The crisp autumn breeze hit Seulki’s face and she breathed it in with a smile on her lips. She readjusted the headphones in her ears and held her book tighter as she quickly crossed the street on her way home. Seulki loved being in college – no more math and a lot of reading – it was perfect. The song on her iPod changed and Seulki laughed as she belted out the words at the top of her lungs. “I wonder why each little bird has someone to sing to sw –”

“Seul-ki!”

She startled at the sound of her name being called and looked to her left as she took the headphones out of her ears. A familiar mop of bright red hair greeted her from the inside of a car before the voice did once more. “Seulki!” Seyong called out loudly again, “Do you want a ride?”

“No thank you,” she politely responded as the car slowed down to match her speed. She peered into the car to see who else Seulki probably had to deal with: Insoo and Hyuneun along with Gunwoo, Chaejin, and JunQ. Seulki’s heart pounded in her chest as soon as Insoo smiled at her.

Seyong looked hurt. “Wh-Why not?” he asked, leaning slightly out the window and pleading with his best puppy-dog eyes.

With a laugh, Seulki put her iPod back in her bag. “It’s simple,” she responded, “As soon as I step through the doors of the house, I’m automatically working. I just want to prolong my freedom for a little while longer. If I go with you guys, then I’m supposed to be working, which, as I implied before, I don’t really want to do.”

Chaejin pushed Seyong out of the way and poked his head out of the window and asked, “Can I walk with you then? I want to spend time with Noona!”

“If you really want to,” Seulki replied, slowing her pace down to a stop. The car stopped moving as well and the door flung open. Chaejin took his bag out of the car as he stepped out and closed the door with a grin as the two friends began their walk forward.

“Ouch!” Seyong yelled. The two of them looked back at the car to see Seyong climbing out of the car as well with his bag slung over his shoulder, holding his head in pain. “I was right behind you!” he yelled to the youngest boy.

Chaejin winced. “Sorry, hyung! I didn’t know you were there!”

Seyong smiled broadly. “It’s okay, I just want to walk with Seulki as well! I asked the others if they want to join us but they all said no. I guess they don’t love you as much as we do!” Seulki tried not to look disappointed at what the redhead had said. Insoo was one of ‘the others’ and it pained her to think that he liked Hyuneun more than her.

“That’s okay,” she declared as happily as she could, “let’s just walk. Besides, you could use the exercise, Seyong.” She playfully hit Seyong in the stomach and laughed.

Seyong frowned and brought his arm around Seulki’s shoulders, pulling her towards himself and rubbing his fist in her hair. “Do you want to say that again?” he laughed as Seulki tried to fix her hair. He let go of her head but still kept his arm around her shoulders.

After a few minutes of them talking about schoolwork, things began to quiet down a little and Seulki began to tense up. She was hoping that Seyong would distract her by his constant talking but, for some strange reason, he had run out of things to say. Recognizing where they were on the path home, Seulki slowly latched on to the sleeve of Seyong’s jacket.

Chaejin was the first one to notice that something strange was going on. “What’s wrong, Noona?” he asked, motioning to her hands latched to the elder boy.

“Sebastian,” Seulki simply stated.

“Who’s Sebastian?” the two boys asked simultaneously. Seulki didn’t respond with words. She merely pointed to a house down the street that they were gradually becoming closer to.

Chaejin and Seyong looked at each other with a confused look on their faces but didn’t say anything. As they made their way toward the house, Seulki started to hide behind Seyong even further. By then, Seulki was on the verge of hyperventilating and Chaejin was about to put his hand on her back when something caught his eye. “Hey look, a kitty!” he cheered, rushing over to the feline.

The cat purred and rubbed its body against Chaejin’s leg, begging for attention from the human boy. Seyong smiled and joined the younger and they both knelt down to play with the cat. Seulki remained standing at the other end of the sidewalk. After a few minutes of petting the cat, Chaejin picked it up. “Noona, do you want to see the cat?” he asked, slowly walking towards Seulki, motioning the cat towards her.

Seulki backed up and hissed at the cat. The cat, who the boys then realized was Sebastian stared at her and meowed gently. “Get that devil away from me!” Seulki yelled as Chaejin stepped nearer to her.

“He’s not a devil,” Seyong insisted, rubbing the cat behind the ears, “He’s a sweetheart!” Sebastian continued to purr then jumped out of Chaejin’s hands and towards Seulki. Seulki backed up as the cat walked towards her and Seyong could see the fear in her eyes and he felt bad for her. She then ran over behind Seyong and held onto the back of his jacket. Seyong looked over at Chaejin and said, “I think we should leave the cat alone now. We have to get back to Gunwoo and the others.”

Chaejin nodded but then chuckled. “Sebastian kind of looks like Gunwoo-hyung, doesn’t he? They both have really big, creepy eyes.”

“They’re definitely creepy,” Seulki responded with a laugh. Seyong smiled seeing Seulki laugh. He didn’t like it when she was scared. She wasn’t fun then. “But can we just go before he attacks us, please?” she then said.

Petting Sebastian one final time, the two boys waved goodbye to the cat and continued on their walk back to the mansion. After a few minutes of silence, Chaejin linked his arm around Seulki’s. “I’m sorry if I scared you earlier,” he said, “I didn’t know you were afraid of cats.”

Seulki smiled and ruffled Chaejin’s hair. “It’s okay,” she replied, “I didn’t expect you to know. I’d never told you after all. Besides, I can’t stay mad at my second favorite boy!” With that last comment, she ruffled his hair again and laughed out loud.

“Second favorite?” Seyong interjected, “Who’s your first favorite? It better be me!”

Seulki chuckled and then sighed loudly, “Sure Seyong. If it makes you feel better, you can be my first favorite.”

“Really?” the redhead asked, bouncing up and down. Seulki shrugged her shoulders. “Awesome! I can’t wait to brag to Insoo!” He cheered excitedly and began to run to the mansion that was now in sight.

With that, Seulki’s eyes widened. “Don’t you dare tell him!” she ordered as she and Chaejin ran after him.