❦ ♪

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN : say the name!!

"i admit i'm jealous."

❦ ♪

— mei pov.
- 3rd person.

yun<3
@yunjeez

hii

yunji...!

i have something to ask you

what is it

do you know about youngjae's
dad's new music store?

what

his dad opened a music store
recently you know..

oh cool
why did i need to know this

oh ykk, you could come with hao
or smt one day :) im being hired
to work there so

lol ok

you should really check it out!!

ok

are you still mad at me?

what does it look like

is it because i stole your ex boyfriend
or because of what happened at the
party or bc of zhanghao

eh i'm always mad at you but you could
say those were the reasons too

oh i'm sorry

it's not okay and i'm not sorry for pushing
you on the ground that night❤️

okay fair enough lmao still same
old mei aren't you

no as soon as i walked through those
gates i'm not that bad

not even a fight?

only arguments

ohh, so your behaviour is good?

idk what you'd consider good but yea

that's surprising i thought you would
still be a fucking bitch and everyone
would hate you

tough luck babe i'm actually nice to
some specific people and they like me

okay.. but have you made friends?

yeah like i'm in two friendgroups and
everyone else is irrelevant

😭😭 okay then i guess it's an
upgrade from having one friend
group and hating everyone else

lol

so you're fine not okay with youngjae?

no he can suck his mum

oh lol
how about hao?

smash

what..

idk why ur acting all calm w me bc i know
what ur like lmfao i'm not stupid

right okay then sorry

you should be

bro why are you still mad about
everything

idk cause you're a bitch

so are you

touché

i don't even like youngjae anymore

ok neither do i what does he have
to do with this?

oh really i thought you were still
not over him lmao

that's balls i got over him in like a day

ohh so you like that hanbin guy?

yeah

oh fr?????

don't get too excited i know you're still
a freak when it comes to zhanghao

and what are you gonna do

eh i'm not gonna do anything i'm not
gonna fight over some cunt

oh so you don't like him? like
actually don't want to be his
friend??

no u can have him

can you set me up with him?

no tf i was joking

hm fine then whatever i'll still try

good look with that one then💀

okay but fr come with hao when u come
visit plsssss

fuck off

did u forget to take your anger
management pills or smt??💀💀
seen

❦ ♪

holy trinity
3 members

gyuvin

gyuvin:
me and ricky when we walked past
your house yesterday

WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING
ON MY STREET KIM GYUVIN

gyuvin:
Kim ricky and i had a sleepover ❤️

ricky:
unfortunately

ricky:
jk we were gossiping

about what

gyuvin:
what happened the other day x

gyuvin:
and um i made a teeny mistake

What did you do

gyuvin:
Ummmm i looked through rickys
texts bc he let me but i accidentally
went too high up and saw your lil
story about hao x

THE KISSING ONEJSKDFK

gyuvin:
Yes and i want to say something

ricky:
don't say it ur gonna expose hao

WHAT
omg is he in love with me

ricky:
....no!

ricky:
bit too delulu there

gyuvin:
Let's just say i remember hao telling
me he went to that club ❤️and like

SO IS IT CONFIRMED THAT I KISSED
THE LOVE OF MY LIFE THERE

ricky:
CAN YOU PICK A SIDE DO YOU
HATE HIM OR NOT HELP

i love him (i'm only saying this bc i
kissed him before.)

gyuvin:
UGH I WANTED AN ARC WHERE
YOU TWO DIDNT KNOW EACH
OTHER AT ALL AND YOU'VE
ALREADY KISSED.

guys when is he ever down to kiss me
again i'm being so srs my delusions have
been fed before they even started

ricky:
probably never!

ricky:
genuine question was he actually
a good kisser to the point you've
non stop been thinking about that
kiss orrrr

Fucking amazing  ❤️ best Night of
my life besides being broken up with

gyuvin:
dw you might date him

gyuvin:
only if hao realises who he actually
likes instead of being a hater

ricky:
GYUVIN STFU

ricky:
don't feed her delusions

ricky i thought we were Best Friends

gyuvin:
well i'm your bestfriend now

ricky:
NO WHAT

ricky:
MEI IM BASICALLY HAOS YOUNGER
BROTHER I KNOW EVERYTHING ABT
HIM SO I CAN ALWAYS HELP U

Ok ricky i see how it is
Gyuvin forever

gyuvin:
big fat L

gyuvin:
L ricky

HAHAHA
anyways i'm super in love with hao and
i'm going to be even more obsessed with
him than i already was goodnight x

ricky:
...okay!

gyuvin:
watch them argue tomorrow

❦ ♪

— zhanghao pov.
- 3rd person.

