15 years ago.

The rain is pouring hard, and the streets look a lot like a ghost town. 

During the morning news, the newscaster reported that there was a psychopath on the run after he broke out of a mental institution last night. 

There were gossips that the psychopath is just around the vicinity.  Everyone in the village stayed inside the comfort of their homes and locked their doors.

That is except from a boy and a girl at the bottom of a hill, slouching behind a big rock. 

"Don't cry, it's okay. Don't cry," the little boy kept whispering to the little girl crying in front of him. He pulled out a handkerchief and started wrapping her wounded arm.

"B... blood..." the girl stuttered, pointing at the boy's forehead. 

Through the dark, the girl saw the little boy smiled. "I'm okay."

The girl put her hand on the boy's head, making him wince a bit.

"The girl with the pig tails and the boy with the red hat!" someone suddenly screamed out of nowhere. 

Both of the children jumped in fear. They looked up and saw a silhouette standing by the road at the top of the hill, light reflected at the knife he was holding. 

The girl started crying again, but the boy put his hand on . "Sshhh..." he whispered.

She nodded through blurry eyes that are starting to fill up with tears. 

He slowly put down his hand from her face and took her wrist. He gripped on it tightly, and still whispering he told her, "When I say 'run' you'll get up and run with me okay?"

The girl nodded again.

The boy propped up on one of his knee, "1..."

"...2" the girl started counting with him, getting ready as well.

The boy never took off his eyes on the girl, "3... run..."

~

Monday morning.

Jieun woke up as early as 6 AM. She took a bath, got her school stuff, and went straight to the nearest convenience store to have breakfast.

French Toast and instant hot chocolate. That's the menu for her today. It's raining and that is the best thing she could think of in this kind of weather.

While walking to the bus stop after breakfast, she heard people murmuring behind her. She ignored them and kept on walking. But the murmuring kept on getting closer, the hairs at the back of her neck starts rising up. She gripped on the umbrella she's holding, pacing faster.  

"Yah..." she heard a guy's voice and felt a hand over her shoulder. 

As a reflex, she immediately balled her hand into a fist and threw it in the air as she face her "attacker", her eyes closed.

But a hand caught her punch, "Neo michyeoss-eo? (Are you crazy?)"

She slowly opened her eyes and saw a guy towering in front of her. "H.. Hyungwon?" she stuttered, slowly realizing the situation.

The other six boys followed behind him, looking as amused as he is.

Hyungwon is still holding her hand, smirking down at her.

Jieun pulled her hand from his grip and put it inside her jacket's pocket. Her face felt hot, "Y-Yah... Why are you all being creepy and... following me... and stuff..." she stammered for words.

"That's our company," Changkyun pointed at the building in front of them, just across the bus stop where Jieun is heading.

Her face became even redder, "You could've called me by my name!"

"We were trying to but you're wearing your earphones," Jooheon told her, pointing at her earphones now dangling on her shoulders. It got pulled out from her ears when she turned around to punch Hyungwon.

That's why all she can hear are blurred murmurs.

Jieun is speechless, feeling really stupid and embarassed. She can't believe it's been three days since she meet these boys and all through those days all she did is embarrass herself in front of them.

 "Is that your bus?" Minhyuk asked her motioning his hand at the bus at the other side of the street.

"Aish~" she looked around and started running. The next bus would arrive after thirty minutes, she can't miss this one. 

"See you later!" the boys said in chorus.

She didn't say anything and continued running, but she raised her hand and gave them a little wave, not looking back.

~

Jieun dropped by her favorite coffee shop during her break to do some school work. This was the same coffee shop she worked part time in last fall. She always buy the smallest sized and cheapest drinks in the menu just o she could hang out here to study and at the same time take short glimpses at the barista at the counter, Kai.

Kai is really tall, with a beautiful tan skin, and perfect features. He majored in dancing during high school, and he's also been training in different entertainment companies ever since 7th grade. 

 While Jieun is in the middle of daydreaming about Kai and her, rather than writing her film review paper, a familiar voice called her, 
"Ius saram-nim? (Miss Next Door Neighbor?)"

~

Jieun stared at the seven guys sitting with her in the coffeeshop. They connected two tables just so they can all sit together.

She glared at them, crossing her arms on her chest. "Are you really trying to take over my whole life?"

"We're here to have some coffee," Shownu told her.

"Yeah, this is the closest one from the company," Kihyun went on.

Hyungwon, who is sitting beside Jieun looked at his watch, "You're done with school? Isn't too early?"

"I'm here to do some school works," she answered him quickly.

"Well I guess it's not going pretty well," Changkyun peek his head on Jieun's laptop and pointed at her empty notepad. 

