Chapter 8

 

It was Monday morning and Jaejoong was indeed training Yuri. Yuri was running around the track over five times before hearing Jaejoong shout, "Time!" Yuri stopped and bent over her hands on her knees as she took many deep breaths.

 

"How many did I do?"

 

"In eight minutes, you have done thirteen laps. Much better than last week." Jaejoong said, smirking.

 

Smiling, Yuri stood up, stretching her arms above her head and tilting her head back before bending down to touch her toes, "I guess this means we are getting closer to you not calling me shorty anymore, eh, Joongie?" Rolling his eyes, Jaejoong said, smirking "Not likely shorty, we need to do weights next."

 

"Wait. Weights? There's a gym in this school?" Yuri asked, confused.

 

"Of course." Jaejoong said, nodding "I haven't gone yet since we started so I will actually do some with you."

 

"But is it open during the morning?"

 

Jaejoong shook his head but took out his keys and pointed to one in particular, "No, it's only opened from nine till five but because I'm part of the basketball team, coach gives us each a set of keys since we need to keep up our shape for when we don't have time during the day." Jaejoong said, and bent down to picked up the cones to put them in the duffel bag. Yuri saw this and quickly helped out, "I also uses the gym in the mornings because that way, there aren't hardly any people so more equipment for me and privacy."

 

"That's fair. I used to do the gym but it was separate to Neunggok. I mainly went on the treadmills, the rowing machine, excercise bikes and occasionally did stretches for my legs." Yuri said, smiling.

 

"Well, they are all mostly to work out your legs which is good since you are a runner but today, I will be showing you weight lifting and we are going to see exactly how much weight you can actually hold, little by little, we will build up on the weight and your muscles might develop this time." Jaejoong said, and grabbed the bag and soon, both were walking away, heading towards the gym.

 

Yuri nodded as she tried hard not to blush. She was about to see Jaejoong worked out. Oh god, she was about to see those muscles get to work. Wait, why did she care? Why was she always getting flushed and sweaty whenever she thought of Jaejoong or sweaty Jaejoong or hell, even happy Jaejoong?! Bitting her bottom lips, Yuri thought over Hyoyeon's words. Was she right? Did she actually like Jaejoong? Was there a possibility that maybe, just maybe she actually had some feelings for him? But it couldn't be. She had only met him for a week and wasn't she trying to get revenge on Yunho? Yuri smiled nervously at Jaejoong as he opened the door to what looked like the gym. Looking around, her eyes widened. It was big. Not as big as your local gym but darn, all the machinery looked polished, sparkling and perfect. There were two water fountains, four massive speakers with two plasma tv for sound and music, there was two measuring scales on each side of the gym and at least eight objects of each stationary, each with their own water bottle holder, there was also a vending machine for all different type of energy drinks such as lucozade, water, vitamin water, revive and poweraid, they had it all.

 

"Wow." Yuri said, amazed.

 

"What's wrong? It's like you have never seen a gym before." Jaejoong said, and dropped the duffel bag as he took out two towels from the bag.

 

"Of course, I have. It's just that it was never as extravagant as this one. Damn!"

 

Shrugging, Jaejoong handed Yeonseok a towel. Yuri accepted it and saw Jaejoong take off his black beam champion powertrain tech fleece hoodie, showing his black nike tank top underneath. Yuri's eyes widened as her cheeks flushed pink, 'Oh, my sweet baby jesus.' Yuri thought, and saw him throw his towel around his neck and took out a bottle of water. She saw his well-defined biceps flex sharply as he threw his hoodie in the bag, then he bent down to tie his laces which were loose and Yuri tried not to squeak as she saw his backside. Closing her eyes, Yuri thought, 'Oh god, what is the matter with you Yuri?' Opening her eyes back up, Yuri then let out a breath as she saw he was now walking over to a weight lifting machine.

 

"Now, I want you to lie down here." Jaejoong ordered, with Yuri following from behind.

 

Yuri nodded and laid down on the bench, her legs hanging off of it, 'Oh god, I have seen this in films and they are so hard.'

 

Jaejoong put on 3KG on each side to start off with, "Okay, now try lifting 6Kg. This should only weigh as much as a box of sugar."

 

Yuri nodded and took in a breath before lifting the bar and smiled as she managed to successfully lift it one then twice and then three times before putting them down, "Okay, let's double it." Jaejoong said, smirking.

