"God dammit."

The Beast kingkas hunched their shoulders and tried to keep their eyes ahead of them, ignoring the hopeful looks of the schoolgirls they passed by.

"I hate White Day," Yoseob grumbled. "Every single time it comes around, they all stare at us like we're slowly killing them by not getting them gifts."

"It can't be helped," Hyunseung sighed. "It's the day when any girl who has a crush on a guy gets their hopes and dreams dashed to pieces."

"Before, I didn't give much of a . But now for some reason, I feel awful."

"I think the tin man grew a heart," Dongwoon teased. Yoseob shot him a look. "Where the hell did THAT come from?"

"You are an idiot. Don't tell me you never saw the Wizard of Oz?"

"Um ..." Yoseob stared at him blankly.

At that moment, Hyunseung's phone rang. He picked it up, calmly speaking into it. "Hey. Did you get them? Do you like it? It's no problem at all. Yeah. Yeah, I'll see you at five, okay? Bye."

"Who was that?" Kikwang demanded. "Since when did you ever CALL anyone?"

"You never called ME!" Yoseob shrieked, looking pissed. "I was DYING for help on our homework and you ignored all TWENTY-SEVEN of my calls!"

"Who is it? Let me see!" Kikwang grabbed the phone out of Hyunseung's hand and began flipping through his Caller ID. "Who the hell is Goeun?"

"Wait a second!" Dongwoon stopped and pointed an accusatory finger at Hyunseung. "She's that goth chick you and Doojoon met at the Oasis Factory, right? The one that works on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Hyunseung said coolly.

"Dude, don't tell me ... you did NOT just send her White Day gifts."

"SINCE WHEN DID YOU GET A GIRLFRIEND?" Yoseob screamed, grabbing him by the collar and looking a bit crazy. "SINCE WHEN?!"

"You need to get your hands off of me and calm down," Hyunseung said, looking him right in the eye. "Or I will break you."

"I THOUGHT I WAS YOUR BRO, MAN! WE'VE KNOWN EACH OTHER THE LONGEST! I THOUGHT YOU PROMISED WE'D BE BFFSIES FOREVERS!"

"I can assure you, I never made that promise. Ever. I'm pretty sure I would rather soak my head in acid than ever say the words 'BFFsies Forevers'." Hyunseung paused. "Oh, ."

"Yoseob, I think the pressure of suddenly feeling sympathy and guilt for pretty little ladies is getting to your head," Kikwang said, carefully pulling Yoseob away from Hyunseung and ruffling his blond hair. "I mean, since when has Hyunseung told us anything voluntarily?"

"Hyunseung always tells me everything," Yoseob sulked, shooting him a dirty glare. "Dude, I thought for sure you'd like Hyosonn."

"What the hell?" Hyunseung turned to stare at him. "Why?"

"Because you were so nice to her! You were like, freakin' Ice Prince Cold McFrozenDickerson to everyone, and then she comes along and BAM! You're, like, all nice and smiley and everything! And you're always helping her with her homework, AND getting all worried and when Queen and Sook-Drones tried to bully her! I thought for sure you were, like, secretly pining for her from afar while she got all up in Doojoon's grill!"

Hyunseung chuckled. "That's preposterous. I care about Hyosonn a lot, but not in that way."

There was a silence as they walked to their lockers. Then Dongwoon spoke up.

"Ice Prince Cold McFrozenDickerson? Really?"

"What? It was the first thing I could think of!"

"No, it's not bad ... it's surprisingly accurate."

Hyunseung gave Dongwoon a swift kick in the back of the knees. "Shut up, maknae."

******************

"Are you ready?" Heejin asked, grinning as she put a bit of blush on Hyosonn's cheeks.

"I feel like a painted ," Hyosonn complained. "This foundation bugs my skin."

"Not my fault you decided to pig out on chips and sour worms last night from anxiety and nerves. Junk food binges will give you pimples, you know that."

