"Sumi!"

Sumi turned in time to catch Jongdae's hand in the air, signaling her to wait for him. She remained in place from her walk back to the science department, but turned around to give Yoonmi and Jongdae their privacy as they greeted. Sumi didn't know the extent to their relationship, but by the way they interacted so freely, she could only assume they went quite far back. Probably childhood friends.

The sound of quick footsteps increased towards her till the male stopped right next to her, smile in tow as he gestured for them to start walking.

"Thanks for waiting. I need directions to the Science's computer lab?"

"Oh, sure." She nodded as they fell in step with each other. "You have a class there?"

"Yeah, Computer Lit." When Sumi frowned, he laughed in agreement to her reaction. "I know, its a first year module. For some weird reason, it never fit in my schedule, so it always got taken out. I finally get to do it in my last year."

"This is your last year?" She inquired.

"Yeah."

Nodding, she fell quiet, until, "So. Law, huh?"

"Yup." He nodded robotically. "The oh-so-appropriate degree to make my oh-so-expecting parents proud by joining them in their oh-so-successful company."

Sumi blinked in surprise. When he murmured questioningly, she shrugged and confessed. "Didn't take you you for some elite chum."

"Probably cause I spent most of my time getting away from it."

"Rich kids confuse me." She muttered with a shake of her head.

"We confuse ourselves even more." He grinned. "We tell ourselves we want freedom from the financial grasp our parents hang over our heads, but when it really comes down to it, we just waste away our trust fund and take some errand boy job at the company anyway and repeat the system."

Sumi stilled for a second. From Yoonmi to every other rich kid she'd encountered, they all had some weird parental slight. Money really meant nothing, she figured, especially when it meant everything. It made her appreciate her own upbringing, if only a little. Where their overabundance of affluence catered to their problems, it was Sumi's lack thereof that fueled hers.

"What would you rather be doing then?" She eventually asked as she came out of her bubble.

"Honestly?" When she nodded, he grinned slyly. "I just want to work for McDonald's."

Sumi frowned.

And Jongdae laughed.

"I can't tell if you're serious or not."

"Well, that's the game of life, ain't it?"

Sumi's face slumped. It seemed impossible to get a straight answer out of the guy.

They arrived at the Science department, and with the girl's swift directions, they stood before the glass walls that separated them from the almost empty computer lab.

She began to greet him and go her own way, when a familiar face exited the lab.

"Hey, Sumi." The guy greeted with a smile, his slanted eyes crinkling behind blue thin-rimmed glasses. He turned to Jongdae and nodded. "Hey man, what's up?"

"Hey, Baekhyun." Sumi responded when Jongdae merely nodded back.

"How've you guys been over break?" Baekhyun inquired gingerly, hands reaching into his pockets.

"Good, thanks. You?"

"Great, great. How- how's Yoonmi?"

"She's great, too."

"Yeah?" He chuckled in nervousness, and Sumi felt slightly bad for the guy, despite knowing the facts. "Uhm.. D'you.. D'you know if she's.. if she's seeing anybody?"

And that's when Jongdae snapped.

"You know what, guy? I think its best you leave well enough alone."

Tension grew in the air at the strong-toned words Jongdae had coldly lashed out. Sumi's eyes were on Jongdae as she stared at him in a silent scolding. Jongdae however, was too busy staring at Baekhyun, as if his point hadn't clearly been made.

And Baekhyun merely stared at the ground, trying to hide his red-hued face.

"Yeah..." He eventually nodded, head bobbing one too many times. "I - I guess I'll see guys you around."

He began walking away to leave through the doors of the building, but just as he pushed against the steel-clad double doors, the male turned back towards them in utter shame.

"Actually I can't leave, I tutor here." He muttered before retreating inside the lab.

"Great." Jongdae groaned.

Sumi remained staring at Jongdae.

"What?" He eventually picked up on her hostility.

"Protective much?"

"Y'know what?" He began with the same badly hidden anger, but then he paused to drag a hand through dark strands, and his expression softened with a sigh. "I honestly like the guy. Which makes this even tier, cause what he did was pretty horrible."

"Like our date?" She retorted, and she received a groan in response.

"You're not gonna let me forget that one, huh?"

"Should I? Jongdae, you're judging a guy for imbalanced morals when you're far from a saint yourself. Atleast Baekhyun looks remorseful."

An argumentative pout had Jongdae's lips spruced together, his eyes piercing the glass wall as they landed on Baekhyun, who sat oblivious to it all as he typed his matrix-like lines of code.

"Fine." Jongdae eventually sighed, and with the air leaving his body, he seemed to let go of his anger as well, returning to his usual self. "I guess you're right. I just.. I don't exactly think straight when it comes to Yoonmi."

And it was that open statement that had Sumi biting back a small smile.

But then he was smiling at her with a sly grin of his own. "But if you think Baekhyun deserves a second chance, then I think I do too. Let me take you out again."

Sumi blanched at the sudden turn of events. "What - no. Why, even?"
 
"I'm not completely sure yet." He shrugged, his eyes placed so very plainly on her. "I dunno if its the warmth of your eyes when you approve of someone or the coldness of your stare when you're disaopointed, but I have this need to undo my past actions to you." 

Sumi stared back with confused orbs before shaking her head. "Jongdae, you don't have anything to prove to me."

"Then be my date to the Fresher's Bash."

An exasperated sigh left . "No, thanks."

"Come on, are you against me or against having fun?" 

"Look, Jongdae," she eventually chuckled at the absurdity of it all, "I don't think you're all that bad. Now that my anger's gone, I genuinely see you as a good guy - even if we've only had like two interactions since. You're all about having fun, and that's great for you. But I'm not. And all I ask from anyone and everyone, is that they respect the standard I set for myself. That's it."

"Ok, but that's boring."

Sumi shook her head, and her eyes caught the clock against the wall. She was late for her practical.

Pointing at the clock in explanation, she smiled a lopsided greeting his way as she began to walk away. "We all can't be Kim Jongdae, now can we?"

"Bye, Tupperware." He called after her.

And despite their obvious agreement on disagreeing, Sumi found herself smiling.

A/N: This chapter went quicker than I thought ^^ and so, it begins. I guess when I have enough short chapters up, like ten, I'll crunch them together. This was originally the end of chapter two, anyway.

But yesh. Thanks for reading!!