 

Yuri swallowed hard. She didn't have a good feeling about this but Jaejoong then put 5KG on each side and spoke, "Try lifting 10KG." Yuri, once again, fairly managed to lift the bar easily, "Good. Let's see how you do with 16KG okay?" Jaejoong said, smiling.

 

"What happened when I can't lift them anymore?"

 

"We will work with the weight you can lift until your strong enough to handle more. You need to take things slow if you want to lose weight or gain muscle. It's not just dedication but it's also patience. If you give up after a week then you loses. It might be a whole month since you loses anything but slowly, those months will feel like nothing and before you know it, your even better than you had imagined."

 

Yuri couldn't help but smile as she admired Jaejoong. He was so kind. He was so optimistic about everything, has a deep and sincere passion for sports, for basketball. He is indeed obsessed with it but it's more than a hobby to him and Yuri knew that Jaejoong wanted to make a living out of it.

 

"Thanks Joongie, for helping me." Yuri said, smiling up at him.

 

Jaejoong couldn't help the small blush and the warmth that shot through his chest, uninvited. He just shook his head and said, "Don't worry about it, shorty. Now, for round three try to lift 16KG."

 

Yuri took in a deep breath and gripped the metal bars, however, she felt Jaejoong's hands on hers, gently separating them so they had a distance, "You need to make sure they are parted equally so you balance each side well. If one side drops then it can fall on you and we don't want any injuries." Jaejoong said, smirking down at Yeonseok.

 

"Guess not." Yuri said, chuckling.

 

Jaejoong loved it when he saw his smile. His lips parted and his eyes filled with joy whenever they had these moments. Jaejoong didn't know why but he couldn't understand exactly why he kept loving all the small things Yeonseok did. Whenever he smiled, whenever he laughed, whenever he needed his support, Jaejoong liked it. He knew that Yeonseok was a special kid but he didn't understand just exactly why he liked it.

 

"Okay, go."

 

Yuri tried lifting up the weight and it was just a bit off the support handles before she failed. Yuri tried again, and again, but never managed more than halfway. She tried once more and accidentally let go of it, closing her eyes, waiting for the pain but she didn't feel it. Instead, when she opened her eyes, she noticed that Jaejoong had caught it in time.

 

When Yeonseok had accidenlty let go of the bar, Jaejoong's heart jumped and his breath stopped, not wanting him to get hurt. Closing his eyes, Jaejoong shook his mind from those absurd emotions, "Be careful shorty, you almost got your face smashed."

 

"That is definitely a confidence booster." Yuri said, standing up.

 

"Not even a thank you?" Jaejoong asked, standing in front of her.

 

"Sorry, thanks." Yuri said, blushing.

 

Jaejoong nodded and patted Yeonseok's back, "Come on shorty, we have got PE next so let's go."

 

Yuri nodded and as they both walked up to their room, Yuri was contemplating of how she was going to shower this time. It had be embarrassing to come out with her towel over her chest, 'That's it. I just won't have a shower.' Yuri thought, as Jaejoong unlocked their door and allowed Yeonseok to walk in first before he went in and closed the door, "So...um, you want to shower first?"

 

Yuri shook her head as she tried to come up with an excuses, "Uh, n...no, I'm not having one b...because we have gym first so yeah and I'm going to get sweaty again, so no point."

 

Jaejoong frowned in confusion but then shrugged, "Well, if you say so." Jaejoong said, and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower and once Yuri heard the door closes, she breathed a sigh of relief as she threw herself on her bed.

 

", my arms!" Yuri said, and grabbed her shoulder and moved her arm and heard it clicked. She did the same with the other and also heard them clicked, "God, I'm in so much pain." Yuri had never needed to lift anything as heavy as what she had today and god, did it burn her biceps. She even felt pain by lifting them up, 'God, I'm weak.' Yuri thought, and then sat up and shook her head, 'No Yuri, you aren't. You promised yourself you would prove to Yunho Oppa that you aren't and your bloody well going to do it.' Yuri continued to think to herself, and nodded her head once as she jumped up, one of her hands fisted, "Your going to prove it no matter what. This pain is proof of that." Yuri said, and took out her phone and saw the photo of her and Hyoyeon on the screen saver. Smiling, she closed her phone, 'Everyone is counting on me. They are trusting me to do this and I won't let them down. Pain be damned!'

