Ecological community (1/1)

“Seriously?!”“Yep.”“Oh my God, I’m super happy for you!”Heerin smiles through her way to the library. Sora can’t stop cheering for her bestfriend’s new life-changing moment that just happened some days ago; that Heerin finally has a boyfriend—this time it’s official and she’s not being delusional like few years ago. And this guy isn’t just an ordinary guy. He’s the one that everyone wants.“I’ve been waiting like forever since the first time you told me about him when we first met at junior high. Gosh, you’re amazing. Congratulation!”“Haha, that’s enough, Sora. We just got started though,” Heerin cheekily smiles at the floor.“But, still,” she pushes the door and the bell chimes. Heerin gazed around the library and pairs of eyes are staring directly at her. She can feel her smile slowly fading on its own when she remembers the whole school has known about this too. Well, rumour has it. She definitely knows the reason why they’re staring at her with death glares. The sparks of happiness Heerin felt few seconds ago quickly disappears.“Uh, don’t mind them, Rinrin. Social life sucks,” Sora scoffs as she walks nonchalantly and waves her hand in the air, followed by the timid Heerin.Being someone like Heerin is probably the hardest thing to do.Like, she gotta wake up at 4 am every work day just to make sure that everyone who lives in the dorm gets breakfast before they go to school. Not to mention that she also has to get one. But sometimes time says otherwise. There’s this one day she woke up at 4.13 and everything she had planned earlier gone like poof. 20 students scoffed her all day around, blaming her for everything because they didn’t get the breakfast on time and had to eat at school. When in fact, eventhough Heerin has been doing this for more than a year, she’s not a robot. She’s just a human being who needs to rest and stop for awhile. That day she was extremely exhausted and needed rest. But no one’s gonna give her the time. Since she has been studying with SM Academy since elementary school, the headmaster knows her just as well as her parents do. That’s why Sooman chose her to be the head of the dorm because he knows Heerin is tidy, neat, and a well-behaved student. But that doesn’t mean she’s really in charge of everything. Especially because she is Park Heerin.Well what’s the big deal? Haha, let me tell you. She is Park Heerin. Everyone in SM High knows her from top to toe, her favourite colour, favourite foods, her fear, how smart she is, how timid and shy looking she is, where her family actually lives, how many siblings she has, the reason why she ended up living in the the dorm, even until her past life. Why people bother to? This is none other because she just officially started an official relationship with one of the flower boy, Zhang Yixing.Heerin almost loses her balance when she walks pass the lobby towards the cafetaria alone. Sora unfortunately needed to leave earlier to catch some workshops with students from student council. She feels dizzy all over her head. She didn’t have time to get breakfast this morning since somehow, Yeonhi—one of the most popular girl at school who also lives at the dorm—asked her to make a lot of breakfasts and which by that means Heerin had to give her own breakfast unwillingly to her. She never understand why she can’t be mean towards anyone. She’ll always be looked down and people will underestimate her. Just because Heerin looks timid and quiet sometimes.But that’s total wrong. Heerin is a girl with full packs of talents. It’s just about time until someone recognizes her being fabulous.“Rinrin!”Heerin turns her head slowly, barely can see the blurry shadow that’s coming down her way. But as the shadow gets closer, a small smile created on her face.“Hi, Yixing. How’s class?” She leans against the wall to keep herself balance enough to face Yixing, not going to let him worry a thing if he finds out.“It was boring as hell,” Yixing pouts cutely, making the butterflies on Heerin’s stomach fly away randomly. “How could it be so boring?”“Well,” he scrunches his nose. “probably because you weren’t there?”“Oh stop it, Yixing,” Heerin snaps his upper arm jokingly. “You’re my senior. There’s no way we could be in the same class!”She punches his flat stomach and makes him giggling. It’s always good to spend time with Yixing. And when he laughs and his dimple finally shows up, Heerin claims she is the luckiest girl on Earth. She can feel her cheeks getting warm as Yixing grabs her hands and stares at them with warm look. There are some bruises which she forgets to hide.“Hard morning?”Heerin nods, and is going to pout when bunches of popular girls coming down the hallway. They start whispering to each other as soon as they see Heerin and Yixing together. But Yixing squeezes her hands even tighter, not caring of the groups sending death glare to Heerin.