Dull [Book III]

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Lay threw his phone on the passenger seat after replying to a text and pulled out of the parking lot with five more cars behind him. The weather was bright unlike yesterday and it was as if nature really wanted them to come to the rink. He was focused on the road and tried to shun the underlying excitement for a match he had never seen before.

It wasn't long until M was in the familiar place and Lay smiled at the sight of six more black cars already parked near the entrance of the rink, in contrary to Kris who had his eyebrows furrowed and fists closed. They went in and sure enough, Lay saw Soojung's group at the edge of the rink where they always were.

Her expression was unreadable and when they went up, Sunyoung saw him instead and waved. So did the twins. Seunghyun nodded to acknowledge him.

"Hi." Sunyoung began and glanced at his group of friends. "I'm glad you could make it."

"I wanted to watch." Lay smiled.

"Well, the match gets more exciting when the crowd's big." Sunyoung said and proceeded to look around the area. Lots of people were there, anticipating the stunt contest between the two groups. Lay had never imagined the audience to be that many, but the hype it gave got him curious.

Sunyoung left him for a second to stretch and get her skateboard, after which Tao pointed to a distance and spoke up.

"Did Suho hyung know about this?" The M maknae asked, eyes following at the same direction. Lay nodded and small smiled, but quickly turned to a poker face to keep Kris from suspecting something. After all, Soojung told Lay to bring as many people as he could, and nobody had to know that he texted Kai anyway. He explained everything to the K member last night and asked if they could come and watch as well.

It wasn't long until Soojung approached him with a smirk, crossing her arms over her chest. "Hey."

"When will it start?" Lay asked, grinning towards her.

"Wait a bit more." She answered. "I saw you all pull over at the same time."

"Well, we slept at Luhan's last night and went straight here." He explained. Lay noticed something and gulped before looking down at Soojung and asking carefully. "Where's your Jiyong?"

Soojung's expression fell and she shook her head. "He won't make it."

"Right." Lay nodded, unsurprised with her boyfriend ditching them all.

"He's not in Seoul right now."

Lay was about to say something, but his eyes landed on Jaejin's recognizable cocky aura, obvious from the way he walked and swung his board back and forth. The crowd started cheering and Soojung went down near the middle with her group to meet the opposite, striding in a tall stance to intimidate the guys who challenged them.

Lay had never seen Soojung so fired up for something and his anticipation went to the roof as well as his friends. Minah came next to him and crossed her arms over her chest, smirking while she watched the people discuss their rules and whatnot.

"What made her invite you?" Minah asked. "Even more, what made her invite me?"

"You have so much in common." Lay shrugged. "You just don't notice because you're both enclosed in your own bubbles."

Minah nodded, but didn't really agree. "Tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Did Soojung invite K too, or were you the one responsible?" Minah asked, sight darting to a far edge of the rink where Suho and his group stood. Lay followed and shook his head slightly.

"Don't tell Kris." He whispered.

"I won't." She nodded. "I understand."

Soojung's group went back up except for Seunghyun, and Jaejin's group went up to the side near K. The guy left in the middle shouted the rules they had agreed on and Hyorim prepared to slide down on the tall ramp, across one guy from the other group. The match was plain and simple: whoever the audience thought is incredible with stunts, wins.