Breaking the Rules (EXO)

16: Wingman

Corina and Kai sat in the deserted teachers lounge, eating the food Kai had brought and laughing loudly. "I'm so serious! I thought that moving here meant I escaped the expectations that people thought for me." Corina said, shaking her head and smiling. "I was expected to stand tall, walk with determination, and speak formally to everyone that could be important and, as my father thought, terribly to those under me. I was supposed to wear only the most appropriate business attire and speak like I knew everything even if I didn't. And I thought moving to Korea would mean there wouldn't be anything to live up to."

"And you were wrong?" Kai asked, continuing to eat his chicken.

Corina nodded. "Very wrong. First off, because of my accent and appearance, I was thought of as some common whore." Kai's chopsticks dropped and he began coughing. Presumably, he had choked on his chicken. "And I mean, obviously blue eyes are a hot commodity around here, so people were constantly stopping me because of my eyes. And my hair," She said, holding a lock of her dark brown hair. "In the sun it's got-"

"A bit of a goldish tint, I know." Kai said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "That had to be, like, one guy-"

Corina shook her head. "Even now I have people try to hand me money and give me the 'bedroom eyes' look." More coughing. "But I'm used to it now. I mean, they can't really get mad if I just take the money, right? They try to hand it to me and assume I don't speak Korean, so I take it and walk away. If I don't speak the language, I don't understand the gesture, right?"

Kai's eyes widened. "You really take those sick guys' money?"

Corina laughed. "Of course not!" She said, shaking her head. "Not today."

He shook his head. "You have it pretty bad but... it's like that for everyone here."

"Really?" Corina asked, though she meant for it to sound sarcastic.

Kai nodded. "I mean, I thought I was living up to my expectation, I'm making money, I have a place to live and food to eat, but I constantly hear about how my physique could be better, my personality could be better, in fact my appearance could be better." He shook his head. "But I figured it was no big deal."

Corina's expression dropped. "What?" She asked, and he shrugged, continuing to eat. "Who said that to you?" She asked, and he shrugged again. "Kai, ew! Don't believe that! You're fine! Your personality is fine, your whatever that word means is fine, your appearance is fine-"

"Physique and can I just point out that you kind of called my face fine." He said, winking and then looking down at his food, trying not to smile, but failing and shaking his head. "I'm flattered."

Corina frowned. "Way to ruin a perfectly good time, Kai." She said flatly. Immediately, he looked up at her, surprised. Her expression had become stoney. "I'm finished," She said, dropping her chopsticks and standing. "Please see yourself out," She said, collecting her trash and moving to the corner of the room, where the rubbish bin was.

Nari turned towards Sehun, who was standing beside the fridge, cutting an onion on one of Nari's cutting boards. His eyes were turning red and he was sniffling. Nari had taught him how to cut the onion in a way that would keep him from getting teary, but clearly he hadn't listened.

She walked to his side and crossed her arms. "So," She said, smiling widely. "I guess you didn't like my method?"

Sehun shook his head, using his sleeve to wipe his eyes. "I thought I was doing it right." He said, gesturing to the onions.