I arrived at school more happier than usual. I was skipping slightly in my steps, sighing dreamily as I recalled the touch the boy had imprinted onto my wrist when he pulled me, struggling to keep the excited giggle from involuntarily escaping me. He was just so dreamy that I doubted any girl wouldn’t have been charmed by him. I began to wonder about his name, the whereabouts of his home and the name of the school he attended. I replayed the moment once again in my head, and recalled that he wasn’t wearing a school uniform. Perhaps he was a student from one of the nearby universities.

I was so busy pondering over my thoughts and reliving my moment with the mysterious boy that I was completely taken by surprise when I found myself running into a pole. I blinked, faintly recalling that poles weren’t known to be quite so soft, and looked up to meet the eyes of dark-haired boy whom I knew all too well.

“I’d ask you if you’re alright, but it’s obvious that you aren’t,” Yixing said as I took a step back, grumbling at him.

“What do you want, Yixing?” I asked, a little bit unhappy that I was torn from my fantasies in manner as harsh as this.

“A hello would be nice,” Yixing replied airily, “considering that I haven’t seen you for a good portion of the holidays.”

I sighed. He was right; he deserved a warmer greeting than what I had irascibly offered. I reached out and gave him a quick hug, breathing in the scent of fresh pine that always lingered on his clothes.

“That’s better. Now how were your holidays?” Yixing asked as we proceeded inside the school gates, dodging people as they dashed towards their friends and lovers with open arms to give and receive hugs.  

“Boring,” I said, grumbling slightly. “Why do both of you have to choose this year to go on vacation to a foreign country?”

“I would hardly call it a vacation,” Yixing said as we arrived at the stone bench below a large tree. Crisp brown leaves littered the top of the stone tabletop, and Yixing and I reached out to brush them away before we settled onto the benches. Above us, leaves rustled, toyed and teased by the wind that swept past us. “I had to help grandma man her shop for the whole month.”

“You love your grandmother, don’t you? Why don’t you just consider it as extra grandma-grandson bonding time?”

Yixing scowled. “As much as I love her, I would prefer our bonding times to be in the form of walks or conversations over the dinner table, not her screaming out orders to me from the front of the shop while I run around like a headless chicken trying to find the things she wants.”

I chuckled. “No wonder you look thinner.”

“Oh joy,” Yixing said sarcastically. “A lot of good that does.”

“At least you’ll have better stamina during basketball practice.”

Yixing snorted. “Unless you’re Tao, no amount of physical stamina will ever get you through with Kris.”

I sighed, knowing that I couldn’t win. Yixing, although he constantly complained about the tyrannous captain of the school’s basketball team, was still loyal and devoted to the team. I knew from Yixing’s multiple accounts that Kris was strict with his training; he kept his team in tip-top shape, settling for no nonsense and taking no excuses from the boys unless it involved the direst of situations. It was a good thing I supposed, for managing a team full of rambunctious boys was definitely going to require some steely determination to kick them all in line.

 I was about to open my mouth and offer some of my sympathy when a pair of thin, slender hands suddenly s onto Yixing’s face and delicately covered his eyes.  A girl with rich auburn hair spilling down her shoulders bent her head so that her lips were just inches from his ear, flashing a quick wink at me as she said, “Guess who.”

I saw Yixing freeze before his face scrunched into an irritated scowl. He pulled the hands away and rolled his eyes. “Who else?”

Hyunji laughed and slipped onto the bench next to him, bumping his shoulder with hers before looking up and grinning at me. I returned her grin, the air between us crackling with barely concealed excitement.

“Here we go...” Yixing muttered, jamming his index fingers into both his ears just as we unleashed our screams and reached out to clasp each other’s hands tightly after finally being reunited.

“I missed you so much!” Hyunji gushed, her hands, despite being petite, keeping a tight grip over mine.

“I missed you too. How was Paris?” I said, leaning forwards as if we were about to share some juicy gossip carefully plucked from the school’s rumour mill.

Hyunji sighed dreamily. “Beautiful.”

I eyed her teasingly. “Are you talking about the scenery or the boys?”

“The scenery of course!” she said indignantly. “Although I do admit that the boys definitely improved them.”

We burst into a round of giggles. Even Yixing managed to crack a smile, his eyes lingering on Hyunji for a while before the tenderness of his gaze dissolved into the usual shimmering glint that always accompanied his sarcastic remarks. “At least one of us had fun.”

