"How does 7 the night after tomorrow sound?"

She gulped and looked at their hands. He looked at her, anticipating her answer. "I don't want to date right now, Kai. I'm sorry." She pulled her hands from under his.

He rubbed his neck. "Oh. I understand." He came up with an idea. "What if I called it 'hanging out with a fanboy'?" She frowned and was about to reject him again so he came up with another idea. "How about if I called it a welcoming gift into college?"

"Kai-" She shook her head.

"Do you already have plans with hyung?" He bluntly asked.

She furrowed her eyebrows at him. "No."

"If you don't already have plans with hyung, then why can't we at least hang out?"

"Because-"

"Because hyung will get jealous?"

Angrily, she took the last bite of her yogurt and stood up and left. He followed her. "Hyemi-ah." She didn't stop for him. "You're really cute when you're angry." He tried to tickle her.

She stopped suddenly, which surprised him. "You promise this isn't a date?"

He nodded his head quickly.

She took a deep breath. "If you promise this isn't a date and you promise not to talk about Joon again... Then yes."

"Promise." He leaned down to her level and placed his face close to hers.

She cleared and took a step back, returning back to a shade of red. "Mhm. If we're done getting dessert I should get back home before it gets too late." She walked quickly back to her dorm.

Kai smiled down at the ground before following her.

 

-          -          -          -          -

"It's been 10 minutes and she hasn't replied yet." Joon looked at his phone only to see that Hyemi didn't text him back. He forgot to give her back her pen and he wanted to check to make sure she was still awake so he could stop by her dorm. And maybe they could grab a little snack together. "Maybe she's sleeping." He looked at the clock and saw that it was 10pm. "Nah." He tried to go back to studying but he was craving some frozen yogurt so he decided to just head over to her dorm. It was a chilly night. "I should've grabbed my jacket." He said to himself. He started jogging to stay warm and before he knew it, he reached her dorm. He checked his phone and saw no text from Hyemi. He couldn't enter the dorm without a key so he was about to call Hyemi when he heard her laughing. He turned around and saw two people heading towards him. He freaked out and hid behind a bush. The two people were walking very slowly. He could make out that one was Hyemi and she was wearing a guy's jacket to keep her warm. "Who is she with?" He squinted to see better. That jacket looked familiar to him.

"Thanks for hanging out with me." Kai nudged Hyemi.

She nudged him back. "It was tons of fun. Thanks for the frozen yogurt."

"Aren't I much more fun than Suho-hyung?" Kai placed his hands on his hips.

"I thought we agreed not to talk about him?" Hyemi scolded him. Joon tilted his head, wondering if he was hearing their conversation correctly. Are they talking about me?

"Right, sorry." Kai smiled cutely. "I'm still a bit jealous about how much time you two spend together."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure to spend a whole lot more time with other people." She gave him a small hug and Joon leaned forward a bit which made a small branch in the bush snap. Kai and Hyemi looked in Joon's direction. Joon held his breath until they went back to their conversation. "Good night, Kai-ah."

Is there something between Hyemi and Kai? Joon thought. She told me she thought he was cute but she would've told me if there was something more going on, right?

"Wait." Kai grabbed Hyemi's wrist and kissed her cheek. But from Joon's position, it looked like a kiss on the lips. Joon's eyes went wide and a pang of jealousy hit him hard. He stood up and walked away. Kai and Hyemi were too engulfed in the moment that they didn't realize he was there.

"Good night, Hyemi-ah." Kai winked at her before he walked away.

She placed her hand on her cheek and was speechless on her way back to her dorm.

"Sooooo," Seohee rushed over to Hyemi as soon as she entered. "How was it?"

Hyemi still had her hand on her cheek. "He kissed me on the cheek."

"That boy moves fast." Seohee shook her head and laughed. "So what did you guys talk about?"

"He asked me on a date."

Seohee squeeled. "What did you say?"

"I said yes." Hyemi started playing with her fingers.

"Yay!" Seohee clapped. "Then why do you look so sad?"

"What do you think Joon will say?"

"Who cares? Give Kai a chance." Seohee shook Hyemi slightly. "He's such a cutie. And he really likes you."

"But Joon..."

"Joon has never expressed an ounce of interest in you but Kai is practically throwing himself at you. Can't you give him a chance? I think you'll really like him."

She smiled and touched her cheeks. "Well. When I'm with Kai, I do feel like how I felt when I was with Minwoo. He has a little kid's charm."

"And you said you were interested in him." Seohee reminded Hyemi.

"I am. But I promised myself and Minwoo that we would focus on our studies."

