In the morning, when Sooyeon and Soojung arrived at the café, they both saw Seulgi standing outside the café, waiting for the store to be open. Soojung gave Sooyeon a small look before Sooyeon nodded and walked over. She gave Seulgi a bright smile.

"Good morning, Seulgi!" Sooyeon exclaimed. "You're early today."

"Ah, y-yes! Good morning!" Seulgi stuttered. "I just wanted to talk to Soojung…" She glanced past Sooyeon's shoulder. "If that's okay with you, Soojung…"

"Yeah, let's talk," Soojung said.

"Do you girls want to talk inside or outside? It's kind of cold out here," Sooyeon said.

"We'll talk out here," Soojung said. "You go in and set things up first."

"Alright," Sooyeon said. She walked away from the two girls, heading into the café first.

The two girls were quiet. They both felt awkward around each other, unsure of how to start the conversation. They would give each other occasional glances to see if the other party would speak first. After a while, they both silently took a deep breath.

"You see, I—"

"I'm really—"

The two girls stopped. Flustered, Soojung cleared .

"What were you going to say?" Soojung asked. "You what?"

"You see…" Seulgi repeated, mumbling her words a little. "I…I'm sorry. That day, when you asked me to tell Sooyeon that you're leaving, I should've just complied. You weren't feeling well and I should've been there to help you. I didn't know better."

Soojung stared at her. She was quite surprised to hear that Seulgi was sorry. It wasn't something that she had expected her to do at all. In fact, Soojung believed that Seulgi would still be angry at her until she began to apologize.

She broke into a small smile. "No, I'm sorry, too. I was too harsh on you. I didn't mean to lash out like that. I was just upset back then, that's all. I took it out on you when I shouldn't have."

"So… we're good?" Seulgi asked, unsure of whether or not Soojung would continue to help her out.

"We're good," Soojung said, nodding her head. "I'll help you out with the whole popularity thing. We've got a lot of the major players out of the way, so I don't think you'll run into too much trouble anymore."

Seulgi smiled. "Thanks. Sorry, again."

"It's okay," Soojung said. She took out her hand. "Give me it."

Seulgi frowned for a second. "Give you what?"

"The journal."

"Oh, right—" Seulgi patted her jacket, then checked her bag. She searched for the small notebook frantically.

Soojung stared at her. "You didn't lose it, did you?"

"N-No, I definitely remember having it after you gave it to me, and then—" Seulgi stopped herself. Then, she let out a nervous laugh. "Oh, right. I gave it to Myungsoo…"

Soojung froze. "What."

"I-It's okay! I can get it back! I just need to ask him when I see him next time. O-Or, I can ask Sooyeon for Myungsoo's number and contact him—"

"What have you done?" Soojung cried out. She was about to get angry again, but when she reminded herself that they had just made up after a fight, she forced herself to calm down. "Seulgi, do you have any idea what you just did?"

"N-No, but the thing is, Myungsoo is really good at this stuff! Just yesterday, he made Jongin conscious of me! Jongin might actually like me!" Seulgi exclaimed excitedly. "He did this after just reading your journal! I'm sure that if you two worked together, you guys would make an incredible team of—"

"Manipulative liars?" Soojung asked, finishing Seulgi's sentence with a bitter expression.

Seulgi's face fell. "I meant an incredible team of popularity makers." She frowned. "Soojung, I've been thinking about this, especially since I've spent the entire day yesterday with Myungsoo, but is there something that you're hiding from me about you and Myungsoo? I know you two used to be a couple, but I can't see why you guys ended on such bad terms. I tried to ask Myungsoo, but he wouldn't tell me."

Soojung scowled. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?"

"It's personal."

"But it's important."

"You don't have anything to do with it."

"Soojung, I'm just trying to understand you better."

"Then why can't you understand that I don't want to talk about it?" Soojung asked, raising her voice.

The two glared at each other for a few minutes. Even though they had made up and tried to move on, it was really hard to not get angry at each other. They both knew that they didn't want to fight, but it always felt that their conversations would lead up to an argument or something like that.

"Let's just go in and work," Seulgi muttered. "I'm sorry for being nosy."

Soojung didn't say anything else. She walked in the café with Seulgi walking behind her, ready to start the day.

Despite saying sorry, it didn't feel like they made up at all.

/ / / / /

Sooyeon could tell that there was a problem.

Soojung was acting colder than usual. Rather than criticizing on Seulgi's mistakes, she started doing everything herself, flawlessly delivering items and hardly making Seulgi touch anything or order anything. 

Seulgi, as well, was trying her best to ignore Soojung, but it was hard when she had to consider that Soojung was getting in the way of everything. Every time Seulgi tried to take someone's orders or tried to deliver the drinks to a customer, Soojung would be on step ahead and would do it herself, leaving Seulgi awkwardly standing around and picking up trash on the floor.

