The next morning, Seulgi came to school with a rather cheery expression. For some reason, she felt lighter and more mobile. There was something about today that would be special, even though she didn't exactly know what was going to make today special. There was just something in the air that seemed to scream at her, "Today's going to be exceptional!"

At the moment Seulgi arrived at her shoe locker to change her shoes, a small piece of paper slipped out of her lock. Frowning, she bent over and picked up the neatly folded paper. Without a second thought, she unraveled the paper and read the details. A loud screech slipped out her lips as she noticed the bright red liquid running down the paper. She quickly dropped the paper and moved away from it as it was a curse.

Someone placed their hand on her shoulder. Seulgi was about to scream again until she recognized that it was Soojung. Soojung displayed an obvious displeased expression. Without a pause, Seulgi wrapped her arms around Soojung and pointed at the paper.

"Soojung! Thank god you're here!" Seulgi shouted.

"Why are you screaming in the morning? You're making yourself look like a freak," Soojung pointed out.

"There! There!"

Soojung looked down. "What?"

"That paper!"

"What about it?"

"It has blood on it!" Seulgi yelled.

Could it be…? Soojung raised an eyebrow as she leaned over to pick up the paper. She read the contents with an amused expression. "You actually got a chain letter. Amazing."

"That's it? That's all you have to say?"

"What else should I say?"

"Throw it away! Ew! It's gross!"

"Relax. It's not blood," Soojung assured her. "It's too light to be blood. Looks pretty fruit, too."

"Oh. Phew." Seulgi eased up. "I don't really care about the letter. It's the blood that freaks me out."

"Mhm." Soojung narrowed her eyes and read the contents of the letter. It's definitely a chain letter, but it's not the same person. Handwriting is different, and so is the content of the letter. Someone else wrote this, but who?

"Woah, another chain letter?" Soojung and Seulgi turned around, noticing Sehun standing behind them. He smiled at them. "Girls are pretty scary."

Ugh. I need to deal with this in the morning? Soojung sighed before shooting him a bright smile. "Don't worry, Sehun! We're not afraid of a measly chain letter! We don't really believe in these types of stuff, anyway."

"Where's Jongin?" Seulgi asked, looking around.

"I think he's with Hyeri? I don't really know," Sehun said innocently. Seulgi frowned. "Why? Do you need anything from him?"

"No. It's just that he's your best friend. I thought you two always stuck around each other," Seulgi murmured. She was obviously disappointed with the fact that she wouldn't be able to see Jongin in the morning.

Sehun, despite the annoyed feeling of seeing her disappointed expression stirring in his chest, cleared his throat and resumed his original plans.

"Well, best friends don't stick around with each other every time," he said. He smirked. "I suppose it's the same with you and Taehyun, right?"

The two girls blinked their eyes. What?

Sehun pretended to look surprised. "Wait, you are best friends with Taehyun, right?"

Seulgi could feel Soojung shoot daggers. "I, for one, don't know anything about this! I swear, Soojung, I swear!"

"Really? Huh, then I guess Taehyun is a liar," Sehun murmured.

"Yeah, exact—"

"Taehyun? A liar? You shouldn't be so foul-mouthed, Sehun. Taehyun isn't a liar. Actually, I know for a fact that Seulgi and Taehyun are really close," Soojung blurted. She flashed Sehun an innocently smile. He's planning to ruin Taehyun's image so that Seulgi could fall down with him. She narrowed her eyes. As if I'd let that happen.

A small backfire, Sehun realized, nodding his head in response to Soojung's comment, but I'm still in charge of this conversation.

"I always thought that Youngji and Seulgi were best friends," Sehun added. "I guess I was wrong."

"I am Youngji's best friend—"

"A person can have multiple best friends." Soojung interrupted Seulgi, causing Seulgi to widen her eyes. "Youngji is her girl best friend, while Taehyun is her boy best friend. Is that a problem?"

"Hm. Is that your response?" Sehun asked, completely unamused.

"Were you expecting something else?" Soojung inquired.

I was expecting a better defense, Sehun thought.

Sorry to disappoint, Soojung replied with a tight smile.

Seulgi only looked at the two in confusion. She wasn't exactly sure what was going on and what she was supposed to do, but she figured that if Soojung kept interrupting her, then she should stay monotonous and quiet.

"Let's talk some other time," Sehun said with his eyes on Soojung.

