Chapter 6

"Luhan ah, why are you being so on guard?! Don’t you have any intention to maintain a cordial relationship for the rainy days?"  Leaving alone inside the classroom, Sehun cannot help and asked Luhan about his offensive against SoEun. I've never seen you being that hatred toward someone like that without any reason.

"Who cares about her? What more important to me now is the coming up plan. It's almost time now." Luhan replied Sehun's question indifferently which gained a helpless smiley face from Sehun. Throwing his arm around Luhan's neck, they walked out the classroom with dignified expressions and headed to their destination.

Head to the cafeteria, Chanyeol and SoEun successfully brought all of their members to the cafeteria in order to avoid a war on the verge of breaking out. After getting their foods, they gathered up together and filled the table with seven parties.

"Where is Kim SoEun?" Because of the injury, Kris made SoEun to stay and save seat for the group when they all going to get the foods. While Lay came back with his food, SoEun excused herself to get them some drinks, actually get Kris apple juice to be precise since it was a little rush this morning and she did not have enough time to prepare it for Kris. Therefore, Lay was the only one Kris had seen after his return.

"She said she's going to get us some drinks." Lay calmly responded to Kris's doubt while pulling over the tray Kris put down on for SoEun.

"What?! I told her to keep be seated, but now she is going around?! Must she always do the opposite" Listening to what Lay said, it did not nothing but brought the flames of fury to Kris.

"Chill out, Kris! Just the nearby vending machine. And come to think about it, the mad is on you." The overreaction from Kris made Lay feeling helpless and a chuckle lifted up Lay's upper lip.

"What do you mean?! Why should I?!" Kris frowned his eyebrows to show his confusion toward Lay's words.

"Since apple isn't your style, Apple juice is the alternative product that allowing SoEun to maintain your nutritional balance." Kris released himself from the uptight emotion as Lay put his ideas out.

The scene shifted to the whereabouts of SoEun. Getting all the drinks she needed, SoEun headed back to the cafeteria hugging all the drinks in her embrace. On the way, a scene caught SoEun’s attention and distracted her from walking as she passed through the shrubs.

“Isn’t that Oh Sehun and his fellows?” Unable to move the gaze away, SoEun was being absorbed in the scene playing a distance away from where she was. Are they in the middle of a fight? What would that about? Aren’t they been in a same basketball team?

While questions and doubts running on SoEun’s mind, the conversation between Sehun and three of his basketball teammates shocked SoEun off just by listening to it. You must be kidding me?!

“Do you guys know what you are doing? If nobody noticed the unusual distortion of the backboard, how are you guys going to bear the consequences? If you guys don’t want to stay in the team, just tell me. I can grant your wish any time. Do not used me as an excuse.” One to many, the tone and expression from Sehun were full of disappointment and indignation. Compared to all, what made Sehun feeling angry was that he never imagined his team members turned out to be the protagonists of the plot.

You guys claimed that this was to do justice for me. Have you guys thought when doing so will only allow me to bear the dirty villain charges? 

“Since it was agreed, we should take our strength to fight with them rather than do things that are not aboveboard.”

“You guys are lucky enough that we caught up with ourselves this time. Or else, will you guys think they will let you guys off that easily?”

*snigger* “What awe-inspiring righteousness leader we have here.” The three guys who having confrontation with Sehun gave out the scornful laugh altogether. The guys stood in the middle talked back to Sehun after being silent for the whole time.

“Win by own strength? This is the best shameless quote I ‘ve heard over the year; especially it came out from your mouth. If it is not the sake of your father who apparently the secretary of Education, you are not worth our time. It just gives us Goosebumps whenever we see you acting up like a saint.”

“That’s right! We did as you said is not that you earned the respect of us by your own effort, it all because of we all are afraid of offending your father and we do you a good turn.” The guy on the left side added with the face of consent.

“Now, not you being the one kick us out the team, but we are the one who plead to quit. Ah, finally, we can get rid of you since you do not agree with the way we do things. We can never get along as we have different theories on everything.”

“I've been exhausted from living in this double-faced way all the times. Let's go, guys! We should of have a celebration for back to being our own self now." The guys on the right side walked to the middle between his two buddies and threw his elbows around each of their shoulders in which to lead them to leave. Taking a step forward, he suddenly stopped for the walk and turned back again to express his final word to Sehun.

