My favorite part of the year was over – and then entered autumn.

Autumn held a special place in my heart. Mainly because as child, I hated it the most out of all seasons. The hails, the strong wind blowing over trees painting them with the yellow, orange and brown sticky leaves cracking underneath my feet: I hated it. But I noticed that whatever I said to hate, I learned to love. Autumn was beautiful. The way the sky poured without the warmth that summer brought with it, unlike the storms I admired so much, or the way trees let go of their leaves to prepare themselves anew for what came after winter: it had a beauty of its own.

“Should I be worried over this?” Mina spoke from the other side of the line.

“For what should you?” I asked while pulling the bed sheets over me. Cold – another thing autumn knew to bring.

I heard Mina hum, “If my memory doesn’t fail me, I’m quite sure you didn’t hate me first, did you?”

I grinned, and even if it wasn’t able to be heard I was sure Mina felt it, “You’re different. Special.”

I really hoped she felt it.

//

“Honestly? I like your hair like this.” I told an upset Mina complaining about her new hairstyle.

“Stop lying to me! It’s too short, it looks ugly!” She went through her hair with her fingers and I held her hands to stop her, shooting her a weird expression, “Too short? It falls at least until your- uh,”

“Bra band, I suppose you mean to say. Oh come on Goo Junhoe, how old are you? Twelve?” She rolled her eyes and pulled away her hands, letting them go through her hair again. “It looks bad.” She muttered and I sighed.

“Alright, see it as karma then. That’s what you get for dyeing your hair without me.” I stuck out my tongue and shook my head which was responded to with a glare.

It was Tuesday morning and Mina asked me to come earlier at school than we usually did. Something about helping her hide her hair, which really wasn't necessary in my opinion. Mina looked beautiful with brown hair cut a little shorter than it used to be. I, on the other hand, was left stuck with my blonde-faded-to-yellow looking hair. 

“Can't you put it in a ponytail? Braid?” I kept suggesting things and she kept sending glares at me. At the same time Donghyuk and Hanbin walked to us,

“Why are you in school this early?” Was the first thing Donghyuk asked.

“Mina said she was having a dilemma.” I told them disapprovingly. Mina finally found peace with her hair once she got it in a tidy bun and accepted the compliments of the other two before we walked to our classroom. Once seated, Mina turned her head towards me and grabbed my left hand, playing with. I was starting to doze off a little, my head resting on my other hand and my eyes starting to droop.

“Junhoe,”

I hummed in response, my mind still fuzzy from not getting enough sleep.

“Would you like to come to my apartment today?”

And all of sudden, I was wide awake.

//

“I’m sorry, I can’t make it.” I told her sadly.

Well, not exactly sadly, but I couldn’t just seem to be happy about not being able to participate in something I promised to. 

“I guess we'll have to invite you another time.” Yein sighed and leaned her shoulder against the wall next to us.

Her mother had invited my sister and I for dinner at their house. My sister couldn't make it due to university work, and now I couldn't either. Mina invited me over at her place, I couldn’t miss out on that.

“How about Friday? We can go do something together after basketball practice, and then go straight to my house for dinner. Your sis stays at your house on Fridays as well, right?” Yein proposed and I agreed to it.

Why I still carried on my friendship with Yein? I didn’t know. Perhaps it was because I actually did miss her presence that went by unnoticed before, or because I couldn’t seem to let go of a faded attachment I had created towards her – or both. Either way I had concluded that maybe some time for bonding was all we needed to put things in their place: for her and I to make up our minds.

//

At some points in life, we face changes. I for one did not believe those could be for the worst. Everything happened for a reason after all. No, a psychopath getting unmasked after an attack wasn’t a bad change, because nothing changed with that specific psychopath who had always been crazy, unknown to others. What changed was your view on that person, and that’s for the best. Nobody likes living with dangers surrounding them.

But if all changes were meant to be good, why was I so afraid of them? I wondered about that a lot. In the end I’d always shrugged it off as just a part of growing up. But that didn’t answer my question.

“You live far away Mina, how do you even make it at school on time?” I asked after looking at my phone to check the time. About forty-five minutes passed since we left school to catch the first bus.

Mina was walking ahead of me and turned around, walking backwards while showing off her gummy smile, “We don’t take the bus. Nayeon brings us with her car. It only takes about thirty minutes then, since we don’t have to wait for the bus to come.” She turned back around and disappeared behind the corner of an apartment complex. I sped up a bit to catch up with her to see her holding the door open, motioning me to come in.

We took the elevator, and it stopped at sixth floor. In the elevator I noticed a tiny leaf stuck in her hair, and just as I was to get it out of it, the doors opened. Mina walked to her apartment and typed in a code before entering.

When I walked in the first I noticed was how big it was. The second thing I noticed were the amount of shoes thrown next to the door, and the third thing I noticed was –

“WELCOME!”

In front of us stood a girl I recognized as Im Nayeon. She hadn’t changed much, not from what I remembered at least.

“Long time no see, Goo Junhoe.” She offered me her hand to shake which I took, “Long time no see, indeed.” I said with a smile and walked back towards the door to remove my shoes. “Don’t worry, Nayeon is leaving soon, she has to meet someone.” Mina whispered to me and I wondered if my awkwardness was really that easy to sense.

Once Nayeon left, Mina led me to her room.

“The other rooms aren’t that interesting. Three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room: that’s all.” She said and opened the door revealing a room with beige painted walls and two beds, two desks, two roll chairs, two closets, four nightstands and noticeably a pin board.

“Nayeon and I share this room.” Mina took off her jacket and threw it on one of the beds. I followed suite, my eyes fixed on the pin board until I heard Mina laughing. 

