The bell rang, signalling that lunch time had arrived. The students in the homeroom impatiently waited for the teacher to let them out.

“Don’t forget to do and finish your homework. Class president, make sure you put 30 books on my table before the first class starts on Thursday, is that understood?” Mr. Hwang firmly reminded.

“Yes, sir,” their class president, Kang JunQ immediately answered.

“Alright class, you may go for your lunch now,” right after Mr. Hwang started walking out the homeroom, the students quickly scrambled out the homeroom, some were even running. Such hungry beasts they were.

Hyesun, who just got back from the washroom looked at her fellow classmates and then looked at her wrist-watch. Ah, it’s lunch time already. No wonder.

“You’re not going for lunch, Hyesun?” one of her classmates, Bang Minah asked her when she saw her heading towards their homeroom.

Hyesun looked at the bright girl before replying, “I’m taking my water bottle in the class.”

“Ah, I see. I’ll see you later then,” Minah cheerily said and waved at her before walking with her other two friends.

Hyesun waved back but then quickly went to her homeroom. Since their homeroom is at the end of the block, so it took her quite a time. The hallway was empty and silent as she walked down. When she reached her classroom, she heard the familiar voices of Mina and Naeun talking. Carefully hiding herself from being seen, she listened to their every single word.

“Naeun, are you okay? I noticed you’ve been dozing off since the first period. You were just staring blankly at the whiteboard and god-knows what you’ve actually written on your notebook. Did anything happen then?” Mina asked, concerned about her best friend’s well-being.

Naeun looked at Mina for a few seconds, hesitation was clear in her brown eyes. She opened , then closed it again before a sigh was heard instead. It made not only Mina become impatient, but also Hyesun who was waiting for her to speak.

“For God’s sake, Son Naeun, are you really not going to tell me anything? You know I’m bound to know at the end after all so why bother hiding it from me now? Just spill the tea, won’t you?” Mina was ticked off by Naeun trying to hide things from her. They had been the best of friends for years and she’d easily get sensitive when Naeun refused to answer her questions, unlike Naeun who didn’t really care if Mina kept things from her.

Naeun then stood up from her seat, it was blatant that she was annoyed just by a glance on her face, “Can’t you stop pushing me, Kwon Mina?! So what if I doze off the whole day? Does dozing off always have to mean something is bothering me? Give me some space!” she shouted in stress. It wasn’t her intention to speak in such tone to Mina but the girl was really pushing her button.

Mina looked hurt but in a split second anger replaced her hurtful expression, “Suit yourself then, Son Naeun,” she then dashed out of the homeroom in anger.

Hyesun quickly went inside the homeroom next to theirs and hid behind the door so that Mina wouldn’t see her. Peeking outside the homeroom, she slowly got out of the homeroom when she had made sure Mina was gone. This time around, she heard L.Joe’s voice.

“What was that, Son Naeun?” he asked, his voice was groggy since he just woke up.

Naeun looked at L.Joe, “I messed up, I know,” she sat down and put her elbow on the table before resting her face on her elbow.

This was a rare sight of Naeun so L.Joe knew very well she actually needed comforting. He took Hyesun’s chair and scooted it closer to Naeun’s table, “You can tell me what’s bothering you. Even though I literally at giving advice, I can listen very well if you’re willing to tell.”

Naeun put her head up and looked at L.Joe. Telling L.Joe would be a hundred times worse than telling Mina but she didn’t know why she was easy to give in to L.Joe, “I met him yesterday. I even talked to him. Well, it’s not that we have a conversation, but still I didn’t know why I approached him. I could have just pretended not to see him there but I— I seriously don’t know why I did that. I feel stupid, L.Joe.”

L.Joe didn’t need to be told who was the him that she was talking about. He should have had figured it earlier but since it had been a long time to see Naeun in this kind of state, he just forgot. It was always him who made her this anxious and gloomy. Naeun is a carefree type of girl, she isn’t the type to think too much into problems except for this one problem.

Getting no response from L.Joe made Naeun restless. She didn’t want to burden her problem on L.Joe but there was nothing she could do to take back her words, “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, I know I shouldn’t have talked to him, I should have avoided him at all cost. I swear this will be the last time I did something this stupid, I—”

L.Joe cut her off, “Son Naeun, stop. Don’t apologise. Or at least, don’t apologise to me. You did nothing wrong to me. If you want to apologise, you should apologise to yourself,” he stated.

