002 (1/1)

Sarang fastened her pace as she and Baekhyun neared the gates of their campus. Sneakily, she walked a little further away from him. Baekhyun rolled his eyes as he watch his best friend failed attempt of escaping. He matched his pace with hers and intertwined their hands together. Sarang gulped at the sudden contact with widened eyes. "Yah peanut! Let me go!" Sarang begged as she pulled her hand away but to only get a firmer grip from Baekhyun. Baekhyun giggled and shook his head playfully. Sarang sighed. It was already difficult for her to control her emotions with the growing feeling of love she was had for Baekhyun and now he was holding her hand like it was nothing."You can't just hold my hands, Baek!" Sarang whispered and tried to pull her hand out from the man's grip. Baekhyun remained stubborn and pulled her along to continue their walk. "Baek!" Sarang whined. Baekhyun shook his head playfully once more and stuck his tongue out. "Baekkie, jebal!" Sarang pouted. Baekhyun looked at the girl and smiled. He took his free hand and pinched her cheeks. "Aihoo, doing aegyo on me now eh?"Sarang quickly looked down to hide her blushing face. She was already close to getting a heart attack with the contact they were having. Baekhyun chuckled at his best friend's innocence. Sarang felt piercing stares being burnt into her skull. She looked up a little and found a few jealous girls glaring at her. Sarang panicked and yanked her hand away from Baekhyun before running to class.Surprised, Baekhyun yelled after Sarang. "Yah pabo! Be careful!" Baekhyun chuckled and made his way to the parking lot to meet his friends. Oblivious of the jealous girls, Baekhyun smiled at them and walked away.      Chen quickly scurried out of the car because he knew Luhan was about to get him. Spotting Baekhyun walking towards them with a big grin on his face, Chen quickly ran up to him and hid behind his back. "Yah Kim Jongdae, come back here!" Luhan growled as he ran to them. Chen clutched onto Baekhyun's shirt for protection. "Baek, help me juseyo!" Chen pleaded. Baekhyun chuckled and spread his arms wide open to stop Luhan. "Step away. Baek! Just let me kill that idiotic troll behind you!" Luhan grumbled as he moved from left to right trying to grab Chen. Baekhyun did the same and blocked Luhan. "Baek, leave yourself out of this or I'll kill you as well!" Luhan growled. Kris watched the scene in front of him with Jongin in shame. They were already old enough to get married but still too childish for their own sake. Kris made his way to the three. "Stop it! All three of you!" Kris roared and held Luhan down.Jongin chuckled at the sight of his hyungs.     "So Baek, when are you going to introduce us to your beautiful friend!" Chen chirped. Baekhyun stopped eating his sandwich and looked at Chen. It was lunch time and everyone was having their lunch."What?" Baekhyun asked. "We saw you with a girl this morning!" Chen sang as he wiggled his eyebrows. Baekhyun rolled his eyes. As expected from his manwhore dongsaeng. This was why Baekhyun never introduced Sarang to his friends formally. It was to protect Sarang from a few of them. Tao stopped blowing his soup and leaned towards Baekhyun. "Yah Baek! You never told me you had a girlfriend!"Baekhyun grumbled and shook his head. "She is not my girlfriend. Tao. She's my childhood best friend."Tao nodded his head and asked again, "Is she pretty?"That was another reason why Sarang wasn't formally introduced to them. Because of the word pretty. Baekhyun knew of Sarang's face structure and he never thought of her anything other than beautiful. Sarang was truly a goddess in his eyes despite the flaw she has. But what worries him was the judgmental perception of beauty other people defined and he knew better than anyone else that Sarang was very sensitive to that even though she never once voiced out any sort of unhappiness. Nevertheless, Baekhyun stuck to his perception of Sarang and answered, "No. She's not pretty." All eleven men went dead silent. Even those who had no idea who he was talking about looked at Baekhyun with an intense stare. Tao, who was waiting for an answer, suddenly coughed out awkwardly. Baekhyun smiled at the dramatic reaction and continued, "She's beautiful.""Aye!" the rest of them chorused, laughing. "Can we meet her, hyung?" Sehun asked. Kyungsoo who was also curious, asked the same thing.  "Yeah, I want to meet this beautiful girl too! We didn't know you had another female friend Baek! We thought you only had Krystal as your female best friend!" Suho, who was quiet suddenly spoke up. "Me too!" Xiumin muffled as he hastily swallowed the lump of dumpling he was chewing on, down. "Can I hit on her if I like her?" Chanyeol joked but Baekhyun didn't seem to find it funny and glared at the latter. "Don't you dare."Chanyeol had his hands up and stuck his tongue out. "Whatever."Lay slurped on his noodles and wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his hands. "Are they talking about Sarang, Baek?"Baekhyun nodded his head and continued munching on his sandwich."Lay hyung, do you know her?" Tao pried, so did Sehun. "So her name is Sarang?" Lay nodded his head. "Somehow. But I know her younger sister though." Chen leaned forward