April 12, 2009.

Sehun's birthday!

We're throwing a surprise party for him but as usual, he keeps his face straight but deep down I know he is beyond delighted. He is quite cute sometime and again, as usual, he puts extra cherry on my black forest share of cake, knowing it's my favorite.

Jaebum and I then make out on our way back home and I can't wait to tell the girls about it and see Sooji's reaction.

I know I sounded so damn evil right now, but really, Sooji needs to stop picking useless fight with me. We were fine in the beginning of middle school. I just don't get it why she acts this way just so she can annoy the hell out of me.

By the way, I smell something weird going on between Seulgi and Seungwan. I need to tell Jongin and find out about it. He is my partner in crime, you know?

×××

The news about the school sweetheart missing started to appear after a long week with no sight of her. Lots of student body often murmuring in the middle of hallway and every lunch break, their eyes seemed like it glued toward her usual table.

Sehun glanced around in discomfort and Seulgi cursed them for being nosy.

“Seriously, what was Ri thinking for doing this?” Seungwan frowned and took a bite of her clubhouse sandwich. “I know she is crazy and all, but running away...wow, she is insane.”

Sooji rolled her eyes, did not bother to hide her hatred toward the said girl. “You just realized it now?”

Jinyoung looked at the girls and then to the boys. His eyes stayed a little longer at Jaebum who looked anything but fine. The dark circles under his eyes were visible and he seemed to lose some weight too.

“Well, maybe she has her own reason.” He grinned. “Mid exam is next month so I think it's possible that she only wants to clear her mind before the test.”

“Two weeks are not a short time, Jin.” Jongin spoke up for the first time, his eyes gazed at Sooji and Jaebum. “Jinri isn't as brave as she deem herself to be. Her action now is just unreasonable.”

Sehun casted a glance at his features and he could see that Jongin himself was quite distressed about this Jinri gone missing matter.

“Maybe she is dying somewhere only she knows by now.” Sooji retorted harshly and she flinched when Jaebum, who sat across her, slammed his palms hard onto the table. She looked up and Jaebum looked furious. “Why are you always so bitter about her? She is your best friend, for God's sake, Sooji!”

Her eyes wavered although she tried to glare at him. “I'm only joking, Jaebum.”

“Then your senses of humor , Sooji. That isn't funny.” He snapped before leaving the table. No one else dared to talk after his outburst and Sooji excused herself hurriedly after that, but not before Sehun saw the trail of tears on the corner of her eyes.

“I totally lost my appetite.” Seungwan mumbled slowly and pushed the plate of half‒eaten clubhouse sandwich.

“Do you want to get out from here?” Seulgi asked her softly, hand rubbing Seungwan's shoulder in reassuring manner.

“Let's just call it an end of the lunch break.” Jongin stood up and stretched his arms. “I haven't done my Math homework. I'm going to do it now. See you guys later.”

Jinyoung followed him abruptly, saying he also forgot to do his own.

Seulgi's eyes then met with Sehun's and he shrugged. “I'll just stay here a bit longer. See you guys in class later.”

The two then went out from the cafeteria together, hand in hand. If people saw them like that, they might think that those two had a good relationship. But in his eyes, it held something different.

He sighed heavily as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “This isn't right anymore. What Sooji said might be true and I don't even know where the heck she is.”

×××

The next day was no different.

Jaebum looked fuming as ever and Sooji refused to sit at their usual table. Seungwan and Seulgi said they needed to do a history project together and left first after they finished their drinks.

But what caught Sehun's attention was the new girl and Jongin entering the cafeteria together, his hand on her shoulders as he guided the girl to their table.

“Where are the girls?” Was Jongin's first word as he sat on the empty seat. The brunette beside him followed soon.

“Maybe they are too busy gossiping about my lost girlfriend.” Jaebum replied sarcastically. His eyes then fixed to the unfamiliar face beside Jongin. “Who is this?”

The girl looked flustered and bowed her head a little. “I'm Jung Soojung. I'm new here so please take care of me from now on.”

“A new kid in senior year?” Jinyoung blinked. “Well, whatever. Nice to meet you and let's get along. I'm Jinyoung, by the way.”

Her smile got wider at his encouraging word and then her eyes shifted to the quiet Sehun. He noticed the stare and bowed a little. “I'm Sehun.”

She watched him a little longer, much to his discomfort but Jongin's voice broke their eye‒contact.

