On the lips.

=

The remaining four from the pizza parlor gang had to split up to go home.

Kyuhyun and Stephanie went the same way, while Siwon and Taeyeon went the same other way.

=

Siwon was strolling with his head kept bowed, his hands in his pockets and Taeyeon skipping behind him.

“Hey, man, why so down?” Taeyeon started the conversation.

“I don’t know, just… Today was a disaster. I didn’t mean for it to turn out like this.”

“Well, on the bright side, it wasn’t a disaster for me. I got to order the same pizza as Kyuhyun!”

Siwon got reminded of his little conversation with Kyuhyun outside the lockers the other day, when he told Kyuhyun to make out with Taeyeon in the library.

“Oh, right. You really like him, don't you?”

Taeyeon giggled a little stupidly. “Yeah,” she gushed. “I do.”

“Any reasons why?”

“He’s just… He’s so my type. He’s smart, witty, smart, funny, smart, quick-witted, just… He’s just the one. I feel it. And I feel stupid for not noticing him earlier.”

“Well, he didn’t notice you earlier too.”

“That’s because I’m short,” Taeyeon pouted. Then a bulb appeared above her head. “Oh, is that why he’s not interested in me?!”

Siwon shrugged. “I think, on the contrary, he actually is.”

Taeyeon’s eyes went huge. “You mean he’s actually, possibly, probably interested in me?”

“Yeah. I mean, he’s been talking about you quite a lot these days.”

She skipped even more, almost knocking herself out on a lamp post right before her. “Oh, that’s great!”

“But you do know that Kyuhyun isn’t a very nice guy, right?”

“Well, that’s part of why I like him, too. His not-so niceness makes him a perfect balance for me and him. Because I’m a prick too.”

That makes so much sense, he thought.

“Plus, he’s actually helping in my mathematics grade. And I really appreciate the help.”

“He’d be glad to hear that from you. It’s nice to have someone like you, huh.”

“Shouldn’t you know that better than I do?” she questioned.

Siwon slowed down in his steps. “What?”

“Yeah, I mean, having someone like you—you’re supposed to know that better than any of us!”

He didn’t quite get that. “W—what?”

Taeyeon stopped in her tracks, now that they were at the bus stop already. She stared at him, first with narrowed eyes, then with widened eyes, and then with narrowed eyes again. Though Siwon couldn’t really tell the difference since Taeyeon’s eyes were, well, meh.

“You mean… You didn’t know?”

“Taeyeon, I’m sorry but I’m going to have to need you to stop being cryptic.”

She was starting to panic. Something just suddenly occurred to her that maybe, she wasn’t supposed to tell this to Siwon at all.

“I mean… You’re so attractive! Definitely, I know it, someone has a crush on you. And… Look at that bird! It’s so happy!”

Siwon went closer to her, and with a dangerous aura that freaked her out, he put on his mojo. “Does someone have a crush on me?”

“It’s, it’s not, it’s not me, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s—“

“It’s…?”

“Fany! Stephanie! IT’S FANY!”

The happy bird that rested atop the bus stop shelter flew off after hearing Taeyeon’s outburst.

=

Kyuhyun and Stephanie maintained a distance of about two meters between each other.

“So,” Kyuhyun began, “I guess we haven’t spoken much to each other, huh.”

Stephanie was a little taken aback that the smartest student in school was talking to her. “Yeah, no, we haven’t.”

“Since the ride home will take pretty long, you wanna play a game?”

“It depends. Does it involve blood?”

Kyuhyun chuckled. “No, unless you want it to.”

“Alright, then I’m game.”

“Okay. Let’s play Truth or Dare.”

They reached the bus stop and sat down, again a two-meter distance between each other.

“I’ll go first,” Stephanie volunteered. “I pick Truth.”

“I kinda saw that coming,” Kyuhyun sneered. “Alright, Truth. So… Who do you like now?”

She fidgeted incessantly on the seat and tried to balance herself well. “Um, nobody.”

Kyuhyun folded his arms and shot a look at her. She held up her hands defensively. “For real! I don’t like anyone at the moment.”

“So I suppose you wouldn’t mind if I hook Siwon up with some other girl?”

Stephanie cursed under her breath. She knew she shouldn’t resort to lying when Kyuhyun, the literal know-it-all was right here playing Truth or Dare with her.

Kyuhyun chuckled. “Alright, I suppose the curse word you just  muttered under your breath was another term for ‘yes, I mind’?”

Stephanie sighed. “What can I say.”

“Hmm.” Kyuhyun rubbed his chin. “You can always say ‘thank you’, since I’ve been a saint for not telling Siwon about it.”

Reluctantly, Stephanie offered her thanks to Kyuhyun. “Thank—you.”

“My turn! I pick Truth.”

“Okay. Who do you like now?”

Kyuhyun kicked his feet together and grinned. “Whatever I say right now will go into Taeyeon’s ears, right?”

“You know her name?” Stephanie asked, incredulously. Kyuhyun rolled his eyes.

