As instructed, Jongin walked Soojung and Seulgi back home. Every time Soojung insisted that she would be able to walk home alone, he would object and say that it was dangerous for her to walk out at night.

"Besides, didn't Seulgi say something about erts in the area?" Jongin reminded them.

Seulgi jolted and nervously glanced at Soojung, who gave her a fake smile.

"Yes, yes she did." Soojung quickly glared before looking straight ahead. Jongin stifled a small chuckle, a little bit proud of himself for having some quality time with his crush. 

Jongin cleared his throat and turned to his right. "Um, we haven't formally introduced ourselves, right? I'm Kim Jongin."

He extended his hand towards Soojung. She stared at him before scoffing.

"Of course I know who you are. You're the most popular kid in school," Soojung said. Just when it seemed like Soojung wasn't going to shake his hand, she reached for it and gave it a loose shake. His heart skipped a beat. "I'm Jung Soojung. I'm in the same class as Seulgi."

Jongin turned to his left, where Seulgi nervously walked besides him. Her heart raced and pumped every second she walked. He gave her a gentle smile before extending his other hand. She grabbed it with her sweaty hand, but he pretended to not notice.

"I already know you very well," Jongin said to Seulgi. "Kang Seulgi, right? Sehun talks about you a lot."

"H-He does?" Seulgi asked, struggling to speak up.

"Yes. It sounds like you two are close."

Seulgi's blush faded and paled. "Us? Me and Sehun? You think we're close?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, every time I'm with Sehun, he always chases after you. He has this look that he never really gave to other people. He seems really happy," Jongin said, smiling to himself.

"W-We aren't close at all! I don't know why you would think that! In fact, he's more of a pain in the ," Seulgi complained. She stopped herself. "W-Well, no offense. I know you two are best friends, but…"

"No, I get it. I hear Hyeri say that all the time, too," Jongin said assuringly.

Seulgi's heart warmed up. I knew it. I fell in love with the right guy.

"So then…" He nervously looked over at Soojung, who looked ahead with boredom. "Are you close with Sehun?"

Soojung paused for a few seconds. "Um, we don't really talk much, but I guess you can say that we have some sort of mutual interest in the same hobby. Except we're on opposite ends, so we'll have a little conflict time to time."

Jongin's heart sank. "Oh. So you're the one close to Sehun. Not Seulgi."

"Exactly!" Seulgi exclaimed, enthusiastically nodding her head.

"Ah…" Jongin's face faded away. He felt a little upset knowing that his thoughts between Sehun's and Soojung's relationship was confirmed. Seulgi slightly tilted her head, wondering if she said the wrong answer.

Is it… Is it possible that Jongin wanted me to be close to Sehun? After all, if he's interested in a girl, then that girl would have to get along with his best friend, too! Seulgi thought, completely misunderstanding Jongin's disappointed frown. Crap, I said the wrong thing. She eyed at Soojung, who only secretly eyed her back. Soojung! Please help me!

Soojung let out a sigh, understanding Seulgi's feelings. She pressed her lips for a while and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, if anything, I still think Sehun and Seulgi are really close," Soojung said.

Jongin looked at her. "But Seulgi just said that she isn't."

"I think everyone who doesn't know them well say that they aren't close, but in reality, they have friendly little bickers. Sehun and I only have one hobby we're interested in. Like I said, Sehun and I stand on opposite sides, so we're not as close as we would be if we were on the same side," Soojung explained.

"Oh. What kind of hobby?"

"It's…a game," Soojung said slowly.

"Oh, cool. Maybe I can join the game and talk about it with the two of you," Jongin said with a hint of hope in his voice.

Soojung laughed. "No, no, no. No, this is just a secret game between me and Sehun. You shouldn't be involved."

Well, he's pretty involved with the whole situation. He just doesn't know it, Soojung thought.

Jongin's shoulder sunk with disappointment. Seulgi looked at him, carefully observing his expression.

