Had it been that long since Jonghyun didn't attend school? The moment he stepped into the school building, all eyes were on him. He wished that the girls stared at him in awe and the guys shot him bitter looks, but everyone looked scared. There wasn't a single drop of warmth in their distant eyes, which stared aimlessly at the uncomfortable boy. Fortunately for him, Taemin offered to stay with him for the entire day, knowing what kind of treatment he was going to get.

"Hey," Jonghyun said, eating lunch with Taemin at the small cafeteria. Most of the students preferred to eat in the classroom, making the cafeteria nearly empty. This was nice for Jonghyun, who didn't want people to stare at him or gossip behind his back. "Where's Jieun? I haven't seen her at all."

"Uh, maybe calling her new boyfriend. I don't know. I never talked to her much. Plus, she seems to be doing fine on her own. After she learned how to talk, we kind of drifted apart and she began to socialize more with our classmates," Taemin explained, the ketchup off his thumb. "If I'm correct, she got over ten confessions the week she started talking, and more secret admirer letters afterwards."

Was Jieun that popular? He remembered how Taemin had said that she was a beauty. Though did being beautiful have to do anything with being popular among the peers?

"Yoona would've liked that life," he said with a small smile. Taemin stopped eating his sandwich and looked up. He gave the older man a hard gaze, as if that particular name was a forbidden word. Jonghyun pressed his lips together, then went back to gobbling down his rice. He stuffed his mouth with food in order to keep the tears from falling out of his eyes.

"You're still not over her?" Taemin asked with a sigh.

"Unfortunately," Jonghyun replied, sniffing.

"How long will it take for you to completely forget about her? I thought you were liking Jieun."

Jonghyun stopped eating, then laughed as he continued to chew. "She has a boyfriend. What can I do? I'm pathetic."

"No you aren't. You don't mean that."

"Yes I am. I lost my first love to a stupid jerk, and I lost Jieun to that same jerk." Silence filled the atmosphere. "Taemin?"

"Yes, Jonghyun?"

"Love really hurts," he whimpered quietly, gulping down the mouthful of rice.

Taemin broke into a soft smile. "I know, Jonghyun." He pulled out a small bag of chips. "Do you want my snack?"

The broken boy didn't hesitate and reached over for the junk food.

She laughed as her friends crowded around her, talking about love and how envious they were towards those who had a boyfriend. Although she laughed, the corner of her lips were slightly lower than where they usually would be if she let out a real laugh. Thinking how tiring it was to continue to smile and burst into laughter, she tried to suppress herself to a delightful giggle.

All she wanted to do was run out of the group and search for Jonghyun. She hadn't seen him in days since the moment he stepped back into the school. It was kind of funny how Luhan excused himself and sent her a text about how he would be busy, but that was perfectly fine with Jieun. She was just dying to meet Jonghyun as soon as possible, but her friends wouldn't even let her free.

"What's wrong, Jieun? Do you have an appointment with your boyfriend or something later this afternoon?"

"H-Huh?"

"You're checking your phone. What's up?"

Jieun looked down at her hands, which were playing with the large smartphone. Her cheeks flushed red, and she quickly slipped her phone back into her bag.

"Um, no. No, my boyfriend is busy this afternoon," she lied.

"Ah, it must be so nice for you to have a boyfriend! I want one, too!" complained Jiyeon. She sighed and looked down at her schedule book. "Well, I am busy with the piano concert that's coming up soon. I probably don't have time for a boyfriend."

"Someone introduce me to someone cute!" Bomi, one of the hopeless romantic of the group, pleaded.

"Someone cute? Isn't that Taemin guy in our class pretty cute?" Jiyeon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but he's too skinny. I want someone who's not skinnier than me. Plus, he hangs around with that depressing dude. I forgot his name... Jonghyun, right?"

"It's pretty much disappointing how he's here to stay while Luhan had to go. Ugh, I wish they just switched places! How nice would that be?" asked Minah. She shook her head, tossing her side-ponytail across her face and back. "Jonghyun doesn't beong here..."