Jongin kept glancing at Soojung, which wasn't odd in Sooyeon's eyes, but the way he looked at her little sister seemed as if he was guilty of something. It looked like wanted to tell Soojung something he had seen or something important, but every time he looked at Myungsoo, who was casually drinking tea while working on this laptop, he was discouraged to approach her.

Then there was Sehun, who glared at Myungsoo with hostile eyes every time he got the chance. He especially kept his eyes on him when Seulgi brushed past the customer, suspecting that there was something going on between the two, but he couldn't quite point it out.

Regardless of the situation, the whole thing entertained Sooyeon. Overall, she was quite pleased to see the teenagers bothered and bitter. It reminded her that they were still just kids, even if they tried to act mature.

How cute, Sooyeon thought, grinning to herself.

"So," Sooyeon said when there was no customer other than Myungsoo, "what are you guys doing for Christmas Eve? It's tomorrow. You guys don't need to come to work tomorrow."

Sehun glanced at Jongin. "You said you're hanging out with Hyeri, right?"

"Yeah. You still didn't get the invitation from her?" Jongin asked.

Sehun opened his mouth. "Um… I told her that I'm busy, so it looks like you'll be hanging out with her alone."

She's going to confess, isn't she? Myungsoo and Soojung thought.

Well, she'll probably get rejected like what happened at school. She's probably confessing one last time because something happened, Soojung thought, unaware that Hyeri had realized that Jongin is in love with someone.

Hyeri, Hyeri… If I remember reading Soojung's journal correctly, she's the most popular girl. Jongin is the most popular guy, so… Oh. Myungsoo smirked to himself. But Jongin has a crush on someone else, so she's fighting a losing battle. Funny.

"Really?" Jongin turned to Seulgi and Soojung. "Do you guys want to join me and Hyeri?"

"No," was Soojung's immediate response. He looked a bit dejected.

"What about you, Seulgi?" Jongin asked.

Seulgi opened . "I-I'd love—"

"She has plans," Myungsoo interrupted. Everyone stared at him. "What?"

"What kind of plans?" Soojung asked. Myungsoo smiled. This was probably the first time that Soojung actually spoke to him.

I knew it, he thought. As long as I have Seulgi wrapped around my fingers, I get Soojung, too.

"Plans with me," Myungsoo said. He looked at her. "Remember?"

Seulgi wasn't sure what to say. At this moment, she felt like Myungsoo was becoming like Soojung, telling her that she had something when she actually had nothing. Seulgi wanted to tell Jongin the truth that she didn't have anything plans, but…

"Right," Seulgi said dejectedly. "I made plans with Myungsoo…"

Soojung stared at Seulgi. She wanted to ask her for the details, but she knew better than to ask her in front of Myungsoo, moreover in front of Jongin and Sehun. Jongin kept his eyes on Soojung, watching her expression. He could see that Soojung was bothered by the sudden news.

Is Seulgi betraying Soojung? Jongin wondered.

"We can talk about it more after you're done with your shift," Myungsoo said to Seulgi. "We haven't talked out the details, right?"

"Y-Yeah," Seulgi said. She was confused. Why was he doing this all of a sudden?

"Perfect," Myungsoo said, smiling. He got up from his seat. "I'm going to leave for now." He turned to Seulgi. "I'll pick you up soon."

He patted her head. Sehun stepped up a little to block him, but stopped himself from being an embarrassment. Myungsoo smirked at Sehun and walked out of the café. Once he was gone, Sooyeon quietly observed her workers. She sighed.

Kim Myungsoo, you're having way too much fun playing with their feelings, she thought. She clapped her hands, grabbing the four's attention. "Alright, alright! Get back to work!"

They all did, but in the back of their heads, they had other thoughts.

/ / / / /

Once the sun disappeared and the moon rose up, Sooyeon closed the café. After the group was done cleaning up, she told them that they were allowed to leave. However, no one budged from the front entrance. They all stood there, lined up, waiting for someone else to go ahead. Sooyeon sighed again.

"Soojung, are you coming?" Sooyeon asked.

"I'll meet you back at home," Soojung told her sister.

"You sure? It's cold."

"It's not snowing."

"It'll snow any day now."

"It's fine," Soojung said. Sooyeon paused, skeptical, but nodded. She bid her sister "goodbye" and went to her car, leaving the four students hanging around at the front of the empty entrance.

Seulgi was waiting for Myungsoo to pick her up, to talk about the so-called "plans" that they had made. She wasn't sure why the boys were hanging around, but she thought that since it was dark, they might've wanted to walk her home or something. Moreover, she was standing next to Jongin, much to her delight.

Meanwhile, Soojung was waiting for the boys to leave. Under normal circumstances, the boys would leave first and leave the girls alone. However, it seemed like both were waiting for  something to happen. It was like they were waiting until someone particular would come over—specifically, Myungsoo.

