A/N: Please read the author's note at the end of this chapter :) thanks!!

-

"Get away from her." She growled, charging forward and shoving the guy away from Joohyun. The group of guys there just laughed it off like it was some sort of joke and shrugged. "I wasn't even doing anything, sluggie.."

She huffed. "It's Seulgi. And don't act dumb, I saw you pushing her around." Seulgi narrowed her eyes at the boys and gently pulled Joohyun closer to her side. It was lunch break and just as Seulgi was on her way to the cafeteria, she saw Joohyun getting bullied again by the same few boys. Joohyun wasn't with Wendy, probably because they had different classes before lunch break. "Leave her alone. Joohyun didn't do anything to any of you." 

"Fine... boys let's get outta here." One of them motioned to the rest and they purposefully brushed their shoulders against Joohyun as they left, making the girl stumble slightly. Seulgi's frown disappeared when her attention was returned to Joohyun who was whining while rubbing her left shoulder. "What's wrong baechu?" She nodded. "Here let me see..." Seulgi slowly lifted the girl's sleeve away and there wasn't a bruise but the area was still kinda red. Seulgi was ready to kill those bullies. 

"Joohyun-ah what happened?" Seulgi heard a voice - it was undeniably Wendy - come from behind her and before she knew it, Wendy took over her spot as she inspected the slightly red area on Joohyun's shoulder. The girl only stared at her shoulder and then shrugged. "She was being bullied by the same group of boys." Seulgi said, and she heard Wendy sigh. "Again?" 

"Yeah.. again." 

Wendy pulled down her sister's uniform sleeve back down and smoothed out the girl's uniform before taking her hand. "Let's go to the cafeteria. Joy and Yeri are there already." Seulgi looks over to Wendy and nods with a smile. On the way there, Seulgi listened to Wendy talk to Joohyun and to see the girl not even paying attention cracked a smile on her face. "Joohyun-ah, don't listen to those boys okay? Remember what appa and eomma said? They always tell you to..." Wendy trailed off, she was so naggy that even Seulgi tuned out halfway. 

"Are you even listening to me?" Wendy laughs and pinches Joohyun's cheeks. Clearly she wasn't, but she still nodded anyways. "Yes yes.." The girl mumbles. Seulgi has to bite down on her inner lips to prevent herself from smiling too much. Joohyun was probably one of the purest people she's ever met. If you compared her to Yeri or Joy, it'll be like comparing an angel to something worse than satan. 

They sat down at the table with Yeri and Joy already digging into their food like they haven't eaten in years. Seulgi plopped her books down on the table. "Hey,"

"Hey Seul, why were you guys so late? Oh by the way, one of the vendors were selling sushi today so I bought some for you." Yeri slides a plastic box across the table; California rolls, Seulgi's favorite. She smiled at the younger girl before motioning to Wendy and Joohyun who were queuing up for their food at the other end of the cafeteria. "Those boys were pestering baechu again so I stopped by to help her. We met Wendy on the way here. Also, thanks for the sushi." 

"So... how's Joohyun?" Joy questions out of nowhere, her eyes still focused on her food while she tried to poke a piece of sushi onto her fork. "She's fine, why?" Seulgi could feel Yeri and Joy's eyes on her. "You've gotten quite close to her in like what.. two days? She never opens up to strangers that quickly." Joy shoves the food into . "Yeah, she took about a month to say a simple 'hello' to me." Yeri adds with a slight smirk, making Seulgi more confused than she already was. 

"What are you guys hinting at? Joohyun and I are friends." Seulgi defends herself, though she didn't even know why she was. Yeri and Joy weren't even saying anything about Joohyun and her being something more than friends - but Seulgi could sense that they were getting there. "Right.." they trail on, zipping their mouths as soon as they see Wendy and Joohyun walking back to the table with a tray of food in their hands. "What did we miss?" Wendy says as she splits a pair of chopsticks and passes them to Joohyun before splitting her own pair. 

Yeri almost chokes on her drink and Joy lets out an awkward laugh. "Nothing! We were uh.. talking about sushi.. Yes sushi." 

"Okay..." Wendy raises her eyebrows in disbelief, but still lets it slide. "So how was class?" She asks, getting a conversation going. Seulgi silently eats her sushi while Yeri and Joy go on and on about how their literature teacher kept nagging in class. Her eyes met with Joohyun's dark brown ones across her. The girl shoves a big scoop of rice into and smiles slightly when she saw Seulgi looking at her. She returned the smile. "Eat slowly, baechu." Seulgi says when she sees Joohyun shove another big