So how do I talk to Naeun? Seulgi wondered as she pretended to listen to her math teacher. Her eyes were on the bored, but her mind did not follow the lecture. Instead, her thoughts wandered in space, wondering what she could do to get close to Naeun and find her weakness.

So far, Hyeri's group was significantly smaller than before. However, since it only consisted of three members, the girls were closer than ever. It only made sense for the three girls to bond tighter. With Seunghwan naturally leaving and Jinri being excluded, a lot of people were giving them odd stares, wondering what kind of internal conflict was brewing within the popular group. Recently, Suzy had been extra hostile towards students who kept questioning them, telling them to "Back off" and that they were being "rude" for being nosy. Naeun wasn't as tough compared to Suzy, but she did hold her stance when people tried to talk bad about her friends. 

However, amongst the three, it was Hyeri's behavior that garnered the most suspicion. She was acting as if everything was okay, as if nothing big happened. She ignored the stares and talked normally, laughing loudly like she always did. One thing students pointed out was that she wasn't sticking close to Jongin and Sehun, which made people wonder if there was something going on there. She never really said anything about the whole drama, and no one could get anything out of her. Just a smile and a few words were enough for her to avoid the topic and resume a normal day.

Well, since Naeun isn't as tough as Suzy and Hyeri, I guess it'll be easier for me to befriend her or something, Seulgi thought. She glanced behind her shoulders, noticing that Soojung was looking down at her notes. I wonder what Soojung is thinking. If I had her brain, then I'm sure that I could think of something quick.

"Kang Seulgi." The teacher's voice echoed in the room. Startled, Seulgi dropped her pencil on the ground. She groaned while a few people chuckled around her. "Come up and solve this problem."

Shoot. Seulgi bit her bottom lip and gazed at the numbers. She had absolutely no idea what to do. All she saw were numbers and letters scattered all over the board.

She eyed her partner, Youngji, for help, but Youngji glanced at her with a blank expression. After taking a deep breath, she got up from her seat and slowly walked over to the board. She grabbed the chalk from the teacher's hand and stared at the equation.

Her fingers slowly began to move on its own. She had absolutely no idea what she was writing. She just planned to write something and get it over with.

She wrote a big fat "0" and awkwardly handed the chalk back at the teacher. The teacher lowered his glasses and stared at her in disappointment.

"That's not the answer," he said. "Try again."

. Seulgi pressed her lips and nodded slowly. "O…kay. Try again. Okay. Got it. Um…"

She erased her answer and stared at the equation again. Some students who had already gotten the concept down sat in their seats restlessly. After a good two minutes passed, Seulgi realized that the teacher had noticed that she wasn't paying attention and was getting back at her. She grimaced, building a grudge towards the higher authority.

There was a sudden knock on the door—a gentle one. The door slid open as everyone turned to the unexpected invader.

Naeun stood at the door with a stack of paper in her arms. 

"Mr. Im, I printed out the extra copies for your other classes," Naeun said.

"Oh, thank you, Naeun. Please put them over there on my desk," the teacher said. Naeun nodded and entered the room, closing the door behind her.

Her steps were light and her posture was straight. She walked across the classroom confidently. A couple of guys stared at her with a small blush, gushing over how cute and innocent she appeared. Some girls admired her natural beauty, impressed with her lady-like behavior. 

Son Naeun, Soojung thought, carefully examining her. Daughter of a prosperous oil company and also training to be the heir of that company. Popular for her innocent and well-mannered image. Excels in both academics and her hair stays in perfect condition in sports. She's the embodiment of perfection—or so we all believe.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. Im?" Naeun asked.

"Yes. Can you solve this equation?" the teacher asked, pointing at the board.

Naeun took one glance before smiling. "The answer is one."

"Correct!" the teacher said with complete delight.

I was off by one number, Seulgi thought.

"I'm glad that someone has been listening to my lecture," Mr. Im said, glaring at Seulgi.

"I'm sorry," Seulgi murmured, sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck.

"Back to your seat, Seulgi. Start paying attention." He turned to Naeun. "You go back to your class now. I don't want you to get in any more trouble."

Naeun nodded and excused herself. She bowed in a perfect ninety-degree before walking out of the classroom, closing the door behind her. Seulgi took a deep breath and sighed as she returned to her seat with slumped shoulders.

She glanced over at Youngji, who gave her a small shrug and a smile. Seulgi bitterly frowned and stared at the board, glaring at the number "1" that the teacher had just wrote.