hao was almost never this pissed off, especially over a girl. all he wanted was to have a life like hers: effortlessly perfect. although he was already not satisfied with his life, meeting the girl made him hate it even more.

hao was the sweetest guy on campus, everyone loved him and he would always give you a smile even if he didn't know you. no wonder he was always so popular – especially when it comes to being a love interest.

yet a month ago, a girl had joined his university and crushed his status; his personality had become quite cold, always arguing with mei every chance he gets.

he was obviously still loved by all students and teachers, but seeing this side of him come out over a girl with good grades was shocking.

does he think he's smarter than mei? yes. does he think she's smart? yes. but does he like being her partner? no. does he enjoy the arguments? maybe. and most importantly, does he have feelings for her? who knows.

does he hate mei? very much – to the point his parents (who he doesn't even like) noticed his attitude changing from their innocent, sweet prodigy to someone more colder.

he was eating by himself at the dinner table as his parents ate earlier without him, scrolling on his phone out of boredom. his parents don't let him out on weekends anymore due to the evaluations, leaving him lonely with his phone.

his parents were currently cleaning their house, and compared to the other children in the school, he didn't live in some mansion in a private neighbourhood like everyone else.

his parents lived a comfortable life with hao being their only child, they spoiled him and showered him with love from birth. but as he got older, like a 'normal' parent, they stopped caring about his feelings and only speak to him when it's about studies.

some could say he had a good relationship with them, but others could say it wasn't good at all. even hao doesn't know how to describe it – it mostly feels like he lives alone at this point from
how little he actually sees them in the house, meaning he's not close with them.

"hao," his dad calls, walking into the kitchen. "the lim family is coming over." he announces, making hao almost choke on the bite of food he had just taken.

his eyes widen, "lim family? as in youngjae's family?" as we've probably established, hao hates youngjae, and the only thing stopping him from being a cunt to him is the fact his parents are friends with his, and they're paying for him to study at university.

the man nods, "only for half an hour, they want to talk to us about mirae." he stands in front of the boy, "are you okay with her?"

"no. and i don't want the lim family being near me, let alone talking about that girl." hao scoffs, standing up and putting his plate into the sink.

his dad sighs. "why are you so mad? it's only a meeting, they're hoping to give us some money too."

"but you know i don't like youngjae." hao whines, his arms crossed as he leans against a counter.

"you do know him breaking your violin was a mistake right? his dad recently opened a store, we can get him to buy one for you." his dad says, but hao knew the 'breaking the violin' was not a mistake. youngjae was some two-faced guy.

hao shakes his head. "whatever, when are they coming?" and as if they listened, a knock was heard from the door and hao's mom goes over to it excitedly.

as it opens, cheerful 'hello!'s were heard as the two parents greeted each other as they walked in straight away, and he noticed someone he recognised someone as his own university principal.

after the three adults walked it, they were followed by the lim's only son (and mei/hao's biggest enemy) lim youngjae.

he walked in with a smirk as he looked over at hao across the room, then looking at hao's parents with a fake smile and talking a 'sweet' voice, greeting his parents.

"come sit down!" hao's dad says, leading the family of three and principal to the table. to hao's misfortune, their dining table only had six seats. and as everyone sat down, hao was left standing.

"you can just stand there." his dad says, making hao scoff but listen eitherway. the boy leaned against the counter with his arms crossed, not liking this already.

his principal, mei's old university's principal and youngjae were all sat in hao's house only to talk about mei, or mirae as everyone else calls her.

"so, we're just here to discuss about mirae and hao both being first in last month's evaluations." mr kim, or his principal said.

hao hadn't told his parents about that yet, and knowing he lied, his parents both look at him with an annoyed face.

his dad coughs, "what do you mean both of them were first?" he asks, a jokey tone evident in his voice.  fuck. hao thought.

"you didn't know? they were joined first." youngjae says, looking over at hao with an amused face. "you didn't tell them?"

"well–" hao says in panic, not knowing how to tell his parents about it. well they already know now.

"i see, did she get full marks?" hao's mom asks, getting up to get water for the guests. "she must be smarter than we had anticipated."

mrs park (mr lim's wife) chuckles, "well i did say she was our top student for a reason." hao rolls his eyes at the comment. "she's never had a mark down in her life."

hao's dad nods. "may we know more about her academically? we want to make sure hao never goes under her in anything."

not like that's ever going to happen. hao thinks to himself.

"well she's not just incredibly beautiful, she also is usually really sweet to people she knows." youngjae says with a smile. how fucking fake. as if he doesn't always talk shit about her. "knowing her for quite a long time, she's always been smart without effort."

mr lim nods in agreement. "she's very smart even when it comes to academics, even when she was younger. she's very hardworking to the point she even asked her parents to let her to go university after being taught from home."

