Going back to school was nerve-wrecking for Sehun. Going to school meant seeing people he knew—it meant seeing Seulgi.

After he had kissed her, he was planning to apologize until Sooyeon called in and asked everyone not to come into work because she couldn't afford to pay everyone. She had promised that she would send Soojung to give him the money when they went back to school, but money wasn't something he worried about. Instead, he was more concerned over Seulgi and how she was doing. Even though he had her number, he didn't feel like it was right to contact her afterwards. Besides, the last word she uttered still stung his heart every time he thought about it.

"Hey, Sehun!" Jongin said, greeting his best friend just a few blocks away from school. He got out of his limousine, telling his driver that he would walk with Sehun. Sehun jolted and nervously looked at his friend.

"O-Oh. Hey," Sehun muttered quietly. Instead of riding his limousine, he had decided to walk, hoping to clear his head before he entered the school grounds. He noticed Hyeri coming out of the car and walking besides Jongin. "Did you guys come to school together?"

"Yeah," Hyeri said.

"I'm surprised that you're still talking to him normally," Sehun said.

Hyeri flipped her short hair. "What do you take me for? I'm not going to cry over a rejection."

"A second rejection," Sehun teased. Normally, teasing someone would make him feel better, but he wasn't feeling better at all. 

Hyeri noticed his change in behavior. His comment felt forced and awkward. She wasn't sure why he was feeling so down-hearted. She glanced at Jongin to see if he noticed Sehun's strange behavior, but Jongin seemed too absorbed in his own thoughts. 

Contrary to Sehun, Jongin actually looked pretty excited. Hyeri figured that it was because he would finally interact with Soojung properly. With Seulgi's promise to help him, he didn't really feel the need to feel afraid. It seemed like he saw Seulgi as someone reliable just because she was friends with Soojung. 

Hyeri felt her heart ache, but she didn't say anything. She wasn't going to confess to Jongin for the third time, especially since he seemed ready to make his move on the girl he liked. For now, she would watch over him quietly, respecting her friendship with him.

"Well, I'm giving up for now since I value our friendship," Hyeri said, casually shrugging her shoulders. She smiled at the two boys. "Thanks for being cool about this."

"I value our friendship, too," Jongin said, smiling at her. "I'd be disappointed if you stopped talking to me just because I rejected your feelings."

"I had all winter break to cry about it anyway," Hyeri said.

Jongin stopped smiling. "You cried?"

"Don't feel bad," Hyeri told him, still smiling. "It's okay for me to cry after facing a rejection." She glared at him. "Don't feel guilty, okay? I'm the one who decided to confess for a second time. I'm the one who accepted your rejection."

Jongin only nodded. He looked straight ahead and beamed. 

"It's Soojung and Seulgi!" Jongin exclaimed. Sehun felt his heart skip a beat. He grew nervous. Jongin made a small frown. "And there's Myungsoo…"

Myungsoo? At their school? 

Sehun looked up and froze when he saw Myungsoo chatting happily with Seulgi and Soojung. He felt his heart stop when Myungsoo reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind Seulgi's ear, causing her to blush. 

Jongin seemed completely shocked to see Myungsoo and Seulgi acting so intimate. He slowed down his pace until Myungsoo looked up. He smirked and waved at the three, causing them to feel the need to walk over to them. The three walked rather quickly to confirm the situation.

"Hello Jongin, Sehun," Myungsoo said, greeting the boys. He looked at Hyeri and stared at her for a few minutes. "You're Lee Hyeri, right? I think we've met before."

Hyeri paused. She might've seen him once before, but she wasn't sure where. He had a good-looking face, the kind of face that was unforgettable. Yet, she couldn't tell if she had seen him before or not.

"Hello," Hyeri said softly. She hid behind Sehun and Jongin after getting bad vibes from him.

Myungsoo smiled. Oh, she's a sharp one. She'll be hard to get to.

