Humiliation.  Humiliation Nation.  What the heck, how could you let that happen? How did it happen really? Why were you so flustered? So weird.  That was so—

“Aeri!”

You jump on your seat and look right towards the hushed exclamation someone threw at you.

“Hello, Kai,” You smile at him.

“I’m not saying hello.  You’re muttering to yourself,” He frowns and shakes his head.

“Really,” You clear your throat.

“You—“

“Aeri-ssi, would you care to show me the work you’ve done on your notebook?” The teacher raises her voice, bitterly smiling at you.

“I, uh,” You lower your head and realize that you haven’t even taken out your notebook yet.  “I, erm,” You dig around in your bag, looking for your notebook.

Which isn’t there.

“Ma’am, I’m—“

“Excuse me,” A voice from the door says.  You look towards it and swallowed the lump in your throat when you see that it is Lay.  “I’m here to return Aeri-ssi’s notebook?” He lifts your notebook up, showing it to you with a smile on his face.

“Aeri-ssi, get your notebook,” The teacher sighs and gestures for you to stand up.

You walk towards the door and take the book politely from Lay.  “Erm, thank you? I guess,” You refuse to meet his eyes. 

Before turning back though, he gently sets his hand on your shoulder and whispers at your ear, “The answer’s C,”

You look up in surprise and regret you did it.  He winks playfully at you and bows at the teacher before closing the door at your face; your flustered, surprised, blushing face.  Darn, that guy’s attractive, alright.

“Well? What are you waiting for, Aeri-ssi? For class to end? Get back to your seat!” The teacher says. 

“Yes, ma’am,” You answer, your thoughts deciding to go for it anyway.  “The answer is C, by the way, ma’am,”

A murmur of surprise rippled through the class. 

“That’s correct,” She frowns in confusion and writes an extra point beside your name on her table.

“Yah, Jung Aeri,” Kai chuckles in amusement.  “You’re gonna fall behind Lay if you space out again,”

Attractive and smart.

The lunch bell rings and you tuck your stuff in your bag.  Kai waits for you as he always does and the two of you make your way towards the usual spot.  Kyungsoo, who was waiting by the back door trots after you, handing you both your favorite drinks.  “You guys know that this is Friday, don’t you?”

“We do,” You and Kai answer in unison, sipping on your drinks.

“What about a night out?” Lay joins in, already sitting on the spot.

You choke in surprise and cough aloud, Kai having to rub circles in your back to stop you.  “What’s wrong with you, Aeri?”

“Lay, really now.  You should really stop popping up in places,” You grumble, sitting cross-legged on the ground.

“Whoa, you two know each other already?” Kyungsoo asks in surprise.

“My question exactly,” Kai laughs.

“We do,” Lay  chuckles.  “But not formally,” He sits straight and bows in his seat.  “Lay, nice to meet you,”

“Jung Aeri, the girl who dropped a book on your foot this morning, nice to meet you,” You sigh as you hear the three of them laugh.  “You’d think a girl would be elegant but nope, not me,” You mutter.

“Anyways, back to topic,” Kai finished laughing at your sentence.  “Night out?”

“Sure,” Lay and Kyungsoo answers, looking at you for another.

“What?” You draw back a little.

“Well? Night out?” Kyungsoo pushes.

“Me?”

“You,” The three of them says.

“Well, alright,” You grin at their uproarious clapping.

You walk home, the three boys taking you there because they’re not bothering to change their clothes before going out.

“Are you sure it’s okay for us to come in?” Kyungsoo asks, stopping by your door.

“It’s fine,” You chuckle.  “I live by myself,”

“Oh, where are your parents?” Kai asks too after muttering an ‘I’m coming in’ as he steps into the apartment.

You smile and shake your head when you see Kyungsoo nudging Kai with his elbow.  “It’s okay.  They died when I was a little girl in a car accident,”

“I’m sorry,” Kai says, lowering his head.

“It’s fine, it’s fine!” You pat his shoulder, meeting his eyes with a grin.

“Aeri,” Lay says from your kitchen, looking up from your refrigerator.  “Sorry, can I call you that?”

“Call me what you like,” You shrug.  “Yes?”

“You have a lot of food in here,” He whistles, impressed.  “What do you say we stay in here instead and have Kyungsoo cook for us?”

“Hey, it’s better than spending any money,” Kai nods in agreement.

