❦ ♪

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE : apologies

"we look cute together, no?"

❦ ♪

— hao pov.

hanbin

hey

hi

i have something to ask you

i don't like mei

oh how'd you know what i was
going to ask..?

you've asked me this before

i have?

when she first joined lol

oh okay
seen

❦ ♪

ricky

first time hanbin texted me after like
two fucking months #friendship

oh wow
what did he say

he was going to ask if i liked mei
Fucking idiot

didn't bro already ask you that
ages ago (chapter 10)

yeah lmao and when i said that he's
asked me before he said "oh okay"

BRO SAID oh okay BYEEEE
THATS SO😭😭😭DID U RLY MAKE
HIM SAD OR SOMETHING

i literally just said i don't like mei

tbh he's kinda annoying me

oh why

I cannot talk to him anymore bc
when i do it's all about mei like ok
we get it😑😑😑😑😑

IJBOL i agree

if this is how obsessed people are
when they like each other i do not
want someone to like me

i want someone to like me like that tbh

mei tbh
she talks about you all the time but
not to the point i wanna slap her

shut up
stop bringing her up pls!

I AM SPEAKING TRUTH

i have to talk to her soon ACTUALLY

man said "i have to talk to her soon
ackshully🤓☝️☝️"

well ACKSHULLY i'm going to kill myself
when i see her 😊

aww are u gonna have a redemption
make out session😍😍😍😍😍

please Fuck off ricky. ❤️

no LOL this is funny you are
sooooo in denial come on

no

JUST BE NICE TO HER TODAY!

if she apologises then yes

ZHANGMEI IS FUCKING BACKK

you can't be srs.

i mean she stole your man
so just steal her for yourself innit

the way your mind works makes me
question why you're in college

andd the way you're being in denial
makes me question if you really are
the top student or if it's just mei

kys

just talk to your gf plz. no death threats.
spread love. ❤️❤️❤️

she's probably gonna ignore me but okay!
and she is not my gf FUCK OFFFFF

❦ ♪

— mei pov.

junjun<3

hi i feel suicidal

girl are you okay what happened

i regret my life choices and i am so
fucking stupid i WANT to KMS

what did you do now..😓

ummmmmmmmmmm
ok so
ummmmmmmm
welll
uhhhh
soooo

hoe if you don't tell me rn

well i kinda made out with hanbin
the other day..!

i'm blocking you

NO BUT LISTEN TO ME

what.......

i made many mistakes in the span of
7 days i think it's time for me to go on
a trip to china with you Hahahaha

MEI TELL ME EVERYTHING
RIGHT NOW

ok so my ass decided to mention my fucking
ex bf and how shitty he was at k*ssing then
this don went "do you think i'm a good kisser?"
and i said What the hell and he kissed me then
now apparently i kissed him at the club not hao

what the bloody fuck huang mei
why would you do that AND WAIT HE'S THE CLUB GUY?
do you even like him

I DO NOT FUCKING KNOW I THOUGHT
I DID BUT I JUST WKWXHWOWPFAB

...ok so what happened after

he kissed me again

and you kissed back..

LOOK IM SORRY OKAY IDK HE JUST
ASKED AND I WARNED HIM BUT STILL.

girl get back in your cage..!

he said he wanted to kiss me as a friend
and i was just like wtaf does that mean but
i still did bc idk idk what the hell i hate this

he so likes you im sorry but it's
really weird Tbh wdym kiss as
a friend

That is the problem. i mean it was nice
but i didn't feel good bc i knew he just
wanted to kiss me

well jolly ol' day! you don't like him!

RENJUN WHAT DO I DO I THOUGHT I
WAS GOING TO LIKE HANBIN BUT😓😓

but what

ok So let me explain my feelings

i'm losing braincells to the point i'm
going to go down a rank but go on

so ummm idk he's just perfect and i think
he likes me but idk after i found out he was
the one i kissed at the club i just didn't feel
anything with him anymore

why😥

bc the club kiss meant i basically used him
to get over y*ungjae and i feel horrible

awh no mei wait

and we already have such a great friend
ship and i don't wanna ruin it like that😓

aww look at you having character
development 🥹🥹🥹

WDYM...

if you did this with someone else
you'd be like "i used him #ijbol"

Bye. I would.

