Everyone will hate me. They'd think I'm a freak if they knew.

"Junnie oppa said he'll be here!" Rina pouted angrily. It was the wee hours of morning, 5.48am to be exact. Birds chirp too much in autumn and she glared at the sparrows sitting on the bare trees. Dangling her feet over the bleachers with a stopwatch in her hand, she scanned her surroundings trying to locate the said boy. "And he dared oversleep!"

"He must be busy with the designs and tailoring." Jiyoon gulped down the mineral water quickly. In hastiness, some of the water droplets trickled down from the corner of her lips down her neck. Hot sweat rolled down her forehead and she stared at the empty race track, realising how much she missed it.

"Hey I'm sorry." Junhee jogged towards them, smiling sheepishly. "I kinda, forgot that we had training."

"I'm out of here." Rina jumped down the bleachers and threw the stopwatch at Junhee. "I need to get back to sleep and practice my cooking later."

Junhee's eyes widened in fear, fully awakening at the word 'cooking.'

"I think you better not. Our kitchen hasn't recovered fully from the last attack." He recalled their almost burnt dorm that forced them to squeeze with their neighbours for a night. His designs were almost ruined as well and it taught him never to let her cook in the dorm. "It's better to practice with Jiyoon. Didn't you promise her?"

"B-but oppa!" Rina whined and plopped on the ground angrily.

"How's the training going?"

"Improving," 5 days ago her record was 17.8 seconds for the 100m sprint. "But not good enough."

"You don't have to be too harsh on yourself, I'm sure you'll do fine." He pumped a fist in the air with full fighting spirit and it made Jiyoon's heart grow warmer in the cold Autumn. Frankly speaking, she never thought that her first two friends other than the EXO boys were this two, weirdos. One who strangled her and the other giving her a tomato juice facial. 

"Why did you want to join the athletic meet? I never knew you were good in sports."

"Mmmm..." Jiyoon hummed in reply, screwing the bottle cap tightly and set the mineral water beside her. "As a gift?"

"What gift-"

"Enough rest!" Jiyoon cut him off and stood up, all motivated again after a brief rest. "Let's do it again."

Junhee bit his lips in surprise as he watched Jiyoon go from the starting line to the finishing line and back to the starting line again. He lost count as to how many laps she ran, only that the timings were getting better and better - which didn't make sense. She did this for the next half hour, rested for 10 minutes and repeated the circuit again.

"She runs like a leopard..." Junhee murmured to himself. It was caught by Rina who was resting her head on Junhee's lap, curled up in a fetus position. She was freezing.

"How's it?!" Jiyoon shouted in a half-pant. Her arms were pressed on her knees while she steadied her breath.

"14.8!"

It wasn't good enough. The athletic meet was held in a week and she heard from Baekhyun that his friends in the track and field team will be participating as well. Just thinking of the rivalry scared her although she used to be on her school team and she didn't have any ambitions to win the race, just participating because.

Sighing, she stretched her arms in exaggerated movements to loosen her muscles and she grabbed her towel dangling off the railings. Her old sports shoes were worn out but good. Make it a reminder for her to get a new one with her remaining savings.

"What time is it now?" she stared at Rina who fell asleep on Junhee's lap and he was trying hard not to move and wake her up.

"7 on the dot."

"I'll head back to the dorms first. Help me thank Rina for accompanying me."

"No worries, that's what she promised in exchange for a day with Kyungsoo right?" Junhee gently tucked her fringe behind her ear, revealing Rina's sleeping face. It was a wonder that such an angelic looking girl could have such a wild and untamed personality. Junhee guessed that the only one who would be able to dominate over Rina in this entire world would be her beloved Kyungsoo.

Jiyoon smiled, "Yeah."

She kicked off her sports shoes and landed flat on the ground, too tired to move her bones. The sofa appeared to be miles away and she couldn't be bothered to shift her there. For almost two weeks, she had been practicing every single day without fail in the evenings when the race track was empty on weekdays or the early mornings on the weekends.

Whch was obviously kept a seret from the boys.
 

Dragging herself into the bathroom, she rewarded her body with a cold shower to make her feel less sleepy. They were going to have breakfast together and she didn't want to appear to be too tired, which would definitely raise questions. Patting herself dry, she pulled on a comfortable t-shirt and headed for Chanbaek's room.

"Yeollie, wake up." Jiyoon blew softly on his ears, sending tingles down his body.

He squinted his eyes open and smiled loving, "Where's oppa for me, my little princess?"

"You are only a few months older than me anyways," Jiyoon stuck out a tongue and patted his tummy. "Aren't you hungry?"

He his lips at the word 'hungry', sniffing the air. "Kyungsoo's frying eggs."

"You better wash up if you wanna eat them."

"Aye aye captain!"

Jiyoon chuckled at Chanyeol's childish behaviour that never changed. Turning to her side, she found Baekhyun buried under the blankets, hugging his Snoopy doll in his arms tightly as if his life depended on it. His eyes furrowed and it seemed like he was having a nightmare. Jiyoon ran a finger through his soft brown curls and he whined, hugging his Snoopy even tighter. Knowing that he'd wake up any moment, she headed out of the room without bothering to wake him up, bumping into Lay.

"Woah, careful there." Lay chided lightly, "Morning Jiyoon."

"Morning oppa, had a good night's sleep?"

"After the common tests, definitely." he stretched himself, sliding into the chair comfortably. Tests and examinations clearly weren't his thing and he hated staying up late to memorise all those Mathematical formulaes, Korean history and English literature. Why didn't they have any Mandarin lessons around here?

"Where's the food?" Chanyeol asked, poking a head out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth. Habits don't change easy.

"Kyungsoo oppa~ Someone's very hungry!" Jiyoon shouted into the kitchen expecting an angry reply from Kyungsoo like 'He should be grateful and wait patiently.' or 'Let him eat the plants we grow on the balcony!' but to her surprise, it was Jin who stepped out of the kitchen with