Could it be that Jongin… She stopped her trail of thoughts. No, not this again. I can't think like this. The more I think like this, the more I might feel like I want to give up.

"By the way, Jongin," Soojung said. She turned her whole body and folded her hands together. "Are you seeing anyone?"

He stopped walking, startled. "W-What?"

"Are you dating? Are you dating Hyeri?" Soojung asked. Seulgi's eyes grew wide as she realized that Soojung was digging for his personal information. She looked at Jongin, who was completely flabbergasted.

"Me? Hyeri? No, no! I'm not!" Jongin exclaimed quickly. "In fact, I'm not dating anyone!"

"Do you like someone, then?" Soojung inquired.

To this, Jongin's cheeks turned beet red.

Seulgi's heart stopped. He has someone he likes. Oh my god.

"So you do like someone!" Soojung said. She grinned a little. "Who is it?"

It took him a while to collect his thoughts. "I-I don't! I don't have anyone I like! What's with this question? It's so random!"

"I'm just curious," Soojung said, shrugging her shoulders. Looks like I'm not going to get anywhere with him. She looked over at a bus heading towards the next bus stop. "Oh, this is where I should leave you two."

Jongin and Seulgi stared at her.

"W-Wait, what?" Seulgi turned pink. "M-Me and Jongin? Alone?"

"Yeah. Jongin, take her home for me, okay?" Soojung said. She pushed Jongin closer to Seulgi. "Go home safely, okay? See you at school!"

She ran away as fast as she could before either one could say anything. Jongin and Seulgi stood still, slightly dumbfounded. With Soojung's absence, Jongin composed himself and stopped blushing, while Seulgi became more frantic. Seulgi fixed her hair a little before the two resumed walking to her house.

They walked in silence, unsure of what to do. The atmosphere between them was awkward, but light enough to feel the comfort of walking next to each other. Any time Seulgi tried to open , words would not come out. As for Jongin, he simply didn't have anything to say to Seulgi, so he just walked quietly, starting up a small-talk here and there just to check up on her.

After a couple of minutes, they had finally arrived at a subway station. Jongin was about to follow her, but Seulgi held up her hand to stop him.

"I'll be on my own from here," Seulgi said. "After all, Sehun said that you live in the opposite direction…"

"You sure? I can go with you," Jongin said.

"I-It's fine!" she said. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and nervously looked at him. She blushed and looked away. "A-Anyway, I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Jongin said. He paused for a brief second. "Hey, shoot me a text when you get home, okay?"

"I-I don't have your number," Seulgi said.

"Really?" He fished out his phone from his pocket. "Here, what's your number? I'll give it to you."

Her heart skipped a beat. She hectically searched for her phone in her bag and pulled it out after dropping a few pencils. Embarrassed, she bent down and collected all her pencils. Jongin kneeled down and helped her gather her belongings before handing it to her. Her eyes glanced upwards, locking with his. He stared at her for a few seconds before breaking into a soft smile.

Ba-thump.

"Here," Jongin said, handing her the pencils she dropped.

"T-Thanks," she whispered, slowly taking the pencils off from his hand.

"Your number?" Jongin asked.

"R-Right!" She told him her number. After adding her into his contact, Jongin sent her a text message. A loud ping! echoed from her phone:

Kim Jongin's number.

My first text message from my crush, Seulgi thought. She secretly took a screen shot and hugged her phone. "I-I should go now. I don't want to miss the subway."

"Yeah," Jongin said. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, can you send me a text if Soojung went home safely, too? I don't have her number, and I don't want to ask for her number from you. I don't feel like it's right to ask for personal informations indirectly."

"O-Of course!" Seulgi said. She was a little concerned with Jongin's reason, but quickly brushed away her doubts, telling herself that it was only reasonable for Jongin to want to know if a classmate got home safely. She gave him a shy wave. "I-I'll see you later…"

Jongin smiled. "Bye."

She walked down the stairs, constantly glancing back to see if Jongin was there. He stood at the same spot until she could no longer see him. When Seulgi got passed through the ticket gate, she continued to look at the simple message Jongin had sent her. The three words probably meant nothing to him, but for her, it was a symbol of their blossoming relationship.

