Myungsoo and his parents had moved away from his hometown and into the city area when his father received a promotion. Myungsoo was really glad because no one would know him unlike his small hometown where they troublemakers had made it a point to tease Myungsoo about the one time his girlfriend made him cross-dress. In high school, Myungsoo preferred not to interact with anyone else unless necessary and that had earned him the title of “ice prince.” It seemed to attract many girls and Myungsoo was tired of having to constantly reject them. 

 Myungsoo’s parents were often too busy with work and Myungsoo took the opportunity. Every Friday, his lessons end early and there will be enough time for Myungsoo to go home, take a bath and pretty himself up. He applies the make up with familiarity and slips on the wig onto his head as if it was his natural hair. He puts on the dress of the week and slips his feet into a pair of sandals. He then heads out to apgujeong where he goes shopping with a group of friends with the same secret as him. Myungsoo found them online and they bonded over their shared secret. They would meet up once a week, every Friday to go shopping together. It was only with them did Myungsoo really felt like he had friends, and the feeling of belonging.

It is on one of these Fridays where Myungsoo had arrived a little too early and is waiting for his friends in front of the train station. He took his phone out as a pretense but nevertheless, small group of boys attempted to approach Myungsoo. “Hey pretty lady, mind telling us your name.” they say playfully. Myungsoo looks up and glare at them before returning his attention to his phone. One of them actually had the audacity to touch Myungsoo. Myungsoo glares again, slapping the offensive hand away. “Stop playing hard to get.” The guys tease and Myungsoo can feel his anger bubbling to the surface. All of a sudden, Myungsoo hears, “get away from my girlfriend.” The group of boys immediately disappear, intimidated by the height and looks of the newcomer.

Myungsoo looks up, and he is shocked. Standing in front of him, in his school’s uniform was an extremely tall and handsome guy. The worst of it all was that Myungsoo recognizes this guy. He is Myungsoo’s classmate and their school’s high jump prodigy, Lee Sungyeol. Myungsoo mumbles out a thanks and turns around, hoping to walk away before Sungyeol recognize s him. But a hand stops him from doing so. “Wait a minute.” Myungsoo attempts to tug his hand away but Sungyeol is too strong. With an exasperated sigh, Myungsoo turned around to glare at Sungyeol.

“I know that glare.” Sungyeol says almost thoughtfully.

“No you don’t.” Myungsoo deadpans.

“You’re Kim Myungsoo right? From my class, I would recognize your icy glare anywhere. The girls in our school are always going crazy about that glare.” Sungyeol laughs.

“I’m glad that at least one of us finds my glare amusing.”

“No, no it’s just that whoa, this is unexpected.”

“What do you want from me in order to keep your mouth shut?”

“What? Why would I need anything? I mean I respect your interests, I’m not one to judge another person’s interest.” To Myungsoo’s surprise, it seems like Sungyeol sounds really sincere. But Myungsoo is still doubtful of Sungyeol.

“Promise?” Sungyeol is slightly taken aback, not seeing the usual Myungsoo he sees in school. He smiles as he takes Myungsoo’s hand in his, linking their pinkies together.

“I promise.” He smiles and is rewarded with a tiny smile from Myungsoo.

“Okay, bye.” Myungsoo breaks their hands apart in embarrassment as he spots his fellow friends coming down from the escalator.

“wait.” Sungyeol calls out. Myungsoo’s head whips back almost immediately. “You look very pretty today.” Sungyeol grins. Myungsoo ducks his head down as his cheeks are set aflame and runs into the embrace of his friends who are giggling and waving at Sungyeol.

“Who was that?”

 “He is so handsome!”

“Do you know him Myungsoo-ah?” Myungsoo is immediately bombarded with questions.

“He’s n n nobody.” Myungsoo stammers.

“Ehhh, we don’t believe you.” His friends whine but they choose not to pursue because they understood myungsoo’s personality. That was another reason why Myungsoo loved being together with them.

