{ 20 }

After the bell rang indicating the end of lunchtime, Kai groaned. “Ugh, I wanna stay here for a while more.” He whined to Sulli.

“No.” She stated firmly. “We already missed a class last time, Kai. Get up now!” She scolded. Kai pouted a little before standing up, extending his hand to help Sulli even though he was sulking. She could only smile at his childishness.

He held her hand again as they made their way out of the abandoned dance room. Sulli’s heart was starting to pound, and the butterflies in her stomach were having an impromptu party. To be honest, the feeling doesn’t sit well with her, but it wasn’t entirely unwelcome either.

“Fix your hair.” She reminded him as they walk across the field. “The other students might get the wrong idea again…” She mumbled.

He stopped and looked at her. “Again? Why?”

“Tss, did you already forget the last time we went to the dance room and they were looking weirdly at us?!”

His brows furrowed as he tried to recollect the event. “AH! So that was what you were thinking about then?” He teased again.

Sulli only shook her head as a response. It was never a good choice to talk something seriously with Kai. She was about to start walking again when he tugged on her hand, making her stop with a questioning look on her face.

He didn’t say anything, rather, he walked towards her and started brushing the hair off her face. “I can buy you anything you want, you know, so don’t eat your hair.” He told her as he tucked the strands of her hair behind her ear.

They were both lost in their own worlds that they didn’t notice their other schoolmates swooning at Kai’s gesture and other teases. Their eye contact only broke when Sehun clapped Kai’s shoulders. “Ooooh, someone’s getting sweet in here!” He teased.

When the couple turned, they saw that Sehun was closely followed by Suho, Xiumin, Chen, Tao, and Baekhyun, the EXO members from another class. Sulli was surprised to see Baekhyun staring at her. She quickly averted her gaze somewhere else, her heart pounding. She can’t figure out now who was the reason for the racing of her heart, if it was Kai or Baekhyun.

“What are you guys doing here? Don’t you have class?” Kai snapped, also feeling embarrassed that his friends caught him at that time. Why would it matter now, though, Kai? He asked himself. Didn’t you also do this before to make them eat up the make-believe fairytale you’re weaving with Sulli?

He was speechless at his own question. I… don’t know. It’s just different.

“Whoa, Kai, chill.” Chen joked. “Our teacher’s absent, so we don’t have class.” He explained to him. He understood why they were loitering around the school instead of sitting inside the classroom.

“Well, we’ll go now.” He said in a hurry, wanting to cut the conversation short. His eyes didn’t escape Baekhyun’s staring at his girlfriend and how Sulli’s actually blushing because of it. His jaw clenched in irritation. “We still have classes.”

“Do you mind if we sit in your class?” Tao questioned. “It’s so boring in ours…” He fussed.

Kai rolled his eyes in annoyance. “No, hyung, stay in your class. Don’t bother us.”

“Meh, you just want to keep Sulli to yourself.” Xiumin butted in. “C’mon Kai, it’s not like we’ll steal Sulli away from you or something.”

Another refusal was already formulating inside his head when he felt Sulli’s hand squeezing his. He turned to look at her and saw that she was smiling at him. “It’s okay, Kai. If the teacher permits it, maybe we can let them sit in our class. They’re your friends, anyway.”

“Ouch, Sulli!” Chen dramatically said, feigning hurt as he fisted his school uniform. “Don’t you treat us as your friends too?!”

She smiled. “Of course I do, Chen.”

Chen huffed before ending his mini-drama. “Arasso, arasso. Your smile is so arresting that I can’t think of any comeback.”

“CHEN HYUNG!” Kai’s voice roared, to which the other members laughed sans Baekhyun.

Suho slung his arm over Kai’s shoulder. “Let’s go now, Kai, classes will start in two minutes.”

“Eeeew grandpa Suho, look at you being the third wheel in Kai and Sulli!” Chen teased again. “You look like some cougar wanting to get some.” All of them chuckled with the exception of Suho who walked over to Chen and smacked his head.

Kai only grumbled before dragging Sulli over to their classroom. When they were in front of Kai’s seat next to Kyungsoo, she was about to separate herself from him when he held her hand firmly. “Kyungsoo hyung.” He called to the older guy.

“What is it?” Kyungsoo responded, his wide eyes poring over the couple in front of him. He glimpsed of the rest of EXO behind them. “What are those loonies doing in here?” He added, as if the other EXO members were just nuisance to him.