 

With that thought in mind, Yuri then heard knocking on the door and saw that Jaejoong was still in the shower so she walked over to the door and opened it to see Hyukjae leaning against the frame with one arm crossed and the other on his forehead like a salute and Yunho, who was standing there with his hands in his pockets, smiling "Hey, we came over cause we were bored. Where's Jaejoong?"

 

"Shower." Yuri answered, closing the door.

 

Hyukjae threw himself on the sofa while Yunho was standing next to Yuri, "So, I'm guessing your weekend was fun? Met that Yoona girl recently?" Yuri asked, hating this topic but if she wanted to bond with him, she had to swallow her pain. You know what they say, no pain, no gain.

 

"Yeah, my weekend was fine." Yunho said, smiling "But I didn't meet her. She said she was too busy."

 

"Oh, sorry man. I'm sure you will meet her soon." Yuri said, faking a look of sadness.

 

"Yeah, maybe." Yunho said, shrugging "Anyway, you signing up for the gala festival?"

 

"Oh yeah, the gala festival. I'm signing up." Hyukjae chimed in.

 

"Your just signing up because you have nothing better to do." Yunho said, rolling his eyes.

 

Hyukjae pouted and posed in a very stereotypical girly pose, puffing out his plump lips, his hands in his hair, "Aren't I girly?" Hyukjae asked, making Yuri laughed.

 

Hyukjae then felt a hit on the head and Yuri saw it was Jaejoong with a white towel wrapped around his waist, his eyes closed as he shook his head, "You never learn, do you, ert? And no, you aren't near as girly as you think." "That's true." Yunho said, chuckling.

 

"You guys are mean." Hyukjae said, pouting once again, "I was just kidding. Yeonseok, your on my side, aren't you?"

 

"Yeah, I am. I'm sure you will be an okay girl." Yuri said, smiling.

 

"Yay, at least someone is on my side." Hyukjae said, smiling back.

 

"He isn't girly but sometimes, I swear, he's gay." Yunho said, snorting, making Jaejoong snorted also.

 

"There is no such thing as Hyukjae and gay in the same sentence, Yunho." Jaejoong said, as he started changing. Yuri managed to look away from his chest and accidentally bumped into Yunho and fell backwards. However, she didn't fall as she felt arms around her. Opening her eyes, she thought it was Jaejoong but saw it was Yunho, making her eyes widened as she looked up at him. Bitting her bottom lips, Yuri tried to stop herself from crying as she remembered all the times he held her this way when they were lying on the bed.

 

Jaejoong tried to repress a growl that was creeping into his chest as he saw how close Yunho and Yeonseok were. He was about to help Yeonseok before he saw Yunho grab him first. For some reason, he wanted to push Yunho out of the way and take care of his roommate. Why did he have such a ing strong bond for Yeonseok anyway?! He's never been like this with anybody before and especially not when they are guys.

 

Blushing a little, Yuri stood up, turning to Yunho as she placed a loose strand behind her ear, "T...Thanks Yunho."

 

"No problem." Yunho said, smirking.

 

Putting on his black nike training performance polo shirt and black stanley fleece hoodie, Jaejoong grabbed his water bottle and packed his uniform a little too harshly before asking, "You all ready to go?"

 

Nodding, Yuri picked up her own bag while Hyukjae and Yunho both grab their own, "Okay, let's go."

 

It was lunch now and Yuri was alone, sitting at the lunch table as Jaejoong and Yunho were accompanying Hyukjae in his sign up for the gala festival. Sighing, Yuri then felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see a blushing Kibum, "Kibum." She said, smiling.

 

"Hi...uh." Kibum said, smiling back a little.

 

"You can call me Yuri in secret." Yuri whispered, still smiling.

 

"So, how was your weekend?"

 

"It was nice. Met up with friends and family and Jaejoong is with the others signing up for the gala festival." Yuri said, smiling.

 

"Aren't you going to sign up? Maybe you can be yourself if you enter this competition."

 

"No way." Yuri said, shaking her head, "If I do, I will need to have my natural hair out and Yunho knows how I look like. I couldn't jinx it. Plus, I wouldn't sign up for it anyway even if I was really a guy."

