Taeyeon watched as Jungsoo walked away, and then she breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, Mister Sleazeball is gone.”

“He seems nice,” Yuri said.

Taeyeon did a double take. “Nuh-uh!”

Stephanie cleared again and Taeyeon rolled her eyes. “Okay, um, Hyo… I think we need to talk.”

Yuri perked up. “Oh, is it my turn tomorrow?”

“Your turn to what?” Taeyeon asked.

“To…” Yuri put her hands up and did a weird flailing action. “Talk, you know.”

When everyone just stared, Yuri did her arm action again. “Okay, fine, no talking.”

Taeyeon turned to Hyoyeon, who was a lot more focused on her food than the conversation itself. “Hyo, come on. We have to talk.”

“By we,” Hyoyeon said, full of food, “do you mean me and you, or me and Fany?”

“I meant all three of us, actually.”

“Can I join in?!” Yuri perked up again.

Taeyeon strained a smile. “Yes, of course.” Not.

“What is it about?” Hyoyeon asked, her voice suddenly dark and cold.

“It’s about yesterday,” Stephanie answered.

Hyoyeon put her utensils down and wiped with a piece of serviette. She cleared . “What do we have to talk about?”

“Look, Hyo, I know I should’ve told you about the Hyukjae thing at first… But it’s all a matter of the past, you know. Isn’t it easier to just forget it? I mean, I sure as hell do not feel anything for Hyukjae now.”

Yuri raised a hand. Taeyeon gestured for her to go ahead. “Is this about the Truth or Dare game at our house?” Yuri asked.

Taeyeon strained another smile. “Yes.”

Yuri pouted. “Stuff like these always happen when Jongwoon and I hold parties. We end up playing Truth or Dare and gets real all the time.”

Taeyeon marveled. “Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?”

“I thought maybe this time would be different!”

Hyoyeon cut Taeyeon and Yuri’s conversation physically as she leaned in to reach Stephanie. She eyed her friend. “Look, I said I needed some time to get over it.”

Stephanie leaned in as well, forcing Taeyeon to sink down into her seat. “Getting over it doesn’t equate to destroying our friendship!”

“Who the hell is destroying our friendship?”

“You! You’ve been treating me like an enemy for the whole day.”

“Okay, for starters, lunchtime is the only period I’m seeing you for today. Secondly, I woke up late today and I didn’t get breakfast, so I’m hungry as hell and Ineed food.”

Taeyeon cut the brewing storm apart by launching herself in between Stephanie and Hyoyeon. “Guys, come on. I believe we’ve reached a consensus—“

Both girls turned to glare at Taeyeon. “What consensus?!”

Taeyeon sunk into her seat again. “Okay, okay, no consensus, fine!”

Yuri signaled to Taeyeon. “You can sit beside me, if you want to!”

Taeyeon palmed her face.

=

After lunch, Yuri had to go off for class, leaving Taeyeon with the two fuming girls. The had a free period together, and Taeyeon was stuck with the unfortunate task to be sandwiched in the middle.

They were still in the cafeteria, at their same spots, not having moved even an inch since earlier. Taeyeon sipped on her fifth glass of milk, eyes flickering between the two girls. “Guys, come on…”

“What?” Both girls snapped at the shortie. Taeyeon refrained from choking and put her milk down.

“Okay, you guys, this is getting out of hand. Hyo, all Fany did was let her eyes go to Hyuk first, when all of us first met. Did you have your eyes on Hyuk first?”

Hyoyeon sighed and shook her head. “No.”

“See? So it doesn’t matter, does it?” Taeyeon said, her hands swinging wildly in the air.

Stephanie almost leaped up in victory until Taeyeon turned to her. “And you, Fany. You shouldn’t have blown up like that.”

“What was I supposed to—“

“Ah, ah, you shut up! I’m just saying that you should’ve been patient with the Hyo thing. You know how she is.”

Stephanie sighed and shook her head, leaning back into her seat. “Alright, I see your point.”

“So are we all chill?” Taeyeon stood up, finally, putting her hands on her friends’ heads.

Stephanie and Hyoyeon went straight in for a hug, knocking Taeyeon’s hands away. Taeyeon kicked her chair away in an effort to stay balanced. The chair went flying, almost hitting a passing Jungsoo in the back again. “Holy crap!”

Taeyeon gaped at the sight as Jungsoo straightened his back and glared at Taeyeon. “Really, Taeyeon? I know you didn’t want to talk to me, but seriously? A flying chair?”

“I’m so sorry, I really didn’t mean to do that to you.”

Hyukjae appeared behind Jungsoo and flashed a thumbs-up sign to Taeyeon. “That was some nice aiming, Taeyeon!”

