BGM: B1A4 - Only Learned the Bad Things

The sight of the pink envelope in the tall teenage boy's hands left you speechless.

Could it be?

You looked at the pink envelope again and this time, the little Teddy bear printed on the leftmost corner sort of confirmed your suspicions. It is definitely the same as the ones you have received from your secret admirer... there's no mistake about it.

The question Jihye asked you earlier today suddenly echoed in your mind:

"So what are you going to do when you find out who he is?"

Even if that dreaded moment is already here, you still didn't know what you were supposed to do. You didn't even know how to react. Are you supposed to be relieved now that he is finally here? Are you supposed to be glad that the boy in front of you is quite good-looking? Or are you supposed to be disappointed because the boy you like didn't turn out to be the person who sent you all those cheesy love notes for the past two weeks?

As if saving you from this awkward situation, the front door of the Happy Bubble Tea Shop was pushed open once again, and this time, it was your Yeonhee unnie who came in. Usually, when Yeonhee arrives to take over your shift, she is welcomed by a series of cheerful greetings from the boys, but somehow, her presence today made them a bit uneasy.

No, not just uneasy. Panic-stricken.

"Oh, Youngho-ah!" Yeonhee greeted, taking the tall teenage boy by surprise. "When did you come back from the States?" she asked, taking a black Happy Bubble apron from the rack, immediately tying it on her waist.

"Unnie, you know him?!?" Jihye asked.

Yeonhee furrowed her eyebrows. "Youngho? Of course! He used to come here all the time. He always asks for a cup of lychee bubble tea with jelly cubes. He's an SM trainee like them," she responded, pointing to the group of flower boys seated by the corner of the store. "Didn't they introduce- oh! Is that a love letter?!?" she questioned as soon as she saw the pink envelope in Youngho's hands.

When Yeonhee revealed that Youngho was also a trainee at SM Entertainment, Jihye looked suspiciously at the boys and started her chin. "Something is really fishy about this," your best friend reckoned, carefully observing their every move.

"I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry," Youngho apologized, guilt written all over his face. "It was their idea, I promise!" he flipped out, pointing to his hyungs.

Chanyeol banged his head on the table. Kevin and Minseok buried their faces into their hands. Yixing looked at you apologetically. Jongin and Moonkyu worriedly looked at each other. Kyungsoo pursed his lips. Joonmyun and Luhan shook their heads, while Sehun just took another sip of his chocolate bubble tea as if nothing happened.

Zitao, who still had no idea that Youngho chickened out at the last minute of their well-planned prank, just continued tinkering with his iPhone.

"DID YOU GUYS THINK IT WAS FUNNY?!?" Jihye yelled, and for a moment there you seriously thought her eyes were going to pop out of their sockets. "DID YOU THINK IT WOULD BE FUN TO FAKE A SECRET ADMIRER AND MAKE JAEMI KEEP HER HOPES UP FOR NOTHING?!?"

"Ji, just drop it. It's not even worth getting mad at," you begged, holding on to your best friend's arm to stop her from attacking the boys.

"But Jaemi! They played a prank on you for two weeks. TWO WEEKS! They made you believe that there's a mysterious bubble tea customer who's in love with you and they just sat there by the corner and watched as you kept on wondering who it was!" your best friend explained, making it hard for you to just brush the whole thing off now that she has said it out loud.

Instead of responding to Jihye or confronting the boys, you just turned your attention towards Yeonhee and spoke to her in the calmest voice you could manage. "Unnie, I'll just head into the kitchen. I still have to prepare some tapioca pearls before I leave," you said, and since you seemed resolved to work in the kitchen whether she stops you or not, Yeonhee just let you be and nodded in response.

"Is Jaemi mad?"

The fact that you disappeared into the kitchen and didn't confront them about the prank made the boys feel even guiltier. Although they knew it was wrong to toy with other people's feelings, they still pushed on the idea of faking a secret admirer because they thought you would just brush it off and have a good laugh about it later. In their minds, it was actually more of a test for Youngho than a prank towards you.

"No, but she should be," Jihye retorted, crossing her arms.

"I told you, Jihye's not going to take it lightly," Moonkyu claimed.

"Oh, shut up Moonkyu!" Jihye retorted.

Moonkyu stood up from his seat and walked towards the counter. He then occupied the black stool beside Jihye and took a deep breath before he spoke. "Stop getting mad at me! It wasn't my idea, okay?" he said.

