Placing in my books, I take out the ones that I need, just before shutting my locker door shut.

It's lunch time now, and as I make my way out towards the cafeteria where Minah is to be, my thoughts can't help but drift off, to a very embarrassing (and slightly disturbing) memory.

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!”

My scream had instantly made Seyong roll off of me, where he then thankfully placed some distance in between us. I want to yell and cry all at once, because I am completely shocked at what has just happened; my chaste lips have just been stolen by his own-not-so-quite-pure ones, ugh!

I’m sure he’s kissed a few girls before, with how flirty he can be. But that’s not very important right now, as I am still furiously wiping my lips, and sadly, they don’t feel the same any more. There’s a slight tingling feeling, but that’s probably because I’ve been rubbing them, and the pounding in my chest is unpleasant. It’s a strange and unusual feeling, and I don’t like it. Is this how it felt, to be surprised beyond your wits?

But then again, I’ve never liked any of Seyong’s ‘surprises’.

And speaking of him, he, on the other hand, is completely frozen. Eyes wide, and mouth slightly ajar, Seyong appears to be in some sort of trance. My squirming and complaints seem to be entering one ear, and then jumping right out of the other one; it doesn’t seem to be bothering him, or he has become temporarily deaf. I’m not sure why, but his lack of response annoys me, so then I start to voice out my displeasure at him, but a bit louder, and all I manages to get, was two blinks, followed up by a soft, “Huh?”

As his gaze lands itself on my, I feel myself tense up. And then my eyes automatically lower down to his lips, and I instantly cover my mouth with a tiny squeak.

I can’t look at him anymore, this is too embarrassing!

The memory of how they felt on my own makes my spring up from my spot, and then hastily power walk away. I’m too nervous to anywhere near him right now, and for some reason, my heart can’t seem to control its beating.

But luckily, I manage to hide away in my room for the rest of night.

And it gets even better, because the next morning, as I ninja my way down the stairs, I see my mother happily chatting away to his parents, which meant that I was going to come home with her.

“Hyeri-ah, over here!” calls out a voice.

I look towards the source, to see Minah eagerly waving me over. She’s there with the other girls, and once I reach the table, I say hi to them, and then slip into the empty seat beside Sojin.

And then it hits me that it’s not just us girls here, but a specific group of five males, are also accompaning us.

I gulp, and then quickly return Insoo’s grin with an artificial smile, but then my eyes find themselves searching for a certain someone.

Seyong is sitting on the end, and even though I’m far away, on the opposite side of the table, I feel a little awkward. My heart rate increases when our eyes meet for a brief second, and I can tell that he’s feeling a bit weird as well, by the way he suddenly takes an immense interest in his drink. I don’t want anyone to suspect anything, so I begin to shove food into my mouth, to keep me occupied.

Because at least that way, I’ll have an excuse not to accidentally blurt out anything stupid.

So everyone is just talking and eating and basically socializing with each other. I laugh at some of the things being said, but that’s about it. My eyes would take a peek over at Seyong every once in a while, and I would see him cracking a joke every now and then, but the way he laughs looks a little forced. Like his cheeks was hurting too much or something, I don't know. I shake that out of my mind, and then go back and try to involve myself into the conversation between Minah and Yura, but it doesn’t really work.

Ugh, why do I feel so weird and awkward?

“Hyeri-ah, you’re really quiet today,” comments Yura. “Are you okay?”

Minah gives me a slight concerned look, as a cheeky smile makes its way onto Sojin’s face. “It’s weird though, because you’re usually really loud,” she muses. “I’m quite surprised.”

I roll my eyes at her in mock annoyance and then point at my food. “Can’t talk, eating,” I reply with a mouth full of food.

Yura squeals out an amused “Ew!”, as Minah giggles away, making her eye-smile visible. Sojin shakes her head at me, but then ends up giving me a playful shove, as I purposely chew very loudly in her face.

When everyone is finished eating, and talking in their own little groups, I see Insoo suddenly appear out of nowhere, on my left.

And the way he says his little “hey” to me, followed up with a little nervous grin, it immediately tells me that this ‘hello’ isn’t your usual “What’s up” but as in a “What’s up”.

So I eye him down suspiciously, and get to the point. “Okay, what do you want?” I bluntly demand.

Insoo pouts a little, but then let’s out a defeated sigh. “Alright,” he surrenders. “You caught me.”

I take a sip of my water, and then gesture for him to continue.

“Well...remember how you said that you were going to give me your science notes?” he says.

I don’t remember that.

Science notes? What science notes, I have science notes to even begin with?

I give Insoo a weird look, “Uh, okay then, but what was it about?”

Maybe this will be able to help jog my memory.

“Oh, it was about that...uh, plant thing, with the cell stuff or something?” he briefly says, and it makes me give him another weird look.

“The plant thing, with the cell stuff...” I dully repeat.

He eagerly nods, and then clicks his fingers together. “Yeah, that!”

Hmm, I wonder if he’s aware that the entire subject consists of...oh I don’t know, a thousand plants, and a gazillion billion cells?

Insoo then pleads that we head to my locker, because he desperately needs those notes, for an upcoming pop quiz in his class, so the two of us begin to head there. I don’t understand why it has to be my ‘notes’ (he says that my handwriting is the easiest to read or something), but more importantly, I don’t even know if my book has what he needs, since I have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about. It also doesn’t really help how he can’t specifically remember what it was about, so I’ve just decided the easiest solution, to just lend him my thick book.

Once in his hands, Insoo happily thanks me, and when I close my locker door, and turn back to him, he grins.

“So anyway, Junkyu and I found a secret exit,” he casually begins. “Well actually, he found it, and then told me about it, and we sometimes leave through there, if the usual school entrance is too slow and crowded.”

The thought of where this ‘secret exit’ could be, pipes up my curiosity; “Really? Does anyone else know about it?”

Insoo scratches his head for a bit, “I think Chaejin might.” He then turns to me with a beam, “Anyway, do you want to know where it is? It’s pretty cool.”

I think about it for a bit, but then end up scrunching my nose slightly. “Not really...”

Insoo blinks, “Huh?” He seems to be taken aback by my response. “Why not?” he asks, sounding surprised.

I shrug, “Eh, maybe next time or something.”

He doesn’t seem to like my reply, because he is now shaking his head. “No no no,” he says, “You have to see it, because there will be no next time.”

There will be no next time, what is he on about?

Insoo then gives the place a quick glance, “Come on, there’s no one around right now!”

Taking a hold of my wrist, he then begins to drag me down the empty corridors, and I eventually give in, and let him take me to wherever the place is. We stop in front of one of the janitor’s closet, and I arch an eyebrow at it, “Really Insoo?”

“I know it’s weird, but there’s a door in the back,” he says. “I guess they made it, so that if someone were to accidentally lock themselves in here, then they can leave with the back door, since it only opens from the inside.”

It sounds rather reasonable, and because he said that Junkyu had found the place, it makes me wonder what the heck he was doing in here.

Insoo gives the place another check, before very carefully opening the door. “Quick, go in, before a teacher sees us!”

The alarm in his voice makes me automatically spring into the dark room, but then when I turn around to watch him jump in also, he doesn’t.

Instead, all I see is the door shut behind me, enveloping me into darkness.