❦ ♪

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR : reputation

"mei you're ruining me."

❦ ♪

— mei pov.

pretty boy<3

hiiii

it's so early in the morning mei wtf
but hii

two i's 🤭🤭🤭🤭

girl
what do you want

skip uni with me today

NO???

yes
please
i can't go in i really don't want to

how come?

just don't wanna innit

wow you're good at reasoning
top literature student my arse

Kys
please skip

what's in it for me

you hang out with the best girl ever

i've been hanging out with you non
stop for the past two weeks

ok and
please please please

i would never miss a day of uni and
you already made me miss one on
tuesday

ok but we had a cute date

well yeah but you were hungover

YOU ACCEPTED THAT IT WAS A DATE

no i didn't stop being delusional

Kys honestly
actually don't
PLEASE just skip today i promise it'll
be fun please please please

mei you are literally a bad influence

I Do not care.
PLEASE HAO I WILL ACTUALLY DO
ANYTHING PLEASE JUST SKIP UNI
WITH ME TODAY PLEASE PLEASEEE

anything?

yes.

if i skip can i come to your house

YES IS THAT EVEN A QUESTION

i am not going outside though i cba
and my parents might find out

FUCK your parents you're with me now

okay SORRY top student

Shut up

mb

dont mb me i'll get mad

what are your demons gonna come
out again

BYE.

❦ ♪

— hao pov.

dad

Where are you?

ricky's

Come home. 

no

Hao come home I'm sorry.
Me and your mom were just mad.

give me time
i want to stay for a few more days

Why.. it's not a big deal.
You're not with that girl are you?

no

Then how come you were out with
her on Tuesday?

?

Your headmaster emailed me.

what about

You two are skipping school.

when

It says you two weren't in school and
someone said you were at an arcade?

oh

Stop hanging out with her and come
back home. She's a bad influence.

???? why

Don't go to her house.

wasn't planning to

❦ ♪

— mei's pov.

mei's spotify playlist
10+ members

Heyyyy guess who's skipping uni again
💕💕💕💕💕

matthew:
this girl😭😭😭😭

jaemin:
how are you still even in the uni you've
missed so many fucking days already

because i am Smart hot and rich
get on my fucking level

jeno:
aw is it the white privilege

??:)3&4@@&&;; WHAT

ricky:
it's the mei privilege

ricky:
mei when she convinces hao to skip
uni today (and tuesday)

taerae:
????? WHAT

gunwook:
ZHANGMEIEISHDKDJ

gyuvin:
AHHHHHHHHHHH STOP Are
you guys dating yet

hao:
bruh no

taerae:
hanbin are you crying rn

hanbin:
no i'm hanging out with mei soon anyway

hao:
aww cute.

renjun:

taerae:
STOPPPPP😭😭😭😭

yujin:
i am actually cheering rn i love my
parents so much

he told the worker we were dating

hao:
for a discount actually.

i can buy the whole fucking arcade mate i
do not need a discount for shit and we didn't
even need it so KYS

taerae:
i bet your networth that hao just said
it because he wants to date you

ricky:
^^^

taerae you are SO RIGHT

hanbin:
ehhhh

hao:
😭 no

jeno:
LMFAOOOO

jeno:
bros jealous

jaemin:
bro wants to date mei

hao:
i don't wanna date mei

stop lying bc i know you want me

hao:
🤡🤡🤡

you agreed to skip with me so like
we're dating now🥰🥰🥰🥰

ricky:
you tell em mei!!!

gunwook:
hao missing a day of uni is so
fucking bad oh my god

hao:
lol

gunwook:
but if it's for mei then YAS I WILL
ENCOURAGE THIS

xiaojun:
what are you guys gonna do if you
skip together though

make out

taerae:
GIRL😭😭😭

jiwoong:
i don't think i've ever met someone
so fucking delusional

hao:
we are not doing that

you know you want to

hao:
yuck

hao:
suddenly i'm a few months back in the
past and i despise mei and hope she dies

