Daehyun's POV~

There were only 3 months left until graduation and it felt like hell preparing for something they call life. Studies after studies, tests after tests. I swear, I was about ready to rip my hair out. 

"Daehyun, come to my office really quick," Mr. Chae said once school was done. I gathered my things and followed him to the his office as he took a seat by his desk. 

"What do you want?" I asked, impatient. He sighed and took off his glasses to rub his eyes. I could he was frustrated. 

"What are we going to do about your test scores? Exams are coming up and you haven't been progressing at all," he said. "I'm worried about you."

I didn't say anything and just shrugged. "And what do you want me to do about it? Studying isn't going to do me any good."

"At least get a tutor or something? Ask your friend Youngjae-"

"He's not a friend," I interrupted him. 

"But if you don't get help, then you'll have to repeat another term or possibly another year," he said, concerned. "Do you think your parents will be happy?"

I sighed and shifted my weight onto one leg. 

"Do you think my parent's happiness concerns me?" I asked with a smirk. 

"Then what about Hanbyul?" he asked. "I see the chemistry between you two. I've known you long enough to know that you wouldn't want to hurt her-"

"Don't bring her up in this conversation," I firmly said, feeling my body heat up with rage. How could he bring her up like that?

"Don't you want to graduate alongside with her?" he asked with a desperate look. I swallowed and started walking towards the door. "Please Dae, graduate on time. Get help."

I clenched my jaw and walked out of his office and to the school's front entrance when I saw Hanbyul leaning against the wall. She looked up at me and smiled. 

"Why are you here?" I asked, walking towards her. 

"I heard you went to Mr. Chae's office to talk, so I thought I'd wait for you," she answered. I felt my chest grow heavy. "What's you guys talk about?"

"Nothing in particular, just graduation," I said as we started walking out of the school and towards the bus stop. 

"Graduation?" she asked. "What about it?"

I couldn't say anything or quickly think of a lie. 

"Is it about you graduating on time?" she asked with a slight head tilt of curiosity. 

"You're so nosy," I mumbled and she grabbed my wrist with her tiny hand. 

"You're graduating on time, right?" she asked with a concerned frown. "Daehyun...?"

"We'll miss the bus if we don't keep walking," I said and walked off. We reached the bus stop in time and boarded in silence. I looked out the window knowing that a pair of eyes were staring at me. 

Even on the walk home wasn't any different. I sighed and stopped walking. I turned around and looked at her straight in the eyes. 

"Will me graduating on time make you happy?" I asked as the corners of her lips slightly raised up. "Don't just smile, say something."

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "I can't imagine graduating without you or anyone else."

I snickered and nodded my head. "Then I guess I'll just have to study extra hard from now on."

"Then let me help you," she grinned. "Oh~ Krystal and Sulli can help too since there are some areas that I'm weak at which they're strong at."

"Ugh, why must they be invited," I groaned. She giggled. 

"Like I said, there are certain topics that I wouldn't be able to help you with," she said. "Then tomorrow after school, we'll have a group study at your place~!"

"Why my place?!" I asked. She just smiled as we continued to walk home. Maybe Mr. Chae was right...I don't want to hurt Hanbyul. Or better, I wanted to graduate with her and make her happy because it would make me happy. 

The next day had come already and I could tell Hanbyul was pumped for the study group. She couldn't stop talking about it with Krystal and Sulli during our lunch period, but seeing her so excited was cute. I couldn't stop smiling. 

"Yah, Daehyun!" Mr. Chae called my name. My smile faded and I glared at him. "Can you run an errand for me and return these books to the school library?"

"The library? We have a library? Where?" I asked with a blank look. 

"Seriously, after attending this school for years you didn't even know we had a library?" he scoffed and placed the books on my desk. "It's on the other side of the building on the 1st floor. You wouldn't be able to miss it cause it says 'LIRBARY'."

I groaned and grabbed his books, walking out towards the door when I turned my head to Luhan's seat. Once again, he was absent. I sighed and walked out of the classroom and down the hallway. 

