THE PRESENT

"You were such a flirt even at thirteen, Hyung!" Sungjong complained, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "I never knew about girlfriends and stuff until I was sixteen!"

Sungyeol raised his brows at the Maknae. "Now...that's kind of late."

Sunggyu chuckled and patted Woohyun's shoulder. "Our Namstar's such a flirt since young? That...explains a lot now." he teased.

Woohyun made an innocent look. "What's wrong? The girls like me and I like the attention. What's wrong about that?"

The other Infinite members just quarrelled amongst themselves while Hoya and L sat back and watched. For L, it was normal. He was too cool to be involved in such petty talk anyway.

For Hoya, he was too engrossed in his own thoughts.

L nudged his hyung, concerned. "What's up?" he asked.

Hoya shook his head. "Nothing big. Just thinking about what Woohyun hyung said." he mumbled. "What's wrong about liking the attention from girls.."

L raised a brow. "Well.." he started wisely. "It's not wrong. All of us like the attention given by girls to a certain extent, that's why we chose to be singers in the first place. But for Woohyun Hyung, it's wrong. Because he loved it too much...I think it's an obsession."

Hoya nodded in agreement. *That's right. He loved it a little too much. That's where he began to transform into a jerk.*

Yoomi looked behind Hoya, her eyes searching desperately. "Not around again?" Yoomi asked in a soft voice.

Hoya nodded with a sad smile.

It was Hoya and Yoomi together again. Woohyun had started to leave their trio more and more often since entering Middle school. It has been only around four months since they entered, but Woohyun had started to get more and more involved in girls.

*Woohyun Oppa seems to like the attention a lot.* Yoomi thought sadly. *Attention that I can't give him.*

Hoya and Yoomi walked home together and Hoya noticed Yoomi looked exceptionally depressed. *Did she fail her math test again? Or did her teacher scold her for dozing off in class? Wait. She isn't Woohyun Hyung. Things like that don't happen to her...*

Before Hoya could ask what was wrong, Yoomi had spoken up. "Hoya Oppa." she called softly.

All the cells in Hoya's body immediately perked up in attention. "Hmm?" he responded.

"Do you think..." Yoomi began slowly. She looked up at him, and Hoya was surprised to see the sorrow in her large usually bright eyes. "Do you think I'm not good enough for Woohyun oppa?"

Hoya frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked gently.

"I mean," Yoomi puffed her cheeks and lowered her gaze to her the ground. "Woohyun oppa hangs out with those girls all the time now. Do you think I'm not good enough a friend for him that's why he doesn't hang out with us now?"

Hoya softened and ruffled her hair. He tilted her face up to face him and smiled warmly. "Don't think things like that, Yoomi ah." he assured. "Three of us promised that we'll be best friends forever, and none of us will break that promise. Especially not the oldest, Woohyun hyung. I'm sure he just finds those girls interesting, or he's too nice to turn them down. Time spent with you is the most well-spent, Yoomi ah. Don't doubt yourself for that."

Yoomi smiled. It wasn't often that Hoya had that much to say, but when she was sad, he just had that soothening effect on her.

They got home and did their homework together, fooling around in the backyard for a while while their mothers prepared dinner for them. They had a great time spraying water at each other, getting themselves wet from head to toe.

Yoomi squealed in surprise as the water hit her from the back, just after Hoya and her called for a truce since their mothers had already called them in for dinner and they needed to dry themselves up.

Yoomi's eyes rounded in surprise and she blinked at Hoya, who blinked back innocently.

"Hoya oppa...." she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yes Yoomi ah?" Hoya responded, smiling cutely. (OMG Hoya smiling cutely?!?!?!)

"Did you just spray water at me..." Yoomi asked slowly. "AFTER our truce?"

Hoya nodded. "Yes madamoiselle." he grinned.

"LEE HOWON!!!!" Yoomi shrieked as she charged for the sprinkler and aimed it at him. "Get that Hoya Oppa!!!"

They were fooling around once more again, happy without a care in the world, when someone else came into the garden. "Woah. You two look horrible."

Yoomi turned off the sprinkler and her grin spread till they reached her ears. "Woohyun Oppa! You're back!" she exclaimed, and rushed to hug him.

Woohyun backed away, waving his finger at him. "You're wet, missy."

Yoomi turned pink. "Oh."

Hoya gave him a look. "Where have you been, hyung?" he asked. "You're back so late, Yoomi and I have already done our homework. Have you done yours? It's almost dinner time."

"You sound like my umma." Woohyun rolled his eyes as he walked back to his own house. "I did my homework already, if you want to know. I was doing it together with Soyi."

Yoomi stiffened and blinked as Woohyun's front door shut close. "Come on, it's time for dinner." Hoya gestured.

Yoomi nodded, but she stood in her orignal position, looking at where Woohyun had gone.

*With Yoon Soyi again?* she thought. *Woohyun Oppa seems to be spending a whole lot of time with her these days.*

Yoomi bit her lip. "But why does it bother me? Why does it hurt?" she whispered.