Jongdae sat at the edge of his seat, talking to a sweet girl from the adjacent library table, Chorong. She laughed after he told a corny joke – some pun with buffalos.

“You should be a comedian, Jongdae! I haven’t laughed to jokes like these in ages!” Chorong clutched her stomach, her eyes watering.

“Really? I’m glad you find them funny.” Jongdae rubbed the back of his head, laughing nervously. He stiffened at Yuji’s comment, He gets them from a children’s website, and discreetly kicked her shin under their table.

“Jongdae copies these jokes from the internet,” Yuji spoke louder out of spite so that Chorong would hear.

Jongdae wadded up a piece of notebook paper and threw it onto Yuji’s face in retaliation.

Jongdae turned back at the sound of Chorong giggling.

“How long have you and Yuji been dating?”

Yuji began, “Since our birth, we’ve been destined for each other since mffhshgakl –”

Jongdae covered with his hand. “We aren’t dating at all. Never will. Just friends.” He grinned at Chorong, struggling to keep Yuji’s mouth shut.

“Oh, I see,” Chorong chuckled. “I’ll get back to studying. Talk to you later, Jongdae!”

“Okay,” Jongdae agreed, waiting for Chorong to stick her ear buds back in before instantly removing his hand from Yuji’s mouth. “Ew, did you just spit on my hand?”

Yuji gave him a smug expression. “I will not that dirty hand of yours.” She quietly squealed when Jongdae wiped his dirtied hand on her sleeve. “Besides, why were you suddenly concerned about letting Chorong know you were single – OH MY GOSH.” She stopped speaking when Jongdae lightly punched her on the arm.

“Shh! Speak quietly,” He spoke uneasily, glancing around.

“Jongdae…” Yuji grinned. “Do you like her?”

“…Yes.” He squeezed his eyes shut hearing her squeal loudly.

“Why didn’t you tell me, you punk? How long?” Yuji nudged him with her elbow.

“Since middle school…” Jongdae mumbled. “It’s hard for me to approach her.”

“Have no fear! Wingwoman Yuji to the rescue!” Yuji playfully saluted him.

Jongdae scoffed. “The term is ‘wingman’.”

“Not sure if you’ve noticed my gender, but I am a female. Therefore it’s actually wingwoman.”

Jongdae smacked his head. “Shouldn’t you be finishing one of your late assignments?”

“More pressing matters have arisen,” Yuji stated.

Jongdae pointedly stared at her. “You just want to avoid your work.”

“Fine, we start tomorrow.”

Jongdae was supposed to meet Yuji at the library seven minutes ago, but she’s nowhere in sight. To think he woke up early to help her with her homework. He sighed, looking through the library window. He paused. Chorong was also studying in the library. Luckily, she faced away from the window.

“Whatcha starin’ at?”

Jongdae jumped, frightened. He clutched his chest, “Don’t sneak up at me like that!”

Yuji peered through the window, searching for what Jongdae was looking at, also pausing at Chorong’s figure. She smirked, slowly turning her head towards Jongdae. She chuckled, “Ah, I know. Operation commence.”

“Wa-wait! Yuji!” Jongdae reached out to grab Yuji’s shoulder, but she already ran off. He sighed exasperatedly, gasping when he notices Yuji walking into the library. He jogged around the corner to enter the library and immediately hid behind a bookshelf, peeking out slightly to get a view of them.

Yuji stood in front of the table Chorong studied at, visibly laughing before taking a seat.

“So… Chorong. Do you like sports?”

“I’m not particularly a fan of professional sports, but I do like running and basketball!”

So does Jongdae! Yuji thought. “Cool! Have considered joining any teams?”

“Not really. I’m not competitive.”

Neither is Jongdae! Yuji cleared . “What kind of music do you like?”

Chorong tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Hmm… my tastes vary in every genre. I think there’s at least one song in each genre that I enjoy, so I don’t really have an answer. But lately I have been listening to indie rock songs.”

Yuji cheered internally. “If you were to be confessed by someone, how do you want it? Do you like chocolates? Creepy anonymous love letters? Flowers?”

Chorong stammered, “Uh…Um… I don’t really have a preference other than being confessed in person…”

Yuji hummed, jotting notes down on her journal.

“I’m sorry,” Chorong interjected, “But exactly how does this interview relate to any comment in the school’s newspaper?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll let you know if any of your comments make the month’s publication!” Yuji smiled, noticing Jongdae peeking from behind a distant bookshelf. “Say, you know Jongdae right?”

“Yes! We’ve been in the same schools since elementary!”

“What do you think of him?”

“I don’t have many classes with him, but he’s nice and smart! I remember one time in 7^th grade in our math class, he made the only perfect score on a test.” Chorong tilted her head. Yuji’s smile was currently a bit too happy, veering towards the creepy side.

“Do you find him good looking? I heard a bunch of girls talk about him in my class. They kept ogling about him, but I don’t see it.” Yuji leaned slightly closer to her.

“I guess… I haven’t thought about him that way.” Chorong leaned in close as well. “Yuji, do you like him?”

Yuji remained unfazed. “No, I don’t. However,” she glanced at the time on her phone, “I have a meeting with someone. I’ll see you later!”

