You took a steady breath in as the lunch bell went off. You took out your lunch that was b thanks to all of the leftovers from last night. You couldn’t eat after the attack from your parents and your parents couldn’t eat either after Nunji’s own attack. And Nunji couldn’t eat as she launched and reinforced said attack all throughout dinner. Hwangin was really the only one who fully enjoyed the meal.

So basically, you couldn’t finish this lunch by yourself.

“Mikyungie, do you want to eat with us during lunch?” N was the one to ask.

You only looked at him while thinking of a way to get out of it. You then looked at Ken and remembered your resolve to stay away from him for at least today.

“Come with us Mikyungie!” Ken was positively beaming. “There’s something I wanted to ask you about.”

Looking at his wide smile, you didn’t want to drag his mood down. N had an expectant look on his face too so you nodded in answer while thinking about what you had to do today. These guys were making you soft.

“Assa! Let’s look for those loveable hoobaes of ours. Let’s go go go!” Ken was already out the door. N took off after him and Taekwoon was frowning but reached out to take your lunchbox from you.

You let him take it from you and made to follow after him but someone called for you.

“Uh, Mikyung-ssi?” It was Jimri.

You stopped in your tracks and Taekwoon stopped too. Thinking Jimri probably wanted to talk to you alone you held up a finger for her asking her to wait for a second. You turned your attention to the boy who remained standing next to you and grabbed his arm. He looked surprised at that and you knew you surprised him more by pulling him out of the classroom into the hallway. You stopped and let him go before turning to him after taking a few steps.

“Wait for me.”

You looked into his eyes and you two stared at one another. He frowned but leaned against the wall. He made a shooing gesture which you glared at but turned around and went back into the classroom.

Jimri was leaning against one of the front row desks and she straightened up when you came in through the door. You looked past her and saw her usual crowd of friends staring at the two of you. They simultaneously turned away when they were caught which was something you were used to.

“I wanted to talk to you about—or I wanted to ask you something Mikyung-ssi.” She smiled at you and there was curiosity in her eyes. You nodded, encouraging her to continue while stealing a glance at the door. “I am planning on joining volleyball and I signed up yesterday morning but I was hoping you would also consider joining with me.” She rushed the words out.

You were surprised at that and she accurately read it. “I’m-I’m not trying to tell you what to do but.” She stopped. “I just think it would be a waste for you not to join.” There was sincerity in her words and you felt it was a big deal when she chose to approach you first about it.

She crossed her arms and was opening to speak more but you cut her off, “I signed up for it yesterday.”

She smiled widely at that. “Great! That’s great.” Her smile waned a little. “Then I guess I didn’t have to persuade you at all.”

You only shrugged and were thinking of a way to leave having a feeling that Taekwoon was probably getting impatient. Jimri kept going on about how happy she was and looking forward to the upcoming season since she wouldn’t be alone in the team now. That last part drew your interest since she was revealing her real reason to asking you to be on the team. You dropped it because there was a part of you that was also happy you knew at least one person who would be starting off in volleyball.

Finally she stopped and continued to smile at you which you failed in returning.

“It’s so nice that we get to spend more time together after school.” She was still smiling at you and then she blinked, “I’m sorry for taking time away from your lunch. I’ll let you get back to...” she trailed off with a secretive smile.

You nodded again and fought back the urge to roll your eyes. You quickly made your way out in case she forgot to say something else. As you made your escape, you walked by Taekwoon who was still leaning against the wall. He had been surrounded by a few boys and when you had breezed past him he quickly straightened up. He pushed past them and caught up with you. You slowed your pace after a while and you let him take the lead since you didn’t know where lunch was going to be held at.

When you both reached the main hallway, he stopped in his steps suddenly and looked both ways. You copied his actions, thinking there was some kind of commotion but there was nothing to report except a few wandering students. You looked up at him and he was frowning.

You watched as his eyes darted down both hallways and a crease formed in between his eyebrows. The step he took that led down to the first years’ classroom was a hesitant one. It was then you realized he didn’t know where his friends were going to gather for lunch either. You were so close to scoffing but stuffed it back in at the last minute. You didn’t want to deal with a moody Taekwoon while you two were alone. Well a moodier Taekwoon.

Silent as always, you and Taekwoon strolled down the hallway like you both knew where you were going. When you arrived at the first year corridor, you took a glance around and everything was the same except the changes in the dates of the announcements. Ahead of you, Taekwoon was trying to make it obvious he knew where to go but his head always turned to look into the classroom for his friends.

At the end of the hallway, Taekwoon’s shoulders slumped a little but then he regained his composure and abruptly turned around. He leaned down to get to your height and you slapped his cheek when he got a little too close. That made him regain his senses and he scowled while he rubbed his cheek. Inside, you were trying to get your senses to calm down while thanking your reflexes for slapping him otherwise the situation would have become awfully awkward. Whether it would have been a good or bad awkward didn’t matter since the random moment was gone in the past.

Like always he surprise