One smile.

All it took was one smile for Seokmin to forget every bit of pain he felt not only the past few days but also the past years Haneul was gone.

She then looked away and said something to Dayoung before getting off the stool and making her way out of the café.

Jeonghan looked at Mingyu and told him it was his turn to pay for their drinks, so he commanded him to go to the counter. Mingyu gulped and then cleared his throat before making his way to it. Dayoung went on the other side and put in the price for the cost of their drinks while Mingyu merely swiped his card and typed his PIN. It was as if it was already automatic, “It’ll be ready in a few minutes,” she told him. Mingyu put his card back into his wallet and then put it inside his bag.

Without any other words though, Dayoung began to make their drinks and Mingyu walked to their usual spot. His friends were all watching, but they were all shaking heads at Mingyu for how awkward and tense the two of them were with each other.

“This is why I don’t like being the one to order?” Mingyu remarked as he sat down and changed the topic, “So what’s up with you and Haneul?” He asked Seokmin, “What was that smile about?”

Seokmin breathed out heavily, “I’m not sure either… but she smiled back now, and that’s all that matters to me,” he replied, smiling brightly to himself right after.

“Wait, what? She smiled at you?!” Hansol asked in surprise.

“Huh–” Mingyu let out, “Looks like your thing worked. Who knew?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Why don’t you ask this sun?” Mingyu told the others, “He’s been pretending they never met before.”

“But he compliments her every time?” Minghao added, “Seokmin called her ‘Miss Pretty New Girl’, and it was really cringeworthy.”

“I didn’t even know you knew what ‘cringeworthy’ was.”

Minghao fidgeted, worried that they would get an idea.

"Seokmin, just what in the world are you doing?" Soonyoung questioned. Other times, he'd literally ignore and let him be, but not this time. His eyes and voice were filled concern.

"Well, Haneul asked me to pretend we never met on the first day of kindergarten and—"

"What did you just say? She asked you that? How dare—"

"Okay, but, hyung, listen. I agreed to it. So now I'm acting as if we first met at school today," Seokmin explained. The rest didn't know what to think of, "But even so, I'm still treating her the way I used to treat her, it's just that we've technically never met before." His friends again had no idea whether they should applaud him for his ingenuity or whether they should be worried he's going to make things worse.

"And it worked, I guess," Mingyu remarked, still unable to believe it.

"Are you sure it's that though?" Minghao countered, "She didn't look like she wanted to change her mind earlier. She was looking for Dayoung, right? Maybe she told her something."

Right on cue, Dayoung came holding a tray on her palms with all of their drinks on it. Wonwoo had stood up and took one of the trays from her in order to assist her. While she handed out their drinks, all of them couldn't help but stare at her, wondering if what Minghao said was true.

It's not as if they made their stares so subtle, Dayoung immediately noticed, "Is... there something wrong?"

"You know Haneul, right?" Jihoon asked, "We heard she was looking for you earlier."

"Yeah, of course."

"Did you happen to tell her anything? Anything that would change her mind about telling Seokmin her secrets?"

"Ah-" She paused. Dayoung didn't know if they'd get mad she involved herself in personal matters that didn't concern her, "I may have said a thing or two. Why?"

"Oh..." Seokmin let out, but then beamed straightaway, "I guess your words made her change her mind. She smiled at me!"

Dayoung's eyes widened a little, "She did?!"

The 'sunny' boy only nodded, "I don't know what you told her but thanks!"

"Uhm... don't... mention it?"

The next day passed quickly, and soon it was already time to go home. Haneul bid goodbye to Minah and rushed out of the classroom. But she didn't head to the exit of the building, instead, she went the other way to the next classroom, where she waited for Seokmin to come out from.

She waited beside the doorframe of the door a