❦ ♪

CHAPTER THIRTY : distress

"in denial until he likes me back."

❦ ♪

— mei pov.

mei's spotify playlist
10+ members

guys
*image attached*
me and stupid (hao) have matching rings

yujin:
awwww

yujin:
my favourite lesbians❤️

donghyuck:
LMFAOOOOOOOO

xiaojun:
LESBIANS 😭😭😭😭😭😭

ricky:
THERE'S NO WAY YUJIN JUST
SAID THAT OH MY GOD

renjun:
WHY IS THAT SENDING ME

jiwoong:
YUJIN😭

gyuvin:
Han Yujin i thought you were chronically
online what do you mean lesbians

yujin:
sorry umm #pride

HELLO??? DID YOU JUST CALL US
LESBIANS LMFAOOOO

yujin:
you both like women

IM ACTUALLY CREASING WHAT

chenle:
YUJIN WHAT THE FUCK😭😭

xiaojun:
do the matching rings mean you're
engaged now awwww

YES (don't tell him i said this)

taerae:
me on my way to tell him

KYS
joking ily but No.

jaemin:
this girl is not going to shut up at
all about these rings is she

We're engaged jaemin leave me alone

ricky:
i can't believe you're this delusional

i don't know what that even means sorry

haknyeon:
nepo baby loses her knowledge
and sanity (not clickbait)

Haknyeon respectfully Kys. ❤️

haknyeon:
no LOL

haknyeon:
maybe i will when u don't talk
about hao

xiaojun:
bro is staying alive forever now

Kys

matthew:
STOPPPPP

jiwoong:
zhangmei having matching rings..

jiwoong:
what are they made of and how
much were they

diamond and i'm not telling you
only i can know Sozzies

renjun:
mei you are so irresponsible with
your money LMAO

i spent more i got bored and bought
the embryos necklaces

jeno:
that's so funny bc i just hacked
your bank account🥰🥰me next

WHAT THE CHUFF
DIE
their necklaces are so cute i am going
to be a great mom i swear to god

yangyang:
you're the sugar mom here

As i should broke bitches🤣🤣🤣

gyuvin:
CANCEL HWANG MIRAE SHE JUST
MADE FUN OF POOR PEOPLE

donghyuck:
Watch her post a youtube video titled
"Giving a fiver to homeless people" to
avoid the nepo baby allegations

renjun:
LMFAOOOOOOOO get all the american
commentary channels on her ass

yujin:
how could you... call us broke bitches..
that's so problematic mei you know that
it's actually very offensive because what
if one of us is poor and going through a
hard time you're so careless

gyuvin:
didn't you spend like a hundred on
robux from your mom's card

yujin:
Ummm

NOOOOO WHY ARE YOU CANCELLING
ME YOU FAKE FRIENDS

taerae:
quick mei buy us all houses and we
won't cancel you!!

Taerae i'll buy you any house you
want bestfriend i don't want the twt
hao stalkers finding me

ricky:
LMFAOOOO

jeno:
you say broke bitches like we don't
all attend an expensive ass university

i was /j Lee Jeno.

donghyuck:
THE FULL NAME

LMFAOO
i'm broke now i'm sat by myself

chenle:
where's your wedded husband

yujin:
WHERES THE OTHER LESBIAN

jiwoong:
YUJIN SUUU💀💀

xiaojun:
are you with or without the kids..

with the embryos still guys.. hanbin and
hao left me to talk about their friendship

gyuvin:
FINALLY OMGG

haknyeon:
pov they start fighting over mei

pov they make up then i make OUT
with zhanghao 🔥🔥🔥🔥

taerae:
queen you know that they are both in
the group right

do not CARE
i'm going to mention it every single
day until it happens hope he knows x

renjun:
god someone get him kissing her
already i can't deal it's been three
months and she won't stfu

matthew:
this girl talks about hao so much and
you make him so aware of it too IJBOL

i'm not going to lie and tell him i
don't like him like HELLO i claimed
him as my bf since day 1 i even told
him i wanted to kiss him in a week

chenle:
you are insane

I know💞
time to ask my parents for therapy again!

renjun:
MEI LFMAOOO???😭😭😭

jiwoong:
LMFAOO HE WAS SO ANNOYED
WHEN YOU FOLLOWED HIS INSTA

enemies to lovers core

gyuvin:
ok y/n wannabe

U get no bitches kys.
at least people like me GYUVIN

gyuvin:
no one would say pass to me in
a game of smash or pass EVER

yangyang:
aww it's okay to lie!

jaemin:
confidence is key gyuvin🔥🔥🔥

LMFAOOOO

❦ ♪

— 3rd person.