so glad ur out of ur bitch era and
taking people's feelings into account
🥰🥰🥰

renjun Shut Up i am stressing

well just address it won't happen
ever again

I HAVE YOU FUCKING IDIOT WHY
WOULD I KISS HIM AND BE LIKE
yass let's do it again 🥰🥰

maybe u would idk

Die but but but i feel bad help

hoe you've broken a ton of hearts

HANBIN'S IS SO BAD THOUGH I'M
GOING TO FEEL AWFUL 😢

ok well he has to know somehow

ok true
and i'm omw to campus rn x

Imagine

die i have to talk to hao

aww good luck don't make out

What

actually do bc zhangmei😊😊

zhangmei might come back if he decides
to make me giggly today😊😊

you literally hyperventilate whenever
he's around wdym 'might come back'

okay enough Renjun.
i'm almost there i CANNOT see him

you'll be fineeeee

idk how to apologise do i just say
sorry and carry on with my day

kiss him

i wish
omg you got me thinking now fuck
i feel like a sung haerin

like sung haerin as in you over think
everything or sung haerin as in you
kiss every single man

second one Tbh
but what do i do to apologise xxx

just kiss him there's no problem
he might kiss you back if ummm
nevermind he might not

not after i kissed his bestmate!!

umm that's okay!
hao is the better option neway

WHY DOES EVERYONE SAY THAT
YOU DIDN'T EVEN LIKE THE IDEA
BEFORE WTAF.

well hanbin is scarily obsessed with you

it's not scary it's.. well i wouldn't say
scary but i get what you mean

yes and ur a whore for men who don't
fucking want you xx (it's only hao)

he definitely wants me
(i am a whore for him)

you say that and have the urge to
throw yourself whenever he flirts
and you can't even respond

Why are you exposing me like this

it has to be said!

he won't flirt with me it's okay he hates me
hahahahahahhaahahhaha

❦ ♪

— 3rd person.

mei anxiously stood outside of the headmaster's office as she stared at the floor. she wasn't so keen on doing this volunteering shit, especially when it's with hao.

she still has mixed feelings with almost everything recently. and after her sleepover with hanbin, she's been ignoring his texts out of guilt and she can't bring herself to look at him anymore.

well more like she's ignored everyone except renjun. that's how confused she was. and now she had to talk to hao when they argued under a week ago, which was pretty awkward.

she wasn't the type to apologise for something, so knowing she felt absolutely horrible about what she said to hao and actually wanted to apologise says a lot.

she taps her foot impatiently as she thought about all of the possible outcomes of today. after her little break off campus she was genuinely nervous to be without renjun because #emotionalsupportfriend.

she hears footsteps, making her look up and spot hao walking her way with his eyes down on his phone. mei clears her throat and looks down at her feet to avoid staring at him.

fuck off why is he always so fucking fine i hate this i can't apologise to that oh my DAYSSSS. she kept panicking in her head as if she doesn't see him like everyday.

she notices his feet stand in front of hers, causing her to look up at him. the boy was surprisingly already looking at her. "um," she coughs. "hi."

his face was unreadable, but he just nodded. "hi."

well that's fucking awkward. she thought, watching him look the other way as she accidentally caught herself staring at his side profile.

she was thinking about when and how she should actually apologise to him, since she didn't want to do it straight away and wait until he seemed fine with her.

however hao was panicking as much as her; he felt bad he started an argument and it wasn't her fault for not believing him, and he also wanted to apologise (while also still waiting for hers).

the two stood in complete silence, looking at their phones (fake scrolling on instagram). mei not even sparing a glance at the boy at all. she felt awkward for coming too early now since the atmosphere was not it.

thankfully, the door opened, making the two turn towards the door where their headmaster was standing. "you're both here early, great!" he grins, "come in our top students." the man chuckles.

mei rolls her eyes, shoving past hao into the room. she was glad that headmaster kim came out earlier so that she wouldn't have to face that deathly situation again.

the two students sit on opposites sides of the sofa as the headmaster walks towards them. "so you saw my email, right?" he asks.

mei snorts, remembering the email that she lowkey laughed at. "yeah, who told you we were arguing?"

"don't worry about that." he says, turning around. "but nonetheless, this has become a huge problem recently."

"we don't even argue that much." mei shrugs. i mean, they did argue that much but it was always unserious or on petty things.

and plus, they were recently getting along too. until that night of the fashion event obviously, which made their volunteering situation ten times worse than she already sees it.

