The 1 Rule - haobin

hate, like

<flashback>

Hao sighs and bows his head towards me before starting to walk away. I suddenly remember something and grab his hand. The boy turns his head sharply and looks at my hand holding his. He then looks up at me with a questioning face

"Oh, sorry," I say, letting go of him "I just wanted to say thank you"

"For what?"

"For helping my sister out yesterday. That could've been a really bad punch if you hadn't stopped it" I say, smiling. Hao doesn't smile, but he does shrug, not that it makes the situation any better. I wonder if he doesn't like me. He clearly took Cho's orders to not talk to me too seriously.

"If it wasn't me, then who else would've done it?" he says curtly, then turns to walk away.

<end of flashback>

What does he even mean by that? Does he think that I was being a coward yesterday? I look at the guy that is walking, shoving the book into his bag. 

"Wait up!" I say. Hao looks around and I can visibly see him sigh. Nevertheless, I run up to his side and dramatically sigh to mirror what he just did a few seconds ago.

"What did you mean by that?" I ask

"By what?"

" You said that if it wasn't you that would've done, it, no one else would've done it," I say

"Well, yeah"

"What did you mean by that?" I repeat

"I mean, I stopped the boy exactly in time. If I hadn't stopped him, it would've been too late." Hao says, lazily looking at me

"Oh."

"Are you done now? Can I go to class?" Hao asks sarcastically

"Yeah? You don't need my permission-"

"Hao!" a girl interrupts me, jumping towards us and taking Hao's arm with a proud face. Immediately, Hao's facial expression changes, from being bored and annoyed to being kind and happy. He smiles brightly at the girl

"Hey! What's up?"

"My hard work paid off! I got perfect grades for almost all of my classes, all thanks to you" she says, practically screaming. I look at her and feel a sense of uncomfortableness. Most of all, I feel weird from being a spectator of the scene in front of me. The girl is grabbing Hao's arms tightly, in a very intimate way, and her full body is nearly touching his. Even their faces are close to each other's.

"No, Yuna, (not the itzy Yuna, I was just too lazy to find another name) it's not because of me. It's because you worked really hard. Don't thank me, and be proud of yourself instead" says Hao, smiling. I see his head tilt a little, indicating that he is uncomfortable at the abnormally small distance between his face and hers. Yuna smiles and looks at him in the eyes. I see them being wide, just like how Cho does when she looks at me, but for some reason, Yuna's eyes make me feel uneasy and disgusted. How do Cho's make me feel? Is it the same feeling as before?

I cough to make the girl notice that I'm there, and surely enough, she turns her head to look at me, separating herself a little from Hao. She smiles weakly at me and then turns around to look back at Hao

"Well, I'll get going then! Bye!" she says and skips away, giving us both one last wave of her hand. I look at Hao who is calmly dusting off his sleeves.

"Remind me why you're still here, again?" he says, and after only a few seconds, I notice that he's talking to me. I look at him and for once, I notice the dark circles around his eyes. I notice how his eyes blink continuously, definitely from being tired. 

"You don't have to always be perfect, you know?" I say. Hao looks at me

"If I need someone to give me advice, I'll ask. And you're definitely not one of the people I will ask" Hao says. His words sounded angry, but his face just looks tired. I feel... hurt? I don't like it when people hate me. I need to know the reason

"Why do you hate me so much?" I ask

"I don't hate you"

"Then why do you act like that?"

"Like what?" he asks, even though he clearly knows

"Don't act clueless. You're always acting so rude toward me" I say, slightly annoyed

"I don't hate you. I just don't like you" he replies, looking away

"Oh, because that's a lot better," I say sarcastically "Why don't you like me, then?"

"Hanbin, I need to go to class. We'll talk later" Hao says, ready to leave, but I get in his way

"No. I just want to know what I've done. Is it because of Cho?"

"Get out of my way," Hao demands, looking up at me with fierce eyes. Eyes that I've never noticed to look at before. They are narrow, and not big at all compared to Cho's. 

"No. Tell me, is it because of Cho?"

"I'll be late to class," Hao says. his voice is calm, but his eyes are shooting lasers

"I couldn't care less. Hao, I hate it when people don't like me for no reason" I say, exasperated 

"And I couldn't care less. Now please get out of my way, before someone sees us like this" Hao says. I look at him in confusion but then come to the realization that we're very close. Nearer than of what I thought. I step back, coughing

"I wasn't talking about that," says Hao "I meant that they're gonna see me punch you in a few seconds if you don't leave me alone. That'll probably ruin my reputation" 

"Oh my god, Hao, don't make things difficult. Just tell me why you don't like me and I'll leave you alone" I say, rolling my eyes. Nevertheless, Hao doesn't stop the eye contact. He sighs and clutches at his bag

"Fine, I'll tell you why I don't like you. At first, it was because Cho told me to not get close to any of her friends, but now, I don't like you because you get on my goddamn nerves" he says "Can I go now?" he asks, looking at me with a bored but angry expression. I nod, and the boy pushes past me and leaves. 

Well... I didn't expect it to go down like that

♡♡♡

Nooo my dad talked abt my kpop obsession in front of a guy I like, like dawg why would you do thattt 😨😭🕳️👩‍🦯

Anyways, haobin contentttt

Also, why does Hanbin even care if Hao doesn't like him? Why does it bother him? And what if that wasn't the reason as to why Hao really doesn't like Hanbin? Or does he really get in Hao's nerves? 

Idkkk 🤷‍♀️

(stream 'queendom' by red velvet)