When Myungsoo meets Sungyeol in school again, he is surprised when Sungyeol actually smiles and greet him.

“Good morning!” Sungyeol says a little too enthusiastically when it’s only 7 am in the morning.

“Good morning.” Myungsoo replies softly, just enough for Sungyeol and the people nearby to hear. They are shocked by the fact that Myungsoo actually replied to someone.

“Oh my god, did the ice prince actually say good morning?”

“Oppa did you really say good morning?” his fangirls gasp, clutching their hearts dramatically because they have never heard Myungsoo talk to anyone willingly.

“Who was that guy?”

“I think he was Lee Sungyeol.”

“Lee Sungyeol!”

“kyaaa Sungyeol oppa? He’s really tall and good looking.”

“Oh emm gee can you imagine, two really good looking guys standing together? That must surely be a sight.”

“How come we’ve never noticed this before?”

“Maybe it’s because we didn’t know they were friends.”

“They are friends? Since when?”

Rumors flew through the school faster than a bullet train and during lunch break, there was a crowd gathered outside myungsoo’s and sungyeol’s classroom as everyone waited with bated breath for the two to interact.

Myungsoo, true to his ice prince nature, maintains his poker face as he takes out his lunch. A shadow looms across his table and he looks up to see Sungyeol grinning down at him. Far away, Myungsoo can hear some girls screaming.

“It seems like we are the talk of the school now.” Sungyeol grin grows bigger.

“I shouldn’t have answered to your good morning.” Myungsoo retorts.

“But aren’t we friends?” Sungyeol asks a look of hurt shows on his face but Myungsoo can see the teasing smile in sungyeol’s eyes.

“Since when?”

“Since… hmmm the day I met…” a hand shoots up to cover Sungyeol’s mouth and Myungsoo glares at Sungyeol. More screams ensue.

Sungyeol holds up his two hands in mock defeat, “don’t worry, I promised. I was just fooling around.” He whispers after Myungsoo reluctantly removes his hand from sungyeol’s mouth.

“It isn’t funny at all.” The glare prevails but Sungyeol knows that it does not hold as much intensity as before. And somehow Sungyeol had managed to drag a chair over to myungsoo’s table and placed his lunch beside myungsoo’s lunch.

“What are you here for?”

“To prove that we are friends?”

“Isn’t it weird that we are suddenly friends when we have not even really noticed each other’s existence for the past half a year?”

“Who cares? I mean it’s not like us being friends is a bad thing anyway.” Sungyeol tucks into his lunch heartily and Myungsoo frowns at sungyeol’s eating manners.

“You just want to get more fangirls don’t you?” Myungsoo accuses.

“Maybe?” Sungyeol laughs in the midst of eating and although Myungsoo wants to say that he is totally disgusted with how Sungyeol eats, he can’t help feeling that Sungyeol is really cute, like a giant baby, a choding. That’s right a choding. Sungyeol was well known for his choding nature especially when he was with his best friends Woohyun and Dongwoo.

“Don’t you usually eat with your friends?”

“Why are you suddenly so talkative, aren’t you supposed to be maintaining your ice prince image.” Sungyeol jokes.

It is then with horror that Myungsoo realizes how easily Sungyeol had broken his ice defenses down, revealing a bit of his true nature. Myungsoo quickly schools his face into a frown, “go away after you finish eating.”

“Damn, I shouldn’t have said that.” Sungyeol touches the back of his neck in regret.

“Too bad.” Myungsoo retorts.

They finish their lunch in icy silence although Sungyeol did attempt to get Myungsoo to talk again but to no avail.

“Hey Myungsoo-ah.”

“What do you want?”

“Will you be there again this Friday?”

“I don’t know.” From myungsoo’s flustered reply, Sungyeol already knows.

Throughout the rest of the week, Sungyeol makes it a point to at least talk to Myungsoo once a day, and sometimes Myungsoo might feel nice enough to reply. But most of the time, he chooses to glare at Sungyeol.