Dull [Book III]

Anger

Lay stared at Chen who was holding their compiled assignment, about to be passed forward to the front on Friday morning. He had gone straight home for the past two nights and let his partner hold onto their work instead of keeping it in his flat.

If he was being completely honest, Lay had felt this sinking sensation with a mix of that familiar self-denial while his mind drifted off to Tao's apartment. Of course, Soojung went there with the rest of his friends to finish her story with Minah, and he had been thinking about what she was doing or if she speculated reasons in her head about why he didn't show up.

The only thing that was even more uncomfortable was how Soojung turned on her seat every once in a while to look at Lay, give him an unexplainable look, and then face front again.

"Is she alright?" Chen mumbled, looking down on his notes but Lay absolutely got the message. "She's been doing that for days. Even I am getting uncomfortable because I know you are."

"Let her be." Lay uttered under his breath. "It's doesn't mean anything."

"Hyung, I think you've been confusing her for the past days. Unintentionally, I mean." Chen glanced at him once before looking at his notebook again. "I guess she wants an explanation for how you behave, at least. It's an unexpected shift."

Lay furrowed his eyebrows and gazed upon Chen. "Why would she care? We're not close with one another."

"You knew her first before any of us and she came from a... different environment." Chen pointed out, referring to Soojung's previous section. "Would you have liked it if Luhan hyung avoided you when you first arrived in this country after talking once?"

"Not so much." Lay mumbled.

"Exactly, so talk to her later." Chen nodded. "I don't even know why you suddenly became aloof. This is not like you."

"I'm not aloof." Lay disagreed and shook his head curtly, even though he felt his heart pound in nervousness. Did Chen sense it? Did he know?

"Yeah, right." Chen nodded again, but scoffed with it. "You don't reply to texts, you talk in shorter sentences and we barely saw you at lunch yesterday and the day before that... and the day before that."

"I was at the hideout to get fresh air." Lay reasoned out. He closed his notebook and sat up straight, attempting to not look like he was hiding something from his friend. Come to think of it, was he hiding something? He himself didn't know what was wrong with him.

"Why?" Chen asked and closed his notebook as well, squinting towards his seatmate. "Be honest with me, hyung. Is there something bothering you?"

"It's nothing, Jongdae. You're being paranoid." Lay huffed and looked up once to see if Soojung was still glancing at him from time to time. He caught her eye and quickly broke his gaze, sight darting down to his lap. "So is Soojung."

***

Looking back, checking on one person, making sure he wouldn't get out of the room immediately, Soojung thought that she was being extremely creepy but she couldn't help it. As soon as the eleven o'clock bell rang, she was on her feet and went to the back area with quick and long strides. Lay was shoving his things in his bag and only noticed her when she tapped his shoulder lightly, the initial reaction being confused with a bit of surprise.

He smiled and that's when Soojung lost her cool because she knew that it wasn't genuine. She was a tad bit frustrated at him for being that way and Soojung especially hated the fake emotion.

"Is everything alright — "

"Do we have a problem?" She asked straightforwardly, cutting him off. Soojung's hands closed into fists. Lay's friends and a few of their classmates were looking at her like she had just kicked a puppy, but it wasn't like she gave a fuck. They could stare at her all day for all she cared.