Naeun looked at L.Joe, confused. She couldn’t grasp at what he was trying to tell her, “W-What do you mean? Apologise to myself... Why?”

“You’ve wronged yourself, your heart. Ask yourself, why did you do that? Why did you approach him in the first place?” L.Joe looked at the girl straight in the eyes.

Why did I...There’s no way I did it because I missed him but... Naeun looked away, her eyes moving restlessly, “I wasn’t... thinking. I was...” she tried to figure out an excuse even though she knew L.Joe might have known it but she wasn’t trying to convince him, but herself.

Seeing how uneasy Naeun was made L.Joe sigh, “He hurt you, Naeun. That jerk freaking hurt you. He hurt you so bad but why couldn’t you move on and forget him? What’s he supposed to do to make you forget him? Do you want him to kill you so that you’ll forget him and finally realise that he keeps hurting you?”

Naeun buried her face on her palms, her voice muffled as she spoke, “I know, L.Joe, I know very damn well! But I couldn’t forget him and I hate myself for that! Why am I so stupid? I’m such a pathetic moron, just how trashy am I to be feeling like this?” her words got ambiguous as tears started to fall from her eyes.

L.Joe looked at the crying girl in front of him. It was my fault. Only if I didn’t do it, Naeun would be much happier than she is. If only I didn’t leave, there would be no rivalry and boundary between us. He then reached for her shoulders and pulled her closer to him, hugging her in a comforting manner, “I’m sorry, Naeun. I’m the reason why you’re like this, the reason why we’re like this. I’m sorry,” he repeated.

Tears slid down her cheeks more than before to hear L.Joe blaming himself when they all had agreed there was no one to be blamed and they would be together in this no matter what.

At the outside of the classroom, Hyesun was more confused than ever after hearing the conversation that took place between Naeun and L.Joe. He hurt Naeun? He as in L hurt Naeun? But what did he do towards her? And Naeun couldn’t forget L that easily. If I were to guess, I’d say people can’t forget a person when they love that person so... Naeun loved L? And what does L.Joe mean by he’s the reason for all of this? So many questions, yet so little answers. She was determined to find out every single thing but she wasn’t sure how she’d begin her little adventure in finding out the hidden.

As she was drowned in her thoughts, a hand suddenly grabbed her writst which made her almost let out a gasp due to shock but was quick to recover so L.Joe and Naeun wouldn’t hear. She was being pulled towards the empty homeroom where she hid earlier. The door of the homeroom was then closed and Hyesun had finally seen the face of the person who had dragged her here.

She frowned, not happy to see him at that moment, “What the hell are you doing?”

The person snorted, “Really? You’re asking me that when I should be the one who asks that to you,” he harshly pointed his index finger to her.

Hyesun looked at the male, dissatisfied, “Seriously, Lee Chunji, what is your problem with me?” she asked in a whispery tone, not wanting anyone to hear them although she wanted to yell at him so bad but she knew better it wasn’t a good move if she did that.

“You are the problem and you’re the source of all problems happening,” Chunji answered.

“No one thinks of me as a problem but it’s only you! And now you thinking that I’m a problem is a problem to me as well. What have I done to you until you despise me that much?” she asked, angry.

“I might not know who you are particularly but I know what you’re capable of and I know what you are trying to do. You just scream evil to me as a whole. And catching you snooping my friends is definitely not a good thing to lift up your image in my eyes,” he said, every said word sounded full of distrust.

Hyesun decided to ignore the first part, “It’s not like I eavesdropped them on purpose. I just accidentally did—”

Chunji was unbothered to listen to her excuse, “Alright then, let’s say if you did not eavesdrop them on purpose, then why didn’t you leave? Why did you stay and listen? What’s your motive actually, care to tell?” he gave the girl a look that was challenging her to confront him with the truth.

“Do I really have to have a motive? Fine, I admit it, I eavesdropped them because I want to know about what could have happened back then. Is it wrong for me to know more about my friends?”

The lad chuckled, which sounded dark rather than lively, “Why would you want to know about their past though if you don’t have a motive? You should befriend them for who they are, not because of who they were! Another thing, they are not your friends! A liar like you doesn’t deserve to befriend with such pure and innocent people.”