“Hi, oppa~~!”Oh, here it goes again, Heerin says to herself. She can’t help but to move back a little far so that she can give in a way for Yeonhi to lean in to Yixing. She doesn’t understand why she do this. Heerin is always helpless whenever this annoying popular girl, Han Yeonhi, comes around. Swear, it’s a pain in the ass to see the boy she loves from the bottom of her heart gets clinged by the girl she hates the most. But it’s not like she can do anything to keep her place beside Yixing.“Gosh I was looking for you since morning! Where did you and your gang go? Haha, why are you guys being so slippery? Me and my girls have a lot of interesting stuffs to do after school everyday, why don’t you guys join us? It would be fun!” Yeonhi speaks in a one take of breath. Heerin bites the bottom of her lip, silently whispering ‘don’t go’ to Yixing.“Uh, thank’s for the hospitality but,” he stares at Heerin and quickly grabs her waist as he pulls Heerin closer to his chest. “I’m always occupied after school.”Yixing detaches himself from Yeonhi and smiles warmly to the girls before he runs off to the cafetaria, leaving them in desperation, with hands still intertwined with Heerin’s. Students are staring at them as they pass each lobby. But she doesn’t care. All Heerin can see, is only her boyfriend, the one and only Zhang Yixing.So, it’s true that Yixing is Heerin’s senior. He’s just a year older though. He’s currently at the second year of SM High while Heerin’s at her first. This is the very important thing why girls love to bash her—because the love that sparks between senior and junior is a taboo. But the problem is that Heerin has loved Yixing since God knows when. They’ve been friends for years and can be said that Yixing is the only boy in Heerin’s life. At least, not until she met his group called EXO.When Yixing finally confessed his love, it took 3 days for her to confirm it. She had a lot of thinking whether she could keep the love as a secret one or not. But rumour went really fast and here she is, getting bullied by almost half of the girl students.The tables at the cafetaria are fulled by cheers and laughters. When Heerin gazed around to see if there’s an empty table for her to sit, she frowns and looks down on her untied shoes. Sora is a part of the student council which makes her very busy. And without Sora, she’d be so lonely. Even if those girl-community wants her, that feeling has long gone. No one ever wants to let her into the social life anymore here.“Stop looking down. Chin up, princess. Or else your tiara would fall down.”Heerin once again surprised when her eyes catch the figure of Yixing tying her shoe laces. It’s so romantic which kind of reminds her with the MV of SJ’s No Other. But then she looks up and much expected, almost the whole attention in the cafetaria is directed to her. She feels scared and nervous while clenching her teeth and looks down to check if Yixing’s done or not.“Yixing, could you please stop?”“Unn, why?” He looks up and smiles cheekily.“Everyone’s looking at us,” Heerin says as in whispers and bites her bottom lip.“Oh come on, when will exactly you stop thinking about what others are thinking about me, you, and us?”She chews on her lips again. Yixing quickly lands his arms around her shoulder and brings her closer to his chest. She’s almost die in happiness. Her shoulders are so warm with Yixing’s arm covering it. Suddenly, Heerin listens to what Yixing just said. No one actually deserves her attention. Why would she bother to?“Hey, dudey!”Heerin looks up again just to find a ‘special’ table at the corner of the cafetaria which is always fulled up by 12 boys and 2 girls. All of them are familiar to her, of course. Yixing introduced her to them the other day and those kids quickly made an awesome mess on the dorm—Sehun reasoned that it was their way of having fun and Heerin had to get used to it. Heerin nods and smiles while eyes gazing at each one of them.“Rinrin, go sit down next to me and forget Lay for awhile!” Minseok waves his forks.“Congratulation for being with Lay-hyung, Rinrin-ah!” Kyungsoo smiles as he shows his perfectly line-up of his white teeth. It has been awhile since she last saw Kyungsoo around her. He’s a few months older but they both have some classes together.“But that must’ve been your hardest 3 days of life being with him, huh?”“Oh, shut up, Zitao!” Yixing throws his lettuce at the younger.That leaves everyone on the table giggle and laugh, including Heerin who’s still standing there. She sits down next to Yixing in the end, and starts munching her sausage happily. She stares at the two girls sitting in front of her, Kim Hana and Qian Yue. Both are her seniors. Hana is the former chairman of the student council and everyone loves her because she’s a total darling. She’s in a relationship with the hyperactive Chanyeol since junior high. While Yue is a transfer student from Guangzhou and has been with Kris since they were still studying in Canada back then. Kris himself is the captain of SM High's basketball team and is studying at the third year.The meat in her mouth gets bitter. She doesn’t understand why life’s so hard for her. If Hana and Yue can have their love life beautifully with one of these flower boys, why can’t she? Her story with Yixing for all this time is enough to prove that she’s at least capable enough to stand beside him.Heerin clears her throat and starts munching again when Yixing leans in. She tries to fake a smile but she knows she can never hide anything from him. He knows Heerin just how Heerin knows anything about him. No wonder since both of them have spent the same life for years.