"sure, but anyway. your 'manager' will come here soon. so as we wait, i want to discuss something with you two." he says.

the two nod, letting the man continue. "well, it's quite inevitable that there was a rivalry between you two. but i didn't think it was that serious."

hao laughs, "it's nothing serious. it's just for jokes, isn't it mei?" he turns to mei who glares at him, the first words she's heard him say since the day.

she knew he was only saying it so the two wouldn't get told off for actually somewhat disliking each other. "yeah, nothing serious." she nods.

he nods. "good, you know that you're supposed to be paired for a year so we can't have you two falling out so easily." he chuckles.

this was ironic; they basically fell out under a week ago. but this time it wasn't even about the rivalry, which only becomes a problem during the ranks.

she felt awfully bad for what she said, and she knows that hao probably hates her now. but still, mei is yet to know why he actually hates her so much. "we'll be fine." she smiles.

hao doesn't say anything as the door opens, revealing their music professor walk in with pieces of paper in his hand. "are they ready?" he asks, looking down at the two.

mei and hao nod along with mr kim (headmaster), "keep an eye on them." he jokes, letting the two students get up without a word.

their professor nods. "so do you know what you're doing today?" he asks, even though the obvious answer is no.

"it's not cleaning is it?" mei asks, genuinely scared for having to ruin her clothes. her question had led how to roll his eyes.

the professor chuckles. "it is, actually. which means you two are getting changed, but you're only cleaning an old office in the building."

this completely brings mei's already annoyed mood down, making her frown. "we have to get changed? i didn't bring any extra clothes." she says in worry.

"oh we have some for you, it's like our janitor's uniform. don't worry mirae." he chuckles again, handing the two each a plastic bag with clothes in them.

"so you're making us wear this and clean... because we argued..?" she asks, still bothered by their weird punishment.

"well, it's still a punishment either way. why? is being alone with hao too much for you or do you like that?" the professor teases, making mr kim laugh.

mei turns to hao's expressionless face and back at the teachers. "i mean i'm not saying that i hate it but i don't love being alone with him." she shrugs.

"aw you'll be fine, i'm sure you two can get along quickly. but there is also a huge benefit if you two do the two month program." mr kim says, walking with the other three out of the room.

"what is it?" mei asks, still being the only person talking between the two as hao just followed behind silently, still listening.

"well if this is successful, and you both actually get along and stop arguing every second, then it benefits to your grades and rewards." their music professor explains. "so if this is good, you both can get bigger benefits with jobs and your grades themselves."

hao nods, liking the idea of it. "so if we get along and get everything done during the two months it benefits us even more?" he asks, finally fucking talking.

"yes." the professor nods. "top students are our priorities, and since mirae moved here it would be a better chance for her to do more things during her time here."

mei hums, noticing how they were leading the two to the old parts of the building, even though this building was very modern and clean.

"okay," mr kim stops at a huge wooden door, similar to all of the others in the campus except there was a sign that read BUILDING TWO on it. "open your tablets." he says, making the two get them from their bags.

mei still wasn't exactly used to the whole boujee tablet, she only used it for directions to rooms and for the ranking emails. she frowns when she notices a new button appearing on the home page.

"so this," the man says, pointing at the light green button. "if you press on it is your timetable for the two months." he says.

mei's face creases, meaning she was displeased by the tuesday and friday timetable this week already. "high school..?" she read, "we have to go to a high school??" she looks up at the teachers.

"yes, why? do you two not want to help high schoolers study for their exams?" mr kim asks.

mei looks over at hao in disbelief, but his face remained still. "that seems alright." he says, making her scoff.

mei still knew she wasn't the best with strangers, especially kids in high school who were a few years younger than her. she doesn't know what's she'd expect from herself, and hao too.

"are you good with talking to younger people?" she turns to ask hao, in which he just replies with a hum without him looking at her.

mei huffs and turns back. "okay so we're cleaning an old office today?" she asks, reading from the tablet again.

"yes," mr kim smiles, pointing at a changing room behind them. "change into your cleaning clothes, then come out and we'll take you to building two with all of the offices."

mei rolls her eyes before dragging her feet to the changing room, being followed by hao. once the door closes, mei turns to him so he would look at her. "why are you ignoring me now?"

"i'm not, just get changed." he says as he finally looks at her, which made her a bit shocked after not being able to see his face after a week.

when he notices, he chuckles. "why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" he bends down to her height. "are you scared of me again? i wasn't ignoring you, i'm just tired."

mei scoffs, moving back. "i'm fine. and i was never scared of you." she faces the side to not look at him as he stood up straight again.

"hm, okay. so where's the apology you promised?" he asks, crossing his arms as he leans against the wall. "you have one minute to do it before we have to get changed." he smirks.

mei looks at him in disbelief. "ummmmmmm," she sighs, facing the floor. "do i have to now?" she complains.

