"Well, that was.. unexpexted,"

 

"I panicked, okay!" Hyosung frowned deeply. "I kept thinking about how to make him jealous, and it kind of just jumped out of my mouth!"

 

Sungje gave a low whistle. "Well, it might not make him jealous, but he was definitely surprised," Sungje said.

 

"I fumbled it, didn't I?" she asked him.

 

"Well, who's to say that didn't make him jealous, you never know," Sungje said cautiously.

 

"Jealous? Hah, more like scared," scowled Hyosung.

 

Sungje chuckled. "True, for a moment, you even got me scared,"

 

Hyosung bit her lips, feeling rather dismayed. "What am I going to do?" she asked him.

 

"Nothing,"

 

"I can't just do nothing!" Hyosung said impatiently. "This is a disaster! What if they really thought that I'm getting married?"

 

"You can always pass it off as a joke," Sungje suggested.

 

"You don't joke about marriage!"

 

"Then you could say, you didn't mean what you said, that you made a mistake, people make mistakes all the time,"

 

Hyosung thought for a moment. "You think he'll believe me if I said I didn't mean it?"

 

"Sure he will, he is your 'friend' after all," he said mockingly.

 

Hyosung was too busy panicking to notice the mocking tone in his voice. "You're right, I should tell him that it was a mistake, right away," Hyosung reached for her phone.

 

Sungje quickly grabbed her arm. "No, no, no, you don't want to send that message now," he said hurriedly.

 

"W-why not?" she asked cautiously.

 

"I thought you wanted to make him jealous?"

 

"Well, I thought we agreed that this didn't make him jealous at all," Hyosung shot back.

 

Sungje sighed heavily. "Think about it, if you told her that you had made a mistake, then what?"

 

"Then, we can start all over again," Hyosung suggested.

 

"We won't start all over again, we'll be taking a step backwards," explained Sungje. "If you said you made a mistake, what are you going to say when he asks you again, what's our relationship?"

 

"B-boyfriend?" suggested Hyosung.

 

"Uh-huh, and then once this is all over, what are you going to tell him? That you made a mistake 'again' and now I'm not your boyfriend? Sure you can, but you'd look pretty stupid," Sungje continued.

 

Hyosung bit her lips, because she knew he was right. "Then what do you want me to do?" she asked impatiently.

 

Sungje let out another heavy sigh. "Haih.. tell him later, after the ball,"

 

"How is that any better?"

 

"Must I do everything myself?" Sungje whined slowly. "Listen, if you tell him about this after the ball, you could say that you made a mistake, and that you didn't mean what you had said,"

 

"That's no different than telling him now,"

 

"Sure it is, it's normal for someone to make a mistake once, but twice, in sucession, is downright stupid. For starters, you wouldn't have to look stupid,"

 

Hyosung looked unconvinced. "What about making him jealous?"

 

"Like I said earlier, who's to say that didn't make him jealous?" Sungje said calmly. "Besides, even if he was more surprise than jealous, that was a big enough news to keep you on his mind for the next few days, so it's still a plus,"

 

"I-I guess," Hyosung said reluctantly.

 

"We'll work on making him jealous during the ball, okay?" Sungje said.

 

"Y-yeah, sure," Hyosung said slowly.

 

***

 

"Kikwang-ssi,"

 

"H-huh?" Kikwang said with a start, causing his bike to wobble slightly.

 

"You've been spacing out for the last few minutes," IU said.

 

"R-really? Hehe," Kikwang smiled sheepishly.

 

IU looked at him in silence. "Kikwang-ssi, are you troubled by what Hyosung said earlier?"

 

"Pfft, what? No," Kikwang snorted. He paused for a few moments, before turning towards her. "IU-ssi, wh.. what do you think about what she said earlier?"

 

IU looked at him feeling slightly dissapointed. "You mean about Hyosung-ssi getting married?" IU asked in a low tone.

 

"Yeah, you don't think she was serious, is she?" Kikwang asked, trying to sound casual.

 

"What if she was?" IU said softly.

 

"H-huh?"

 

IU quickly smiled at him. "I was just joking," she said merrily. "I mean, she can't be serious,"

 

"Right?!" Kikwang said, relieved. "She can't have been serious, she couldn't have," Kikwang insisted to himself.

 

IU forced a weak smile on her face. "I'm sure she didn't mean what she said earlier,"

 

"That's right," Kikwang said smugly. "But then, why would she say something like that?" Kikwang wondered.

