new friends

THE 'IT BOY' (II)

Choi Yeonjun was determined. That's about all the good things I can say about his working style. To put things a little more bluntly, he was a stubborn and petty piece of shit who did not know when to let things go.

After our little interaction, he had flipped the entire world over to look for everyone who knew or interacted with Yangyang and I during our high school years and one-by-one interrogated them about our relationship. Whenever he hears that Renjun and I were the more likely couple, that motherfucker would get mad as fuck, which I couldn't even fully tell whether amused or enraged me.

Finally when he found people- just a bunch of Yangyang and I's classmates- who supported his point about Yangyang's feelings, he was all proud and smug, trying to rub it in my face.

When I tried to ask Yangyang to stop him, the Liu boy merely grinned.

"Don't worry," he attempted to placate me when I got mad at him, "Yeonjun's attention span is pretty short. He'd be over it in a few more days."

Yangyang was wrong.

Not only did Choi Yeonjun decide he was going to dig harder down this meaningless track, my bestfriend Renjun- who usually turned both ears and closed both eyes to school rumours- got invested.

Just exactly like it was in high school, when Renjun called, both Yangyang and I came running like loyal dogs.

"What is this I'm hearing about the both of you?" the Huang boy barked, slamming a hand down on the table between the three of us, making both Yangyang and I jump. "I'm giving the two of you one chance to fess up. Speak now!"

We were currently at a cafe that was of an equidistant distance between the Business, Arts and Engineering blocks and it was filled with students from all mentioned school.

All who've stopped in mid-conversations and were trying their very best to pretend to look like they were completely not interested in our conversation.

"Geez," both Yangyang and I muttered in unexpected unison and Renjun narrowed his eyes into dangerous slits.

"There's nothing between us, really," the Liu boy said, throwing both his hands up. "She doesn't like me that way." His tone turned sulky, "In fact, I doubt she actually even likes me at all, she's always avoiding me in school."

"I mean, can you really blame me?" I complained, frowning at him. "Everytime I get some what involved with you, the backlash is ten times more than it's worth!" Turning back to Renjun, I straightened out my face. "He doesn't like me too. End of issue."

Yangyang bristled, but said none, probably scared of triggering the ticking time bomb sitting in front of us.

"If that's so, will the two of you go and tell Choi Yeonjun?" Renjun snapped. "I've been interrogated so times this week about the same thing, even I am starting to question how much I know about y'all."

"I have told Yeonjun!" I defended myself, leaving that hoe Yangyang to fend for himself. It's a survival game here, each for their own, y'all. "I told Yangyang to do too. But this motherfucker here did not."

The Liu boy gave me a sour look, "Throwing me under the bus after all the drinks I contributed change for, love?"

I stuck my tongue out at him childishly. "I paid you back, Liu. We're on even grounds."

Yangyang opened his mouth to argue, but before he could say anything, Renjun shot the both of us an irritated look.

"I can't believe everyone thinks you two like each other," the Huang boy scoffed. "Is bickering like children the new trending trope? Ridiculous."

"Exactly," I agreed, catching the glimmer of hope to get out of this cafe unscathed. "We're 100% incompatible, don't worry."

"Yeah, exactly, no worries," Yangyang caught on quickly, clearly not in the top ten percentile of his cohort for nothing. "Byun's going to marry a hot Engineer and live her rich housewife dream. We had this discussion before, the three of us. Remember? We planned it out."

Well, I do not remember and I'm pretty sure the Liu boy made it up on a whim, so I too did my best to gaslight Renjun into believing it happened. "Exactly," I chimed in. "And Yangyang said he was going to marry a pretty Arts student! If anything, I should be asking if the two of you have anything going on."

The Liu boy discreetly shot me the stinkiest of stink eyes. "No, we do not," he huffed. "Well, now that everything has been cleared up, can we please change the topic? The amount of eyes on us here and now is making our extremely pleasant meet-up unbeatably uncomfortable."

With a final suspicious glance between the two of us, Renjun moved on to complaining about his dorm life, and both Yangyang and I exhaled in quiet relief.

Although neither of us said a word, I know for sure I was not the only one who made a mental note never to get winded up in this drama again. That was too scary, holy shit.

"You know," the Liu boy said when Renjun excused himself to use the washroom. "I may have made the whole marry a hot Engineer thing up, but I can foresee that happening."

I barely suppressed the laugh that threatened spilling from my lips. "Engineer, yeah. Hot Engineer? Maybe not. Have you any idea how hideous 97% of the cohort is?"

The grin that pulled at Yangyang's lips was a little lop-sided, but unmistakable nonetheless. "Oh I do, but," he leaned towards me, raising his mug. "You will land one of the 3%, that I'm sure. In fact, I bet ten cartons of strawberry milk that one coming through the doors will be the first." He clinked his mug against mine and sipped at his drink, sly smile hidden by his cup.

As if on queue, the bells on the café door chimed and a very familiar figure stepped in, closing his umbrella behind him. It was only then I realised it was drizzling outside and a whole hour had passed since I sat down here.

"Hye, we should go. Our next class got shifted up," Yeosang frowned when he neared my table, completely ignoring the Liu boy who was casually sipping his coffee. "You didn't get the update?"

I fished my phone out of my pocket. The battery was flat and neither Yangyang nor Renjun carried portable chargers either, so I'd been living life pretty dangerously. "Sorry, didn't realise my phone went dead after the previous class."

"No wonder Hwa said he couldn't reach you," the Kang boy sighed, rummaging through his possessions for his portable charger. "Let's go, the next class is in five minutes. Have you said goodbye to your other friend?" He pointedly ignored Yangyang who was trying his best to laugh quietly.

"No worries," the Liu boy said between grins and giggles. "I'll let Injun know. You two go for class." He tipped his head pointedly at me. "Stay in touch?"

"Only if you clear everything up with Yeonjun," I countered. "Or I'll tell Injun."

"Snitches get stitches, love," he tutted, unfazed by my childishness. "Let's throw a 'don't run the other direction when we see each other in campus' in the mix too, at that."

"As long as you contribute change for my drinks now and then."

The corners of his eyes wrinkled, "Deal."

It was quite surprising how fast word spread nowadays, really.

Exactly three hours after the little café meetup, Yeonjun was hot on my heels, looking furious.

"This is not the end, Byun," the It-Boy fumed. "You just wait, love."

While I never understood why he was so determined to play Cupid to the worst match Heaven ever saw, I decided that asking was probably going to bring more trouble than the answer was worth so I kept my mouth shut.

"Of course, Choi."

a/n: vote and comment~