Chapter Twelve

Thursday

Yoomi awoke to smooth sheets and quiet peacefulness. The soft morning light of September trickled in through the curtains, and she snuggled further into her covers, not wanting to leave the warmth of her bed. Speaking of her bed, it somehow felt unusually warm today. And it smelled like cinnamon. But she wasn’t complaining- it felt really nice, and safe.

Until it spoke.

“Awww, look at you hugging me so tightly, Yoomi-ah! You must just like me that much, huh?” Even then, Yoomi’s hazy morning brain still wasn’t comprehending the situation. Her eyes fluttered open to see the cotton material of a light gray fabric. It definitely didn’t look like any of the stuffed animals she habitually hugged to bed. Her eyes trailed up the fabric till she was met with the mischievous smile of a certain male looking down at her.

“What?” the half-asleep girl asked dumbly, mind still clouded with sleep.

“What do you mean what? This is when you’re supposed to scream and kick me off the bed for sneaking under the covers with you, Yoomi-ah.” And coincidentally, that was the precise moment when she screamed and kicked him off the bed.

“What are you doing here, Jongdae oppa?” she squeaked out, face bright red, watching him rub his behind soothingly from the painful fall to the ground. It was Jongdae cuddling with her in her own bed earlier, clad in a loose tank top and shorts, exposing his well-built arms.

“Well, that was fun, kitten, I’ll see you later!” Jongdae said with a hearty grin as he began to walk down the stairs until he was out of sight. But then he poked his head back up the hole in her floor.

“By the way, you smell really good.” And with a playful wink sent to the girl, he was gone. It took her a minute after that to process what happened, and once she did, she stuffed her face into her pillow and silently screamed in frustration.

“I thought Baekhyun oppa said he was going to protect me,” Yoomi muttered sarcastically to herself, pouting into her pillow. This house really did need a renovation after all, since she clearly needed a door to keep people out of her room.

She looked at the time and figured that she should probably go wash up and get ready for school. Besides, a warm shower to relax her and calm her down was exactly what she needed at the moment, somehow already stressed despite having only been awake for a couple of minutes- she had Jongdae to thank for that, she guessed. With her hair tied up in a loose bun, Yoomi headed to the guest bathroom on the first floor to shower.

There was just one little problem after she came out of the shower, though. She had forgotten to bring her clothes with her, so she was left with only a towel and her pajamas, which she had accidentally gotten wet just a moment ago by clumsily stepping on them when she stepped out of the shower. Aishh, why is it that I always do the most stupid things? She cursed in her head as she stood there in the bathroom for some time, debating what she should do. She could put her pajamas back on, but they’re drenched, and she would much rather not put wet clothes back on, nor would it really help her situation, covering only as much as the towel would. Or could she call one of the boys to bring her clothes to her? No, that was embarrassing, she instantly pushed the thought from her mind. Plus, they weren’t close enough to ask for that kind of favor yet, so that wouldn’t work either. That left her with only one other option: to run back to her room in her towel. It couldn’t be that bad right? All the boys had their own bathrooms, and it was still relatively early, so they shouldn’t be out of their rooms yet.

With that decision made, Yoomi wrapped her towel tightly around her body, and then bolted out of the bathroom, already regretting her decision and stupidity. As she neared her destination, she began to feel relief that she had actually gotten away with her terrible plan, internally cheered as she neared the living room while still running for her life. But her little celebration was cut short when she smacked into somebody’s back full force, having jinxed herself. She was instantly knocked backward from the force that she ran into the person with, but then luckily managed to steady herself. However, she did end up hurting her forehead, which she had smacked against- oh no. She looked up to see Yifan standing in front of her, fully dressed in his uniform, with a mug in his hand and his mouth open. Yoomi could feel her body temperature increase, her face burning.

He made no move to turn away or say anything, and just stood there staring at her, his mouth opening and closing a few times, cheeks steadily gaining color. His eyebrows were raised in surprise, hiding under his hairline. She was just standing there dumbly for a while too, shocked and unable to move, brain not functioning properly. Then she remembered the state she was in and quickly covered herself up with her arms. It was only then that the male in front of her moved. It was really abrupt, but he suddenly spun himself around to face the wall, hands following a second later and covering his eyes, his actions robot-like and stiff. The half girl realized that was her cue to leave, and she immediately sprinted the rest of the way to her room.