 

"Well, I need to go back since I'm meeting some friends in the library. I'm here for you whenever you need it." Kibum said, bowing a little and smiling before he left. Yuri sighed as she sat back down, drinking her juice and looking down at her sandwich.

 

She then heard chattering and laughing and turned to see Jaejoong and the others walking up to her, "So, you signed up successfully?" She asked, smirking as she high-fived Hyukjae.

 

Hyukjae nodded as he sat on the opposite of her with Yunho next to him and Jaejoong slipping in to sit next to her.

 

"So, when are the preparations being set up?" Yuri asked, smiling "If the festival is the day after tomorrow then people need to start decorating."

 

"They start decorations later today and all of tomorrow. My question is, what will the ert wear?"

 

"Well, wo de pengyou, I'm friends with Kangin, the head of the drama department and he has allowed me to borrow a dress, heels and a wig, not to mention, he's doing my makeup. I'm surely going to win."

 

"Not if Yeonseok wins first." Yunho said, smirking.

 

"Huh? I didn't sign up." Yuri said, confused.

 

All the boys looked at each other, smiling and smirking, making Yuri even more confuses, "What's wrong with you guys? Why are you all grinning?"

 

"Well, let's just say, you are competing with Hyukjae in the gala festival."

 

"What?!" Yuri asked, eyes wide opened and heard most of the lunch room quiet down before covering , making everyone go back to talking, "You better take me off that list." Yuri said, narrowing her eyes at Jaejoong, 'He has to take me off. I can't be myself. Yunho Oppa will recognize me, for god sakes.'

 

"Well, you see, the sign up sheet was only up from this morning to lunch time." Jaejoong said, laughing nervously at Yeonseok's sudden anger as he scratch the back of his neck, "So, they have already taken the sheet with all the names. Your candidate number eighteen so it's cool."

 

"Seriously, it's not just that. I don't want to dress up as a girl." Yuri said, as she hit her head on the table, "Look, if you do this, I will do anything you want me to do."

 

"Like a favour?" Yuri asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

"Yeah, like a favour." Jaejoong said, nodding.

 

'Well, if nothing can be done about it then I will just need to figure out some way and why not get an advantage out of this?' Yuri thought, "Okay, you got yourself a deal, Joongie."

 

"That's the spirit, shorty." Jaejoong said, smirking and slapped her back, causing her to choke on her drink from the force.

 

School was over for today and Yuri noticed most of the school were running around everywhere with boxes filled with decorations. She went to the gym to see the stage being set up and the floor being polished and stapled with what looked to be red carpet. She then noticed an arch near the back where the person would make the grand entrance and saw two boys weaving vines onto it as if it was a forest. She also noticed a long black curtain at the back, covering one whole wall of the gym and noticed how they were stapling decorations on the side of the stage, such as bows, ribbons and streamers, "Wow, they seriously go all out." Yuri whispered to herself, out loud.

 

"Yeah, they do."

 

Turning around, Yuri saw Jaejoong leaning against the entrance of the gym, his hands in his pocket with a smirk on his lips, "They put in a lot of effort, mainly because the school council are hardly doing anything, for once when they are in charge of a big event they go all out." Jaejoong said, walking closer towards her. Yuri noticed how his tie was loosely hung around his neck and how his white shirt wasn't tucked in, along with his messy hair. Yuri tried hard not to bite her lips as she saw just how much of a bad boy he actually looked at that moment.

 

Jaejoong walked closer towards Yeonseok and stopped next to him, "I'm sure you will do good on the day, shorty." He said, looking at the decorations and smiled.

 

"As long as you keep your promises." Yuri said, smiling also.

 

"I never break my promises." Jaejoong said, chuckling "I never have and don't see a reason why I should. I will keep my half of the bargain."

 

Yuri nodded and looked around, trying to think of a conversation to break the awkward moment and the first thing that popped into her mind was, "So, have you spoken with Seohyun recently?" Yuri didn't know why she had asked this but she had already let it out so there was no going back. However, she hated when she saw the sadness and anger boil in his eyes and wished she never asked the question. She didn't mean to make him remember anything about his ex but why she asked that, she didn't know, all she knew was that she was indeed curious of their relationship.

