Taemin, Soojung and Jongin were peacefully building a Lego city in Jongin’s living room. Taemin had accidentally broken Soojung’s ‘Empire State Building’, and Soojung had hit him and yelled, “Taemin-ah, you clumsy doofus!”

 

Jongin’s oldest sister, stuck with babysitting duty as usual, put her magazine down. “Y’know, kids, I just thought about something.”

 

The trio turn to look at her.

 

“Soojung, Jongin, you shouldn’t be calling Taemin by his name.”

 

“What? Why?” Jongin exclaimed. “What’s his name for then?”

 

His sister rolled her eyes. “Taemin is older than you two. You shouldn’t address him informally. You should be calling him ‘hyung’, and ‘oppa’.”

 

There was a brief silence before Soojung chirps, “Taemin’s older than us?”

 

“Taemin-oppa,” Jongin’s noona corrects.

 

Jongin blinks. “Taemin’s older than you?”

 

Jongin’s sister takes a deep breath and shuts her eyes. “Never mind. Never mind. How did I get a brother so dumb… I’ll let Mom deal with this. Jongin, get me an iced tea, will you? Raspberry flavored. Don’t mix it up with Jungah’s.”

 

Jongin sighs and pushes himself up. “Yes, noona.”

 

 

 

 

“But, aunty, I don’t want Jongin to call me ‘hyung’. It’s weird. And I don’t want Soojung to call me ‘oppa’, either. That’s even weirder.”

 

Jongin’s mother wasn’t sure if she should push the issue. She just doesn’t want either Jongin or Soojung to come off as rude or disrespectful. But the three were close friends, and they acted like same-aged friends, and Taemin was barely a year older than Jongin, and to her it wasn’t too big of a deal. It’s just that this wasn’t just her own child involved. “Okay, Taemin, Soojung, I’ll have to speak with both your mommies about this, okay? In the meantime, does anyone want chocolate-chip cookies?”

 

“Yes!” the kids chorus, and Jongin’s mom goes off to the kitchen to check on the oven.

 

When she was gone, Taemin turns to his two friends and says, “Don’t any of you ever call me that, okay? Don’t. Ever.”

 

“Relax, Taeminnie.” Jongin reaches over and ruffles his hair as if he were the older one. “We won’t.”

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

“So,” Jinri says the moment Soojung sits down at their usual lunch table, where she and Jongin were already seated. “Where did you and Taemin go after Homecoming, hmm?”

 

Jongin looks up from his chicken and his head to the side. “Didn’t you two leave before it ended?”

 

“Uh… yeah,” Soojung replies, picking up her spoon and fork. “Why?”

 

Jongin and Jinri exchange a quick glance and both smirk. “No reason,” Jinri says. “No reason at all. Just wondering where you were such in a hurry to go to.”

 

“Just… Taemin’s car,” Soojung says without thinking. 

 

Jongin raises an eyebrow. “You two were in a hurry to go to Taemin’s car?”

 

Soojung shrugs and pokes a straw through the hole in her juice box. “Yeah, we spent the whole night in there,” she says. “It’s just nice not to have to behave like you do when there are people around.”

 

Jongin tries not to laugh and Jinri covers with her hand. They both knew Soojung had no idea what she was implying, which made everything all the more amusing. Soojung looks at her friends oddly. “What’s wrong?”

 

“What’s up?” Taemin echoes as he arrives at the table and slides into the seat next to Soojung’s.

 

“You two spent the whole night in a car and Soojung misbehaved!” Jongin crowed, and finally he and Jinri burst out laughing.

 

Soojung and Taemin both widened their eyes and glanced at each other. “What?”

 

“Wait, wait, what?” Sehun suddenly rushes over and squeezes in next to Jinri. “You two did what? Hayoung noticed you left early…”

 

Taemin reached over and flicked Jongin on the shoulder. “Yah, Kkamjong! What did Soojung say?”

 

“I just said we spent the night in the car…”

 

Sehun widened his eyes and Taemin rolled his. “Jeez, you two are a horrible combination. Soojung, FYI, that was a suggestive thing to say. And Jongin…”

 

“I know, I know. There was no way you’d do anything. It’s funny, you have to admit!”

 

Soojung finally gets it and leans over to punch Jongin. “I hate you.”

 

“So how did you misbehave, then, Miss Jung?”

 

“We ate Chick-Fil-A,” Soojung says, twirling a fork around her pasta.

 

Jongin gasps. “You guys had chicken without me? The infamy.”

 

“Well, you had your little date with you,” Soojung says, nudging his foot. “Can’t bring her along.”

 

“Kyungsoo-oppa and Sunyoung-unni were Homecoming king and queen, by the way,” Jinri pitches in. “I was about to text you but I forgot.”

 

Soojung widens her eyes. Much as she loved her seniors, she had to admit they weren’t typically king-and-queen material. “Really? Were they expecting it?”

 

“No.” Jinri grins. “It was so cute; they were so surprised. I’m sure they were chosen because practically the whole senior class loves them. I mean, they’re both so sweet and helpful and nice to everyone and they help people study.”

