“…..”

“…..”

“Why are there so many people?!” muttered Chaeyoung awkwardly into Dahyun’s ear.

“I don’t know!?!?!” the Tofu responded, just as confused.

Im Nayeon sipped her drink as she sat, legs crossed besides Chaeyoung, right between her and Sungjoon. Apparently, she heard about it when Jackson asked Sungjoon and Jungyeon and asked very nicely if she could join.

Jimin brought Yerin as per usual but out of the second years, even Jihyo and Momo came along with Bambam and Yugyeom.

“Sungjoon sunbae!” Jihyo said, waving with delight.

Bambam sat beside Dahyun, “Jackson hyung told me about this! How could you not invite me??”

Chaeyoung looked at the blonde girl she never saw before.

“I’m just here for the food,” shrugged Momo.

Soon there was just a flurry of activity as Jackson started picking songs, Jihyo started singing trot and Momo did a dance with the chicken drumsticks provided.

Yerin flipped through the list for a song while Yugyeom asked if she would like to drink something. Chaeyoung covered her eyes at all this going on.

“I’m sorry,” Dahyun whimpered as Chaeyoung walked far ahead of her on the bridge.

Chaeyoung stopped her steps. “It’s fine,” she noted without turning back, “It’s not your fault.”

Dahyun watched her friend intently. Shaking Chaeyoung muttered, “It’s mine.”

“…no, what..?”

“I should be the one dong this, going after the person I like myself. It’s not your task or anyone else’s…it’s mine.”

I walked out of the bathroom, preparing to leave.

Someone was still standing at the entrance of the noraebang.

“Nayeon sunbae?”

Nayeon sunbae turned to face me, with a large sweater on.

“Why haven’t you left yet?”

She remained silent and then smiled.

“Want to go for a walk?”

“So, when are you going to confess to Yerin?” she asked, turning to the boy who was too tall for his age.

Yugyeom scratched his head, “I don’t know…I’m not even sure she even sees me that way.”

Bambam looked at the two of them. “Oh no, we are doing Yugyeom counseling stuff again, aren’t we??”

This statement earned him an attack from the tall boy.

“Nah, more like why he didn’t take this opportunity to walk her home,” Jihyo explained, “A chilly spring day in the streets of Seoul…”

“You’ve got to stop watching those dramas,” Bambam rubbed his eyes as he yawned at Jihyo’s words, “It’s not like you will get a date with my cousin or something.”

“Just because I said your cousin Nichkhun is good looking does not mean I want to date him! Jeez! Stop bringing it up all the time,” Jihyo complained and Yugyeom laughed.

“No, family is off limits, sister!!!” Bambam decided to more and Jihyo gave him an angry emoji face.

“Would you have thought that we would be this close back when we first met last year?” Yugyeom pondered out loud.

The atmosphere suddenly changed. Bambam sighed, “God dammit man, you ruined the mood.”

Yugyeom shrugged, “I don’t know, I was just thinking especially since we hung out with Sungjoon hyung today.”

“It’s all thanks to Sungjoon sunbae,” Jihyo murmured.

A Year Ago

“Hey Jihyo-shi!”

Jihyo stood rooted to the ground holding her lunch box as she heard Sungjoon’s voice. Turning around, she saw the friendly sunbae walking towards her.

“Want to have lunch with us?”

She placed her homemade food on the table besides Sungjoon and a few people.

“This is Jungyeon and Jackson. And this is Jimin! She’s in your year but she knew us since she went to Jin Young Middle School too,” he gestured to the strangers in front of her.

“Cool, more first years!” Jackson cheered, as he placed his arms around a small boy, “And this is Bambam! He’s a freshman from Thailand. He’s my mentee for the school’s exchange program. You guys be good to him, okay?”

Bambam bowed his head down as he looked at the many kids in front of him, “Annyeongaseyo…”

Sungjoon turned to Jihyo, “He is still quite new to Korea and Korean in general. But I’m sure a star student like you can help him, right?”

“Eh?” Jihyo gasped at Sungjoon’s suggestion.

“What? You not up for it?” Sungjoon smirked teasingly, “If not I’ll ask Yugyeom. Yah! Yugyeom-ah!”

“Yes, hyung?”

A giant like boy walked towards the table. How old was he??

“This is Yugyeom. He is also a freshman. Yugyeom, this is Jihyo.”

HOW. IS. THIS. HEIGHT. POSSIBLE??? Science better do some explaining.

“Jimin-ah! Have you seen my music scores?”

A girl with a pure face walked towards the girl called Jimin. Sungjoon nudged Jihyo to look at Yugyeom, whose face began to color. Suddenly the giant like boy became a squishy cute little puddle of goo.

“I..I got to go now hyung. See you guys later! Nice to meet you Jihyo-shi!!!” Yugyeom stuttered before running off.

Back to the Present

“I can’t believe it’s been a year already…since Sungjoon sunbae got us to be friends,” Jihyo thought, as she looked out of the bus window wistfully, with Yugyeom and Bambam asleep on each other’s shoulders behind her.

“In a year’s time, what would we be like?....

…I wonder what Sungjoon sunbae is doing right now….”

“It’s a really nice day today, don’t you think,” she noted, breaking the silence.

“Yes….it is..”

“And the beginning of another school year. The fourth high school year for me. YAY,” she continued, sounding almost sarcastic when she said that ‘yay’.

Suddenly, she turned around. I stopped in my tracks.

“You are my desk mate. So you better make my fourth year of high school a memorable and enjoyable one. Okay?”

She looked right into my eyes, an eager look on her face.

“Yeah…sure…why not???”

“Yaksuk?” Sunbae raised her pinky finger in front of me.

“Yaksuk,” I responded, ringing my pinky finger around hers uncertainly as we made the promise.

With this simple contact, her determined look broke into a soft smile, highlighting her bunny like teeth.

“Kim Sungjoon-shi, you know you are a popular guy right?” Nayeon sunbae said, still clinging to my pinky finger.

“Eh???”

“It's great and all,” she said, pulling away, “But some time soon, you got to make a decision.”