“Hey, this is my house,” You laugh.  “But okay.  Just don’t break anything and don’t come in, because I’m going to bathe, and change,”

“Yes, ma’am,” The three choruses in unison, giddily peering into your fridge.

You chuckle, making your way into your room.

“Aeri! We’re gonna cook, okay!” You hear Kyungsoo shout.

“Make something good! I’m looking forward to it!” You shout back through the door, taking out your clothes.

As you bathe, you think to yourself.  How is it that you’re a new student at school and just like that, the three comes to you so quickly? Will they be doing it if it were another student? They’re in your house, for God’s sake.  Three (gorgeous) guys, cooking, for you (and themselves), in your kitchen.

Is it just plain, weird, coincidence or is it what you call fate?

Pulling your light blue sweater through your head, you put your arms into the sleeves and roll them up onto your elbow.  You take out your comortable, cotton khaki pants that fell to your knees.  Grabbing a hairband, you walk out of the room while tying your hair up into a ponytail.

And your house smelt good.

“What’s cooking?” You grin excitedly, sitting on the island table set right in front of the stove.

“For you, ma’am, pasta,” Kyungsoo smiles attractively, setting the plate of aglio olio in front of you.

You look left to see Lay slipping into the seat beside you.  “I didn’t make that,” He says playfully.  “Neither did Kai,”

“Yep,” Kai, as if on cue, takes the seat across from yours.

“Oh, shut up,” Kyungsoo sets another two plates in front of Lay and Kai.  “You guys helped,”

“Yeah, we supervised,” Lay jokes quietly, making you and Kai laugh.

The three of you wait for Kyungsoo, who was moving the dirty cooking utensils into the sink to wash later.  He brings his own plate and  sits beside Kai.

“Man, you can cook,” You compliment, tasting the dish. 

“Why, thank you,” Kyungsoo grins.

The chatter decreases as the four of you dig in, focusing on filling up your tummies.  As the plate empties one by one, you stand up and walk towards the overhead cupboard to take four glasses to get the boys their drinks.

“Do you guys want water or juice or milk?” You ask, standing on tiptoes as you reach out in effort to grab the glasses.

“Water is fine,”

You freeze as you see someone else’s hand reach out to help you, taking the four glasses and setting them down.  Your back meets his chest and you feel him step back, allowing you to turn at your heel and face him.

“Thanks, Lay,” You quietly mutter, pushing down the blood rushing to your face. 

Stop acting like a girl that’s mad in love, Aeri.  Stop.

“No problem,” He smiles back. 

He helps you bring the drinks onto the table and slips again into the seat beside you, his elbow brushing yours.  It sent a little jolt up your spine and once again you have to wrestle down your heart rate.

“It’s late,” Kai says, glancing at the clock after helping out with the dishes.

“You guys have to go, don’t you,” You state, sighing with slight disappointment.

“Aw,” Kyungsoo puts his arm around your shoulders, bonking his head with yours softly.  “We’ll see each other again on Monday,”

“Mm,” You breathe out.

Kai pokes your forehead with his finger and grins.  “We can still meet up on the weekends,”

“Yeah,” You swat at his hand and stick your tongue out at him. 

Walking out the door, you watch their backs and lean on the door frame as you watch them walk down the corridor and disappear as they turn. 

“Bye guys,” You mutter to yourself.  At least it was a nicely spent day.

You were about to close the door when you hear footsteps coming closer.

You squint at the corridor and see a familiar figure running towards your door.

Surprised, you gasp.  “Lay? What is it?”

He puts his hands on his knees and takes his time to catch his breath, then, as he wipes the sweat off of his brow, he hands you a piece of paper.

“That’s my number.  It’s okay to call if you, err, need anything, I think,” He frowns to himself and walks away like that, scratching the back of his head as if he just said the most outrageous thing in the world.

Outrageous, but you like it.

You smile at the piece of paper and take out your phone, recording the number under the name Lay.

Just Lay.

Your smile disappears though, as you remember that you’re not Yoon Jihye.  You’re Jung Aeri.  You’re not the person he’s in love with.  Even if he’s in love with the you right now, that would also hurt.  You two are the same person.  Complications like these come with unexplainable pain.

The promise you made to your mother pushes its way into your consciousness.  The reason you were given this chance, these new days to live again, although as another person. 

You have to focus.

It’s going to hurt, but you have to.

And there it goes, another day spent, another circle gone.