"If we ever meet again, I'd be happy to talk to you," Soojung replied. Shortly before Sehun turned around, she added, "Of course, talking to you in private would be better."

Sehun paused, then slowly nodded his head. "I'll keep that in the back of my head."

Soojung nodded her head and the two girls watched him walk away. Once they were sure that he was gone, Soojung sighed and glanced at Seulgi.

"You really need to avoid him as much as you can," Soojung said.

"I'm trying my best, okay?" Seulgi told her.

"Try harder."

With that, Soojung walked away with the chain letter in her hand, thinking about what she should do next before anything else could happen.

/ / / / /

Soojung was lying down on a bed in the nurse's room. She had told her teacher a few minutes ago that she was feeling unwell and needed to rest, but in reality, she just needed some extra time figuring out the chain letters. By the time she arrived at the nurse's office, the nurse had stepped out to make an important phone call and to get some more supplies, leaving Soojung alone in the office entirely for herself.

As she continued to lay on the bed, she held the two different piece of paper in the air. The handwriting for each letter was definitely different, and so was the material made. 

I already have a few people who would write Hyeri's chain letter, but I can't figure out who'd write Seulgi's letter, Soojung thought. She closed her eyes and pondered on the letters for a bit longer. Whoever wrote this knows about Hyeri's letter, but never saw the contents in it. So who knows about it?

Soojung heard the door open. She was about to remove the curtains to her privacy and inform the nurse that she would stay in the room for a couple of minutes, but two student-like voices began to echo in the room once the door closed behind them.

"This is rare," a boy's voice said. Soojung frowned, trying to remember who the voice belonged to. "What did you call me for?"

"I heard that you're getting involved with Kang Seulgi," the female said. Soojung immediately knew that the voice belonged to Hyeri.

"Seulgi? Yeah, of course. She's my best friend," the male said. From what he had said, Soojung concluded that Hyeri was having a conversation with Taehyun. "We're planning to hang out after school."

"I'm going to warn you right now: Don't get involved with Seulgi anymore," Hyeri ordered.

Hyeri is still suspicious about Seulgi, Soojung realized. That's not good. She's been so quiet about it, I haven't really realized that she isn't accepting Seulgi's trick. I better make a plan to fully gain Hyeri's trust.

"Are you jealous of Seulgi? Hyeri, that's pretty pathetic. You're, like, the queen of this school. Compared to you, Seulgi is nothing," Taehyun pointed out.

"I'm telling you right now: if anything, you're probably being used," Hyeri declared. 

She has a sharp eye, Soojung thought. I wonder what else she knows. Is she working with Sehun?

"I've already told Jongin several times to avoid Seulgi. I've told Sehun to stop getting involved with her, but neither of them are listening to me," Hyeri said impatiently. She let out a shaky sigh. "So can you just stop hanging around Seulgi? I mean, she's already causing a mess for me."

"For you? It doesn't look like it."

"Exactly. It doesn't look like it, but she is. That's the problem," Hyeri stated. "I don't even know what she wants."

"Maybe she wants a friend," Taehyun said. "Maybe she's like me."

Hyeri scoffed. "You? Like Seulgi? Not at all."

"What makes you say that?"

"Taehyun, I know what kind of guy you are. We used to hang out a lot," Hyeri reminded him. Soojung widened her eyes. "You were especially close to Jongin. You never left his side."

"No one could leave Jongin's side," Taehyun said with a faint chuckle at the end, "except me. I was the only one who could leave him."

"You left for a stupid reason," Hyeri murmured. "It was totally not cool for you to dump your friendship just because you got dumped by your girlfriend."

"She had a valid point. Without Jongin, I'm nothing," Taehyun said. He looked down. "If I was more popular than Jongin, then I wouldn't have gone through such a messy break-up with her…"

"The fault was hers," Hyeri assured him. "A girl shouldn't date some guy just to date his friend later on."

"I know, but at the end of the day, she was right when she said that I'm nothing without Jongin. People just use me because they either want to get close to Sehun or Jongin, or because they want to be part of your circle. No one really hangs around me for 'me' except for Seulgi," Taehyun said.

Soojung looked up at the ceiling. Now I'm feeling kind of bad for him.

Hyeri groaned. "Like I said, Seulgi isn't hanging around with you just for you! She's hanging around you because she wants something from you!"