"yes. and the quicker you do it, the faster we get changed and get this over with, right?" he says, still looking at her.

mei scoffs. "okay fine." she looks at the floor again "i'm um," she pauses, "uhhh i.."

hao laughs. "it can't be that hard, i'm not even THAT mad at you anymore."

"well okay i'm sor...." she fails to even finish the word, still looking down at her feet in anxiousness.

"mei it would mean more if you actually look at me when you apologise." he teases, "oh and you should also say the reason."

mei almost curses as she looks back up, but not quite looking at the boy. "okay well zhang fucking hao i'm incredibly sorry for mentioning your parents i guess." she says.

"look at me when you say it." he snickers. "and remove the i guess. come on, we don't have all day mei."

mei rolls her eyes. "i just said it, is that not enough? fucking hell." she manages to look at his face and she only glared at him.

"why is it so hard to look at me? you used to stare at me all the time." he teases again.

"hao fuck off before i actually–" she curses. "i'm getting changed. you're annoying." she says before storming into a stall.

❦ ♪

— hanbin pov.

gyuvin

i really feel like shit

why?

mei hasn't answered me in ages and
she still posts on her stories..

oh same Lol
maybe she feels awkward with you
after that kiss.. what even happened
after though

we finished the dare episode and ate
and i fell asleep hugging her but ever
since i left she's been airing me

ooo pal you messed up i think
you ruined the friendship

idk i don't think so
maybe she's just thinking about it?

hanbin you know i cannot lie to you..
she definitely feels awkward with you

fuckkk i feel bad i shouldn't have
done it but it was just perfect in the
moment😭😭😭

❦ ♪

— mei pov.
- 3rd person.

hao snorts as he watches mei walk out of the changing room with the most disgusted face ever. "why the flip do i have to wear this?" she fake cries.

"you've never been in casual clothes before?" hao laughs, "are you really that much of a nepo baby?"

"it smells of primark." she complains, crossing her arms. "and this is not fucking casual, i look like a hobo."

"you look like an average person." he shrugs, turning to their new 'manager' who was literally just their music professor.  "so when are we starting?"

"manager i genuinely can't wear this." mei whines, "this is fucking awful i'm sorry." she wasn't even used to something like this at all.

hao rolls his eyes. "get a muzzle on her please."

professor lee laughs, patting mei's shoulder. "working as a janitor won't be the worst thing, mirae."

"this is already the worst thing." she sighs. "i can't believe this honestly."

"maybe if you learned how to shut up then we wouldn't be here." hao snickers.

"do i have to remind you that YOU started it??" she argues back, pointing at him.

"anyways! off you go now!" professor lee smiles, pushing the two into the building. "the office is the one on your right, you have until three, it's half eleven."

"you're joking." mei groans. "why do we need so much time?"

"it's a big office, mirae." he chuckles, "and if you finish early you can just leave whenever. but you have to email us so we can check before you go."

"okay.." hao says, wanting to go inside already.

mr kim smiles as the two walked into the hallway to building two. "clean, then when you're done, reorganise my files." he grins. "have fun!" he says before walking away with their professor.

"this is ridiculous." mei scoffs as the door closes, looking over at hao. "are you actually going to clean?"

"well yeah, we have to." he shrugs, picking up some cleaning equipment. "just do it so we can leave."

mei rolls her eyes. "i hate what i'm wearing." she complains, stomping to a dusty desk. "ew and this looks ancient."

hao scoffs at her. "you act like a nepo baby so much, it's painful to listen to."

"shut up." she says, getting a wipe from her side and hesitatingly wiping the desk, which is probably the only thing she's going to do in the next three and a half hours.

"only if you properly apologise." he says, crouching down to wipe some random cabinets. "if you apologise properly i won't talk to you if you don't want me to."

"in the least flirtatious way please talk to me, i can't be silent for three fucking hours while cleaning." she says, avoiding the 'apologising' part.

"mei apologise to me." he almost demands, yet his voice was calm and he was still peacefully wiping. "i think we both know i deserve one."

mei sighs, "give me like five minutes to prepare so i don't cringe half way." she says, pulling the spinning chair and sitting on it. "i'll just clean random objects on the desk as i figure it out."

he laughs. "okay, i'm expecting a proper one." he turns around to see her, but she was already focused on wiping a random clock. he chuckles to himself before turning back around.

mei internally panics and screams at herself, struggling what to even say to him. i'm sorry – no wait, i'm really sorry – but am i really sorry? , wait i am i literally mentioned his parents – okay i'm really sorry for... she sighs, not being able to apologise.

she aggressively wipes the keyboard while still overthinking what to say. at this point, she didn't even want to say anything from how awkward she felt.

