Wednesday was the day that Jaemi would always get out of college early. She would always walk down to the same coffee shop and order her same drink. Jaemi would always sit in the same seat and sip on her coffee, seeming to be thinking about simple things when inside her mind were depressing thoughts. What was she doing with her life? Why was she studying to be a part of a profession that she didn’t even want to be a part of? Was there even any point? It was this day that she hated so much as she had nothing to distract her from thinking these things. Her one best friend always had late classes, so she wasn't an option. She didn’t want to go home where all she'd hear is endless nagging from her parents. Wandering around was always her best bet. So she continued her normal routine and got up to walk around town when someone collided with her. Jaemi ended up spilling the coffee all over her white sweater. She looked down at the mess, dumbfounded, before looking up at her collider.

 

He was a boy, roughly a year younger than her. He was taller than her but at a mere 5’1 everyone usually was.

 

“What the hell?!” Jaemi shouted at him. Usually Jaemi wasn’t rude to strangers. Today though, she wasn't in the mood and he did knock into her.

 

“I’m sorry, I…” The boy looked behind him and saw something that caused him to take Jaemi’s hand and make her run with him.

 

Jaemi yelled and did her best to break free from the boys grasp but he refused to let her go. After almost face planting a few times and running for a minute, the boy turned them into an alley. He covered as he backed them against the wall; on his face was a stern look telling her to be quiet. As much of an this boy was, Jaemi couldn’t help but notice how stunning he looked up close. It was stupid to think about but Jaemi was almost mesmerized by his eyes.

 

A group of tough looking boys all passed by and the boy sighed with relief as he uncovered Jaemi’s mouth and let her go. She kicked the boys shin and once he bent over in pain, Jaemi grabbed him by his ear.

 

“Who do you think you are? Running into me and spilling my drink on me then making me run away with you? Surely your mother taught you better than this!”

 

“I can- ow! I can explain just- ow, let me go please!”

 

Jaemi decided to trust the boy not to run away and let him go. He stood up and pouted as he rubbed his ear.

 

“I made some people mad…”

 

“That doesn’t shock me…”

 

“…And they were chasing after me and I’m sorry but you’re short. I didn’t see you and I didn’t want to leave you with your stained sweater but I couldn’t risk them catching us. If you give me a chance, I’ll take you to someone who can get that coffee out.”

 

Jaemi knew better than to trust some random boy that she ran into on the street. It didn’t matter how innocent his eyes looked (and really cute but that wasn’t the point). Jaemi refused to go with the boy.

 

“Please. For all I know you’re going to take me to some shady warehouse where you’ll just kill me. If you want to help me, than give me money so I can go to a dry cleaners.”

 

And she held out her hand as she waited for the boy to give her money. He looked at her, his face blank in confusion.

 

“I’m not…”

 

But he stopped as the two heard footsteps. They turned their heads and Jaemi noticed Bobby. He was in one of her classes but he never was someone who spoke. He always gave off a feeling like he couldn’t care less and wished he wasn’t there. Jaemi would be lying if she said she hadn’t developed a bit of a crush on him.

 

“Yunhyung, what are you doing? Who is… Oh, wait. I think we have a class together? It’s… Jenni?”

 

“Jaemi,” she corrected, as Bobby walked up to them. “And you know this kid?”

 

“Song Yunhyung,” Bobby introduced, “forever getting into he can’t get out of himself.”

 

Jaemi took a moment as she looked back and fourth from the two boys. If Yunhyung knew Bobby, how bad could he be? Granted, Jaemi didn’t know much about Bobby. Still, she felt a bit better about Yunhyung. It might be foolish to trust them but Jaemi thought, why not?

 

“Alright Yunhyung, I’ll agree to go with you. But Bobby has to come with us.”

 

He agreed and shook hands with Jaemi to seal the deal. They all left the alley and Jaemi followed the two to wherever. It was an awkward walk filled with silence. Jaemi thought about talking to Bobby to get closer to him, but she couldn’t find the right way to start a conversation. And the more they walked, the more Jaemi realized how dumb of an idea this was. Bobby was her classmate and beyond that she didn’t actually know him. Although he seemed okay in class, how could she know for sure? Right when Jaemi decided to back out, Yunhyung announced they had arrived.

 

It was a rather nice apartment looking complex - not a warehouse. Though nothing seemed to scream out run away, Jaemi decided it would be best to do so.

 

“Our friend Jinhwan is good with this kind of stuff. Even if he isn’t home, he has a washer and you won’t have to pay to wash that sweater.”

