Jonghyun stared at the smiling girl in front of him, and only snapped back to reality when Onew and Key exclaimed their surprise.

"Taeyeon sunbae?" Onew cracked a smile, cocking his head.

"You're tutoring us?" Key asked, eyeing Jonghyun at the lack of notification and began to fix his appearance.

"Oh no, not me." Taeyeon laughed, her eyes curving slightly, "I was invited to study with you guys and help Ji Eun tutor you all."

Jonghyun blinked, sidestepping so that he could see the shadowed figure sitting calmly on the familiar mahogany desk. Sure enough, it was Ji Eun, and he swore he could see a mocking smile itching on her face that she so hardly pressed down.

"Please come in." Ji Eun said, which took everyone except Jonghyun on surprise making everyone follow her request immediately.

"You... Know each other?" Jonghyun asked, reflecting the question on all of the boys' minds.

"Well we only just met a few moments ago, but she said she needed me to help tutor you guys." Taeyeon explained, stepping aside out of the entrance.

"Aw sunbae! You left practice just to help us study?" Onew grinned, his hands balling into excited fists, leaping gladly into the storage room.

Jonghyun waited for Key to enter in, but Key stared at Ji Eun with a look full of envy, confusion, and annoyance. Key grabbed Jonghyun's sleeve before he went in and leaned close to Jonghyun's ear.

"You're making me study with my biggest rival, the smartest girl in school?" Key hissed quietly and continued without letting Jonghyun say a word, "How do you even know her?"

"I thought it would be better for you if you got the extra help. Surely, you're smart enough to know that you only get better if you're around people better than you." Jonghyun did his best in avoiding the second question, purely diverting Key's attention to his biggest pet peeve- not being the best.

"Alright, you hooked me. I'll go." Key clicked his tongue before stepping into the sunlit golden room storage room, looking around in fascination.

"Welcome." Ji Eun nodded towards to all of the boys, back in her air like voice.

"What's with all these books and your stuff? I thought this was a storage room." Key peered at the backpack and neatly stacked novels and textbooks on the sleek bookcases, "All this furniture too."

"The staff council let me use this room sometimes before exams to study and store books." Ji Eun tilted her head.

"And they actually let you do it?" Key's eyes lazily flicked towards Ji Eun, but his pupils raged fire.

Ji Eun stared at Key, her face showing no emotion.

Jonghyun had an idea on what she was doing which was that she was probably examining Key - he had been a victim on numerous occasions of her examining eyes.

"Yes." Ji Eun paused, "It is probably an advantage of being first place."

Jonghyun's eyes widened momentarily, shifting his glance towards Key.

He winced because sure enough, Key was fuming.

Of course, Key tried not to show it, but unlike Jonghyun, Key was a horrible actor.

His ears were basically tomato red (with rage and embarrassment that only he felt pressured from), and his mouth was set into a stern, an attempted expressionless line. As Key pressed his lips together, the ends of his lips turned a pale pink and white. 

"Oh." The diva said a bit too forcefully, "I see."

Jonghyun scanned Key, and though he expected somewhat of this reaction; which was no less than what he had expected from the drama queen (ehem, I mean king) who had a strong pride in everything that seemed to have somewhat of a relation to a competition.

Jonghyun dragged his friend aside while Onew, settled himself down the most comfortable he could between the school angel and the icy genius. Even Onew who had little to no trouble adjusting to his surroundings in a flash, seemed to be under some kind of pressure to be an ideal "good student" in the vision of Ji Eun.

"Dude, calm down. I thought you said you didn't hate the school's number one."

"I don't." Key snapped back into Jonghyun's ears, "I don't hate her."

"Then what's your problem?"

"I just... I just want to beat her so bad but she's waltzing around here, even volunteering to help me, one of her enemies."

"Uh. Are we talking about the tests still?"

Key's eyes transformed into small slits, the repressed irritation bubbling to surface.

"Right. Sorry." Jonghyun nodded, patting his friend on the back, "But I mean, that's a good thing right? If you get her help, you'll get smarter and then eventually you'd beat her?"

"No, not a good thing. This just shows me she doesn't even think of me as a threat." Key growled under his breath, crossing his arms.

"Problem boys?" Taeyeon placed the last two cups of tea on the large table already cluttered neatly (if that was even possible) with textbooks and class notes.