All of the members started cracking up with each other. It had been so long since they’ve been in the same classroom together and they all missed it. It sure wasn’t the same when all of them belonged in the same class. However, they got separated since their teachers were always complaining of their noises and the catastrophe they always manage to pull off together unintentionally.

As much as Kyungsoo hates it, the girls in their class don’t seem to mind. All of them were swooning at the handsome members. Even Soojung, who warned Sulli ardently about involvement with the said group, didn’t seem to be immune to the boys’ natural charms.

“Hyung, can you sit next to Sulli’s friend today?” Kai asked.

Both Kyungsoo and Sulli looked at him in disbelief. “Yah, Jongin!” Sulli scolded. “Stop asking Kyungsoo for immature req–”

Her sentence was cut off when Kyungsoo suddenly gathered his things and grabbed his backpack. He smiled widely at Sulli. “It’s okay, Sulli. Maybe you’re actually doing me a favor. Since all of these guys are here, it’d be a total madhouse, I tell you. What you saw on Sehun’s party was nothing compared to what will ensue. I’m better off somewhere far from these animals.” After that, he proceeded towards Sulli’s seat. Gongchan’s eyes widened when he saw that Kyungsoo was the one walking towards him and not his best friend. He tried catching her eyes but Kai was quick to make her sit down, not bothering to explain anything to Gongchan. He was sure that Kyungsoo would explain, anyway.

Just like what Kyungsoo predicted, it was a total madhouse when the rest of the EXO members settled down. They were all so noisy and talkative, as if they don’t see each other everyday. Chen was trolling Suho, Sehun was bothering Luhan about soccer even though the latter was busy talking to Xiumin, Tao was whining to Kris about the new Gucci collection to be released for the season, Chanyeol was goofing off with Baekhyun, and Lay was the only one who looked like a normal human being. It was pure… chaos.

When the teacher walked in, her eyeballs almost reached the floor because of surprise. However, she didn’t even bother telling the boys off. Even the teachers were wary of getting into the boys’ bad side. Sulli suddenly remembered the first time Kai talked to her in the computer room. The teacher who was manning the computers was willing to give up even her own slot just to make sure that Kai wasn’t unhappy with anything.

Some of their grade-conscious classmates who were actually trying to listen to the lesson and not just ogle at the guys were having a hard time understanding. No one’s really confident enough to tell the boys off though. Even Kyungsoo doesn’t care since he already knows the lesson anyway, and was already reading the next chapter of their book.

Sulli glanced at the frustrated looks on her classmates’ and teacher’s faces before discreetly turning around to look at the EXO boys behind them. “Guys,” she quietly called out. She got some of their attention, and she smiled at them. “Can you tone it down a bit?” She asked nicely and even put her index and thumb finger together to emphasize.

Suho elbowed Chen and scolded him to stop with his antics. Luhan and Xiumin immediately stopped, and because they weren’t speaking anymore, Sehun just put his face on and crossed his arms. Tao stopped talking, thinking that he’ll just tell Kris more about the new collection later. Even Chanyeol who was usually the most unstoppable one in the group quieted. Baekhyun was surprised seeing how much authority Sulli already got on their group even though it hadn’t been long since they all met.

When the noises from the boys stopped, some of her classmates smiled at Sulli thankfully. Kai, feeling protective of her, immediately held her hand tightly and placed it on top of the table for the whole world to see. He felt satisfied when their guy classmates immediately backed off.

“Thanks guys!” She whispered to the boys who only smiled back.

Gongchan and Soojung were both dumbfounded at the authority their best friend exercised among the most powerful kingkas of their school. Their jaws were both hung low, especially Soojung who was amazed at the power of her friend’s smile.

--

The peace and quiet lasted for the rest of the day. The other EXO members never came back on their original homeroom anymore, spending it with their other half.

“Maybe we should coerce the administration to put us in the same class again.” Chanyeol quipped. “It’s so fun when all of us are together.”

“I second the motion!” Tao held his arm up. He looked at Chanyeol. “Yeol ge, let’s go to the principal’s office now?”

“Sure! Let’s take Suho hyung and Kyungsoo with us, since both of them are teachers’ pets.” Chanyeol replied.