"Oh yeah, regardless of what, since we have been in a team for a while, I would like you to have some like you know what self-consciousness, do not expect anyone in this school to treat you like oneself with sincerity because who you are, but who your father are." As expected, they left as soon as the last sentence ended. At the same time, the vision of Sehun was now free from any obstruction, which the presence of SoEun was all Sehun could be seen in this open schoolyard.

Since they were standing into two lines with their profile facing SoEun's direction. Therefore, SoEun was able to see their expressions clearly from the beginning she stopped by.

As soon as the eye contacts interlocked, awkwardness and embarrassment dropped over SoEun and Sehun.

Sehun's eyebrow frowned upon the unexpected presence of SoEun. Has she heard the conversation? How long she been here?! Having no intention to ask it verbally, Sehun kept his questions secretly in his mind.

Same as Sehun, SoEun did not make any reaction after her presence being exposed. What she did was just giving Sehun a smile, and then she left the place afterward.

Watching SoEun left, a wave of loneliness washed over Sehun and began to self-mockery. Just then, Sehun threw him on the bench near him with a low-spirited mood. Please do not mistake anything; the reason of the feeling was not about the ignorance from SoEun. 

No matter how hard I tried, you guys just saw me as the son of the Secretary of Education, but not me as Oh Sehun.

I’ve never thought of taking any advantages of the family background or anything. I was just wanted to make friend with you guys. What does which family I came from bother you guys that much?

My father and I were two different independent individuals. You guys only concerned about the benefit of my family background. Have you guys ever thought of the cost of it? Being isolated and left out from you guys were the cost I need to pay in exchange.

Sometimes I wished that I was from some certain middle class family, then you guys wouldn’t be pressured yourself that much while being around me.

When Sehun defeated by the solitude, a pack of apple juice came into Sehun’s view. With curiosity, he tilted his head to his left side and found out that SoEun was standing next to him silently.

Once again, SoEun gave out her little smile to Sehun; at the same time, she shook the apple juice in front of Sehun’s face in a slight mode so as to imply Sehun to take over the juice. With doubt, Sehun accepted the giveaway from SoEun.

Before Sehun being able to ask anything, SoEun took the seat next to Sehun and began to speak up with her eyes looking forward as she carefully put down the other drinks she held for a while on the bench.

“I heard it from someone that sugar consumption has the possibility to lift up one’s mood from dejected.”

“Emmm, I,” Guilty filled up Sehun’s heart after finding out the true intention from SoEun. I did not expect you would come back to me just by cheering me up. However, SoEun did not give Sehun his chance to do thing he wants by cutting him off from speaking.

“If you don’t feel like to do something, then just leave yourself out of it. Have you ever heard about this before? If you want to really understand someone, then you have to walk a mile in his or her shoes. But some shoes are harder to walk in than others. Do you know why? ”

SoEun turned her head to Sehun’s direction, which was her left side, and looked at Sehun for few seconds to se his response. Then SoEun immediately fixed her gaze back to the front as soon as Sehun shook his head to show his reply.

“Hehe, the reason could be that some people don’t want to let you in, or maybe they don’t know how to let you in, even if they did want to.”

On occasion, Sehun has been fascinated by every word that came out from SoEun’s mouth. Sehun had his he glowing eyes glued to SoEun’s direction. At this moment, I was just like a transparent object while being around her.  Even thought I stayed silent all this time, how can she still be able to deliver such shocking blow that waking me up surprisingly like an enlightenment thinker?

“Have a try, this brand is Kris’s favorite.” SoEun turned to face Sehun and dropped her gaze down at the apple juice at Sehun’s hand after taking a breath. One moment later, SoEun stood up from the bench and excused herself to leave Sehun behind.

“I have to go back now. Or else, Kris will start to grumble that I left for that long.” SoEun picked up the drinks she put down moment before. Wrapping all the drinks into her arms, SoEun rushed back to the cafeteria by running.

In such a hurry, one drink slipped off from SoEun’s embrace without notice. Seeing that, Sehun moved his body away from the bench and stepped forward. He bent down to the meadow and picked the drink. It was the same apple juice as him.

Looking up, Sehun held two packs apple juices in both of his hands and stared at the direction where SoEun’s figure disappeared. Sehun tightened the gasp and straightened up his legs and walked away.