Hyunji fluttered her eyelashes playfully at him. “Missed me that much, Yixing?”

Yixing scoffed. “No.” His eyes though, said otherwise.

Hyunji laughed, finding amusement in Yixing’s uptight, serious behaviour before rummaging in her bag and producing two velvet boxes in red and blue. She slid the red to me and handed the blue to Yixing. “Gifts,” she sang. “Go on, open it.”

I lifted the lid off mine and gasped at the beautiful silver bracelet strapped over the small velvet pillow. Hanging from the thin chain was a small charm in the shape of a dice, its six faces embedded with clear stones that marked each number.

“It’s beautiful,” I said, lifting it up and admiring it as it caught the light.

“Isn’t it?” Hyunji asked, holding up her hand to show the same bracelet clasped around her wrist. “Friendship bracelets,” she explained. “Something to remember me by when we’ve all grown old.”

I laughed, gently lifting it up and encircling it around my wrist. I watched as Yixing slowly open his gift, his eyes softening as he carefully lifted out a small hexagonal pin from the cushion.

“I know you’re too manly to wear friendship bracelets,” Hyunji said as Yixing inspected the pin. “So I bought that for you. Mind you, it might look cheap, but it wiped out quite a lot from my wallet. So you better keep it.” She playfully gave him a warning glare.

The tiny smile that had formed on Yixing’s lips spread into a larger one that showed his dimples and crinkled his eyes. It was one of his rare, genuine smiles –tender, soft and adoring. A smile he reserved specifically for Hyunji.

“Of course I would.”

Hyunji blinked and her cheeks pinked slightly. She quickly busied herself by taking the box from Yixing, fumbling with the small velvet cushion to lift it up. Once her fingers gained purchase on the slippery material, she showed Yixing the silver chain coiled in the base of the box where the cushion once was.

“It’s both a pin and a necklace,” she said, stuffing the cushion back in. “Wear it however you like.”

The bell rang before Yixing could respond and Hyunji jumped out of her seat. “Well, come on you guys!” she said enthusiastically. “Class is starting.”

Yixing and I stood and lifted our bags over our shoulders, letting her link her arms around ours and tow us towards the school –towards the start of our new semester.

The start of the first day of school meant that the usual hallway racket was more cacophonous than usual. Greetings and wishes filled the entrance hall, interspersed with screams of excitement and sounds of hearty claps on the back. Those who were here last year gravitated easily amongst each other, finding friends and classmates in the throngs milling about the corners. The freshmen, meanwhile, walked around hesitantly, taking in everything with timid fear and overwhelming admiration.

Yixing, Hyunji and I had to plough our way through the crowd, pausing occasionally to return greetings thrown at us from old classmates. While Hyunji was happy to exchange pleasantries, I could see that Yixing was annoyed and bothered; he loathed thick crowds and rushing people. I could see him craning his neck around, trying to find an escape route that he could tow us through.

“You’d think that they haven’t seen each other for ten years by the way these people are acting,” he said with a roll of his eyes, keeping his voice low so that I was the only one who could hear him.

“It doesn’t hurt, Yixing, to loosen yourself up and join in the fun,” I pointed out to him.

He snorted. “I’d sooner come to school in dressed in a unicorn suit than jump and scream –“

“Yixing!” The caller clapped his hand onto Yixing’s shoulder, making him jump and curse under his breath as he massaged his heart.

“Gosh, Tao. Don’t do that,” he hissed in between his teeth, whirling around to face the dark-haired boy with shimmering onyx eyes.

“You’re supposed to say, ‘Great to see you too, Tao,’” Tao supplied with an innocent smile –one that he knew would drive Yixing up the wall.

“Yeah, well it’s not so great when you’ve dislocated my shoulder,” Yixing snapped, massaging on the sore spot.

“Still with Lord Grumpus I see,” a familiar voice said to me.

Chanyeol flashed toothy grin when I looked up, his eyes twinkling at the mirth of his joke. His previously fiery orange hair had been dyed into a rich, dark chocolate brown, carefully combed over his eyes in a look of puerile innocence. He had gotten taller over the course of the holidays, easily towering Yixing and I by about a few good inches.

“I tried to but there’s no escaping him,” I said with a mock sigh, biting back a laugh when Yixing narrowed his eyes at me.

“Geez, what happened to all those nine years of pure and loyal friendship?” he said sarcastically.