“You’re hiding something,” he whispers smoothly.“Nothing. Just having a lot of thoughts.”“Those girls again, isn’t it?”Yixing jerks his head at the table where Yeonhi and her groupies are. She almost nods, but refuse to. Yixing is a sweetheart, Heerin can’t imagine if one day she gets to see the very angry Yixing again. All this time, the worst emotion she had ever seen from him was when some girls threw pebbles at Heerin on her way home and caused her bleeding on her forehead. That time, Zitao, Baekhyun, and Minseok had to stop him before he hurt the girls any sooner.“You can always tell your boyfriend about anything, Heerin-ah.”Both Heerin and Yixing look up and stare at the smiling Hana. Heerin can see Yixing’s cheeks turn into soft peach colour and he scrunches his back of head awkwardly. It’s cute to see him like that. Especially when his dimple shows again.“Keeping a lot of thoughts isn’t good for girls,” Yue adds, slicing her meat loaf.“Thank’s eonni. It’s just, better to keep it for myself first.”“Oh, waeyo???” Yixing’s protest is too loud for everyone at the cafetaria to hear very clear. He burries his head on his arms and sighs, “Am I being a bad mate for you that you can’t just tell everything to me?”“No, no,” Heerin can’t help but giggle when Yixing tries to look at her with his failed puppy eyes. “Seriously, if I really need help, I would’ve asked you.”“But we’ve been friends since ever! Make the best out of me, will you?” He pouts, but then breaks into smile and pinches Heerin’s cheek. Everyone on the table seems to be more interested to look at the two rather than having their lunch. She can’t hide her embarassment and neither Yixing can. He just holds one of her hand tightly under the table as if it’s going to fade away if he let go.“Ah, lovebirds,” Hana and Yue say in unison, making Heerin totally blushed.“You can sleep over tonight at my house if you want.”“Nah, thank’s,” Heerin shakes her head weakly. “I’ll be just fine.”“You sure?”“Yeah. Anyway, it’s Friday. Yeonhi’s out for her girl’s night out at the club and won’t be coming home for a couple of days, probably. That’ll give me extra time to enjoy this weekend.”“Wow, she’s such a party animal.”“Definitely.”“Welp, we’re here. Again,” Yixing says as the both of them stop right in front of the dorm gate. Heerin stares back at Yixing as he gazed at the building. His heart feels the ache whenever he visits the dorm since Heerin often gets bullied by the students here. Some days he’ll be there for her, but the other days he won’t, because his house is just way too far from SM High and the day afterwards he’ll find his girlfriend in bruises and teary eyes.“Summer holiday is around the corner,” he mutters.“I know. I hope it’s going to be a good one.”“You always say that every year.”“Oh, do I…?” Heerin says in disbelief. It’s because summer holiday means another way of saying that she’ll have to stay in the dorm, cleaning all mess while everyone leaves for their own vacation with family. Heerin has totally forgot how it feels to have a memorable summer holiday since her family is living far in Goyang. She’d love to go home, but she doesn’t want to burden her parents by sending her money to get her home. And as she just turned 17, it’s still quite hard for her to get part-time job.“I really hope to see you tonight in my bed,” Yixing reaches out for Heerin’s hands. The older flashes a naughty smirk, but it quickly fades away.“I visited you three days ago, we better don’t get too far for now.”“What? It’s not like I want to do anything to you. I just want to protect you from the girls here. Admit it, still better to live with me rather than with them right?”“Yixing,” he abruptly leans in to hug Heerin softly. The smell from the super expensive cashmere sweater from Armani she bought for Yixing’s 17th birthday makes her even happier. Yixing always say that the sweater brings him good days. He said he can’t miss a day without wearing it, which is kind of cheesy.“Sorry that you have to hold back,” Yixing whispers.“It’s okay. I’m used to it,” Heerin combs his hair smoothly.“Sorry I cause you so many troubles,” Yixing trails down her spine to her waist.“I told you it’s okay, Yixing.”“Sorry I make you unhappy,” he hugs her even tighter.“Yixing,” she pushes him away, looking back at his wet eyes, tears are filling but they won’t fall off. “I fucking told you it’s okay,” she raises a brow.