and looked at Lay. "She has a younger sister?" Lay nodded once more and added, "Yup, but they're step siblings. Her name is Sora.""Is Sora pretty?" Suho asked. Baekhyun shook his head. "She's too young for you, hyung. She's only nineteen.""Can we meet Sarang after school, Baek?" Chen asked excitedly. Baekhyun only grunted a yes, perfectly annoyed at the situation. He felt bad now. He knew how much Sarang has problems with interaction. All her life, she only had Baekhyun and Krystal by her side other than her family. "I'm not going to meet her," Jongin stated as he crushed his burger wrapping into a ball. Kris raised his hands and said the same thing. "But wae?" Tao whined. Kris rolled his eyes and poked Tao's forehead. "Because we need to meet Mr Lee to discuss about the upcoming music festival."The grouped chorused an oh to him and nodded their heads."We gotta go now Kai, Kris sighed as he took one last gulp of his coke and replied to a text on his phone. "Wae?" Jongin asked. He was still eating his food. "Mr Lee just texted me. We need to go now."Jongin snorted in annoyance. "It's not even after school yet, geez.""Yeah man but he's the boss. Let's go!" Kris shrugged. Jongin stopped eating and took a quick drink. They stood up and waved the rest goodbye.Just when Kris and Jongin got out of the cafeteria, two girls stepped in."It's Sarang!" Chen screamed a little too loud excitedly as he pointed to the entrance of the cafeteria. All of them snapped their head to the direction of where he was pointing at.     Sarang, who was only going to accompany her best friend, Krystal, to get some food before going up to the school's rooftop to eat stopped in her tracks when she heard someone screamed her name rather loudly. She looked around for the owner of the loud voice that just called her name. She spotted a group of men sitting with her childhood best friend, Baekhyun. Three of them were standing up and waving for her to come over.Krystal cocked an eyebrow. "Do you know them Sarang?"Sarang shook her head and looked at Krystal, confused."But they're calling you over," Krystal laughed. "But I really have no idea who they are Krys!" Sarang panicked. She never liked attentuon.Baekhyun hushed his friends down and walked over to the two confused girls he had known since he was six. "Hey poopie, hi Antartica!"Sarang greeted Baekhyun back while Krystal simply scoffed at the man. "Pfft, shut up puppy!" Baekhyun giggled at the respond Krystal gave him and turned to Sarang. "Poopie, my friends want to get to know you." The moment Sarang heard what Baekhyun said, she flinched.Sarang was never good with people ever since puberty changed her. She distanced herself away from society and led a quiet life. Whenever people tried to talk to her, she would only wince and simply answer them with a nod or just a few words. Smiling wasn't something she was good at either. She was afraid of smiling. She knew how her lips will curl up differently on each side. She knew how weird she would look like. But what she didn't know was she looked beautiful regardless of her flawed structured."But Baek... You know how I am with people..." Sarang whispered as she looked down at her shoes and fiddled with her fingers nervously. Krystal hugged her best friend and glared at Baekhyun. "Yah, you heard her! Besides, your friends are a bunch of weird circus clowns!" Baekhyun was about to protest when his group of friends came over and stood beside him, looking at the two girls in front of him with wide grins. Too wide that they looked a little like creeps. Especially Kyungsoo."Annyeong. Sarang!" Chen smiled as he waved at the girl. Sarang looked up and let out a small smile. "He...llo.""We're this idiot's best friends!" Suho joked as he smacked the back of Baekhyun's neck. That made Sarang giggled a little causing Chen to smile even wider. "Yah! Why are you smiling at my best friend like that!" Krystal growled and quickly placed her arms around Sarang protectively."Chill out, Krystal! She's so cute that's why!" Chen defended and rolled his eyes."Krys... you know him?" Sarang asked as she looks at Krystal. Krystal nodded her head and explained, "Unfortunately, yes. He's in my joint advanced literature class. He's a douchebag, Sarang. Stay away from him!"Chen widened his eyes at the accusation he just heard fom Krystal. "Yah! I am not a douchebag!""Whatever!" Krystal rolled her eyes and scoffed."Shut up and just introduce yourselves." Baekhyun sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't help but to agree with the statement Krystal told him a few minutes ago. They are a bunch of weird circus clowns, annoying and weird circus clowns. "My name is Kim Jongdae but you can call me Chen." Chen smiled as he held his hand out, anticipating a shake from Sarang. Annoyed, Baekhyun shook his hand instead and turned to Kyungsoo who was beside Chen, "Next!""Yah! That wasn't meant for you!" Chen whined. Baekhyun ignored the younger's protest and look at Kyungsoo."Hello, Sarang. My name is Do Kyungsoo. You can call me Dyo for short though." Kyungsoo smiled. Sarang chuckled inwardly. The latter looked very squishy to her."Hi Sarang! You can call me Tao! I'm half chinese so don't mind my pronounciation. You're very pretty!!" Tao