Sitting at the table and having lunch with the boys was definitely overwhelming to an introvert like Sooyeon, even though she was enjoying the change. Having used to being alone most of the time - invisible to everybody but Minji and her family since her very first year in high school, she was flustered as the boys gave her their attentions as they ate. They asked her all sorts of questions once they were done interrogating Minji, and she felt herself suffocating as her chest tightened in discomfort while her heart began to pound faster against her ribs.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kai was the first to notice when her face contorted in a mix of discomfort and pain. Minji turned to her friend immediately upon hearing his question and slightly panicked when she took in her expression.

"Soo, you okay?"

"I-I'm fine," Sooyeon responded, throwing her friend an assuring smile which ended up as a grimace.  "I'm just going to go get some fresh air," she said and got up from the table, her head slightly lowered as she walked out of the cafeteria and into the empty hallway. Sooyeon inhaled the air she thought she lacked while she was with the group and leaned back against the wall with a tired sigh.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sooyeon jumped and whirled to the side to see Kai standing beside her. Guilt flashed onto his face when he saw how surprised she was, and Sooyeon ducked her head to avoid his gaze. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"I-It's okay," she told him. "I'm fine, Kai."

"You look pale though," he noted as his eyes scanned her face. "Do you want to go to the nurse's office? I can take you there." Sooyeon shook her head at this. "Oh, okay. Minji wanted to come out after you, but she haven't finished her meal so I thought I'd come check on you instead since I'm done with mine," Kai explained to her.

Sooyeon lifted her head to look at him and offered a small smile, unaware of how it made the boy's next words falter at the sight. "Thank you, Kai. That's, uhm... very kind of you." She suddenly blushed and her eyes flickered to the closed cafeteria door behind them before directing her eyes back to the boy, although Kai could tell that she wasn't exactly looking at him. "S-Sorry about earlier. I, uh, got overwhelmed with... everything."

"Oh, sorry about that. We tend to get a bit obnoxious--"

"No, no, no!" Sooyeon quickly interjected, surprising the other. "It wasn't any of your faults. I-I'm just not... used to the attention. Or being around people," she mumbled the last sentence under her nose but the boy heard her anyway.

Kai's gaze softened when he saw how nervous she looked. He was about to open his mouth to speak when the cafeteria door burst open, revealing Minji who was followed by Chanyeol. The former ran to her best friend and cupped her face delicately in her hands, scanning her face carefully to make sure that she was okay. Sooyeon smiled and patted the girl's cheek.

"I'm fine, Min. I just got overwhelmed, that's all," she told her friend softly, her voice only heard by the two of them.

Minji pursed her lips and nodded before turning to Chanyeol. "Uhm, I'm going to take Sooyeon to the toilet so she could wash her face and freshen up. I'll meet you in Chemistry class?"

Chanyeol nodded, earning himself a grateful smile from his girlfriend before she gently pulled her friend by the elbow to the toilet. Sooyeon managed to flash a small, grateful smile to Kai which he could've missed if he had even bothered to blink. Luckily, he was too enchanted by her that he momentarily forgot how to even blink.

"So..." Chanyeol began and Kai turned to him with a raised brow. "Finally, huh?" he asked, flashing him a half smile half smirk which prompted Kai to roll his eyes. He turned around and walked back to their table, but he couldn't hide the small smile on his lips as he head back to his friends.

"Hey..."

Sooyeon slightly jumped in surprise at the sudden greeting, turning her head to the side to see Baekhyun grinning at her. She chewed onto the bottom lip nervously, not knowing what to say to the boy whom she just met during lunch. Baekhyun chuckled at the sight and continued to walk beside her as they made their way through the noisy hallway. The school had finally ended for the week, and the students were more than excited to finally meet the weekend.

Sooyeon was flustered with his sudden presence, but it made her feel better to know that he was around to walk with her through the rowdy crowd. She absolutely hated walking through these excited hormonal students since they tended to bump into her over their own excitements and bothered not to apologize, making it seem like she was literally invicible to the world.

"Sooyeon," Baekhyun called her after a moment of silently walking to their lockers. She lifted her gaze to him, quirking an eyebrow. He smiled. "How come you're so quiet? Do I scare you?" he asked.

Her eyes widened at this. "O-Of course not!" she protested with a shake of her head. "I'm just... just not used to--"

"Socializing?" he guessed and she nodded with an embarrassed look on her face. "Don't be embarrassed about it," he told her softly as he navigated her through the crowd. "There's nothing wrong with being an introvert. In fact, it's quite adorable. But trust me, the longer you stay with us, you won't be much of an introvert in the future."

"B-But aren't I... b-boring?" she asked (or more like mumbled), and regretted it the moment the question left her lips.

Baekhyun's eyes widened and he gave her an astonished look which made her look away. He sighed and shook his head. "I don't know why you'd think that, but you're not boring. We've only known each other for less than a day, but you're really fun to be with," he told her, and she blushed at the sincerity in his tone. "We're very noisy and obnoxious when we're together, so with Minji and you around, at least we can keep a bit of a balance there in the group."

They finally made it to Sooyeon's locker, and Baekhyun smiled at her when she turned to him with a silent look of gratitute. "Sooyeon, you're our friend now so it's okay for you to open up to us," he suddenly said, surprising her.  "You can take it slow, we won't rush you." Baekhyun suddenly looked sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck with a cute grin on his face. "Uh, I just hope we won't scare you off and annoy you. If we do, feel free to tell it to our faces, okay?"

With a final wave, Sooyeon watched as Baekhyun walked off to his own locker in the next hallway. As she walked home, she thought of the idea of her sitting at their lunch table, conversing comfortably with each one of them and calling them her friends. The thought unconsciously made her smile. Upon walking into her house, she was met by the sight of her brother in the living, watching some documentaries about whales while their mother was cooking in the kitchen.

Seungcheol smiled at his sister and affectionately pulled her into a hug before pulling her into the seat next to him on the couch. "So, how was school, bunny?" he asked absentmindedly, turning his head back to the screen.

"It was good," she replied softly. Seungcheol nodded, already expecting her answer. "Minji has a boyfriend and I made some friends today."

Surprised, Seungcheol whipped his head to his sister and blinked rapidly at her. He then smiled once he managed to process her words before hugging her to his side. "Yeah?" he asked, and she nodded her head with a light smile on her face. "That's good to know, bunny. I'm so happy for you."

Sooyeon smiled and snuggled closer to her brother. "But it was scary though," she whispered to him. "I was so nervous. My hands were so sweaty and my heart was beating so fast. But I had fun sitting with them at lunch today."

"Don't worry, bunny. It'll all go away soon. I promise."

At her brother's assuring words, Sooyeon suddenly felt like she found the strength to try to make friends with the boys and the thought only made her smile wider.

Hey, guys! Thanks so much for subscribing, although I could use a little comment here and there. It gets a bit (a lot) boring here so talk to me. I hope you like these updates so far. I'm still not sure where I'm going with this, but I'll tray not to stray away from the original idea which I have in my head.

The updates will be frequent (for now) and plus, I spend the majority of my time yesterday writing the updates in Microsoft Word. I'd probably have the fourth chapter up soon. Anyway, comment okay? It actually keeps me going and without it, it makes me feel sad. Really.

See you soon!