"One date isn't going to break a promise, Mimi-ah. Besides, we're in college. It's time to have a little fun. By the way, you owe me two more loads of laudry now."

Hyemi placed her face in her hands and smiled. "I haven't felt like this in a while." She pulled out her phone and found a text message from Joon and frowned. After hesitating for a second, she decided to call him.

"Are you seriously calling him right now? After our discussion?" Seohee asked Hyemi in disbelief.

"I should at least tell him what happened tonight." Hyemi bit her lip nervously.

 

-          -          -          -          -

Kai swung his door open and raised his arms in the air. This startled Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and D.O. who were watching a movie in the living room. "Guess who's going on a date tomorrow night?"

"Did you actually ask Hyemi out?" Baekhyun jumped up on the couch.

"Yep." Kai punched the air in triumph. "Well, it's technically not a date but it's totally a date."

"And she actually said yes?" Chanyeol raised an eyebrow.

Kai danced towards them. "Yes, she did." He high fived Baekhyun and Chanyeol but when he got to D.O., D.O. stood up, glared at Kai and went to their shared room. He slammed the door behind him. "Hey!" Kai shouted. D.O. replied by locking the door. "That's my room, too!"

Chanyeol placed his hand on Kai's shoulders and had him sit down next to him. "Looks like you're sleeping on the couch tonight."

"Don't worry, he can't be mad at you for too long." Baekhyun lied. "I give it a year until he talks to you again."

"A year?" Kai stood up.

"If you're lucky." Chanyeol joked. "But it's okay. Because you got a date with Hyemi!" Chanyeol shook Kai, happily.

"Tell us all about how you asked her out!" Baekhyun begged.

"Okay, okay." Kai agreed. He was so happy his heart seemed like it was about to explode.

 

-          -          -          -          -

Why does my heart seem like it's about to explode? Joon clutched his chest as he walked back to his dorm. He slapped his cheeks to wake himself up. Come on, Joon. Why are you feeling so down? So what if Kai and Hyemi kissed? It's not like you like Hyemi, right? You only think she's cute, right? He stopped walking and the first thought that came to his mind was Hyemi. "Oh my gosh, I like Hyemi." He pinched his cheeks until they turned a bright red. No! You don't like Hyemi! She's like a little sister! Stop acting like this! If you tell yourself that you don't like her. You won't like her. Easy. "Okay. I don't like Hyemi." A thought of her rushed back into his mind. "Ahhhhh," he shouted, which scared another person who was walking in front of him. He bowed in apology. You don't like her, Joonmyeon. You don't like her. As he kept repeating it to himself, his phone rang. When he saw that it was Hyemi, a bright smile filled his face. "Hyemi-ah." You like her.

"Hi Joon." She answered on the other side of the line. "Sorry I missed your text earlier. I was a bit busy."

With Kai, he completed the sentence in his mind. "Ah! It's okay!" He faked his happiness.

"Where are you now, Joon?"

"Um. I took a little stroll around the campus but I'm headed back to my apartment."

"Oh. Can I see you right now? I have something to tell you. It's about Kai."

His heart sunk at thought of her falling in love with Kai. "Uh. Just tell me later on. I'm really tired." He faked a yawn.

"But I want to tell you right now. I need to know your opinion." When Joon didn't reply, she took it as an okay to continue. "Kai asked me out on date." At that moment, Joon felt his heart break a bit. "And I said yes." It broke a bit more. "I think I like him, Joon."

"O-oh?" He was at a loss of words.

"Is that okay?" Her voice was soft.

"Why are you asking me? It's not like you like me, right?" Worried about the answer, he continued talking. "Because I don't like you."

"You don't?" She sounded sad but Joon thought he was misinterpreting her.

"No." He mustered up the courage to say. "Why? Do you like me?"

She was silent before she whispered out a "No."

"Ok then. We're just friends, right?" Joon nodded even though she couldn't see.

"Right." They hung up the phone.

Joon looked up at the moon and sighed. He raised his pinky in the air. Just forget about her. Don't forget why you're in medical school. "This is my promise to focus on medical school and become the best doctor ever!"

"Shut up!" Someone shouted outside of their dorm window.

Embarrassed, Joon ran towards his apartment.

 

-          -          -          -          -

"So?" Seohee asked Hyemi after she hung up the phone.

A tear escaped Hyemi's eyes. "He never liked me." She wiped the tear.

"It doesn't matter. You never liked him, right, Mimi-ah?" Seohee insisted. "You like Kai right?"

"Right." That was the moment she locked away all her unspoken feelings for Joon inside a little box she promised herself to never open. Promises, promises.