"interesting." hao's dad says, rubbing his chin. "so if she was really first with hao, how can i make her go lower? i won't allow hao going any lower than first."

principal kim frowns, "we can't do anything, it's their studies. we can't sabotage mirae's efforts. do you not know how powerful her family is?"

"no, not really. i thought they just owned businesses." hao's dad shrugs.

mrs park sighs. "they own multiple hotel chains along with retail and a huge fashion brand that's currently merged with the shen family." hao then recognised the family as ricky's, no wonder their families seemed close all of a sudden.

"nepo baby." hao scoffs, causing his dad to look at him with a displeased face.

"so she just gets all of her power from her family? so she must've bought her way up there somehow." hao's dad looks over at principal kim, "have they ever gave you money for something?"

the principal shakes his head. "the only time i've had contact with them is when paid me to let mirae attend my university. it was quite a lot."

"nonsense. how can she get first in one month?" hao's father says in offense. "she's some spoiled brat."

mrs park knits her eyebrows in confusion. "she is a spoiled brat but not in the way you think."

"how then? tell us how she can't just use her family to get whatever she wants." hao's mom scoffs before turning to mr lim, "you said you'd keep paying for hao's university fees if he stayed at the top, what if she sabotages him?"

hao was confused, he didn't know about the 'paying for being first' thing, he thought the lim family were only nice enough to pay since they were close and they earned way more than hao's family.

mrs park sighs, "look, when mirae attended my university, she had a reputation. it was both incredibly good and incredibly bad; good since she was the wealthiest in the school along with being the smartest, but she was usually in fights with other girls and she's had problems with her anger issues."

hao frowns. well he knew most of this already but he didn't know it was serious. he only thought it was a joke when renjun would tell him about mei being surprisingly 'violent'. "wait, she actually got into fights?" hao asks.

"hao, we don't need to know about-" his dad tried interrupting until mrs park cut him off straight after.

"she was always arguing with this girl called yunji, who usually started fights almost every week." mrs park explains.

youngjae nods, "mirae always argued with people for stupid reasons, like everyone thought she was a bitch."

"i just think it's because university was her first time talking to so many people, and we know she's had a childhood where she refused anger treatment." principal kim states.

hao found out more about mei in five minutes more than the times he's ever spoken to her. he didn't know any of this.

"but anyway, we can't change the rankings or anything. i doubt mirae would fall from top two." principal kim says, "hao still must try hard though."

"i always do." hao says. "i'm more hardworking than her yet she's always first."

youngjae snorts. "yet she's already reached your spot one month in. you should really try harder. don't you think mr zhang?" he smirks.

hao glares at the boy his age as hao's dad nods. "yes. hao try harder, she can't be first, i tell you this all the time."

"i'm always trying my hardest though." hao scoffs.

"clearly not enough." his mom turns to him. "it's your fault she's first along with you." she says.

"how is it my fault when we both got full marks?" hao says in disbelief. "putting the blame on me randomly makes no sense."

youngjae snickers. "maybe you're being too nice to her." why the fuck is he lying. hao complains to himself, youngjae knows they argue almost all the time. "she thought you would be fine with both getting full marks."

"you're actually being nice to her?" his father says in annoyance. "what did i tell you?"

"what's wrong with that?" principal kim asks in confusion. "don't you think it's better if they're friends?"

"absolutely not. i don't want hao being distracted by a girl. especially when she's trying to beat him." hao's dad looks up at the principal. "can't you split them up?"

"i'm sorry, mr huang requested them to stay together to fix her behaviour." he says anxiously. "i can't change the plans only one month in."

hao's dad exhales with his eyes closed, irritated. he definitely wasn't happy about mei and hao being joined first. "fine whatever, but she's not going to ruin my son's behaviour is he?"

"she's been okay so far, she gets along with the people she's with." youngjae shrugs. "but hao and mirae might argue over ranks, i think that might affect him."

it pissed hao off to know youngjae was acting all nice and like he cared. the way he even talked about things that 'might' happen when it was already happening was irritating too.

what irritated hao the most is that they all decided to come here to boast about mei to him and his parents. as if he gives a shit about mei.

"well we think she'll be fine behaviour wise. hao should just try hard." mr lim says. "whatever it is, we'll still pay for your education."

hao nods. "yeah okay. so you just came here to talk about her?"

"well it was going to be more on other things but you're both here so we can't really. youngjae insisted to come here." mrs park sighs.

