Badboy (Exo Kai)

CHAPTER 12

"What?" You sputter. That's the least intelligent response you could have come up with.

"You. Me. Date. Now. Come on," he urges, suddenly taking your hand and pulling you to your feet.

"Wait ... " This is way too unexpected. You don't know what to do with yourself. "I ... my bag ... "

"Right here," he says, turning around to show you that he's got your bag hanging from his shoulder. He moves his hand so that he's taken hold of your wrist, and he pulls you along. You try to keep up with his long gait, but it's difficult, especially since you haven't prepared yourself for this at all.

Does this mean Kai likes you? That has to be it. Nobody just randomly asks a girl to go on a date with him unless there were some personal feelings involved. But if Kai ... if Kai is just doing this because he's Kai, and that's what Kai does, then ...

"What?" Kai asks you, interrupting your thoughts. His fingers are so warm, his touch so assuring. "You don't want to go on a date with me?"

"It's not that ... " you mutter, embarrassed.

"So you do want to go?"

You give him a look. He isn't making this easy. He just smiles, that infuriatingly gorgeous, tight-lipped smile, and finally lets go of your wrist. The moment is instantaneous, and as soon as he lets go of his grip on you, your skin feels bare. You clench and unclench your hand before returning it to your side.

"Where are we going?" You ask him cautiously. The orange sunset plays a spectrum of colors on the back of his head, casting his hair and clothes in a halo-like glow. Why does he always have to look so perfect - fluffy hair and all? "And don't tell me 'you'll see'," you add, making sure he understands what you're trying to imply. "I'm not that easy."

"I didn't think you were," he retorts. There aren't many students lounging around at this time. You assume that most of them are in their dorms, chatting to one another or doing homework, something you should have finished long ago. You doubt you can get any school work done tonight, not if Kai is planning to take you out on this surprise date.

And what is he planning, exactly? You can't tell. You can't figure out what he wants to do, because he's heading for the class building, and you have no idea what's so romantic about that.

"So why'd you miss school?" You ask in an attempt to carry a conversation.

He pulls open the door to the class building and calmly walks down the pristine white tiles. "I didn't want to go," he says simply, although you can tell by the tone of his voice that something had popped up. His words don't sound like a complete lie. "I don't see why you care. I've skipped school tons of times."

"Actually, I’m surprised he’s been going to school straight for two weeks now. He usually misses a class once a week."

Hyunsoo's words ring in your ears as you trail behind Kai. The sound of your steps on the floor ring ominously down both sides of the empty hallway, and Kai doesn't make an attempt to keep the conversation going. You quietly follow him, not paying attention to the turns he has taken until he stops abruptly, almost making you bump into him. You look up to see him standing in front of a closed door, and when you look left and right in order to identify where you are, you realize that you're in the unused wing of the school. This is Kai's private 'club' room, isn't it? What are you doing here? Is this where he plans to have his 'date'?

"Here," he says, throwing you your book bag. You barely manage to catch it as he takes out a key from his pocket and inserts it into the lock. With a flick of the wrist, he releases the lock and turns the knob slowly, pushing the door open in the process. He switches the lights on and walks forward, authoritatively entering the room. You look around you, realizing you've never really taken a good look at this room before. The only thing you remember are the glow-in-the-dark stars plastered on the ceiling, and you unconsciously look up to assure yourself of their presence. They're still there, although their glow is lost in the light that already floods the room. There's the radio Kai had used the first time you had met him, sitting near the mirror wall. There's a bench, too, and a few empty boxes lying around. Other than the commodious size of this rejected dance room, it looks just as it has always been. The only difference is that you're here on Kai's invitation, an invitation you don't even fully understand.