“Yeah,” he sighs. Deep down inside, Heerin can’t even understand herself anymore. No one has ever stood in front of her to cover her from the hates. She’s always on her own. When someone tries to get close to her, she’ll close herself. Even to some members of EXO, she still act awkward. Take Sehun and Junmyeon in instance. But even to her own boyfriend, she can’t be honest to him.“It’s late, you better get home now. I don’t get it why you bother to walk me to the dorm while you can go straight back home with your car. Mine is just a few steps away from school,” Heerin pats him and walks off towards the gate and turns around to see Yixing again. His face showered by the orange light of the setting sun.“Maybe because I love you.”It’s summer, yes, and Heerin doesn’t understand why it’s so warm instead of hot like always.Maybe because of the weather.Maybe because of the time.Maybe because he loves her.“Tonight and tomorrow?” She grins.“Forever,” his mouth breaks apart and he quickly kisses Heerin on her cheek before runs off again towards the school to get his car. “Good night, Sweetheart!” He shouts from afar. The younger just keeps standing there like an idiot, trying to get herself together. Her fingers trace the spot where Yixing just planted the kiss. It was quick and fast, typical Yixing when he was so shy.But it’s warm, and soothing, and calming.“Good night, ge.”On the way back home, Yixing can’t stop working his brain out to get her girlfriend out of that place. He has offered Heerin over thousand times that she can always live with him. His parents would love to take care of her since Yixing’s a single kid and he knows how his parents really want to have a daughter. Not to mention that their old story as childhood friends makes it even easier. Though Yixing’s parents haven’t known that both of them are no longer friends anymore. It’s more than it looks now.Living in a super big house which only consists of parents, him, and some butlers bores the hell out of him. If Heerin lived with him, everything would be likely better.As his car enters the wide park in front of his house, Yixing can see butlers are coming out from the house to help him. “Good evening, Young Master,” says one of the lady. Yixing nods and gives her out his car key and steps to get inside. As he closes the door behind him, his hands carelessly reaching out for the switch. When the lights are finally on, a figure of a boy surprises him up.“WELCOME HOME, PRINCE OF CHANGSHA!!!”He squints for a few times and let the cheers hanging on the air. Zitao’s voice echoes through the whole rooms in the house.“Uh, what are you doing here?” He cocks an eyebrow.“Don’t you remember?” The younger tilts his head.“Well, no,” Yixing bends down to untie his shoes. “What is it?”“You really don’t remember?” Luhan comes out of the kitchen, wiping his hand with Yixing’s favourite handkerchief he got from Heerin.“Uh, ge, as I remember, I never give you permission to touch my stuffs.”“Yeah, I know,” though Luhan keeps wiping until his fingers are clean. Yixing slides his hand down his face and walks nonchalantly towards his room.“Lay, you shouldn’t forget about our anniversary.”A sweet and gentle voice of a lady bangs Yixing's ears. His eyes widened as he turns around and see Kris and Yue. Both of them are clinging on each other with smile of happiness plastered on their faces. Yixing quickly remembers that it’s Kris and Yue’s 6th anniversary.“Oh, God. I am so sorry,” he walks slowly towards them.“It’s okay. We all understand how forgetful you could be,” Kris jokes and chuckles when Yue pinches his waist. “Sorry to disturb you, Lay,” Yue gives him a soft stare.“It’s fine, jie. I just don’t understand why we always celebrate everyone’s anniversary at my place like, I haven’t even celebrated mine for once.”“Because,” Zitao jumps to the couch and turns on the TV. “first of all, you have like the biggest house out of all EXO members. Seriously, you even have your very own softball field inside your house. Two, your parents are so busy that they’re not going to catch us on party. Three, you had no girlfriend before. Four, you’re the weakest ass out of us the China-line, or probably the whole EXO if you exclude Jongin and Sehun. And five—““I’m gonna smack your face with those big speakers for godamn real. Those things aren’t for accessories and while you’re here, I guess I can find out its real function.”“……”“What? A cat got your tongue?” Yixing threatens.“Okay I wasn’t going to say that, gege~” Zitao peeks over at Yixing from behind the pillow. He pouts and smiles, leaving Yixing to smack his forehead.The celebration party finally starts. It’s a quick one since Kris has to leave at 7.30 to catch some plans with the other EXO boys. Luhan and Zitao are going but Yixing chooses to stay. He's somehow feels so tired and worn out. Yue decides to stay with Yixing through the night because she knows how wild the boys are when they’re partying. Yixing never misses a chance to refuse though.“Hey, Yixing, take good care of my fiance, okay?”“But I’m not!” Yue protests with a cheeky smile. “Yet,” Kris adds before leans in to kiss her and give her a big bear hug.