“Ooh! These are the expensive kind!” Seulgi excitedly gushes out loud as she holds the box of chocolates Joohyun casually manages to pass to her.

          “You can open it if you want.”

          Seulgi grins and doesn’t wait for a second confirmation. She rips the packaging apart, and in no time, she pops a piece in . Joohyun rolls her eyes, but plucks a piece from the box too.

          (She didn’t know what made her do that, as she isn’t entirely fond of sweets. Though she supposes the look of self-satisfaction Seulgi had on her face had contributed.)

          “These are so good!” Seulgi exclaims, and Joohyun wonders if perhaps she exaggerates a bit. She places another one in , and she all but melts.

          “Remind me to stop you from getting a boyfriend, Hyun.”

          Joohyun smacks Seulgi’s arm, but she can’t help the involuntary reaction she gets when the mere thought of Seulgi and relationships mix.

          She hopes her companion won’t notice her blushing face, and get other (misleading) thoughts.

          “So, do you know who are these from?” Seulgi swallows before she asks. Joohyun shakes her head. She had found the box wrapped delicately in crepe paper, in her locker when she opened it during lunch. She had carefully placed it in a corner of her bag, wherein it would not get smushed, knowing Seulgi would want to have it.

          “Wanna guess?”

          “No.” Joohyun deadpans, knowing Seulgi would probably pick on some poor classmate of hers. She turns away from the chocolate-stained grin, and Seulgi whines at her boringness.

          (She could never look Yongsun in the eye without cracking up after Seulgi told her about the time she caught her dancing alone in the third floor girls’ bathroom.)

          “Fine.” Seulgi straightens up, “I’ll do it myself.”

Joohyun laughs at her silliness and she has to stop herself from pinching the indents on Seulgi’s cheeks that appear whenever she smiles.

          They walk together, and Joohyun presses herself close to the girl, using the light rain and the lone umbrella as an excuse. She stares at their linked arms as Seulgi yammers on an on.

          So often were gifts given to Joohyun from admirers, that Seulgi had taken it upon herself to guess who and where they came from. Half the time she was wrong, but Joohyun still enjoys the way she talks about it. Weaving stories, and oftentimes making up near-impossible and absolutely ridiculous situations behind it.

          But this time.

          Joohyun hears the name Bo Gum and she stops in her tracks.

          Seulgi stops too, and stares straight ahead, as if realizing what she just said.

          “Bogum-ssi?”

          Joohyun tries to stop herself from bursting out in laughter, but fails. Seulgi furrows her brows and pouts, because why not?

          “Why? It’s possible!”

          Joohyun tries to imagine calm, composed Park Bo Gum, slinking around, placing chocolates in lockers, and laughs even harder. Seulgi’s pout is more evident and Joohyun lets herself hold her hand. Her chuckles die down, but thoughts of the Council’s president reduced to a pathetic love-sick teenager makes her amused.

          “But that’s so weird Seulgi.”

          “It isn’t!” Seulgi stands for what she believes in and she nods her head assertively. “It could be him.”

          Joohyun shakes her head. “It can’t.”

          “And why not?”

          Joohyun tries to think about it, but she ends up giggling. She shrugs.

          “It seems rather out of character for him, you know?” Seulgi is silent, but reluctantly nods after a while.

          “I get what you mean.”

          “Besides, Hyun, he doesn’t seem to be the type of person who would hide between gifts and secret confession letters,” Seulgi muses out loud, and Joohyun nods, playing along. The contemplative-look the younger has amuses her.

          They reach the waiting shed, and the rain is nothing more but the pitter and patter against corrugated metal. Seulgi continues talking, and Joohyun pretends she is listening.

          She steps close to her.