I would've gotten the answer right if the teacher taught better, Seulgi thought, hiding her face in the textbook.

/ / / / /

"Hey, what's the game that you and Soojung play?" Jongin asked one day after school.

Sehun nearly choked on his own spit. He wiped his mouth with the end of his sleeves and stared at his best friend in a serious manner.

"What game."

"Soojung said that you share a similar hobby with her, which is a game," Jongin said. "She said it was a 'secret' game. She wouldn't tell me, so I wanted to know if you can tell me about the game."

"Right. A game," Sehun said, slowly nodding his head. "Um, well… It's just a small game between the two of us. Not like an actually video game, but more like a personal game."

He glanced at Jongin, who seemed a bit annoyed. 

"Why can't you tell me?" Jongin asked.

"Because it's a secret," Sehun said quickly. "I mean, if you found out about the game, then you might take sides." 

Or create a whole new one like Hyeri, Sehun thought.

Jongin clearly didn't like that Sehun was keeping secrets, especially since it had to do with Soojung. However, he couldn't bring himself to say that he didn't like it. If he did, wouldn't he sound whiny? Besides, Sehun wasn't even aware that Soojung was the girl he was currently interested. He was sure that if he told Sehun that he had an eye on Soojung, Sehun would probably feel betrayed for not knowing sooner.

Or maybe I'm just overthinking it, Jongin said in his head. He turned his head back at his friend, but raised an eyebrow when he noticed the obvious change in Sehun's expression.

His eyes glowed with pure delight as his lips curved into a wide smile. His face brightened and he looked excited to head over to his target. It was rare for Sehun to smile so earnestly, which always caught Jongin by surprise.

Jongin followed Sehun's gaze, noticing that he was looking behind Seulgi's head. His heart skipped a beat when he saw a familiar girl standing right next to Seulgi: Jung Soojung.

Soojung locked eyes with Jongin for a brief moment. She gave him a small smile and a little nod, to which Jongin responded with a shy nod. Sehun grabbed Jongin's wrist and pulled him closer to the two girls. Seulgi finally turned and perked up when she saw Jongin. However, she scrunched up her nose when she saw Sehun approaching her with a goofy grin on his face.

"Hello Seulgi," Sehun said. He let go of Jongin's wrist and put his arm over her shoulder. Sehun brought Seulgi close to her while she tried to subtly fight back the all-too-friendly hug.

"Hi… Sehun," Seulgi muttered. She grumbled under her breath while her eyes were on Jongin. She gave him her best smile. "Jongin! Hi!"

"Hi," Jongin said, giving her a small wave.

"You didn't respond to my text message," Seulgi said. "I sent one out this morning."

Sehun stopped smiling. He looked at Jongin, who fished out for his phone.

"Oh, sorry. I just noticed it right now," Jongin said. He quickly apologized to Seulgi.

"It's fine," Seulgi said, smiling. 

"Woah, woah, woah," Sehun said. "When did you guys exchange numbers?"

"A few nights ago," Soojung said. She smirked. "They got pretty close."

Sehun stared at her, amused. "I'm surprised. I didn't think they'd get so friendly so quickly."

"S-Speaking of numbers—" Jongin stuttered and looked at Soojung with red cheeks. "—can you give me yours?"

Soojung widened her eyes. "Mine?"

"Hers?" Seulgi repeated.

"Yes," Jongin said, his eyes still on Soojung. "Yours."

"I don't see the point. We don't share anything in common," Soojung blurted.

Jongin felt a sharp pang of pain stab his chest. He managed a laugh and slowly withdrew his phone. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and nodded with a heavy heart.

"Y-You're right," Jongin managed to sputter out. He faked a chuckle. "What was I thinking? I'm crazy, right? Insane!"

He continued to laugh by himself, creating an even worse atmosphere. Soojung slowly nodded her head and clutched her phone tighter in her hands.

"Right," she said cautiously. 

Oh god she thinks I'm a freak, Jongin thought.

"I want your number, Seulgi," Sehun said, taking out his phone.

"Hell no," Seulgi snapped, glaring at him.

"Come on," he urged.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't want you to spam me text. I don't want your text," Seulgi said.

"I won't spam. I'll call instead. Give me your phone," Sehun said. He tried to take Seulgi's phone, but she spun away from him, holding her phone in her hands. She hissed, which only made him smile. He sang, "Give me your phone, Kang Seulgi!"