"Sorry, you probably don't know who I am," Myungsoo said, laughing. He wrapped his arm around Seulgi's shoulder and brought her closer to him, causing the boys to widen their eyes. "I'm Seulgi's boyfriend."

Sehun couldn't not believe his ears.

What? Seulgi's boyfriend? The last time I checked, they weren't even dating! Sehun cried out. He looked at her in pure shock.

Seulgi completely ignored him.

"Seulgi's boyfriend?" Hyeri muttered.

"Yes. Her boyfriend," Myungsoo said, bringing Seulgi closer in his embrace. Seulgi scowled. Jongin looked at Soojung with worry, but it didn't look like she was too bothered.

Hyeri felt that the entire situation was odd. The last time she checked, Seulgi was in love with Jongin. Sure, she had promised to hook him up with Soojung, but she didn't think that she would get a boyfriend so quickly throughout the process. She stared hard at Myungsoo, who gave a charming smile.

Is he a rebound boyfriend? Hyeri wondered. That's unlikely. It feels more like they're dating to use each other… Then again, I can be wrong, but the way he's looking at me tells me that I might be right. I shouldn't get too involved with him. Like I thought, staying away from Seulgi is the best. The problem is, I can't get Jongin or Sehun to stay away from her. 

"Hyeri!" Suzy called her best friend's name from behind. Hyeri turned and beamed. 

A way to escape!

"Suzy!" Hyeri exclaimed. She locked arms with her. "Come on, let's go to class!"

"Sure! Jongin, Sehun, let's head to cl—"

"Let's go!" Hyeri said, interrupting Suzy's invitation. Suzy stared at her friend skeptically, but waved at the two boys as Hyeri dragged her away.

The atmosphere quickly turned cold once the two girls left. Sehun kept glaring at Myungsoo while Jongin kept his eyes on Soojung.

"Are you guys seriously dating?" Jongin asked Seulgi and Myungsoo. "Aren't you Soojung's ex-boyfriend?"

"We did date, but it's nothing," Soojung said. "Besides, Myungsoo asked me personally if he could date Seulgi. I told him that I'll approve as long as he doesn't hurt my friend."

"No way," Sehun muttered. They all looked at the blond boy. Sehun stared at Seulgi firmly. Her heart skipped a beat for a second. "This is a lie. You're scheming something, aren't you?"

"Are you accusing of my friend of being manipulative?" Soojung asked coldly.

Jongin widened his eyes. He quickly elbowed Sehun and gave him a strong "Don't mess this up for me" look. Sehun ignored him and glared at Myungsoo.

"Why are you dating Seulgi? She's Soojung's friend. What are you trying to achieve?" Sehun asked, losing his temper.

"Are you jealous?" Myungsoo asked. This seemed to have caught Sehun off-guard.

"N-No," Sehun stuttered.

"Hmph." Myungsoo smirked and turned to Seulgi. "Well, I'll pick you up after school, okay?"

"O-Okay," Seulgi said softly. She looked incredibly shy, but not in love.

"Later," he said, bidding goodbye to the group. He walked away, whistling a tune while grabbing attention from the female students walking towards the school.

Seunghwan, who happened to be close by, ran towards Seulgi in pure excitement. Taehyun followed right after her, shocked to see such a handsome guy acting intimate with Seulgi. The two friends pushed Sehun, Jongin and Soojung away as they huddled around Seulgi.

"Seulgi, who is that hot guy?" Seunghwan asked enthusiastically. "Is he your boyfriend?"

Seulgi's cheeks grew red. "Y-Yes…"

She eyed at Soojung, who turned around to leave. Jongin tried to call her, but turned to Seulgi for help. Seulgi quickly looked away, pretending that she was too occupied with her two friends, who kept asking her about her boyfriend. Jongin frowned, but chased after Soojung, hoping that he'd gather the courage to talk to her before they entered the building.

He did not.

/ / / / /

"I don't think I can keep this up."

Soojung looked up at Seulgi. The two were in their abandoned classroom again, discussing about their next plans as they ate their lunch.