 

IU let out a weak chuckle. "She was probably trying to make you jealous,"

 

Kikwang chuckled slightly. "Where did you get that crazy idea?" he asked teasingly.

 

"It's up to you to believe me or not," IU said chicly.

 

"First of all, I really don't think a marriage joke is supposed to make anyone jealous," Kikwang pointed out.

 

"It got your attention didn't it?" countered IU.

 

"W-wel-Th-that was..," Kikwang stuttered, before shaking his head. "No, she didn't have any reason to make me feel jealous in the first place,"

 

"Doesn't she?" IU said wittily.

 

"No-What's that supposed to mean?" Kikwang frowned slightly.

 

IU let out another weak chuckle. "Anyway, that's what I think, you don't have to believe me,"

 

Kikwang thought for a moment. "Hey, IU-ssi, could you keep what happened back there a secret between us?"

 

IU smiled softly. "Why's that?"

 

"Well, I think telling everyone about this will probably put her in an awkward position,"

 

"Awkward? Awkward how?" IU said playfully.

 

"You know, you said it yourself, she's probably joking," explained Kikwang. "Imagine how hard it would be for her to clarify things, when everybody knows,"

 

"That's so sweet of you," she smiled sweetly.

 

"Y-yeah, well..,"

 

"Relax, I wasn't planning on telling anyone anyway," IU said. "What idiot would go running around the school yelling 'Hyosung's getting married!' anyway?"

 

"Oh, I can think of a few idiots," Kikwang said jokingly.

 

"One of them's probably a guy named Kikwang right?" IU replied.

 

"Hey!"

 

***

 

"Hey, Hyosung-ssi, can I ask you a question?"

 

"Hm? Yeah?"

 

"Why are you so nervous around the guy?"

 

Hyosung shifted her gaze uncomfortably. "Who are you talking about?"

 

"Kikwang-ssi, you were so nervous in front of him,"

 

"N-no I'm not," Hyosung said sharply.

 

"Ookay, if you say so," Sungje said, slightly taken aback by her sharp answer.

 

Hyosung let out a heavy sigh. "S-sorry about that," Hyosung apologized quickly. After a few minutes of walking in silence, Hyosung finally opened to ask. "Why are you suddenly being so nice to me?"

 

Sungje shrugged slightly. "What do you mean?"

 

"You know, you were so mean to me earlier. Why the sudden change of heart?" Hyosung asked.

 

"There's not that much difference,"

 

"I'm not so sure about that,"

 

"Well, it's different, earlier and right now," Sungje replied.

 

"Why? What's different?"

 

"Earlier I was helping out some stranger, right now I'm helping out a friend," Sungje said slowly, a slight blush creeping up his face.

 

Hyosung didn't expect the answer. She couldn't help smiling to herself after hearing that. "R-really?"

 

"Yeah, well, don't let it go to your head," Sungje said casually.

 

"So I take that means you consider me as a friend then?"

 

Sungje shrugged slightly. "Acquaintances,"

 

"What? What happened to helping out a friend?"

 

Sungje mumbled some gibberish, before walking further forward.

 

"H-hey, don't walk so fast!" Hyosung said impatiently as she struggled to keep up with his long strides.

 

***

 

"Oi,"

 

"Huh?" Kikwang looked towards Yoseob.

 

"Heads up," Yoseob said before throwing him a drink.

 

Kikwang grabbed it with one hand. "Thanks,"

 

Yoseob threw himself on the couch right next to his brother. "Is everything okay? You've been spacing out a few times tonight,"

 

"Huh? Y-yeah, just got something on my mind," Kikwang said slowly.

 

"I can tell. Did something happen between you and IU?" Yoseob asked while taking a drink.

 

"What? Nah, nothing like that,"

 

"You look troubled after coming back from the convenience store," Yoseob noted.

 

"Really?" Kikwang asked.

 

"Yeah," Yoseob nodded while reaching for the remote. "Mind telling me?"

 

Kikwang thought for a moment. "Hey, what would you do if a friend of yours told you something surprising?"

 

"That would depend, how surprising?"

 

"Like life-changing surprising,"

 

Yoseob looked at Kikwang curiously. "Life-changing? How life-changing?"

 

"You know, life-changing," shrugged Kikwang.

 

"Is it like, 'I have a cancer' life-changing, or 'I'm on drugs' life-changing,"

 

Kikwang looked at him weirdly. "W-what?"

 

"Those are two very different cases, or is it something like 'I killed someone' life changing?" suggested Yoseob.

 

"Dude, take this seriously," frowned Kikwang.