"well can i go to someone else's house?" he asks his dad who nods.

"i think that'll be fine. go with youngjae too. youngjae drive with hao please." mr lim says, tapping his son who acted like he wasn't annoyed by the fact. "make sure to come back before seven to pick us up."

youngjae nods, standing up to go over to hao. "let's go then." he says, patting the other's back.

hao felt disgusted by the contact but walked with the boy anyway. "yeah, bye." he says at the adults who all waved at them.

youngjae walks out of hao's house and as soon as the front door closed, the two went two meters away from each other immediately.

"where are we going?" hao asks, crossing his arms as youngjae lets him get into his passenger seat.

"mei's house." youngjae shrugs. "well, i'll go there. you can go to ricky's if you want."

hao looked at the other quizzically, "why are you going to mei's house?"

youngjae snickers. "well i want to talk to her, that's all."

hao nods and immediately opens his phone, not interested in talking to youngjae at all. ever since the 'violin' incident, he's hated youngjae. well it wasn't like he was liked by many anyway.

❦ ♪

ricky

are you at home

yes why

i'm coming over and i'm so pissed off

why are you coming over what happened

youngjae's parents and our principal came
over to boast about mei to us and youngjae
kept saying shit that was pissing me off

when tf did this happen

like ten mins ago they let us leave

righttt okay how are you feeling
what were they saying?

i'm annoyed bc my dad thinks mei's going
to ruin my behaviour then they were all like
telling me mei's business like wtaf

well you're kinda getting less nicer
to her sooo

i'm not going to be nice to her ever
again she's a fucking brat

you say this but you flirt on text

why do you always have to mention that

bc ur feeding her delusions

well she doesn't actually like me

uh huh.. remember that time you were
at the club near sspac

no don't
see u later lol

❦ ♪

youngjae soon arrived outside of their private neighbourhood, putting in the password into the machine and scanning his id before the gates opened slowly, letting the car drive in. mei and ricky's house were the closest to the gates and they were only one house apart.

the other boy parked outside mei's house and stopped the car. "you can go now." youngjae says, signalling hao to get out. hao let out a quiet "thanks" before immediately getting out and walking towards ricky's house.

if anything, hao preferred ricky's life and family over his own. ricky was like his comfort friend and the two knew everything about each other, but him being so close to mei made hao annoyed.

as hao knocks on the boy's door, the door opened right away, "hello mei's boyfriend." ricky laughs as he opens the door. "why so pissed off?"

hao scoffs as he walks into ricky's house, greeting his guards and sitting down on the younger boy's sofa. "mei is so fucking annoying."

"damn, what were they saying?" the younger snickers, sitting next to the older boy with a bottle of water in his hand.

hao sighs, "they literally walked in and started talking about how rich and smart she is, i can't stand it."

"so you admit you're jealous?" ricky asks.

"i admit i'm jealous." hao sighs again. "i can't listen to everyone talking about how great she is, it's so fucking annoying like no one cares."

"yeah didn't you tell her you were jealous when you talked to her that day we all went out?" ricky asks with an amused face. "this arc is so interesting, weren't you all close to her face?"

hao gulps. "well, um, yeah. but it wasn't like that."

ricky begins to laugh again, "so do you remember what happened that night or not?"

"yeah. i didn't know it was mei and i do NOT want to talk about it." hao crosses his arms. "change the subject before i walk out."

"right okay sorry. first of all actually how the fuck did you get here?" ricky questions, since hao obviously couldn't drive and his parents never drove him places.

hao almost gags before saying his name, "youngjae, he's going to mei's house or something."

"wait what?" ricky asks in shock, "you just let him go over to her house like that?"

"why not?" the older shrugs, "i don't care about her like that."

ricky scoffs, "god knows what youngjae wants to talk to her about, but i'm sure he won't even be allowed in."

"why? because they're exes?" hao starts to realise how stupid he was to just let youngjae go over to his ex girlfriend's house so easily.

"no, her friends from her old uni are there right now, so like.." ricky says, opening his phone. "maybe he didn't-" he got cut off by his ringtone and his phone vibrating with mei's contact name 'meionnaise' which hao laughed at.

"fucking meionnaise? are you weird?" hao chuckles.

ricky shushes the boy, "wait let me answer, and it was gyuvin and yujin's code name for her okay." he then presses the green answer button.

otp!!

"hello?" ricky says, hearing faint movement already through the phone.

"bro i was telling the girls about my discovery about that night and all of a sudden my ex boyfriend derogatory is outside my door." mei complains. "xiaoting told him to fuck off and he's literally just walked away and drove off."

hao frowns, "he drove off? he took me here in that car." hao mouths to ricky who's eyes widen.