 

The two let themselves into the complex and Jaemi stepped backward.

 

“You know what, I’ve changed my mind. I’ll wash this out at home.”

 

Jaemi turned to leave but someone grabbed her wrist. She turned her head and her breath caught as she saw Bobby staring down at her. Why did he look so scary all the sudden?

 

“Just let us help you,” he spoke. His words were sharp and he sounded annoyed.

 

This was it, Jaemi thought. She figured this was how she was going to die. Bobby dragged her inside with ease no matter how much she fought it. No one in the lobby seemed to bat an eye at the two tall boys dragging her into the elevator.

 

“Quit fighting!” Bobby shouted. “We’re trying to help!”

 

“I changed my mind!” Jaemi shouted back. “Now let me go!”

 

But she couldn’t fight these boys. They brought her up to the top floor and Bobby threw her inside.

 

“Bobby! Is that any way to treat a girl?!” Jaemi heard a boy speak as she rubbed at her wrist. She figured it was Jinhwan.

 

“You act like you don’t know me,” Bobby replied back before heading out of sight into what appeared to be the bathroom.

 

Jaemi looked around and saw that the majority of the place was one big room. You had the "living room" which meshed into the kitchen with ease. Through one door Jaemi assumed was the bedroom and the other door beside it was the bathroom. The one who had yelled at Bobby approached her and he seemed sweet and harmless.

 

“Yunhyung, who is this?” he asked.

 

“Jinhwan, I ran into Jaemi and made her spill her coffee on her sweater. Can you fix it?”

 

The boy, Jinhwan, sighed as he examined the sweater on Jaemi.

 

“I have time before I have to leave. Jaemi wasn’t it? I’m sorry if these guys scared you — and by that I mean Bobby — but you can give me your sweater. I promise to have it cleaned for you.”

 

Jinhwan gave off this vibe of sweetness and sunshine and Jaemi felt that she could trust him. Jaemi hoped she wouldn't regret that decision. She took off her sweater and felt her cheeks go pink as she remembered all she was wearing underneath was a simple black tank top.

 

Jaemi handed her sweater to Jinhwan who smiled and headed toward the bathroom. Bobby came out and whistled as he approached Jaemi eyeing her up and down.

 

“Damn, girl. How have I never noticed you before in class?”

 

“Shut up Bobby,” Yunhyung said. He took off his jacket and placed it around Jaemi’s shoulders. She muttered a thanks as she put her arms through the sleeves and zipped it up. “I’m really sorry for putting you through this. Bobby is kind of an . I don’t know if you want to wait here for your sweater or you could give me your number and I could just call you when it’s done.”

 

Bobby made his way to the part of the room that was the kitchen and Jaemi watched him. She was unsure of whether she wanted to stick around Bobby. Did she want to give Yunhyung her number though?

 

“I think I’ll stick around. I wouldn’t know where to go if I left.”

 

“You wouldn’t go home?” Yunhyung asked as he lead Jaemi to one of the couches to sit. Jaemi shook her head as she took a seat. Yunhyung sat on the cushion next to hers, making sure to give her space.

 

“I just get yelled at by my mom and dad. Nothing I do is good for them so being home is a pain.”

 

The elevator doors opened and Jaemi turned to see another cute boy. He tossed his bag aside and headed to the kitchen, not even noticing Jaemi.

 

“Guess who aced their quiz? Me, of course,” he grinned as he opened the fridge and grabbed a water bottle. When he turned around, he hardly seemed surprised as he saw Jaemi. “Are you one of Bobby’s girls?”

 

“Excuse me?” Jaemi asked.

 

“She’s with me. I bumped into her and spilled her coffee on her. Jinhwan is cleaning her sweater,” Yunhyung explained.

 

The boy nodded and walked over to sit on the chair opposite of the couch.

 

“Well I’m Donghyuk. I won’t be offended if you don’t remember. I don’t see you sticking around here long.”

 

Jaemi gave Donghyuk a puzzled look.

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“It means that our little group is a hot mess and I don’t see you wanting to be involved with us. Bobby can’t keep it in his pants, Hanbin is pretty scary, Yunhyung is always ing something up, Chanwoo is clingy as hell, and Junhwe is just a piece of work. Jinhwan is cool but he almost always is at work.”

 

“Way to talk about your friends,” Bobby remarked from the kitchen.

 

“Hey, I only speak the truth. We’re a hot mess.”

