A shocking (for me) 8k update!

He arrived earlier as expected whenever he comes from the mansion. Two men in black is still following him around and it surely irritate him to no end but the order is already given and only his father can lift it off. Even the students of the academy find it unusual as well to have guards even inside the school. He disregards those and proceeds to his first class. He would have scolded the said bodyguards if they have even got inside the classroom.

When everyone finally pours inside the classroom, his friends, who are part of his first class, starts asking him about the said men in black outside.

“Hey Kris, are those men yours?” Luhan asks, taking the seat beside him.

He just ignored the pretty boy’s question, looking outside the window.

Throughout the whole morning, that grim expression never left his face. As lunch nears, he decided to ask a favor from the female member of their group. He grabs his phone and sends her message before proceeding to the clinic.

He is not sick nor feeling unwell; he just want to stay there and enjoy the silence of the place.

“Aren’t you supposed to have your last class before lunch?” the nurse, Mei, asks the moment he enters the place.

“Dad really sometimes,” he groans and flops on the couch near the nurse’s desk.

“From the looks of it, he’s telling you to stop seeing her?” she turns her swivel chair.

Kris glares back at her.

“I can’t help it when it’s really widespread in the whole campus that you and she are dating. I just deduced the idea that your father had learned about it already,” Mei chuckles.

“I want to get rid of those men in black as well,” Kris sighs, leaning and closing his eyes.

“Aww, talk about bad luck! It really to have someone tailing you,” Mei replies, turning around to get back on her work.

Kris was about to drift off to dreamland when he felt someone taking the space beside him. A pair of slim arms intertwines with his arm. He opens a sleepy eye and sees Sooyoung leaning on him.

“How did you got inside?” he asks, moving to hold her comfortably.

“Fei made me use the other door when she saw your body guards,” she sighs, loving the feeling of his hold on her.

“So how did it go with your parents?” he asks, trying to savor the feel of her body close to him.

“Kris, if ever a time comes that everything gets in a blur between us, will you leave me?” she asks.

That caught his attention a she tries to make her look at him, but she is snuggled closely to him.

“I will never leave you and you know that. Is there something wrong?”

She just shook her head.

“Have you had lunch?” he asks after a momentary silence.

She didn’t reply. He tries to wake her but from her even breathing, looks like she had fallen asleep. He slowly lifted her off of him, carrying her on one of the beds to tuck her. When he finally gets the chance to look at her closely, he notices her puffy eyes and her bandaged hand. He reaches to caress her face.

There’s only the final quarter exam left and it scares him of what might happen right after they graduate. Their love story had been so short and he is suddenly regretting not courting her even before. He suddenly regrets not asking her on one of those numerous chances he had been given in the past.

He has many plans for the both of them, but looks like it will be just plans. He had dreamed of seeing her with him walking in the aisle and countless more sweet dreams where everything is just perfect for the two of them, but looks like it was only a dream.

A dream meant to be dreamed for it will never be reality.

--------------

For the whole week, the clinic served as their rendezvous. They will meet there during lunch and before they leave school. Mei had finally learned the reason why Kris had been tagged with two body guards; and she is very much willing to help them.

The result had been posted as well and just as predicted, Sooyoung is still the top student. The final quarter results will reveal if she will still nail it as the top and bring home the honor of being the batch valedictorian.

The works for the SC had starts to lessen down as the quarter schedules are finally drafted for the SC to plan well.

Sooyoung decided to stay at the SC office during her free time to finish the other plans laid for the end of the school year. During those times when she is alone in their office she would feel the pain of their current situation.

Kris had enlightened her about the bodyguards and the reason why he has those.

*Sooyoung’s flashback*

It’s like those times when they would just cuddle at the clinic.

“Sooyoung, aren’t you wondering why I have body guards?” he asks.

She chuckles, “I was about to ask you. So why is it so?”

“Father is being dictatorial again,” he sighs, holding her even closer which draws fear from her.

“Kris, what’s wrong?” she asks looking up at him, getting alarmed.

“I sometimes hate being born as one of them. I despise my surname,” he replies, avoiding her eyes.

She suddenly felt scared but she managed to ask him again, “Why?”

He adjusted, cupping her face and stares into her eyes, “Baby, he wants me to leave you.”

Her eyes widened, tears clouding it as what her mother told her replay’s in her mind.

‘If you won’t break ties then I am afraid he will be the one to break ties with you.’

The fear in her eyes alarmed him as well as he finally understands why she would just let those tears fall.

“No baby! Don’t think like I will leave you. I promised you and I will try my best to do it. Please don’t cry,” he hushes her, wiping her tears with his thumbs.

“Are you willing to turn your back on your parents just for me?” she asks, finding it absurd why would she ask such heavy question.

“I’ll find a way to fix this. Please don’t make me choose,” he sighs, his voice betraying him as tears finally fell from his eyes.

The pain starts to become unbearable as she pulls him in a hug, feeling like the world and even the gods are against the two of them.

*End of flashback*

The tears came unbidden again same with the throbbing pain in her head.