"auntie mi, do you know uncle hao called you pretty?" doah asks, causing mei to immediately look down at her in puzzlement to make sure she heard what the kid said correctly.

"he what?" mei says, putting her phone down. "did he actually or are you a pathological liar of a child?" she asks in curiosity but with a smile growing on her face.

the little girl shakes her head. "no, he did! but he told me not to tell you." she says, playing with mei's coat.

"oohh." haerin laughs, running over to sit on the bench with the two. "hao likes you!"

"not the under a decade old girls feeding into my delusions." mei sighs to herself. "don't say that." she tells the two, though mei is definitely going to tell her friends about this straight away.

"he was looking at you a lot." doah says. "because he thinks you're pretty."

"i am pretty." mei laughs. "but why did that just boost my ego oh my days." she complains to herself. mei had a lot of confidence already, but the fact that the one person's opinion on her looks she actually cares about complimented her today, drove her insanely giddy.

"you are pretty." haerin smiles at the older girl, touching her long brunette hair with her small fingers. "i want to be like you when i'm older."

"oh my god." mei's grin widens and she kisses haerin's cheek. "you're going places in the future."

"where is uncle hao?" doah asks, looking around worriedly for the boy who was gone for a little too long for mei now (it was two minutes since he left).

"i'll text him." mei lies, keeping her smile small to make sure she doesn't burst out giggling before texting the group about her favourite discovery.

❦ ♪

mei's slaves
10+ members

WHAT. THE. FUCK.
hello i am huang mei i have a husband of
twelve years and we have two children and
we are currently living in a mansion

renjun:
?????

chenle:
did he ask you out or something

no the embryo told me he called me
PRETTY. and that he was looking at
me a lot today GOD i love children
sometimes

yangyang:
why are you so gassed everyone finds
you pretty dumb bitch

donghyuck:
maybe because zhanghao said it
you slowass

yangyang:
OHHHHHH OMG WAIT HAO CALLED
YOU PRETTY???

YES😋😋💕😋💕😋😜

chenle:
this progress is Rapid and i'm living
for it actually

yangyang:
TREWWWW zhangmei kiss when

xiaojun:
took the words out of my mouth

xiaojun:
and everyone elses actually

yangyang. help me make it happen.

yangyang:
friend i don't talk to hao like that

yangyang:
i'm not gonna walk up to him and be
like Hi bestie you should kiss mei

do it Plz
omg what if he actually thinks i'm insane

haknyeon:
wdym actually you've been scaring
the poor guy for the past three months

Did i tell you he basically asked me
for a hickey earlier today he wants me

renjun:
you started the hickey topic with
him didn't you

Fuck off ❤️
i was /j then he says pls do it like OKAY
I WILL DO ANYTHING FOR YOU BABE

haknyeon:
that is disgusting please never be
obsessed with another man again

xiaojun:
mei move back to the girls uni before
it's too late !!!!

Ok i'll punch you in the face and dropkick
your ass so bad your eyebrows come off

xiaojun:
Fuck you x

yes x

xiaojun:
suddenly i'm into men x

renjun:
i bet you hao thinks that whenever
mei says something to him

Excuse me
leave the pride community alone plz

jaemin:
no fuck gay people

donghyuck:
everyone calls you a twink on twitter
pipe down

jeno:
GOODBYEEE

ME when i'm massively obsessed with
a guy my mother asked was gay x

renjun:
SHE WHAT

didn't i tell you but like after my first
day i showed her a pic of hao and she
went "girl your rival looks like an average
nct member" and i started crying

renjun:
did that actually happen

no i made it up on the spot but my mother
did think he was Rainbow

yangyang:
LMAOO mei i'll help set you up with
the potential rainbow x

ricky:
that's my job. i have become a zhangmei
fan so ummm..