That's true, Soojung thought, nodding her head.

"What could she possibly want from me?" Taehyun asked.

"I…I don't know, but she wants something!" Hyeri declared.

"Are we done? I don't like how you bad-talk my best friend."

"I—Oh my god. You know what? Forget it. Forget you and forget her." Hyeri threw her hands up in the air, giving up. "You can hang out with Seulgi, okay? You can hang out with her, but don't you dare talk to me, Sehun, or Jongin ever again."

"I haven't talked to you guys in years," Taehyun said.

"Well, that's great! Keep it up," Hyeri said sarcastically.

Soojung heard the door open and slam close. She paused for a second, then peeked at the scene through the small slip between the curtains of the bed. She noticed Taehyun hanging his low, making a crumbled expression. Then, he glanced at his watch before letting out a sigh.

"Six minutes," he muttered. "That's the longest we've talked since I broke off from them."

He gently tapped is cheeks and tried to lift his own spirits. Then, he walked out of the nurse's office and closed it behind him.

Soojung stared at the two letters, then slowly nodded her head. She got up from the bed and walked near the nurse's desk, where she found a paper shredder besides it. 

'Pass this chain letter to your best friend or else you will meet misfortune.' Only Taehyun would write something to confirm that Seulgi thought of him as a true friend, Soojung realized. She shredded both papers and collected the small pieces. Then, she threw it in the trashcan while shaking her head as she made her way back to class, ready to inform Seulgi about the interesting event she had just eavesdropped. I'll tell her during lunch in our secret classroom. She shouldn't be too surprised when she hears about what I have to tell her…

/ / / / /

"Apparently, Taehyun was really close to Jongin and Sehun."

Seulgi spat out her smoothie, causing Soojung to cringe in disgust. Seulgi quickly spatted out an apology and wiped as she stared at Soojung with incredibly wide eyes.

"H-How did you find out about this?" Seulgi asked.

"I overheard Hyeri talking to Taehyun. Seems like he was really close with Jongin in particular."

"What happened?"

"It seems like Taehyun's ex-girlfriend was only getting close to him to get closer to Jongin. He found out before anyone else could realize her schemes, so he broke up with her. It looks like it was a rough break-up because she said something along the lines that he's nothing without Jongin. Turns out that her words triggered him and he decided to leave the group," Soojung explained.

"Well, it makes sense. If you compare him to Jongin and Sehun, he really is nothing," Seulgi said in a reasonable matter.

"On what level can you compare Taehyun and Jongin?" Soojung inquired.

"What do you mean?"

"It's pretty hypocritical of me to say this, but how can you compare Taehyun and Jongin when they're two different people?"

"They're both…guys. They're both trying to be popular."

Soojung stared at her. "Is that what you've been getting? That Taehyun's goal is to be popular?"

"What else could it be? You don't get along with tons of people for no reason. You need to build connections, and that's exactly what he's doing," said Seulgi.

Soojung made a small sigh. "Seulgi, what's your definition of friendship?"

"What?"

"Is it just connections or people that you use for your own benefit?" Soojung asked.

"What else can they be?" Seulgi asked innocently.

Soojung continued to stare at Seulgi. She let out another sigh before getting up. She collected her belongings and started to head out of the café. Confused, Seulgi followed right after her, frantically gathering her items while asking Soojung if she had said anything wrong.

Right before Soojung left her sister's café, she stopped and glanced at Seulgi.

"I pity you," Soojung blurted. Seulgi frowned, even more confused than ever. Despite her perplexity, no counter-words came out of . Instead, Seulgi continued to look at Soojung in a dumb, ignorant manner. A few moments later, Soojung let out a small chuckle. "What am I saying? Someone like you wouldn't understand."

With that, Soojung walked out of the café, leaving Seulgi puzzled and completely lost for words.

/ / / / /

Am I wrong?

Throughout the entire evening, Seulgi contemplated on what Soojung had told her. Pity? Seulgi didn't need any pity. In fact, there was nothing about her that seemed pitiful. Perhaps Soojung pitied her because she, too, realized that she didn't have any true friends?

If it's like that, then it'd make sense, Seulgi thought. She frowned even deeper. But the tone and her words don't match in that kind of context. It was like she was pitying me for not seeing something…but what?

