"Do you smell that?"

"What?"

"Don't you smell it?"

"What are we smelling here?"

"I smell it, and it's called victory!" Yoseob exclaimed, clicking his tongue. The rest groaned, not liking how Yoseob was handling the situation. Three weeks ago, everyone had pitched in their time to help with the song. The most grumpiest person was Baekhyun, who struggled to find the perfect tunes for this particular contest. Fortunately, Daehyun was able to help him with the lyrics.

Tired and too exhausted to do anything. Baekhyun rubbed his eyes. "The good thing is that we actually got to finish the song. Now we have to find the sign up sheets around here..."

The band stopped when two girls suddenly approached them. The strangers smiled and bowed at them, and automatically the five-membered band greeted them back. The two girls looked rather young, and one of them looked even younger than Daehyun.

"Hello!" the girl with the soft eyes exclaimed. "My name is Naeun, and this is my friend, Eunji!"

"Nice to meet you!" Eunji replied. Hearing this name, Myungsoo glanced at Baekhyun. Baekhyun, confused, stared at Myungsoo for a second. Suddenly, Myungsoo pulled him back and leaned close besides his ear.

"Is that your secret 'laptop?'" Myungsoo asked. Baekhyun's ears turned red as he stared at Eunji, then at Jieun. He shoved him away and bit his tongue.

"N-No!" Baekhyun exclaimed. "I told you, it's a hidden name!"

"Yeah, sure," he replied, rolling his eyes. When Myungsoo's eyes fell down onto the girls, he noticed Naeun staring at him with puppy eyes. Feeling uncomfortable, he slightly hid behind Jieun.

"Oh yeah! Introductions," Yoseob exclaimed. "Um, I'm Yoseob. These two are our vocalists, Jieun and Daehyun. The guy who composed our song is Baekhyun, and the one behind Jieun is Myungsoo."

"Oh! So does that mean that you three aren't performing?" Eunji asked, surprised.

"Not exactly. Myungsoo is playing the guitars, and so is Baekhyun."

"What are you doing, then?"

"I'm going to play the drums."

Naeun slightly widened her eyes. "Wait, didn't you do piano and Baekhyun do the drums? I remember hearing you guys from the JYP concert."

"We switch positions occasionally," Jieun explained. "Today, Yoseob decided to do the drums."

"Can we hear a little of your song?" Eunji asked, interested. Naeun suddenly stepped up.

"Or," she began, emphasizing that particular word, "we go have some lunch with you guys. How about that? We'll show you where the sign up stand is, get you signed up, and head over to eat something!" Naeun smirked at Myungsoo. "And how about you sit next to me?"

She's totally flirting with him, everyone except for Myungsoo thought. Baekhyun, who saw this as a great opportunity to keep Myungsoo away from Jieun, pushed Myungsoo forward.

"Yes, please. Take him and bring him back when it's time for us to perform," Baekhyun said quickly.

"Oh, and since the oldest is going to sign up for the group," Eunji added, looking at Yoseob, "you should come with us!"

"And I want to talk to you about something, Blonde," Naeun chirped up, tugging on Daehyun's sleeves. The three boys widened their eyes, and reluctantly followed the two girls to sign up and eat. Baekhyun heaved a sigh, and pretended as if he was wiping his sweat.

"Thank goodness he's gone!" Baekhyun exclaimed, referring to Myungsoo. "Now, who's in the group so far..."

His heart skipped a beat when he realized that he was alone with Jieun.

While Eunji kept Yoseob and Myungsoo distracted with the forms they had to fill out, Naeun took the time to pull Daehyun away from the rest. At first, Daehyun was nervous over the thought of her being interested in him. His palms were sweaty, and he feared that she would be the same as Suzy. However, he found himself opening up to her a little more when she bought him a strawberry smoothie.

"So I heard that you sing?" Naeun started off, smiling at him. To this, Daehyun nodded in response. "That's amazing! You know, I don't sing much, but people tell me that I have a lovely image."

"Yeah, you do seem kind. I guess it's because of your eyes and the bright expression you pull off," he replied, sipping his cold drink.

"So if I had to pick one of your friends, would you allow me to date them?" she asked. This caught Daehyun off guard, and he choked on his drink. Naeun frowned, displeased with the reaction. "What's wrong? Am I not good enough?"