Once Seulgi got home, she showered and hung out in her room, waiting for her hair to dry. She rested on her bed, staring at her phone until she remembered to send Jongin a text. Her fingers tapped across the screen, letting him know that she had got home safely.

He sent her a quick reply:

I see. What about Soojung?

Oh right. Soojung. Seulgi sent her friend a text, asking if she had arrived home safely.

Soojung replied after a few minutes:

Yeah. I'm going to sleep. Night. Don't bother me unless it's an emergency.

Seulgi frowned at the last part, but smiled when she knew that Soojung was at home. She sent Jongin a text:

Soojung arrived home safely, too! She said she's going to sleep.

Jongin replied:

Good to hear. Yeah, it's getting pretty late. Good night and sweet dreams!

Seulgi screamed inside. She hugged her phone and gently rested it on the corner of her table. She squeezed her pillow into a tight hug, trying to calm her beating heart.

/ / / / /

The next morning, Seulgi came to school with a bright expression. Each step she took felt light and the whole world felt like spring. Her eyes glowed with happiness and delight. A few people started to greet her in the morning. She had no idea who they were, but waved and greeted them, too. 

When she arrived at her shoe locker, Seunghwan and Taehyun came over to her.

"Seulgi, are you using a new beauty product or something? Your skin looks so healthy!" Seunghwan exclaimed.

"I'm not. I'm just really happy these days," Seulgi said, grinning from ear to ear.

"I envy you, Seulgi. You're always happy and cheery. I wish I met you earlier so that I could feed off of your energy," Seunghwan said jokingly. She pretended to claw Seulgi, who giggled and playfully pushed away her hand.

"Well, I'm glad that I met you," Seulgi said. "You're a really good friend, you know that?"

"You deserve the best," Seunghwan said, flattering her even more.

The girls laughed, but stopped when they realized that the room felt strangely heavy. They turned around and noticed that Hyeri was walking into the room.

All eyes were on the most popular girl in school. Some seemed to be skeptical of Hyeri due to yesterday's situation, but most seemed to look at her normally. Hyeri didn't quite blame the strange gazes she kept receiving. She had yet cleared her name and she didn't know how. She decided that the only way to prove her innocence was to act normal.

As she walked in, her eyes briefly met with Seulgi. Seulgi froze a bit, surprised with Hyeri's sharp gaze.

Getting involved with her will only cause me trouble, Hyeri told herself. Rather than saying anything, she walked away to change her outdoor shoes into the school's indoor shoes.

Seunghwan scoffed. "She still hasn't apologized, right? I can't believe her. ."

"Anyway, Seulgi, can I talk to you in private?" Taehyun asked.

Seunghwan stared at him. "Really? You're going to steal my best friend away from me?"

"Just for a second," Taehyun said. "Also, she's my best friend, remember? I found her first."

Seulgi's heart leaped with joy. There were already two people competing for the "best friend" title. It just felt so good to hear that she was wanted.

"Whatever. I'll leave you two alone since it looks important," Seunghwan said. She walked away, leaving Taehyun and Seulgi to talk in private.

He looked around before pulling Seulgi's wrist and dragging her to a more private area of the school. They ended at the back of the school, hiding behind a few large bushes.

"What's up?" Seulgi asked, frowning.

"I wanted to talk about last night," Taehyun said. "First off, I'm really thankful that you stepped up for me. It really means a lot."

Seulgi felt a little guilty. "Well, you shouldn't drink. Alcohol is bad for you."

"Okay, yeah, I get that. I'm sure I can try to explain it to you, but you'll never get it," Taehyun said. He took a deep breath. "Look, I'm sure you've noticed, but things aren't going well for Jinri. Her friends are turning their back on her, which I think is terrible. Friends should not do that. At all."