 

Jaejoong was shocked at the sudden question and kept his eyes on the decorations as he answered. He hated her, he hated remembering all the memories, all the obvious clues of how the relationship was only one-sided. How it always had been one-sided but he never told anyone, never spoke to anybody about it because he didn't want to be weak, he didn't want to look or sound to attached, not to mention, he was always tempted to break something when her name was brought up but maybe, just maybe, he could tell one person and funny enough, Yeonseok sounded like the perfect friend to confined in.

 

He then walked up to the bleachers and inclined his head for Yeonseok to follow him. Once they both had sat down comfortably, he spoke, "No, I haven't spoken to her. It's just complicated."

 

"Mind telling me? I don't want to push too much but your my friend and if it will be better to talk to someone, I will listen."

 

Leaning forward, Jaejoong had both of his elbows on his legs, his hands intertwined in the middle and his head down as his foot tapped on the floor, "It all started two years ago. I met her at a friend's party. It was around the time Yunho was celebrating his first year anniversary with his girlfriend, Yuri. I thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever met. Yeah, she looked a little too underdressed but I was eighteen, I had always only ever seen girls that were mainly underdressed so to me, it was normal. I was always alone because my parents were always away on business, leaving me alone for most of the time and when I spoke with her, she sounded bubbly and sweet and I thought that maybe something could happen with this girl. However, after a while, I asked her to be my girlfriend. She said yes and I was very happy." Jaejoong said, as his lips went into a straight line, "However, I didn't know she was already taken."

 

"Yeah." Yuri said, looking sadly at the ground, remembering Kyuhyun.

 

"Well, anyway, everything was perfect, at least to me. However, whenever I wanted to take it further, she would always look disgusted and she would always say no that she wasn't ready. I told her I had gladly wait until she was comfortable, however, she never did start anything of the sort. Then, when she uses to come to my basketball games and tournaments, she would either call saying she couldn't make it for a 'Family emergency' or she would sit there with the phone, checking her nails rather than looking at me and cheering me on."

 

'God, some girls can be es!' Yuri thought angrily. She felt hatred for Seohyun the moment she saw her but she didn't know she was this cruel and egoistical.

 

Leaning back, Jaejoong continued, "That's when I started noticing something was off about her. She always cancelled on me, she always start something then left me high and dry. I...I even told her I loved her."

 

Yuri's eyes widened. He...He had told her he loved her? For some reason, Yuri felt her heart ache harshly at his words. Why? Why was she in so much pain when she heard that? He had said he loved her and it was the usual since they were a couple so why was she getting jealous?

 

Jaejoong, not noticing her slight change of emotion, carried on, "Even then, the only thing she would say was 'Me too', she never told me she loved me back. It got to the point that even hugging her and kissing her she didn't have any passion. I knew then that I never truly loved her. I hadn't noticed since...I guess I was just begging and craving for attention, attention that I was never given from my family since they were always so busy. I just wanted someone other than my friends to confide in, you know? I wanted someone to love, I guess. Yeah sure, friends were there but I wanted to be able to have a relationship with someone I could trust and know that they had always be there. Soon, I started getting suspicious and a year later, I had enough of her falseness and went to her house. However, since I'm a dhampir, my hearing is sensitive and I could hear noises."

 

"What kind?" Yuri asked, her eyes covered by her bangs.

 

"Bed creaking, and groaning. I heard her voice, I heard her call that bastard's name, I heard her scream his name and when I heard who it was, I knocked on the door roughly and heard them stop then a couple of minutes later, she opened the door. I saw her in just a shirt and underwear, her hair messed up as well as her lipstick. I remember asking her who was in there and she lied. She dared to lie in front of my face saying she was about to have a shower that's why she was half-. I barged in however and saw him." "Kyuhyun?" Yuri asked, "Yeah." Jaejoong said, nodding "I remember punching the lights out of him. I beat him up real good that day and when I finished, I screamed at her, asking her for how long it had been going on for and she kept crying, saying that she loved him and how she was with him even before she was with me. I asked her why the hell she was still with me then and her answer was because I can't limit myself to one person."

 

"That ." Yuri said, before covering quickly.

 

"No, go ahead, she is." Jaejoong said, chuckling "I yelled that to her when I caught her in the act and after that day, I never trusted any other girl again, for a while."

 

"Why not?" Yuri asked, confused "Just because you caught one doesn't mean you won't find the genuine one." Smiling, Jaejoong turned to Yeonseok and said, "I wish I could find the genuine one, shorty. I want that more than anything but you don't always get what you want so I just gave up."