This girl is deceptive like Suzy, he thought. "A-Ah, no. Y-You're good. It's just that... It's not up to me to hook you up with one of my friends."

Oh, he's trying to run away from the conversation, Naeun realized, nodding her head a bit. "But if I helped you get along with the girl you like, would you help me?"

"You would never help me get hooked up with another girl. You don't even know her--"

"It's that girl who was with you earlier, right? What was her name... Jieun? Yes, I think it was Jieun. Anyways, you're heads-over-heels for her and it's written all over your face. As a matter of fact, it's hard to believe that she hasn't realized your love for her!" she cried out. Once again, Daehyun had to cough from being surprised. Once he stopped choking, he gulped nervously and felt his cheeks get hot.

"Y-You know?" he stuttered.

"Everyone knows," Naeun retorted. "Please, even I can tell, and I only sensed that you liked her on the photo you submitted to us."

"But it's hard to hide your feelings, especially if the person you love is standing right in front of you," Daehyun complained. He played with his straw and looked down at the ground. "Plus, I don't think I want her to know that I like her."

Naeun gasped. "What? Why not? Getting someone who will treasure you is such a wonderful feeling!"

"But I risk so many things if I say that I like her. My friendship between her might get awkward, and I might not be able to sing as well as before. I might develop the fear of falling in love if I get rejected! I think I'm going to be okay with her standing besides me."

Naeun studied him for a few minutes, then gave him a disgusted glare.

"What an idiot."

Daehyun looked up, surprised. "Excuse me?"

"You're an idiot," she repeated. "Here you are, lying to yourself about being friends is good enough, when actually you want to be more than that. Scared of getting rejected? Save it, buddy, I've heard several people like you use that kind of excuse. If you think about it, getting rejected will make things awkward, but who's fault is that going to be? You and the one whom you confessed to. Why? Because both of you aren't going to even try to fix your relationship and make things better. Honestly, a bond cannot be 'broken.' It can only be damaged, and that's the beauty of a relationship. It will never break, shatter, or dissolve, but will be bruised and beaten. The only way to cure this broken friendship is to take the first step and heal the wounds by starting from the beginning. The fact that you love or once loved that person cannot be erased from one's mind, but it can be embraced and respected."

The shy boy began to shuffle his feet side by side. "Y... You don't understand. It's hard--"

"And do you really think that you can hang onto her without getting a little overprotective?" Naeun asked, crossing her arms. "Must I remind you that there are three other extremely good-looking guys surrounding that one, gentle girl?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that even though one or two or maybe all three of the other guys don't show it, they may be in love with her. Has the thought of your friends having a crush on her never crossed your mind?" she questioned him.

Daehyun had to think about that question twice. He had never thought about either Baekhyun, Myungsoo, or Yoseob having a crush on Jieun. It seemed impossible, no? To him, it sounded to extreme, like a dream that couldn't be reached. However, when he thought about it, Jieun was beautiful. She was kind-hearted and had a soft personality. To him, she was the perfect girl in his eyes.

"One's perfection can be seen by at least two people," continued Naeun, turning around. "If you recognize it, then there's bound to be one more person who recognizes the purity of one's heart." She paused. "You know, I was going to help you out by hooking you up with her, but now that I see the whole story, I'd feel pathetic over helping you. So, despite the fact that you're now useless, I'm going to get myself hooked up with Myungsoo on my own."

Daehyun looked up with wide eyes. "Myungsoo? You're after Myungsoo? But he has no friend or any social life. He's lazy and stays home, and he always gets into an argument with the teacher or with Baekhyun."

"Like I said, 'One's perfection can be seen by at least two people.' It just happens to be that I'm one of those two people," Naeun replied. She skipped away to Myungsoo's side, flashing an attractive smile which failed to captivate his attention. Daehyun stood still with the half-finished smoothie in his hands. He blinked his eyes, then stared at Myungsoo and Yoseob, who were happily chatting away with the two other girls.

Those two? Liking Jieun?

Impossible... right?

"Perfect! That looks adorable on you! Wait, Baekhyun. Let me take a picture," Jieun cried out, rummaging through her bag to fish out her phone. Baekhyun's cheeks were still red, but not because he was wearing a cat-eared headband; it was because she had called him "adorable."

"D-Do I really have to do this?" Baekhyun asked, slightly cracking his voice. He flushed his cheeks in embarrassment as Jieun giggled. "I mean, shouldn't we go and find the others?"

