Tiffany was having the most horrible week of her life, including the time she'd spent with the drugstore guy – and that had been literal hell.

Then again, the drugstore guy hadn't made her feel like her heart would burst out of her chest and made her live through each and every moment of their first kiss.

That a creep was managing to do it without even trying – it had been an accident, heaven's sake – was making it worse. It made her feel terrible that the stupid, inadvertent excuse of a kiss stood out more in her memory than the one she'd shared with her boyfriend earlier that day.

And Mei was being no help at all, suggesting stupid things. Like kissing the creep again.

'Why should I kiss him?' She demanded, unable to believe Mei would be this crazy.

Apparently, Mei was this crazy because she only grinned unrepentantly. 'I mean, you keep on saying you felt the same sparks with Kai. I'm just saying you do a small experiment to be sure.'

Tiffany shook her head. 'You're crazy.'

'And in love.' Mei replied, a smug smile gracing her lips. She'd gotten over the awkwardness with Luhan – most of it anyway, she still jumped when he suddenly touched her – and had been basically rubbing in the fact that she was getting happy time with her guy in Tiffany's face, in an effort to help her come to terms with her feelings. 

Well, she'd come to term with one thing. 'I hate you.' Tiffany grumbled. Mei went about with this perpetually blissed out aura that made Tiffany envious – she wanted to be that in love.

She wanted to be like Lily and Xiumin and Mei and Luhan and Angel and Suho and Dean and Sam… wait, they were brothers, weren't they? Did they count as a couple? Wasn't that ? Ew… okay, maybe like Dean and Cas and every other happy couple in the world.

And previously, she would've confidently said she wanted that with Kai.

Stupid creep with his stupid accidental kiss and his stupid tendency to be nice when he really was a jerk – or was it the other way around? – and his stupid ability to cause fireworks explode inside her.

And stupid Mei with her stupid doubt-raising statements – he's your One, pfft… as if…ha… pfft.

And her own stupid head for actually considering Mei's statement and question her love for Kai. He was the nicest guy she knew and…

'That's about the only thing you say when you tell me you love him.' Mei raised a skeptical brow, making Tiffany frown. 'You're saying I don't know him?'

'I'm saying that maybe you're idolizing him.' Mei frowned right back. 'And chasing after someone who can't…'

'We've been over this before,' Tiffany told her defensively, 'I told you, I don’t care if he can't…'

'So it won't bother you that he's still hung up on me? And that every time we hang out together, he might be using you to spend time with me?' Mei knew she was pushing it but to hell with it, she'd rather not see Tiffany getting her heart broken again. 'Or that even when you guys kiss…'

'Shut up!' Tiffany snapped, standing up. 'That's enough.'

'Agreed. Maybe you should open your eyes and…'

'Why can't you just be happy for me?' Tiffany felt her eyes tear up but seriously, this was Mei. The one person she was sure she could rely on to care about her, to be happy for her.

'Because I can see you playing with fire and I'll rather you hate me than get burned!' Mei replied, standing up herself. 'And you found your true love…'

'Sehun's not my true love!' She threw a cushion at Mei's face.

'You can't be sure until you kiss him again.' Mei was unrelenting.

'I don't wanna…' Tiffany hid her face in the pillow, trying to block everything out. She was sick and tired of thinking and rethinking and then re-rethinking everything. All it did was give her a headache and she was no closer to an answer than she'd been the week before.

Even her strategy of avoiding both guys – in hopes that distance might make her more objective – hadn't worked. She still felt a little speechless in front of Kai, nervousness making her quiet and shy.

And Sehun… well, she'd been acting like scaredy cat, to be honest but she could be excused for that. After all, he was the reason for her current dilemma.

'Think about it like this.' Mei was back with her suggestions. 'If Kai was the One, you wouldn't have felt anything.'

, she had to bring that up. Tiffany was already so confused.