 

Yuri looked at him and gently put her hand on his shoulder, the noises of the decorations and the tables and chairs scraping of the gym floor in the background, however, Yuri was only focused on Jaejoong. Jaejoong felt his hand and turned to him, seeing his smile, "I think that love comes from finding someone you can feel utterly comfortable with, someone who makes you comfortable with yourself. It's like finding yourself or maybe it's like finding the other part that can only be found through the act of loving. Usually, when you are searching for that special someone, you only succeed when you have given up hope. It's rather fascinating how it always ends up in the last place you had expect to ever find someone and that's when you notice your special someone is hundred times better than you could have ever imagined."

 

Jaejoong was surprised. Never, never had anybody ever given him such heartfelt words of encouragement. All his friends have always told him that he could have a quickie to warm a lonely night or that he just needed to be patient but never has any of his friends truly give him any advice as Yeonseok had just now and he was right, maybe he shouldn't give up. After all, it's always like that in the movies where the guy tries to find his true love and it ends up being the girl he never ever thought would be the one in a million years but maybe Yeonseok was right, maybe he just didn't tried hard enough to find that special someone.

 

Turning to Yeonseok, Jaejoong smiled, "Thanks shorty."

 

Yuri smiled back and jumped up as she outstretched her hand for Jaejoong. Jaejoong looked at the hand before looking up, seeing Yuri smiled, "Enough of this mushy talk, you have basketball practice, don't you?"

 

Jaejoong's eyes widened as he jumped up, ", I forgot we are in the fields today since the gym is being occupied!" Jaejoong said, and jumped down the bleachers and turned around, waving "I will see you tonight, shorty!" He yelled, before running towards the dorms to grab his bag and headed to the fields. Yuri laughed as she saw him run. Once he disappear, her smile faded as she looked down at the ground solemnly, "I give advice that I can't even follow myself. I'm pathetic." Yuri said, as she sighed and rested her face in her palm as she leaned her elbows on her legs. After five minutes or so, she stood up and stretched before jumping down the bleachers. She then heard whistles coming from the fields and ran towards the door and once she made it outside, she rubbed her arms as the sudden breeze hit her skin through her black orange adidas quilted performance running hoodie, "Come on boys, faster and double the speed! Come on, put some back into it!"

 

Yuri heard the coach yelled as she saw all the team doing push-ups, most with one hand and the others with two. She saw a handful of dark brown hair and noticed how Jaejoong wasn't even breaking a sweat. Yuri then saw Yunho also using one hand along with Hyukjae who was using both. Yuri looked back at Yunho and knew that she needed to come up with something since she's only used laxatives so far, she needed more ideas. Yuri was glad that she didn't need to have another shower.

 

'That's it. The showers.' Yuri thought, and ran back into the gym and ran towards an unknown guy, "Hey, excuses me. Do you think you can let me borrow some of that glue please?"

 

"Why?" The guy asked, looking up at her quizzically.

 

"U...Uh...my friend needs it to glue the decorations on the doors outside."

 

The boy looked at her once and just shrugged, giving him the bottle, "Thanks." Yuri said, smiling as she ran quickly to the changing rooms and walked down the isles, looking for Yunho's bag. Yuri found Jaejoong's bag and saw that the bag next to him had a name tag. Turning the name tag over, she saw 'Jung Yunho' written on it. Yuri smirked as she opened it and turned to make sure no one was watching her before she quickly found his shampoo bottle, "You say I'm not clever, eh? You say I'm too girly. Well, how about this for girly?" Yuri said, and opened the top and squirted the glue inside the bottle, almost dumping more than half. Once she thought there was enough glue, she closed the lid of the shampoo and shook the bottle for around eight minutes before leaving it back in his bag. She did the same with his conditioner just in cases and after finishing her plan, she quickly ran back out of the changing room. She went back into the gym and ran towards the boy, handing him the glue, "Thanks."

 

"Hey, wait!" The boy shouted, when he saw how light it felt.

