From this morning until recess there was still no sign of Kris. He couldn’t be absent today because he wanted to talk to Hyunjee in person. To ask about whats wrong and why did she avoid him? She didn’t even answer his phone calls or his text messages.
Then all out of a sudden, he showed up.he was walking from the principal’s office direction with his Panda friend. Then bunch of fangirls started to crowd around them, just like they were sasaeng fans. Then he heard some of the girls who blurted out tons of questions. He managed to clearly hear some.
“Kris oppa, are you really dating that girl?”
“is it official? We want to hear it directly from you”
“Did you really kiss her, oppa?”
‘What the hell happen here?’ he thought, still didn’t get what they were talking about. He glanced at Tao who also looked equally confused as he was.
“Did you kiss somebody, Ge?” Tao whispered to the older guy as he immediately shook his head.
They were getting curious as hell. If they wanted to, they could’ve asked the fangirls. But once they did try to do that, they received a squeal instead and also some of them were gone fainted. And they didn’t want it to ever happen again. So they just continued walking through the crowds.
On the other hand, Xiumin, Lay, and Chen were trying to make their way to meet Kris and Tao. They were also curious about the news. They never though that a cool dude who always puts his poker face on around his fangirls had actually dated without their acknowledgements. How dare he?! They jokingly thought. I mean oh come on, he was their best friend after all, and he should’ve spilled it out even just a little. What kind of friend is he? What kind of a leader is he? Well at least that was what they thought. And never did they know that they were all wrong about judging the leader that quick.
Lay and Chen have successfully made their way through the crowds and finally got to face their leader with a cute panda next to him, while Xiumin was drowning in the middle of the crowd. They both glanced back at the crowd and saw a familiar arm waving at them. They were sure that he was Xiumin, “I’m okay guys, I’m okay.” He said when he was clearly not.
The four of them continued to stare at the poor baozi until Chen brokeit, “He’ll be fine,”
The new pair finally turned their head to face the two tall figures before them, “Congrats man!!” Lay said lightly punching his chest.
“Yeah, why didn’t you tell us?” Chen said with a slight childish pout.
The two statements had left the two taller guys dumbfounded. They haven’t read the news yet, heck they even got to school late, they were probably saving their asses by making up some weird excuses. And luckily, the principal was just nodding his head understandingly. That was an exception because the two of them just won a national basketball league.
“Congrats on what?” Tao asked confusedly.
“He didn’t tell you too?” Chen was surprised that the leader kept his secret all by himself even to his closest friend.
“Tell me what?” Tao asked lifting an eyebrow as Kris was confused as ever.
Chen leaned closer to Tao’s ear and whispered to him about the article. He gasped as he realized what he just heard. He put both of his hands over his mouth and let out a shocking gasp. Chen finally stepped back leaving the younger one froze in place.
He looked at Kris from the very corner of his eyes. The shocked Tao suddenly changed into a grinning Tao, “GEGE CONGRATS~!” He said while trying to get him into his bone crashing hug.
‘Congrats? What the hell is happening here?!’ he thought as he tried to avoid the panda hug but that was all too late. He was already in the panda’s embrace. “What the heck Tao, let me go!” He said half yelling while trying to catch his breath as the younger one let go of him and muttered apologies.
Kris backed away a little and dust off his uniform, “Mind telling me what’s goi-“ He was cut off by Xiumin’s sudden appearance. He was panting heavily and his hair wasn’t in place. He looked like he was just got chased by a big foot in the middle of a forest. But well… it wasn’t that bad though. I mean oh come on, its Xiumin we’re talking here. Kay back to the story._.
“Kris, are you really going out with Hyerim?!!” Xiumin blurted out. Every pair of eyes were widened, especially Kris’. It was very wide as if it seemed like they were about to popped out from its sockets.
“What?!” He furiously yelled.
Xiumin reached out his phone and handed it to Kris, “Here.”
Kris eyes were still widened but this time filled with anger as he read the news. After he scrolled down the page and found the picture. He got even angrier. “What the heck is this?! Who the hell made this?!” He yelled not waiting for a reply. He gritted his teeth as his grip onto the phone was getting tighter that you could see his knuckles whiten.
“Whoa calm down there, Hyung,” Chen said earning a light smack with a phone from Kris by the chest – signaling him to take it.
Kris’ eyes were still looking straight, he didn’t even know what was in his sight. His mind was so full of questions and anger, until he this one question hit him. Is this why Hyunjee mad at me? He was so sure about it. She must’ve seen it directly. He felt really bad about it and he wanted to apologize and tells her the truth; that this was all just a misunderstanding. ‘I better find a way to explain this, not just to her, but to everyone’.
