“MIMI!”

                The sound of his voice reverberated in the hall and I flinched. Soojin laughed.

                “Ah, I kind of missed that,” she said as we turned around.

                “You missed the stalker alert?” I muttered. Seungcheol came to a stop in front of us and grabbed my shoulders.

                “I got a job!” he exclaimed.

                “You just got out of the hospital. What are you doing with a job?”

                “I applied before all that happened. They finally got back to me this morning.”

                “How are you going to juggle that with practice and school?”

                Soojin swatted me.  “Stop sounding like his mother. You should be happy for him! Where are you working?”

                “The café by the school.”

                “Ah, that place?  It’s notorious for its pretty boys.”

                Seungcheol beamed.

                “Pretty boys? Then why’d they accept you?” I asked. My snark masked the lingering embarrassment from the night at the hospital.

                His grin fell and Soojin elbowed me in the ribs. 

                He seemed to brush it off quickly. “Anyway, you should come visit me this weekend.  I’ll give you some free cake.”

                With that, he ruffled my hair and went on his way.

                Soojin sighed. “I envy you, Mikyung.  Where am I going to find a guy that will bribe me with sweets?”

                “He’s in for a surprise if he thinks I’ll bend over backwards for something like that.”

                “Someone’s extra sassy today.  Did something happen?” she asked with that creepy smile of hers.

                I smirked.  “Let’s just go to class.” 

-x-

                I sat in the empty classroom during lunch, folding paper stars as I slowly said English vocabulary words to myself. 

                “Exec—”

                I cut myself off as the door opened.

                “There you are,” Seungcheol said. “Can I sit with you? The lunchroom is boring today.”

                “I doubt being here will be more fun.” I glanced at him but quickly averted my eyes when I felt a blush creeping up my neck. “But I can’t stop you.” 

                He pulled a chair up in front of my desk and sat in it backwards, each leg on either side. I put some star paper in front of him so he could have something to do and went back to my words. 

                “Executive.” I folded a star and dropped it into the bottle.  Seungcheol followed me.

                “Career.” Two more stars. Seungcheol muttered the words to himself.

                I glanced at him. “Professional.”

                “Executive, career, professional,” he repeated, putting a slight rhythm to it. 

                I rattled off a few more words. The clink of stars against the glass of the bottle went along to the flow of Seungcheol’s voice. 

                He was making a rap out of my vocabulary words.

                I smiled, slightly amused, and went on to the next phrase on the list.

                “Harassment.”

                He looked up then, caught off guard. 

                “Why is that a vocabulary word?” he protested, looking at my textbook. 

                I laughed. “Why are you even making a rap out of them in the first place?”

                “Hey, I thought it was going pretty well.” He recited his strange creation and I shook my head at his silliness. 

                There was a sudden knock on the door. “Am I interrupting something?”

                I looked over. There was a boy I didn’t recognize standing at the threshold.

                Seungcheol, on the other hand, shot up from his seat, looking very surprised. 

                “Doyoon.”