"JUMIE! WAKE UP!" Mom's voice boomed from the kitchen.

I groaned before shouting back, "OKAY, MOM!" But I snuggled back to sleep.

I just needed five more minutes. I was in need of sleep, okay? Just five more minutes.

But apparently, my body clock wasn't working well today because the next thing I knew, someone was shaking me.

"Hey! Wake up, sleepyhead!" A male's voice spoke close to my ear.

"Just five more minu-" Wait. A male's voice?!

Dad went out of town yesterday, and as far as I remembered I don't have a brother! Unless my sister magically turned into one over night.

In panic, my eyes flew open and I quickly sat up. But being the clumsy girl that I am, I bumped my head with his in the process. Way to start the day, Jumie!

"Ouch!" We both exclaimed.

I winced as I rubbed my forehead. When I slowly opened my eyes, they just rounded even more.

Lay?!

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?!" I yelled at him.

"Whoa! Calm down," he raised his hands. A second later, he chuckled. "I was waking you up, sleeping beauty," he teased me. "Your mom permitted me to. She said your five minutes are up."

"Ugh! Mom!"

Lay stood up from sitting on my bed. "I suggest you take a lightning-speed shower if you don't wanna be late. I'll wait downstairs, kay?"

"Fine. Now get out of my room!"

He complied and walked to the door. "Sometimes I wondered why everyone thought you're the queen of silence," he mumbled, but I could totally hear him.

"Get out, Lay!" I threw a pillow at him and he scurried away with laughter.

I finally got up from bed and took a - as Lay had put - lightning-speed shower. I went down the stairs and, saying a quick bye to my mom, pulled Lay, who was eating a sandwich my mom made, out from the kitchen. We went to our University by his car as always.

Lay and I had been friends since the start of my uni life. His batch was actually a year above mine. So, yeah, he was a sunbae. Honestly, I didn't really remember how we became friends. Knowing how bad I was in making new friends, it was a miracle we were even friends.

Like seriously, it was hard for me to even make small talks with my new classmates then. Later, I always had the urge to go back to my shell or run away when my classmates told me to hangout with them. Sometimes I felt bad for doing so because I knew they meant well. But I was absolutely, seriously, undoubtedly not good with conversations. I think too much before I say something, that I would often times missed the timing to talk and would end up feeling left out of the conversation. Besides, hanging around with too many people drained my energy. For real. So yeah, better go back to my shell. Thus, my uni life until now basically consisted of me going to the campus and going back home right after.

Again, I didn't really remember how Lay and I became friends, but I remembered where. We first met in the library. We just kinda made it a habit to visit the library after that. I didn't know then that he was a sunbae. I mean... The guy looked clueless like a new kid. He didn't even know how to find a book in the library. Who would have thought he was a sunbae, right? He never told me either. So I called him by his name until I learned that he was actually one and started calling him 'sunbae'. But Lay was against it, saying that it felt weird being called that way by me after all these times. He opposed to me calling him 'oppa' either. Well, I don't have anything against it. So we're both cool with calling him by his name. Lay was pretty much the only friend I can rely on. And sometimes I hated the fact that we were of different majors. I took design and media while he took music.

Oh wait! I did have one other friend. But unfortunately, she also took a different major. Dance. So we rarely met at the campus, except for lunch time. Speaking of her, here she came.

"Jumie!" She yelled and waved from across the cafeteria.

Oh great! Now everyone's staring at me. I tried to hide my face with my hand.

One thing I didn't like: too much attention on me. And two of the things that differentiated this friend of mine from Lay: she was loud and she didn't mind attention. Sometimes, I actually thought that she even loved attention - though she never admitted to it.

"Hey!" She greeted when she arrived at my table.

"Hi," I greeted back still trying to hide my face from the stares. She seemed to pick up on it and she turned to look at the people around us.

"What?" She asked them and they immediately looked away. "So," she turned back to me with a grin, "where's that boyfriend of yours?"

I sighed. "Hwayoung, I told you Lay's not my boyfriend. We're just friends."