Jieun closed her laptop shut, "I... I just started." As soon as she looked up, she saw Kai looking at her behind the counter. He's drying some mugs and is watching her and the boys around her. She quickly opened her laptop again an hid behind it.

"What are you doing?" Minhyuk asked her.

"He's looking," Jieun's face felt hot. She put her hands on her cheeks, trying to stop herself from blushing.

​​​​​​​

The boys looked at Kai in unison.

"Yah~!" Jieun hissed at them. "Stop doing that, look away!" she whispered.

"Do you have a crush with that barista?" Wonho asked.



Jieun flinched, this the first time Wonho talked to her directly. And he's teasing her with her crush? She can't believe it. Out of the seven boys, he's the only one who she hasn't talked to yet for the past days. During dinner yesterday, she talked to all of them except from him. So she was surprised that he's suddenly talking now.

"Are you a stalker or something?" Hyungwon got in. 



Jieun glared at Hyungwon, while still hiding behind her laptop.

"You can stop hiding now, he went in the kitchen already," Shownu told her.

She sighed in relief, sitting up straight.

Wonho snorted in front of her.

"W... What?" she asked him.

He shook his head, looking down and poking his honey butter bread. He took a big bite of it, not saying anything.

"So you literally traveled back here from university to stalk him?" Hyungwon asked again, smirking.

Jieun rolled her eyes.

"Wait a minute," Jooheon got in. "He's familiar..."

"Of course he is," Hyungwon got his americano and started sipping from it. "He's from the company."



"Ah right, right!" Minhyuk exclaimed. "He's that annoying trainee!"

"What do you mean?" Jieun gasped. She can't believe they called him annoying.

"Just because he's been in the company for a year he's been acting all bossy and stuff," Changkyun said, sounding like a kid talking about the person who's been bullying him to his mom.

"He's not bossy," Jieun defended. "He's probably intimidating because he's handsome and talented but I'm sure he's not bossy."

"You only see what you want to see," Hyungwon told her, sipping his iced coffee again.

Before Jieun could defend Kai again, he suddenly appeared from the kitchen. This time he started filling up the pastry counter.

She hid behind her laptop again.

 "Why are you hiding?" Kihyun asked her.

"Because he keeps on looking at our direction."

"Of course he would look at us, we're the only ones here in the shop," Hyungwon said.

"He's coming," Wonho suddenly said.

"Jieun, right?" 

It's Kai.

Jieun fumbled on her seat, she suddenly wanted to evaporate. This is the first time she heard him call her name.

She slowly looked up, not saying anything.

Kai smiled at her; everything seems like it's in slowmotion.

"You worked here a couple of months ago right?" he asked.

Jieun nodded, not feeling anything.

"The boss wanted to give you and your friends these," he placed a box of donuts on the table. "Since you brought a lot of friends with you today."

"Uh..." Jieun is literally speechless. 

Kai is talking to me.



"You're JYShip trainees right?" Kai turned to the boys. He didn't wait for them to respond though, and looked back at Jieun, "Just call me if you need anything."

"The audacity," Jooheon muttered.

"Did you see that?" Hyungwon asked her. "He's rude."

Jieun rolled her eyes. She did  notice that. But she tried to shrug it off. He's probably just in a bad mood. 

Kihyun's wasn't lying, Hyungwon's a straightforward peron, and he's really annoying. And he's even annoying because he's right.

~

Jieun had a long day at school after the coffee shop fiasco. But she likes it. It's better than not doing anything at all. 

As soon as she got off the bus, she immediately sees a familiar group of boys. She rolled her eyes, not getting surprised anymore.

This time, she's the first one to call them, "Yah!"

They all looked back at her direction in unison. 

"Are you following us?" Shownu asked jokingly. People would easily know that he's joking because of how he deliver the joke. And Jieun finds this funny.

"I guess I can't escape all of you," she told him.

"Yeah," Kihyun got in. "We're like that phenomenon."

"Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon," Changkyun agreed with him.

"Wohhhhhh~~~" the boys and Jieun chorused in amusement.

Changkyun nodded to himself proudly and went on, looking at Jieun, "It's a term for frequency illusion. Your awareness about us is increasing."

"Wow Changkyun-ie, you're smart," Jieun said patting his back.

She didn't notice she's already walking home with the boys. They with Kai, joked with her, and other stuff she never experienced with her friends and other people before. She suddenly felt like he belongs in a group, and it feels nice.

While they approach their building, rain started pouring again. Jieun fumbled in her bag to look for her umbrella, but it's not there. The other boys already started running under the pouring rain. When she's about to run, rain suddenly stopped pouring on her. She looked up and see Hyungwon standing beside her, holding up an umbrella over her head. 

He cling on the strap of her bag and started pulling her lightly with him. A smile started to form at the corner of his mouth, "Ah, Lee Jieun, you should be careful to not get sick."



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