Honestly, I got lost at least 3 times in the same area just looking for this stupid library. After searching for 10 minutes, I finally found it and by that time class had already started. I wasn't in any rush to go back to the classroom though. 

I entered the library and handed the books to the librarian, who was half-awake. Although I pitied her, I also envied her; what an easy job that would be. To waste some time, I decided to give myself a tour of the library. There wasn't much to it, just books but my attention went onto something else, or should I say, to someone. 

"Youngjae?" I said to myself. He was hunched over a bunch of paperwork and surrounded my books; big books. I walked over to him and tapped his shoulder as he jumped, startled. He looked at me and gasped. 

"D-Daehyun-ssi," he said and bowed. I raised an eyebrow in confusion. 

"What's with the 'ssi' and 90 degree bow?" I scoffed. He blinked his eyes and rubbed his arms. 

"W-what are you doing here?" he asked. I shrugged and looked at what he was working on. 

"I just felt like giving myself a tour after running an errand for the old fart," I said, scanning his paperwork. He noticed and blocked my view. "What were you working on?"

"Nothing. Just some study guides for the upcoming exam," he said, embarrassed. 

"Oh, I see," I said and looked at him. "Shouldn't you be in class? You're not the type to skip."

"My studies are more important. Besides, what we're learning now is going to be important on the exam," he said with his head low. Silence had taken over. 

I scratched the back of my head with a sigh and took a seat. 

"You don't have to feel awkward around me," I said. "Just because you revealed your uality to me doesn't make you any different from who you were when we first met."

"I know," he quietly said. 

"Then why won't you look at me?" I asked trying to find his eyes. 

"I guess I'm still a bit intimidated by you after what happened," he said scratching his head. I sighed. 

"You know, I decided to let it go," I sincerely said. "I couldn't forgive you for what you did to Hanbyul, but then I realized that it wasn't my decision to forgive you, but Hanbyul's. She's already forgiven you."

I knew his chest was growing heavy as I saw him bite his bottom lip. 

"And for what you did to me, not Hanbyul, but to me...I forgive you," I said with a soft smile. "Honestly, I never hated you; I just strongly disliked you. But then I realized that I've hurt you more than you've hurt me. With my actions and my words, they've all hurt you. So it should be me asking for forgiveness from you. I'm sorry, Youngjae-ah."

I heard a sniffle and he looked up at me with tears rolling down. 

"I'm sorry," I repeated. "Because of me, you and I both lost a friend."

He was now sobbing and quite loudly too, but I knew no one was here to listen nor did the librarian care. I snickered and stood up to hug him. 

"I've forgiven you and apologized, so don't cry pabo," I said, rubbing his back to comfort him. 

After half an hour or so of staying with him in the library until he calmed down, I decided I return to class before Mr. Chae gave me cleaning duties. 

"You okay now?" I asked as he nodded. I smiled and patted his head. "Although it's going to be a slow progress, lets go back to how we were."

"Master and slave?" he sniffled. I chuckled and shook my head. 

"No, idiot. Go back as friends," I said. He smiled and nodded. "Well, I'm heading back. Don't skip class anymore."

He nodded and I started walking away, but stopped to turn to him. 

"After school, Hanbyul, Sulli, Krystal and I are having a group study. It'd be nice if you came and joined us," I said. "You remember where my place is right? We'll be having it at my place, so come if you have time cause I trust you more than those 3 blondes."

He snickered as I did too. 

"See you then," I said and walked away. I was out of the library and for some reason, I was able to breathe easily. I felt lighter than usual...I felt happy. 

Soon enough, school was over and the me and the 3 girls headed off to my place. I opened the door and they entered with wide eyes excluding Hanbyul. 

"I can't believe I'm stepping my foot in Jinhee and Heejung's house!" Krystal and Sulli exclaimed. 

"Get over it," I muttered and threw my bag on the floor. "Want anything to drink?"

"Milk~" Sulli chimed. 

"Just water for me," Krystal answered. 