Much to Suho’s and Kyungsoo’s chagrin, both of them were dragged towards the principal’s office. Also, the two of them weren’t up to putting up with Tao’s whining. A whining teenager who was perfectly capable of wushu-ing their brains off wasn’t exactly the best combination.

The rest of them stayed on one of the school benches. Sulli and Kai sat side by side when the latter remembered about the former’s agreement with his parents. “Yah pabo, you still need to pack your things remember?” He whispered to her, not wanting the members to hear about their newest agreement.

Sulli’s eyes widened. “Ah, right! Ugh, I forgot.” She muttered to herself.

“Let’s go now?” He asked, standing up. He turned to face the other members. “Hey, we’ll go first. We still need to do something.”

“Aigoo, I need to find my own girlfriend.” Xiumin, the oldest in the group, grumbled. “The maknaes are living in a world of rainbows and unicorns!”

“The maknaes?” Yixing asked, frowning. “Or you mean just Kai?”

“No Lay, I meant the maknaes.” Xiumin replied.

“Xiumin hyung, what did I do to you again?!” Sehun squawked.

Chen held both his hands up. “Whoa whoa, wait there, Umin hyung.” He glanced briefly at Sehun who was frowning. “You mean, our maknae here, the -faced Oh Sehun has a girlfriend?!” He exclaimed in disbelief.

“The world is automatically a better place when Chen hyung’s mouth is closed.” Sehun mumbled.

Xiumin only wiggled his eyebrows and chuckled teasingly. “I don’t wanna spoil anything for Sehunnie, but I wish him courage.” Underneath the oldest guy’s easygoing tone was a hint of seriousness, to which Sehun’s face became grim.

“Okay, okay, Chen, stop crowding Sehun.” Kris butted in. “It’s his problem if he has a girlfriend or not. You know, if you stop trying to troll Suho every single time, maybe you’d have one yourself.”

Chen cocked his eyebrows. “And the reason I’m hearing this from a single guy like myself is…?”

Kris only tossed a crumpled paper to his face, not saying anything more.

“Anyway, we’ll go first.” Kai repeated. “See you guys tomorrow.”

“Can’t we hang out first?” Luhan asked. “It’d been almost a week already since we last hung out.”

Kai smiled apologetically. “Maybe next time, hyung.” He replied. “Bye!” He and Sulli waved to the remaining members before walking towards the shed where he parked his motorbike.

As the eight members stared at the couple, Lay smiled. “I think those two are getting more and more serious as the days pass by.”

“Yeah, I’m thinking the same thing.” Luhan added before smiling. “I’m happy for them both.”

Baekhyun was silent. Xiumin glanced one last time at the couple before walking towards his dongsaeng. “What’s up Byun Baek? You’re silent.”

“It’s nothing hyung,” he answered, averting his gaze from Kai and Sulli.

“Sulli didn’t even know, Baek.” Xiumin gently explained. “Even her friends got angry at her and she only knew about CNU and Mihyun recently.”

Baekhyun’s face darkened upon hearing the association of his sister’s name with that of Shin Dongwoo. Mihyun was a lot better, but she was still advised to stay in the hospital to recuperate from her bruises and some wounds. He had always been a cheerful person, but these days he was getting all dark because of what happened to his sister.

Somehow, he knows that it wasn’t really neither of the couple’s fault. At first he was just really surprised and shocked to find out that the person whose Kai was seriously committed with is a friend of CNU whom he detests because he was the reason why his sister got into an accident. Baekhyun was basically Mihyun’s guardian, what with their parents’ back and forth from Korea to almost every continent. All he wanted was for her happiness, and if CNU can give it to her, he’s fine with it, even though CNU’s family wasn’t well-off.

However, things went downhill when the accident happened. He took care of CNU himself and prohibited Mihyun from seeing the man. CNU was able to sneak in whenever Baekhyun’s not around to watch over Mihyun, so he brought in their bodyguards to guard his sister.

But that wasn’t Baekhyun’s only concern. Sulli’s happy bubble and her sincere smiles were starting to affect him… in a way that he wouldn’t even think of in his wildest dreams.

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A/N: I was surprised to receive five upvotes from altheajungmontez, karolanneth, zati5440, daffodil94 and KimTaeya so I updated again! I can't believe my eyes when I saw that it has 19 upvotes instead of 14 earlier. Wow, really, every single one of these upvotes mean a lot to me as an author <3

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