"Ah, ."

Hyeri took of her large pair of sunglasses and stared two boys who weren't too far from where she was standing. She could recognize Sehun and Jongin not because there were girls frequently trying to hit on them, but because they didn't even wear any disguise. It looked like they were at the movie theaters for the purpose of watching the movie, not because they were here to spy on the situation like she was doing.

I made a bad move, she thought. She sighed and fanned the ticket against her face. Where are those two? I should've exchanged phone numbers.

"Hello!"

Hyeri turned around, smiling brightly at whoever had greeted her. Soojung stood in front of her, sharing an equally bright smile.

"Hi! I was starting to think that I came at the wrong place," Hyeri said, giggling sheepishly. "So we're just waiting for…"

"Youngji," Soojung said quickly. "You know, I didn't know that you were close to Youngji."

"We're not very close, but I believe that I should meet as many people as possible. I love making new friends," Hyeri said. She played with her hands. "I'm a bit nervous, though. I felt that I was a bit pushy with all this. I wonder if I should've been less aggressive."

"I think you did the right thing. Like you said before, I'm a bit awkward around Sehun," Soojung said.

Hyeri nodded her head, but pressed her lips. "Um, can I ask you a personal question?"

"Of course!" Soojung exclaimed, flashing her teeth at the popular girl. 

"Why do you not like Sehun?" Hyeri asked. She noticed that the corner of Soojung's lips slightly faltered. "Oh, but of course, if it's too personal, then you don't have to answer it! I completely understand that he might be a bit of a handful to handle."

"Mm… Let's just say that he and I don't have the best relationship," Soojung murmured. She laughed lightly when Hyeri frowned. "Sorry. I'm making things depressing. Let's not talk about me. Anyway, what made you want to come with us?"

Hyeri froze a bit.

This is new, she realized. I'm not in control of the topic. 

She stared at Soojung, who only smiled innocently. Hyeri knew that she could give any answer. Any answer—even the bad ones—would suffice. However, she didn't really feel like she could just give her a random answer. Even though Soojung was smiling, her eyes didn't show any hints of friendliness. They were cold and sharp, locking Hyeri in the unfamiliar situation.

"I…I just wanted to come," Hyeri said dumbly, hoping that Soojung would accept it.

She didn't.

"Just because? What if the movie bores you? I wouldn't want that to happen," Soojung said, frowning a bit. "I mean, you came all the way out here and you're dressed so nicely."

"Well, I'm not dressed that nicely—"

"No, you are dressed nicely! You're very cute, and I'm sure that a lot of people told you this before," Soojung insisted. Hyeri opened to speak, but Soojung continued to ramble on, pretending that she didn't notice Hyeri's signs of wanting to speak. "I mean, if anything, you should be on a date, not with us at the movie theaters! What happens if you get a bad reputation? Oh god, I wouldn't want that to happen just because you're hanging out with people who aren't your close friends!"

Hyeri parted her lips, but nothing came out. She only stared at Soojung, who gave her a pure look of distress. Under normal circumstances, Hyeri would've assumed that Soojung was a considerate girl who worried about others. It would've been perfect for Hyeri to just comfort Soojung and to move onto another conversation. It would've been the best situation for Hyeri, but…

"Why?" Hyeri asked without thinking. Soojung stopped smiling.

"Excuse me?"

"You're…different," Hyeri murmured. "Why?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but—"

Before Soojung had the chance to say anything else, the two girls heard someone from afar calling their names. They lifted up their gaze from each other and turned to Youngji, who was running towards them with eyes of panic and worry. When Youngji finally joined the group, the two girls held up their facade.

"I'm so sorry that I'm late!" Youngji exclaimed.

"It's fine! Soojung and I haven't waited that long," Hyeri said, making a quick recovery from before. She turned to Soojung. "Right?"

Soojung, who struggled a bit with her smile, nodded. "Yeah. Not too long."

"Oh, good! I was really worried that I might've been late. You see, there was an old lady trying to…"

Youngji continued to tell her story, unaware of the awkward tension between the two girls. Soojung and Hyeri only smiled and nodded, pretending that they were enjoying her story while they couldn't help but think about their own conversation that had happened a few minutes ago.