 

However, Yuri had already ran out before he could say anything and ran towards the dorms. Once she entered, she closed the door. Taking in a few deep breaths, Yuri saw the sofa and jumped onto it, gladly snuggling into the warmth it was giving. Looking up at the ceiling, she started to think. What was she going to do about the gala festival? 'I can at least take off the binder and put on a bra of some sort but what do I wear? How can I not show my true hair colour? If Yunho Oppa sees me in girl form, he would know instantly. I need to think of something and quick.' However, before Yuri knew it, all the activities from today was suddenly flooding back to her body all in once, causing her eyes to feel heavy, 'I guess I could skip dinner tonight.' Yuri thought, and soon, she fell asleep, her arms on her waist and her legs curled up to herself.

 

"Okay boys. All of you can hit the showers."

 

Jaejoong, Hyukjae and Yunho jumped for joy at the sound of 'Shower', "Man, am I sweating. That was some workout." Hyukjae said.

 

"What about you Yunho?" Jaejoong asked, wrapping his black towel around his neck before wrapping his arm around Yunho's neck, "Heard from that Yoona girl yet?"

 

"She wants to meet me this Saturday." Yunho said, as his wiped his eyebrow and took a sip of his water.

 

"Well well well, is our wolf boy getting himself another y Sinian." Hyukjae said, smiling as he wiggled his eyebrows, "Eunhyuk, what the is up with you and the Chinese, all of a sudden?!" Jaejoong asked, sighing "Well, my dear friend, I'm glad you asked." Hyukjae said, smirking as he tapped Jaejoong's shoulder, "You see, girls adore boys who can speak foreign languages. What do you think? Is it working?"

 

"First, you will need to look like a Chinese person and then girls will like the accent." Jaejoong said, hitting him on the head.

 

Yunho laughed as Hyukjae grumbled about how harsh and mean his friends were. Soon, all boys stripped with only a towel on their shoulder as they all entered the showers. However, three minutes later...

 

"What the ?!" Yunho yelled, causing all the boys in the shower to laugh.

 

"Yunho, what's up with your hair?" Jaejoong asked, trying hard not to laugh.

 

Yunho growled as his hair was stuck upwards in some sort of way. Yunho tried to wet his hair but there was so much glue that he couldn't get it out easily, "!" Yunho said, and tried the conditioner, only realizing that it had the same texture again, "I'm going to ing kill whoever has done this!"

 

Both, Jaejoong and Hyukjae kept laughing as they tried to calm their friend down, "Relax, wo de pengyou. I'm sure everything will be fine. Just use hot water..."

 

"Don't you think I haven't tried that, you dip?!" Yunho said, pissed off. He would kill whoever did this. Jaejoong stopped laughing at seeing how angry his friend was, "Okay look, we will go to the nurse's office. He should have something that could help take the glue off."

 

"Who the did this?! That's what I want to know." Yunho said, hearing all the laughing and chuckling from the other guys who were walking out. Jaejoong sighed and finished off his shower before saying goodnight to Hyukjae and praying that the nurse was there. Luckily, he was and after leaving Yunho there, Jaejoong walked back to the dorm, his duffel bag on his shoulder, "I have to give the person credit." He said, laughing quietly.

 

Once Jaejoong reached the dorm building, he could hear the silence and as he jumped up the flight of stairs, he took out his keys and opened the door to the room, only to see Yeonseok's small figure huddled in a ball on the sofa, sleeping soundlessly and deeply by what Jaejoong could tell. Smirking, Jaejoong closed the door silently, placing the bags down on the floor before walking over to the kitchen and realized Yeonseok hadn't eaten, "He's going to get hungry later on." Jaejoong said, and managed to find some cereal bars he bought the day before summer ended and took five and put them on Yeonseok's bedside table. He then turned around and saw Yeonseok shiver every now and then, 'He must be cold.' Jaejoong was pondering whether to shift him to the bed or leave him there but then, he thought of how uncomfortable the sofa was and decided to repay him the favour for this afternoon.

 

Slowly, Jaejoong walked over to Yeonseok and gently place one arm below his shoulders and the other under his legs. Counting to three, Jaejoong slowly picked him up, making his eyes wide opened, 'Damn, he's so light! I never even thought of how light his weight must be.' Jaejoong thought, then slowly walked over to the lower bed and skillfully opened the covers as much as he could before placing Yeonseok on the mattress, feeling him snuggle into the pillow. Jaejoong halted his movements until Yeonseok relaxed. Once he did, he proceeded to grab the covers and gently put them over him, 'He's such a kid. Shorty.' Jaejoong thought, seeing him smile and smirked to himself before catching Yeonseok's bangs on his eye and thought twice about moving it for him. He outstretched his hand slowly but as soon as he was about to pull them away, he stopped, 'No, just leave him alone.' Jaejoong thought, then got up and changed out of his gym wear before jumping on the top bunk. Jaejoong could hear Yeonseok's light snore and smirked as he, himself, fell into the depths of sleep.

