{ 19 }

“Okay, pass your homework in front,” Mr. Lee told the whole class. Almost everyone dug into their backpacks, looking for their papers but Kai was inwardly cursing. Damn it, I don’t have my homework, he thought inwardly.

“Hey, why aren’t you doing anything?” Kyungsoo asked him as the former took out a clean white sheet of paper with neat handwriting.

“I don’t have my homework.” He grumpily answered, not wanting to look forward to a trip to the detention.

Mr. Lee personally came to oversee the collection of papers, and the teacher frowned upon seeing one name missing. “Kim Jongin?” He called out. “Where’s your homework?”

Kai avoided his teacher’s gaze. “I wasn’t–”

However, his sentence was cut off by another voice. “IT’S THERE!”

Everyone in the classroom including Mr. Lee and Kai stared at the girl who suddenly interjected. Kai’s brows furrowed when he saw that Sulli was the one who shouted. Her cheeks were tinged with pink upon getting the attention of the whole classroom.

“Do you want to say something, Choi Jinri?” Mr. Lee questioned the girl. She wasn’t exactly the type to stand out before. She just tends to blend in, and even her grades were mediocre.

“I– I mean, Kim Jongin’s homework, Lee sonsaengnim.” She stuttered, answering. Her eyes flitted to Kai who was staring at her in wonder. “Your assignment’s in there. Did you forget?” She enunciated, wanting him to ride on another lie.

Kai easily caught up and fished out a white paper from his backpack. True enough, it was his homework, his name 김종인 clearly printed out on top of the paper. “Yeah, must have misplaced it.” He swiftly lied, covering for his slip-up even though he was curious as to why he has a homework named after him when he clearly slept the other night without doing anything.

“And how would you know that, Choi haksaeng?” Mr. Lee asked curiously. “Do you live together with Kim haksaeng?” He followed with a laugh.

Kai and Sulli both felt their faces pale. Thankfully though, their reactions were lost at the sea of laughter from their classmates. “No, Lee sonsaengnim, Jinri and Kim Jongin are together!” One of their classmates answered.

“Oh,” Mr. Lee nodded knowingly. “Well then, I won’t ask for more.” He said as he grabbed the paper from Kai’s hands and proceeded out of the classroom.

Kai stared back to where Sulli was sitting, but she was avoiding him, talking to Gongchan. He was out of his wits when Kyungsoo nudged him. “You didn’t do your homework, right?” The older guy asked.

He nodded in confirmation. Kyungsoo smiled secretly, seeing Kai flustered. “I think you’ve got Sulli to thank for that,” Kris suddenly quipped, his head turned from front to see Kai clearly.

However, the younger remained rooted on his spot, unmindful of the teases from his hyung-deul. All he could think about was Sulli.

--

When the bell for lunch finally rang, students easily filed out of the classroom, chatting with one another. Kai went out with the rest of other EXO members, but he suddenly stopped once they were out. “Kai? C’mon, let’s go.” Yixing called out, but he remained on his spot.

“I’ll… wait for Jinnie.” He answered, his voice low. “You guys go first.”

The five other members looked at each other before snickering. “Arasso. We’ll leave you some quality time with your girlfriend.” Luhan responded, earning himself a glare.

He could only shake his head watching his friends walk towards the cafeteria. He stayed near the door of the room, waiting for Sulli to come out. He was expecting her to come out with Gongchan and her other friend.

After a few minutes, the door revealed the three of them. When Soojung saw Kai, she immediately tugged on Gongchan’s sleeves and smiled at him a little before they took off. The two of them were left alone in an awkward silence.

Sulli sighed. “If you’re not gonna say anything, I might as well leave.” She told him and made a move to walk past him when he blocked her way. The scene felt like a déjà vu from their morning stint, and both had their cheeks tinged with a little pink.

“Thanks,” Kai finally said. “For doing my homework.”

“Tss.” She said in response. “And now he’s talking to me.” She added tauntingly, her arms crossed over her torso, slightly pouting.

His brows furrowed. “What? What did I do again?!”

“Yah, you were suddenly all quiet when we got out of the house and you weren’t talking to me!” She huffed in annoyance. “I don’t even know why you’re angry.”

He did his best to conceal his smile, but it showed anyway. “So you’re concerned about that, huh?” He teased, poking her cheeks.

She waved his finger away. “No I’m not concerned, pabo!”

Kai let out a hearty laugh. “Arasso, arasso. Mianhae. I wasn’t feeling well.”

Upon hearing that, Sulli’s face instantly showed concern. “Why? What’s wrong? Is your head aching? You didn’t even eat your toast properly–”

He held her hand suddenly, intertwining their fingers. He doesn’t know why, he simply followed his instincts, and holding Sulli’s hand was what it wants. Kai felt worn from resisting too much from the temptation. “Nothing. I don’t feel like eating lunch. Let’s go to the dance room?”

She only sighed. “You pabo.” She muttered weakly.

He only beamed at her before dragging her towards the abandoned building. Sulli’s free hand cautiously went to her chest, curious as to why it was beating fast.

--

When they got over to the dance room, he immediately laid down. She shook her head as she sat next to him. “Why don’t you want to eat? We still have a few hours at school, you might get sick…” She reminded.

“Nah, I’m fine.” He nonchalantly answered.

“Aigoo, making me worry…” She mumbled before grabbing her backpack. She took out the sandwich Gongchan gave her in the morning which he purchased from one of the deli counters near their school. He said he was worried that she won’t be able to eat breakfast so he decided to buy her a sandwich. Since she ate in the morning, she decided to just put it in her bag and eat it for lunch.

