Toward the Walk of Shame

21 {Suzy}

Sehun's accusations were like gunshots. Not because they were loud, but because of the intensity of his words. How dare he?

As though it had a mind of its own, my hand rose to slap him. He didn't flinch at all. To be honest, I could have sworn he leaned down a bit so it would be easier to hit him.

I stopped and lowered my head back to my side. "Never mind. You're right."

His face looked pained. "Wait, I didn't mean it like that," Sehun began, his hand reaching toward my arm.

For the first time, I barely paid attention to his touch. Nothing registered in my head. Not the fact that we're in the middle of the hallway. Not the audience who was trying to hear us. Nothing, I just wanted to get away from him.

"We both knew what we were getting into. And we knew the limits of this relationship. I was the one that got things mixed up. I'm so stupid." My voice turned sweet and calm. And indifferent. Like I was ordering a sandwich for lunch.Not wanting the pickles.

"No, you're not -"

I moved away from him. "But everything's ended up pretty well. People stopped gossiping about us a long time ago. Maybe we should end it. I've been waiting for ages for things to go back to normal."

"You have?" Now it was his turn to be surprised.

"Of course. I'll even talk you out to dinner to celebrate our breakup. Somewhere nice. But until then, remember our deal. Not cheating on each other," I joked halfheartedly. The lump in my throat grew until I could barely talk anymore. I had to get out of here. I cleared my throat and smiled at him, a wide, beaming smile that hopefully hid the way I was feeling. "I have to go to class, but I'll see you after school."

His mouth opened as though he wanted to argue with me. My heart soared when his grip on my arm tightened, only to crash to the ground when he let go. "See you later."

__Toward the Walk of Shame__

I didn't know why I was so mad at Sehun. So Seulgi was putting the moves on Sehun. Big surprise. Like he said, we weren't anything to each other. A few kisses didn't mean that we were dating. Nothing had changed.

Except me. Why was I so stupid to think that we could - that he might -

Stupid. STUPID. Stupid.

I needed something to do. Something to distract me. And I knew the perfect solution. With the deadline for the new issue of More Voices just days away, Minho would be holed in the media room so he could go over each article and piece himself to make sure it was perfect. Each issue was his baby.

I stared at the media-room door and tried to forget about Sehun. At least for a few hours.

With an unsteady hand, I opened the door. Minho's body was hunched over pieces of paper that were spread out on the table. The tie he wore with his white button-down shirt was loosened until it was nearly untied. His shirttail poked out of his dark jeans.

The first thing I noticed - besides how tired he looked - was that he needed a haircut. Badly. His black hair repeatedly fell into his eyes, and he absentmindedly batted it out of the way. He alternated between chewing on his thumb and his lower lip as he moved between the pieces around. His eyes squinted as he tried to visualize the order they should go in.

I shut the door with a bang. He looked up and smiled, the familiar smile that had tugged my heart since the first time I met him. "You're late. Did Mr. Hong keep your class back talking about his wonderful son again?"

Minho didn't take physics. He had lucked out and was placed in the honors microbiology class upon his parents' request. But he'd heard me complain about Mr. Hong a thousand times. "No, I had stuff to do."