It’s another thing as well; the recurring headache. Before, she would just feel the pain once or twice a week, but these past days, it would come twice or thrice a day. She has to work on hiding her dosage of medicine that’s why she often feels thankful that it always attacks her whenever she is at the SC’s office.

--------------

“You should probably take a day off and just rest.”

She looks up to see Chanyeol leaning on the doorway.

“Chanyeol, this is not like those jobs where I get paid. This is a responsibility I agreed upon the moment I accepted the duty of being the SC President,” she replies, trying to blink back the tears as she goes over the reports.

Chanyeol can only watch her read those reports.

“Channie, can you fetch me some water?” she asks, holding her head with both of her hands. From the looks of it, she might be having another migraine attack. He hurries off to the nearest vending machine and grabs a mineral water. When he returns, he hands it to her as she takes a drink, swallowing hard like she’s pushing something down .

With a sigh, he leads her on the sofa, letting her lean on him despite her weak protest. “You need to rest once in a while. It’s like the other officers don’t exist,” he mildly scolded her.

The silence is filled with her breathing as she tries to even it.

“I guess it’s really indeed true that you and Kris had been long dating,” he started and he felt her grew stiff.

“I don’t want to believe what the other students tell; I want to hear it from you, so is it really true?”

The silence made him brace himself from what she will answer.

“I’m sorry Chanyeol, but yes we have been dating for long,” then she takes in a shaky breathe, “But things had been awful for us these past weeks.”

She starts to sob, “I love him so much and I don’t know what will happen to me if I lose him. Mom and Dad want me to break ties with him, but I can’t. His father even wants the same from him. What am I going to do?” then the tears came flooding again.

This is the first time Sooyoung had been so vulnerable. This is the first time in all those years he had been with her that she cried hard.

It hurts on his part to see her cry; to see her cry her heart out because of the depth of her feeling for Kris. Her sobs are like daggers being straight to his heart. He is left speechless how to help ease her pain for he didn’t even know what to do or say. Oh, how he wish to be Kris.

As he held her in his arms, he absorbs all her cries, soothing her, pacifying her by rubbing her back, whispering comforting words till she finally fell asleep.

‘What a ed up situation is this,’ he thought feeling warm tears cascade down his face.

--------------

Weekends had never been this boring and lifeless. He can’t talk to Sooyoung since she is out of town as what her mother insisted since she had been so stressed lately. He doesn’t want to ruin her moment with her mother.

As he rolls on his bed, he suddenly fell off it when a crowd of six people pushed him off it. The laughter of his friends filled his ears when he fell on a loud thud. For once, he didn’t mind the pain as a smile crept up on to his face. Friends are really indeed angels in disguise, but he often questions his friends if they were really angels in disguise.

“How is it to be not anywhere near your studio?” Luhan beams as he lay on his stomach to look at Kris who is sprawled on the floor near the bed.

“So damn boring,” he sighs before pulling himself up.

“Oh, this is what I hate about being the prodigy. It gives you no freedom,” Tao chuckles occupying a space on Kris’s king-sized bed.

Kris preferred to be leaning on his bed as the rest groups on his bed. Fei took his chair on his study table, flipping on notebooks and books in the said desk.

“How is it going with your father?” Xiumin started the moment the silence settled in.

“Still unbendable as a steel rod,” Kris replies.

Every one of them spares him a look of pity as he lets out a tired sigh.

“Kris, are you really willing to go on the ‘you and me against the world’ mode with her?” Kyungsoo asks.

All of them raise a brow at his choice of words. “I mean, are you really going to push the idea of even fighting your own father for her?”

“If the situation calls, then yes, I am willing to go on a fight with him,” Kris replies.

Yet, all of them caught that slight wavering of his voice.

“I’ve heard that the Park family is hastening things regarding Sooyoung and Chanyeol. Apparently, the Choi and the Park has this tradition of tying up their children to strengthen the pact between the family,” Fei relays.

Kris didn’t even reply for he knows it already. He decided to let the others question the only female among them.

“You mean he is not just some sticking stalker wannabe but a potential fiancée of Kris’s princess?” Baekhyun leans forward with interest.

Fei nods, “Yes. The Choi are actually indebted on the said family for a certain case which the Park helped the Choi win. I guess it was between Sooyoung’s father and a certain family. My father had talked to Chanyeol’s father during one of their meetings. The news about Kris and Sooyoung triggered them to pursue that tradition which started right after winning the case.”

“That’s crap! I mean, you are going to tie your children on them just because they helped you win a war? Where’s the child’s right in there?” Luhan exclaimed.

“That’s their plan or more likely a tradition already. There had been marriages between them already. Our only concern touches Sooyoung,” Fei crosses her arms, “Hey Kris, aren’t you going to say anything regarding this?” she looks at the silent guy.

“She already shared that to me,” Kris replies.

All of them groan in frustration. “And you didn’t even bother telling us?” Baekhyun glares at Kris.

“I don’t have plans; besides, it took me a while to finally have her trust in confiding it so why would I betray her trust and spill it on you?” he turns on Baekhyun who just pouted at him.

“Mean,” Luhan whispers into which Baekhyun agrees.