RUDEEEEE

ricky:
hao leaving me AGAIN

ricky:
mei stop stealing my bestfriend plz

no he's mine

hao:
excuse me i am not an object you
can't claim me like that

well i'm a woman you can claim me
whenever you want🥰🥰

renjun:
OH MY GOD MEI

donghyuck:
YES GIRL LET GO OF YOUR
FEMINISM FOR A MAN💕💕

hao:
... i am not skipping

NO PLEASE IM SORRY I WAS JOKING

hao:
no

matthew:
mei convince him to skip

matthew:
please

hao:
no i can't

hao:
i swear i can't skip anymore my parents
found out i skipped on tuesday

oh

renjun:
imo it's not a big deal

renjun:
you both need a break anyway just
skip and come back normally

hao:
yeah but if they know i skipped again
then what am i gonna do

ricky:
my parents will talk to them

ricky:
just go to mei's house 😁

gunwook:
yass be together today please

gunwook:
you can do fun things and bond and
maybe do other stuff 😁😁😁

yujin:
is this the bet we made

THE WHAT

hanbin:
???

hao:
what

gyuvin:
YUJIN FUCK OFFFFF

jaemin:
LMFAOOOOOOOO

xiaojun:
i already know what the bet is because
we have one too aww xx

renjun:
Xiaojun. We talked about this.

xiaojun:
oh shit mb

THE FUCK IS THIS

yangyang:
don't worry let me just

yangyang:
@zhangha00 Hi bestie you should kiss
mei

haknyeon:
YANGYANG 😭😭😭😭😭

taerae:
just baiting out our bet like that😭

hao:
@meiirae i'm coming actually

Omg omg omg

gunwook:
zhangmei kiss please

okay

hao:
WHAT

jk hahahahahaha

hanbin:
💀💀💀

❦ ♪

mei opens her door with a giddy smile on her face, and even the sight of the boy made her tired mood lift in an instant. "hii!" she greets cheerily yet she notices how tired he looks.

"hi." hao chuckles dryly before walking in and giving her a pat on the head. "i can't believe you made me skip."

"you had every right and reason to say no but you still did because you love me." she shrugs, locking her door. hao didn't want to expose why he did skip for her instead of listening to his parents, so he just nods.

"anyways, i actually wanted to give you a mini tour since like i feel like you're going to be here a lot." she laughs walking closer to the boy.

he nods before taking his shoes off. "this is literally a mansion for a family of three.. this isn't going to be a 'mini tour'."

"we have extra rooms for our workers too." she laughs before taking his hand, which seemed to become a habit recently. "buttttt i just wanted to show you a room we recently built in."

he nods, not ignoring how their hands were holding again. mei gives him a sweet smile before dragging him around her house.

hao was listening to everything the girl was rambling about, giving her occasional nods and smiles to let her know he's listening. however, he was constantly worrying about his dad's text messages.

he kept thinking what would happen if the headmaster knows they skipped again today? or what would his parents do when they find out how often they're hanging out? or especially what would happen to him if he gets kicked out for slowly indulging into the behaviours mei had?

mei wasn't a bad influence completely, but she was affecting how hao has been acting; he starts to not care, go out more, study less and talk to her more when he never intended to be friends with her in the first place.

but at the end of the day, it wasn't a big deal at all – mei was due to move back after their pair volunteering ends since she has changed completely. of course, her old personality was still evidently still there, yet there has been a small record of her fighting or arguing. mei was changing quickly, and the more she acts nicer, the less amount of time she has to spend here.

hao couldn't lie that he recently enjoys her company. she gives him a feeling that he shouldn't put up a huge 'top student' and arrogant act anymore and it lets him be himself a bit more.

but when days like today he gets to be alone with her, he feels way happier even with the tiring thoughts of his parents. all he wanted was to make them proud. but if they weren't proud, then he might at least try make his partner proud.

"so," she says as she points at a huge door that was located at the back corner of her house. "we built this when i first moved to your uni, but i never got the chance to use or see it until today."

"so you just wanted me to come and see it for you?" hao laughs, watching her aggressively look for the key in the dozen she had.

she nods. "i forgot about it until i thought about how long it's been since professor lee let me play an instrument."

"oh is this a music room?" he asks excitedly. "you built one and never told me?"

"it was my father's idea. he just told me to never use it until now." she shrugs. "don't you have a space for your own music at home?" she asks as she finally finds the key.