"It doesn't matter whose idea it was! You're all in this together! It's all your fault! Besides, I really didn't need to ask who the mastermind was because it was obviously Park Chanyeol!" your best friend revealed, glaring at Chanyeol.

Instead of being offended by Jihye's accusation, Chanyeol was quite surprised that your best friend figured it out correctly in her first try. "Hey! How did you know it was me?" he asked, pointing to himself for emphasis.

"Chanyeol, you're the only one capable of planning such pranks," Yeonhee responded on Jihye's behalf. "Well, Luhan too, but I'm sure he didn't think of this one since it involves Jaemi," she added, moving both of her eyebrows up and down as she smiled at the now-bashful Chinese boy.

To Luhan's horror, his friend Yixing decided to add in to his embarrassment. "Yeah, Luhan was really against this from the start," Yixing chimed in, scratching his nape. "He almost punc-" Yixing was about to tell Yeonhee and Jihye about how Luhan and Chanyeol almost had a fistfight when the prank was first suggested, but he was rudely interrupted when Luhan covered his mouth with his hands.

"Well, it wasn't such a good idea to begin with-" Joonmyun interjected, shooting Chanyeol an 'I told you so' look. "-and the timing just made it a lot worse," he added, flipping the page of his art history book.

"Why? What's up with the timing?" Kyungsoo asked.

Joonmyun briefly looked away from what he was reading.  "Jaemi is not exactly having a very good day," he revealed, turning to have an eye-to-eye contact with your best friend. "Right, Jihye?" he asked, making her feel a bit uneasy.

"Is she on her period or something?" Jinho pondered.

"That's exactly what I thought!" Minseok exclaimed, a little too happy that somebody had the same idea as him. His menstrual comment, however, didn't sit too well with your best friend, as she threw a crumpled paper napkin at him.

When Zitao asked them what 'period' meant, the boys looked at each other, each one of them quite reluctant to be the person to translate it for the clueless Chinese boy. Noticing how the boys were struggling to reveal what a 'period' is, Yeonhee tried explaining it instead, causing Zitao to turn into a deep shade of crimson.

Yixing adjusted in his seat and scratched the back of his neck. "Remember what happened earlier? She snapped at me and that has never happened before!" he revealed, making the other boys even more curious. "I mean, she didn't yell, but she looked dead serious, it was really scary," he added, recalling that moment he accused you of spoiling Sehun.

"Bubble Tea ith alwayth angry," Sehun commented, fixing the California Angels baseball cap on his head.

"At you, perhaps. But not at us," Luhan returned, playfully hitting Sehun's head. "Is that why you two were signaling me to shut up earlier?" he suddenly asked, referring to Yixing and Joonmyun, who both nodded in response.

"Now I feel guilty for teasing her about Yunho hyung's missing signature," Kyungsoo admitted, which was followed by a series of 'Yeah, me too,' from his friends.

Jongin rested his elbows on the table and cupped his face with his hands. "I was actually a little worried when I didn't get a cheerful 'JONGIN CHINGU!' greeting from her when we arrived," he revealed, pouting his plump lips like a baby.

"But she looked okay when we first came, though," Jinho mentioned. "I mean, she seemed happy to see me and even asked about my debut," he recalled, his chin as if trying to comprehend why you acted that way.

"Jihye, what's bothering Jaemi?" Kevin asked, and for a moment there, your best friend almost gave in to his pleading - and not to mention gorgeous - eyes. Before Jihye could answer Kevin's question, though, Yeonhee immediately spoke up after exchanging a couple of knowing looks with Joonmyun.

"Like Joonmyun said, Jaemi was just having a bad day," she insisted. "If she doesn't wish to talk about it, then let's just respect that and not ask any further questions," Yeonhee suggested, looking at the boys one-by-one before giving out another advice.

"What you all need to do right now is apologize to her,"

While Yeonhee and Jihye are scolding the boys for playing such a serious prank on you, you tried tuning everything out by focusing your attention on the sinkers you were currently preparing. This day has been a little too much for you to handle, and busying yourself inside the kitchen is one of the most effective ways to help you clear your thoughts.

Am I angry?

As you wait for the water inside the bronze pot to boil, you couldn't help but think about it again. Of course, you were angry. Who wouldn't be? But the truth was, you were angrier at yourself for falling for that prank in the first place. It was embarrassing. After being friends with them for a while, you should have predicted that something like this would happen soon.

Am I hurt?<