 

“Yeah, that’s true.”

 

Zitao came not too long after that, and they all chatted back and forth. Just as they were finishing up their food, two girls came up to their table. Soojung recognized them as Hayoung and Sooyoung, Sehun and Jongin’s Homecoming dates respectively. They bow to everyone in the table, then Sooyoung tugs on Jongin’s sleeve. “Oppa,” she says somewhat shyly. “We’re ready when you are.”

 

Jinri and Soojung exchange glances. “What are you guys doing to them, hmm?” Jinri questions, cocking an eyebrow.

 

Sehun rolls his eyes. “We’re going for bubble tea,” he says, getting up and picking up his tray. “Jongin’s treat.”

 

Jongin swats him. “I’m not treating you, .”

 

“Lunch is almost over,” Soojung points out.

 

“Yeah, but we only have study hall after this, and the girls just have PE.”

 

Jinri and Soojung exchange glances again, then turn to the freshmen. “You shouldn’t be hanging out with these oppas,” Soojung says. “They’re teaching you bad things. Skipping PE isn’t justified.”

 

“It is so justified,” Sehun says. “You don’t do anything in freshman PE. Anyway, we’re not skipping the whole period. We should be back within the last ten minutes of class.”  

 

Jinri rolls her eyes. “What a model student. Well, off you go, then. I want taro milk tea with pudding. No bubble.”

 

“I want caramel milk tea with bubble!” Soojung calls out as they walk away.

 

 

*

 

 

Jongin had dance after school that day, so Soojung was waiting in the library as per usual. She had just started jotting down some notes from the 700-page psychology textbook when Taemin suddenly showed up, fresh and clean and not drenched in sweat the way he usually is after dance practice. “Hey.”

 

“What are you doing? Don’t you have dance today?”

 

Taemin shook his head. “I switched today’s practice to tomorrow. Do you want me to take you home? You said you have a psychology quiz tomorrow, and you usually prefer studying at home…”

 

Soojung blinks. She does have a quiz tomorrow and she does prefer studying at home — though waiting for Jongin to finish dance had gotten her accustomed to studying in the library. “Um. Don’t you have anything to do? I’ve gotten more used to studying in the library now…”

 

Taemin shrugs as he leans against the table. “I don’t have anything to do. And you don’t even have your laptop or notecards out, and you’ve only got one textbook…”

 

Soojung smiles. She was definitely not a straight-A student like Kyungsoo, but she still studied diligently and with that came a lot of particular study habits. One was that she preferred to have as much material out as possible — as in, two textbooks, two PDFs and one video all out at the same time. Second was that she liked writing out whatever she learned in a notebook and the condensed version on notecards. “It would be nice if I went home. Thanks, Tae. Does Jongin know?”

 

Taemin shook his head. “I didn’t see him again after lunch. You’d better text him.”

 

Soojung shot him a quick text, and after checking that it was delivered, packed up her stuff and started to return the textbook. Taemin followed her to the shelves. “Won’t you need that?”

 

“I don’t wanna take it home, it’s too heavy.”

 

“I can take it.”

 

Soojung turns around and stares at him. “Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?”

 

Taemin laughs. “I’m always nice to you!” When Soojung narrows her eyes, he rolls his and takes the book from her. “Geez. When I’m not nice enough, you complain. When I’m nice, you still complain. Here, I’ll take it, really. I mean, you were taking notes from it so it’s probably important.”

 

 

 

 

Soojung was sitting in the kitchen with her study material spread out and Taemin going over what he remembered learning in the class last year when Jongin suddenly barged in. “Yah, Jung Soojung, where were you? I looked all over the library and the track field and gym, and I even risked my life going to the girls’ changing rooms…” He goes to the fridge and steals a cold soda.

 

Soojung furrows her brows. “I texted you… Taemin took me home because he didn’t have dance.”

 

Jongin downs his soda before saying, “Oh. I left my phone at home…”

 

“You should really have your phone with you at all times,” Taemin says mock-disapprovingly, and Jongin scoffs and hits the back of his head. “That’s rich coming from the guy who forgot his phone in the freezer.”

 

Soojung nibbles on her pen. “I’m sorry, Kkamjong… I saw the text was delivered and that was it.”

 

“Nah, it’s cool. It’s not your fault.”

 

“I told you, you should just leave if I’m not in the library because there’s nowhere else I’d be…”

 

“I forgot if you had track or not. And I couldn’t just leave if I didn’t know where you were…”

 

“Well, you would if you had your phone.”

 

Jongin rolls his eyes. “Fine, so the lesson of the day is I shouldn’t forget my phone at home. Happy studying, kids.”

 

“Don’t you want to study with Soojung?”

 

Jongin pauses in the door, but then he shakes his head. “Not now, I’m taking a shower and going to bed. I’ll probably study at midnight. And I copied off Kyungsoo-hyung’s notes this morning so I’ll be fine.” He yawns and walks out the door. “Bye, guys.”

