How could you say that in front of many people!?

He looked up and came face to face with Liam’s handsome face. He flushed in a deep shade of red.

Aki cried inside. What the flip self, how could you betray me?

But he remembered how Liam took care of him the night before. So he gathered his courage and looked at the other guy directly.

“I-I’m okay. A-and thank you back then and for my glasses. I’m sorry to trouble you,” Aki guessed he was burning up to the tips of his ears. He cursed himself again for being so quick to blush which did not help for situations like this.

Liam smiled, the kind of smile that melted the hearts of the entire female population in the campus. Even Aki’s heart thumped wildly on his chest when he saw it.

“No need to apologize,” Liam said then turned around to leave.

The whole lecture hall erupted and the death glares intensified.

Aki pretended to bury his head on his book, looking calm and in control. But his head was a total mess. His heart showed no signs of slowing down nor his blush from getting brighter and brighter.

What was that!? They had just fanned the rumors! Now, no matter what he did, no one would believe his denial.

Aki pinched the bridge of his nose. For reasons beyond him, his gut feeling told him that he should be far away from Liam. He smelled trouble. And that’s the last thing Aki needed at the moment.

But, just like the rumors, that thought was pure madness. Liam with his easy smile looked like a pretty chill guy. Whenever Aki saw glimpses of him in the hallway, he saw a guy who was giving his entire attention to anyone talking to him. No wonder, he was popular.

Jun appeared beside him while Aki was in the middle of calming himself down.

“I saw Liam coming out of here. Did he need something from you?” Jun asked.

Aki snapped his head towards his friend. “What makes you think that he needs something from me?”

Jun raised his brow as if he was saying ‘come on now’. “I heard about the rumors, you know.”

Aki cradled his head.

“I didn’t know that you are going out with him after pretending that you didn’t know and you didn’t care about the school idol. So is that it, you were shy?” Jun teased.

Aki made a face. “It’s because I didn’t know him, you idiot.”

He bit his lower lip. He wanted to shout to everyone that there was nothing going on between him and the school idol. But he was not sure if saying anything would help or would further anger the fangirls. They might assume that he was being proud that he got the idol’s attention and rubbing it on off their faces. Just thinking about it, made him shiver. So he gritted his teeth and pulled Jun closer.

“Listen well,” Aki whispered, “We are not dating.”