“That one is Jaebum, and he is Jinri's boyfriend. By the way, Soojung is Jinri's cousin and my secret girlfriend.”

Sehun frowned, her name sounded familiar all of sudden.

“I have a really, really, really big secret to tell, Sehun.”

“Yeah?”

“I have a secret sister and her name is Soojung.”

He remembered Jinri told it some other time between her thousand random drunk calls. It was not a secret that Jinri often gave them a drunk call and he just chosen randomly to get that secret out of .

“Wait, what?” Jinyoung's jaw dropped. “It's the girl Jongin used as a reason to ditch our boys night out!”

“So it isn't an imaginary girlfriend.” Jaebum added, faint glare on his eyes directed to Jongin. “What a relief.”

Sehun watched their banter in silence. He was not one to open up instantly to a stranger and something bugged him about the new girl.

“Oh, right, you have a Physic class after this, don't you?” Jongin asked him and he nodded briefly. “Why?”

Jongin glanced between him and Soojung, he could feel his stomach dropped.

“Soojung also takes that class for the six period. Take care of her for me.” He said lightly.

Sehun shrugged. “Okay. You owe me.”

“So petty,” Jinyoung muttered beside him and a short chortle could be hear across him. Soojung was now covering with her hand and her eyes widened in surprise when she caught Sehun's eyes on her. “Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you.”

Sehun could feel his cheeks burnt. “It's fine, they make fun of me all the time.”

Jongin chuckled and swung an arm around Soojung, almost obsessively. “All my friends are cool. You don't have to hold yourself, okay? You can even ask Jinyoung to carry your bag to the class. I have an embarrassing picture of him at a party to blackmail him.”

Soojung laughed at him and punched his stomach softly. “You're a bad friend.”

Jinyoung mimicked her. “Yeah, you're a bad friend.”

Not too long after that, the bell rang and Sehun walked silently beside Soojung to the class.

×××

Soojung watched the reflection on the mirror and sighed. It had been a week and yet she did not get anything significant related to Jinri's case.

Much to her surprise, she had a lot of class together with Sehun but it was hard to talk to him. She figured it out that he was not that much of a talker and sometime she stared at him too long that he often asked her what's wrong out of politeness.

She did not see Sooji that much either around the school. They only had Math class together last Friday but she was absent that day.

Seulgi and Seungwan were more welcoming, they shared P.E and English class together and could not help but wondering if they were more than a friend by the look in their eyes.

But she knew better to shut or she could blow her chance to find out anything related to Jinri.

“You know, Seulgi likes Pringles so damn much and she even dressed as it once at a Halloween party.” Seungwan giggled beside her and waited for their turn to buy their lunch. “Just buy a dozen pack of it and Seulgi will do your homework for you.”

Seulgi would join later because she needed to practice for a dance competition, same as Jongin. She took this rare opportunity to dig some information from Seungwan.

“Really? Wow, that is...uh, crazy. How does she stay fit with eating salty chips all day long?”

Seungwan danced playfully and she nodded. “I see, the same goes to Jongin too.”

“Right, speaking about the devil,” Seungwan leaned closer to her ear and whispering, “Have you two done it?”

Soojung choked on her orange juice while Seungwan laughing loudly.

“No...of course no!” Soojung sputtered. “We're still a minor and I don't think I'm ready to do that.”

Seungwan's face then turned weird. She narrowed her eyes at Soojung. “Are you sure?”

“One thousand percent sure.” She replied, face copying Seungwan's expression. “Why?”

“I'm sure Jongin brought a pack of in his bag before, though?” Seungwan blinked while biting her lips. “That is why I thought you two have done it.”

Soojung's heart dropped. “What? Tell me you're only joking, please.”

“No, why would I?” She looked anything but playful. “You dated since freshman year, right?”

Soojung nodded, her blood ran cold.

“I saw it on December last year.” She noticed Soojung's confused expression and waved dismissively. “Well, maybe it was his friend's or something. I swore never seeing him with anyone rather our group, let alone a girl.”

December last year Jongin did not show up at their promised Christmas date.

Soojung remembered the day. She dressed nicely for him but he ditched her for an unanswered reason. He said he totally forgot about it and that his phone was out of battery. She could only reach out to him the next day when she got a fever for staying outside too long.

She swallowed the lump in meanwhile her hands went cold. But to reassure Seungwan, she curled up th