Yuji stood and power walked away, grabbing Jongdae’s shirt collar to drag him away.

“So? What’d she say?” Jongdae straightened his shirt out and brushed off imaginary dust.

“You guys have similar interests. And you don’t have to write a letter, thank goodness, because your writing skills are a little below average, at best.”

“Okay, rude.”

“What you need to do is get closer to her, so then you can eventually tell her you like her. And then voila! Dating.”

Jongdae stood in a daze, imagining dating Chorong.

Chorong standing before him in a white frilly dress, her perfect black hair blowing in some wind that managed to hit her just the right way even though they were standing in a hallway. She smiles gleefully. “Of course I’ll be your girlfriend, Jongdae! I’ve been dreaming about this moment forever!”

“Hello? Jongdae. Stop that.”

Jongdae snapped out of his reverie. “Sorry. How do we plan on doing that? I only have one class with her.”

“I got this, Dae. I’ll see you after school.” Yuji patted him on the back.

“Wait, don’t you mean at lunch?”

“Not today. I’ve got things to do.” And like that, she ran off.

Jongdae stood there confused, but then realized the bell for first period would ring in 3 minutes. “Shoot!” He sprinted to class.

Jongdae stood outside the entrance, tapping his toe. He straightened himself when Yuji stepped towards him.

“Good! You’re conveniently wearing exercise clothing.”

Jongdae furrowed his eyebrows. “Why does that matter?”

“Follow me.” Jongdae followed her to the back of the building where all of the fields are. “Go run 3 laps.”

“Why? I’m tired.” Jongdae was ready to turn around and leave until Yuji pulled him back.

“Nu uh. You see over there?” Yuji pointed in the direction of the soccer field. The boys’ soccer team practiced where she pointed. “Look over at the bleachers. There’s Chorong. My sources told me that she sits there to watch the team practice from time to time to watch her friend Jongin.”

“Okay… and where does me running play into this?”

Yuji sighed contently to the vision she had in mind. After Jongdae sprints around the track for a while, building up a sweat, he’ll pretend to just see Chorong in the distance and jog over to her and spark a conversation. She’d ask why he was sweating and he’d say he was practicing to be on the track team next year because he likes to run. Cue Chorong mentioning she likes to run and the conversation shoots off from there.

“That won’t work. I blank whenever I talk.”

“You can do it! Give me your bag, and exercise you lazy mongrel!” Yuji shoved him towards the track.

“Oh, hello Jongdae.” Chorong turned her head towards Jongdae, taken aback by his state.

Jongdae heaved, “Oh… hey… Chorong. I just… noticed you… while I ran… over… there.”

“Sit down, Jongdae! You look like you’re about to pass out!” Chorong patted his back has Jongdae sat as he steadied his breathing. “How many miles do you run?”

“Like… so many…” Jongdae breathed heavily as his heart rate slowed down.

Yuji smacked her forehead in the distance. She was not getting a good feeling about this.

“I like to run, too!” Chorong commented. “Perhaps you should limit the amount you run so you don’t tire yourself out like this.”

“I’m good, I’m good!” Jongdae stated, straightening his back to face her. “I need to practice so that I can try out for the team next year.”

“Oh, really? That’s cool...”

Yuji turned to leave after that, afraid of experiencing second-hand embarrassment.

Jongdae munched his food happily, rambling about his conversations with Chorong. “She also invited me to study with her every day after school and during lunch for the test next Friday!”

“You’re abandoning me?” Yuji pouted.

“I have to! There’s a project coming up in our class that she said she’d help me out with! There are a lot of requirements.”

 “Fine, fine. I’ll find another victim to bully.” She immediately speed texted Baekhyun what his plans were after school. “You better fill me in on the details every night.”

“Yes ma’am! Who else will help me come up with conversation topics every day?”

“You’re almost a hopeless case, Dae.”

Yuji patted a dejected Jongdae, who stood with his head pressed against his locker, groaning. She recalled the events that happened just five minutes ago.

“Alright Jongdae, you’ve spoken to her a lot and got her comfortable with you. The time is now! There she is! She’s alone! Go!” Yuji shoved him towards Chorong at her locker, who was putting books into her backpack.

“Chorong!”

“Oh hello, Jongdae!" She closed her locker and slung her backpack on her shoulder. “What’s up?”

Jongdae shook in his spot, perspiring on his forehead. “I was… well I’ve been meaning to tell you this… but I’ve liked you for a while now. And I was wondering, if you’d like to go out with me?” He smiled as wide as he could, but it was tense.

Chorong bit her lip. “Jongdae… I’m sorry. I like you too, but as a friend. And, I’m actually dating someone right now.”

Jongdae slumped. “I understand, there – wait! You’re dating someone? Who?”

Chorong blushed. “I’m dating Kim Joonmyeon. I met him through my friend on the soccer team; he was a fellow teammate. I’m sorry. We can still be friends!” Chorong checked her watch. “I have to go. See you in class tomorrow!” She turned to walk towards the soccer fields.

“Sorry, Dae. I probably should’ve asked her if was she was dating anyone.”

“There is no more meaning to life. Everything is pain.”

Yuji winced. “Don’t be like that! We’ll get the next girl for sure!” She received another groan in return.