Yool hummed to herself as she swung a bag of fruit-flavored jelly snacks at her side.

What Taehyun had done for her family on the day of her grandmother’s memorial was unspeakably kind, and she wanted to do something for him in return. Over the past couple of months that she’d gotten to know him, she’d learned that he liked sweets more than salty foods, and his particular favorites were the very same fruit-flavored jelly snacks she’d purchased as a gift for him.

She cracked the door open, fully expecting to see Taehyun leaning against the gate, waiting for her so they could walk to school together again. They’d reached a point in their rapport where he would greet her with a barbed comment about her hair or a certain piece of jewelry she’d donned for the day, and she’d return the favor by making fun of the fact that his pants looked too short on his long legs.

“Huh?”

He wasn’t there.

Yool blinked in surprise before concluding that he must have gone ahead to school so he could practice for the winter showcase; it was right around the corner after all, and one of his original pieces would be a featured performance with the whole school’s orchestra.

But wouldn’t he have texted you to let you know he wouldn’t be able to walk you home?

Just in case, she checked her phone, almost hoping that she missed a text he’d sent…but there was nothing new since his message last night.

That’s strange. But she didn’t dwell on it; she’d undoubtedly see him at school, and he’d be delighted with the unexpected gift she’d deliver.

So refusing to let the sudden absence of her school trek partner dampen her spirits, she cheerfully made her way to school.

Upon arriving at the gates, she came across Song Minho and Kang Seungyoon, who were guffawing over something that was no doubt either offensive or not very funny to begin with. When they caught sight of her approaching them, Minho beamed. “Hey, look who it is! Taehyun’s fling of the month!”

Yool rolled her eyes. “I’m not a fling, and it’s been longer than a month.”

“Oh, .” Seungyoon and Minho blinked at each other. “You’re right.”

“How’s it feel to be the first girl Taehyun has ever stayed with for longer than three weeks?” Seungyoon asked enthusiastically, sounding genuinely curious.

“We’re friends,” Yool pointed out. “It feels like any normal friendship.”

“Mm-hmm.” Minho didn’t look convinced in the least. “What’s in the bag then?”

“A gift.”

“For…?”

“For Taehyun,” Yool answered reluctantly, and the boys began snickering. “Okay, it’s not what you guys think!” she insisted hotly, feeling her patience wearing dangerously thin. “I owe him for something big, and…what am I doing? I don’t have to prove anything to you guys. Have you seen Taehyun?”

“Not yet.” Seungyoon stuffed his hands into the pockets of his khakis. “He usually comes to school with you, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t show up today.”

The boys’ eyes widened before they exchanged a knowing look.

“What?”

Seungyoon chewed on his lower lip before exhaling. “Look, we all get a bit of a laugh out of watching girls fall for the same tricks Taehyun pulls on them over and over again, but I feel a bit bad about letting him do this to you, so…”

“This is what he always does around the third week of seeing a girl,” Minho explained. “Once he has her used to his presence but he gets bored of keeping her around, he slowly starts to remove himself from her life.”

Yool raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“You’re used to seeing him every morning, and the two of you walk to school together, right?”

“Right…”

“That’s become a routine for you.”

“Of sorts, I guess.”

“Well, he gets bored of routines.” Seungyoon shook his head. “Don’t ask us; we’ve known him for years, and he always excuses himself from the setting when we start settling into predictable patterns.”

“He likes the unpredictable,” Minho clarified.

“Predictable?” Yool laughed. Our conversations have been anything but predictable up until yesterday. The only routine we had was walking to school together…and staying at school after classes have ended to practice. “Okay, uh…thanks for the heads up, I guess.”

“What, you’re not offended?” Seungyoon blinked in alarm. “He’s fading himself out of your life again.”

“Yeah, so?”

“And…that doesn’t bother you?”

Yool threw her head back and laughed. Hard. “You guys are ridiculous. Why would I be bothered? I knew exactly what I was getting myself into when I shook on our deal. And I’m not like the other girls he’s done this to.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t have any special feelings for him.”

Yool was good at hiding her true thoughts.

In fact, that was the reason why she’d initially applied to this school to take up acting before she fell in love with the piano instead.

And it was a skill that came in handy when she finally found Taehyun right before lunch time, lingering in an empty practice room with a girl whose face Yool couldn’t quite place, although it wasn’t completely unfamiliar to her.

“Hey.” Yool rapped her knuckles against the glass pane of the door to grab his attention. He looked up from the girl he was flirting with and noticed her in the doorway. “Can I see you for a sec?”

The corner of his lips quirked upwards as if he were thinking, “I’ve got you now.” He excused himself from the object of his current affections and followed Yool around the corner.  He tucked his hands into the pockets of his khakis and leaned his back against the brick wall, giving her a nonchalant look; she was accustomed to those by now, but today, the look in his eyes were distant. At least before, he made it clear through his eyes that he was giving her his full, undivided attention.

Swallowing a dull sting, Yool smiled and held out the black plastic bag from the supermarket. “Here.”

Taehyun stared at it with disinterest. “What is it?”

“Just a thank you for what you did last night,” Yool answered honestly. “You didn’t have to do that for my grandmother.”

He shrugged it off as if it were nothing. “It’s fine.”

“No, really.” Yool took one of his hands and forced the bag into it. “I really appreciate the gesture. But…” Her gaze hardened, “if you’re gonna use your gesture as something to hold against me for the bet, then that would be a low and cheap trick to pull. My grandmother deserves better than that.”

Taehyun didn’t say anything but kept his gaze level with hers.

Yool glanced in the direction of the practice room she’d found him in and gives him a breezy smile. “She was pretty. Don’t hurt her too badly.”

And without another look over her shoulder, Yool her heel and walked towards the cafeteria to join Minah for lunch.

The rest of the month passed in a blur. Taehyun cycled through more girls than he normally did within the given time frame. Yool hadn’t spoken to him since she’d passed him her gift in the hallway, and she wasn’t complaining.

Although Yool had come to view Taehyun as a good friend within the two and a half months they’d spent together as an “item”—according to the rest of the school—she was also scared by how disappointed she’d been upon finding out from Minho and Seungyoon that Taehyun had continued treating her like he would have any of his other flings. Had she been hoping that he would have come to respect her as a friend also after getting to know her a bit better, bet or no bet?

Or did seeing so many good sides to him make her like him a little bit more than she should?

She refused to stick around to find out which one it was.

And seeing him in that practice room with Yena—that was the girl’s name—had snapped her to her senses good.

This was n