You watch from the driver’s seat as Sehun approaches while talking to a friend. He waves goodbye before sprinting over to the car. The school day is over and everyone is already eager to get home.

“So how was your day, Sehun?” you ask as he gets into the passenger seat. “How were the classes and teachers? Did you make any new friends?”

He lets out a deep sigh. “It’s only my first day of high school, noona. I’m not a baby.”

You roll your eyes, pulling out onto the road. “I’m just curious, okay? Entering high school is supposed to be one of the most exciting days of your life. Ah, I remember my own first day of high school. It was like it was only yesterday.”

‘It was literally two years ago.”

It then lapses into a comfortable silence. You know that Sehun won’t answer any more questions; he’s more of the quieter type anyway. However, it doesn’t stop yourself from wondering how his day actually went. You have always babied him, and him being a high schooler won’t change a thing. He seems to know that as well, and the result was asking you to wait in the car for a few moments after school before he gets in under the pretence of not wanting to be ‘under your shadow’.

You hope that his day hasn’t gone as bad as yours has, at least. For the third time in a row, Kim Junmyeon has managed to snag the best seat in the classroom: front row, by the window. It’s the seat where people can prevent themselves from slacking off, yet staying within the boundaries of comfort. The teachers have a clear view of that particular seat which forces you to pay attention, yet they prefer to focus on the middle of the classroom, which gives you some leeway.

Truthfully, you think that Junmyeon chooses that seat mostly because it annoys you. Every year, you find yourself getting earlier and earlier to school, but you still find him at that table, beaming brightly at your entrance.

Naturally, you choose the second-best seat, and it’s the one next to his. You tell yourself that the quality of your seat outweighs whatever annoyance you feel towards him. You tell yourself that a lot. And that’s because you and him have been at each other’s ends for the past two years. It looks like having your final year in high school won’t make any difference.

The car pulls into the parking space and you let out a heavy breath. Merely thinking about Kim Junmyeon makes your insides burn.

“Fine, no need to get so upset,” Sehun mutters. “My day was alright. We didn’t learn much because it’s just the first day.”

Oh. It seems that Sehun has mistaken your burning insides for him instead of Junmyeon, but it’s turned out for the better anyway. Ruffling his head, you send him a fond smile as the both of you exit the car.

-

After a few weeks, Sehun is more open to the idea of being seen with you, so you no longer need to go out of your way to avid crossing paths with him. He seems to be getting along quite well with his on group of friends, as you observe from the other end of the cafeteria. The sight of how your baby brother is all grown up makes you smile.

Suddenly, a certain someone makes their way over to Sehun’s table, and your lips curve into a frown. You furrow your eyebrows as you watch Junmyeon interacting with the group of freshmen (most probably buttering them up) and you make a mental note to ask Sehun about it later. One of the girls in the group laughs at something Junmyeon says and you scoff.

“Watch out, you’re going to burn them with your glare. Your eyes look like they’re shooting lasers,” Baekhyun comments from across the table. He has a lazy grin on his face and you kind of know where this conversation is going. He opens his mouth to continue but you cut him off.

“No, this is not about the girl who laughed at Junmyeon.”

“But I didn’t even say anything,” he laughs.

“That’s enough teasing, Baek.” Yixing speaks up from beside you. Somehow, Baekhyun always listens to him. “Your theories about Junmyeon are really far-fetched to begin with anyway.”

“Thank you Yixing. You all know how much I hate him anyway.”

He gives you a funny smile. “Annoyed by him? Yeah. But hate him? I don’t think so. How could you have put up with him ask your deskmate for the past few years? You’re sitting next to him this year too. Plus, you two are in the same club.”

“We’re all in the Music Club, Yixing. You included,” you sniff. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Mmhmm.”

“I’m serious! Whatever, I’ll just ask Sehun about it later. He is definitely looking for freshmen to vote for him for student president. Not on my watch. How dare he trick my brother into liking him?! Was stealing my seat not enough? Must he steal my brother too?”

Baekhyun chuckles loudly. “Look over there. He’s talking to Jongin, not Sehun. He’s not disturbing your brother, alright?”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” There is only fire in your eyes.

The fire doesn’t fade even much later when you ask Sehun about it in the car on the way home. Somehow, he seems more embarrassed at the fact that you were watching him, and not at the fact that Junmyeon was apparently brown-nosing him. After assuring him that you saw it all coincidentally, he lets out a light chuckle and insists that Junmyeon was doing none of that.

You narrow your eyes, unconsciously stepping harder on the accelerator. It’s almost laughable how Junmyeon gets on your nerves every single time. Other than fact that he wins over you in certain subjects by just a few marks and teases you, he doesn’t even need to try to make your insides flame up.