"the violin i owned got broken and my parents just tell me to do it all in campus." he shrugs as the girl quickly unlocks the door.

she grins and opens the door, hearing a loud echo  resonating from the creak of the door. "ooh let's go inside." she says before pulling him inside and switching on the lights.

as the lights turn on, hao looks at the huge hall in bewilderment; it had multiple instruments placed around the room and a mini stage at the back. "woah."

she gasps and closes the door behind them. "we should play something!" she drags him over to a small studio area. "shit i never knew how cool this was."

he chuckles as she lets go of his hand to pick up a violin. "didn't you say your old violin got broken?" she asks.

he nods slowly. "by youngjae, yeah." his face crinkling at the horrible thought of that day.

"you can use this one if you want." she says as she hands it to him. "don't refuse because i can easily buy you another one."

he scoffs. "mei i know you're rich but i don't want to take something that's yours."

"i'll just buy you one then." she shrugs. "play something then." she smiles as she sits down on a seat behind her.

hao sighs. "i don't want to use something that's yours-"

"zhanghao play something!! please it's been so long since i've heard you play." she begs.

"flashbacks to when our first conversation was who was better at violin." he rolls his eyes before tuning the violin.

she laughs. "i hated you."

"you don't anymore, how sweet." he says sarcastically before looking at her. "do you actually want to hear something?"

she nods. "play that song you played when we first met."

"always??" he asks with a laugh. "i forgot about that song actually." he positions the violin in his hands before humming the tune. "maybe."

"you said you would let me hear the full song actually." she interrupts before he starts. "can i hear the actual thing too?"

he coughs. "um, once i sort something out maybe." he nods. "so do you want to hear the violin version or not?" he asks.

she smiles. "okay sorry, please play." the boy responds with a nod.

"proof i'm better than huang mei." he jokes before starting.

as he started to play, his thoughts went back to his reputation and how much staying first rank means to him. he couldn't help but get distracted by what he was doing and thinking about what the consequences of him being too nice to her would be.

playing a romantic song for mei after a while felt nice but he tried his best to ignore smiling from the happiness that he felt by just playing this for her. he avoids her focused eyes that were on him the whole time, feeling a weird familiar in his stomach.

❦ ♪

— no one's pov.

mei's spotify playlist
10+ members

— yujin has removed mei and hao.

yujin:
dw we'll add them back later but let's
all have a conversation.

xiaojun:
what does the sixteen year old want

yujin:
what your bet is about zhangmei kiss

ricky:
me personally i think this week

gyuvin:
man said this week i think TODAY

jiwoong:
bro was stressing about his parents yet
we're just begging them to get tgt LMFAO

donghyuck:
as we should

jeno:
i think it's so interesting how quickly
they're getting along like what did they
do to become besties suddenly

renjun:
mei gave up being a cunt

renjun:
she has some sort of soft spot for
him suddenly like

gunwook:
nah fr because on campus they're so
quiet like Um i miss the lunchtime
zhangmei fights ft youngjae

xiaojun:
ft youngjae (derogatory)

renjun:
i hate this actually because i miss mei
on campus where is she at please

matthew:
TRUE like where's the token girl

gunwook:
TOKEN GIRL😭😭😭

haknyeon:
she's our token girl actually

haknyeon:
and my forever bestie so get out

gyuvin:
excuse me

gyuvin:
if i win the bet i am officially her
bestfriend

renjun:
sorry to break it to you all but that's
me and xiaoting x

renjun:
i just want him to admit he likes her

jeno:
so true boyfie

renjun:
bye

jaemin:
LMFAOO WHAT

jaemin:
i'm late but Zhangmei kiss soon plz

hanbin:
why are you making a bet on them kissing

yujin:
shits and giggles duh

yujin:
your uni lives are so boring and none
of you have jobs so we shall work as
zhangmei wingmen

jeno:
i still think they're gonna kiss this week

taerae:
our group betted on today...

chenle:
UR WRONG they can't

chenle:
our group said this week as jeno said

renjun:
i just want it now

renjun:
as her bestfriend my prediction will be
true and it will happen

yangyang:
i have an idea

— yangyang added xiaoting to the group.

xiaoting:
What the fuck.

xiaoting:
please don't hatecrime me

xiaoting:
i like women too Guys

xiaoting:
nvm checked the people in the group
all of you are homosexual

jaemin:
girl didn't have to say it like that LMFAOO

gunwook:
???? LMFAOOOO

yujin:
Lesbian

jiwoong:
this kid and his lesbian bs

xiaoting:
who THE FUCK are you guys
(i only hear about you from mei)

chenle:
xiaoting..

