Shinae’s hair was let down in messy locks, her eyes were glued to her phone’s screen. The white text of the clock flashed brightly at 4:49 PM. It was nearing the time to approach the apartment complex and she was the only one there. Her teeth dug into her bottom lip, her fingers fidgeted and shoved the phone into her back pocket. She looks down both sides of the street, her shoulders slump upon not seeing either Yixing or Luhan’s familiar gates or silhouettes on either side. Her fingers fiddled with the strange slip she’d gotten earlier that day in her locker. 

She’d felt incredibly nervous ever since she saw that strange student again and the note in her locker, she was beginning to think it wasn’t Baekhyun trying to with her head. She practically jumped out of her skin when an unfamiliar hand grasped onto her shoulder. She flinched back and pulled away from the stranger only to have her stomach twist in disgust. It wasn’t Yixing or Luhan, it was Hyosung. Chanyeol’s partner in all her glory. 

Her body was all strong curves, her long black hair held curls with ease. Her face was lined with expensive foundation, lips coated with a shining red coat of lipstick. She smiles widely at Shinae, meanwhile Shinae forced a crooked and completely awkward smile upon her lips. She did not want to see Hyosung before she saw her friends. The girl was not necessarily bad, she was popular for a reason. She was kind and constantly smiling, and beyond that, she was smart and beautiful. One of the more beautiful girls in their grade and she was Chanyeol’s partner. 

“Are you waiting for the others?” Hyosung’s voice was sweet like honey. Shinae just nodded feeling more and more uncomfortable as time passed.

“I guess I’ll wait with you then,” Hyosung smiled. Shinae nodded not saying a word. Her stomach was flipping and tossing inside of her before stilling and collapsing in on itself. She couldn’t stop picturing that strange student’s face. He looked foreign, tan, tall, and like someone, she’d never seen before…she was snapped out of her thoughts though as Hyosung shouted out.

“Look it’s your friends!” Shinae turns and feels the building anxiety crumble just a little bit, but she knows she cannot really talk to them in depth with Hyosung here. She still didn’t even know what she wanted to say exactly, she had no words. She just felt like she needed to say something to somebody about what happened today. The only person who came to mind though was Baekhyun, as she still felt convinced that he saw the student too. 

Hyosung smiled and waved at Luhan and Yixing excitedly as they approached. Yixing’s eyebrows raised, his lips parted into a small “o”. Luhan just kept walking and approached Shinae wrapping one of his arms around her shoulder. She stiffened just a little, she was used to them touching her but for some reason now didn’t seem like an appropriate time to do so.

He quickly let go of her, the corners of his lips fell for a split second before pulling into neutral territory. Shinae immediately felt bad.

“Sorry Lu, I just….I’m tense,” she didn’t want to say any more for fear of something more would slip out. He nodded understanding.

“I get it, just focus on the project and get through it,” He didn’t get it but she nodded knowing he was doing his best to encourage her. Of course, she didn’t want to be left alone with Baekhyun for longer than she needed to, yet that wasn’t why she was nervous. She stared across the street at the apartment complexes building and swallowed the slowly growing lump in . She turned to look for Yixing, he was preoccupied with engaging Hyosung in a conversation and without knowing it they all began to walk across the street to begin the project. 

She walked next to Luhan who’s eyes were glued to his phone like he was waiting for something to take him away from this situation. It made no sense, he may have hated Baekhyun but as far as Shinae knew he was totally fine with Sehun. They entered the building which was fairly nice for a place that had teenagers working part-time jobs working in it. We approached the call buttons labeled with each rooms number and buzzed for the room that was theirs, the speaker next to the buttons crackled to life with ease.

“Who is it?” The chipper and staticky voice was very clearly Junmyeon’s. Hyosung leaned forward, her long and manicured nail pressing into the speaker button.

“It’s your guys’ partners for the senior project!” She said softly and let go of the button smiling and stepping back. We waited for a couple of minutes before the elevator in the lobby arrived and finally, the doors opened revealing Junmyeon in all his glory. His presence didn’t do anything to relieve the weird tension that was beginning to build and condense between them all. They all filed in and Shinae took her spot at the back away from the others, her fingers still fiddling quietly with the paper in her pocket. 

Yixing’s face was slowly becoming a bright red, Hyosung bounced on her feet as though she couldn’t wait to see Chanyeol. Shinae had to close her eyes and breathe in slowly to prevent herself from possibly cussing at the girl. Hyosung was not a bad person, Shinae knew this. Yet her eyes stayed focused on the way Hyosung’s hips sloped perfectly to create an s-line that would make any girl envious. 

Luhan leaned against one of the walls his eyes still zoned into his phone’s screen as though his whole world lay there…Shinae had a feeling there was nothing disturbing him. He just didn't know how to recover from the awkward denial she’d given him before they’d entered the building. She loved Luhan but right now she couldn’t deal with anything that was outside of her head, she was having a hard enough time being in the same space as Hyosung. 

When they finally arrived on the correct floor they all filed out, Shinae strayed behind. Yixing turned and noticed her and approached, he bent down just a little so they could talk privately. Shinae was expecting him to be entranced and completely head over heels for his partner Junmyeon. Though she couldn’t deny that his face was most likely a beet red because of how close he was to him earlier. 

“Are you okay?” He whispers out, words gentle and holding nothing but concern. His eyebrows furrowed, eyes blossomed wide and twinkling. She felt her chest constrict just a little at this expression. She didn’t want to lie to her friends, she really didn’t. Though she knew they hadn’t seen this student, and they wouldn’t take the note she got seriously, so there was no point in telling them. She felt bad regardless as her stomach settled weirdly.

“I’m fine. Really, just not sure how I’m going to get through this,” and by that she meant, to get through asking Baekhyun if he also saw the student or not. Of course, she meant everything else as well. The senior project was about making boards talking about and showing your life throughout the years, then your partner would present it for you to everyone. It was meant to be a sweet and endearing project something to create a bonding moment between the two working on it, also allowing the classmates to get a better feel for you before everyone graduated and parted ways. The fact that she had to do this with someone she couldn’t stand was an unbearable thought.

She wanted him nowhere near her family life, her history, her life…her. She shifted uncomfortably and stood straight. Yixing smiled a little though his eyebrows stayed furrowed. They followed Junmyeon and the others to the front door before he opened it with ease and they all filed in just like they had earlier with the elevator. 

The apartment was a basic set up and surprisingly clean. The kitchen was immediately to her right as she entered, it had a bar separating it from the living room. The living room had several couches and a tv set with a video game counsel sitting on the dark wood floor. Windows line the walls along with a glass door that led out to a balcony overlooking the small city. On either side, though there were short hallways leading to several different rooms and doors. Shinae assumed they were the bedrooms and bathrooms, she removed her shoes and so did the others as she looked around quietly.

Everything was decorated with random posters of athletes and soccer teams. The walls were painted a soft orange and the rug in the middle of the living room held the same color but a darker hue. The place smelled of clean laundry and something reminiscent of burnt toast. Shinae couldn’t stop a small smirk from crossing her lips, Yixing exchanged a look with her and he bit back a laugh as well. She felt her body relax just the smallest bit with something showing her that things were a little bit normal.

Junmyeon turned around and smiled. Shinae saw from the corner of her eye that Yixing’s face had lit up like a Christmas tree.

“So Shinae?” Shinae’s ears p