jeno:
i'm still a bit sad hanmei disappeared

jeno:
if only he didn't ruin it

jeno:
how did he ruin it again

Ummm he k*ssed me

xiaojun:
WHAT

jeno:
THAT'S WHY????

jeno:
i just thought you rejected him

I wasn't even gonna tell you guys
but i think you deserve to know x

jaemin:
so u kissed him but u like hao

Ok well at that time i was lowk crushing
hard on hanbin but then i stopped bc of
something i'll tell you another time

ricky:
IJBOL

donghyuck:
i'm so lost do you like hao or not

Um what kind of question is that
well Tbh it's not that i like like him but
likeeee

chenle:
oh so u wanna lie now

I DONT KNOW IM SLOW WHEN IT
COMES TO ACTUAL FEELINGS

renjun:
queen you literally get jealous about
him all of the time you do like him

Why would you expose me
anyways i won't say i like him or not

xiaojun:
bestfriend what the fuck are you
waffling about

In denial until he likes me back support
me and i'll send you money

jaemin:
BYE LMFAOO WILL DO

He doesn't even trust me yet so!
i'm still yet to know who he used to like
or likes and who his first kiss was

renjun:
ummmm

yangyang:
Haha..

ricky:
welp

❦ ♪

— hao pov.
- 3rd person.

"i saw mei and she told me you were there." he replies, still walking. "but we can still talk, right?" hanbin asks, turning around once they reach a quieter area.

"uh.. yeah." hao says. "what do you want to talk about exactly?" he stands opposite the other awkwardly, even though it was really obvious why hanbin wanted to speak to him.

"well i just think i need to apologise to you." he starts off, looking at the older guiltily. "i feel like i've been treating you like shit without realising."

hao hums. "yeah, you kind of have." he was a bit annoyed that hanbin only realised three months later, but he attempts brushes it off. "the apology is a bit late."

hanbin nods. "i know and i'm sorry." hao could see the tears evident guilt in his eyes but he still didn't want to accept his apology so soon. "i was too focused on–"

"you were too focused on mei." hao repeats with a scoff. "i know. you always have been, it felt like you completely forgot about me."

hao knew it was wrong of him to act so childish and then only tell hanbin about how he feels now – but in his defence, the other would always ignore him whenever he tried anyway.

"i'm so sorry i didn't mean for it to come off in that way, i didn't forget about you at all." the younger's eyes widen as he realises how much he seemed to hurt the chinese.

"so you just entirely forgot about our friendship because of her or did i do something wrong?" hao asks, trying to keep himself calm.

"you didn't do anything wrong i promise, and it's not all about mei either." hanbin sighs. "i honestly thought you'd be the one to forget about me."

"but i never did???" hao says in disbelief. "i tried to talk to you but the effort was never there." hao really tried to remember any time at all where them two have talked properly but there was no memory of it.

"hao," hanbin observes the older's expressions and he now fully acknowledges how much he must have fucked up to make hao act like this. "i'm sorry for being a shitty friend. i don't know why i was treating you like that."

"neither do i." hao shrugs. "if it's because you actually think i like mei then," he laughs. "that's pathetic."

hanbin's heart aches. "it's not because of her i promise you, i would never want to argue with you over a girl."

"well you're lucky i never liked her back then." hao sighs. "you lost so much trust in me since she came."

the younger frowns, "you never liked her?" he asks in confusion. "but i thought-"

"hanbin," hao sighs, looking around before facing him again. "can i just tell you something very honestly without you freaking out?"

"what?" the boy asks with uncertainty in his eyes. he wasn't expecting anything bad to come out of hao, yet he felt the sweat droplets form on his forehead although it was really cold.

"i used to like you." hao confesses, looking at the floor to ignore whatever hanbin's reaction was. he hoped the sudden change of topic wouldn't affect their conversation greatly.

"what?" he responds quietly. "you liked me?"

"like until mei came.." hao says awkwardly, still forcing himself to not look up and meet eyes with the boy.

hanbin frowns. "and you never told me?"

"i did, two times. but you don't remember any of the times i did." he laughs dryly. "you always ignored me."

"hao i'm so sorry." hanbin says with a scowl. "when did you.. confess?"

"the first time was when we were walking home after youngjae broke my violin, i thanked you and told you how much i liked you but you walked away." he shrugs, making hanbin's eyes widen again.