/ / / / /

"Seulgi, this is Seunghwan. Seunghwan, over here is Seulgi." Taehyun locked his arm around Seulgi, who stiffened. "She's my best friend."

"Wasn't I your best friend?" Seunghwan asked jokingly. She smiled and waved at Seulgi. "Hi! I'm Taehyun's former best friend."

"O-Oh, really? I'm so sorry I stole him from you!" Seulgi stuttered. Her heart was beating fast. She couldn't believe that she was meeting another popular girl—a girl from Hyeri's crew—so soon and so up close. The closest she had ever been to Hyeri's friend was when she tried to invade their group during lunch, and that had went terribly wrong.

But this time?

This time, it was more natural—much more natural.

Seunghwan laughed. "Stole him? That makes it sound like you stole my boyfriend or something!"

"S-S-Sorry!" Seulgi stammered. She paused. "W-Wait, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Me? I wish!" Seunghwan exclaimed. She laughed and smiled at Taehyun. "You got a funny friend here."

"Hey, don't get so chummy with her," Taehyun mumbled. "She's my best friend."

"Better hold onto her tight, or else I might make her my best friend!" Seunghwan said. Seulgi widened her eyes when Seunghwan grabbed her arm and pulled her closer, squeezing the nervous girl in between the two popular kids. "To be honest, I've always wanted to meet you. You're really interesting, you know?"

"T-Thank you," Seulgi said shyly. "I've always wanted to be your friend, too!"

Seunghwan only smiled. "So, should we go in?"

"Yeah, let's go—" Taehyun stopped and stared off at the distance. Seunghwan and Seulgi frowned at him, a bit confused at why he was standing still. They looked over at the direction he was staring at, then widened their eyes when they noticed two familiar schoolmates walking up to them. "What's Jongin and Sehun doing here…?"

"Oh, look!" Sehun exclaimed, tapping at Jongin's arm. "It's Seulgi!"

Jongin gave the trio a gentle smile. "Hello. I didn't think anyone else from our school would be here."

"I'm more surprised to see that Seunghwan is out here without Hyeri's crew," Sehun said.

Seunghwan stuck out her tongue. "I get to hang out with anyone I want to, okay?"

"You do whatever you want to do," Sehun said, tapping Seunghwan's head. He glanced at Seulgi and grinned. "It's been a while, right?"

Seulgi clenched her teeth. "Why are you here?"

"I got tickets," Sehun said, shrugging his shoulder.

"How?" Taehyun asked.

"Connections," Sehun replied.

"Who'd you give the third ticket to?" Seunghwan asked. "Did you give it to Hyeri?" Her eyes widened. "Oh god. Is she here?"

"I haven't seen Hyeri," Sehun said. At least, not yet.

"Then who did you invite?" Taehyun inquired him.

"I only got two tickets," Sehun said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"But you get three tickets. That means you must've gotten the tickets through some other source," Taehyun pointed out.

"Like I said, connections," Sehun replied. He glanced over at Taehyun's arm, which was still around Seulgi's shoulders. He sulked a little—just a little. "Taehyun, you better get your arm off of her or she'll scream."

Seulgi scoffed. "I won't!"

She pulled away from Taehyun's and Seunghwan's grasp and attempted to kick Sehun's leg, who swiftly moved out and stuck his tongue out playfully. The two continued to quarrel like little kids, making the rest slightly surprised with Sehun's unusual playful attitude along with Seulgi's rough reaction.

"They're pretty childish," Seunghwan murmured.

"She's still my best friend. Don't talk too badly about her," Taehyun whispered back. He looked at Jongin, who seemed to be searching for someone in particular. "You're quiet, Jongin. What's up?"

Seulgi stopped kicking and froze. She turned at Jongin, who seemed a bit surprised with Taehyun's little comment.

Oh my god. I totally forgot that Jongin is here. Ugh, I'm such an idiot! He basically saw me acting violent towards a boy! you, Sehun! you! Seulgi thought, screaming internally. She cleared and straightened her posture. She turned away from Sehun, who furrowed his eyebrows when he watched her walk away from him and head closer to Jongin.

