And it was done!

Su Ji put down her pen, a wide grin across her face. The last word of the last sentence of the last exam had finally been done! Just in time too, as the timer went off and the teacher went around and collected the answer sheets. Su Ji could barely hold still and wait for him, she was so excited to finally be finished! No more late night studies, no more chewing the ten bald old men on her fingertips, no more exam stress!

The teacher hid a smile as he took her answer sheet, and as soon as he collected them all, he clapped his hands and dismissed them.

Su Ji sprang to her feet, the legs of the chair scraping against the floor. A loud cheering went up and everyone leaped out of their chairs and poured out into the hallway.

"We're done!" Su Ji yelled, grabbing Namjoon and Yoongi's arms and jumping up and down out of excitment.

"You're that happy?" asked Namjoon, slightly amused.

"Yes!" she yelled. "I hate studying! It's over! Let's celebrate!"

He pulled his arm out of her grasp. "Sorry to burst your bubble but Yoongi and I still have work to do."

That damn wolf. Su Ji sighed, and said reluctantly, "I guess we can celebrate later, then..."

"What did you want to do?" asked Yoongi, also in the mood to celebrate.

"I don't know," she said. "Eat a lot. Watch a movie. Then sleep-"

"Now that's my kind of thing!" yelled Yoongi. "Namjoon, come on, I bet you-know-who is also tired out from exams and will be wanting to sleep-"

"Are you getting careless?" Namjoon raised his eyebrows.

"No," said Yoongi quickly. He wasn't getting careless – he was just tired. He had only slept three hours last night since he was studying for the last exam today.

"You two pig out and sleep," said Namjoon. "I'll keep watch on my own."

"Really?" asked Yoongi. Part of him felt guilty that he was glad Namjoon was offering to do it all again – the deal had been that Yoongi would take a turn once the exams were over.

Namjoon shrugged. "Yeah. But tomorrow you better do double!"

"I will!" said Yoongi.

"But are you sure you don't need to rest either, Namjoon?" asked Su Ji. "You're tired..."

"I'll sleep tomorrow," said Namjoon. "And excuse me, but why on earth have we not gone to the cafeteria yet?"

"Because a certain someone pulled us to a stop and started blabbing!" Yoongi pointed at Su Ji. "You! Why-"

"Shut up and let's go!" said Su Ji. "Look, it' so crowded up there, did you really want to be in the middle of that? And where's Hoseok, by the way?"

"He went ahead with Jungkook and V," said Namjoon.

Well, Hoseok hadn't really been eating lunch with the others for a while now. No doubt he would want to eat with the others today.

"The group study's over," said Su Ji, half-regretfully.

"Why do you sound sad?" demanded Yoongi.

"It was kind of fun," said Su Ji. "Come on, admit it! Thanks to that, you like Hoseok now – he even eats with us!"

"Yes, all thanks to your genius plan." Namjoon rolled his eyes.

"It was a genius plan!" she cried, and she forgot everything else when she saw what was set out on the lunch table. "Hey!" she tugged Yoongi's sleeve. "See those chocolate muffins?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get them."

"Good!"

Today's lunch was a pretty decent one – it was to celebrate the end of exams. There were pork cutlets and muffins and stew which, for once, wasn't mostly water with a few floating vegetables.

After getting their lunch, they made their way to their usual table, but Hoseok, V, and Jungkook were already sitting there. Weird, did they have a fight with Jin and Jimin and the girls?

Hoseok caught Su Ji's eye and waved them over. Surprsed, the three made their way to the table, and Hoseok said, "These two wanted to join us today!"

Jungkook and V smiled up at them, a bit nervously.

"Hi," said Jungkook, addressing Yoongi, who looked taken aback. "We wanted to sit here for a while... J-Hope finally noticed it and told us to come."

"J-Hope?" muttered Yoongi. "Who's that?"

"Me," said Hoseok, pretending to be offended. "How could you not know my nickname, huh?"

"Ah right." Yoongi nodded. "I remember now."

"I think..." said V slowly. "I think we owe you an apology, Yoongi. It seems like we misjudged you."

"No need for an apology." Yoongi's tone was gruff, and Su Ji could tell he was overwhelmed by this sudden apology.

"It's so nice to eat with you guys again!" cried Su Ji, setting her tray down and sitting. Namjoon and Yoongi took her cue.

"So how were the exams?" she asked, and that was it – they talked as though there had never been any distances between them, ever. Hoseok drew Yoongi into the conversation often, and Jungkook and V gradually relaxed.

Watching the boys talk while munching on her muffins – Namjoon had given his to her, too – Su Ji wondered what Hoseok had been telling people about Yoongi, for V and Jungkook to actually sit here. Whatever it was, she was grateful. True, this was basically the end of the school year, but she was happy that Yoongi was able to eat at a table full of people and chatter.

She glanced at the other table – it was quiet there. The girls sat huddled closer together, Jin and Jimin slightly on the other side of the table from them. It was a pity Su Ji hadn't gotten to know them better. The girls had mostly kept themselves to themselves – they had been a group since preschool, and didn't want any addition.