"oh.." was the only thing he could respond with.

"second time, was that time you got drunk. i confessed to you but you walked away and drunk made out with mei right in front of me." he sighs, clenching his fists at the thought of it.

"i'm so sorry.. i was so horrible to you oh my god." he says quietly, his palm over his mouth as he was taken aback by his own actions.

"it's fine." hao shrugs.

"i didn't know, how along ago was this?" the boy was so clueless to even think that hao could ever like him. "i mean, your crush for.. me."

"start of uni..." hao confesses, now further avoiding the eye contact to hide his embarrassment. he didn't even plan on confessing today but he just wanted to get it off his chest for once.  "i stopped though, don't worry."

hanbin looks at hao as he tries to remember anything from a few months ago. "wait like are you sure because i genuinely thought you liked mei?" was the only thing he could ask, remembering the previous months of just hao and mei together.

hao sighs. "i liked you, while you liked mei." he admits. "i thought i was being so obvious about it but you were too focused on her."

hanbin pauses before talking again. he tries to think about any of the times the two were together – which was almost everyday that showed any signs of a crush.

he couldn't recall anything properly obvious. however he does remember the many times hao took care of hanbin after uni parties, and how hao would be very protective of the younger.

"shit am i that oblivious?" hanbin asks himself aloud in shock, though hao obviously heard him.

"no shit." he laughs. "everyone knew but you."

hanbin looks at hao. "oh my god.." he laughs to himself. "i'm so sorry how could i not tell?"

hao shrugs. "you're stupid. but i knew you didn't like me like that anyway so don't apologise."

"but," he says, still stunned by the sudden confession. "you still liked me even when we were drifting apart?"

hao nods. "yeah, but the feelings slowly faded away since you stopped talking to me." he laughs dryly. he had to admit he was still a bit pissed off about it but he didn't want to sound too petty since he simply didn't care that much anymore.

"oh my god i'm so so sorry. i mean, it's good that you lost feelings i guess but i feel so bad." he says guiltily, apologising again.

"don't be." hao laughs. "i just prefer our friendship, but still."

what hao said really struck hanbin as he got deju vu from mei saying something similar, which he then started to overthink: am i only seen as a good friend?

"um," hanbin sighs, getting out of the thoughts as quickly as he could. "i feel horrible. you were pissing me off the other week too."

"i figured. mei again?" hao chuckles.

he nods. "i don't know, you seemed to purposely try piss me off about her, so i assumed you liked her."

"i mean i did purposely try piss you off, sorry about that." he awkwardly laughs. "but i don't like her.." he says unusually hesitantly.

"you're all good i guess." hanbin sighs. "but anyways, to avoid the topic of mei, i really am sorry for treating you like you weren't my friend."

"you genuinely didn't deserve that since you've always been such a great friend to me that i was too stupid to even realise." hanbin grimaces at the thought of being a bad friend to hao. "...and i'm sorry that i didn't feel the same way.." he adds, scratching the back of his neck.

hao finally looks up at hanbin's saddened face. "don't apologise for not feeling the same way, hanbin." hao snickers. "it doesn't matter anymore."

"but i just– thinking about it makes me feel awful." he sighs, following hao as his eyes met the older's.

"well if you think about it i don't like you anymore." he shrugs. "but i do think we should still stay friend, if that's fine."

"what makes you think i was going to stop being friends with you over this?" hanbin laughs, the sweat wearing off as the cold hits their faces again and the awkward tension between them fading.

"i don't know." hao replies with a small laugh. "but um, i'm also sorry for not speaking about how i felt earlier, you know what my dad is like when it comes to uni and friendships."

"no worries, but it does seem you're getting a lot of freedom lately with mei, no?" hanbin says.

hao shakes his head. "besides the tasks, all i do is sit in my room and make notes." hao chuckles. "just like i've been doing for my whole life."

"so.." hanbin starts, walking closer to hao with his hand out. "are we good again?" he asks with the smallest smile of hope.

hao rolls his eyes. "no." he sneers with a rude tone, glaring at hanbin's shaking eyes.

