The next day after school, Eunkwang and his gang walked over to Sungjae’s classroom to see if he was there. Sungjae was packing his belongings and getting ready to leave when he saw his hyungs.

“Sungjae-ah, are you ready to go? We’re going bowling today!” called Changsub.

“Okay, I’m almost done,” said Sungjae, as he stuffed the last of his belongings into his bag and walked out of the classroom. “Let’s go!”

As they walked out of school, Changsub looked at Minhyuk meaningfully before saying, “Sungjae-ah, you didn't have to walk Sooyoung home today?”

“Anni. She said she was meeting a sunbae for dinner so she wasn’t going home so soon,” said Sungjae.

“Ah jinjja?” said Minhyuk in mock surprise. “Oh right, I heard Hyunwoo saying that he was meeting Sooyoung for dinner. No wonder he looked so happy today.”

“Sooyoung’s meeting Hyunwoo for dinner?” asked Eunkwang, quick to match Minhyuk’s tone of mock surprise.

“Yeah, Seungwan told me just now that she baked a second batch of muffins for Hyunwoo yesterday and was going to pass them to him today,” said Hyunsik.

“Second batch? You mean she baked him another batch before?” asked Ilhoon.

“Yeah. Seungwan told me Sooyoung brought home-made muffins with her when she visited Hyunwoo,” replied Hyunsik.

“Ah jinjja? Yah… looks like Hyunwoo’s making good progress with Sooyoung,” exclaimed Minhyuk.

Sungjae walked silently behind his hyungs during this conversation. Although he didn't say anything, his ears turned redder and redder as their conversation progressed.

The rest of the afternoon passed without Sungjae realising it. Although he frequently boasted that his best score was 173, he kept sending his ball down the gutter unintentionally that day. Although his team pretended to complain loudly, he could barely register what his hyungs were saying and try as he might, he could not get the mental image of Sooyoung and Hyunwoo having dinner together out of his mind.

Aish~! Park Sooyoung!

The game eventually ended with Sungjae’s team losing by a huge margin, since Sungjae kept sending everything into the gutter. After the game, despite Sungjae’s protests, his hyungs dragged him to the cinema where a romantic comedy was airing.

“Come on Sungjae-ah, it’ll be fun!” insisted Changsub.

“But hyung, I want to go home,” protested Sungjae.

“Just come, then we can all head home together later,” said Changsub, as he dragged Sungjae ahead to get the tickets.

Behind them, Ilhoon and Hyunsik immediately huddled together and started whispering to each other.

“So did Seungwan-noona tell you roughly what time Sooyoung will leave the restaurant?” asked Ilhoon.

“Yes, she did. She told me Sooyoung needs to be home by 8pm, so she needs to leave the restaurant by 7.30pm to be in time. We just need to get Sungjae there at around that time and he should be able to see them walk out,” said Hyunsik.

“That sounds too perfect. How are we going to make sure that Sooyoung and Hyunwoo will walk out at that time? Sooyoung might want to go home early,” said Ilhoon.

Minhyuk overheard and came over to join the conversation. “Hyunwoo will want to stay as long as he can with Sooyoung and Sooyoung will be too polite to leave earlier,” said Minhyuk confidently. “Besides, we don’t have any other choice now. We need to move fast since Hyunwoo is moving faster.”

The seven of them walked into the cinema theatre and found their seats. As it was a very funny rom-com, Sungjae eventually stopped thinking about Sooyoung and focused on the movie. The seven of them laughed themselves silly, though Sungjae, Eunkwang and Minhyuk teared a little at the end when the male and female leads finally ended up together. As Sungjae wiped his eyes while trying not to let his hyungs see, an image of Sooyoung flashed through his mind again.

Aish~ Why am I thinking of her again?

The seven of them walked out after the movie ended, chattering brightly about the ending. As Sungjae walked ahead with Changsub, the other five looked meaningfully at each other, then at their watches. The time was 7.20pm and they had about ten minutes to reach the restaurant if their predictions were accurate.

“Sungjae-ah! Changsub-ah!” called Eunkwang. “Minhyuk wants us to go over to his place and chill for a while. Shall we?”

“Sounds good!” shouted Changsub, as he put Sungjae in a headlock and dragged him along.

“Aaaaeeeee hyung, I want to go home. It’s getting late!” complained Sungjae.

“Aish~ maknae-ah, it’ll just be for a short while. We seldom get to hang out with all seven of us nowadays!” said Changsub.

“What are you talking about? Didn’t we just –” Sungjae’s sentence was cut off as Changsub dragged him along towards Minhyuk’s house. Seungwan had told Hyunsik the location of the restaurant that Hyunwoo and Sooyoung would be eating at and the six of them were thrilled to find that it was very near Minhyuk’s house, which gave the perfect excuse for the six of them to lead Sungjae there.

The time was already 7.35pm when they approached the restaurant on the way to Minhyuk’s house and the six of them were worried that they might have missed Sooyoung and Hyunwoo walking out of the restaurant. As they neared the restaurant, Ilhoon pretended to have a loose shoelace and purposely took a long time to tie it up, while Hyunsik and Minhyuk kept an eye on the restaurant entrance. Luckily for them, barely a minute passed before Hyunwoo and Sooyoung walked out of the restaurant together.

“Omo! Isn’t that Sooyoung with Hyunwoo?” exclaimed Minhyuk.

Sungjae turned so quickly he nearly sprained his neck. A streak of anger and bitterness flashed through him as he saw Sooyoung walking and laughing with Hyunwoo.

Minhyuk saw Sungjae’s expression and was quick to follow up. “Yah, Hyunwoo really is making progress, isn’t he? First, it was muffins and now it’s having dinner alone with Sooyoung?”

“I know right, hyung,” Ilhoon chipped in just as he “finished tying his shoelace”. “Hyunwoo-ssi’s really lucky to have a girl like Sooyoung.”

“Yah! What do you mean by ‘have a girl l