 

"I am!" retorted Yoseob.

 

Kikwang sighed slightly. "It's nothing that extreme,"

 

"You said, it was life changing," Yoseob said.

 

"Yeah, well it's not that life-changing," Kikwang said. "Look, it's just that, something someone said has been bugging me lately, and I'm kind of unsure what to do about it,"

 

"Well, if it's troubling you, you should go and solve it," Yoseob suggested absent-mindedly.

 

"The problem is, I don't know if it's a joke, or it's the truth," frowned Kikwang.

 

Yoseob sighed slightly. "Look, I don't know what kind of thing that 'someone' said, but worrying about it and spacing out all the time, that's not you," Yoseob said. "An idiot like you isn't suited with all this mulling and worrying. If you want my opinion, you should just let it be, go with the flow, things will solve themselves out, if you give it time. There's just no use russhing and worrying about it all the time,"

 

Kikwang looked at Yoseob in awe. "Wow, that was pretty deep,"

 

Yoseob shrugged while still scrolling through the channels.

 

"I guess you're right, there's no use worrying about it so much," Kikwang finally relaxed. "I'm sure things will work themselves out,"

 

Yoseob eyed Kikwang through the corner of his eyes.

 

"Thanks," Kikwang thanked him.

 

"No problem,"

 

Kikwang popped open his drink and took a big gulp from it. "Blegh!!" Kikwang spurted the drink out. "What is this?" Kikwang lifted his drink up to take a look. "Kiwi?!"

 

Yoseob quickly got up, and walked away.

 

"Hey! You know I hate Kiwi right?!" Kikwang got up and walked towards his brother.

 

"I know, took you long enough to drink it," Yoseob said, while giggling, before running upstairs into their room.

 

"Why you..! I'm gonna kill you!" Kikwang yelled as he chased Yoseob into their room.

 

***

 

Hyosung got out from her bathroom after washing her hair. She threw herself on the bed, before checking her phone. 'Should I text him?' Hyosung thought about Kikwang.

 

She tucked her phone aside, and picked up a few books to revise on her studies. 'I'm getting married with Sungje-ssi!'

 

Hyosung shook her head to clear her thoughts. She blushed everytime she remembered about what she said.

 

Hyosung let out a heavy sigh, as she closed her books. "Wonder if he's really thinking of me right now..,"

 

***

 

Min entered her room after she dumped her clothes in the washing machine. "IU, aren't you going to shower?"

 

"Ah, I kind of forgot to bring my towel," IU smiled sheepishly.

 

Min went over to her closet and brought out a towel. "Here, use this, it's a spare towel. My family always keeps an extra towel, since I'm always bringing friends over,"

 

IU grabbed the towel and lied down on the bed. "Ooh.. this feels good," she said as her head hits Min's pillow.

 

"Don't hog the bed all to yourself," Min said as she pushed her to the side. She d around under her pillow, and took out the remote.

 

"Ah, it must be nice being an only child," IU said. "You even get your own TV in your room,"

 

"Yeah, well, it usually gets kind of boring when it's just me, so my parents bought me a TV," Min explained. "It helps when I bring my friends over, this way we can stay up all night watching movies in my room, cool huh?"

 

"Yeah," IU nodded. IU looked around the room for a few moments, before remembering a question she wanted to ask Min. "Min-ssi, how long have you known the twins?"

 

"Hmm? I've known them since 3rd grade, why?"

 

"That's a pretty long time,"

 

"I guess you can say that,"

 

"So, I was wondering, what kind of guys are those two?"

 

"What do you mean?" she asked casually.

 

"You know, like, are they cool to hang out with?"

 

"Yeah, they're pretty cool, I mean, they're fun to hang out with,"

 

"Really?"

 

"Yeah, I mean, they always think up the silliest stuff, and they can be surprisingly thoughtful at times," chuckled Min.

 

"Yeah, I think I know what you mean," IU smiled to herself. "Are they always so.. straightforward?"

 

"You mean dense?" Min asked jokingly. "I guess so, sometimes more than you'd thought possible. But I guess that's what makes them so fun to be around with,"

 

"I just wish he wasn't so dense all the time," IU said slowly.

 

"Which one?"

 

IU shrugged slightly. "Both of them,"

 

"Yeah, and sometimes they're probably too nice for their own good," Min chuckled.

 

"Hehe, Kikwang said the same thing about his mother," giggled IU. "Like mother, like sons, huh?"

 

"Yeah, I guess so," Min giggled. "Now, come on IU! Go take a shower, before I start this movie without you,"