Quiet [Book IV]

Bad Dream

Friday was a bit freaky.

When lunchtime came, Kai went down with his friends as usual and made their way to the double doors. He was unusually observant of the people around him when months ago, he wouldn't have given a shit. His eyes roamed everywhere and saw details, something he missed those days he was trapped in his own bubble.

Kai gazed at the people around him one by one and studied them. The leaders were calm and not trying to kill each other with stares, probably because that would cause a fight and they were all staying on the down low as it was nearing graduation. No one wanted to be in trouble.

Best friends Chanyeol and Baekhyun were their normal selves, telling jokes and laughing nonstop like fools and more often than they should, pissing Kyungsoo off with their teasing. The shortest boy had this murderous flare in his eyes like any second he would devour the two alive, and Kai laughed mentally at the sight. Kyungsoo was not Kyungsoo if he didn't have the desire to hit anybody until they suffer.

Everybody knew that Luhan was the lightest member – not in the literal sense. He was approachable more than any of them and smiled a lot, even when he didn't know the names of those who stared at him like he was some precious angel that came down from the heavens to save humanity. He was so bright with girls, to the point where Kai speculated the older was flirting publicly, a peacock displaying his flamboyant feathers, shamelessly showing off because he knew he was blessed with good looks. And Kai was right, proven five seconds later when Luhan winked at one of their female schoolmates and Kai swore she appeared like she was ready to drop dead.

In direct divergence, Kai's eyes landed on Chen. The hyung he knew to be very jovial and energetic was surrounded by this invisible barrier, dark and bad. His eyes were sharp and lips were pressed together, and in truth, Kai was too afraid to talk to him as the older seemed like he was only there to drag people in his space. Kai began to question. Were heartbreaks really that terrible? Chen had not been himself for too long.

Behind the broken were two people, very much contented in their relationships. The process of Xiumin and Lay ending up with their girlfriends had been a roller coaster and that gave Kai a flash of hope after the downfall from Chen's story. Perhaps when whatever's going on between him and Jihyo becomes official, he'd learn to smile so wide like them every day because life offered him good stuff.

Tao was doing the exact same thing as Kai, looking at people, weighing them by appearance and gestures and the words they blurt out. He was probably the most unpredictable M member and Kai knew that Tao hid so much, be it a personal secret or another person's, making him unreliable to those who aren't close to him. Strangers would think he was just as impassive as Kai used to be, but deep within, both M and K were aware of Tao's enigmatic side.

Kai's head turned when they reached the ground floor and scrutinized the youngest. Sehun's transition from being a guy who was audacious despite the lack of emotion on his face to being as dangerous as the M leader was just a flash of color to Kai's eyes. He didn't exactly miss the old Sehun, but sure as hell didn't want to feel that someday either. Kai felt a bit bad about counting the negatives in his group of friends – and former friends, technically – but then, a name that reached his ear caught his attention.

Moon Ji-hyo.

Kai's head darted to the direction of whoever said it. The voice of a girl, and then another, Blondie's name followed by a line of words that he disliked.

"Who is she, anyway?" There it was again.

Kai felt a nudge on his side and looked down at a curious Suho, eyes going along with Kai and trying to find whoever it was he was searching for. "What's wrong?"