I wanted to question Kibum more about what he said but he didn’t even make it into school on Monday. No one had seen him at all and I was beginning to think that he was either avoiding me or that maybe his entire existence was some kind of an illusion. He seemed to have that kind of effect at least.

“What does it mean anyway? Hoodwinked?” I mumbled.

“It means to be tricked or deceived,” answered Jieun.

We sat in the library, studying for math class together although all we could really do was gossip.

“Why are boys so complicated?” Jiyeon shook her head.

“It just doesn’t make sense though. Hoodwinked. Who’s trying to trick me?” This was all too mind-boggling, I just wanted to bang my head against a wall.

“Now that I think about it, Kibum’s always been kind of shady. Maybe he’s just playing with you,” Jieun muttered. “Rumor has it that he’s really protective over JongHyun in that annoying motherly kind of way. Maybe he just doesn’t like you because you dated JongHyun.”

“It sure looked to me like he liked you when you two were dancing,” Jiyeon mumbled.

They had all seen it that night—Kibum taking my hand, hooking his arm around my waist, and whispering in my ear. It was a shock to Jieun, Jiyeon, and Krystal, who had never seen Kibum act like that with any girl. It definitely was intimate and the more I thought about it, the more I felt uneasy.

“Let’s just forget about this and concentrate on math right now,” I suggested.

We went through our math problems fairly quickly even though they were painfully boring. I made everything look okay but secretly, I was growing paranoid because of what Kibum had said. Someone was trying to trick me, but who? I couldn’t recall a time when I had done someone wrong and even if I did do something, I knew well enough to apologize.

“You’re being hoodwinked.” Kibum’s whisper resonated in my ear throughout the whole day, sending chills up and down my spine.

If anyone was tricking me, it might as well be Kibum himself.

Musical rehearsal finally came around. Ms. Woo was upset that Kibum was absent, Krystal was nowhere to be seen, and JongHyun didn’t show up. I joined Taemin who sat on the left side of the stage as Ms. Woo tried to come up with a solution.

“I wonder where they are today,” I murmured.

“They're out shopping,” Taemin informed me. “Kibum hyung just texted me and apparently he’s with JongHyun hyung and Krystal. Supposedly, they’re shopping for a gift for JongHyun’s girlfriend.”

“Ms. Woo would kill them if she knew,” I grunted. I wanted to tell Ms. Woo about their whereabouts but it would’ve done no good to me. I didn’t want to be deemed as a tattle-teller either.

“So, you go to Club Senorita a lot then?” he asked.

I was confused but then realized he was talking about the club. He probably had seen me there the other night. I felt nervous at that thought.

“No. I’ve only gone there twice,” I replied.

“So it was really you there, the other night,” he muttered. “And I thought I was dreaming when I saw Jieun dancing. She looked like an angel…”

He suddenly covered his mouth, embarrassed that he had just let that thought out.

I chuckled. “You two would make such a cute couple.”

“You think?” His eyes widened with hope and then he sighed. “She doesn’t even like me.”

“Don’t give up yet,” I told him, trying to cheer him up. “One day she’ll see what a great guy you are.”

“As if that day would come soon enough…”

“Just don’t worry about it, Taemin. If you guys are really meant to be, then you’ll only need the smallest of chances to win her heart.”

“Thanks, Sunyoung. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Ms. Woo finally came up with the decision to work with the smaller roles and work on blocking where the choreography would take place on stage. Unfortunately, since JongHyun wasn’t here and neither was Kibum, she decided to have JinKi play Danny for the day. And to my dismay, she insisted that we rehearse together, one-on-one.

“You look displeased, Sunyoung,” said Jinki as we found an empty corner in the back of the auditorium.

“Well, the leading man and his understudy aren’t here. Maybe that’s why,” I mumbled. I pulled out the script, ready to get on with the rehearsal already. “Let’s just rehearse the scene.”

“Can we clear some things up first?”

“What is there to clear up?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

I looked at him blankly. Why couldn’t he be as blunt as he usually was?