“Even so, it doesn’t mean that I judge them by their past, I’m just curious, that’s it. And so the reason why you and I aren’t friends is because you’re not as pure and innocent as them, am I correct?” Hyesun smirked at the boy, she couldn’t help it and she didn’t care anymore about what Chunji thought of her.

Chunji’s hands were curled into fists, “Don’t twist my words around!” he nearly yelled. He then stepped closer to Hyesun until his mouth reached the girl’s ear, “And let me warn you beforehand, you should feel lucky that you’re a girl so I’ve been going easy on you. If you were a boy, things would be a lot more different than now. But don’t worry, you can enjoy yourself while it lasts, Jeon Hyesun. By the end of this game of yours, I’ll make sure you would even be too scared and humiliated to see the world,” he took a few strands of her hair and curled it behind her earlobe, a smirk not leaving his pretty face seeing the girl unmoving.

“Chao,” he raised his right hand before walking out of the homeroom.

Once he was out, Hyesun found herself breathing hard. She started to move her body but her feet tripped on each other and she slammed her back against the locker before falling down on the floor helplessly, letting out a cry in the process.

The door was then slided opened and before she knew it, a pair of warm hands was cupping her cheeks, “Are you okay, Hyesun?”

Hyesun looked up to find L.Joe’s worried eyes staring down at her. She trembled under his gaze. Would you even want to look at me later once you find out that I’ve been lying to you this whole time?

“What happened?” this time, it was Naeun and she was squatting down to her level. Her eyes were still noticibly red but she could care less about what people would think. She was shocked to hear a loud thump earlier from their homeroom and it surprised her even more to find Hyesun on the floor, her face was almost as pale as a paper.

“Hyesun?” L.Joe waved his palm in front of the said girl’s face. He continued, “Hey, please say something. You’re worrying us.”

Hyesun looked at both L.Joe and Naeun before starting, “I’m okay. I really am. I- I just saw a rat earlier that’s why I was shocked. But really, I’m good. I was just too shocked,” she faked a laugh, more like laughing at herself.

“A rat?!” Naeun shouted before quickly glancing around while clinging to both L.Joe and Hyesun, “Is there one on the floor? Or on the wall? Or—”

Hyesun smiled a bit to see how frantic Naeun was, “I think it has flown out the window earlier,” she said, trying to calm her down.

Naeun’s eyes enlarged two times bigger, “So rats even fly now?!”

“I don’t mean literally,” Hyesun deadpanned.

“But what were you doing in this homeroom?” L.Joe then asked.

Hyesun blinked at L.Joe for a few seconds before answering, “Oh, that... I saw something moving earlier when I passed the class so I was curious and went inside but then you know what happened. I saw the not-so-tiny-creature which shocked me,” she smoothly lied through her teeth.

“Ew gross,” Naeun made a face. She couldn’t imagine if it were her who found the rat. Just then, her stomach growled, earning the attention of the other two. She sheepishly smiled at her friends.

Both Hyesun and L.Joe looked at each other for a second before looking at Naeun and laughing.

“Being hungry should not be a laughing matter!”

What they didn’t notice was there was someone behind the door who watched them with unreadable eyes.

 ∞              

The three sat together on a table, eating their lunch meals. Hyesun saw L.Joe separating the vegetable from his meal and she quickly put them back on his rice. The boy gave her a disapproval look but she just stuck out her tongue at him.

“Eat them, L.Joe. Veggies aren’t poisonous, they’re healthy,” Hyesun said while putting more vegetable on his rice.

L.Joe groaned but nonetheless, he still ate the vegetables. Each bite came with a huge sip of water which made the two girls chortle.

“Really, L.Joe, it’s just veggies,” Naeun, who was in a better state than before laughed at the poor boy before her eyes caught sight of Hyesun’s purse and phone; precisely the phone case since Hyesun put her phone on top of her purse with the screen of her phone touching the purse so the back case was shown. She just realised Hyesun had replaced her back case but it wasn’t the issue that bothered her much. It bothered her thinking of where she had seen those two things together before she finally remembered. No way... It couldn’t be... I swear I saw him holding the two exact things in his hand yesterday.

She gulped before taking the courage to quiz Hyesun, “Before I forget, how was your date yesterday, Hyesun?” she blurted out naturally as she looked directly at Hyesun.

