Sentience

33

A nasty look from Chanhee painting Changmin's day on the campus. It wasn't really nasty for someone pretty like him, but Changmin would rather describe it that way because a friend would never compliment another friend.

Every so often, Chanhee had been scoffing when he glanced over at his long-neck friend; the desire to roll his eyes was held back. However, surprisingly, Changmin hadn't responded to the scoff or the glare his best friend shot. In a simple word, he did not care at all.

"Does it make you feel glamorous today?" Chanhee asked as they trailed the hallway full of students loitering, whispering among themselves as they shot the two some weird looks.

Being watched daily was normal for their circle. But, today, seeing some students, mostly girls, look hopeless, some were sad, and some were surprised for what seemed like they finally discovered the hot tea for the day felt weird.

"Ignore them..." Changmin said, zero interest in his surroundings as he kept checking his phone.

At that, Chanhee couldn't help scoffing. His best friend looked so leisurely saying that like he was the most unbothered person on Earth. Nonetheless, he could've guessed how miserable Changmin's heartbeats right now upon the mess he created himself.

When they stopped by the locker room to collect some books, Juyeon and Kevin were already there talking with each other. Or perhaps, they also were discussing the tea. Hearing some footsteps nearing, they whipped their head in the direction just to have an amused look drawn on their faces.

"Ji Changmin has gone another level," Juyeon then opened his arms wide to engulf the said boy who was striding closer just to be shoved away. "Popularity makes you cocky. I see..."

"What kind of nonsense you're talking about?" The boy might look unfazed but damn, Chanhee was right; his heartbeats were thumping crazily today. It was so hard to keep the facade on at this rate.

But, he could confirm that this feeling he had wasn't fear. It was more to nervousness because he had taken a brazen move in doing something he hadn't before. He wasn't scared of what people would say or think about him, neither did he worry if it could taint his image or popularity. He was just being nervous because another demeanour had been pulled into this matter.

"Why now, though?" Kevin then questioned, fully curious. "You could've done it from the beginning but you didn't."

Changmin glanced over his shoulder, seeing Kevin lean against the metal locker, truly invested in his answer. But, Ji Changmin didn't think he had the answer. Because for some kind of reason, he felt regret for not doing this earlier.

"Right..." Changmin trailed off, lingering his gaze everywhere as if the neurons in his head would be working only when he did that. "I-"

"No, wait! Hey!"

Changmin was eventually cut when a ruckus was heard, garnering the attention of all 4 of the boys to look in the direction where it started. A glimpse of a furious girl was seen stomping her feet closer to their position and a frantic girl trailing behind who seemed to stop any disaster from happening.

When the first girl took a halt, sharply eyeing the circle, Chanhee, Kevin and Juyeon immediately darted their gazes to Changmin, knowing that it was him who needed to be blamed. He was the one who needed to extinguish the bright flame burning.

"What if... we look for Eric?" Kevin then spoke up, beckoning to the other two; Changmin was excluded, with his eyes to leave the sacred place. The appearance of the females was so obvious that they weren't welcome to interrupt.

And so, the three started to move, going past the first girl who was still trying to steady her breath; either she was panting or she was holding back anger.