"Um, are you okay? You seem like you're thinking about something a lot," Seulgi said in polite tone. Sehun rolled his eyes and scoffed as Seulgi continued to act like a proper lady.

"Oh, me? No, I'm just…" He stared at Seulgi, who tried to look back. However, his strong, warm gaze made her heart skip a beat. Her cheeks grew bright red and she hitched her breath, unable to think clearly as she found herself lost in his dark brown eyes. "By any chance, is your friend here, too?"

"My…friend?" Seulgi glanced behind her. "Taehyun and Seunghwan?"

"No, not them. The…other…girl…" Jongin bit his bottom lip. "You know, the girl you're always with…"

"Youngji? I don't know where she is. Probably back at home," Seulgi said.

"I don't know who she is, but not her. Um…" Jongin nervously rocked back and forth as he slipped his hands in his pocket. "You know… That friend."

He waited for Seulgi to get the hint. When Seulgi finally did, she gasped and nodded her head a bit.

"Oh, you mean Soojung?" Seulgi asked. "Um, she's, well…I think she's back home, too, actually."

I feel like he asked me where Soojung was before, too, Seulgi thought. This feels too familiar. Why is he always asking me where Soojung is?

"Oh. Well, that's unfortunate," Jongin murmured. 

"Why is it unfortunate?" Seulgi blurted. Jongin seemed to be a bit embarrassed to answer her question. Her eyes slightly widened. Could it be that he— She shook her head and shut down any potential thoughts. "You know what? Actually, I take that back. It is unfortunate."

"Y-Yeah…" Jongin looked away, distracting himself with his own thoughts.

"Anyway," Sehun said. "Can we join you guys?"

"But the tickets correlate with the seats," Seunghwan pointed out.

"Really?" Sehun glanced down at his tickets. "Oh. You're right."

"You didn't even know that?" Jongin asked. "I guess you were overexcited that you didn't notice." He turned to the three other schoolmates. "This guy kept telling me that he just had to get tickets for this movie."

"Hey, don't tell them all the details," Sehun said. He turned to Seulgi. "Okay, then what if we hang out after the movie?"

"No," Seulgi said quickly.

"I don't mind," Seunghwan said. She turned to Taehyun. "Do you mind?"

"Not gonna lie, but it's going to be a little awkward," Taehyun said. "Still, I don't mind hanging out with you guys after."

"Great!" Sehun exclaimed, grinning.

Was I ignored? Seulgi wondered. She was about to call them out on this, but realized that they were probably ignoring her vote since they were standing in front of the two most popular guys at school. Even though hanging out with Sehun would be hell for her, the other two probably saw this opportunity to build a closer friendship with the boys.

"I don't know, Sehun," Jongin said. He gently gestured at Seulgi. "Seulgi doesn't want us to be there."

Seulgi blushed profusely. You can always count on Jongin to hear your voice.

"A-Actually, I don't mind," Seulgi said quietly. "Y-You can come and hang out with us…"

"Hey, don't forget me," Sehun said, giving her a slight nudge.

Seulgi glared at him. "Don't ruin the moment."

"What moment?" Sehun asked, snorting.

"Shut up, Oh Sehun."

"Make me—"

Jongin grabbed Sehun's arm, forcing him to step down from the conversation. He smiled gingerly at the trio.

"I guess we'll see you three after the movie," Jongin said. "Should we meet here after the movie ends? I know a good café that opened."

"Okay!" Seulgi said excitedly. This is like a date! This is almost like a date!

As the five discussed their plans for after the movie, they didn't notice that two girls were a few feet away from them, listening to their entire conversation. Soojung and Hyeri glanced at each other for a brief second.

We should temporarily team up for now, Hyeri told her mentally.

Agreed, was the look that Soojung gave back.

Right when Youngji was about to give her ticket to the ticket taker, Hyeri and Soojung tapped her shoulders, forcing her to turn around and look at the two girls. Upon seeing their brilliant smiles, Youngji only had mixed feelings of what was going to happen next.

"Hey, Youngji," Soojung called.

Hyeri gave her a charming look where Youngji couldn't refuse whatever favor Hyeri was about to ask her: "After the movie ends, how does going to a café sound?"