 

 

*

 

 

Soojung noticed that Taemin continued to act nicer to her after that. It was just little things at first, barely noticeable; he’d let her steal his last meatball instead of fighting her off, he a little less, he tries harder to help her with her homework even though he has his own. And then he started offering to carry her stuff a little more often, and started offering his jacket before she even asked for it — Soojung is pretty bad at estimating the weather so she often stole jackets from either Taemin or Jongin, but it was really rare for either of them to actually offer. She really started to wonder when he started trying to pay for her food or drink whenever they went out, and whenever he obviously waited for her after class or track practice when she knew he had other things to do.

 

She found it weird to even consider the possibility that Taemin might like her as more as a friend. But with everything that he was doing, and especially after Homecoming, she felt that she had to believe it. She really didn’t want to talk about it with him because she wasn’t sure how she should react if it really was true and he really did like her. Because she’d never liked anyone before, and she had no idea how to act or think or feel, and she didn’t want to mess anything up with Taemin.

 

But Taemin is her best friend. Soojung wanted everything to be clear between them, and she didn’t want to be taking advantage of his current niceness if it really was because he liked her. So she decided that she’d try to pick a time to ask him about it.

 

She decides to ask him when he stops by after her track practice with a caramel bubble tea. “Taemin-ah,” she says slowly, in between sips of bubble tea. “You’re being awfully nice to me these days. And don’t — don’t say that you’re always nice to me, because you’re not. Not this nice, anyway.”

 

Taemin shrugs. “I guess I’m a bit nicer to you nowadays. Why?”

 

“Well… why? Why are you suddenly nicer to me?”

 

“Um…” Taemin stalls. “I guess… I just…”

 

“You can tell me anything, Tae, you know that, right?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“It’s just, I mean, I know I bully you guys into being nicer to me. But this feels different. It feels weird when you’re voluntarily being nicer. It feels like I need to be nicer, too.”

 

Taemin laughs. “It’s not like that. You don’t need to do anything.”

 

“So… why? Taemin, just tell me.” 

 

Taemin fidgets. “It’s just, I think, after Homecoming… I kinda like you, Soojung.”

 

Soojung stared at her bubble tea intensely as she stirred the straw around in the plastic cup. “Kinda like me… as in?”

 

“Kinda like you as in I want to hang out with you, be with you, a lot more than usual, and treat you well. I mean — jeez — this is weird — ” Taemin looks like he wants to eat his tongue, and Soojung feels no less awkward. “Um. This is like me asking you to Homecoming all over again, but… Yeah. I’m trying to be nicer to you because. I like you?”

 

Soojung draws in the dust on the ground with the toe of her sneaker. “Um. So. Do you want us to, like. Go out? Or whatever?”

 

“Well, I wasn’t about to go there, cause… I mean, I still don’t know if you’ve ever liked anyone or not.”

 

“I haven’t,” Soojung admits. “Or, even if I have, I don’t really know.”

 

“Well…” Taemin raises his shoulders. “I mean, I’d like to go out with you. Soojung-ah, we’ve been… I mean, anything more-than-friends between us always seems really weird. But I wish it doesn’t always have to be, y’know? And even if it feels a little unusual at first, I do want to give us a shot. But it’s your call, I guess. I don’t wanna… force you into anything. Just… think about it.” He stands up and offers his hand, and she takes it. “Let’s go home.”

 

Their walk back to Soojung’s house was quiet, save for the music from Taemin’s iPod shared between them with a pair of earbuds. Soojung was quietly contemplative before she suddenly pipes up, “If we do go out, what will change?”

 

“Um… we’ll go and hang out more, I guess?”

 

“What else? Do I have to eat pretty in front of you?”

 

Taemin laughs so hard his earbud falls off, and Soojung hits him hard. “Yah! I can eat pretty too, you know!”

 

“Sure. Well, I’d love to see you try, but no. You don’t have to eat pretty.”

 

“Do I have to stop cursing — ”

 

“Soojung, I’m not asking you to change. We’re so comfortable with each other and that’s a big part of why I like you, y’know? I like you for you. If I wanted something different I would like someone else.”

 

“So even if we date, we’d play the same way we do now.”

 

“Pretty much. I guess.”

 

Just before they get to her house, Soojung says, “Taemin-ah… I really like you, and you’re a really important person to me. And especially now, I do want to be around you a lot more… So, if you can accept that I’m not and will probably never will be a mushy romantic and will not accept roses from you, I’d like to go out with you, too.”

 

Taemin turns to look at her and beams. “Really?” Then, before she could answer, he throws his arms around her and squeezes. 

 

Soojung hugs him back and they stay that way for a while, until Taemin says, “So now that we’re dating will you finally call me ‘oppa’?”

 

Soojung shoves him away from her and laughs. “No, you said for me to never call you that, right? Taemin it is.”

 

Taemin laughs and grabs her wrist as they walk up the driveway to her house. They stop in front of her front door, and Taemin drops a quick peck on her cheek. “Bye, Soojung-ah. See you tomorrow.”

 

Soojung smiles and shyly returns the cheek kiss. “See ya.”

 

//

a/n. 

title taken from exo's "my lady".