Taeyeon begrudgingly stowed book by book into Jungsoo’s locker. She kept remembering what Jungsoo said the previous day, after he’d finally decided on what she should do for the next two months.

Unfortunately for her, Jungsoo ordered for her to do everything he said.

Now she was packing his locker for him as he sat and watched, a grin on his face that infuriated her. She wanted to wipe it off his face with an acid-laden cloth. With every glare she sent his way, his grin got bigger and bigger, until he burst out chuckling.

“If looks could kill, I bet that I’d have been dead long ago,” he said. She knew he was referring to her glares, and she was secretly gleeful that the glaring was working. Not.

“But seeing you glare like that is so satisfying. And so, I’m just going to sit here and enjoy the sight.”

Taeyeon’s grip on his math book tightened, and as she slammed it down she found something to distract her with.

That’s right, it was the idea of going for her first special math class, where Kyuhyun was. She wondered if she had really moved on already…

And then Jungsoo broke her thoughts. “Taengoo, you might want to hurry up. Class is starting soon! I don’t want you to get detention, or I’ll have to wait for you.”

“I don’t need you to wait for me,” she spat.

“But you do need to serve me after school,” he replied, a grin reappearing on his face again.

“What am I supposed to do for you today?” she asked, her voice rising an octave.

“I’ll decide, and you’ll find out later. Alright, off you go.”

Taeyeon threw the last of the books in. She picked up her bag that rested on the floor and turned around to walk away.

But then she realized something, and whipped around once more. “Wait.”

“Yes?”

“What did you call me?”

“Taengoo?”

“Why did you call me that?”

“Because I wanted to?”

She frowned, suddenly not caring if she was about to be late or not. “You do not call me that. No one can, unless you’re the one who came up with it.”

Jungsoo was left with his jaw hanging as he let her fiery words sink in. She left once more, and he stared, dumbfounded, until she left his line of sight.

“But I did,” he mumbled.

=

Stephanie sat in language class, bored and on the verge of falling asleep, when Taeyeon marched in at the last moment before the bell rang.

Sliding past the teacher, Taeyeon settled into her seat beside Stephanie.

“Good morning,” she greeted, still seething with frustration from her earlier encounter with Jungsoo.

Stephanie perked up at the sight of her and leaned in to continue the conversation. “Hey, you. Why so late?”

Taeyeon pulled out her pencil case. “It was his fault.”

“Whose fault?”

“Jungsoo!”

“Oh. Right. The toe thing.”

“Toenail,” Taeyeon corrected.

The bell rung just as the teacher signaled for them to get up to bow. Once they did, the teacher returned to his seat and ordered the class monitor to pass the message around.

Taeyeon and Stephanie got the message and tried to decipher his squiggly writing.

“Sore throat… can’t talk… Pair up… Essay… Five hundred… Love…” Those were the only ones they could see through the mess. Unfortunately, they weren’t quite the appreciators of Shakespearean writing.

“I think he’s trying to say that he wants us to pair up and write a five-hundred word essay.”

“On love?”

“On love.”

“Guess we have to do this, then.”

“What do we write?”

Taeyeon bit down on her lip. “I think he’s going to grade this one strictly…”

“It’s the last practice before midterms, so I guess, yeah.”

“Then we have to do really well.”

“So we need an amazing storyline?”

“Yeah.”

Stephanie glanced around the room and saw everyone referring to various copies of Romeo and Juliet under the desk. She rolled her eyes, and then turned behind, to find the girls behind them discussing the topic of a typical Mary Jane falling for a hot guy and build a relationship. “We need something that’s not typical.”

“What should it be on?”

“Since all the typical ones involve happy endings… How about we do one without a happy ending?”

“Like a sad ending?”

“Yep. On… On unrequited love.”

Both sunk into deep thought for a minute or two, and only stopped when their eyes met each other’s. “We’re the best examples, aren’t we.”

=

Kyuhyun and Taeyeon had been assigned seats next to each other for Taeyeon’s first special math class. They shared a playful smirk at each other, clearly readying themselves for a challenge.

“Okay, everyone in the special math class… The midterms are coming up and I expect a full distinction rate for all of you.” The teacher paused a beat, and then lowered his gaze to fixate it on Kyuhyun and Taeyeon. “Especially the two of you.”

Both of them smirked again. “Will do, sir.”

As the teacher trudged away, Taeyeon poked Kyuhyun with a pencil, causing him to jump in his seat. “What was that for?!”