She tugged on his arms, urging him to sit up. He groaned and grumbled before doing so. “What?”

Sulli tossed the sandwich on his lap. “You should eat. You didn’t even get to have a proper breakfast, pabo.”

He stared at the plastic-wrapped sandwich from her, and weird as it may seem, his heart swelled with warmth. Her little gestures, such as her doing his homework for him because he had been dead on his feet the other night to finish it and her persuading him to eat because he wasn’t able to eat breakfast were all new to him. The only ones he was used to caring about him were his parents, his friends, and his friends’ parents. He grew up with his friends, and their parents watched him grew up. They were all like a big extended family.

Also, all of the EXO members were warned against people who might just trick them because they were rich. Because of that warning, they mostly stuck to themselves, not wanting to let anyone in. Whenever he was with other girls, he was the one pampering them, showering them with everything his money could buy that he wasn’t used to a girl caring for his welfare.

“Why are you staring at me? That sandwich won’t eat itself, Kai.” She said in sarcasm.

To her surprise, Kai laid his blazer over her skirt again and laid his head on top of it, just like what he did when they last met here. That was when he started eating the sandwich, devouring it as if he hadn’t eaten for days.

She didn’t even try to tell him off. On instinct, she just did what she did the last time too, running her dainty fingers over his brown mop.

They stayed like that, and to her surprise, she wasn’t feeling uncomfortable or anything. It was as if she had been used to all the skinships with Kai that their intimacy right at that moment didn’t even bug her anymore. I could get used to this, she thought to herself with a smile.

“What are you smiling about?” Kai asked after he was done eating, staring at her. “You look like a creep, Jinnie.” He teased.

She lightly slapped her palm against his forehead. “Pabo.” She said, avoiding his gaze. Ugh Sulli, what were you thinking?!

“What are you thinking about?” He questioned again. “Sometimes you get that faraway look in your face and I’d realize I’d pay to get inside that head of yours.”

She let out a brief chuckle. “And who’s creepy now, huh?”

“C’mon Jinnie, don’t change the subject.”

“Nothing, really.” She replied truthfully. “My friends, our situation, you–”

“So you think about me huh?” He interjected, earning himself a dirty look from Sulli and another slap on his forehead.

“Anyway, those sort of things.” She finished, not wanting to elaborate. “How about you? What do you usually think about?”

He thought for a moment before answering. “Us.”

Sulli’s heart was overflowing at the simple pronoun he used. He was right, they were on the same side. That’s just that, Sulli, she scolded herself. Don’t get your mind flying all around the room.

She cleared before responding. “Well, before us? Before you met me… before we had this crazy agreement? What did you think about then, Kai?”

Kai was silent for a full minute. “Nothing.” He replied.

She looked at him in disbelief. “That’s stupid. You have to think about something!” She exclaimed.

“Well, I think about totally generic things. Like school, video games, and girls. That’s probably it.” He answered before shrugging.

“You don’t think about your dreams?” She followed up. “Like, what would you want to happen after high school?”

He wasn’t talking. Mostly because he had never really thought of that. He figured that maybe he’d go abroad and go to an Ivy League school, and then take his Master’s Degree, and learn the ropes on their company. Their futures were already planned out for them that they didn’t need to think about it anymore.

“Kai?” Sulli called out softly, curious as to why he was suddenly the one who was distant. “What is it?”

“We didn’t have to dream, Sulli.” He responded, his voice distant. “Everything was already laid out for us. All we have to do is to follow the tracks and to not get lost.”

His response took her by surprise. She never really thought of Kai’s and the whole of EXO’s wealth anymore. Well, she used to, because it was one of the walls separating her world from theirs, but it was all starting to be different when she knew them personally, not just objectively. She forgot about who they were, and how they weren’t ordinary guys.

“What’s your dream, then?” She gently asked again. Kai’s eyes bore into hers, and she smiled. “What’s your real dream, Kai?”

“I wanted to dance.” He responded after a moment of silence. “When I was younger they’d send me to dance camps, but it all stopped when I turned twelve. My summers started being devoted to knowing the company. Its shareholders and its board of directors, who were the threats and who were the allies. Who were most likely to flip over, and who were loyal.”

Sulli’s heart started to ache for him. Maybe she wasn’t as well-off as Kai’s family was, but at least she had her freedom. Her parents weren’t forcing her to do anything, as long as it makes her happy and fulfilled.

She reached for his hand and rubbed circles on it. “Then dance.” She said. The way he talked about dancing was different, as if it was his life’s passion. His eyes got dreamy when he talked about it, and then it hardened when he started talking about business. It seemed like he had long accepted his fate, but that doesn’t mean he was happy with it.

He let out a bitter laugh. “It’s not that easy, Jinnie.”

“What’s not easy, Kai?” She asked. “I can be your audience, your fan, your manager.” She giggled, wanting to lighten the atmosphere. “I’m a multitasker, you see.”

“Pabo,” he responded with an easy smile. “Are you sure? There’s quite a lot which entails all those.”

“Of course!” She answered with intense determination. “Choi Sulli backs down on nothing!”

He laughed loudly, feeling better. “Arasso. Then you’ll be my manager, my number one fan, my audience, and my coordinator. You’ll have to be around me all the time, and after I’m done practicing you have to wipe my sweat and toss me a drink.”

“Yah yah yah, who said anything about wiping your sweat?!” She whined.

His brow rose. “I thought Choi Sulli backs down on nothing?”

She flicked his forehead before nodding. “Arasso. That’s a promise.” She said, holding out her pinky finger.

Kai locked his pinky finger with hers, and both of them smiled.

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A/N: Hello iheartsoojung! Thanks for the upvote ^^

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