Her heart thumped loudly in her chest as she threw herself on her bed to hide forever. She couldn’t believe one of the boys actually saw her! Plus, it was Yifan, one of the older members who she wasn’t that familiar with yet, so she had no idea what he thought of her now. She shook her head in disbelief, miserably banging her fist on her covered mattress.

Gosh, Lee Yoomi, she groaned out loud while still scolding herself in her mind, you have really got to stop embarrassing yourself in front of these guys.

***

Yoomi had probably subconsciously noticed it before, but it didn’t hit her until she started living with them that the S-class boys were always together. Even now, they were all walking to the dorm cafeteria together in their not so small group of people, or well, vaeli. She was dressed in her new royal blue S-class uniform now, a supposed sign of power at the academy. She didn’t know how she went from waiting to find out what color bow tie she would have to getting a whole new set of uniforms in an entirely different color. At this point it still didn’t entirely feel real to the girl yet that she was really an S-rank, making her mess with her new clothes in both curiosity-- since it was something different-- and to remind herself that it was real.

The S-class uniform was similar to the one the regular students wore but had a few noticeable, key differences. The pleated skirt still had the double white lines at the bottom, as well as the white accents, but the cuffs on their white long-sleeved undershirts were lined with two royal blue stripes instead of black, and the collar had a single blue stripe. The male version had royal blue shoulder epaulets on the white shirt that the regular students didn't have. Their ties weren’t the standard black or black-and-gold either, the darker color once again replaced by the eye catching royal blue, and had two white stripes that were diagonal on the boys’ ties but placed in a V pattern like two downward facing arrows on Yoomi’s. All girls, no matter what their rank, were given the option of wearing either a necktie or a bowtie (the S-class bowtie was blue as well but the white stripes were horizontal and placed on the hanging ends of the bow), but Yoomi felt like wearing the short necktie on that particular day. The crest of the academy was still pinned on the pocket of her new uniform vest, as was her student ID collar clip, just like they had been on her old one, their familiarness giving her some comfort.

Yoomi was walking together with the rest of S-class, and if anyone were to pass by and see them, they’d just think she was another one in the group. But that wasn’t the case here; not when she was supposedly the ‘new girl with no rank or power’, the ‘girl that’s more like a talmahi than a vaeli’.

As soon as they entered the dormitory premises, all eyes were on them, or more specifically, on Yoomi. Every person they passed watched them with wide eyes and open jaws, making her feel uncomfortable from all the unwanted attention. Thankfully for her nerves, they arrived at the dorm cafeteria in no time, meaning that she could try to hide from their unblinking stares at a table in the back with her dear friends. However, her dream plan was a little far off from the reality of what happened. The moment the automatic sliding doors opened, all eyes were on them. Everybody was staring; not at the boys, but at her. Immediately, whispers broke out and the whole cafeteria erupted into loud gossip. She felt self-conscious from all the disbelieving looks and occasional glares thrown her way, and instead of rushing to get her lunch and then find Sumin and Jinwoo like she had originally wanted to, she chose to stay in between a few of the boys, hoping that their tall physiques would block her from view.

Suho- no, Joonmyeon, she mentally reminded herself, must have felt her nervousness, because he came up to walk beside her, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t mind them, Yoomi-ah, let them stare all they want. And remember, you are not obligated to tell them anything.” Just seeing him made her think of what happened last night, and she tried her hardest not to blush at just the mere thought of it. She didn’t know why he did what he did, and she was still a little hazy on the whole thing because she had been half asleep during their conversation, but she had realized she didn’t stop him at first either, making her feel flustered at the memory. She was about to thank him, when Jongin, who was one of the boys she was hiding behind because of his height, scoffed. When she looked up at him, surprised, she found him glaring out at some of the other students that were still whispering about her.

“Are you kidding me, hyung? ‘Don’t mind them’?,” he scoffed again, frowning deeply. Yoomi had never seen him act that way before. “You can hear their thoughts just as well as I can. Are you really okay with what they’re saying about her?” he accused, stepping a little more in front of Yoomi protectively without realizing it.