“Just curious, how are you and Fany progressing?”

“What are you talking about? There’s nothing going on between us.” He thought about it for a moment or two. “Well, nothing yet, at least.”

She chuckled. “You are one very conceited man.”

“It’s always good to believe in the bright side… And I believe that someday Fany will fall for me.”

“You hold absolutely zero qualms about hurting me, don’t you?” she joked.

He smiled. “I figured that you were cool enough. We’re cool, right?”

“Yes, we are.”

“But I’ll tone down on the Fany if you need me to do so.”

“Come on. I’m cool, as you said I was. I’m Tae-freaking-yeon, man.”

Kyuhyun chuckled a bit, and then pursed his lips. “I’m still guil-freaking-ty, though.”

Taeyeon poked him with the pencil again. “As I said, it’s over. So we’re cool now.”

She stuck out her hand for a handshake, which he reciprocated in less than a second’s worth of hesitation. When they let go, she folded her arms and shot him a funny look. “So, you going to woo her, or what?”

The thought hit Kyuhyun a little too quickly, and he jumped in his seat again. “W—What?”

“Please don’t tell me that you think she’s going to fall for you just like,” she snapped her fingers, “that.”

Her sarcasm got to his head, and he whipped around to look her straight in the eyes.

His face paled. “But I don’t know anything about girls!”

=

When Hyukjae and Hyoyeon were on their ways to their next class, Kyuhyun had sneaked out from a random walkway and abducted Hyukjae away. Hyoyeon was, unfortunately, dragged along with him.

Kyuhyun clasped each one of his hands over Hyukjae’s mouth and Hyoyeon’s mouth. Both stared at him, terrified.

“You two, don’t scream. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Both nodded. Kyuhyun released his hands and breathed, a deep breath. He was nervous. “Okay, you guys… I need help.”

Hyukjae scratched his head. “But you’re the smartest one…”

“I’m not well-versed in the subjects of…” Kyuhyun trailed off as he stared at Hyoyeon, sticking out his chin to indicate the subject of his attention. “…of girls.”

Hyukjae smirked and slid an arm around the taller Kyuhyun. “Then you’ve come to the right man.”

Hyoyeon folded her arms, rolled her eyes. “I beg to differ. Who should be better with girls, two guys or a girl herself?”

Kyuhyun shoved Hyukjae into the wall and clasped his hands together. “This is perfect, I get a girl’s help, and you’re her good friend too!”

Hyoyeon stared. “Is this about Taeyeon?”

Kyuhyun’s hopeful expression contorted. “Don’t you guys know already?”

Hyukjae regained his balance and went in between Kyuhyun and Hyoyeon. “No, and if you would just please stop shoving me into walls—“

Kyuhyun shoved him away again. “Hyo, seriously? You don’t know what’s going on with me and Fany?”

Her face paled. “I don’t know anything!”

=

Stephanie bit on her pencil top, careful not to let the eraser fall into . Taeyeon bit her lower lip, also deep in thought.

“Okay, I can’t think of anything good to write about unrequited love.”

“Weren’t we thinking of ways to write ourselves into the essay?”

“…We were?”

Taeyeon pulled the pencil out of Stephanie’s mouth. “That’s enough pencil for you, missy.”

“Sheesh! Fine, maybe it’s the pencil. Graphite does weird things to me.”

“But seriously, what do we do now?”

“Can we just hand up this blank piece of paper?”

“Oh, so that’s the great idea the pencil-biting has given you. To flunk this assignment.”

“Well, we have nothing!”

“Tell you what. We can spend tonight thinking about this at home. I don’t think it’s good trying to squeeze something out right now. Maybe we’ll get something later.”

“Good idea!”

“See, I didn’t need any pencil-biting!”

=

Jongwoon strolled out of school with Yuri, and almost fell to his death when Kyuhyun popped out from nowhere, slamming himself right into their ways. The lovebirds stared at him, stunned, until he did a time-out gesture and got them to focus. “Guys, it’s me, Kyuhyun.”

“Which part of us gave you the idea that we didn’t recognize you?” Jongwoon deadpanned.

Kyuhyun stood akimbo, now ready to cut to the chase. “Okay, this is serious business now. I need some help.”

Yuri, ever the helpful one, stood out first to put her hand on Kyuhyun’s shoulder. “Is anything the matter?”

He squirmed a bit under her touch. “I, uh, I need help to woo a girl.”