“And how do you know that I’ll tell Taeyeon, anyway? I’m a good secret keeper!”

“Yes, yes, you keep secrets… Amongst you and your best friends.”

“Alright, fine. But this one is an exception. I’m going to keep it a secret.”

“Okay, you said it.” Kyuhyun hopped off the seat and took a few steps closer to Stephanie. Then he leveled his eyes to hers and leaned in.

“I like you.”

=

Krystal leaned by the windowsill, a camera held steadily in her hands. Grinning, she lifted the camera up and readied herself.

“Lee Donghae, this is my way of helping you.”

=

It was about a half-hour after Jessica leaned away and said bye, when Donghae finally found it inside him to start walking into his house.

He started taking note of how his lawn was horrendously empty, and decided that some flowers would do good.

Then he started taking note of how his right foot felt heavier than his left, and tried to even his steps out.

And when he finally got in, he shut the door gently behind him and leaned onto it.

And down he went, crumpling to the ground in a heap of feels and palpitations, and tears and giggles.

=

Jessica slid off the jacket the moment she got into the house. Krystal was watching Spongebob Squarepants, and didn't even cast as much as a glance to Jessica as she walked in.

“Your sister’s home,” Jessica announced. “Not even going to say hi?”

“I never did, so why start now?” Krystal replied lazily.

“But aren’t you going to be interested to say hi to your sister who had a pepperoni pizza smashed in her face an hour ago?”

Krystal bounced off the couch almost immediately upon hearing that. She surveyed Jessica’s slightly redder face, and how she was covered by an oversized denim jacket. When Jessica slid the jacket off, Krystal burst into laughter.

It probably didn’t help that the pepperoni stains created a smiley face on her designer shirt.

Jessica resisted punching Krystal’s face in, and focused her attention onto Donghae’s jacket. “Alright, shut your trap and help me out here.”

“With… What?” Krystal managed between bouts of laughter.

“I need to wash this jacket and return it as soon as possible.”

Krystal calmed down and scanned the jacket up and down. She tried to take it from her sister’s hands, but Jessica held on tight.

“Woah, chill. Whose jacket is this?”

Jessica sighed and hid the little smile on her face. “Someone’s.” Then she scurried off upstairs, probably to Google for a way to wash the jacket.

Krystal watched the scene play out with a puzzled look, then smirked when Jessica finally disappeared upstairs.

“Good to know that Donghae’s no longer a ‘no one’ now.”

She threw a very furtive glance at the camera hidden under the couch.

“So he’s a ‘someone’, huh?”

Pause.

“Time to make him ‘the one’.”

=

Siwon and Taeyeon were forced to take the last two empty seats on the bus, which were side-by-side. It didn’t help with Taeyeon’s plan to avoid speaking and eye contact with Siwon for the rest of the duration.

“Are you planning to keep your head down like that for the rest of the trip?” Siwon questioned, a little too indifferent. Taeyeon expected a level-10 breakdown from the revelation, but clearly Siwon wasn’t whom she thought him to be.

Taeyeon shifted around in her seat a bit. “If it’s possible, yes,” she responded with her meekest tone.

“You do know that it’s okay, right? The whole revelation, I’m fine with it.”

Taeyeon rolled her eyes without letting him see it. “Of course it’s okay for you, it’s just not okay for me and Fany!”

“Well, if I don’t say anything, and you don’t say anything, wouldn’t it be just fine?”

She mulled over it for a good ten minutes before finally looking up. “You’re right.”

Siwon grinned. “This will be kept between us.” He stuck out his pinky.

She took it with her own pinky.

=

Kyuhyun kept count. Stephanie had asked him the same question seventeen times in the past thirty minutes.

“You’re kidding, right?”

Now it’s the eighteenth time, and Kyuhyun sighed for the eighteenth time as well. “No,” he answered, for the eighteenth time, too.

Unfortunately, he wished he was. Guess his intelligence quotient didn’t work out for him all the time, especially when he thought that by going with his instincts and confessing he would strike gold.

Before Stephanie opened again, Kyuhyun clasped his hand over it.

“No, I am not kidding.”

She gave up, but the look of incredulity remained in her eyes.

“Okay, I know, it was stupid of me to say that. So how about you forget about it?”

Stephanie shifted away from his touch. “How am I supposed to go about doing that?”

“Just… Pretend I didn’t say anything?”

“I can’t! Kyuhyun, are you aware of what you said? And the effect your words had on me?”

“I guess I am now,” he shrugged.

“This isn’t some random thing I can shrug off!”

“But you don’t have to do anything! I mean, I like you, yes, but I’ve kept my mouth quiet for the whole duration. If I don’t act on my feelings, nothing will happen, so we’ll just leave it at that!”

Stephanie made a chorus of guttural sounds. “But—but it isn’t about acting on your feelings! It’s about—it’s about knowing it!”

Kyuhyun probably didn’t know what she meant since he’d always known so much all the time.