“Jongin,” Junmyeon sighed heavily while shooting the younger boy a warning look, “we made a rule not to read other people’s minds unless it was necessary or we were given permission.” Again, he just scoffed, but he did calm down a little and didn’t say any more about it. Yoomi shifted uncomfortably in place, tugging at the sleeve of her new uniform. Half of her was curious and wanted to know what people were saying about her even if she knew she wouldn’t like it, but the other half would rather just not deal with it and was glad that she still didn’t have a good hold on the whole telepathy thing yet so that she couldn’t read their thoughts like Jongin had. Shaking his head at the stubborn first year, Junmyeon let him be, choosing to make comforting Yoomi once more his priority. He squeezed her shoulder again, the warmth from his hand spreading through her body and relaxing her. “Don’t mind them,” he repeated a little more firmly this time.

“Deh, oppa. Thank you,” Yoomi gave him a shaky but sincerely thankful smile, to which he reciprocated with an angelic smile of his own that sent her heart flying. Before she could talk to Junmyeon more, she was whisked away by Chanyeol. He dragged her away from the others to one of the vending machines, seeming to just love pulling her places, although since the first incident he made sure to always be gentle to avoid accidentally hurting her again.

“What do you want, Yoomi-ah? I’ll get you something.” Chanyeol asked brightly with his usual grin, turning to her.

“No no, it’s fine oppa, I can get it myself,” she assured him, waving him off.

“No, I want to get it for you! Now tell me what you want, or I’m not letting you go!” He insisted, grabbing a hold of her wrist again, indicating that he wouldn’t let her go until she chose something. She wondered why he wanted to treat her so much for no reason and tried to decline again, but to no avail, the giant was just too obstinate and wouldn’t take no for an answer. So she eventually just gave up and pointed at her favorite, a little amused when he lit up at her agreeing to let him buy something for her.

“Strawberry milk? How cute, you’re like a baby, just like Sehunnie! He likes banana milk.” Chanyeol chuckled and pressed on the button for the strawberry milk she wanted before getting a can of Americano for himself. Yoomi internally pouted at being called a baby, but at least she wasn’t the only one.

“Thank you, Chanyeol oppa.” Before he could get a chance to protest and hold onto her, the girl ran off, ready to find her friends for real now. The boys had managed to make her feel better and she was able to ignore the stares more confidently as she walked. “I’m going to go sit with my friends now, I’ll see you later!”

It wasn’t hard to find them since her two friends were sitting at their usual table as always.

“Yoomi!” Sumin shouted as soon as the girl sat down. She practically jumped across the table to hug her, making her nearly drop the milk Chanyeol had just bought her and yelp in surprise. “I missed you so much! And you look great in the S-class uniform! How was your first night in the S-class housing? Tell us everything!” she demanded, releasing Yoomi with her bubbly, megawatt smile. Yoomi laughed at her over the top attitude, forgetting about her nerves completely in the safe and lighthearted presence of her best friends, while Jinwoo just shook his head and smiled at the two of them.

“Thanks, I missed you too,” she told Sumin honestly with a chuckle, returning the sentiment before she answered her questions. “It was good. We had barbeque and watched a movie. You guys wouldn’t believe how huge and luxurious that house is.”

“I guess that means you’re moving up in the world,” Jinwoo joked. “Don’t forget us little people, okay?”

“Never,” Yoomi agreed. She put the straw in her milk and took a sip happily. However, she was choking on it a second later at Sumin’s next comment.

“So? What’s it like living with twelve hot guys? Get any action yet?” She shot the choking girl a sly smile. Jinwoo chuckled and began patting her on the back to help her through her miserable coughing fit. Yoomi glared lightly at her once she stopped, face a little red from embarrassment, but mostly from the lack of oxygen she had just endured.

“There’s no romance,” she scolded her friend with a frown, already knowing what she was getting at. Remembering what happened in her room last night with Junmyeon though, she shook her head and pushed that out of her mind- Sumin’s teasing was finally getting to her. She didn't know what was happening between them, but for now, she chose to focus on what she did know about their relationship instead of feeding into Sumin’s boy crazed madness. “There is something I have to tell you guys though.”