Jongwoon smirked. “Why are you asking me? Didn’t I already tell you how I got her?” He pointed at Yuri.

Yuri giggled a bit, clearly reminded of the sweet memory. She snapped back to seriousness when she saw the look on Kyuhyun’s face. “Okay, look, Kyuhyun, I think the best person to ask is a friend of the girl you like.”

Kyuhyun buried his head in his hands. “She has two friends. The first one used to like me, until not too long ago. The second one went into a catatonic state after I explained a long story about me and my… love life.”

Jongwoon made a face. “Yikes. Your life .”

“I know!”

Yuri pursed her lips. “Okay, don’t fear. I know what a guy should do.”

Kyuhyun perked up and punched the air. “Yes! I knew it; I knew you guys could save me!”

Jongwoon crossed his arms together to make an X. “No, not me. I can only offer moral support to my girl,” he said, smiling at Yuri for the last few words.

Yuri smiled back at him and linked their arms together. Then she punched Kyuhyun in the shoulder. “Just leave this to me!”

=

Taeyeon lingered around the exit of the school, by the gate, where Jungsoo had asked her to wait. Jungsoo appeared while limping over to her, making his journey across the outer compound of the campus in a long and painful twenty minutes.

“Hey, Taeyeon!”

Taeyeon folded her arms, suddenly recalling the earlier incident at the sight of his face. “Not Taengoo?”

Jungsoo came to a stop two meters before her. He gave an awkward grin and scratched his nape. “I figured I shouldn’t call you that anymore, after what I saw just now. Sorry.”

Taeyeon’s folded arms came down gently, realizing that Jungsoo was actually guilty over the incident. She sighed. “Nah, I should be the one who apologized. I shouldn’t have blown up.”

“Anyone would, if they had to be someone’s maid for the next two months.”

“Speaking of that, we should put this morning behind us and focus on my new job. Which, unfortunately, isn’t even a job. What do you want me to do now?”

Jungsoo continued limping out, making his way out of the school. Taeyeon followed him out. “Where are you going? Answering me would make my job easier, y’know.”

“I feel like having a sundae. You should follow me.”

“A sundae?”

“A vanilla sundae, I’d add. Come on, let’s go for some ice cream!”

=

(And just like that, the incident with ‘Taengoo’ went behind their heads. But is it really something that should be dismissed just like that?)

=

Krystal woke up in the early afternoon, feeling exhaustion weigh her down in every crevice of her body. She rolled around, unwilling to get up.

She heard the front door open and wondered who could be entering – or leaving – the house at such a time. Jessica was in school, and her parents were at work…

Suddenly fearing that it could be a thief, she got up and pulled a baseball bat to herself. She let her door creak open, and as she heard the footsteps coming up the stairs she raised her bat and got ready to strike.

Only that her target was no thief, but her mother instead. “Mom?”

She put the bat down and opened the door. “Why are you home at this time?”

Mrs Jung smiled and held a hand out. “Come on, dear. Go wash up and come downstairs.”

=

Once down, Krystal was seated by Papa Jung at the dining table. They brought out several dishes and urged her to eat. She stared.

“What’s this about?”

Her parents gave each other a look and then bowed their heads. Mrs Jung decided to speak up first. “After last night…”

Krystal looked down at the bowl they put before her. It was a bowl of congee, something she’d enjoyed eating since she was a baby. She picked up a spoon and used the congee as a distraction.

“We decided that we should start to rebuild the relationship between us and you,” Papa Jung continued. “We realized that there were a lot we didn’t know about you…”

She took a small mouthful of the congee, letting its warmth fill her up from her tummy. “And Jessica,” she muttered under her breath.

“And Jessica,” Mrs Jung agreed. “And so, we decided that we will take the effort to bond with our two princesses now.”

Krystal sighed. “Mom, Dad, I know last night’s story was a huge blow, but it doesn’t mean that we’re distant and stuff. We just don’t tell you guys everything. That’s not… wrong.”

They both patted her head. “We know. It’s just that we feel that we’ve been doing very little.”

“Ever since we sent you off to the States for boarding school, and since Jessica started high school, we haven’t done a lot to reach out to you guys. So we’ll make up for it now.”

Krystal put the spoon back inside the congee, and let a genuine smile come out to her face. “I guess it’s not too late.”

Then she remembered that Jessica’s relationship with Donghae was still a blurry spot in the midst of everything. When will they come clean to the girls’ parents?

Most importantly…

Will it go well?