"um is he fully gone?" ricky asks.

mei laughs. "well, yeah. he knocked and left straight after. anyways, after the evaluation exam in two days i'm going out with hanbin and his family hehe."

"have you studied for that?"

"have i balls." mei scoffs.

"why would mei study?" the two boys hear ningning's voice in the background. "she almost never studies, it's cause she's too busy thinking about h–"

"shut up." mei says to the girl. "anyway, that's all i needed to tell you. i'll text you later sorry, the girlies need to know more gossip." she says before ending the call.

end of call.

"that was random." hao laughs. "guess i have no ride home." he sighs, what was he expecting honestly.

"stay over, if my parents tell yours they won't mind. it's sunday tomorrow anyway." ricky shrugs. "anyways, have you studied? well i already know the answer but you know."

hao nods. "if i get first with her again my parents will kill me. they found out about last month."

"how?" ricky's eyebrows knit together. "did you fail to lie?"

"no youngjae told them." he scoffs. "i hate that two-faced cunt."

"still mad about the violin story?" ricky sighs as hao nods. "to be honest i would be too, he's a asshole."

hao's violin being broken was the main reason why he despises lim youngjae. everyone mentions it but the story of it was annoying, especially since the two used to be friends.

❦ ♪

flashback — five months ago

hao sat down at their canteen table with his group in a happy mood; he finished recording his song 'always' which was a love song someone made for him to perform at a wedding the next week.

it was hao's first special wedding performance since it was for a celebrity – an actor's wedding. people knew them as seo yuna and park jinho, biggest actors in the west and in korea.

"i'm so excited!!" hao says excitedly, clinging onto hanbin who smiled at the boy's cuteness. "i hope i get paid well enough for this, i could buy a new violin."

"that's great!!" jiwoong grins, "tell us how it goes, and tell them i'm a big fan." he chuckles.

hao nods and takes his phone out, "do you want to hear it?" he asks, in which all of the boys nod excitedly.

"aww i'm excited!!" matthew says, "finally you can show off your talents."

hao nods, but before he could even press play, youngjae walks towards them with a huge smirk on his face. "hey hao, i have to show you something. it's a present for next week."

hanbin glares at youngjae, "he's doing something though."

"no worries!" hao smiles, "i'll show you guys after." he gets up almost immediately and follows youngjae into the music room.

youngjae and hao were the closest of friends by far, they've been so close since they were in college. but what hao didn't know is that youngjae was insanely jealous of him and his cute personality and looks and amazing talent.

hao walks in and turns to youngjae, "what's the surprise?" he asks. "are you introducing me to your girlfriend?"

youngjae chuckles, "no. but come into your studio." he leads the boy to hao and hanbin's studio and opens the door.

once he looks inside, all he saw was broken wood and a few strings. he looks over at his friend, "what am i looking at?"

"look at this," youngjae chuckles, picking up a piece of wood that read ZHANG HAO. once hao realised what it was, he drops the wood onto the floor.

"wait, did you break this?" he asks, his voice almost breaking by the sight of the thing he loved on the floor.

youngjae laughs, "well, it was a mistake."

"you know i can't buy another one right? and my parents won't pay for a new one?" hao asks in panic. "i have a performance next week and they won't provide me with me own one."

the other shrugs. "tough, guess you can't do it then."

"what the fuck." hao almost cries, picking up a few pieces. "why?"

youngjae shrugs. "jealousy." he chuckles. "you're not getting that opportunity, you don't deserve it."

"what?" hao turns to him. "why are you jealous of me?"

the boy snickers. "you're too innocent hao. i thought breaking something you loved would break you."

"you didn't even answer what i said.." hao sighs, staring at everything which was the epitome of how he felt at this moment.

youngjae laughs, turning around. "tough, just get a new one." he whistles before closing the door behind him.

i hate jealous people. hao thought to himself.

end of flashback.

"he was jealous of me." hao scoffs. "i'm jealous of mei but i don't go off doing shit like that to someone because i hate them."

ricky gives hao a knowing smile. "aww so you care about her feelings~" he teases the boy by coming closer to him and playing with his hair.

"fuck off." hao says, pushing ricky away from him. "you thinking i'd ever want mei is more delusional than mei herself."

"you'll be delusional for her soon." ricky winks.

"when i get last, i will." hao mocks, rolling his eyes.

"time to pay the university to put you last place–"

"RICKY."

❦ ♪

sorry this is so short, sad and boring but here we have hao's kinda backstory and whole arc hope people get some hints i put in this for something hehe.

also this is not proofread so there's probably a lot of mistakes #ijbol