Why would she even thought of us that way? We were just two people who came to the campus together, sometimes went home together, then we occasionally hung out in the library or the cafe down the block and- okay, I guessed it was plausible she mistook us as a couple. But we're just friends. Nothing more.

She just giggled at my response. "Yeah right," she rolled her eyes.

Then, a group of girls approached our table. They were Hwayoung's classmates, I recognized.

"Young, we need to discuss about the group dance routine we need to make."

"Ah, right!" Hwayoung then glanced at me before looking back at her friend with a pout. "Does it have to be now though?"

"It's okay, Young," I assured her giving a smile. "Lay's probably coming in a few minutes."

Her pout suddenly turned into a knowing grin.

Crap! Why did I say that?

I sighed again. "Whatever you're thinking, it's not that."

"Okay~," she sang as she stood up and walked away with her friends.

This was why I always think for a long time before I speak. But I always let my guard down when I'm around Lay and Hwayoung.

"Hey!" Lay suddenly sat beside me and it actually made me flinch.

"Can you not suddenly appear like that?" I clucked and he just chuckled showing his dimple.

"Was that Lee Hwayoung?" He nodded toward the said girl who was stopped in her tracks by some guys giving her envelope and flowers.

Have I mentioned that she was THE Queen of the campus? Well who wouldn't thought of her that way! She was pretty, out going, and plus she was a dancer and a ballerina. She quickly became popular though she just transferred to this university the second half of the first year. Almost every guy wanted to date her.

"Yeah, that was Hwayoung. Why?" I narrowed my eyes at Lay.

"She's prettier from closer look," he said with eyes still lingering on her.

And apparently, my friend here was smitten by her too.

Honestly, I kinda envy her for the loves she was getting. Not that I was desperate for attention or fame, but during her first few months here in the university, I felt devastated. Why? Because there was this cute guy who was hitting on me, and I was starting to like him back, but when she appeared, he had a change of heart. For her. I know. Such a douche that guy. It made me feel like I was just an option. I guess look does matter. I started disliking her because of that.

But when I got a chance to get to know her through this one class we were sharing, I learned that she was actually pretty cool. And we became best friends ever since. It was funny how she never really met Lay though. But I already had a feeling that Lay kinda liked her too. And it made me feel somewhat... disappointed.

I know. Why would I feel that way, right? Could I possibly be...jealous?

Wait, what?! Me? Jealous? Over Lay? No way! Why was I even debating of that with myself!

"Ya!" Lay nudged me, snapping me out of my train of thoughts. "You alright?"

"Huh?" I blinked several times before realizing that I had spaced out. "Oh! Yeah. I'm okay."

"No. You're not." He pointed out. "Come on. Tell me what you were thinking." He insisted.

One of the reasons why I let my guard down around Lay was because even if I put up my guard, he could just see right through me.

I avoided his eyes and lowered my head.

"Nothing. I just...," I sighed. "I just...thought that Hwayoung's so lucky to have guys chasing after her. While me? I can't even get close to any guy without embarrassing myself. I don't even think any guy here would notice me. Oh yeah, I'm the Susan Storm of the campus."

"You can't get close to any guy?" He raised his eyebrows. "What am I then? A girl? A unicorn?" Lay asked, a teasing smile plastered on his face.

"Ya! You know that was not what I meant," I lightly pushed his arm. "We're friends!"

"Then let's date. Make our relationship official." He said with a smile that looked too sincere, it actually scared me.

I could almost feel my eyes bulging out at his suggestion.

"W-wh-what? WHAT?! Lay! Are you drunk?" I rolled my eyes. "You did NOT just ask me to date you!"

"Why~?" He leaned closer to me and I instinctively leaned away.

"Quit joking around, Zhang Yixing!" I pushed him away. And yeah Yixing was his Chinese name. "I'm not that desperate!"

He chuckled. "Exactly my point. I know you're better than that. So quit feeling wasted, Yoon Jumie!" He ruffled my hair and I started smiling.

It was weird to me how Lay always knew what to say to make me feel better. Guess that's what friends are for, ey!