Chanyeol laughed, reaching over to sling an arm around Yixing’s neck and ruffle his hair. “Ease up, I’m pretty sure she’s joking. You have some pretty loyal girls backing you up,” he craned his neck towards Tao and pretended to stage-whisper to him. “God knows why though. It’s a wonder how he manages to rope two such pretty girls into his clutches while I have to struggle to just have one look at me.”

I cracked a smile when Chanyeol winked at me.

“Maybe it’s because your charms are pretty much nonexistent,” Yixing commented dryly.

Chanyeol frowned while Tao snickered. “At least I’m not lacking in height department.”

Yixing rolled his eyes, trying to push Chanyeol’s heavy arms off his shoulders. “Hands off, you annoying giant. I’m not your arm rest.”

Chanyeol laughed, ruffling Yixing’s hair one last time before dropping his arm back to his side.

I laughed and cocked my head. “If he’s the giant, then what does that make Kris?”

“An oversized, fire-breathing dragon,” Tao sniggered. “OW!” he exclaimed when a book smacked him on the back of his head.

“It’s not nice to call people names,” Kris said calmly, dusting the cover of his book.

If Chanyeol was tall, then Kris was a skyscraper. Standing a good a few inches above everyone else, he towered easily above the crowd, his glittering golden hair recognisable even from a distance. If I would describe Kris, I would say that he was stoic, with an expression that was permanently schooled into a look of perpetual, uncaring annoyance. The rare times when he smiled though revealed a whole different persona, where kindness showed in his eyes and softness eased his features.

Tao was mumbling something under his breath, choice words that sounded like the Chinese translation of Korean curses. Kris frowned at him and he quickly snapped his mouth shut.

“Morning, Captain,” Chanyeol greeted him, enthusiastic as always.

Kris nodded, casting Chanyeol and Yixing a cursory glance before properly extending a greeting to me. “Hey, Aeri.”

“Morning,” I cheerily replied. While everybody might refer to Kris as the epitome of intimidation, I was hardly affected by him. If anything, I was partly grateful that he could exact revenges on my behalf when I became particularly annoyed with Yixing’s snide –even though he was unaware that he was doing it.

“Hi Kris,” another voice chimed in. Hyunji popped up beside me, having hastily halted her conversation with a passing classmate to intervene in this perfect moment. Her smile was bright as she gazed at Kris, her eyes barely concealing the look of fawning idolatry.

Kris smiled briefly at her before turning to s. “Practice today after school.”

Groans echoed through the room as their shoulders slumped.

“Really, Kris?” Chanyeol whined. “But it’s the first day of school.”

“All the more reason to whip you people back into shape,” Kris retorted. “Three o’clock sharp. An extra twenty push-ups if you’re late.”

He whirled around in his heels and left, leaving behind three disconsolate boys grumbling at his back.

Hyunji squealed into my ear. “Wasn’t that hot? I love it when he acts as boss.”

I sighed, shaking my head in resigned agreement. Hyunji’s crush on Kris was a hopeless case, with Hyunji worshipping the ground that he walked on and him barely aware of it. I knew I wasn’t in the place to urge or discourage her, considering Yixing’s feelings for her.

The bell echoed throughout the main hall.

“Class,” Chanyeol groaned. Tao smiled and looped an arm around his neck, tugging him away into the crowd and waving goodbye at us.

I smiled, returning his friendly wave, when something caught my eye. A flash of red fabric, obvious amidst the sea of whites and browns. I blinked, and peered at the spot again. This time, I caught a glimpse of a face; the face that I yearned to see ever since he mysteriously disappeared, the face that had somehow burned itself into the backs of my eyelids despite the short length of time I’d known him for. A flash of that smile, and I was sure that it was him.

“Hey guys, I’ll catch up with you later,” I said, ignoring Hyunji’s calls and slipping into the crowd. I had to go to the spot where I saw him; I had to know it really was him.

Going against the current was hard; the surge of students pushed me back and made me lose my bearings. Scowls and angered shouts trailed me as I roughly pushed past other people, barely registering in my head as hard and solid resolution settled inside me like a hard stone. I had to get there; I had to see him again.

The strong current had ebbed into a thin stream; students left behind were now ambling into class, not the least bit bothered that they were going to be late. I paused in my step, craning my head vainly as I tried to catch a glimpse of that red shirt again. I averted my gaze to the crowd surging down the hallway and looked for him there, but to no avail. My shoulders slumped and I sighed.

It was just a dream, I thought, a trick of the eye.

Dejectedly, I headed off to class.