“Hey Kris, are you aware that Sooyoung and her mother went out of town with Chanyeol and his mother?” Xiumin suddenly asks. Every one stares back at him with wide eyes.

“Seriously?” Tao manages to voice out all their thoughts.

“Yeah, I am serious. They checked in one of our hotels in the provinces. I had the chance yesterday when Dad asked me to check on our hotels,” Xiumin replied.

“Then why didn’t you inform us earlier?” Fei gave him a pointed look.

“Apparently because you guys can’t do anything regarding it; besides I only thought of it when the topic of Chanyeol and Sooyoung came up. Are you planning on kidnapping this guy in distress” pointing to Kris, “and run to where his princess is?” Xiumin asks.

“There’s no use! Tomorrow’s Monday and they are probably on their way back in here. You should have told us earlier!” Fei stands up and starts pacing back and forth in front of them.

“None of you asked. I am not a gossiper to just spill everything since I know it is hard to get Kris past his father’s fortress,” Xiumin defends.

This time, if looks could kill he would have been dead from the glare he received from Fei.

“Are you saying that I am a gossiper?”

Xiumin raises his hand in defense, “Chill! I am not referring to you! What I am trying to point is that it will be pointless anyway since Kris’s father had already given his verdict.”

“We could have thought of a way if you told us earlier!” then Fei started messing her hair in frustration, “This is so frustrating!”

The boys just shut their mouth because arguing with Wang Feifei will just give you headache.

“I really appreciate the concern Fei, but it’s not like I have to monitor everything she does. That will definitely be not a good one,” Kris sighs, suddenly missing her as he clutches his phone to stop himself from calling her and asking her right away about what he just heard.

“Kris we are not talking about some random guy in here; we are talking about PARK CHANYEOL!” Fei emphasized the name.

“I know,” Kris finally looks up at her, “And I trust her. I don’t want to give her the impression of sticking my nose on everything she does.”

Their years of friendship made her see the hurt in his eyes at his helplessness. As what Xiumin had said, it is really hard to get past Gregory’s fortress. They are just lucky today that the guy is not around.

All of the sudden, Fei stops pacing and stares back at him squarely, an understanding look on her face, and “Would you want to call her?” she asks.

Kris chuckled at her sudden change in demeanor but he shook his head.

“Guys, do you still remember the house I was planning to build?” Luhan asks all of the sudden.

“The one you secretly planned but get busted by Tao?” Kyungsoo asks.

Luhan rolls his eyes upon remembering how the panda busted his plans, “Yeah.”

“What about it?” Baekhyun spares him a look.

“It’s finally done!” Luhan cheers.

“Hey pretty boy,” Xiumin taps his shoulder, “The fact that it is done doesn’t mean I am willing to go on its house blessing party if that’s what you’re going to say. I don’t want to get through the 8-hour drive.”

“I am not asking for your attendance anyway. I just feel like telling it! Besides, I am not planning on an 8-hour drive. Our helicopter can send me there. I had installed a helipad anyways,” Luhan grins.

“Woah!Really? The might let us go!” Tao exclaims getting near the pretty boy.

“In time Tao, in time,” Luhan smiles.

Kris can only chuckle at how his friends are interacting. One time they are talking calmly, then they will bicker then they will joke around. Sometimes, he prefers seeing them interact and wonder how their pacing suddenly shifts from one to another.

--------------

True to what they had been talking about, Sooyoung and Chanyeol with their mothers had just arrived from out of town. They arrived at the train station but before they could final part, Chanyeol offers Sooyoung one more moment to spend the day with him.

“Go out with me today?” he laid out his hand for her.

Sooyoung smiles and accepts the offer; she has nothing to go against her mother since she will be insisting anyway.

“Take your time kids. Just be home before curfew for classes will resume tomorrow okay?” Yoonsoo smiles as the two young ones finally take the opposite direction, hand in hand.

“It’s been a long while since we went out like this,” Chanyeol started as they go up the exit.

“Yeah,” Sooyoung sighs, “I miss those times,” she added.

“So where would you want to go first?” he asks as they finally gets out the subway.

“Let’s grab something to eat. The journey back in here made me hungry,” Sooyoung grins.

He squishes her cheeks and pulls her hand on the restaurant where they always take their lunch every time they get to go out together.

Their next destination is on arcades. Chanyeol knows her inclination in games and he is very much glad to spend times like this with her. Sooyoung’s eyes lit up with glee upon seeing the variety of games she gets to choose from. The place is not yet that crowded. Their first try is on the race cars.

She starts whining when Chanyeol took long enough to load his card. The excitement in her made him chuckle as he starts racing beside her, betting on who would win first. It took them three rounds before she finally wins. She jumps off her seat and starts doing her victory dance which made him laugh.

Their next location is on the drums. She’s very much ecstatic to hold the drumsticks provided as he uses his cards once again. He let her just play in there, folding the long strip of tickets they received from racing a while ago. After winning four rounds, she collected the tickets and pulls him again on the basketball corner. They made a bet again on who would get more shots on the given time. It’s almost a tie when they finished the first round. For the second round and the third round, he let her win.

Time really ticked