“Yucks, get a room you guys!” Luhan scoffs. Kris pulls himself away and punches Luhan’s chest playfully. “Be careful, Yifan!” Yue waves her hands at Kris, Zitao, and Luhan as they sail off. Yixing’s just standing there, resting his chin on his palm and smiles weakly with his tired eyes. Right after Kris’ car sets off and gone from their sight, he walks in to the house again and throws himself carelessly to the couch. Yue closes the door behind her and giggles.“You’re so weird. Why you never join in with the boys whenever they have parties?”“I’m not in the mood to.”“I know exactly there’s more than just not in the mood to, ain’t it?”“How do you know that?” He barely lifts his head from the couch.“It’s impossible if you're always not in the mood whenever they party.”Yixing half-opens his eyes and thinks, before finally nods. “Maybe.”“Oh come on, spit it out.”“Well,” he sits upright and leans back against the head rest. “the most important reason why I don’t do party is because Heerin doesn’t like it. I asked her once when we were still so little and her reason was really touching—err, moving.”Yue nods. “Does that mean you never gone to a party before?”“No, of course not. I do go to parties. Sometimes, when I have nothing to do—which barely happens. But EXO’s typical of parties are drinks and bets and dangerous games and junk foods and being kaputt and so on,” Yixing mumbles because his cheek is pressed against the head rest. “Heerin doesn’t like that,” he adds. Yue can’t help but smile all the way. Yixing then keeps talking about things he has pushed away in the sake of being with Heerin. But he never regret it. Because the reasons of Heerin staying away from those things are logical and reasonable.It’s almost 9 pm when Yue looks over the big clock at the living room. Yixing’s still passionately talking about Heerin and she sure no one can stop him now. Even when Yixing actually admits that he’s fucking tired and worn out, he still has the energy to talk about her.Boy oh boy, love has done its magic to this guy.The dorm of SM High is really prestigious. Only selected students can stay here. That’s why the capacity only extends to 20 people. There are 10 rooms and each person has his/her own roommate. But so far, ever since Heerin lived here since junior high, she never had any roommates before—Sora comes from a rich family, which makes her living in her own apartment nearby SM High. But Heerin never complains though. Having the whole big room for herself has its own perks, but mostly, she feels blessed because she doesn’t have to think about sharing the room with another noisy girl.Heerin’s about to bend down to untie her shoes when suddenly she feels a hard collision pushes her from her butt and makes her falls on her stomach.“Oh, I’m so sorry! Here, lemme help you.”It’s a girl. Her voice sounds soft and smooth, but it’s far from familiar to her ears. Heerin turns her body around when the girl lingers around her arm to help her standing on her feet. Heerin gazed at her. She looks way younger than her, but then what is she doing at the dorm at this late? Her hair looks like a caramel, reminds her with Yixing’s a bit. Her eyelids are totally gone, showing her perfectly round eye balls—just like Minseok’s.“Hello,” she bows down 90 degrees perfectly at Heerin.“H-Hi,” Heerin awkwardly greets her back not knowing if she should bow down too or not.“Um, sorry about that, I thought no one was at the dorm. So when I heard chattered outside the gate I turned off the light to see who it was. Turned out it was only you,” she smiles and hugs Heerin tightly.“Okay, wait, could you please stop it cuz I’m not used with skinship and seriously, I don’t even know Sooman let visitors to play at the dorm after school.”The girl pulls herself apart from Heerin and grins. She scrunches the back of her head awkwardly and bows again—this time even more than 90 degrees.“My name’s Tian Yueli. Originally from Changsha, but have been staying in London for 12 years. Starting from now on, I’ll be studying at SM High and live here in the dorm,” she perfectly introduces herself as Heerin eyes her. Something within her eyes gives Heerin an annoying tense. But if what she said is true, then it’s her obligation to walk her around the dorm and get her ready for school.“Sooo, Yueli-ssi, right?” Yueli nods passionately, not forgetting to put her biggest smile on her face. “Okay, since everyone’s already got their own roommates here, you’re going to stay with me for awhile until we find someone for you to replace—““I want to be roommate with you.”Heerin almost choked on her own saliva. It’s the first time in her life that someone says she would love her to be a roommate. It’s almost impossible at first. But now, she’s looking back at the little figure of Tian Yueli who’s looking back at her with puppy eyes. She smiles widely and squints.“H-How old are you?” Heerin asks softly, a bit stuttered.“I’m actually a year older than you, but my parents postponed my study for a year so, I guess you could say we’re almost in the same age.”