Jungsoo glared at Hyukjae. “Alright, you,” he called out as he marched over to where the girls were. “You’re going to have go out on a date with me to compensate my injury.”

Taeyeon glared. “What injury? The chair flew past you!”

“But I had to dodge! I had to squat! My knees made a horrible sound as I went down, okay!”

“Isn’t that your arthritis?” Hyukjae joked. Jungsoo flashed a fist and that shut Hyukjae up, forcing him to go to where Stephanie and Hyoyeon were.

“So I have to go out on a date with you because your knees cracked while you were dodging my chair?”

“Yes!” Jungsoo, triumphant expression and all, stepped closer to Taeyeon as he towered over her. He grinned sleazily. “Yes, you do,” he repeated.

Taeyeon smiled. “Okay, sure. I’ll go look up the closest orthopedics clinic. We’ll go there for a date!”

Jungsoo’s face contorted for a while, and then he stopped Taeyeon. “Wait! I know where I can find an orthopedic surgeon.”

“Where?”

“My house!”

Taeyeon hopped onto Jungsoo’s foot. “Nice try.”

“Okay, this one really hurt! I think you broke my toe!” Jungsoo grabbed onto his foot with a screeching yelp and started hopping around on one leg.

Everyone started laughing at Jungsoo until a pool of red actually appeared on and around Jungsoo’s pearl white sneakers. Taeyeon hurried over, as did everyone else. “Wow, I am an amazing toe-breaker.”

Jungsoo glared at her. “I applaud your talent!”

=

When the period after lunch ended, Kyuhyun went to the cafeteria to waste his free period away. He found the janitor cleaning up a small pool of blood in the middle of the cafeteria and he got his curiosity roused. Putting on his crime scene investigator-wannabe self, he approached the janitor. “Hey, there.”

“What do you want,” the janitor grunted.

“Uh… I was just curious. What happened here just now?”

“Some girl jumped onto some guy. Then bam!”

Kyuhyun leaped at the outburst and almost knocked over a table or two. The janitor rolled her eyes. “The guy got an injury. Sent to the nurse’s office.”

“O—oh.”

=

Taeyeon sat with Jungsoo in the nurse’s office. She was playing with her fingernails, completely ignoring Jungsoo’s crys of pain and calls for help. Jungsoo was this close to slapping her, until she saw the look on his face. She leaned in. “Does it hurt?”

Jungsoo clenched his jaw. “No, it feels absolutely amazing to have a possibly broken toe.”

Taeyeon smiled. “Good.”

The door to the nurse’s office flew open when Kyuhyun arrived. The nurse, working on a random boy’s bloody knee, glared at Kyuhyun. “You knock before you enter, Mister Smartypants!”

Kyuhyun beamed. “I’m so smart everyone recognizes me!”

The nurse threw an empty box of tissues at him. He dodged it, but almost landed onto Taeyeon and Jungsoo as he did so. “Ah, it’s you guys!”

Taeyeon stared. “You were looking for us?”

“Well, no, but then the grumpy janitor told me something happened and I decided to drop by… To see what’s up.”

Jungsoo unclenched his jaw. “This pig right here,” he gestured to Taeyeon, “stomped on my foot. I think she broke my toe!”

Taeyeon turned over abruptly and glared. “You did not just call me a pig.”

Jungsoo scoffed. “What, are you going to break my other toes?”

“I’ll break more than just your toes.”

Jungsoo backed down upon seeing the fire in Taeyeon’s eyes. “Sheesh, okay, okay, calm your .”

Kyuhyun sat down next to them. “What ?”

Taeyeon gaped. “Did the smart guy just get interested at a ual innuendo?”

Kyuhyun shrugged. “I am a guy, if you guys didn’t notice.”

Jungsoo raised his hand. “I did! And so am I! I’m a guy too! So Kyuhyun, you should take my side and start scolding the hell out of Taeyeon.”

Kyuhyun smiled at Taeyeon and leaned back into the seat. “Sorry man, can’t do that.”

“What is this?! A conspiracy to work against me?!”

The nurse discharged the random boy after she was done. They watched him limp away and then Taeyeon smirked. “Hey, Jungsoo, you’re going to limp like that too later.”

Kyuhyun prevented Jungsoo from landing punches on Taeyeon.

=

Hyukjae, Hyoyeon and Stephanie were together when the school day ended. Hyukjae looked at the two girls, now stuck to each other by the arms, and he grinned. “So, uh, since my girlfriend is stuck to another girl now, does it mean I get to hang out with two girls?”

Both girls shot him a look, and he shrugged. “Okay, I take that as a no.”