“What?” 

“Who the hell wears a shirt underneath their jersey?” She covered with her hand, the sound of her soft cackles still being heard. I looked down at my clothes and blushed, a little embarrassed by it, “It’s cold outside, okay? And what about you? Who the hell wears a crop top when it's freezing?” I exaggerated and Mina snorted. I tried to change the topic and scanned her room to find something to talk about when my eyes landed on the pin board again. I stood up from her bed and walked towards it with my eyes set on one specific picture. 

I pointed at a picture of a handsome young man (or well, boy, assuming he was in his teens), “Who's this?”

Mina’s mouth twitched and I could see she hesitated before opening , “Yamato. He's the guy I told you about before; the one I cut off ties with in the end.” she said.

I nodded and scrunched my eyebrows together. I tried to understand why she still had a picture of him hanging when he left her heartbroken. I looked at everything else pinned on the board and back at the picture of the guy called Yamato. All things on it seemed to be good memories: pictures of her and her friends smiling, pictures of beautiful sceneries and some sticky notes. What was his picture doing there? Mina didn't answer my question. Instead, she ripped the picture off the board and threw it on her desk,

“It doesn't matter. Things have changed. I want to add new, happy memories.” She turned around and opened her drawer, taking out a Polaroid camera. On top of the drawer I saw cookies and I quickly snatched one of them, shoving it in my mouth.

I was hungry, okay? 

“Let me take a picture of you.” She smiled and held the camera up. I made two peace signs with the cookie still in my mouth. 

She fanned the picture until it was visible and giggled when she pinned it on the board. That's when I noticed the small leaf in her hair again, the one I spotted in the elevator. I removed the leaf, and also the band she had her hair up with.

“Hey!” She turned around and it looked as if she was in some kind of shampoo commercial, with her hair falling perfectly next to her face.

“You look beautiful.” I told her and quickly picked up the Polaroid camera she used just now. She put up the same peace signs as me and I snapped the picture for her.

Once that was pinned on the board as well, I was satisfied with how it looked as a whole. Only happy memories. Or at least that's what I assumed.

“What meaning does this date hold?” I pointed at a picture of the sky with a letter attached to it. “That was the date I left Japan. I took that picture just before my leave.” She told me with a bittersweet smile, “And this,” she unattached the letter and unfolded it, “this was a letter from my parents. But I'm saving that story for another time.” She stuck out her tongue and put the letter back in place. I was disappointed and frowned, although I understood her. It was okay. Everything had a time and a place. She would tell me once she was ready to. 

I once again looked at everything pinned on the board and then back at the ripped picture on her desk, and then Mina.

Mina was okay with things changing and moved on from her past attachments; be it her home or first love. I wondered why I couldn't do the same when it came to Yein.

//

It was one of those rare moments when I was alone with a girl who was not Mina or Yein.

My companion that day was Tzuyu.

Mina was sick at home. I told her so: it was stupid to wear crop tops with the autumn breeze blowing outside. English class got canceled, and Hanbin decided to ditch us to bother Chanwoo in the music room while Momo heard Sana was baking during biology class that day, leaving Tzuyu and me alone. We sat at a table in the kanteen which was empty for the biggest part of it.

“You should visit Mina after school. I don't think she can survive a day without seeing you.” Tzuyu fake gagged and I chuckled, “I was planning to, but I have an appointment with Yein that I already cancelled once before.” 

Tzuyu squinted her eyes and leaned forward with her chin resting on the palm of her hand, “You've become quite the talk of the school.” she told me the obvious. 

“I noticed.” I grimaced. I wasn't a fan of gossip, not when it was about me.

“How are you and Yein doing?” 

I sighed and rubbed my temples, “Fine, I guess. She's less pushy about the whole relationship thingy she thought we still had going on. We can hang out like the old days now, at least.”

Tzuyu hummed, “I see, I see. But how far back in time do we speak of when you say like the old days. When you were dating? When you were an item?” 

This time it was me who squinted his eyes, “Are you doubting me right now, Chou Tzuyu?” I asked her, offended by her questions. She dropped her arms on the table and rested her head on it, “Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you.”

I rolled my eyes, “Whatever. Enough talk about me. What about you? Has the almighty Chou Tzuyu taken interest in some poor soul yet? I heard you got quite cozy with Mingyu from the soccer team last week.” I wiggled my eyebrows and caught the water bottle she threw at me,

“Oh shut up. It was just a date.”

“It all starts with one.” I winked at her and cracked up. She was about to argue when Momo popped up at our table while pouting, 

“No baking, just food experiments with chemicals.” 

//

While I was waiting for Yein at her locker I sent Mina a message.

keep staring at that picture of me on the board -- i also recommend writing down sweet words you'd like to to tell me on sticky notes _{sent 3:12 PM}

I recalled the memory of finding sticky notes on her desk when I was in her room earlier that week. When she walked out of the room for a while, I wrote down small, disgustingly cheesy messages for her. She hadn’t spoken about them yet, so I assumed she hadn't noticed them yet.

I hoped she would find them now.

///////

junhoe is an for holding onto both girlies, yes indeed. but its high school everyone is stupid lol (sry if you feel offended but if it makes it better: im in hs too). next chap will include a lill recap on yein and junhoes hang out plus family dinner. sorry to disappoint all my fellow junmina shippers but the two gotta be put on a lill pause soon, with more insight into yein and junhoe's situation. i dont want everyone to think yein is a first class . i want the readers to understand her better, and that starts with junhoe understanding her better.

meanwhile junhoe is a certified mess on his own lol!