“Really?” Heerin’s tone turns into disbelief. She frowns and tilts her head. She’s not amazed by how Yueli knows even her age before she actually asked. Oh, the entire school students know everything about her and that doesn’t prevent this new student as well. “Interesting. You have a baby face look.”“Well, thank’s. Don’t worry I don’t really pay attention to honorific anyway. Perks of living in the Western!” She bounces.“Maybe you should learn how to use it starting from now. The seniority in SM High is really… thick,” Heerin motions Yueli to follow her upstairs where their room is. The head master of the SM High gave Heerin the biggest room at the dorm just because she has been living here for some years since junior high. It’s located at the end of the upstair lobby. The one that is painted with saphire blue colour.“Wow, unlike the other doors that are gray, yours is beautiful.”“Thank you. Sooman–nim let me customized my own room. But anyway, it’s now ours,” Heerin smiles at her as she opens the door and Yueli gasps. The room is so well-arranged and dominated by the colour blue and white. A very good fusion between the pearl and the saphire itself. The bed is Queen size, the room’s aura is warm, the blue rug that lies underneath is soft and comfortable. Everything in this room is just perfectly placed.“You made this up?” Yueli turns around to ask.“Yeah. I love changes. I do it like, every once in two weeks to give me new look of the room. Just wanna make sure I’m not bored with it and also, good changes bring positive energy. When Sooman finally let me to decorate my room, I did it.”“Damn right, you’re so neat, and poetic, just like what everyone else talked about,” she awes and glitters start approaching her eyes. Heerin frowns and think about what she just said. Everyone else talked about? she thinks. Yueli slowly makes her way into the room to check on some cute stuffs on Heerin’s make-up table.“Yueli-ssi, we better move all your luggages here by tonight. Because tomorrow I’m going to be so busy.”“Yueli, just Yueli.”“Excuse me?” Heerin stops her steps before looking back at Yueli.“We’re friends right? So it’s fine if you wanna call me by Yueli.”Friends. The only people that come into her life—and stay—are Yixing, Sora, EXO, and her two seniors, Hana and Yue. But she can’t consider them as friends though. It’s too rude. Heerin always keep in her mind that her position is somewhat lower than EXO. Eventhough Yixing and the other boys never tired of telling her that they’re just the same ordinary students.“Okay. So, Yueli, we better move your stuffs up and finish them by tonight.”“Okay!” She cheerfully hops off from the couch and walks passing Heerin by the door. She even singsongs a nice melody out of her mouth. The way she bounces when she walks and how she often trips over the rugs reminds Heerin of Yixing.A lot.“New roommate???”“Uh-huh,” Yixing stares back with wide eyes. He even gazed blankly when Heerin cheerfully smiles at him through the phone’s screen. Yixing and Heerin just started off as a couple for a few days, but video calling is Yixing’s natural habit every night before he goes to sleep. No matter how tired he is, he’ll always be calling.“I don’t know, Rinrin. I don’t know…”“It’s okay. I promise I’ll be just fine.”“The problem is that I don’t remember when was the last time you had roommate. Or is it my memory again?” He frowns, which leaves Heerin giggling.“Nah, it’s because I never had roommates before. You’re not being delusional.”Silence fills the air. Yixing just stares at her with his tired eyes. Some nights he’ll fall asleep when they’re in the middle of video calling. Some nights Heerin will. It’s because sometimes the chat takes so many topics and they’ll eventually passed out while trying to keep their eyes open.“It’s 10 pm already. I thought you were already sleeping,” Heerin breaks the silence.“Kris, Luhan, and Zitao were here to celebrate Kris and Yue’s 6th anniversary. But they left earlier to party with the other boys.”“Sooo, why didn’t you come with them?”“You know why, baby.”Heerin’s cheek flushed into rosy pink with the pet name. His voice is as smooth as the classic melody she often listens as lullaby. The picture in the screen keeps moving as Heerin pays attention.“Ge, what are you doing?”“Uh, Yue’s still here. She just woke up and is about to leave.”“Oh, she’s at your place?”“Yeah, jiejie asked me the same question as yours and she actually listened and stayed. Finally, someone who realized how dangerous it is to party with EXO,” Yixing shrugs as he gets off from his bed and walks towards the door to meet Yue who’s leaning against the wall and trying so hard to keep her eyes open.“Haha, she’s like a mess, look at her!” Yixing turns around his phone just to let Heerin sees what he sees. Both of them giggle as Yue finally gets herself together and snaps the phone out of her face. “Lay, how dare you! I was so sleepy, stop making fun of it!”