=

Siwon got a call from Kyuhyun about Jungsoo’s toe, and decided that since he had nothing better to do, he should just drop by to visit them.

At the nurse’s office, Siwon peered through the glass windows to see the nurse crouched over Jungsoo’s legs, and Kyuhyun holding Jungsoo’s wriggling body down. Taeyeon was busy snapping away with her cellphone.

When Siwon walked in, Taeyeon snapped a photo of him as well. “Hey, look, we have a guest!”

Kyuhyun grunted. “Some help, Siwon?”

Siwon took over and held the rest of Jungsoo down. “What happened?”

“Taeyeon broke Jungsoo’s toe.”

The nurse laughed. “You know what else is going to be broken?”

Jungsoo’s face contorted in fear. Kyuhyun and Siwon repressed oncoming laughter. Taeyeon got curious. “What?” she asked.

The nurse held out a pair of scissors, and Jungsoo flat-out fainted at the sight.

“Jeez, what a man. I just have to cut his shoes open.”

=

Donghae made his way home, and decided to drop by the Jungs’, just as he did the day before.

Except this time, instead of Krystal answering the door, a middle-aged lady came by instead.

Donghae found himself frozen.

=

When Jungsoo’s shoe was off, the nurse surveyed the wound. “Wow, girl, you broke this thing well!”

Taeyeon punched the air, ignoring the looks of morbid fear Kyuhyun and Siwon gave her.

The nurse laughed. “You really broke his toe… Nail.”

Taeyeon stopped short. “I didn’t break his toe?”

“You broke his toenail, silly.”

The nurse poured alcohol atop the wound, where the bleeding had stopped. Jungsoo was still unconscious. Kyuhyun and Siwon leaned in closer to look his broken toenail. “Man, what a pretty sight,” Kyuhyun joked.

Taeyeon whipped out her cellphone again and started snapping away at the crimson spot on his foot. “This will be Jungsoo’s new wallpaper.”

The nurse cleared up everything and bandaged his wound up in a matter of minutes, surprising Kyuhyun and Siwon. “Wow, you’re an amazing nurse.”

“Yeah, too bad I got stuck in this hellhole.”

Taeyeon squealed at Jungsoo’s big toe, now wrapped up to resemble cotton candy. “Look at that cute little baby!” She almost poked Jungsoo’s wrapped-up toe until Kyuhyun and Siwon pulled her back.

Jungsoo woke up upon hearing Taeyeon’s shrill squeal, and watched everyone looming over him. He groggily sat up. “What happened?” Then he saw the bandages in the nurse’s hands and he screamed. “Did you cut my toe off?!”

The nurse put the scissors back on the table. “Yes, boy, I did. But I only cut your toe…”

She trailed off when she heard a loud bang. Jungsoo had fainted onto the bed again.

=

Kyuhyun went off with Siwon after their free period ended. They both headed off for language classes. Siwon looked at Kyuhyun, now wearing a light smile on his face. “You seem a little too happy.”

Kyuhyun beamed. “Well, things are getting better now.”

“With Fany?”

“No, with Taeyeon. We get along fine now. How’s you and Fany?”

Siwon shook his head. “It’s better to leave that territory unexplored.”

=

Jungsoo limped out with Taeyeon after the nurse’s office debacle. He glared at Taeyeon. “You know what? I think you’re going to have to do a lot to make it up to me.”

Taeyeon gasped and stared at him with a scandalized expression. “But I only broke your toenail!”

“Yeah, now it’s not going to be the same as the rest!”

She smacked him on the head. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. And you’re going to have to make it up to me until my toe has healed.”

She gagged. “How long would that take?!”

“I don’t know! The nurse said two months…” He grinned. “I guess two months it is.”

Taeyeon folded her arms. “I should’ve just broken your toe off just now.”

“Ah, ah, no more violence, unless you want this to be longer than two months. Now let me brainstorm on what I should do with you…” He broke out in evil laughter, and Taeyeon grimaced.

“Nothing dirty, thank you.”

=

Donghae stood, muted, at the door of the Jungs’ house. The middle-aged lady smiled at him. “Oh, it’s you, Donghae,” she greeted.

“H—hi Mrs Jung,” he responded, his voice oddly shaky.

It turned out that meeting the mother of the love of your life was a little different now that the love of your life actually became the love of your life.

“What are you doing here?” she continued.

He felt his mouth go dry, and then Krystal appeared behind her mother. “Mom!”

Donghae signaled for some help while Mrs Jung’s back was turned. Krystal nodded sneakily, pointing to Donghae for her mother. “Mom, he’s here to…”

“To?”

“To help me.”