"Orange juice~" Hanbyul smiled and so I went to the kitchen to get them their drinks. I walked out and saw that they were missing when I heard them laughing upstairs. I set the drinks on the table and ran upstairs to see them in my room. 

"Yah! My room is off limits!" I yelled at them, but the ignored me. 

"It's so neat," Sulli said amazed. 

"It doesn't have that disgusting boy smell," Krystal said. I rolled my eyes. 

"Again, off limits," I said. "Only Hanbyul is allowed in here."

"Daehyun!" she blushed with a pout. 

"Ouuu~ so the two have been alone a bunch of times I see," Krystal teased, making Hanbyul's face turn from pink to red. 

"As a matter of fact, she and I even slept on my be-"

"LET'S STUDY!" she shouted and pushed us all down the stairs. 

"You can't force me out of my room. I didn't do that to you when I was in your room," I said as she gave me a glare. 

"Lets. Stu. Dy," she firmly said and pulled out her textbooks and notebook. 

"Aigoo~ she's too cute," Sulli giggled and we all took our materials out. 

5 minutes of reading over notes, the doorbell rang. I got up and opened the door to see a shy Youngjae. 

"Glad you could make it. We pretty much just started," I smiled and let him in. "Hey, Youngjae's joining us!"

Hanbyul's face lit up when she saw him. 

"It's great to have you join us," she grinned. 

"Looks like you guys are on good terms," Krystal smiled. 

"What a relief," Sulli added. Youngjae blushed a bit and just stood there. 

"We'll don't just stand there. Sit with us," I said and led him to in between Hanbyul and I. "We can officially start now."

I honestly never thought I would enjoy a group study as much as I did today. It wasn't because it was Hanbyul's idea or because she was here; it was the fact that everyone I was close to was here. Youngjae, Krystal, Sulli and Hanbyul were all here to help me. I just wondered what it would've been like if Luhan had joined us too. If we were able to help him....

We studied 'till 9 PM with a few breaks in between. All our eyes were drying up and our hands were cramping up, so we decided to stop for the night. 

"Since I don't live too far, I can have my mom drop you guys off at home," Hanbyul suggested. 

"I've already texted my dad, he'll be picking me and Sulli up," Krystal said, stuffing her materials in her bag. 

"What about you, Youngjae?" Hanbyul asked. 

"Oh, I'll just walk home," he smiled. 

"You shouldn't walk home. It's dark and you live on the opposite side," I said, but he shook his saying saying he was fine. "I'll walk with you then."

"It's okay. I'll be fine alone," he said and grabbed his stuff to leave, but Krystal stopped him. 

"We can send you home," she suggested. "It is pretty late and who knows what's out there that can hurt you whether you're a girl or a boy. I'm sure my dad wouldn't mind dropping you off anyways, so wait with us and we'll take you home. Got it?"

I could tell he was moved almost to tears. He nodded and we decided to watch a movie while we wait for Krystal's dad since he was going to be late due to last minute meeting. 

40 minutes to the movie, Krystal's dad came. I walked them out of the house with Hanbyul. 

"Thanks for the fun~" Sulli waved before entering the car. 

"See you guys tomorrow at school," Krystal smiled and Youngjae, being himself, smiled and waved goodbye before entering the car. Hanbyul and I waved back and the car drove off.

"Well, I guess I gotta go home too," she said. 

"Not tonight," I smirked as she looked at me confused. I pulled out my phone and showed her the text I received from Yongguk. 

Yongguk hyung:
Since the group study is going longer than we expected, Hanbyul's parents have decided to let her sleep over since they don't want to stay up too late waiting because they have to wake up early tomorrow for work. We put Hanbyul in your care~! <3 If anything does happen, call me. 

"You're kidding me," she groaned and looked at me. I grinned and grabbed her hand, dragging her inside my house. She didn't necessarily resist, she just gave up. Of course nothing happened though. She slept in my bed and refused to have me sleep next to her, so I slept on the floor. 

"I don't see what's wrong with sleeping on the same bed. It's not the fir-"

"Shut up and go to sleep, Daehyun."