“Oh come on, jie, it’s just Heerin and I!” He giggles cheekily.“Whatever,” she throws her hand in the air unsympathetically and drags herself to the door. After bidding goodbyes, should I call Kris-ge, and be careful it’s almost midnight jie, Yixing once again left in silence. Heerin’s still there, smiling all the way looking her boyfriend having fun with their senior.“Then I guess, I’ll see you tomorrow?”“Wait, you wanna come out tomorrow?” A smile almost creeps up on his face, if Heerin doesn’t shake her head in an instant. “It’s just a phrase. You know I’m always occupied at weekends.”“Right,” he pinches the bridge of his nose and walks back towards his room, throwing himself to the bed and curls up with the pillows.“Go sleep, Tiger, you look so tired.”“After you,” his voice turns weaker and softer. His eyes are already closed as he keeps talking. Heerin carefully listens to the calming sound of his breath.“Let’s just fall asleep together,” she suggests.“Sure, that would give me the feeling that you’re here.”“Good night, gege.”“Good night, 宝贝.”Heerin lied. She doesn’t fall asleep. There are still so many things to do after this. She can’t stand letting Yixing to hold back his sleep just to accompany here through the night. Yixing never finds out though. Just when she disconnects the video call, Yueli wakes up and squints before gazing at the sleepy Heerin on the couch. She looks up to the clock on the nightstand. It shows 11.30 pm.“Hi, Yueli,” she stands up and put her phone in her pocket.“Umm, I heard some conversations. Was it you?” Heerin nods and opens the drawer, pulling out her sketch book and her drawing equipments. She drags the chair next to the window and sits, carefully placing the stuffs.“Who you were talking to?” Yueli squints.Heerin gazed upon the beautiful starry night outside her room. Yixing’s star is showing up tonight. Not that it belongs to him. One day he just claimed that the constellation resembles unicorn—and he really loves unicorns. Therefore, it belongs to him. Deep down inside Heerin knows the constellation actually has a name but for the sake of Yixing, yes it resembles unicorn.“I was talking to a unicorn,” Heerin bitterly smiles and turns around to start sketching, leaving Yueli in hanging curiousity.It’s Saturday, and Heerin’s schedule would be trying to keep the dorm from total mess the other students could create—though no one’s at the dorm for now since everyone’s out for a short 2 days of semi-vacation before the real one approaches them next week. Try is the best word to apply since there’s no way she can really keep the dorm clean through the day. But it’ll be easy for today.Yueli has just finished from shower when she gazed at the room and finds her roommate sleeping peacefully next to the windowm hasn’t moved much since last night. Poor girl her back must have ached so bad now. She walks closer, trying so hard not to wake Heerin with her tiny steps. Yueli peeks over to the stuffs beneath Heerin’s crossed arms. It’s her sketch book which is fulled with beautiful drawings and sketches. She pulls it and flips the page one by one. A butterfly, a tree, a father and his son at the park, teachers, the cafetaria, the meadow, and…“Isn’t this Zhang Yixing…?”“Yes.”Yueli jumps in shock when she heard Heerin’s trembling voice. She walks backwards a few steps before bowing and saying sorry thousands times to the still sleepy Heerin.“I didn’t mean to be rude, I’m sorry!”“It’s okay. I don’t usually show my works to people. But if you really like it, you can have a look.”“Really? Thought you’d be mad. But all these sketches are epic,” Yueli flips the page again and now she finds the sketches of EXO boys playing basketball. It feels like the drawing comes to live because each of the boys’ expressions is well-sketched. Her fingers ghost carefully, still not touching the sketch in case she would ruin it.“It’s so beautiful. You have the hands of God,” Yueli compliments in awe.“Thank you,” Heerin stares at her blankly. Yueli’s expression is different this morning. She doesn’t look back with that annoying tense anymore. She’s the third person who Heerin has let to peek into her drawing book—after Yixing and Sora, of course.“No wonder you’re accepted in SM High. Your talent is one of a kind.”“Thank’s, again. Anyway, how did you know it was Zhang Yixing?”Yueli looks up and peek from behind the sketch book. “I know him pretty well.”“Oh, really?” Heerin rests her chin on her palm at the window frame.“Yeah. Like, I chose this school because I knew he was here too. We’re an old pal.”Heerin can feel her jaw drops. Somehow, just somehow, it sounds weird if this girl is Yixing’s friend. Simply because he never mentioned anyone before and the fact that Yixing admits that he’s more comfortable to play around boys, bothers Heerin a little. The only girl that’s close to him is Heerin herself. That way, he wants to prevent giving out hopes to girls.But sure, Heerin doesn’t mind that for now. She can always ask later.“Are we the only creatures that live here?”