Seulgi turned at the corner of the streets and bumped into someone. She was about to apologize, but froze when she saw a familiar boy stand right in front of her. Her whole body tensed up and stiffened when she saw the boy blink his eyes and smile widely at her.

"Hey, best friend!" Taehyun cried out. Without permission, he slung his arm over her shoulder and began to act chummy. Seulgi continued to remain like a statue, tense and awkward. "I didn't think that I'd see you out here! What brings you here?"

"Ah, um, uh…" Seulgi was trying to think of an excuse before cowering into a quiet voice. "I don't know…"

"Do you have time?" he asked. She was about to say no, but he had interrupted her. "Great! Let's go over there."

She looked at the direction he pointed and noticed that it was a small arcade. 

"I don't have money," she lied.

"I'll pay," Taehyun said. He took out his wallet and took out a handful of cash, surprising her. "I'm rich, so don't worry about paying me back. We'll just play all day, okay?"

Seulgi, normally at the sight of money, would've been happy, but she wasn't. There was something about the situation that made her feel uncomfortable when she saw the sight of him using his money for her. If it was Youngji or Jackson paying, she would've mind.

But Taehyun isn't Youngji or Jackson, Seulgi thought. He isn't even Soojung.

"Let's go!" Taehyun said again. He grabbed her hand and led her into the arcade.

Just like had told her, he paid for all the tokens with the money he had on him. For the first few minutes, he dragged around the area, forcing her to play two-player games with him or having her watch him play. They ended up playing at every station, making sure that not one machinery was neglected.

Near the end of the day, Seulgi began to realize that Taehyun seemed to be having a lot of fun. He showed a side to him that she wouldn't have ever seen at school; she saw an energetic, competitive boy whose eyes grew wide every time he'd win the challenge or won with his partner. He was sort of childish, especially when he yelled in her face every minute he could when he was in the lead, but she found this side pleasing to her eyes.

"Hey, hey," Taehyun said. He pointed to a red-boxed room with small windows. "Let's go sing!"

The closer Seulgi looked at it, the more she started to realize that the room was a karaoke box. She quickly turned red and shook her head.

"I-I can't sing," she insisted.

"Who cares? You can just hear me sing then," Taehyun said. She scowled, but went into the box with him anyway.

They crammed inside and closed the door behind them. Taehyun quickly lunged towards the karaoke system and began to input the numbers for a particular song he wanted to sing. For the first song and two, she only watched him in silence, taking note of not only how good of a singer he was, but also how lonely he looked when he sang the songs.

"By any chance," Seulgi blurted, "did you come here with your ex-girlfriend?"

"Which ones?" Taehyun joked.

"The one you really liked," Seulgi said.

Taehyun froze and stared at her. A cold gaze fell upon her. 

"Who told you that?" Taehyun asked.

"I heard rumors," Seulgi lied. "They, uh, said that there was a girl you really liked, but she was just using you."

Taehyun stared at the screen in front of him. "It's nothing."

"I mean, isn't that awful? What she did was terrible!" Seulgi exclaimed, trying to get something out of Taehyun.

"How is it awful? It's not her fault. She had expectations and I didn't live up to them," Taehyun murmured. He began to slouch and swing the mic around. "To be honest, she wasn't wrong. I really am nothing without Jongin and Sehun." He let out a soft chuckle and covered his eyes. "Just look at me now. What's so amazing about me compared to the two of them?"

"Absolutely nothing," Seulgi said bluntly. Taehyun, slight taken aback, looked at her with wide eyes as she got up. "There's nothing good about you when you're compared to Jongin. Jongin is amazing, unlike you. He's sweet, kind, and humble. He's the complete opposite of you."

Taehyun started to squirm in his seat. "Hey, friends aren't supposed to be so critical…"

"But it's true," Seulgi said. "Honestly, if you can't handle the fact that you're imperfect, especially when the people who care about you point it out to you, then you have no one else to hate but yourself. You have a rotten personality, and I'm telling you now, you need to fix it. I don't care if your girlfriend is the cause or drive of what you've became today. I just care about the Taehyun now and the Taehyun in the future."

"So you don't want to be my friend?" Taehyun asked quietly.

"Not exactly. I do want to be your friend, Taehyun, but if you continue to act obnoxiously annoying just to prove a stupid point, then there's no point in being friends with you." Seulgi rested her hand on top of Taehyun's. "It's okay to not be on the same level as others, but it's not okay to throw a part of yourself away just to get on that level."