chirped in. Sarang blushed at the compliment but she didn't believe it. She mumbled a thank you and smiled a little. Baekhyun and Krystal looked at their best friend with a proud face. They always knew she was beautiful. "Call me Suho, Suho oppa!" Suho smiled as he stepped forward and brought Sarang's face a little higher to get a better view. Startled, Sarang brushed his hands away. "Sorry Suho sshi, I'm not used to people touching me..." Krystal stepped on Suho's feet and the man yelped in pain. She tightened her grip around Sarang and smirked at Suho. "Yah! Who said you can touch her!" Suho jumped in pain and whimpered. "I didn't mean to be rude! I just wanted to see her face properly. She's really pretty."Baekhyun smirked as well and laughed at Suho's plight inwardly. He knew he didn't really have to do anything to protect Sarang from them with Krystal around."Crazy bulldog." Chen whistled.Krystal pointed to Chen and glared at him. "You! What did you just call me you stupid gnome!"The rest burst out in laughter. Even Sarang was giggling."Alright, settle down. I'm Luhan. And I saw you with Baekhyun this morning. You are very pretty to me, Sarang sshi. Are you single?" Luhan smiled and looked at Sarang with sparkling eyes.Baekhyun didn't like it one bit.Sarang chuckled and shook her head. "You're... funny, Luhan sshi.""Omo! She praised you!" Tao exclaimed and clapped his hands. Sarang tilted her head to the side and blinked her eyes, confused at the panda's reaction."Ignore him Sarang. He's always excited." Baekhyun snorted and pinched Sarang's cheek. She was looking so adorable in Baekhyun's eyes at the moment. Sarang blushed at the action Baekhyun did and nodded her head. Thank God her hair was covering a little of her cheeks that the blush wasn't made obvious to the eyes."I'm Chanyeol! But you can call me happy virus and I'm Baek's best best friend that means you're my best friend too ok!" Chanyeol grinned and shook his head giddily. Sarang giggled at the man's attitude. He really was a happy virus."I'm Zhang Yixing. I'm chinese too, just like Tao. But you can call me Lay." Lay smiled. Sarang nodded her head. "Oh! I'm chinese too by the way!" Luhan chirped in. Sarang nodded her head once more and took note of each and every one of them."My name is Minseok but you can call me Xiumin!" the oldest of the group introduced. "And I am the maknae of the group! Annyeong, Sarang noona! I'm Sehun!' Sehun waved cutely. Sarang chuckled. "Sehun sshi... how would you know I'm a noona?" Sarang asked. Sehun chuckled and just shrugged his shoulder. "Because you remind me of my sister that I always want to protect!" Sarang smiled at the innocent man and nodded. "But I'm 20 this year!" Sehun added in. "Me too." Sarang beamed. "But is it ok for me to call you noona?" Sehun asked with hopeful eyes. Sarang chuckled at the sight. Sarang nodded her head and mumbled a yes. The latter jumped in delight.Baekhyun smiled at the scene happening in front of him. It felt like Sarang was slowly putting her guards down even though it was just a little but to Baekhyun, it was already a great improvement for Sarang to actually be smiling and saying more than three words at most to people other than him and Krystal, or her family.Krystal, who was very protective, loosened up a little and let out a small smile. She felt happy that her best friend was trying and doing her best to socialize. "Actually there's still two of us but they left early for some stupid lame school stuff." Tao shrugged. "Yup. There's one who's as tall as Chanyeol. He looks like an angry bird because of his thick eyebrows. You can just call him Kris. He has too many names, trust me noona, you wouldn't want to know!" Sehun laughed.Sarang nodded her head and giggled. "You guys didn't introduced yourselves to Krystal..." Saramg voiced out. She felt stranged when they only had their attention on her.Chanyeol shook his head and smiled. "No need. We know this block of ice. Baekhyun introduced her to us before."Upon hearing what Chanyeol just said, Sarang felt her heart ached. She wondered why Baekhyun didn't introduced her to his group of friends earlier just like how he did with Krystal. Baekhyun noticed the hurt in Sarang's eyes and realised he was being misunderstood. He only wanted to protect her. Sarang was like a precious gem to him. He didn't like the idea of sharing her.Sarang closed her eyes and shook the pain away. She looked up and let out a smile. A full smile she hardly showed. She thought maybe she would be a little brave once in awhile. "Oh my God!" Tao and Chen screamed."What! What! What!" Suho who was startled, started screaming back."Her smile is so pretty!" Tao and Chen said in unison. Sarang blushed hard and thanked the two boys. But still, she refused to believe them and told herself that they were just being nice."Oh, and the other guy that went off with Kris is Kai. His real name is Kim Jongin." Luhan smiled and informed Sarang before praising her smile as well.Kim Jongin.Kim Jongin.Kim Jongin.The name was stuck in Sarang's head. The name sounded like a beautiful song to her. She was addicted to the name all of a sudden and she haven't even met the person yet but she was already feeling something inside, something fuzzy.