'And you pretty much hate the guy, yet he still made fireworks explode and have you melting all over him…'

'I didn't melt over him.' Tiffany muttered into the pillow.

'Details.' Mei dismissed it. 'Point being, you need to kiss him.'

'Geez, shut up. I have a headache already, stop making me think.'

'For science…' Mei added.

'Ya, how the hell kissing a creep counts as science?' She sat up to glare at her roommate.

'For love, then?' Mei winked, 'Or getting laid?'

'Go away.' She told her, 'And bug Luhan.'

……………………….

Sehun was dreading attending the next class. In fact, he'd decided he was going to skip it and loiter around. What did one class matter anyway, right?

'You're not skipping.' Tao pushed him towards the class, not budging from his place. 'Go back.'

'Oh come on!' Sehun whined, putting all the strength in his thighs to lock his legs in place. Given that he danced, his thighs were pretty strong too and no one could budge him when he didn’t want to move.

Except wind, that is.

He stumbled forward to avoid falling on his face like a plank, then glared at Tao – who'd just used his own powers against him. Tao shrugged. 'Take them back then, I really don't mind.'

'Hmmph.' He didn't know how he'd pushed his powers away in the first place, how was he supposed to get them back? The beast was pretty much controlling him nowadays, making him resent the creature from the bottom of his heart.

'Why're you blocking the corridor?' Baekhyun's voice echoed in the said corridor as he sauntered lazily towards them, flanked by Chanyeol and trailed by numerous fangirls.

Sehun sighed and turned towards the classroom. He really didn’t want to get dragged into Baekhyun's theatrics. He should've gone for the dramatics club instead of starting this gang crap, given his penchant for melodrama.

'I'm going,' he told Tao and hurried away, leaving Tao in Baekhyun's clutches. He'd rather face Tiffany – who wasn't his mate, no matter what Tao said... just so everyone's clear about it. He was not falling for his archenemy and his beast had better learn that it couldn’t make Sehun do anything he didn't want to.

He entered the class and was immediately greeted by the flowery smell that was emanating so much from Tiffany; she'd stunk up the entire place. It rubbed against his nerves, making him twitch and shudder – and not in a good way.

Taking a deep, deep breath, he made his way beside Mei.

'Sup?' Mei didn't look up from her cellphone, probably texting Luhan. Sehun shrugged noncommittally – so he wouldn’t have to open his mouth and inadvertently inhale the stench even more – and dropped his bag in the seat.

Tiffany hadn't looked up either but she jumped at the sound of his bag hitting the chair and jumped in her seat, glancing up. Their eyes met for a second and she blushed, hurriedly looking away and delving deeper into whatever she'd been doing before.

Sehun turned his face away, feeling a little hot around the collar himself. Not because his mind had flashed back to their kiss and he'd noticed her lips, plump and for once, devoid of lip gloss – nope, not at all – but because it was just awkward. You try kissing a wasp and then tell him it wasn't awkward.

Besides, she was Kai's girlfriend, so that made him worry even more. Kai wouldn't like it at all, he'd probably chew Sehun out for letting it happen and it made Sehun's tummy roil in anxiety. Especially considering he'd been such an to Kai when he'd been attracted to Mei – who would've been his mate if she hadn't chosen Luhan, unlike Tiffany who was not his mate at all – and he'd actually kissed her. He wouldn't even fight if the guy decided to strangle him because what the hell, he deserved it.

Be that as it may, though, his present dilemma was more pressing. That being how to breathe without choking on her flowery scent. Because it was managing to dig inside his nostrils and make him feel like he'd swallowed a bottle of perfume or something. Geez.

He cleared his throat loudly, then a put a hand to cover his nose and mouth and hoped nobody noticed he was basically trying to smother himself. Mei, sitting between them, glanced up from her cellphone when the teacher entered and slid it in her bag, taking out her stuff take notes.

Good, he could copy stuff from her then. Because he certainly couldn't be expected to write when he was pinching his nose and turning blue because of it.

