It had been some months since they broke up but to Taecyeon, it somehow felt like years he had been separated from Yubin. Could it be the alcohol playing tricks on him? Or was it only normal that one would really start missing your lover only when you broke up for real? He guessed it was normal since it was a 7-year-long relationship, He had been immersing himself into work so much lately that he was confident he wouldn’t be missing her that much but this night of drinking session arranged by Seulong just took work off his mind and that whole lot of whiskey probably caused him to start missing his ex a little too much. In the past, Yub would sometimes join them for drinks at the usual high-end bars they would frequent but now it was pointless asking her to join because she would reject especially if he was going to be around. It seemed she was really bent on giving him lots of space and therefore avoiding him at all costs. Why couldn’t they still hang out as friends? He picked up his phone and stared at it, contemplating whether to call or to text her.

He knew he had to be fair to her as well because he was far from a boyfriend to her due to his overwhelming work load so the break-up was only imminent. Why couldn’t she understand that?  He wondered why Yub could be so cold to him. He remembered this was how she treated him before they fell in love. She was back to that old Yub. That cool popular chick in school who always looked at him like he was some kind of loser. But he was no loser now. He is earning millions now!     

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Flashback 2006 : Back to the days when we were young and wild and free..

“Wake up, babe!” Gina shook Yubin’s shoulder to wake her up from her sleep. “Remember we have a date with the boys?”

Yubin realized she had fallen asleep on her laptop. She was working on that boring history assignment which was a week overdue. 

“What date?” Yubin checked the time to see that it was midnight.

“We are supposed to sneak into the boys’ dorm for drinks after lights out? Remember?” Gina reminded Yubin.

Yubin recalled the challenge Jay offered to her and Gina a few days ago and the adventurous girls decided to take him up on the challenge. The girls were going to break 3 school rules for this challenge.

Rule no.1 – Sneaking out of their dorm after lights out.

Rule no.2 – Sneaking into the boys’ dorm.

Rule no.3 – Drinking alcohol.

The reward for completing this challenge was of course the free flow of alcohol provided by Jay at his dorm.

This was way more fun than finishing up that boring assignment so Yubin gave Gina 2 thumbs up that she was all ready for the challenge.

To break rule no.1, the girls had to sneak out of their dorm through their window since their dorm was fortunately situated on the ground floor. Min who did not live in the school dorms was to meet the girls at the back gate of the boys’ dorm where Khun would help the girls sneak in.

Therefore, challenge for rule no.2 was made easier thanks to Khun. The girls then had their hair tied up and wore baggy clothes and hoodies to disguise themselves as boys so they managed to get to Jay’s dorm by 1.

“Awesome, girls!” Jay applauded his homegirls welcoming them to the dorm he shared with Taec, Khun and another guy named Junsu.

“And as promised…” Jay opened up a huge ice box to show a whole load of CASS beer. “Your reward, girls..”

The group sat in a circle as they drank their load. Beer wasn’t Yubin’s favorite drink when she first tasted it at a party a year or so back in San Jose but in Korea, everyone seemed to drink mostly sojus or beers and they start drinking right away when they hit at that legal age. It was like a MUST to drink so she had somehow began to like the taste of beer by now.

“C’mon Yubin, drink more. This is also a celebration for your class president role!” Khun encouraged and Yubin sighed out loud remembering her new role.

“I think I’m the first class president to ever break 3 major school rules right after landing the title. Haha!” Yubin raised her can of beer for a toast.

“To the coolest Class President, Kim Yubin!” Jay cheered along with the rest of the gang.

As she drank more, she felt her head lighter and they all starting chatting and telling jokes. She found Junsu a really funny guy and he even would speak satoori with Yubin.

“How come I don’t see you hanging out with your dorm-mates in school?” She asked Junsu.

“Ahh.. I don’t speak no English. They annoy the hell out of me whenever they break into English.” Junsu was not shy of telling the truth. “So I always hang out with the other boys next door.”

“He’s full of crap. Don’t listen to him.” Jay added as he playfully arm-locked Junsu by the neck and ruffled his hair. “He’s the one who always disappears from the dorm and not because he’s hanging out with the boys next door but he’s probably hanging out with some girl out there.”

The room was filled with laughter but they were still slightly sober enough to keep their voices down. Yubin also realized Taec was suddenly missing. She did not exchange many words with Taec earlier and then he was busy drinking and trolling with the boys. She somehow was curious where he was now and went to one of the bedrooms to check if this loser had given up on the alcohol intake already. She did find him in his room but he was not asleep. Instead he was DOING HOMEWORK??

She watched from his back as he was typing in Korean doing the latest history assignment on his laptop, not the over-due one she was working on back at her dorm but the new one. She also realized that some of the Korean words he was using were quite deep. She knew he was smart because, well, he looked like a nerd anyway but she always thought he was only smart in the English language.

“Hey, what are you doing in the middle of a party?” Yubin decided to make her presence known.

Taec turned around and blinked in surprise at her. Wow, Yubin was making conversations with him?

“Ermm. It’s homework due on Monday so I better rush it out now.” Taec admitted.

“I have not even finished last week’s assignment….” Yubin revealed.

“What? Why?” Taec asked. “Do you need help?”

Yubin shook her head. “That’s not the point! The point is why are you such an anti-? Why are you doing homework in the middle of a party and even handing up assignments on time?!”

Taec kept quiet as he started to gasp that Yubin was probably telling him off for losing cool points. Yubin looked at the tall nerd in front of her, except that he did not have his glasses on this time and she actually realized he was rather handsome all of a sudden.

“Why aren’t you wearing your glasses?” she asked him.

“I stopped wearing them for a few days already. Jay told me to get contact lenses.” He informed her and was a little disappointed she realized only now he was not wearing glasses. She seemed unresponsive and he wondered if Yubin was drunk already. “Are you ok?” he asked.

Yubin shook herself away from the silly imagination that Taec could well make a nice male model. Of course she was not going to tell him that. “I’m fine. I’m going back out.”

As she turned to leave his room, Taec called her. “Yubin..”

She turned around “Huh?”

“Why don’t you like me?” he asked the simple direct question that had been occupying his mind since the first day she stepped into school.

And Yubin could only blankly stare back at him as she could not find any words to reply him. Taec looked like a hurt child and she suddenly felt awful. While Taec patiently waited for her answer, she didn’t have the chance to reply him when Gina appeared and pulled her back to the party outside.

------------------  End of Flashback ----------------