Taehyun remained awfully quiet. He continued to look down at his feet, unsure of what he had to say. Seulgi let out a small sigh and took out her purse. She handed him the exact amount she had spent using his tokens. He looked at her with wide fearful eyes as if she was throwing him away.

"I'll see you next time," Seulgi told him. "I'm not saying that you have to change, but all I'm saying is that stop comparing yourself to someone you'll never be. You and Jongin are two completely different people and on completely different levels."

"Isn't that bad?"

"No." Seulgi paused, then smiled. "It's not bad. Being on different levels is perfectly okay. In fact, it's nice to see you going against the odds. The only thing is, I think you're doing it all wrong."

Taehyun eyed at Seulgi. "You know, you're a strange girl. Hyeri was right."

Seulgi frowned. "Hyeri?"

"I can see why she doesn't like you," Taehyun said. He broke into a smile. "You're a strange one, you know?"

"Th…anks?" Seulgi murmured. She gave him one last look as he turned back to the screen and picked up the microphone. Then, she left the small box and left the arcade, reuniting with the fresh air.

She stretched her arms high above her head before rotating her neck and rubbing her eyes. The arcade and the flashy lights made her a bit dizzy to the point where she didn't want to take in the brilliant sunlight. She exhaled slowly, then inhaled as she rubbed her eyes one last time. When she opened them, her brown orbs locked onto a sneaky figure poking his head in her field of vision.

Seulgi screeched loudly and backed away as Sehun cracked up and repositioned himself in front of her. Turning bright red in embarrassment, she shot him a glare while Sehun smiled playfully.

"Hello!" he greeted her in his ultimate cheery voice. She cringed as his eyes gazed at the building behind her. "Oh, you go to the arcade? I didn't expect that of you."

"I-It's not like I went there alone!" Seulgi exclaimed. "I was there with Taehyun…"

"Taehyun?" Sehun pursed his lips and nodded his head. "Hm… I haven't talked to him in a while. How is he?"

"He's—" Seulgi stopped herself. Instead of answering, she adjusted her backpack on her shoulder and gave him a smug smile. "You know what? Why don't you go in and ask him yourself?"

Sehun blinked his eyes, clearly not expecting this attitude. "What?"

"Go ask him yourself," Seulgi said. She stopped, then smirked, "that is, if you're really interested in knowing how he is."

Sehun frowned. "What's so bad about asking how he's doing?"

"There's nothing bad with that," Seulgi told him. She gave him one final look before turning around, "but why are you asking me how he's doing when he's the one who would know best? I can always say that he's doing fine, but is he truly fine?"

Sehun stood still, dumbfounded. He watched Seulgi stride off before she disappeared at the corner of the street. Then, he turned to the arcade. He was about to step inside, but something had triggered his steps. Instead of going in, he scoffed lightly to himself and turned around, walking farther away from the arcade without looking back.

Whatever, Sehun thought. I'm not that curious, anyway. It's not like Taehyun changed or anything. I already know how he's doing…

/ / / / /

"Hey."

The following morning, Sehun and Jongin turned around with their eyes slightly wide. They stared at Taehyun, whose cheeks were flushed red. He refused to look into the boys' eyes, clearly embarrassed and feeling out of place.

"H-Hey," Jongin replied back. "It's been a while, huh?"

"Yeah," Taehyun murmured, nodding his head. He finally looked at them both. "See you two around."

With that, he scurried off, running away from the scene. Jongin blinked his eyes, confused, while Sehun rubbed his chin in a curious manner.

"What was that all about?" Sehun asked.

Jongin shrugged, then made a small smile. "I don't know, but I don't think it was such a bad thing. It's nice to talk to him again. It's been a while."

"It was weird. Like, why did he suddenly decide to talk to us?"

"Why not? We're classmates just like him."

"Yeah, but he's not exactly in our world…"

"What do you mean?"

Sehun stared, then shook his head. "Never mind. You wouldn't understand."

From the distance, as the two boys began to change the topic, they failed to notice Hyeri standing just a few feet away from them. She had witnessed the odd event play out. As her fingers curled around the straps of her bag, she took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes.

This is all Seulgi's doing, isn't it? Hyeri realized. She gritted her teeth. Like I thought, Seulgi is ruining everything…but why?