The 1 Rule - haobin

it's alright

"Stop 'cause I actually think I failed" Matthew says, grabbing at my arm. I look at him and chuckle at seeing his current horrible condition, his face full of distress. Matthew looks up at me and frowns, his eyes turning from sorrow to mad anger, a finger pointing at me

"You laugh, but remember that tomorrow you have your maths test. You won't be laughing then dickhead" He says. My smile drops and I start to fake cry, even though I feel genuinely stressed about it

"Dude, don't even remind me"

"You'll study today, right?"

"Yeah, obviously" I reply, rolling my eyes

"It's not obvious though. You never study," He says. I scoff, but don't say anything in return. Why? Because he's right. I never study, not even for finals. I don't know if it's because I'm too lazy, or because I know that I'll ace the test even without revising, but what I do know is that this will be the first year that I'll actually study for my final exams.

"By the way, I haven't seen Ricky today," Matthew mentions. I nod

"Yeah, me neither. Now that you mention it, I haven't seen Gyuvin either."

"I heard that they had a fight. Some people from Ricky's class saw them fighting in class" Matthew says, lowering his voice a little

"Yeah, I was there. I don't know what happened though"

"Should we call Ricky?" he questions me

"No, I don't think so. We should probably let him solve whatever is happening between them by himself. It's none of our business"

"Oh, look at Hanbin being so mature!" Cho says, coming up from behind, and placing herself between me and Matthew. She smiles brightly at me, and I give her a small smile in return

"Hey" I say naturally

"Hey. How was the exam?" she asks, aiming the question at me

"Easy. Matthew here seems to think otherwise though" I say, trying to include Matthew in the conversation. I don't want Cho to drag me away anytime soon. I'm just really not in the mood

"Easy? But don't you hate History?" Cho says, still talking to me

"What? Hanbin loves-" Matthew starts, but I interrupt him in a hurry

"Yeah! But that doesn't mean that I'm not good at it, y'know" I reply. Cho nods in agreement. We pass a few people, but the hallways are weirdly empty. It's obvious because people run outside to study, or go to the library.

"Y'know, I think I'll go to the snack bar" Matthew says. I nod at him and wave him goodbye. Cho sticks next to me, not saying anything, but grabbing at my arm. I look down at it, smiling only slightly. Does she still like me the same way I thought she used to? I don't know. Do I like her the same way as before? I don't know. Do I want her to still like me? Yes, I do. But then why do I not want to spend time with her right now? Do I want some alone time? Yes, I do.

"Hey, Cho, I'll get going as well. See you for the science test!" I say, giving her an attempted bright smile

"Sure" she says "Wait, before you go, I was thinking that maybe you would like to study with me in the afternoon?" she says, hopeful eyes staring at me

Didn't Hao tell me that she said that she wanted to study alone at the park? Should I? Should I really go?

I brood for a few moments before giving her a sweet smile

"Sorry, I can't. I have plans with my family" I say. Cho opens her mouth slight, her lips nearly forming a pout

"Oh.. alright then. I'll see you later then. I nod, smiling kindly, and separate myself from her, my arm feeling free from the strong grip of her hands. And so, we go on our own ways this afternoon

---

"Oh my god, Hanbin, you're so stupid" Hao says, finally breaking after two hours of trying to calmly explain maths to me. We're currently sitting on his bed, my legs crossed, my torso in an uncomfortable position for leaning over my notebook

"I'm aware. Hao, please just explain one more time?" I say. Hao sighs, scratching at his hair furiously because of the frustration.

"I have exams tomorrow, you know that right?"

"I know, but you've been studying so much this past week. I'm sure you understand everything by now" I reply, shrugging.

"I understand for an ok grade. I need a perfect grade" Hao says angrily. I lean onto the wall next to his bed

"Ok... let's make a deal. You help me with maths and I'll help you with any subject you're struggling with," I say simply. Hao puffs out his cheeks, frowning "What's a subject you're struggling with?"

".....Chemistry" he replies, his gaze turning to the covers of his bed. I don't blame him. He's probably ashamed that he's struggling with something when he's supposed to be perfect. He maybe convinced himself that he's perfect, causing this shame

"Hao,"

"Yeah?"

"There's nothing wrong with not understanding something," I say, and before Hao can answer, I continue "I'll help you with Chem, no problem. Not to brag or anything, but I get like really good grades-"

"You're bragging" Hao says, face looking half bored and half amused

"Right, sorry. How about we do something before studying? We're both sick and tired of looking at random papers. Let's take a break"

"No. We can't take breaks" Hao says, face indicating distress

"Ok, I'm the one who usually never says this, but balance is important. Breaks are important, just as important as how studying is" I say, but still, Hao looks hesitant

"Look, we still have a lot of time to study. Just try it out once, yeah?" I say, and Hao nods slowly, obviously still unsure.

"Sure. What do you wanna do?" The boy asks me. I shrug

"Let's go get some fresh air. Maybe some ice cream as well"

"Ice cream it is" he replies quietly. His eyes lighting up ever so slightly.

Cute.

I smile in return, trying to detect the small smile playing at the side of Hao's lips. I still want to see the full smile. I quickly get off the bed and open the door for Hao, happy to have convinced the inconvincible younger boy.

♡♡♡

I backkk! still busy though lmao

ok no but atp I'm starting to rll regret taking Bio 😭 Like the subject itself is extremely bad but the teacher is the problem here. She's giving me so much hw same as the math teacher 

The only class that is fine for me atm is English. Like idk something about writing essays just makes me so happy 😊

(stream 'home' by nmixx)