Perhaps it is the same for him, you muse. Perhaps he feels annoyed by how you win him back in other subjects and manage to come back with sarcastic responses so well. The thought is comforting and your lips curve up into a smile.

Busy having an internal conflict, you only manage to catch a few words from Sehun’s explanation; something about talking to Kim Jongin.

-

Rain is pouring outside as if rocks are falling from the sky and this is one of the very few times that the expression ‘raining cats and dogs’ makes sense to you. The raindrops are hitting the roof with such force that you can barely hear anyone speaking unless the person is speaking directly into your ear. Thunder crackles ever so often, accompanied by the streaks of lightning you see from outside the window.

You were supposed to be home by now. Actually, you were supposed to be home two hours ago. However, due to the rain, Sehun wouldn’t be able to make it to the bus stop without getting soaked along the way. So, being the kind sister that you are, you wait for his club activities to end so the both of you can take the car home.

You fiddle with your pen, filling in an answer on your worksheet. You had been trying to do your History homework for the past hour, but the subject is admittedly not one of your strong points. You can’t help think of how the person sitting next to you in class is the best in History and it frustrates you even more. The frustration comes with the burst of motivation to do better and you flip the textbook with more force.

Suddenly, someone appears at your side and you almost jump out of your skin. You didn’t even hear the person’s footsteps due to the room. When you turn your head to look at the person, you immediately raise your eyebrows. Speak of the devil.

He asks you something, but the thunder decides to sound at that exact moment. You shake your head, meaning to say that you cannot hear him.

Junmyeon leans in close, closer than you’ve ever been, and speaks. “What are you doing here? Our last class ended hours ago.”

You put your face close to his as you reply. “I’m fetching someone home because of the rain.”

“Oh. I thought that you were struggling with your homework so much that you lost track of time and ended up here.”

You swat him like you always do and this time he lets you, instead of ducking. He peers over at the worksheet you are trying to complete and he lets out an inaudible easy chuckle. You imagine it to be as how he usually chuckles at you in class because the rain is obscuring your hearing.

Junmyeon leans in so close that you can feel his lips brushing your ear a little bit as he speaks. It makes you freeze in your place, but what he says next breaks the spell. “We both know that History isn’t one of your better subjects. If you need some help, you can just ask me, you know? Don’t have to be so shy.”

Reflexively, you swat him again. “Please. It’s not like your Maths is plenty of sunshine either.”

He shoots you a wry smile before scooting nearer to get a closer at the questions you are unable to answer. “Ah, this one is kind of difficult. The answer’s not in the textbook, it’s sort of like an opinion question where you apply the stuff that you learnt already.”

What he says makes sense, and you get a clearer vibe of the question. However, you only manage to think of one content point when you need at least three. Junmyeon sees you struggle with it for a while before he places himself back to beside your ear. Isn’t this a little too natural for people who hate each other?

“You can just- oh!”

You get a similar surprise of your own as two hands grasp your shoulders out of the blue. You let out a small scream and turn around before relaxing when you realise that it’s just Sehun.

You glare at him playfully. “Is this what you say to a person who waited for two hours after school just for you?”

“What did you say?” Sehun says, or rather, you read his lips. The grin on his face tells you that he very well gets the gist of what you were saying.

Rolling your eyes, you hurriedly pack your stuff into your bag. On the other hand, Junmyeon and Sehun’s friend are taking turns talking into each other’s ears. When he catches your eye, you give him a small salute as an indication that you’re leaving. He waves back at you, a small smile on his face.

Sehun has the heart to wait for you to get settled in the car from all the heavy rain before asking the most ridiculous question you’ve heard.

“Are you and Junmyeon hyung dating?”

You really do hope that the ranting and fuming during the whole ride home knocks some sense into the poor boy’s head.

-

“What are you doing here?” you ask sourly.

“I go to school here,” Junmyeon answers sarcastically, not looking very pleased either.

Waiting for Sehun to finish up with his dance club was supposed to be a quiet studying session by yourself, but the unexpected appearance of Junmyeon makes you frown. The both of you are more peeved at each other than usual because of a small fight from earlier during the English lesson.

Junmyeon had made a snide remark about how your past relationships were all doomed to fail like Romeo and Juliet’s. Though you admitted that you never really had any luck with your relationships, it hurt even more coming from him. Being in a bad mood (periods are never fun) didn’t make it any less biting.