On Mei's other side, Tiffany shifted uncomfortably – not that he was paying attention to her or anything, she just happened to be in his periphery – and then surreptitiously glanced at him. Their eyes met immediately and she turned an appealing shade of red. Wait, did he say appealing? He meant appalling, like a sick tomato.

She hurriedly looked back down and kept her head there, though she kept glancing up at him and swallowing like was dry. It annoyed him – if she was so thirsty, why didn’t she have a water bottle on her? Was she trying to gain his sympathy?

The beast snorted in his head as if his thoughts amused it. Well, the beast could it because he was a nice damn person and it was only right to be concerned, even about wasps. He didn't look at her when he his own water bottle – see, he was too freaking nice – at her head, over Mei's back and let go when she turned. She captured it with a slight gasp of surprise that drew their teacher's attention anyway.

He immediately called her to stand up. 'Care to share the joke?' He sneered, irritating Sehun to no end. Couldn’t he see the girl was sick and possibly dehydrated?

Tiffany opened , then closed it, swallowing again. Geez.

'She's feeling sick, sir.' Sehun spoke up when she didn't say anything amid snickers from the catty bullies who were enjoying her suffering. heads. Tiffany's eyes widened as she swiveled to stare at him but he didn't look at her. She could thank him later.

'Oh?' The teacher sneered again, grating against Sehun's already shot nerves. 'Then you can leave the class.'

Even though he was letting her go because of her health, he made it taunting. Tiffany bit her lip, an irritated frown decorating her face as she detected that hint of distaste. The guy always seemed to have a problem with Tiffany and normally, it wouldn’t bother him so much but she was obviously ill and the guy could put being a jackass on the backburner for one freaking minute.

He stood up, taking her hand. 'Thanks.'

'What? Where do you think…?' Sehun didn't hear the rest of his sentence as he dragged Tiffany behind him. Mei could take care of their bags while he took her to the medical center and get her something for that dry throat. And possibly get her to sleep because she looked like she had a terrible headache.

'Wait…' She tried to stop him, dig her heels in the floor but he didn't relent until they were almost halfway across the field. She yelled, 'Ya, let go!'

He snorted and did exactly that, turning to catch her because the sudden release had unbalanced her. She landed against his chest with an 'oomph' as breath rushed out of her.

And her hair blew straight into his nose, overpowering his senses with her cloying scent.

…………………………….

Tiffany was beginning to feel the after-effects of her terrible week, her headache worse than before and sore because she'd overloaded on ice-cream the previous night, unable to decide a rational course of action. And because she felt so ty, she didn't feel like putting on any make-up – it wasn't like Kai cared about it and she was not going to dress up for the creep. No matter how Mei insisted.

'At least put on some lip gloss.' She whined, holding a tube in front of her face. 'Your lips look like famine hit them instead of Ethiopia.'

'How do you even come up with that kind of phrase?' Tiffany wondered, pushing her away. 'I don't feel like doing anything today, alright?'

'I'm just saying accidental kisses can happen any time.' Mei shrugged, throwing the tube in Tiffany's bag, 'Can't hurt to be prepared.'

Tiffany marveled for a second at the change in the two of them – it was like Mei had swapped souls with her because previously, she had been the one with these preposterous ideas. Shaking her head, she took her bag and headed towards class. She wanted to skip this class, she truly did but the teacher was that stupid who still held a grudge against her and she didn't want to give him any ammunition against her.

Of course, class also meant the creep would be joining them, sitting beside Mei and she wasn’t sure how she would go through that but at present, she was a little low on choices. Thankfully, he simply sat in his chair and covered his mouth.

He really didn't want to breathe the same air as her, he was literally pinching his nose close. Well, whatever. Wasn't like she cared or anything.