I can't talk to Seulgi when they're here, Soojung thought. She looked to her side. I can't ask Seulgi to step away from them either because that's going to cause suspicion and I don't think Seulgi's going to take the hint.

Maybe Jongin is waiting here because he's…jealous? Is he conscious of me? Since when? Seulgi blushed. She peeked at Jongin, who was standing to her left. 

Soojung must be feeling hurt. The least I can do is take her home, but it doesn't seem like she wants to go home yet. She probably wants to see Myungsoo and Seulgi leave first before she heads back home. Why is Seulgi doing this? Can't she see that her friend is getting hurt? Jongin thought, worried for Soojung.

Myungsoo is so annoying. He's trying to do something, but I can't even figure that out. He needs to stop hanging around Seulgi. He needs to stop touching her, too. Why did he even pat her head earlier? Are they really dating? Sehun wondered, ticked off at the thought of Jongin. I need to stay and make sure that those two don't do anything strange. It's for Seulgi's sake. Yeah, for her sake.

"Hey Seulgi."

All four heads turned to their right. Myungsoo smiled and approached the four.

"H-Hello!" Seulgi greeted. Her voice was a bit too loud, causing Sehun to be a little concerned.

Was that a stutter? Did she stutter? Why did she stutter? She's probably surprised, right? They're not really dating, right? Sehun thought.

"You guys are still here?" Myungsoo asked, looking at Soojung and the two boys.

"We were just about to leave," Soojung said. "I didn't want Seulgi to stay here alone, waiting for you."

Myungsoo laughed. "Sorry. I meant to get here earlier, but I lost track of time."

"Hm. That sounds familiar," Soojung muttered.

"Ready to go?" Myungsoo asked Seulgi. He took out his hand from his pocket. Everyone stared at Seulgi, who nervously took his warm hand.

"S-See you all tomorrow!" Seulgi exclaimed.

"Seulgi, we don't have work tomorrow," Soojung reminded her. 

"O-Oh, right," Seulgi stammered. She let out an uneasy laugh. "W-Well, see you all next time!"

"Bye," Soojung said. She took one glance at Myungsoo, who smiled. Giving him a glare, she turned and left. Jongin quickly chased after her. Sehun remained behind for a few minutes before he decided to follow his best friend.

Myungsoo guided Seulgi away from the café. The two began to walk down the streets. Myungsoo was making the occasional small talk, but they conversation wasn't going anywhere. It took half an hour, but Seulgi finally managed to gather the courage to change the topic.

"U-Um, Myungsoo?" Seulgi said. "You know about how Jongin invited me to hang out with him on Christmas Eve tomorrow?"

"Oh, yeah, but we made plans," Myungsoo replied.

"Yeah, um, about that…What exactly is the plan?" Seulgi asked.

Myungsoo stopped walking. She stopped right behind him. He turned and smiled.

"Seulgi, I think Jongin is really into you," Myungsoo said.

Seulgi's heart skipped a beat. "W-What—"

"I was reading Soojung's journal and I think you have a chance," he said. "It just seems like he's been really conscious of you these days, don't you think?"

"Y-Y-You think?" Seulgi's eyes sparkled. "R-Right? I was thinking the exact same thing! I think after you appeared, he's been more conscious of me. He's paying a lot more attention to me, you know?"

"That's definitely jealousy," Myungsoo said. He grinned from ear to ear. "Woah, do you know what this means?"

Seulgi widened her eyes. "O-Our feelings are mutual!"

"Exactly!" Myungsoo cried out. "Look, we don't have any plans. Actually, we do. I'm going to help dress you up so that you can confess."

Seulgi gaped at him. "Oh, no. I can't let you spend money on me again—"

"It's okay. Think of it as a Christmas gift," Myungsoo told her. "Look, tomorrow, we'll meet up and we'll dress you up. Do you have his number?"

"I-I do!"

"Perfect! Leave a text. Tell him that you can't make it in the beginning to hang with him, but late at night."

"Of course!" She frowned. "Wait, but what time?"

"At the park with the big Christmas tree. Tell him to meet you at nine because that's when they'll turn on the lights for the big star on top of the tree. It's going to make the moment even more special," Myungsoo convinced her.

"At the park, Christmas tree, and nine o'clock. Got it." Her expression fell once again. "But wait, what if everything is a misunderstanding? What if I get rejected?"

"Nonsense. His feelings are mutual, aren't they? I read it all in Soojung's journal," Myungsoo said.

"R-Right," Seulgi stammered. Her heart began to race. "Oh gosh. I can't believe this. I can't believe it's time for me to do this!"

She went on and on, getting excited over confessing to her crush. As she turned and continued to walk, she didn't see the mischievous smirk on Myungsoo's face.

"That's right," he whispered, slipping his hands in his pocket, "everything will work out just as planned."

Just as I planned, of course.