xiaoting:
oh right you guys are here

xiaoting:
I TOLD MEI I DIDN'T WANT HER
BIRTHDAY PARTY GC NOOO

jeno:
it's not

ricky:
we have a question

xiaoting:
quick please i'm scared of entitled men

ricky:
prediction on when the zhangmei kiss
is going to happen??

xiaoting:
oh girl it could be anyday

xiaoting:
this bitch is always close to kissing him

renjun:
trew

xiaoting:
i just say we bet on when they're going
to DATE like a kiss is not enough

taerae:
omfg ur so right!

donghyuck:
question is would he kiss back though

hanbin:
no

gunwook:
❤️🔺 comeback

gyuvin:
precisely

xiaoting:
icl idk much about zhanghao but i
think he might considering he flirts
with her all of the time

gunwook:
Tbh truth like wdym i've seen them two
together more than i've seen my parents

yujin:
bc they are our parents

yangyang:
fr it pains me actually

yangyang:
i'm so sad they're so cute recently

hanbin:
mood

gyuvin:
Boy..

❦ ♪

— mei pov.

after the two spent their time playing in mei's new music room, they were eventually tired and hungry. mei didn't want him to leave so quickly so she leads him straight to her kitcchen.

"what do you want? i'll go ask my chefs." she says as the two stop at the girl's kitchen. "they're all in the other kitchen, tell me and i'll tell them."

hao's thoughts got to him and he sighs. "wait, can i just say something to you please?" he asks as he lets go of her hand.

she was confused by the change but nods. "what's wrong? are you not hung–" she gets cut off by the feeling of the boy's hands on her own.

he suddenly traps her, both of his arms on either side of the edge with the girl's back against the counter. "mei you're ruining me." he sighs.

mei's eyebrows furrow before she could even respond to what position they were in. "what do you mean?"

"my parents found out about tuesday." he sighs, finally telling her about his biggest worry.

"wait, your parents know?" she asks in shock, not expecting this news at all since she thought his parents always assumed that they weren't exactly close (which is obviously wrong).

"yeah, and our headmaster." he sighs. "our top student reputation might be ruined." he looks into her eyes with worry.

the mood switched so quickly that mei's expression changes completely. "oh fuck. i'm so sorry." she whispers to the boy. "do you want me to ask to end the vo–"

he shakes his head. "it's fine, not that i don't want to be around you or anything but i'm scared we'll be kicked out – especially after today."

"i'm so sorry i genuinely wasn't thinking about your reputation fully. i feel so bad oh my god." she looks up at him guiltily.

he chuckles a little, tiredly looking down at her again with her body still being trapped between his arms. "don't feel bad."

"but i don't want you to get in trouble because of me." she shakes her head at him. "you know what, i'll just–"

"mei." he stops her from talking. "you don't need to do anything, i'm fine getting in trouble if it's you." he chuckles, which somehow made the girl get butterflies.

"what? did i hear that right? are you fucking flirting with me?" her eyes widen. "repeat that.."

"i said–" he stops as a result of mei suddenly cupping the boy's cheeks before pulling his face closer to hers. she felt so sorry yet her mind went to something entirely different as she finally comprehends how close they were.

"hao, um." she whispers, their eye contact never breaking until mei's eyes fall to his lips. her eyes flutter back up at him, but his eyes were already looking down at what she assumed was her lips.

she nervously gulps before risking something she was wishing to do since the day she had met him. hao's arms found their way from the edge of the counter to snaking around her smaller figure, their proximity causing his breath to hitch before mei finally leans forward.

❦ ♪

crazy LMFAOO don't hate me on the cliffhanger and the zhangmei uni rep angst that may be starting..

thanks for the ideas on instagram i am failing to do filler chapters sorry omg

btw i'm a bit of a fucking idiot and drank 2 days in a row and i am extremely hungover and planned a lot for this chapter but i actually can't be bothered writing so sorry for how short it is (3k words is so bad compared to normal)

there's probably many mistakes but it's only a filler so ummm deal with it

also school starts in a week and i'm pretty busy this week soo sorry if there's going to be slow updates