It wasn’t as if you were trying to chase them away, right? You weren’t in a lot of relationships, but every one of the people you had dated said the same thing; you weren’t invested enough, always finding something else much more important. And though you didn’t really feel sad that the relationships ended, you were more insecure about yourself not being good enough for anyone. Junmyeon’s words fed that insecurity and you didn’t hesitate to hurl some not-so-nice things back at him in retaliation.

Instead of feeling rage, you are instead embarrassed at how you lashed out at him as a defence. This just shows how defensive and insecure you are about your love life, which is something you’d rather not let Junmyeon, or anyone for that matter, know. Relationships, unlike exams, aren’t something you can just study for and ace the next time.

The lead of your mechanical pencil snaps when you write a little too hard amidst all your thoughts. Grunting in frustration, you fling it into your pencil case, digging out another one. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Junmyeon still standing next to you. He’s not saying anything, and neither are you.

After a few more moments of you writing notes in your history textbook silently, he finally speaks up. “Look, I’m just going to take this coincidental meeting as an opportunity to apo-”

“Coincidental meetings?” you scoff. “We’ve been seeing each other around school more times than I ever have. It’s like you’re stalking me. Or… maybe you can’t even put your pride down and say that you were looking for me to apologise?”

Junmyeon pulls up a chair to sit in so he can look at you straight in the eye. “I’m not stalking you, okay? It’s obvious we’d be seeing each other around more often, seeing as Sehun and Jongin-”

“You’re trying to appeal to them, aren’t you?!” you cut him off, accusingly.

“Stop interrupting me! I just wanted to apologise, but you won’t let me!”

“You have nothing to apologise for,” you say coolly, looking him straight in the eye. “You just reminded me of how I’m unable to keep my relationships, that’s all. It’s the truth anyway. Not everyone can be like you, right?”

“What do you mean by that?” He looks confused.

You shoot him a sad smile. “Everyone knows about you and your girlfriend from middle school, and how the two of you were together for the longest time. It was only because she moved to another country that you broke up. Not everyone can maintain a long-term relationship, you know?”

Junmyeon sighs. “It’s not like that.”

“Oh, but it is!” you snap, the bottled-up frustration taking over. “Not everyone can be the oh-so perfect Kim Junmyeon who gets good grades with minimal effort, excels in cocurricular activities, is liked by almost everyone, and tops it up with the visuals to boot. Not everyone can understand what the teacher is saying on the first try, or the second, and as you mentioned this morning, not everyone can keep a relationship steady.”

He is taken aback as the words hit him one by one. “I-I’m not perfect. If anything, I’m far from it. I know I hit a soft spot during English, and I want to say sorry.”

“I told you that you don’t need to apologise. Will you just let me go back to my studying?”

He eyes the History book in your hands and his eyes soften. “Are you somehow… envious of me?”

“Wasn’t I clear enough? Who wouldn’t want to be perfect?” you chuckle bitterly.

“Nobody’s perfect,” he tells you gently, closing the textbook. “Everyone has their strong and weak points. The trick isn’t to strive for utmost perfection, but to just do our best. I mean, look at you. You’re the best at Mathematics and Science in our entire year. You’re a strong candidate for president of the Music Club too. You have to look at the bright side of things too.”

Eyes starting to prickle, you are suddenly afraid that you are going to cry in front of him. You blurt out the first thing on your mind on impulse. “Then why did they all leave me? Wasn’t I good enough for them?”

“If anything, they weren’t good enough for you. Like I told you, what I said this morning was just a joke, and your relationships aren’t doomed to fail. You just haven’t met ‘the one’ yet. Plus, to clear up the rumours, we were only together for a year and the reason we broke up was her cheating on me. Her moving abroad was just mere coincidence.”

You laugh, tugging at the hem of your shirt. Your shoulders feel lighter now. “I’m sorry too. Y’know, for lashing out at you earlier.”

“I deserved it, don’t worry.”

“And also, I’m not usually this emotional,” you clarify, clearing your throat. “It’s just that my time of the month is coming soon… so yeah. Let’s pretend this never happened.”

“I know,” he says, biting back a chuckle. “I’ve been sitting next to you for so long that I’m already used to it.”

Though his revelation should make you scowl, you feel your lips pulling upwards into a smile instead. You blame your hormones for the wacky emotions.

Suddenly, you hear Sehun calling you as he emerges from his dance club studio. “Noona! Let’s go home!”

Your grin widens when you turn around to take a look at him, sweat and all. He has one of his rare smiles on his face with his eyes as bright and twinkling with glee. He must really love dancing, you observe.

“Sehun!” Junmyeon beams, stepping closer till your arms are brushing. “Where’s Jongin?”

“Oh hyung! Jongin’s talking to the club leader about something. He’ll be out in a while.”

He says all of that in a tone of