"Thank you." Hyerin bowed ninety degrees to the school administrator, her new set of books held tightly against her chest.

The administrator smiled. "No problem, dear." 

 Hyerin gave one last wave before pushing the door open and stepping outside to head to her first period. It was a shame that she had to go through the trouble of buying new books. Yes, she could just look for her old ones, but she'd rather replace it than bother finding and dealing with the person who stole it.

As she made her way outside the office building, she looked up and saw Kyungsoo making his way to class as well.

With a sigh, she reluctantly approached him. It didn't feel right to leave last night with just that.

"D.O!"

Kyungsoo turned around, his dark, cunning eyes widening at the sight of the girl. He slowed in his footsteps and watched her run towards him.

"W-What?" he asked, his usual icy tone faltering.

Hyerin rubbed the back of her head. Here goes nothing. "I just wanted to thank you again for last night. You know, for saving me." She hugged her books against her chest and looked over her shoulder. "And also, about the other day-"

"No, that was my fault," Kyungsoo cut off. "The things I said that day about your mom and you trying to be in charge," he shook his head, scoffing at his idiocy, "that was just stupid of me. I shouldn't have said that."

"Oh." She continued to stare at Kyungsoo despite his discomfort.

 "And for that I–" He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, shifting from one foot to another before haughtily raising his chin and looking to the side. "And for that I-I'm sorry," he said,   coughing into his arm to hide his flustered face.

Seeing Kyungsoo - who was basically a big ball of unwavering ego - step down from his high horse to apologize was something Hyerin did not expect at all. Just a couple of weeks ago they were sworn enemies.

Hyerin suppressed a smile as she reached out to Kyungsoo's arm, squeezing it lightly. She didn't have to say anything to let the boy know how grateful she was. 

He was still looking away but eventually dropped his gaze to her hand, the contact giving him goosebumps.  He cleared his throat in surprise. "B-But that doesn't mean that we're just going to start being friends after this! We're just acquaintances. Comrades. Yeah, comrades," he stammered.

Hyerin could barely contain her laughter. "And why not friends?" she challenged.

"Because!" he lamely retorted.

"Because?"

"Because," he repeated, shrugging helplessly.

Hyerin shook her head good-naturedly. "Fine. Because."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Out of complete nowhere, Chanyeol appeared in between Kyungsoo and Hyerin. "What's going on here!?" he demanded.

"Well, me and D.O. are finally coming to terms," Hyerin said, smiling.

"About what?" the basketball captain questioned with unwary eyes.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. "None of your business." 

Chanyeol chose to ignore the comment and turned to Hyerin. "You said we we're going to walk to class together," he whined, bottom lip jutting out like how it usually did when he was upset. "I thought we were going to meet at the front gates?"

"," she sighed, rubbing her temples. "Sorry, Chanyeol. I was dealing with some stuff with the school administrator. I had to get myself some-"

"New books!" Xiumin finished for her as he and the other boys made their way towards them.

"Oh, geez." Hyerin put a palm to her face. The whole gang was here, which means she was definitely going to be late for class. Again.

"What are the new books for?" Kris asked, lightly flicking the items in her hands.

"I don't know, I just-" She irritably rubbed her arms, not in the mood to explain her situation. "I don't know. I just want new books, is that so bad?"

"Well someone's cranky today," Kai teased.

"Shut up," she mumbled.

"She's PMSing," Luhan remarked, sticking his tongue out at her.

"Aww, so it's her hormones acting up. Seriously, girls are freaking unpredictable," Tao said.

"Just because I'm irritable doesn't mean you can just assume I'm on my period!"

"It's okay, Hyerin. We perfectly understand," Suho said pityingly. 

"For the love of–ugh, whatever. I'm leaving. You're going to make me late to class," she said, turning around to leave. Seriously, if Lay didn't heal their battered asses last night they wouldn't even be able to open their mouths from the pain.

"Goodbye," she huffed, walking to the opposite direction.

"Bye, Hyerin!" Suho called out.

"Don't forget to meet me up for lunch, alright?"

"See you second period, Hyerin!"

"Don't trip and make a fool out of yourself."

"Your math homework is still in my bag, okay?"

"Take care, Hyerin!" the boys chorused, some of them waving their arms in the air cheerfully.

Hyerin - who was completely new to this - awkwardly waved back at them before walking ahead, not noticing a certain group of girls glaring at her a few feet away.

"Did you see that?" Suho chuckled, lowering his arm as Hyerin disappeared from their sight.

"You know what? She has her cute moments," Xiumin said, shrugging. "But that's only when she's not in her sociopath murderer mood, you know?"  

"What are you talking about? She's cute the way she is," Sehun chuckled, folding his arms.

"Don't tell me you guys like her or something...?" Chanyeol asked warily.

"Why? Even if we were what's it to you?" Kai challenged.

"Nothing!" he quickly retorted, face reddening.

"It's not like anything will happen if one of you guys like her or something." Chen shrugged. "She doesn't seem like the type to care about stuff like that."

"You're right about that."

"Yeah. She's what they call a strong, independent grown woman," Xiumin said in a sassy tone. "She's feisty."

"Well even if she is feisty, there's no denying the fact that she's still a girl and there are things that she just isn't capable of doing," Suho said, earning an exasperated look from Kyungsoo. "I'm making it a point to look out for her from now on. She's family now. At least to me."

"You mean we are going to make it a point to look out for her," Kai said, grinning. "I have a feeling she's worth keeping around."

"Nonsense," Kyungsoo disagreed. "She's capable of a lot of things. She's capable of anything if she tried hard enough. Her being a girl has nothing to do with that."

Suho nodded and raised his arms in the air out of defeat. "You're right. Good point."

"Since when did you start getting all defensive over her?" Kai teased, nudging Kyungsoo in the arm.

Kyungsoo raised his chin and scoffed. "I guess she's not bad. She's pretty cool. Just a little bit."

They all shared knowing smiles, silently agreeing with the boy.