 

"Come on everyone! It's already Wednesday and the festival is about to start in eight hours!" One boy from the school council demanded.

 

Yuri was with Kibum, helping him prepare for the festival also, mainly with the decorations. She stood up and saw Jaejoong along with Yunho, who still had his spikey hair, causing Yuri to laugh every time she saw it, helping carry the wood and the metal boards for where the lighting will go and the stands to decorate around the arch. Yuri smiled as she saw him look at her direction. She waved at him and he smirked back, waving also. Yuri then crouched down and went back to gluing hearts and flowers for the banner.

 

"So Yuri, what are you planning on wearing tonight?" Kibum asked kindly, helping Yuri.

 

"I don't know. I'm kind of stuck on some things." Yuri said, her smile faded to one of sadness.

 

"Like what?" Kibum asked, looking at her quizzically.

 

Bitting her bottom lips, Yuri stuck another small flower in the middle of a cut out heart, "Well, Yunho knows my female side perfectly so if I come out with dark hair, he will know it's me and I don't need all the fakery since I'm genuinely a...you know?" Yuri said, not wanting to say anything out loud, "So, I need a wig or something to cover my natural hair but what? I don't have any dresses or clothes either. I wish they never signed me up."

 

Kibum nodded and thought for a moment, "Well, I'm friends with Kangin. I have even worked with him on occasions so I could borrow a wig and some clothes for now."

 

"Oh, thank you Kibum Oppa, thank you so much. I would hug you but...yeah." Yuri said, beaming happily.

 

"I will meet you by the back of the dorms with everything at three since the festival starts a five and since you are the last candidate, that should be plenty of time to get ready."

 

"Thanks Oppa, I really appreciate this."

 

"Don't worry about it, I'm glad I could help. Plus, it's nice to have a friend." Kibum said, smiling.

 

Yuri smiled back and both were happily laughing and enjoying their conversation until she felt a hand ruffled her hair. Looking up, she saw a sweaty Jaejoong, smirking "What you guys chatting about? How's the banner coming?" Jaejoong asked, crouching between Kibum and Yeonseok.

 

"It's going well. Just talking about tonight and my outfit and such. How's the lighting going?" Yuri asked, smiling "Perfect. I just need to carry some more empty boxes into the recycling. I will see you tonight okay, shorty? I know you will do good." Jaejoong said, smiling and ruffled his hair again. Yuri tucked her head in her shoulders again, at the contact and smiled back.

 

"Okay, but don't think I have forgotten about the deal." Yuri said, smirking and with that, a laughing Jaejoong walked off.

 

"Was that a blush I saw Yuri?" Kibum asked, nudging Yuri and smiled.

 

"Oh, be quiet you." Yuri said, blushing again, and punched his shoulder.

 

"Hey, I'm just telling the truth." Kibum said, chuckling.

 

Yuri punched his shoulder again, and Kibum chuckled. Soon, all the decorations were done and the banner was being tied up with the help of Jaejoong at the top, stapling it to the wood frame that was built around the stage. Another team were nailing the sign 'Gala Festival' at the back of the wall on the curtain and Hyukjae was wrapping lights all around the stage and frame. Yuri was nervous for tonight. How would it feel to be a girl again? Even if it was just for a few minutes, seconds even. How would it be to actually be able to freely be a girl and what would Jaejoong say after seeing her? 'Cut it out, Yuri. He doesn't see you that way. Your just his roommate.' Yuri thought, and saw the lights of the gym turn off as the glowing white lights of the stage , making the wooden frame glow brightly. Everybody clapped as they were finally done, checking all the lighting at the top and making finishing touches and they were done and ready for tonight.

 

"Well done everybody! Let's enjoy tonight!" Kangta, one of the school council representatives, shouted from the stage. Everybody laughed and clapped, hooting, ', this is actually happening!' Yuri thought, smiling nervously and took in deep breaths as she looked around and automatically, started panicking again, for tonight, 'Yep, this is definitely happening. Oh, !'