“Um…” was all I could say. What exactly did Jinki want me to say?

Thankfully, his cell phone rang and he picked it up immediately. Apparently, it was his mother. They talked for what seemed like forever but once he hung up had forgotten that we needed to “clear things up.”

We dove right into the script and surprisingly, JinKi was an incredibly good actor. He played the character of Danny so well, it was even better than what JongHyun or Kibum could ever convey. If I didn’t have any lines, I would’ve just sat all day and watched him go at it.

“Okay, let’s go over the scene again,” I suggested once he finished the last line.

“Not so fast. We have things to clear up.”

“JinKi, I don’t know exactly what it is that you want to ‘clear up.’”

“What the heck was happening at the club?”

My face turned red. “Nothing. I was just being reckless.”

“Well, don’t be like that. You have bad alcohol tolerance, don’t you?”

I didn’t answer, looking down.

“And what was up with you and Kibum? Are you guys seeing each other? Do you like him?”

I shook my head. “No! Kibum was just being…creepy. I would never date him or anything.”

“Right.” He glared at me. “It sure seemed like you were enjoying it though.”

I clenched my fists, tempted to throw them right in JinKi’s face. “What would you know? You spent most of the night with your girlfriend, but I guess you were keeping an eye on me, huh? Why can’t you just back off?”

I scoffed at him, rising up to walk away. I stopped in my tracks when my gazed turned toward Ms. Woo who stood there, hearing our entire conversation.

She scrutinized us and then all of sudden, clasped her hands together with a glimmer in her eyes. “That was perfect!” she commented, coming towards us. JinKi and I only exchanged confused looks. “The teen angst, the romantic tension! This is what the atmosphere should be like for most of the play!”

She walked away, mumbling to herself as if she just had reached an epiphany.

I gave JinKi one last glare. Romantic tension? Yeah right. I felt like puking.

Instead, I stalked off to join Minho and Taemin, who were sitting in the auditorium seats. They were looking through something on Minho’s touch-screen phone.

“Aha, here it is,” said Minho as held up the phone higher. “This tip was posted on Sunday but it might work for you Taemin. It says, ‘Show interest in another girl, preferably her friend or someone close to her. If she shows jealousy, it’s a sign that she likes you.’”

“I don’t know about this hyung,” Taemin muttered hesitantly.

“You don’t know if you don’t try.”

“What are you guys looking at?” I peered over Minho’s shoulders to get a better glimpse of this website. It must’ve been some kind of website for guys with dating advice.

“Oh, nothing,” Minho answered, sliding his phone back into his pocket. “I’m just trying to give Taemin some tips on how to get a girl.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh come on. Playing the jealousy game isn’t going to work.”

“Well, we’ll see. Here comes Jiyeon and Jieun right now. Taemin, you know what to do.”

Taemin gulped and he looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown now. Jiyeon and Jieun didn’t seem to notice it though when they joined us. Taemin had frozen for a moment but Minho nudged him back into reality.

“Um, hi, Jiyeon,” Taemin mumbled. He tried his best not to look and Jieun.

“Hi, Taemin?” said Jiyeon, confused.

Jieun only raised an eyebrow at Taemin’s ignorance but shrugged it off. If anything, it looked like she was relieved.

Jiyeon turned to Minho. “Oppa, let’s go to the market!”

“Uh, market?” Minho looked distraught. “Like, tonight? I—“

“The market sounds like fun, Jiyeon,” interrupted Taemin, awkwardly. He was improvising now. “Let’s go together—all of us.”

“Yeah, that sounds great!” exclaimed Minho in a fake enthusiastic way.

“Okay, sounds like a plan then.” Jiyeon looked rather disappointed but didn’t argue. At least she would have some time with Minho.

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A/N: I apologize for my lack of updates. :( I miss writing. School is horrible this semester and my brain doesn't like to work. Booo. But I hope everyone else is doing well. Everyone hwaiting!