"No!" Seulgi exclaimed. She darted down the streets and Sehun followed, hoping that he could get her phone.

Soojung clicked her tongue. "I can't believe she actually ran off like that…"

Jongin's heart thumped when he realized that he was alone with Soojung. He nervously looked at her. Her eyes were glued down at the streets, watching Seulgi run frantically away from Sehun until the two disappeared at the corner of the street.

"I can't believe he followed her," Soojung muttered, shaking her head. I wonder how long it's going to take her to realize that Sehun can outrun her, but he's just playing around.

Jongin his lips and wiped his sweaty hands against his pants. He took a deep breath and gazed away.

"Um, do you—"

"I'm going home," Soojung said, taking her phone out. "Bye."

His mind started racing. He wanted to grab her and ask her if she wanted to grab a bite or something—anything to just keep her with him for a little longer. She always seemed to be so quick at leaving him. He tried to grab her wrist, but his fingers barely glided against the tips of her fingers.

Soojung turned and waved without even making eye-contact. Her eyes were glued to her phone until she placed the device against her ears. She started talking with her sister, leaving Jongin completely alone in the middle of the streets.

"Um… Jongin?"

Jongin turned around and saw Naeun standing behind him. She gave him a soft expression. He returned the smile with one of his one.

"Hi, Naeun," Jongin said. He looked behind her. "Hyeri and Suzy aren't with you today?"

"Hyeri went home early because there was an emergency phone call. Suzy has club activities," Naeun said.

"What about Jinri? Seunghwan?"

"Haven't you heard? Seunghwan and Jinri aren't hanging out with us three anymore," Naeun said. "Are you alone? Can I walk to the station with you?"

"Sure," Jongin said. He stepped closer to the side near the road, letting Naeun stay at the inner-most side of the sidewalk.

A gentle rosy color of red appeared on her cheeks. She walked next to him with her brown hair flawlessly falling from one side of her head. She batted her long eyelashes and kept the same sweet smile that she only gave to Jongin. Her two hands were in front of her, holding onto her school bag. She kept her legs close, walking like a proper mature lady. Everything about her gave off the "well-mannered rich lady" image like she intended to show.

"It's getting cold," Naeun commented. "Winter is coming soon."

"Yeah," Jongin said, nodding his head. He looked up at the sky. "Winter break is coming in a couple of weeks. Are you planning to do anything?"

"Maybe hang out with my friends," Naeun said. The two walked in silence for a couple of minutes. "Um, I heard that you're interested in somebody."

Jongin became flustered. "W-Wha-What?"

"Hyeri told us," Naeun said, tucking a strand of her long hair behind her ear. She looked at Jongin and widened her eyes. "O-Oh, wait! I'm so sorry! Was that supposed to be a secret?"

Ah… This is embarrassing, Jongin thought, covering half his face with his hand. "It wasn't really a secret, but…"

He sighed. Naeun covered with her hand and furrowed her eyebrows.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," Naeun said. "I'll let Hyeri know to be a little more careful about what she says."

"It's fine," Jongin said, sighing. "She's going through some rough time at school. I don't blame her."

"But still! It's not a good thing for her to spout secrets just because her life isn't going the way she planned!" Naeun pointed out. "I'll definitely let her know, okay? Don't worry about a thing!"

Jongin chuckled. "I don't worry when you're involved with things, Naeun. You're really nice. I like that I can trust you."

She blushed and shyly looked at her shoes. "Y-Yeah… I like that, too…"

From afar, the two didn't notice that Soojung was still in the area, spying on them. She wrote something in her notebook and stared at Jongin and Naeun's shrinking backs.

Changing the story to fit her image, eh? Soojung realized. Maybe she's not so nice after all.

/ / / / /

"For god's sake, leave me alone!" Seulgi yelled.

"Give me your number and I'll let you go," Sehun said.

The two somehow arrived at a random park. Seulgi used the entire playground as a barrier between her and Sehun. She would hide behind the swing sets or use a pole to protect herself from Sehun. While she remained breathless and exhausted, Sehun was barely panting. If anything, he found her over-reactions amusing and—slightly—cute.

"No! I don't want your number! You're just going to create more problems for me!" Seulgi exclaimed. She scurried over to the top of the slides while Sehun remained at the bottom.

"I just want your number. I mean, Jongin has your number. Why can't I?" he asked.