❦ ♪

future dropoouts 2
10 members

hao:
ummm hi

hao:
hanbin and i are okay again

hanbin:
yes!

gunwook:
THAT EASILY??

yujin:
OMG

taerae:
OH THANK GOD

hanbin:
i asked him if we were good and he
pranked me by saying no i almost
started sobbing on the spot

hao:
LMAOOO

jiwoong:
HAOBIN IS BACKK

gunwook:
we knew haobin would light up again
very soon aww xx

mei:
OMG MY FAVS😊😊

matthew:
fucking finally

matthew:
you cunts left us awkwardly munching
on our food since you were so quiet

mei:
i second that whenever i had a glance
at your table it was quiet as fuck

jiwoong:
a whole week Fuckers

gyuvin:
LMFAOOOO

taerae:
i'm surprised actually

taerae:
was it an easy make up

hao:
i mean we didn't have time to properly
express and explain how we felt but i
still think it was a good short talk x

ricky:
i bet mei's networth they mentioned
mei at least once

mei:
it's called obsessed !!

mei:
i'm listening to obsessed by mariah
carey rn actually aw x reminded me
of haobin❤️

gunwook:
TRUTHHHH

hanbin:
um

❦ ♪

— mei pov.

yunji

meiii can i talk to you please?

Oh, why you so obsessed with me (boy, I wanna know)
Lying that you're sexing me (when everybody knows)
It's clear that you're upset with me
Finally found a girl that you couldn't impress
Last man on the earth still couldn't hit this
You're delusional, you're delusional
Boy you're losing your mind
It's confusing yo', you're confused you know
Why you're wasting your time?
Got you all fired up with your Napoleon complex
Seeing right through you like you're bathing in Windex
Oh, oh, oh boy why you so obsessed with me?

mei has blocked yunji.

❦ ♪

— youngjae pov.
- 3rd person.

"i think that's absurd." yunji complains to youngjae's mother. "can't you just do something to kick her out of your uni to force her back?" she then turns to youngjae in annoyance.

there was currently a 'meeting' in between youngjae's parents, headmaster kim and.. yunji.

for the past hour, yunji has been complaining about mei for the most random reasons. she wasn't even so annoyed at the beginning of mei's punishment, so why is she so pressed now?

"her behaviour is actually fine." the headmaster sighs. "we can't send her back yet, but her improving in a short amount of time is impressive."

"just send her back." youngjae's dad demands. "she's already second, just shows she's not good enough to stay in that university."

youngjae, even though he hates mei, thought the whole plan to send mei back was going to be really ineffective. "i mean.. she's still second?"

"youngjae." mrs park (if you don't remember she's youngjae's mom + the headmaster of mei's old university who kicked her out). "you do know she got sent because of you right?"

"well yeah she punched me." the boy shrugs. "but i'm serious when i say her behaviour is fine."

"how is her behaviour fine??" youngjae's dad complains. "she physically assaulted you, god knows what else she could do."

yunji smirks. "right? i heard she got pretty violent even in my uni." she chuckles. "she's probably acting like a pick me for hao."

"no, they seem to be fine." the headmaster sighs in frustration , running a hand through his hair. "i still don't understand why we're still doing this when hao's parents aren't here."

"they limited their korean skills." youngjae shrugs, taking a guess after his amusing conversation with hao's dad the other week.

"anyways, i just think her parents should take her out of uni in general, it doesn't suit her. she can earn loads of money without it." yunji shrugs.

youngjae snorts. "not to defend her but she wanted to go to uni so she can earn for herself. you do know why don't you?"

"that whole thing about how she prefers her chinese name over her korean name?" mrs park asks, remembering some things mei's parents used to talk about.

"she's such a difficult person." yunji scoffs. "you shouldn't be letting your child with anger issues in a university like that."

headmaster kim sighs in frustration again. "why are you still talking? this isn't a meeting to talk smack about her." he says.

youngjae's dad shrugs. "she has a point, mirae could be classed as an assaulter. she even argues with hao to the point you made a whole program."

headmaster kim rolls his eyes. "we're aware of what she was like, but i can assure you she's been causing no harm to anybody. at all actually, besides the multiple arguments."

"we argue all the time, but it's not as serious as you all think it is." youngjae shrugs.

"just send her back, even for a week." yunji demands as if she actually has any say or power to make orders.

mrs park sighs. "this is going nowhere, none of you are making full valid points. i say we just leave her where she is now."