"No. No problem." Key snapped, then waved his hand in apology when Taeyeon's light smile fell in worry.

"Don't worry, he's just being a bit hissy." Jonghyun chuckled, covering for Key's temper and pushed Key towards the seat farthest from Ji Eun.

Key glanced at Jonghyun with what seemed like a silent 'thank you' and sat down, taking out his books from his backpack.

"So, how did you come here again?" Jonghyun turned to Taeyeon sunbae, having completely forgotten about her due to the previous events.

 

Jonghyun could barely concentrate on the sketch of the human skeleton, nor on the definitions for the first 30 different vocabulary words scribbled on his spare notebook.

He was too busy trying to access the situation.

The school's genius loner was sitting on the edge of the desk, politely but quietly teaching Onew the logic behind one science chapter, while Key was on the other end pretending not to listen. Even in a dog's eyes, it was obvious that Key was straining to listen on in Ji Eun's little teaching session. Onew, was surprisingly getting along with Ji Eun, which was weird to see to Jonghyun, and he seemed to be apparently getting smarter by each minute.

"Do you understand?"

Jonghyun's ears perked at Ji Eun's stern but quiet voice, as he looked across.

"Yeah! Dude, you're like super smart." Onew grinned, "I think your teaching is easier to understand than Mr. Jung."

"Thank you." Ji Eun nodded, her lips in a tight line.

"Jonghyun?"

Jonghyun snapped into attention as his angel's voice seeped into his brain, and thankfully due to the weird atmosphere he prevented himself from melting from happiness.

"Did you hear me?" Taeyeon's brows wrinkled upwards.

"Uh... N-no, sorry. I was spacing out." Jonghyun let out a small laugh.

He caught Ji Eun spear her famous sharp glare at him.

"Okay, I'll explain again from here." Taeyeon smiled softly and pointed on the very top of the page.

Jonghyun could already feel his field of vision blurring the words on the paper and all he could see were letters, not words.

"Give her your attention." She mouthed.

"Ji Eun!"

Ji Eun flinched from Onew's cheery voice and from the sudden drop of formality.

"Y-Yes?"

Jonghyun almost smiled out of amusement from Ji Eun's startled reaction.

"I can call you that right? I mean, we're the same age. When's your birthday?" Onew babbled, grinning like a child.

"...December 24th." Ji Eun answered, her bangs falling in front of her eyes.

Jonghyun peered closer.

Was she... being shy?

"Christmas Eve? That means you're younger than me." Onew laughed, and even with his body hunched he was still a bit taller than Ji Eun.

"Please stop stalling and study." Ji Eun huffed, her pen clicking sharply.

"Aw c'mon, you should call me oppa." Onew mimicked Ji Eun, huffing with her.

"You are only a few days older than me, that isn't necessary."

Jonghyun stared at the two bickering, Taeyeon's words slowing blurring away.

It seemed like Onew was fairly comfortable with Ji Eun by now, and she didn't scowl or smirk at Onew arrogantly as how she did with Jonghyun.

Jonghyun's heart clenched.

What the...?

"Jonghyun?" Jonghyun blinked and his eyes shifted back towards the paper, "Did you understand?"

Taeyeon was smiling slightly at him but her eyes showed concern.

"Yeah." He smiled back, "I understood."

 

Once Jonghyun finally got the hang of the logic behind the scientific theory he and Taeyeon were going over, he had the leisure to take a break.

"You deserve it." Taeyeon laughed when Jonghyun groaned audibly and sprawled across the cool table surface.

"You're teaching is great, but I guess it's just me that's dumb." Jonghyun laughed tiredly, glancing at the others.

Onew had already finished most of the important theories that were to appear on the test, and he seemed to be working even harder on the definitions with Ji Eun.

Key; who was probably tired of straining his ears, neck and body to sneak in on Ji Eun's teaching methods, had moved a bit closer to Ji Eun.

"No way! Even I had a tough time understanding this part." Taeyeon sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Thanks for the hard work." Jonghyun grinned and stood up, placing his hands on his sunbae's shoulders, "Rest, rest!"

He pushed his hands gently down and Taeyeon sat on Jonghyun's chair.

Jonghyun noticed Taeyeon's shoulders tense up a bit and her small giggle becoming pitched.

"My shoulders are in a need of a massage." Taeyeon wiggled her brows, grinning with mischief.

"Would you like one milady?" Jonghyun let out a small chuckle, his hands shifting into masseur position.