Seulgi could still remember how shocked she was when Soojung called her out during winter break and told her to date Myungsoo for two weeks. It took a while, but Soojung had managed to convince Seulgi to pursue the relationship. Moreover, she was surprised to find out that Myungsoo and Soojung were going to work together for the next two weeks. When she tried to figure out why Soojung changed her mind, Soojung would always cut her off and create a wall, preventing her from asking.

"Why not? Myungsoo isn't so bad," Soojung remarked.

"That's exactly why I can't handle this! He's literally the perfect boyfriend! If I keep this up, I'm going to seriously fall for him!" Seulgi whispered.

"That's a lie. You're infatuated with Jongin," Soojung pointed out.

"That's true," Seulgi said, adding a dreamy sigh. "He's the man in my life." She stared. "So tell me, why am I dating Myungsoo again?"

"To get Jongin to notice you more," Soojung said. "Remember?"

"Yeah, but how will this help him notice me?" Seulgi asked.

Because he'll be worried over me, who was the ex-girlfriend of Myungsoo, which means that he will keep an eye on you and Myungsoo just in case, Soojung thought. "You're no longer single. He'll be curious as long as you're in his sight often with Myungsoo."

"I don't think that's going to be the case at all," Seulgi mumbled.

Soojung caught that. "What do you mean?"

"Huh?"

"What did you mean?" Soojung repeated.

"N-Nothing."

"Seulgi. Rule number two: No secrets. Remember?" Soojung reminded her.

Seulgi bit her lip. "Well…"

"Well?"

"I really don't want to talk about it—"

"Seulgi, I'm serious. If you want my help, I need to know everything that's going on," Soojung told her.

"But if I tell you, you might have…second thoughts," Seulgi murmured.

"Second thoughts?" Soojung narrowed her eyes. "Did you do something to Hyeri or Suzy yet?"

"What? No!"

"Are you sure? You've basically sabotaged everything when you pulled the Naeun incident."

"It's not like that at all, okay? It's—"

"What is it?"

"It's—" Seulgi bit her bottom lip. "I can't."

"Seulgi…"

"I'm sorry, but I can't!"

Soojung looked at her. "Is this about Myungsoo? Did Myungsoo tell you anything strange?"

"Huh?"

Soojung paused for a few minutes. "No… Nothing. Never mind."

"You get very anxious whenever it comes to Myungsoo," Seulgi pointed out. "Are you sure that you don't like him?"

"I hate him," Soojung said shortly. She got up.

Seulgi stared. "Where are you going?"

"I'm done eating."

"Okay, but what's the plan?"

"You already know the plan. Get chummy with Myungsoo and make sure that Jongin is paying attention," Soojung said.

"Okay, but again—like always—how?" Seulgi cried out.

"You don't need to think about this too much," Soojung said. "Myungsoo probably has everything planned. Just follow his lead."

"You know, for someone you hate, you put a lot of faith in him to not screw things up."

"He won't screw anything up. He's too smart to do that." Soojung made a bitter expression. "But that's why he's dangerous. If you keep going with his flow, you're going to be swept away by the current. Make sure you're paying attention to what's going on around you while you're being aware of your own world with him."

"I don't get it. You got all poetic on me," Seulgi said.

Soojung heaved a loud sigh. "Just…watch yourself, okay?"

"That's what you always tell me to do."

"I'm serious, Seulgi."

"You're always serious."

Soojung shot her a glare. Seulgi gave her a bashful smile.

"Sorry," she said shortly.

"I'm going to go now," Soojung muttered. She opened the door and walked out of the room, leaving Seulgi to clean up after herself in the room.

As she walked down the halls, she noticed a familiar face staring at her from the crowd of people. She didn't even bother making eye contact with Jongin. Instead, she continued to walk down, staring straight ahead of her.

Jongin was a little dejected. He didn't think that it would be difficult talking to Soojung. He was well aware of the fact that Soojung was cold and distant, but with Seulgi's help…

With Seulgi's help, I might be able to talk to her. Properly. For once, he thought.