“Nope. Definitely not.”“Then why am I feeling so lonely and only silence?”“Probably because everyone’s out for their semi-vacation?” Heerin shrugs before get her focus back to the rose bush. She has list of chores to do and Yueli didn’t mind to help. She’s free, at least. But all she does for the last 30 minutes is only asking numerous questions.“The garden is very neat. You take care of this all on your own?”“Yeah. No one wants to, so I volunteer.”Yueli nods and gazed around the wide garden while resting her chin on the shove.“Why would you?”“Err,” Heerin straighten her body and turns around towards Yueli. “I told you I love changes. That means I keep everything neat and organized. You see the maze in the center of this garden? I made it by myself.”“Did someone teach you?”Heerin looks up before she answers. “Yixing did. He loves gardening.”“Hmm,” Yueli hums.“Now if you excuse me, I still have bunches of works to do,” Heerin says as she leaves Yueli gazing up to the clouds. She just waves her hand and sits down on the ground just to check on her phone. She let out a smirk and calls out a number,“你好?”“Okay, I’ll see you sometimes soon then. Bye.”Yixing ends the conversation and put his phone on the table. His expression doesn’t look good at all. He brings a spoonful cereal into his mouth and stares blankly at Kris—who’s now feeling awkward. The China line always have their breakfast at Yixing’s every weekend. Since his parents always work non-stop from day to night 24/7, they don’t have to worry about their ramblings. When Zitao waves his hand in front of Yixing’s face, he doesn’t seem to recognize it. Yixing keeps his stare as blank as the cream-coloured wall in front of him.“Hello, Earth to Lay? Lay? Do you read?” Luhan calls out. But Yixing shows no response. Zitao’s going to slap Yixing’s side head if Kris doesn’t prevent him to. The older nudges Yixing and he soon wakes up from his daydream.“Uh, sorry, what were you talking about again?”“Actually, no one was talking about anything,” Zitao murmurs.“Sorry,” Yixing looks at his friends and scrunches his back of head. “I’m just having a lot of thoughts. Too many, I guess.”“Well, spit it out. We’re here to listen,” Kris says while munching his sandwich.“It’s a long story.”“We’ve got the whole day,” Luhan smiles widely. Yixing is having an internal argue with himself in his mind. To or not to tell his best friends that something’s definitely bothering him. He doesn’t even know where to start. But he really needs to get the topic to be scratched off from his mind. He breaths in before talking,“My cousin is coming to town.”The table falls into silence. Zitao gasps. Luhan stops drinking his milk. And Kris slowly put down his sandwich. Yixing pinches his temple and sighs before Kris taps his shoulder. He looks up and stares at each one of his friend. They sure know how Yixing never like his cousin. Especially this one.She’s not really his cousin though. Her aunt married a filthy rich guy and he just happened to know that guy had a daughter as old as him 3 years after their marriage. And quick note; she’s really annoying. She loves being close with any guys including Yixing himself. She never mind the status between them as cousin. If she’s interested, she’ll take a look. And if she likes someone, nothing can stop her.“That was short,” Zitao drinks his juice in one shot.“Was it her?” Kris jerks his head to Yixing’s phone that’s lying on the table. Yixing nods weakly. The food in his mouth tastes even bitter than ever.“I never like Yueli. She’s total annoying and always bitching about other stuffs. Someone needs to tell her to stop sticking her nose on people’s business,” Zitao mutters, followed by Luhan’s nod.“Oh well, she’s still his cousin though,” Kris tries to calm him down.“But Yueli is moving to SM High’s dorm,” Yixing speaks shakily. His face is getting hotter and he unconsciously squeezes the table cloth. “And she’s the new roomate Heerin talked about last night.”“What? Heerin got roomate?” Kris rewinds in disbelief. His eyes widened.“How did you know that?” Zitao mumbles. His mouth is fulled with cereals.“Yueli told me that she met the head of the dorm. Who else beside Heerin? And she said that girl looked fine and nice. So she’ll be staying as roomate there,” Yixing stares blankly at his food.“Oh sheez, shit’s going to be real,” Luhan covers his mouth with the back of his hand. Everyone on the table still remember like it was just yesterday, how Yueli has troubled them. It was the day when Jongin was being chased down by some girls and Yueli threw pebbles and rocks at all of them. One of the girls even lost her memory because of that. But Yixing’s parents tend to hid it.Now she’s back. And Yixing’s even concerned about what she’s going to do.“We gotta go to the dorm. Now,” Yixing grabs his phone and everyone quickly follows.FIRST CHAPTER IS UP YAY.This is like 10 pages or so in Word. I vomit words too many times otl. This is a bit rushed and I haven't beta-read this.Remember, "comments are loved"! xx