"no!" yunji says – a little too loud. she nervously chuckles. "but i'm serious, hao's parents don't like her so there's no point of that program anyway."

"her parents helped us plan that, and hao's parents even somewhat agreed." headmaster kim explains. "you're not giving me any good reasoning."

"she's just waffling now." youngjae sighs.

yunji looks at him in offence. "i'm trying to help you here, get away from that anger issue ass assaulter."

mr kim groans. "okay how about, after the program ends, which is in a month and a half, i'll send her back for a week?" he says, fed up and exhausted from the uselessness of the 'meeting'.

yunji smiles. "great!"

❦ ♪

— hao pov.
- 3rd person.

"do you not care about your future?" his dad shouts. "hao you are never trying hard enough." he spits with anger.

"what?" hao asks in confusion, innocently looking up from his notebook. "what do you mean?"

"why do you think spending your time with that girl will get you places??" he questions with a raised voice. "she's there to learn off of you not be friends with you."

"dad it's literally just the volunteering, and we've only done it for like almost three weeks.." the boy frowns. "nothing is going to happen."

"do you know how much we're paying for you to even study here?" he sneers at his son. "yet you still want to get a girl's attention?"

"i don't get how that relates to each other, you know i have no intentions to be with her like that." hao sighs, still not fazed by his dad's voice.

his mom then walks in. "fuck sake zhanghao you're so useless." she scoffs. "why are you first by yourself yet she's getting more attention?"

"what..?"

"we want you to stay at the top to be the most successful and get us more attention but she still gets recognised the most among you two.." she complains.

hao didn't even know about the attention the two got. he knew mei was popular and he did get recognised here and there. even so, the thought of being more 'popular' was new to him.

"i don't get why you're so pressed..." hao says honestly. "i'm first on my own is that not enough?"

"at this point you'll never be enough to us, you're not even trying hard. look at you!" his dad ridicules, but this is what hao did almost everyday.

"you told me you were proud of me though.." hao says, his voice quieting down as his eyes slowly start to water.

"don't start crying and guilt tripping us again, hao. we were proud of you until you decided to ditch your pride for a girl." his mom says sternly, looking down at him.

he felt too exhausted to properly try argue back with them but he still got fed up, even after a few complaints. "fucking hell i work my ass off every single day for a drop of validation yet i never get it." he scoffs, standing up.

"why are you talking to us like that?" his mom says in anger. "no one speaks like that to their parents, especially you."

"i bet you it's that mirae again." his dad scoffs. "if you want to impress someone go make that girl proud, she probably doesn't care as much as we do."

hao felt guilty for speaking back to his parents, but he just glares at them. "you say you care??" he laughs in disbelief.

"get out, hao. your attitude is not acceptable." his dad demands. "come back when you feel like treating your caring parents right."

hao's eyes widen and pools start to form in them immediately. he saw the blurry, disappointed faces of the people he saw as rolemodels and he exhales before rushing out of his bedroom door with nothing but his phone.

❦ ♪

ricky

im wlkaing to ur house

huh why
it's raining

i have an umbrella ans hoodei
my parnefs basicalykickf me out

WHAT
do you want me to pick you up?

no i want to walk alone

that's a long ass walk hao...

i'll be firn the storn wont mkae me scoc
anywhssh

are you actually okay your typing is
so off😭😭😭

im jsut speedwlkaing and my fnihrs are
colld but im coming to ur house now

im so lost hao can you at least
try explain what happened?

apparently im some useless fuck

they say this every single day

wlel ive had enougg and my dda said tjat
hes nevrr goign to he enoughfor tjem

oh hao wtf i'm so sorry
text me when you're a few mins
away i'll come pick you up okay?

ok

are you sure you don't want me to
get you a driver?

no it/sd okaay

it's raining so much though

ill he fine
ok ym phones gonna die
bey

byee
get here safely !!

❦ ♪

Ummm so i was supposed to make this sad but it wasn't even that sad Ijbol but next chapter will be. Lol.

reminder that this is fiction and nothing i am writing is realistic guys i thank the lords everyday haos parents gave birth to him ❤️

I hate this chapter so much gosh and it's like 2am LMFAOOO so if there's mistakes i apologise fr.