"Baek Eunji?"

"Here!"

"Chae Ja... Oh wait, she's on medical leave."

"Chae Taeyeon!"

"I'm here."

Jonghyun looked around the classroom. He had taken note of her absence earlier but the teacher, Mr. Ha Dong Nam had just confirmed his doubt: his secret crush is ill. Not that he could do anything about it, since they did not have much common friends, nor do they even talk much. He does not even understand his feelings. Why is he even attracted to her in the first place?

There are so many other girls in school who are dressed up and look innocent and pretty. She wears such thick glasses, has unkempt hair, and is so shy all the time. He ruffled his hair in annoyance while wondering why he felt this way, not paying attention to the girls sitting behind who were gushing over his actions.

Having his thoughts wandering, he also did not notice that Jinki was also worried about the same person he was confused about.

After class, the students were heading to their next classes when Jaerin and Kibum were  at the door at the same time Jinki did.

Jaerin lifted up her hand and almost greeted Jinki the way she usually does, by waving, giving a big smile and saying "Hello!", when Kibum gave her a nudge. She turned to him, and he gave her a knowing look. She finally remembered that Taeyeon was not close to Jinki at all, and immediately put down her hand and slightly bowed, like how Taeyeon usually greeted the leader of the school council.

"Good morning, Taeyeon-ssi," Jinki returned the bow, and lightly punched Kibum's shoulders.

"Hey Jinki," Kibum greeted his friend casually, before the three went to their respective classrooms.

A week later...

"Class, we are going to do a short project on this chapter," Mr. Ha announced, chuckling when the class replied their thoughts on it with loud groans, "no worries. It is just a really short, and quick one, and you'll also do it with a partner! The deadline is next Tuesday, so you have the weekend to settle it. No reports are needed, just a ten-minute presentation, so it's really simple."

He looked around and continued once the class has quietened down, "but before I go into details regarding the project, we should settle the pairings first. I'll choose your partners, but if you have someone in mind, feel free to let me know. The only condition is that it must be a male-female partnering because of the topics that we'll be discussing later."

"Mr. Ha, how are you planning to arrange us? By our seating, or?" Jinki asked.

He shook his head, "nope! As you know, I'm a high tech and up-to-date teacher, so... we'll be using this app on my tablet to choose the names randomly. I've entered all your names into the system, and they will be generating the pairings."

After clicking a few buttons on his tablet, he announced, "oh, I've got the first pairing... Kim Jonghyun and Chae Taeyeon!"

Jinki had planned to request for Jaerin to be his project partner; he would be able to help her with the rest of her school work too. He was about to raise his hands to get the teacher's attention, when another classmate called out.

"Mr. Ha, can I have Chae Jaerin as my pair?

Jinki was surprised. Someone had beaten him to it.

He looked around and saw that many people were shocked. When he found the source of the voice, he knew why.

It was Kibum who wanted Jaerin to be his pair.

Kim Kibum, the guy who was never seen talking to Jaerin in school. At all.

Mr. Ha, however, ignored the whispering among his students and agreed to the pairing.

Jinki overheard Yuri, who was sitting next to Kibum, asking the latter the reason for his choice, and Kibum replied, "well... I need to up my grades for this subject and she's like the smartest girl in class... academically anyways."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Taeyeon-ah," Kibum called out to Jaerin after their lesson ended. He pulled her to the back of the classroom before she left for her next class.

Kibum lowered his voice to a whisper and said, "finish the project with Jonghyun today so that we can have the whole of Saturday without Jonghyun there. You wouldn't want to change your character constantly, would you?"

"Okay, I'll let him know then," Jaerin nodded. Then she wondered, "but why can't we do it on Saturday and Sunday instead?"

"Because what if there are any unforeseen circumstances? You need to have backup plans! Think for the future!" Kibum replied her, while giving a light knock on her head.

After school,

"Yah Taeyeon, I realized that we've been friends for so long, but I've never gone to your house before!" Jonghyun exclaimed.

Jonghyun and Jaerin had discussed previously and they decided to do their project in Taeyeon's house.

"Well... I guess everyone needs a first time," Jaerin replied. From her memories, Kibum was the only friend of Taeyeon who had ever been to their house.

"Why aren't we doing the project tomorrow, or on Sunday anyway?" Jonghyun asked.

Jaerin quickly replied what Kibum had explained to her, "just in case, you know? What if there are any unforeseen circumstances? We need to think of the future..."

"Wow... I didn't know that you would ever think like that!" Jonghyun joked, then quic