His anger had ceased. His eyes weren’t filled with anger anymore, or at least it had lessened. He was trying to figure this out. Why would someone put that article on the front page of the website? Well it was simply because Kris was the most popular guy in school. And of course the students were curious about his love life remembering that he barely talks about those things. He had never brought up those romance parts of his life. He was a cold guy after all.
Tao, who was standing next to him, patted his shoulder- trying to cool him down. And with all the courage Lay had within him, he finally spoke, “So… I guess you’re not dating her?” he asked as soft as he could, trying as hard not to make him mad.
That left him no choice but to explain the real matter. And thankfully the crowds weren’t there anymore, probably gone to class, so no one was eavesdropping his explanation. And as soon as he finished, the boys made an ‘O’ expression that rather filled with reliefs. Then they were interrupted by a loud rang of bell.
So they headed to their classes. Kris was going with Xiumin while Tao was going with Chen and Lay. Because they happen to attend the same classes.
While walking towards their class, Kris excused himself to go somewhere to do his “men business”. He again caught himself wondering about the news that apparently made Hyunjee avoided him as he walked down the hallway- the opposite direction of his two friends.
On the way there, he again saw the girl. The girl he had been calling, texting and voice mailing non-stop for the last three days. Yes of course it was Hyunjee. She seemed to felt his presence which caused her to look up at the tall guy who was standing before her. They both had stopped walking. They were standing in a distance as their eyes met. And one thing he was sure of, her eyes were different. It wasn’t the cheerful and happy eyes he once known. They were filled with sadness and disappointment. He could see it clearly. But she managed a smile- a sad and weak kind of smile. He could see through it.
Falling for him was a mistake from the very start.
He couldn’t stand to see her like this. It made him feel bad. He blamed himself for this. ‘She shouldn’t feel this way. This isn’t right. She needs to know the truth.’ He stated in his mind. But nothing came out from his lips. He only managed a small smile and a little wave from his hand.
She insisted herself to come closer to him and she did. “Congrats Oppa!” she cheered happily just like the other fangirls of his. But deep inside, it was unbelievably hurt.
Just when he was about to say something to clear things up, a teacher came to them and told them to immediately go to their class before he pulls a punishment to them and tells the principal. And they did.
The hallway was again filled by silence. Only a few small sounds could be heard from the classes.
Kris wasn’t in the mood to do anything. He even canceled his “men business”. He should find a way to clear this spreading rumor as soon as possible. But then again, anger took over him when a picture of Hyunjee’s sad look flashed in his mind. He wanted to beat whoever made the gossip. He was trying to figure out who was behind all these, and the first person who came into his mind was Hyerim herself. ‘She might set me up!’ he thought.
As soon as the period has ended, he immediately made his way to Hyerim’s table. He looked at her seatmate and gave her the can-you-please-leave-us-alone look. The girl stood up abruptly and headed to her locker leaving the pair alone.
“It’s about the news isn’t it?” she said coldly as she looked up at him who was standing before her desk. She too was having bad times since the news posted online.
“What else,” he rolled his eyes as she just kept silent.
“Look, I don’t know what your intentions are, but why the hell did you posted it?!” He raised his voice. He knew it wasn’t nice to speak like that to a girl but he just couldn’t help it, his anger took over him.
Hyerim gasped in shock at what she just heard, “What?! So you blame me for these?!” she raised her voice too and faked a chuckle in disbelief. She was quite surprised by him. Why would she post it when she was also in the picture? True, that she likes him, but she wasn’t that dumb enough to publish it. And besides, if she was also in the picture, how the hell did she manage to snap a picture in such a distance? Setting up a camera attached to a tripod behind the wall? Was she that desperate?
Now he began to think that maybe suspecting her was a bad idea all along. But he was still suspecting her before she properly say to him that she wasn’t the one who was behind this, “Well you could have set me up.” Now his voice wasn’t as confident as before.
She rolled her eyes at his stubbornness, “So let’s just say that I set you up, but how on earth did I manage to snap a picture in such a distance?!” She yelled at him. “I’m here as a victim too you know! Your fangirls started to talk bad about me!” her voice cracked. “So think before suspecting, Mister.” She finished coldly and stood up. She brushed her shoulder to his on purpose. Scratch that, she hit him hard with her shoulder and left the class.
‘I have a really bad instinct,” he thought to himself feeling slightly guilty as he went back to his table and tidy his books, “Ottoke?” he muttered to himself as he tapped his chin and finally snapped his fingers. Also don’t forget the light bulb that was popping out from his head, “Suho!”
Jiyeon was opening her locker as usual to stuff her books. But oddly, she found her pocket camera lying inside the lower rack of her locker- right in the place where she had left on Friday.
She felt relieved and scared at the same time. She was sure that someone took it and used the picture to make the gossip, ‘But who could that be?’ she wondered, ‘Ah whatever, at least I got my baby back!’ she thought as she hugged the camera as though it was teddy bear.