"hao i'm really sorry for mentioning your parents," she starts, making him turn around with a teasing smile. "and um, i feel awful since i don't actually know what your relationship with your family is or anything so..." she coughs.

"i mean it was kind of shit coming from you but i'll accept it." he chuckles, getting up to walk over to the desk where she was sat.

"i don't know what to say i just feel really bad.." she shrugs, looking up at him with a sad face. "sorry."

he chuckles, "it's fine. and i'm sorry for starting something, i shouldn't expect you to believe me straight away." he says.

mei snorts. "ehhh it's alright." she smiles. "so we're good?"

"ehh," he pauses, placing one of his wipes down. "i think since you really hurt my feelings you should let me do something."

mei furrows her brows. "what the fuck do you want to do.." she leans back into the chair. "oh my god do you want to kiss me?"

hao scoffs. "no, fucking hell." he looks down at her. "but," he says, resting his hand onto the desk and leaning closer to her.

mei watches him lean forward, and she doesn't even know what to expect at this point. but she feels and watches him take a strand of hers out and he softly touches it.

the girl struggles to breathe from their closeness but once he pulls back with a laugh, she looks down at her hair and touches it. she feels it, and the top of her head, and the rest of her hair and looks up in annoyance. "hao i'm going to kill you."

"you don't like it?" he snickers, looking at mei's annoyed expression as her hair was now ruined; he had put some old dust everywhere in her hair and she only thought he put some random thing on one strand but no, it was quite literally all over.

she huffs. "zhanghao you are so lucky i find you hot." she plays with her hair, still irritated by hao accidentally ruining her hair. "get it out." she demands.

he shakes his head. "not a fan of months old of dust?" he chuckles.

she glares at him. "get it out or i'll tell everyone you attempted to kiss me." she says.

hao rolls his eyes before immediately softly taking the pieces out of my hair. "you get annoyed at such small things, it's just dust."

"absolutely not, my hair is too pretty for it to be ruined." she rolls her eyes before standing up and walking towards him with crossed arms. "if you think only putting a bit of dust in my hair is funny then i'm going to–"

"okay i'm sorry." he laughs, walking behind her. "i'll tie your hair for you, just shut up." he pulls her soft hair back into his hands.

mei froze at the contact. she didn't know he'd actually be nice to her, and it felt... nice? to her instead of having the feeling of joy she got from arguing. "um, thanks.."

the boy turns her around and he chuckles. "you look pretty.."  he says with a smile. "fucking weird."

"i thought you were going to call me pretty go KILL YOURSELF." she shouts in offence as hao cheekily starts to run away. "come here i'm going to pull your hair out you bastard. i'm going to shove dust down your throat while i'm at it."

"no thanks!" he laughs before running to the other side of the room, completely forgetting they had to be cleaning. it's been like five minutes and they're already distracted.

the duo ended up chasing each other around the office until mei finally manages to get hao sat down. she then ties his hair, making him look like an apple.

"you look like a fucking idiot." she laughs, pointing at him. "i'm doing that again, and i'm going to shave all of your hair off if you try me again."

he rolls his eyes. "can't believe you've done this to me." he crosses his arms, looking at his hair in the mirror. "we literally need to clean and you're ruining my hair."

"okay??? you did it to me first." she chuckles. "live a little, you need to stop listening to everything a teacher says and maybe learn how to have fun." she shrugs.

"i do have fun actually." he says. "but not when some bitch just put my hair up over dust." he complains.

"there's bare bacteria in that dust you know. this is an old office you never know how old that is." she rolls her eyes.

"okay but you didn't have to chase me around because of it."

mei snorts. "okay, my bad. but that's what you get for starting that argument and ruining my hair." she walks back to the mirror to check her hair out. "aw look we did each other's hair!"

she lowkey liked the soft ponytail he had put her hair in, which is the bare minimum. but obviously mei would boast about the fact he's touched her hair.

"we look cute together, no?" he jokes, looking down at the girl who only side eyes him. "don't side eye me you nepo baby."

"whatever." she says, turning around and skipping to where the files were. "anyways, i'll just sort these out for now." she tells the boy, who nods and moves away from the mirror.

he thinks we look cute together??!?!???

❦ ♪

filler chapter sawry this is so fucking
boring anyways

EXAM SZN OVER WOOOOOOOOO