Sehun rested his hand on Jongin's shoulder. "Hey."

Jongin turned. "Yeah?"

"You go ahead. I need to talk to someone," Sehun said. 

"Oh, sure." Jongin nodded and watched his friend leave his side. He didn't think much about it until he realized that Sehun was heading in the same direction as Soojung. The closer he looked, it was clear that Sehun was tagging behind Soojung.

Sehun and Soojung? What? Jongin frowned. Normally, he wouldn't think too much about it. Besides, it wasn't his business to get nosy with Sehun's personal life. It wasn't his business, but…

He followed them. He wasn't sure why he was following them, but he felt that he had to follow them. Was Sehun hiding something from him? What kind of business did he have with Soojung?

As he continued to follow, he noticed that the halls were getting empty. Students were going back to class. If he was careless, he could be easily exposed in front Sehun and Soojung. 

Right before he turned at the corner of the hallways, he heard a familiar voice:

"Cut the act, Soojung. I need to know."

Jongin froze. He leaned against the wall and listened carefully. He heard a loud sigh coming out from Soojung's mouth.

"Need to know what?" Soojung asked. Her voice was cold, full of annoyance.

"I know that Seulgi and Myungsoo aren't dating."

Jongin felt his heart skip a beat. He scowled when he heard Myungsoo's name.

"What do you mean? They are dating."

"No. They aren't. I know that they aren't. It doesn't make sense."

"It makes perfect sense. They grew to like each other during the break and now they're dating."

"No! It doesn't!"

"Why doesn't it make sense?"

"Because I—" Sehun stopped himself. He was awfully quiet for the next few seconds.

"You what?" Soojung asked. Is there something that Seulgi didn't tell me?

"I…" His voice began to fade. "I kissed her."

Jongin widened his eyes. He wondered when this all happened. Several questions flooded into his mind. When did he kiss Seulgi? Why did he kiss her? Did they like each other? Are they dating now? No, but they wouldn't be dating because Seulgi was dating Myungsoo. 

"You kissed her?" Soojung repeated.

Sehun looked away, embarrassed and ashamed. 

She never told me any of this, Soojung thought. "When?"

"Christmas Eve night."

"Was that the reason why she was crying?" Soojung muttered to herself.

"She cried?"

"She cried like her life was over. She ended up falling asleep because she cried so much."

Sehun groaned. He bumped his head against the wall, feeling like an idiot.

"I need to apologize," he whispered.

Soojung was about to say something else, but she noticed a familiar hairstyle sticking out a little from the corner of the walls. Realizing that Jongin was eavesdropping, she decided to put up an act. She gave Sehun a hard stare and crossed her arms.

"Yeah, you do. You know what's even worse? You coming to me instead of her about the situation. I won't forgive anyone who hurts Seulgi! Anyone who hurts my friend is dead to me," Soojung loudly declared. 

Sehun frowned, noticing the change of her tone. He glanced behind his shoulders and noticed Jongin's hair sticking out. He whirled back to Soojung, but she was already gone. He heaved a loud sigh, knowing that he would have to explain everything to Jongin. He ran his fingers through his hair, took a deep breath, and walked over to where Jongin was hiding.

"Woah." Sehun jumped a little, acting startled. "Jongin?"

"Huh? Oh, hey!" Jongin exclaimed.

"What are you doing here?" Sehun asked.

"I… Class was starting, so I went to check up on you," Jongin lied.

Sehun knew that he was lying.

"Oh. Sorry. I just had something quick to do," Sehun said with a chuckle.

"Were you with anyone? You took a long time," Jongin said.

"Ah… No. I wasn't with anyone important," Sehun told him.

Jongin knew that he was lying.

There was a small tension between the two boys. Jongin pressed his lips, surprised that Sehun was lying to him. Sehun flashed him a soft smile and rested his hand on Jongin's shoulder.

"Come on. Let's go," Sehun said. He walked ahead, leaving Jongin dumbfounded about their lies.