"I know, I'm sorry." Hyosonn sighed. "Just got really freaked out."

Heejin chuckled as she examined Hyosonn's face. "I thought you were all set to confess to Doojoon. You guys have been treading on eggshells for days. To be honest, it was painful to watch. Don't blink."

Hyosonn shrugged, trying not to wrinkle her nose and turn away when Heejin held mascara to her eyelashes. "Well, I mean ... I feel like he likes me, you know? Everyone seems to notice it, and I have a feeling he's waiting to tell me on White Day. I think we both know we like each other, but ... I just got so nervous. I just kept thinking, 'What if I was wrong? What if he meant something different?'"

"That's stupid, and you know it," Heejin said firmly. "Dammit, you idiot! I told you not to blink!"

"Sorry, sorry! Anyway, I know it's stupid, but ... just those fears, you know?"

"Well, either way, you'll be turning heads today at school," Heejin said, stepping back to look her best friend up and down. "You look gorgeous."

"Don't lie."

At that moment, Hyosonn's mother came in. "You two will be late for school if you don't -- oh my god, Hyosonn! Look at you!"

Hyosonn was wearing a simple sleeveless white shirt and short, light blue shorts. But the white shirt was layered and hid Hyosonn's small s and harsh angles on her body, giving her a softer and cuter look. For once, her muscular legs looked good, when she wore shorts that seemed to be made to show off her muscles, not try to make them girly.

Heejin didn't give Hyosonn much makeup, either. She simply put foundation on some spots to cover Hyosonn's junk food binge, and a little bit of blush and mascara. Hyosonn wondered if she should wear lip gloss, but Heejin decided against it, claiming it would make her look like she was trying too hard.

"You look so pretty!" Hyosonn's mother gushed. "Oh, Hyojung would be so proud! Can I take a picture?"

"Ummmaaaa," Hyosonn whined. "We have to go to school now!"

"Wait, wear these!" Heejin threw a pair of white sandals at her. "There's no heel on that, so you won't be tripping everywhere and making a fool out of yourself."

Hyosonn laughed. "I should have made you my coach, not the boys."

"Are you kidding? You're the one who picked this outfit, not me. I can't believe I'm admitting this, but they did manage to teach you a few things in between all the abusive insults."

"Shall we go, then?" Hyosonn linked arms with her.

"Let's go kick Queen and your future boyfriend right in the ."

"Wait, let me get my video camera ..." 

"UMMA!!!"

***************

Junhyung ran up to his friends as they hung out by the lockers, looking out of breath and panicked.

"She's going to hate me!" He yelled at them. "She's going to ing hate whatever I got for her and ditch me!"

"You need to calm down," Hyunseung said, barely batting an eyelash at his friend's panic. "I don't think Heejin cares, as long as you remember."

"But what if she DOES? She'll ing break up with my sorry !"

"Dude, you are whipped," Kikwang said in marvel. He, Yoseob, and Dongwoon snickered.

"Shut the up!" Junhyung glared at him. "What did you do for Meeyon, then, huh?"

"Gave her a bouquet of white roses," Kikwang said smugly. "Then gave her her favourite watermelon candy. And on the weekend we're going off to downtown and I promised to buy her lots of stuff."

Junhyung scowled. "You've had, like, six years of ing preparation to woo a chick. I've never, okay?"

A few girls walked by and stared at Yoseob longingly. Yoseob turned away and tried his hardest to pretend they weren't there.

"Dude, you can't be nice to every girl now that you adore Hyosonn and Heejin and Meeyon and the Im twins," Dongwoon said reasonably, patting his back. "Let it go."

"Where's Doojoon, for that matter?" Hyunseung looked around, but there was no sight of their friend in the hallway. "Shouldn't he be here early to plan for the 'big day'?"

"You mean when he finally grows a pair and confesses to Hyosonn?"

"I'm beginning to think it'll never happen." Kikwang sighed loudly. "Dude, they haven't looked at each other at all for, like, weeks. They're gonna chicken out at the last second."