 

And as Donghyuk made himself comfortable in the chair, Jaemi didn’t know what to think of him. She didn’t really know what to make of the whole situation.

 

“Well hot mess or not, I’ll decide whether you guys are worth sticking around for.” Jaemi wasn’t sure why she said that. She was sure that she would get her sweater back and never involve herself with any of these boys ever again.

 

While she waited, Jaemi was able to meet two more of the boys that Donghyuk had mentioned. Junhwe came in a couple minutes after Donghyuk and didn’t say much before declaring he was going to take a nap in Jinhwan’s room.

 

After Jinhwan had left, Chanwoo had came in and took a seat next to Yunhyung, not saying anything. The boy just went on his phone.

 

“Hey, talk to me,” Yunhyung said to him, pushing his shoulder to get his attention. “Did anything happen at school?”

 

“Yeah, it ,” Chanwoo snapped.

 

“Dude, you haven’t even noticed we have a girl here,” Donghyuk said, gesturing to Jaemi.

 

Chanwoo sighed and leaned forward to look at Jaemi. He looked her up and down before going back to his phone, unimpressed.

 

“Is she one of Bobby’s?” he questioned.

 

“She wishes,” Bobby smirked. By now he had grabbed one of the bean bags and dragged it over next to Donghyuk’s chair.

 

With every word that Bobby spoke, Jaemi felt her crush on him slip away. She was realizing how much she didn’t know about him and how many things she had made up in her head.

 

“I just want my sweater and then I’m out of here,” Jaemi spoke.

 

“I don’t blame you,” Donghyuk said. “I repeat: hot mess. Be thankful you weren’t here to meet Hanbin. His dad dragged him out of town on some business trip though.”

 

Yunhyung shushed everyone as he turned to Chanwoo, giving him another shove.

 

“Who is it? What did they do?” Yunhyung questioned.

 

Chanwoo didn’t answer and Jaemi watched as Yunhyung took away his phone.

 

“This is why the kid won’t leave you alone. Because you baby the out of him,” Bobby said.

 

“No one asked you Bobby,” Yunhyung snapped, not even turning to look at Bobby, keeping his attention on Chanwoo. “I’ll fight whoever it is.”

 

“It’s just stupid kids saying stupid words. I’ll get over them,” Chanwoo told Yunhyung.

 

Jaemi still had to wait on the sweater to dry so she decided to cook for the guys. It wasn’t something she expected to do but she couldn’t stand to listen to them bicker over what take out to buy.

 

“You don’t have to do this,” Donghyuk said for the tenth time as Jaemi cut up the vegetables. She was shocked to see vegetables stocked up in a fridge used by teenage boys but figured it was Jinhwan’s doing.

 

“I wasn’t going to listen to you guys argue about getting chicken or Chinese so no, I don’t have to but I sure as hell am going to.”

 

By the time that Jaemi had finished cooking, Junhwe had woken up from his nap.

 

“Jinhwan was actually home to cook?” he questioned before stopping and noticing Jaemi in the kitchen.

 

“Oh , we have a cute girl cooking for us in the kitchen. I don’t think we met properly before. The name is Junhwe.”

 

“And I’m Jaemi. I’m also leaving once my sweater is dry.”

 

Everyone made plates and went back to their seats on the couch. Jaemi watched everyone eat and thanked them as they all complimented her cooking saying it was “delicious as ” and “some damn good cooking.”

 

“Yunhyung can’t even cook this good and his parents own a restaurant,” Junhwe commented.

 

Yunhyung shot Junhwe a glare and Jaemi brushed off his compliment.

 

“I’m sure Yunhyung can cook delicious meat as well,” Jaemi said.

 

By the time everyone finished eating, Jaemi’s sweater was ready and dry for her to wear. She faced away from the boys as she took off Yunhyung’s jacket and put her own sweater back on. It’s warmth made Jaemi smile as she hugged herself.

 

“Well boys, today has been interesting but I’m going now,” Jaemi said. She walked over to the elevator and pushed the down button.

 

“I guess this is it?” Yunhyung asked, walking over to the elevator and biting his lip.

 

“Unless you crash into me again, yes. I believe this is goodbye.”

 

Jaemi got on the elevator and once it closed she heard one of the guys shout out that “you should have kissed her.” Jaemi shook her head as she pressed the lobby button.

 

Besides seeing Bobby in class, this was it. These boys would just be a memory from a rather strange Wednesday. Though most of them didn’t seem too bad. Donghyuk was right however, Jaemi did not want to associate herself with them.