“You had a date yesterday?” L.Joe asked as he stopped mixing his rice with the meals. He looked at Hyesun to hear her answer.

If they were sharp enough, they could see Hyesun tensing up for a second but the girl was quick to cover with her laugh, “What was that question? I didn’t even know if I had a date yesterday. I was home the whole day after school so who could I be dating with? My sofa, perhaps?” she shook her head to make her answer looks believable.

But Naeun wasn’t satisfied. She knew her photographic memory couldn’t be wrong. She asked another question, this time she took Hyesun’s phone in her hand, “I just noticed you got yourself a new back case. Did you just buy it yesterday?” she looked at every inch of the phone and then she pressed a button which led her to the lock screen and it was set with a password.

Again, Hyesun made up another lie, “Actually, I’ve bought it a long time ago but I just remembered about it being there yesterday so yeah, I replaced the old one with this one. It’s pretty, isn’t it?” she smiled.

Naeun smiled back, “Yeah, it is. By the way, what’s your password? I’ve been trying for more than five times but I still couldn’t get it right,” she frowned as her fingers started typing any random numbers again to unlock Hyesun’s phone.

Hyesun quickly snatched her phone from Naeun’s hand, “It’s not that easy, Son Naeun,” she wiggled her index finger at the girl. I’ll officially be dead if she unlocks my phone and sees my home screen.

L.Joe, who had been watching the exchange between the two girls began to wonder. Naeun sure is acting weird and her giving weird questions toward Hyesun is not helping. I wonder what’s up with her...

∞

Later in the same evening, Hyesun went to Infinite’s dance studio and there were only Sunggyu, Woohyun and Dongwoo practising at the time she arrived. The three males were so happy to find her with two boxes of pizza.

“Eat up,” Hyesun ushered the three to eat as she opened the box for them.

Woohyun quickly snatched a slice and was about to take a bite when he noticed the girl’s looking blankly at the pizza. He sat closer to her and put the pizza on her lips which shocked her.

She stared at him, “What?”

“Eat this. Let me feed you,” he grinned at her. But when the girl continued to give him weird stare he quickly pouted and wiggled his shoulders which received loud grunts from Sunggyu and Dongwoo, “Hurry up, baby. Eat it! Say ahhhh,” he opened his mouth.

Smiling, Hyesun opened and took a bite. Woohyun then quickly shoved the rest into his mouth and ruffled her hair with his right hand which he used to hold the pizza.

Staring at the boy in disbelief, Hyesun pinched his full cheeks and shouted, “Nam Woohyun!”

Woohyun yelped at her hard pinch, “Jeon Hyesun, I’m choking!”

Later on, Woohyun offered to send Hyesun home. But since he came with Sunggyu earlier, so the two had to take a bus but that was his intention anyway, so that he could talk to her.

Woohyun and Hyesun took the seats at the very back of the bus. The bus wasn’t crowded, but it wasn’t that quiet as well. But he thought it would still be okay. He stared at the girl who was sitting by the window before poking her cheek with his index finger.

Hyesun instinctively slapped his hand away, “What the hell was that for?” she inquired.

Instead of answering her question, Woohyun shot her a question back, “What’s wrong?” When he saw how void she looked after he asked those two words, he took her hand in his, “Don’t think of lying to me, Jeon Hyesun. Answer me, honestly.”

She looked down at her laps before meeting Woohyun’s eyes, “I’m scared, Woohyun. I really am.”

This scared Woohyun as well to hear the girl admitting to feeling scared. He held her hand tighter, “What are you scared of, Hyesun?”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into me but I suddenly got scared thinking of how they would react if I’m being caught in this whole lie. When I started this, I never cared and I didn’t feel I would even care but now... The thought of it happening frightens me. I hate to admit this but... I realise I don’t want them to despise me when this ends,” she earnestly confessed.

Hearing this, Woohyun was sort of relieved. At least he knew she wasn’t too much into the idea of avenging that it blinded her heart, “I know you’re bound to feel like this sooner or later and see, it’s happening. I don’t really know what to say but let me tell you something, it’s not too late to pull out from this game you created. If you still want to continue, I’m afraid you’ll be the most hurt from this. Besides, it’s your game, it’s over when you decide it’s over.”

“But, I can’t. At least not now. It’s only over when I get to ruin his heart.”

“If you say so. But please, promise me one thing; please don’t get hurt.”