It was at that moment the time when they saw a figure rushing up to them, looking out of breath.

"Is that ...?"

"Doojoon?"

Doojoon ran up to them, holding a bag stuffed with objects. "H-hey, guys ... uh, sorry I'm late ... school hasn't started yet, right?"

"We still have three minutes," Hyunseung said, checking his watch. 

"Where were you?" Dongwoon demanded.

"I, uh, had to get some ... stuff ..." Doojoon gestured to the bag, looking frenzied and panicked. "Uhh, when do you think I should set this up? And where? , man, I don't have this fully planned yet!"

"You've had, like, two weeks!" Yoseob demanded, outraged.

"No, no," Kikwang corrected him quickly. "Doojoon needed at least a week and a half to actually get up the courage."

"All of you shut the hell up! You're the worst!"

"Says the idiots who are going to help you with this."

Doojoon paused, then grinned. "You'll help?"

" yeah!" Junhyung punched the air with his fist. "Let's do this !"

*******************

Changsook scowled heavily as she applied another layer of mascara. She had received many candies and gifts from admiring boys already today, but they didn't matter. What mattered ... was getting White Day gifts from the Beast kingkas.

But unfortunately, they were too busy goofing off with those weird girls and fallen queenkas. Changsook just couldn't understand. Kim Hyosonn was weird and not even that pretty. What's more, she couldn't even dress herself for half a year. Her friend, Heejin, was cute, but had an unladylike personality. Their friends, those Hua siblings, were unpopular nobodies who kept to themselves. And not to mention those irritating Im twins. They used to be queenkas, and even when Changsook pushed them out of the inner circle ... they didn't even care!

Changsook gritted her teeth. She always got gifts from kingkas. Even Kikwang, the ever-popular ladies' man, had given her gifts the past two years!

"Ohmygosh!" One of her posse members shrieked. "Changsook-ssi, come quickly!"

Changsook heard the shock in her voice and rushed out of the classroom. The teacher spluttered in indignation, but she ignored him. She looked down the hallway, and her jaw dropped.

"Is that ... Weird Girl?!"

Her posse was staring at Weird Girl Kim Hyosonn in surprise, whispering to themselves. Hyosonn and Heejin were rushing down the hall. They were late, but that wasn't the big shock.

It was the fact that Hyosonn looked PRETTY. She was wearing cute clothes that actually flattered her figure, and her silly curly hair had been fixed so it fit her face better. Changsook stared at her, dumbfounded, as they passed by.

"But wouldn't it be better if we're fashionably late? Like they do in the manhwas -- oh." Hyosonn abruptly stopped and looked at Changsook. She gave her a grin. "Hey there, Changpoon! What's up?"

Changsook just opened and closed like a fish, unable to find anything to say. The last time she and Hyosonn had talked, Hyosonn had threatened bodily harm on her. Now she was acting like they were friends? Was this a trick?

"Hyosonn!" Heejin pulled at her arm, giving Changsook a glare. "We'll be seriously late soon. Let's go!"

"Ah, right! Bye then, Choongsoon!"

There was silence as Changsook watched the two girls run off. There was a pause.

"MY NAME IS CHANGSOOK!!!!"

*********************

"Hyosonn, is that YOU?" Dongwoon's eyes opened wide as Hyosonn made it to math class. "What ... you look ..."

"Heejin helped," Hyosonn grinned and twirled for effect. "See? I feel like an awesome girly girl now!"

"Not quite ing there," Junhyung approved. "I think you look more like Hyosonn than 'girly girl'."

"Yeah, it's very you." Dongwoon agreed.

Hyosonn's grin was huge and cheesy. "Yeah! I've finally lived long enough to have a guy compliment my looks! HECKA YEAH!" She fistpumped the air. "I have officially gone up in manhwa status!"

"Umm ... I need to start class ..." the teacher said hesitantly. 