"Yes please!" Taeyeon laughed, sitting back on the chair, but Jonghyun noticed that her shoulders were still stiff with tension.

"....Hey."

Jonghyun's smile faltered and as Taeyeon started making small talk, his eyes glanced towards the direction of the voice.

"Yes? What is the problem?" Ji Eun cocked her head, Onew also lifting his head.

"You know there is another way to solve this problem, right?" Key's chin lifted up with arrogance, his workbook neatly written on.

Ji Eun glanced at the page and looked back up at Key.

"You, don't know?" Key's eyes twinkled with satisfaction and he immediately took the chance to sit down next to the other side of Ji Eun.

"Hey, hey! She's teaching me." Onew waved his hand, shooing Key away from his mentor.

"How can she be teaching you when she doesn't even know this?" Key rolled his eyes, but his lips were curling into a smug grin already scooting his chair closer.

Ji Eun looked at the two bickering with amusement that was smartly hidden behind her glasses and tight lips.

"You solve it like this." Key began scribbling furiously on the scrap paper Ji Eun was doodling on and Onew groaned dramatically as Key explained poorly.

"I see." Ji Eun nodded, her eyes followed the pencil like a hawk, but her face showed no surprise.

"How's that?" Key puffed his chest with pride, and sat back on his chair to watch his victory.

"It's fine." Ji Eun faced Key and smiled.

Key's smug grin faltered and his eyes grew. Onew also saw the small smile and began smiling unconsciously. Jonghyun felt a strange sort of accomplishment as he had been the (probably) first one to see the rare smile of the Ice Genius.

"However," The smile disappeared, replaced with a smirk, "it's much easier if you just do it this way." Ji Eun took the pencil from Key's fingers delicately.

Key blinked and his face grew red.

Ji Eun erased a whole block of Key's work and instead wrote a couple of lines apparently resulting in the same solution.

"I-It doesn't matter as long as the answer is correct." Key scowled, crossing his arms.

Ji Eun's smirk grew even more hateful as she erased the answer and wrote the correct one. Key's face burned hotter with rage and humiliation as Onew burst out laughing. Jonghyun found himself to be smiling slightly and quickly pressed it down.

"Gee, Ji Eun is very confident with herself." Taeyeon chuckled, covering daintily.

"So was Key." Jonghyun replied and felt himself warm with pride when Taeyeon laughed.

"Shut up Onew!" Key snapped, releasing his frustration on his friend, snatching his notebook away.

"Hey! Give it back! Ji Eun, he's bothering meee!" Onew tattled, pleading Ji Eun with a look.

"Why don't you learn with us Key-ssi? Onew-ssi, please calm down. You are making my head hurt." Ji Eun backed away from the battle field.

"Onew oppa." The chicken maniac corrected and smiled when Ji Eun rolled her eyes.

Key held the notebook in the air, hesitating on the offer.

"Your method was alright." Ji Eun nodded and placed her chin on her palm, "I wonder what other methods you have for other problems?"

Key's lips were in a tight line and you could almost see his mind working.

"The way I showed you was pretty good." Key muttered.

Ji Eun nodded.

"The answer was just to test to see if you were teaching Onew correctly." Key mumbled.

Onew scoffed, but Key continued when Ji Eun nodded.

"I guess if you want me to show you some other methods I could." Key shrugged.

Ji Eun nodded.

"If you insist." Key tried to suppress the smile on his lips but failed as always.

"Aw c'mon! I'm gonna complain this whole lesson if he's here." Onew grumbled.

Ji Eun looked over at Onew, cocking her brow.

"We're studying together." Ji Eun paused when she saw that Onew still had a pouty mouth.

"Onew oppa."

Everyone's ears perked at the sweet four lettered word coming out of the most unexpected person.

"Wha?" Onew blinked with confusion but his lips were already stretched from ear to ear.

Ji Eun rolled her eyes and turned away, flipping open a textbook.

Jonghyun stared at the three and noticed something was strange. While Ji Eun was explaining the problems, Onew was grinning at Ji Eun while Key was stealing glances at Ji Eun.

It looked as if...

Jonghyun shook his head, rejecting the idea.

But no matter how he looked at it, it looked as if...

His best friends were taking an interest in Ji Eun.

He felt his heart clench again like before.

His brows scrunched with confusion.

What's wrong with me?