you want to do about that. I don't care," Luhan said in a sing-song voice. 

       "Ooo-kay. Fine since there are a lot who would pay for these for a more reasonable price. I'm sure his fan club..."

       "I'm sorry. What?" For the first time since Chen got here, it was the first time Luhan showed interest. "A fan club?"

       Chen's smile reached his ears. "Yeah, fan club. Haven't you heard of it? He's quite popular being the highest achiever in the entrance exam and all. Plus, everyone's seemed interested about his," Chen brought up his fingers in the air to gesture quoting. "'mysterious' personality. I mean, no one knows about his real family background even though he's obviously ing rich. Just look at him, looking like royalty without acting royal. 'He's a natural-born prince.' That's what they say. I just quote them."

       Now, Luhan was clearly scowling but it didn't appear as angry as what his expression showed before, but more of a softened anger bordering to sadness.

       "He's not what you all think he is," he mumbled.

       "What?" Chen wasn't sure if he just heard Luhan's words right. 

       "What I'm just trying to say is that you shouldn't believe everything you've heard or read about him."

       "You're talking like you know more about him than those fans. Don't tell me you already have his background checked?"

       "What?! No. Why would I do that?" Luhan stuttered, avoiding looking at Chen straight into his eyes. "Look, I'm just warning you about him. I don't care who you'll believe." 

       Chen was about to reply when Luhan put his fork down and started packing his things. He was halfway to the door when he turned around, his eyes had a hopeful shine in them. 

       "How about a fan club about me, have you come across any?"

       Chen shrugged. "No. None, really."

       Luhan huffed, crossing his arms in front of him before turning away. 

##

Yifan was peeking from his book to his notes every now and then. He assigned a seatwork for his class to answer and so far, they were peaceful, or more specifically, Luhan seemed peaceful. In fact, he and Minseok were seatmates again but Luhan steadily carried a dead expression really well. Yifan almost believed his brother had really overcame his unexplainable 'fondness' of Minseok. That was until he decided to call two students to solve two problems on the board and apparently, two hands were raised. The rest of his class was just, as always, had already camouflage with the wall.

       "Ah, right. Minseok and Luhan, since you're the only two—Come here and show them your answers." 

       He never missed the competitive (or murderous) narrowing of Luhan's eyes. 

##

"I saw how you looked at Minseok awhile ago. What was that?"

       "What else do you think? What do you think is the proper way to look at your enemy?"

       "You're enemy?" Chen put down the tray of food that he and Yifan ordered. Not that he had no choice but Yifan demanded that he worked as his slave as long as he had not yet paid his debt, which was still far far away. Chen was from a rich family like any other kids in the university but he'd rather use his money for his musical instruments. Besides, Luhan's family was way richer than they were. "Are we back to this one-sided competition again?"

       "It's not one-sided. He's competing against me, otherwise, he wouldn't raised his hand to solve problem on he board."

       "But I specifically asked for two students."

       Luhan rolled his eyes. "Whatever. He's a show-off."

       "And you are?"

       "I'm just sharing my knowledge to those who need it. Wait, whose side are you on anyway?"

       "You didn't buy my proposal. Why would I side with you?"

       "Yifan-ge, are you sure you have the complete list of Chen's debt from—"

       "Who else I would take side on, it's you." Chen laughed nervously, covering Luhan's mouth.

       "Yes, I have," Yifan replied nonchalantly.

       "Damn it! I take no side whatsoever. Besides, someone already brought the pictures. You wouldn't believe how much."

       "How about you pay me now?" Yifan demanded.

       "I haven't got the payment yet..." Chen averted his gaze to the ceiling.

       "Someone really bought it? That's ridiculous. Who would—"

       Luhan was cut off by soup that landed on his pants yet again. His eyes widened in surprise but more than that was the heat of the soup slowly creeping inside, burning his willy. To his rescue though, Chen poured a glass of iced tea on his pants. Just when they thought the fire had already extinguished, Luhan's rage hadn't as he stood up to confront who the careless cafeteria waiter was when he accidentally knocked his chair backwards sending the waiter, who was supposed to wipe his pants, on the floor. And the events of yesterday showered like cherry blossoms falling slowly to the ground. His sight twinkled, brightened, and glimmered with flowery frame around Minseok with the rest of the food in his tray messily scattered on his lap. 

       "I'm so sorry!" he cried out but only came as a muted scene of pinkish hue in Luhan's eyes. God, why was he seeing flowers looming all over Minseok's flushed face?

       He felt like going insane. He snapped from his momentary trance when he heard other people's voices whispering, "Oh my god! Isn't that Kim Minseok? Why is he wearing the waiter's uniform?"

       Yifan and Chen just stood up, frozen in their place, observing Luhan. He, on the other hand, had his hands quivering in his back, contemplating whether he'd offer a hand to the fallen Minseok or not. But he felt dizzy coupled with the unexplainable erratic beats in his chest. And with all the voices surrounding him, he felt like being trapped. Would he lend him a hand or ignore Minseok as everyone seemed to already know his true color? Befriending the poor and as a consequence being dragged to his world of lies? Or would he rather stay quiet and stay away from impending trouble and mass rage?

       'Help or not to help. That's the question.' his internal monologue was taking over his conscience.

       Just when he's about to lift a hand, someone entered the scene and asked Minseok with a soft voice, "Are you alright?"

       'Help or not to help isn't the question. Because even if he answers, it's already late."

I don't have anything in mind about who's the owner of that mysterious soft voice. Suggestion?