"Oh, right!" Hyosonn smiled sheepishly at the teacher. "Sorry, seonsaeng-nim ... hehe ..."

She sat down, and as the teacher started the lesson, Dongwoon turned around to whisper to her. "Yah, what are you going to do with Doojoon?"

"E-eh?" Hyosonn's cheeks turned pink. "It's not nice to ask that to a girly girl!"

"Whatever," he said dismissively. "So, seriously. What are you gonna do if Doojoon confesses?"

Hyosonn blinked. "I'd say yes, duh." She paused. "Actually, it depends on the candy involved."

Dongwoon burst out laughing.

"YAH! DON'T MAKE JOKES WHEN I'M NOT ING THERE!!!" Junhyung howled from the back.

"ALL THREE OF YOU SHUT UP OR I'LL GIVE YOU DETENTION!" The teacher screamed.

When the bell rang for the end of class, Hyosonn was about to go to her locker when Dongwoon and Junhyung suddenly grabbed her and began to drag her in the opposite direction.

"H-hey! Wait! I have more classes to go to!" Hyosonn kicked feebly.

"Nope, you're coming with us!" Dongwoon said cheerfully. They dragged her down the hall, where Heejin and the Im twins were waiting.

"Good, you brought her!" Heejin pulled Hyosonn upright and fussed over her clothes, making sure they fell in the right place. "Thank god. Okay. You haven't screwed up your makeup yet, good."

"Stand up straight, don't slouch!" Yeunja snapped, karate-chopping her shoulders until they pulled back. "Push your head back and in your stomach. Oh, and press your shoulder blades together and bring your shoulders down. That'll increase your bust by like 2 centimetres."

Hyosonn's eyes widened. "WHAT?"

"Good luck, Hyosonn!" Yanggae said shyly, smiling at her. "We're all rooting for you! Hwaiting!"

"I don't -- wait -- what -- hold on --"

"Go get 'em, tiger!" Heejin shoved her into an empty classroom.

"What the ... hell?" Hyosonn stopped and stared in front of her.

the desks were all pushed together and decorated with dozens of candles of all sorts of different sizes. In the middle was a beautiful red velvet chocolate cake, the kind Hyosonn would see in front of expensive bakeries, decorated with rich frosting and beautiful icing flowers.

"W-wait!" Doojoon was standing on the desks, trying to put up streamers. "! God dammit! I told them to give me ten more minutes, those s!"

"Whoa ..." Hyosonn expected their ultimate confrontation to be really dramatic or awkward. Instead, she burst out laughing. "You went full out!"

"S-shut up!" Doojoon snapped, cheeks turning pink. "It was hard to figure out what you'd like, so I thought this would be fine! Do you know how hard it was for me to get that cake?"

"It looks expensive as balls."

"Not exactly the vocabulary I would use ... but yes. It was expensive as balls."

"Is it for me?" Hyosonn stepped forward uncertainly.

Doojoon finally managed to put up the last bit of streamer and hopped down from the desk. "I didn't do all this for my own amusement. I, uh ..." he coughed, turning red. "I-it's your White Day g-gift."

"No way! Dudebro!" Hyosonn immediately ran forward and began to cut a slice. "An entire cake for me! This is the best thing that could ever happen to me!"

She cut another slice and gave it to Doojoon. He took it and relaxed. He missed hanging out with her without feeling like banging his head against a wall.

They sat down and dug in. It tasted great.

"Oh yeah." Hyosonn suddenly stopped eating and put down her fork. "Weren't you supposed to confess to me before we ate the cake?"

"BWUH?!" Doojoon choked on some of the cake. "Y-you don't just SAY that!"

"Why?" Hyosonn blinked at him. "I mean, we've both been kinda freaking out about it, but we both sort of know how we feel anyway, so why worry? Besides, I can't think too much when there's cake."

"Y-yeah, but, I mean ... it's embarrassing."

"Your face is embarrassing."

