I looked down at my desk, still pouting. Lay left the room for a while, so I didn't have anyone to talk to during class interval (Well, it's not like he always talks to me, but at least I have some familiar company around). Actually, he was already gone for an hour, so he practically missed one whole class. The meeting Tao called for must have been so important. It's kind of weird for him to call for a meeting at such time, not during lunch and not after classes, so while I contemplated over it, I could only think of one reason why would he do that: Because I wasn't allowed to hear about whatever they would talk about. Sure, Lay invited me to come, but I would definitely not miss a single class ever in my life.
"Prof is absent again," The class representative announced lifelessly as she went in, and the class immediately rejoiced. I sighed. So I was meant to go to the meeting after all. I grabbed my bag and headed towards the staircase, but then I froze when I felt something odd by the window on the hallway. Slowly, I approached it to look over the school grounds. At first, I didn't see anything because the school ground was empty, but when I looked closer, I realized that it wasn't inside the school. It was a person, leaning casually at a wall right across the street. With his tall physique and that unique, powerful aura, I knew that I couldn't be mistaken. Kris.
What is he doing here? How could he casually get past the dome whenever he wants? Does he know the HBs are having a meeting right now? Biting my lip, I grabbed my phone to message Kai.
"Hey. How long will your meeting last?"
"IDK. Tao has a lot to say. Why? What's up?"
I glanced back at Kris' figure, and took a deep breath.
"Just tell Lay our prof for this hour is absent. I'll just be in the classroom. :)"
Once again cursing at my poor decision making skills, I dropped my phone into my pocket and ran down the stairs. I know I'm not supposed to be talking to Kris, but I just couldn't stand still when there's something inside me saying that I have to know more about Kris. That there's something other than his greed for power. After all, why would he still want to get rid of Tao if he knows the punishment for what he's doing is death? Unless he actually wants something other than the leadership. Whatever it is, I want to know.
I cautiously looked around as I walked out of the building, making sure that none of the boys would see me. And it's not like the other students would care about anything I do. As Kris finally noticed that I was walking towards him, he seemed genuinely shocked. But he immediately got over it and flashed a mischievous smile.
"Ah, Maeji. What a surprise! I was just chilling around. I didn't expect to see you."
"What are you doing here?" I wasn't intimidated by him anymore, so I already had the nerve to cross my arms and glare. "Are you spying on us?"
"Spying?" Well, I can't deny that. But I actually came to check out what has changed around here while I was... you know, gone." He slyly waved his hand around, but I knew he was toying with me again.
"Didn't I tell you that---"
"That playing games wouldn't bring me anywhere?" His face turned serious. "But the thing is, I'm not playing games, Maeji."
My brows furrowed further. Sighing exasperatedly, I grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards the small café nearby. I expected him to yank his arm off me, but surprisingly, he didn't do that. I'm sure he can kick me a mile away if he wanted to. Never the less, I kept my expression firm and swiftly sat on a table. I pointed to the other chair.
"Sit. We need to talk." He was looking at me with amused eyes as he did as told. I crossed my arms again and looked at him straight in the eye. "Firstly, if you're not playing games, then why do you still have to walk around and stir things up if you already have someone else giving you information?"
"Ah, so you've sort of figured it out. I'm impressed." He smiled. I slammed a hand on the table and leaned closer to hiss right on his face.
"Answer the question."
"And what makes you think I'll do that?"
"Because whether you like it or not, I'm the only person that's making the effort to understand you." His smile faltered at that. "I know you want something else other than the Leadership. I'm pretty sure you know the Blood Leader wouldn't let you have that even you've already killed Tao. And the punishment is nowhere near good."
"Death, I know." His face hardened and he lowered his gaze to the table. "That's why it's too late for me to turn back. I have nowhere to go but forward. I just have to take my chances."
I felt my heart soften. He finally put his guard down. I gently laid my arms on the table and sat straight once again, then spoke in a more gentle voice. "I know you still care for the boys. And I don't think they despise you that much to never forgive you. They just don't know what's really happening to you."
"It's not really them I'm concerned about. It's my father." There was something in the way he spoke that last word that made me think that they didn't have a really good relationship. "Even if the brothers do forgive me, my father wouldn't let me off the hook that easily. Worse, he might take them down with me. You see, Maeji, he despises me."
I wanted to ask why, but I knew it was better to remain silent for the meantime.
"That's also the main reason why he didn't agree with me being the leader. It didn't really matter who he chose. He just so happened to see Tao. The innocent, carefree, and happy Tao." Kris chuckled bitterly. "I think he wanted to ruin our friendship. And I think it worked. It worked so damn well."
My phone suddenly beeped. It was Kai.
"Meeting just ended. Do you want to meet up for a second? :3"
"I think I have to go now..." I reluctantly stood up. As absurd as this may sound, I actually wanted to stay longer. I wanted to know more. Kris' mischievous look has returned again as he watched me hesitate to leave.
"Why don't you just tell them I showed up and tried to kill you? You know they won't like it when they find out you're talking to me."
"Problems cannot be solved with lies, Kris." I gave him a stern stare once again. "I'm doing this because I want to give Tao the one thing I'm sure that would make him happy again. It's to fix your broken friendship."
With that, I turned around and left, expecting Kris to be gone already like he usually does. But much to my surprise, he grabbed my shoulder, making me whip around. Awkwardly licking his lips, he handed me a cup of coffee from the café.
"Give this to Tao. He likes it."
"Oh. Um... ok." My brows furrowed as I looked at him, but he wouldn't meet my eyes. Slowly, I turned around and walked again, silently wondering about what he just did. Was he... shy?
"Maeji!" I whipped around once again. By then, I was already weirded out by the fact that he still haven't flewn away. "Um, thank you. You're much nicer than I expected you to be."
My head tilted to the side. Did he just... compliment me? Wow. So I was right. He really wasn't the cold and ruthless guy everyone portrays him to be. I'm glad I took the risk to know him better.
For the first time in my life, I finally was able to smile at him. "If ever you want to talk, I'll be willing to listen."
He managed a small smile and nodded. He walked away to turn a corner, and I saw a quick flash of gold rocket to the sky. I sighed and turned to go back to school.
* * * * * * * * * *
[A/N]: I know there's an issue about Kris going around. I may have created this story's plot in December 2012, but it's kind of creepy that the issue is similar to what's happening in my story. It creeped me out big time, with Kris separating and stuff. But then I thought, "Hey, I can use this story to support Kris!"
You see guys, to be honest, he's the person I least like in EXO. I saw him as a really cold guy which I didn't like, but after I heard about the issue, I thought about changing my perspective. Like what I'm doing to you, reader, with what Maeji is doing. Maybe Kris is really having a really hard time. He's just misunderstood by most of the people, and that includes EXO themselves (I think.) In my opinion, I still think Kris is part of them. He may be my least liked person, but EXO is not complete without him. 12 is never equal to 11.
Just like Maeji, we have to think twice, or thrice, before we judge him. Let's be mature about it and not go all whiney and stuff. We can't judge anybody when we don't know the whole story yet. We have to support everyone in EXO no matter what, as true EXO-Ls.
That's all I wanted to say. Thanks you for reading up to here. Stay tuned! :D