Seulgi pressed her lips and looked away. "You know, I'll just keep it a secret. I won't tell. So why don't we just put this behind us and—"

"I was wondering if Jinri could join our group," Taehyun said. "Like, hang out with us and everything."

Oh . I don't know if this is a good idea, Seulgi thought. If I remember, Soojung didn't really have a concrete idea of what to do with Jinri. She just said that there's a possibility of Jinri joining our group, but that was never a permanent idea.

"I-I don't know," Seulgi mumbled. "I mean, I don't want…I mean, it's not like I hate Jinri, but…"

"She's a chatter-box, I know," Taehyun said. "I fully understand that she gossips a lot, but she never gossips about the people she hangs around with. She's a good person, she really is." He bit his tongue. "I was hoping that you would understand because you always see the best in people. I mean, you did that to me, right?"

Yeah, but my goal was never to befriend you like this, Seulgi thought. "Can we wait this out for like, a day or something? If anything, Jinri is really good at making friends!"

"I know, but I thought that joining our group would be better," Taehyun said.

"L-Let me think about it," Seulgi told him. "Okay? Give me some time."

Taehyun frowned, but nodded. "I understand. I'll tell her to wait a little."

"Yeah, thanks," Seulgi muttered.

The two returned to class, getting ready for first period. However, all day, Seulgi couldn't help but think about Taehyun's request. She pondered on her decision until lunch time, when she would talk to Soojung and explain the whole situation.

/ / / / /

"You what?"

"I know it's stupid! I know I made a terrible decision!" Seulgi blurted, hoping to calm down a raging Soojung. "I know that it wasn't right for me to promise him to keep their alcoholic feast a secret, but I couldn't help it! Besides, you have to admit, he helped us out last night! Look! I went home with Jongin last night!"

"Oh my god." Soojung rolled her eyes and face-palmed herself. "Why in the world would you promise that? Now we can't blackmail Jinri!"

"A-And he also wants Jinri to join our group," Seulgi added quietly. "I was thinking that if we're using Jinri, then it would be a good idea—"

"No, that's terrible!" Soojung exclaimed. "Think about it. If we keep adding Hyeri's friend to our group, then it's going to look like you're stealing her friends. We don't want to draw attention to us in that kind of way."

"But you said that you wanted to bring Jinri into the group!"

"I wanted to do it more naturally than this! This just seems forced. It just seems like Taehyun is bringing people in victims. I don't want your group to be centered around Hyeri's victims."

"Wouldn't that make me look like a hero or some kind of savior?" Seulgi asked.

"No. It'll just make you look like a left-over group," Soojung pointed out. "It looks like we're going to have to move to the next person as soon as possible."

"Already?" Seulgi raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"It's better to do it when Hyeri's image has a crack," Soojung said. "We need to find a way for Naeun to be with Jinri."

"I don't mind Naeun being in my group. She's pretty."

"She's no good. She's just pretty, that's all. You saw how she dealt with the situation yesterday. She made Hyeri look worse than before," Soojung reminded her. "We need to find a way for Naeun to befriend Jinri and leave Hyeri."

"And how are we going to do that? Are we going to blackmail her, too?"

Soojung narrowed her eyes. "We can't. It's too hard to ruin her image like that."

"Why?" Seulgi questioned.

"You go talk to Naeun. You'll understand right away why it's going to be hard to drag her down," Soojung said. She got up. "Meanwhile, I'm going to figure out how to fix the mess you made. Again."

Seulgi bit her bottom lip and sheepishly grinned. "I'm sorry…"

"Save it," Soojung said. "Your current assignment is to figure out if Naeun has any weaknesses."

"Don't you have it in your journal?"

"They're not strong enough. I'm going to do a little poking around," Soojung said. "I'm leaving, okay?"

"Okay," Seulgi said. She watched Soojung leave their little hideout. She let out a sigh before she checked her phone. She smiled when she saw Taehyun's and Seunghwan's endless messages about when she would be able to join them for lunch. "On…my…way…and send!"

She got up from the old chair and left the abandoned classroom, joining her new group of friends for lunch.