"Shut up, dweeb."

"Says the guy who got horribly rejected by his first love in middle school."

Doojoon groaned and slapped a palm over his face. "I can't believe that, out of everything I've ever said to you, THAT is the one thing you remember."

Hyosonn snickered, grabbing another slice of cake. "Well? Confess. I'm waiting. And it better be like out of a manhwa! With roses and bishie sparkles and everything."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No bishie sparkles."

"Roses?"

Doojoon suddenly reached behind him and pulled out a bouquet of red roses. Hyosonn's jaw dropped. "You SERIOUSLY got those?"

"Girls like this kind of romanticized crap, right?" Doojoon sneezed. "They smell awful. It's like they've been bathed in perfume. Hurry up and take these, I think I'm getting an allergy."

"Oh man." Hyosonn grabbed the bouquet, looking delighted ... then sneezed. "Oh , you're right. Oh god, allergies I never knew I had are acting up. Oh man, oh man." She quickly threw it away.

"Well, that failed." Doojoon sighed.

They stayed silent for a bit longer, calmly eating away at the cake. The bell rang for lunch, but they ignored it.

"Hey, Doojoon," Hyosonn said, taking another slice. "Let's get married."

Doojoon immediately choked again.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

"I mean, obviously not now, I have exams to do. But --"

"JESUS CHRIST, HYOSONN, YOU DON'T JUST SAY THAT."

"Yeah, but --"

Doojoon groaned and grabbed some cake from his plate, shoving it into . "Just shut up and eat. Don't say anything, you'll spoil it." He paused, then added quietly, "You look nice."

They looked at each other for a while, then smiled. They had spent so long worrying about their feelings for each other, which turned out to be a pretty damn stupid thing to do. 

After all, why need to say anything when it was right in front of you?

*****************

"Can you hear anything?" Yeunja hissed, as Yoseob leaned against the door, ear pressed against the surface.

"If you all could just SHUT UP, maybe!"

Yoseob, Heejin, Myungdae, and Dongwoon were all listening in, trying to hear what was going on with their two friends behind the door.

"Do you hear any strange sounds?" Kikwang whispered. "'Cause if you start to hear I think we'd better stop them before it goes too far -- ULP!!!"

Heejin had swept her leg across the floor, catching Kikwang by the ankles and causing him to trip and fall flat on his back.

"SSSSHHHH!!!"

"YOU SSSSSSSSSSSSSH!!!!"

The door opened, and the four spies promptly fell.

"I can hear you s, you know," Doojoon said, raising an eyebrow.

"It was Junhyung's idea," Heejin immediately said, pointing at her boyfriend.

"No it ing wasn't!"

"I had no part in this," Hyunseung said smoothly. He had anticipated Doojoon and Hyosonn's entrance and had immediately moved as far back as possible to look more innocent.

"Me neither," Yanggae said quietly. That was a given: she would never have done it.

"Whoa, !" Yoseob was peeking under Doojoon's legs at the decorations inside. "DUDE, you got her an entire CAKE! And it's RED VELVET! You went full throttle, didn't you?"

"You can't have any," Doojoon added, pushing him away with his foot as Yoseob attempted to slither into the room.

"Sooo? How did it go?" Yeunja snickered, leaning in close to Hyosonn. "Did you guys get it on or what?"

"Uhh, no," Hyosonn said, playfully pinching her arm. "And I'm not giving details."

"Whhaaaaat? Come on," Heejin whined, jumping up to her friend. "No details? Yah, Hyosonn! I'm your best friend! What, did you guys kiss or anything?"

"I said I wasn't telling!" Hyosonn stuck out her tongue, then laughed and dodged as Heejin tried to grab her.

"Tell me!"

They continued to loiter around the hallways, laughing and joking and teasing, until a teacher came by and told them to either go back to class or go home, because they were loud as hell.

As for whether they kissed or not before their friends interrupted?

That's their little secret.

The End