"We will, but in a second! Smile!" she commanded. Baekhyun gave her a crooked look, and Jieun took a picture. When she glanced at the picture, she slightly frowned. "You didn't smile nice enough! Again!"

"No more," Baekhyun groaned, taking off the headband. "Can we go and do something else?"

Jieun frowned, then tapped her index finger against her cherry-red lips. Then, she gasped and clasped her hands together as if she got a brilliant idea. She rushed over besides Baekhyun, grabbed another pair of cat-eared headband, and forced Baekhyun to slip his on again.

"Let's take a picture together," she suggested. She held up two fingers and pressed them against her cheeks. She leaned close to Baekhyun until the temple of their heads touched. The sudden skin ship caused Baekhyun's heart to race.

"Last one?" he asked in a slightly pleading voice.

"Last one," Jieun promised. Baekhyun sighed, then stared at the camera on her phone. This time, he managed to smile fondly, and when Jieun took a picture, she was satisfied. "Beautiful! That's a much better photo."

Baekhyun managed to steal a glance. "That's a nice photo. Can you send it to me?"

"Definitely." After a few minutes, Baekhyun received the photo through his phone. He thanked her, and returned the headbands to their original booth. Jieun walked ahead, and when she realized that her friend did not follow, she turned around.

"Baekhyun? Are you okay?" Jieun asked. He was staring at his phone for quite a long time, and he couldn't get over how nice he looked next to Jieun. He quickly looked up, and gave Jieun a small grin.

"Yeah, I'm good. Hold up, let me just do something with my phone," he replied. After a few quick taps on the smartphone, he saved the picture of him and Jieun as his wallpaper. He brightened up, and shoved his phone in his pockets, treasuring the only photo that made him look like a couple with the girl he liked.

After thirty minutes of walking around, the two found the rest having lunch in a classroom. Myungsoo was preoccupied with his meal, while Yoseob and Daehyun managed to wave at them. Baekhyun took a seat across from Daehyun, and Jieun sat next to Yoesob.

"Are you hungry, Jieun?" Yoseob asked, reaching into the plastic bag. He pulled out a can of soda and two well-wrapped hotdogs. "Here. Baekhyun, want some, too? There's hot dog and bread."

"Uh, sure, I'll have the same thing as Jieun," he said. Daehyun looked up from his meal and examined Baekhyun. He watched the hotdog that was being passed to Jieun and Baekhyun.

Baekhyun got the same thing as Jieun. Does that mean he likes her? I can't tell. He was away with her for a few moments, though. Wait a minute, he even tried to push us away from Jieun, too. So does that mean he likes her? he wondered, his eyes glued on Baekhyun. Annoyed, Baekhyun looked up and glared at him.

"What do you want?" he snapped. Daehyun was about to say something until Naeun intercepted.

"I think Daehyun wants to talk about something. Maybe something about the one he likes?" she suggested, putting the spotlight on him. Daehyun felt his mouth go dry as the remainding boys displayed different reactions.

He's going to confess now? Myungsoo thought, raising an eyebrow.

Are you an idiot, Daehyun! We're going to perform, and you're going to confess! Confess after the performance! Jieun's going to get self-conscious! Yoseob screamed in his head, widening his eyes. Baekhyun was the only one who remained silent, too shocked to say or think of anything.

"U-U-Uh..."

"Finally! I can hear about his crush!" Jieun exclaimed, squealing. "So? Who's the lucky girl?"

Daehyun continued to blink his eyes. He tried to his lips, but Jieun's intense stare caused him to stay stunned. Naeun gave him an urging look, as if she wanted him to speed up his confession.

What do I say, what do I say, what do I say... Daehyun gulped nervously and stared down at his soup. "I-I-I--"

"Wait a minute!" Yoseob shouted, getting up. He grabbed Jieun's wrist and pulled her up. He was not going to let Daehyun mess up the performance with a little confession. "We're, uh, going to the... the... the stage room! Yeah, we're going to practice a little bit."

Jieun pouted. "Wait, do I have to go--"

"Yes, yes," he replied quickly. He dragged Jieun away from the room, letting Baekhyun cheer for him mentally. However, not everyone was happy. Naeun narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth, knowing that she lost the chance to liven up the mood to confess to Myungsoo. On the other hand, Daehyun had a completely different thought.

He likes Jieun, Daehyun thought. Yoseob likes Jieun.