“What?” Sumin leaned forward excitedly and Jinwoo sat his food down, both of them giving Yoomi their full attention.

“So, you both know how I can’t really remember my past right? Or anything about my vaeli parents?” They both nodded and she took a deep breath before continuing. “Well, it turns out that Junmyeon oppa used to be my next door neighbor and childhood best friend. Our parents knew each other,” she finished awkwardly. To be honest, she still wasn’t sure how she felt about the whole thing. She was excited and happy that she used to know Junmyeon, and maybe that’s why she felt so comfortable around him. It was nice to finally know something from her past, but it made her wonder what else she was missing out on. Again, her memory loss was starting to bother her. She was confused and disappointed, seeing as she couldn’t remember that whole period of her life.

“Wait, you and Suho sunbae are childhood friends?” Sumin questioned in surprise. When Yoomi nodded in confirmation, a wide smile spread across her face as she squealed. “This is amazing! I bet you both were so cute when you were little. Oh!” she suddenly exclaimed, cutting herself off in her own excitement. “It must be fate that you two met again like this! It’s just like in those dramas! It’s official, you two are my new favorite ship.” She nodded firmly, eyes shining brightly. If Sumin was happy at the revelation, then Jinwoo was ecstatic.

“Oh my gosh, I’m best friends with Suho sunbae-nim’s childhood friend,” he muttered, looking awestruck. “Does that make us friends by association?” Yoomi laughed freely at his excessive hero worship and Sumin smirked.

“If you two get married, I call maid of honor,” she teased. At that, Jinwoo’s eyes completely lit up and he turned to Yoomi with a pleading look.

“Can I be best man? Please? There are eleven other guys fighting for that spot, so you’ll put in a good word for me, right, Yoomi-ah?” Yoomi couldn’t help but choke on her drink again and try to sputter out excuses, unsure how to deal with the ridiculousness of her two best friends. After she was done coughing, her face began to feel hot for multiple reasons. Needing to cool down and wanting to avoid answering their far too expectant gazes for a little while longer, she quickly drank the rest of her milk despite the fact it had tried to kill her twice now and then threw the empty bottle at Sumin to interrupt her daydreaming.

“There’s no way that’s happening!” she protested vehemently, shaking her head frantically and holding her arms up, crossed in an X. The whole thing was a bit dramatic, but considering that her friends had already jumped to some pretty far fetched conclusions and were being over dramatic about it themselves, Yoomi figured her actions were warranted.

“Seriously, it’s not that big of a deal, guys,” she sighed, trying to get them to see logic. Her words came out fast though, making them less convincing since she sounded like Baekhyun when he got too worked up and started rambling nonsense. “Junmyeon oppa’s really nice and I’m sure we’ll be great friends again, just like we were in the past. But it’s not like we’re going to get engaged just because we used to be neighbors. I mean, it takes a bit more than that to get married.” Yoomi rolled her eyes at them and then looked down at the table with a pout. “I just wish I could remember it.”

“I’m sure you’ll remember eventually,” they reassured her. She smiled at them in thanks, glad that even if they could sometimes be a bit much, they both always had her back.

“I know a proposal’s off the table,” Jinwoo started slowly, eyeing Yoomi cautiously to make sure that he wasn’t going to set her off again. She no longer had anything to throw at him, her only ammunition spent on Sumin, but it was better safe than sorry.

“For now!” Sumin chirped, a smirk on her face. Yoomi groaned at their insistence with this topic and rested her forehead against the cool surface of the table to show just how done she was with them. She could hear Sumin snickering from above her, while Jinwoo pressed on with what he originally meant to say.

“But you called Suho sunbaenim by his real name and added oppa after it. Does that mean the two of you are close enough that you could, I don’t know, formally introduce us to him? Maybe?” Jinwoo asked innocently, expression shy.

“Since we’re gonna be spending a lot of time together from now on, they told me to call them by their real names and oppa,” Yoomi defended herself, raising her head just enough to look at them and get her point across.

“So you call all the others oppa too?” Sumin grinned. She knew what her frien