Only, why did have to be nice to her if he hated her that much? Why couldn't he just let her decide he was a jerk, plain and simple? No, he had to go and make things difficult. She was really edgy, already, and he was sitting beside her – albeit with Mei in between – and it was getting on her nerves. And he was constantly looking at her. She knew because she'd repeatedly looked up to check and their eyes kept meeting. Given that her mind was hell-bent on reminding her of their kiss, she thought about it every time their eyes met. And it made go all dry.

Or it could be that was really, really sore. Either ways, she kept feeling like there was a lump in she had to swallow and his eyes narrowed on her didn't help. She knew she was flushing but she couldn’t help it. She'd avoided him like plague the entire week but now, here they were. In the same class, on the same desk, and he was looking unwaveringly. Excuse her for being jumpy. She felt like her head would burst any second and…

The cold touch against her skin made her jump and she gasped in surprise as she caught the bottle he'd at her for no apparent reason. Of course the sound attracted the teacher's attention and he called her name.

'Care to share the joke?' He sneered.  

She opened , then closed it, swallowing. What as she supposed to say when he'd turn it against her anyway? And those idiots laughing at her weren't making things any easy. Bullies.

'She's feeling sick, sir.'

She turned to stare at him in shock but he wasn't looking at her, he was glaring at the teacher. Wait, how did he know she wasn't feeling well? He had been staring at her… did she look so bad? She resisted the urge to finger her hair.

'Oh? Then you can leave the class.'

It irritated her that he made it sound so taunting, a frown appearing on her face. He always had a problem with her – ever since she'd turned his lecherous offer down – didn't he? Well, she would do it all over again and if he thought for even a second that she regretted making that decision…

She was all set on making a scathing remark but the warmth engulfing her hand made her break off. 'Thanks.' Sehun told the teacher, then started dragging her away.

'What? Where do you think…?' His yells went unheard as Sehun pulled her behind him.

'Wait…' She tried to stop him, unable to keep up with his long strides but he didn't slow down. Finally she yelled at him. 'Ya, let go!'

Of course, this was the creep she was talking to. He let her go suddenly and she'd been bent all the way forward, barely keeping up with him. The sudden release unbalanced her and she crashed straight into his chest, her breath whooshing out with an 'oomph' as his arms landed hard against her stomach.

She tried to straighten but somehow managed to get even more entangled and her high heels – ty feeling or no, she wasn't taking off her babies – slipped, making her stumble and maybe she hit him with too much force but they somehow ended up sprawled on the ground.

She sat up and hurriedly backed off – no way was she going through this again. He sat up more slowly, hanging his head between his knees with his arms stretched out, hand clenching and unclenching. She wondered if he'd hit his head, perhaps she should be concerned, and she leaned closer.

He glanced up at that exact instant and their eyes met. His eyes seemed to be… glowing? She blinked as he shook his head and when she saw his eyes again, they were normal. Maybe the headache was making her hallucinate as well. Whatever.

'You okay?' she asked. He gave her a look then – like she was an idiot.

'Do I look okay? What are you, an idiot?' He snapped. She must have mind-reading abilities.

'Whatever.' She told him, standing up. He followed suit, then glared at her. 'If you're sick, why did come to class? Huh?'

'Because,' she retorted, 'unlike you, I care about my attendance.'

'Whatever.' he snorted, pushing her and almost sending her crashing again. He grabbed her shirt to stop her but she yelped and slapped his hand away. 'Where the hell you think you're touching???'

'Oh please, get over yourself.' He gave her a superior look. 'As if I'd ever do that.'

'Stay away, you creep!' she snapped, then started marching hurriedly away. Or tried to. He'd snagged her collar this time, nearly choking her. 'What?' She struggled to get free.

'Medical center's that way.' He started dragging her away.

'I can walk!' She asserted, trying to loosen his grip. He let go with a snort. 'Sure you can.'

Bickering, they headed towards the medical center.

…………………………

A/N

Yes Sehun, she's totally NOT your mate *rolls eyes* idiot