"Because you're a nuisance and he's not," Seulgi said. She started acting bashful. "B-Besides… Getting his number is precious…"

Sehun almost forgot that she had a huge crush on Jongin and that her goal was to be Jongin's girlfriend. The thought of Seulgi only looking at Jongin tugged his heartstring. He stopped smiling and squatted so that Seulgi could sit down and recover.

"You really like him a lot, don't you?" he muttered.

"T-That's none of your business!" Seulgi stammered, turning beet red.

He didn't like it. "Why do you like him?"

"Why?" Seulgi played with her fingers and avoided eye-contact. "He's nice and he's really good looking."

So it's looks? Sehun thought, scoffing in his mind.

A small smile crawled up on her lips. "He makes me feel fluffy and warm in the inside. I like how he looks at me and just smiles like everything is going to be okay."

Sounds delusional, he thought, rolling his eyes.

"When I look at him, I just want to be there for him. He's always on my mind, whether he's physically in front of me or not."

That's a lie. You ought to be thinking about other things like school, Sehun wanted to say.

"He just…sparkles, you know? He's popular, smart, funny, cool—"

Kind of want to tell her to shut up.

"—He always shows that he's interested in me. I screw up a lot and make fun of myself a lot, but he looks over that and treats me like I'm special."

Isn't that what I do, too? he wondered. He stopped his trail of thoughts. Woah, what am I thinking? I sound like I'm jealous. Ha!

"I don't really think you like him that much," Sehun said. "I mean, I've seen Hyeri, and trust me, she's probably the one who's really in love with Jongin—"

"I don't care," Seulgi said, finally meeting his eyes. "I like Jongin. You can't take that away from me so easily."

Sehun could almost hear a small crack in his heart. He briefly looked away and brushed away his feelings. He took a deep breath, then gazed back at her.

"Okay, well, I want your number," Sehun said, changing the topic.

Seulgi sighed and ruffled her hair in annoyance.  "Like I said, no—"

"Please?"

She stopped to look at him. She frowned when she saw his serious eyes. He looked like he was determined to get her number by the end of the day.

What's up with him? Seulgi wondered. She glanced up at the sky, noticing that it was getting pretty late. If anything, it probably would've been better to give her number to Sehun and end the day. She pondered on her decision a little bit longer until she groaned.

"Ugh, fine," Seulgi grumbled. She slid down the slide and stopped when she reached the end of the metal surface. She took out her phone and began to open a new contacts. "What's your number?"

Sehun smiled. He took out his phone and began to read his number out loud. She jotted everything down and sent him a quick text.

Once Sehun received he message, he grinned fondly at the poop emoji. He looked up, and so did Seulgi. Their locked their brown eyes and gazed at each other with slight surprise. They didn't notice until now, but their faces were only centimeters apart. Their nose barely brushed against each other. They hitched their breaths, speechless and unable to think. They stared at each other for a little bit longer until Seulgi slightly tilted her head.

"You know, your eyes are really pretty," Seulgi whispered.

Ba-thump.

Her breath hit Sehun's lips. Startled, he quickly jolted backwards, eventually falling on his bottom. He could hear his heart race against his chest while his cheeks started to feel hot. He looked at Seulgi, who laughed. She pointed and cackled while Sehun continued to be embarrassed.

"I can't believe you fell like that!" Seulgi exclaimed, laughing. She tucked her phone in her bag. "Well, I'm going to head home."

She jumped off the slide and fixed her skirt. She extended her hand out to Sehun, who hesitated to take it. When Seulgi complained that her arm was getting tired, he finally grabbed onto her hand, pulling himself up. He cleared his throat and fixed his tie while Seulgi pointed at a specific direction.

"Well, I'm heading over there," Seulgi said. She narrowed her eyes. "Do not text me or call me. I gave you my number, but you're forbidden to contact me. If you send one message or try to call once, I'll block you."

"What was the point of exchanging number?" Sehun pointed out.

"There was no point. You were just being annoying," Seulgi reminded him. She smiled. "See you at school!"

"Later," he murmured. He gave her a small wave and turned. The two started walking at the opposite direction, heading back home.

Three steps after Sehun and Seulgi departed their ways, he stopped his tracks. He paused for a minute, then turned.

Seulgi walked without turning back.

A little bit disappointed, Sehun continued to walk back home, not noticing that Seulgi had actually turned back right after he turned away to head home.