Jin had been absent most of the school year. Su Ji rememebered wanting to meet him – Hoseok had described him as a motherly kind of person, who loved pink and food. "Give him pink food and he'll love you forever," he had said. She could remember Seokjin comforting Hoseok about failed tests, and stepping in when V and Jungkook's bantering went too far. It was too bad he hadn't come to school more often, Su Ji thought ruefully. He looked awfully tired right now – there were dark shadows under his eyes, and his entire face seemed like it had shrunk. The exams must have been very stressful for him...

Jimin... his character had taken a three-sixty degree turn this year. She could remember Hoseok saying Jimin, V, and Jungkook were a group who always caused mischief, but Jimin was grumpy and hardly hung out with them anymore. Come to think of it, he hung out with Jin all the time – he must prefer the calmer boy. She had heard V and Jungkook complaining about him often in the bus, about how he was always grumpy and no fun anymore.

Of course he was grumpy... he was the wolf who had attacked people. Even if you didn't do it willingly, as in, the wolf taking over, it must have some kind of effect on you. No, it would be worse... she couldn't imagine how awful it must be to suddenly come to your senses and realize what you've done.

"What are you thinking about so seriously?" asked Namjoon quietly. He had not joined in the conversation, unlike Yoongi.

"Nothing." She sighed.

"So, nothing is making you think so hard?"

"It's just weird to think that this year is nearly over," sighed Su Ji. "I kinda wish I had spent more than just one year at this school..."

Namjoon snorted. "You're weird," he said. "Cheer up – tomorrow evening is the school dance."

"That's true." Su Ji perked up. "Will you be going?"

"If you-know-who is, then yes."

"Cool!" She grinned. "You have to dance with me, ok?"

"Ok, but if you step on my toes I'm going to-"

"I won't!" she said. "Sheesh, I'm good at dancing!"

"Dancing?" cut in Hoseok, having heard his favorite word.

"The school dance," said Su Ji. "Hey, will Aanchal be coming?"

"Yup!" He smiled. "Her school doesn't have a dance, can you believe it?"

"Aanchal?" said Jungkook. "Ah, your tutor turned girlfriend?"

"Why are there so many couples now?" demanded V. "J-Hope and Aanchal, Su Ji and Yoongi, Jungkook and Lisa-"

"What?" excaimed Su Ji, as Jungkook hit V ("That was supposed to be a secret!").

"Give me details!" she said. "Who asked who out?"

"What do you think?" said V. "Obviously Kookie baby asked her! You know, he had a crush on her for years, and she kept rejecting him but this year-"

Jungkook stuffed a muffin in V's mouth. "Shut up! I'll talk!"

"You're just jealous you don't have the guts to confess to Rose," said Hoseok, and V nearly choked on his muffin in his efforts to deny it.

"Ok wait!" said Jungkook. "I'm more interested in you two – Su Ji and Yoongi. Man, it was such a shock to see you two together all of a sudden! We had no idea you even talked to each other, and then BAM! How did it happen?"

"Well," said Su Ji. He had a point there: how did it happen? Minus the whole mate and marking thing...

Yoongi shrugged. "It just did."

"But how?" asked V.

"He helped me," said Su Ji. "You heard about my father's operation, right? Well, my grandmother had to go to Seoul, and let's just say I was in a very, um... delicate frame of mind."
 

"It must have been a huge shock," said Hoseok sympathetically. "It's good Yoongi helped out."

She nodded. "Yeah, it was."

As the talk went back to Jungkook and Lisa, Su Ji wondered what would have happened if Yoongi had never marked her. Would they still have been close? Not this close, of course, but at least a bit? And Namjoon... she knew he had only paid attention to her because of Yoongi... would he have ignored her like he ignored everyone else? She tried to clear out her thoughts – this kind of thinking was pointless, you can never know for sure what could or what could not be. And more importantly, she was perfectly content with how things had turned out.

****

Hoseok skipped to his house, humming "Dimple." It felt so good to actually be able to walk with such light steps after an exam, instead of crying. He had done well. Maybe not well by normal standards, but for him, even if he just scraped by, he was happy. He would have passed high school, and now it was time to decide on the future.

As he got closer to his house, and saw the car parked in the driveway, his feet suddenly became as heavy as lead. What was his father doing here? Heart sinking to his shoes, Hoseok opened the door, knowing what he would see inside.

He wasn't disappointed. Mr Jung was reading a paper on the couch, his mouth in a straight, intimidating line. He looked up when he heard the door close, and Hoseok bowed and muttered, "H-hello..."

Mr Jung folded the newspaper and put it away, and stood up. Hoseok hung his head, unable to meet the cold eyes that looked at him judgingly. His father must have been on his way somewhere, and decided to stop by.

"You finished your exams today." It was a statement, and not a question. There was no question of how he had been, or anything like that.

Hoseok nodded.

"And?" Mr Jung was impatient. "Do you think you did well?"

"I...."

"Well?"

The harshness of Mr Jung's tone made Hoseok flinch internally – this was why he couldn't speak in front of his father. His father didn't want to listen, nor gave him the chance to say anything.

"Where did we go wrong with you?" Mr Jung demanded, hitting him on the side of his head. It wasn't strong, but it had enough force to be painful.

But that wasn't what hurt more – what hurt more was inside. Mr Jung hit him again, and Hoseok felt his face turn crimson. It was humiliating – Hoseok hadn't even been able to say that he had done better than usual, he hadn't even be