"I have asked Minhyun about this Friday, he's given the okay!" Somi winked at all of us and all the other girls seemed very excited at this announcement, except me. 

Thinking perhaps Somi had successfully asked her long-time crush out, I clapped her shoulder encouragingly, "Congrats, Somi!"

Somi turned to me with an incredulous and amused expression. "Congrats to you too then, Haerin?" Huh?

"Don't you ever check our group chats, Haerin?" Doyeon cocked a perfectly-shaped eyebrow. "We're organising a group date with the soccer team on Friday!"

"Oh, that!" I faked a look of complete realisation. "Ah, yes, yes! But I was congratulating Somi on having the courage of asking Minhyun!"

"Well, she's our Somi after all." Sejeong giggled and I heaved an inner sigh of relief. I saw Doyeon still staring at me with her sharp eyes narrowed and I tried to maintain my composure, looking away. When school ended and I was finally away from my schoolmates, it felt natural to me not to check my cell phone and just embrace the peace and quiet of my solitude.

"So, where are we going on Friday?" Chunghwa poked Somi excitedly.

Somi raised her hands dramatically. "Well, I was thinking of visiting skating rink. It makes the perfect first date, don't you think?"

I can't skate. I felt myself turn pale at the thought of balancing on a fragile layer of ice, wobbling on unsteady skates.

The four girls cheered loudly at the thought. "Freaking genius, baby girl!" Doyeon whooped, pumping a fist in the air. "But, we are going to act like we don't know how to skate, right?"

Somi rolled her eyes as if what she said was obvious. "Totes?" 

Sejeong gasped all of a sudden. "Girls! We need to erase all social media of ourselves ever ice skating then!"

"Ah, damn!" Somi cursed. "I remembered Jonghyun-oppa liked one of my photos on Instagram when I went on an ice-skating date with Doyeon in middle school!" Ah yes, they all went to the same middle school except me.

Chunghwa shook her head. "It's okay, it's okay! We'll play the other way!" she giggled devilishly. "Somi and Doyeon, you two are good at ice-skating anyway, you can knock the boys off their feet with your grace and poise!" She linked arms with me. "Haerin, Sejeong and I can pretend that we don't know how to ice-skate."

Somi sighed despondently, folding her arms. "Fine. I'll settle for that." Doyeon nodded, looking confident of her skating skills.

Pretend I don't know something I really don't know? I was furrowing my eyebrows and dreading the arrival of Friday already.

Somi: BEB DRESS IN SMTH QT 

I glanced at the text that Somi had sent me and sighed, sitting on my bed with a loud thud. 

"What's qt?" I wondered out loud, throwing my wardrobe doors open. Without thinking much, I just picked out a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved cardigan... to protect myself from the ice in case I fall. Safety before aesthetics.

We had agreed to meet at the train station earlier and go together the skating rink to meet the boys. When I arrived, I was surprised to see all of them dressed in skirts or dresses. Weren't we going ice skating?

"Did you not see my text?" Somi was cracking up at my outfit and I laughed as well seeing her huge reaction to me. "You look like you're going trekking up a cold mountain!"

Sejeong ruffled my hair. "Aigoo, it's okay, our Haerin still looks good no matter what she wears!"

"This is the killer item." Doyeon lifted her feet from her cute booties, which were clad in adorable patterned socks with heart shapes.

"Ah, luckily I always wear cute socks." Sejeong giggled, tiptoeing to show her Hello Kitty socks.

Somi was started to burst out in laughter again. Apparently, Chunghwa was in black socks, which I saw nothing wrong with. "Chungie, are you a burgular?!"

Chunghwa was pouting. "Nobody told me!" Somi had cute pink socks on.

I glanced down at my scuffed Adidas sneakers and couldn't even recall what socks I had picked. Somi pulled up my socks and suddenly started laughing even harder. "Haerin takes the cake, as expected!"

I usually just pick out single socks in my clean drawer and don't really care what colour or pattern they are- since they're ankle socks anyway, noone would see them. "One orange and one yellow!?" Sejeong couldn't breathe, she was too busy laughing at me.

I cracked a laugh. "At least they're both warm colours." I joked.

Anyhow, we made our way to the ice skating rink - fashionably late- on Somi's advice. I could barely recognise any of the five boys there except Minhyun (I have been shown way too many pictures of him by Somi) and of course, my classmate Jihoon.

"Haerin-ssi," Jihoon nodded, his eyes glistening mischeviously upon seeing me, "I'm Park Jihoon."

He has been introducing himself to me ever since he sees me in class ever since the embarrassing incident of not knowing his name, which is everyday.

"Hello, Jihoon-ssi," I replied back, suppressing the urge to roll my eyes instead.

"Wait, aren't you two classmates?" The boy next to him asked in a raspy, but kind and polite voice. Doyeon, who was about to approach him, stopped abruptly and joined our conversation.

I sighed inwardly and nodded.

Jihoon smirked, shooting me a meaningful look. "Exactly. And yet this agassi here," He ruffled my hair disapprovingly, causing me to tense up and my eyes to widen, "Doesn't know my name." He gave me a sad pout.

I blinked, stepping away and was about to retort, but then Doyeon