“Cheer up Hyung, it’s not that bad” Taemin tried once again as he patted Minho on the back who was still pouting now that we stood at the doorstep of Hyoli’s house, all the while getting ready to leave.

 

“Easy for you to say, you didn’t get beaten by a girl” 

 

“I told you, you can always come back for a re-match” Hyoli laughed as I put my jacket back on.

 

“That won’t be happening anytime soon after this experience” I muttered as Hyoli smiled and looked my way.

 

Her smile was pretty like usual but I couldn’t help feel that it held a bit of sadness in there as well, did she heard my comment or something?

 

Obviously I wasn’t being serious about it.

 

“Today was fun though, thank you for the cake” She said as Taemin nodded his head in reply with a beaming smile on his lips.

 

“No problem! Next time we’ll bring ice cream”

 

“And cupcakes” Onew shouted out, causing me to shake my in disapproval.

 

That boy and his love for cupcakes, it’s just not normal.

 

It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t I- 90 percent of the time- who baked them.

 

“I look forward to it” Hyoli laughed as we made our way out onto the front porch step.

 

I turned to her as the others made their way into Onew’s car, Jonghyun still completely entranced with his phone.

 

He couldn’t keep his eyes from looking scanning over some good shots he had taken of Hyoli through her and Minho’s power hour gaming.

 

So much so that he forgot to say goodbye to real living and breathing Hyoli, she didn’t seem to mind too much though.

 

I turned to her as she stood between the threshold of her doorway.

 

“I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow at school?”

 

I nodded my head in reply.

 

“A new week, a phobia to prepare to overcome. Hopefully a car won’t be destroyed this time” I said, in all seriousness as well since I don’t think Jonghyun would be able to survive another blow to his heart after the death of his baby.

 

“I don’t think that will be a problem” She laughed as I raised an eyebrow.

 

“Nothing else on the list has anything to do with cars so you’re safe, for now anyway”

 

“For now?”

 

“I told my Halmoni about you guys and how I’ve overcome 2 of my phobias already. She’s impressed and also a bit annoyed at the same time. But she‘s insisted on buying me a car for graduation and she wants one of you guys to teach me the basics of driving”

 

“Why would she be annoyed?” I questioned, as far as I could tell me and the guys were doing a good job and whatever we were doing must be working.

 

“Don’t get me wrong, she’s not annoyed at you. She thankful for what you’re doing. She knows how these phobias have affected me over the years and she even tried to help get rid of them at one point as well. She’s just unhappy that all the therapy classes she paid for has gone to waste. She thinks the accident was the cause of these fears I have. It killed my Umma and Unni and my Appa has never fully recovered. Halmoni is the backbone of our family and the one that keeps us fed and clothed” Hyoli explained almost going into a trance of her own.

 

I coughed, feeling awkward for the situation and it seemed to pull Hyoli back to me.

 

She looked at me and smiled and I could see the sadness very clearly this time.

 

“And of course you have no idea what I’m talking about. Sorry, I didn’t mean to dump my whole life story on you like that” She mumbled while scratching the back of her head.  

 

I shook my head and raised both my hands up in front of my chest.

 

“No problem. We’re friends and that’s what friends are for, right?”

 

Hyoli seemed to think about that for a second before a true smile swept over her face and nodded her head happily.

 

“Friends. I like that”

 

“Good because you’re stuck with us from now on” I laughed when I heard a car horn beep behind me.

 

“Get in loser or we’re leaving without you” Onew shouted out of the car window.

 

I sighed and waved to Hyoli before turning on my heel and walking to the car where my friends were all waiting for me.

 

-

 

-

 

-

 

The next day I dragged myself into the classroom feeling like a zombie, my body was freezing from the winter snow outside and my hair was a mess as well as soaked from the snowflakes that had fell and melted onto my head.

 

To be honest, I just looked like a human sized drowned rat.

Taking a seat I noticed the usual.

 

Taemin asleep, Jonghyun playing on his phone and Minho…

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be at soccer practice right now?” I questioned as Minho looked at me, seeming to only realize now that I had arrived.

 

“Hyung, you look a mess” He stated, completely ignoring my question just to insult me.

 

Sure, kick a man when he’s already down why don’t you?

 

“Ignore the hair, it isn’t a good look for me today” I rolled my eyes while pulling my stuff from out of my bag before placing it on the floor by my feet.

 

“Coach cancelled practice. The snow is to thick. Seems like it snowed all night long”

 

“Tell me about it, my driver had to clear the path in order for me to get to school today. I was seriously debating over not attending school today” Jonghyun said, placing his hand phone in his trouser pocket.

 

“What made you decide to come?” I asked when the classroom door slid open to reveal a soaked Hyoli.

 

She was wet from head to toe and didn’t look to pleased but besides from that, she still managed to look presentable unlike me in my current state.

 

“Hyoli!~” Jonghyun suddenly called, catching her attention almost instantly.

 

She placed her back on her desk at the other side of the class room before making her way over to us.

 

“Hyung, could you be a bit more quiet. It’s too early in the morning to be so cheerful” Taemin mumbled.

 

I turned to see his head still resting on his folded arms but he was looking at Jonghyun with squinted eyes.

 

“Times like this I wish Snow was on my phobia list. At least then I’d have an excuse not to come here” She said softly while leaning on the teachers desk that was right in front of my own.

 

“Not a fan of the snow either?” I asked as she shook her head.

 

“You too?”

 

“Are you kidding me? Have you seen what it’s done to my hair?” I said pointing up to the hair on my head which now resembled a badly constructed bird’s nest.

 

She left out a soft laugh before turning to the others.

 

“What are you guy’s doing here so early anyway?” She asked.

 

“I thought I had soccer practice today but it turns out it’s been cancelled” Minho grumbled.

 

“I hitch a ride with Jonghyun on school mornings and he likes to be here early so he can watch you walk through the classroom do-”Taemin sleepily began to reply when Jonghyun’s hand clamped over his mouth.

 

“What he means is I like to be here early on the morning to make sure I don’t miss anything important” Jonghyun franticly tried to recover from Taemin’s failure of keeping Jonghyun’s true intentions hidden.

 

Taemin pushed Jonghyun’s hands off before resting his head on folded arms once again.

 

“Taemin is really not a morning person, is he?” She questioned as me all agreed with her question.

 

“He’ll liven up soon”

 

“So are you going to start planning today?” She questioned, looking directly at me.

 

What was her secret?

 

Why did she look so damn awesome after walking through the snow while I had to suffer looking like a crazy bird man for the rest of the day.

 

Life just isn’t fair!

 

“Planning?” Minho asked as Jonghyun his the back of his head, making him fly forward.

 

“Yah! What the hell Hyung?!”

 

“Planning to conquer her phobia of course. How could you be so slow?”

 

Hyoli’s eyes didn’t leave me.

 

“Probably tonight. we’re going over to Onew’s place and we plan there. I guess it’s a ‘thing’ now” I shrugged as Hyoli nodded her head in understanding.

 

“What is the next fear Hyung?” I heard Taemin ask, his curiosity having won over his sleepiness.

 

Opening my school hand book where I kept her phobia list, I unfolded the paper to read the next phobia on her list

 

“Phasmophobia”

 

“What’s that?” Minho asked looking to Hyoli before she shrugged and smiled a sneaky smile this time.

 

“You’ll have to do the research and find out” She said before walking back to her seat as a few more student’s piled into the classroom taking away out privacy as they did so.