“Wishing not to have so much as a speck of shame toward heaven until the day I die, I suffered, even when the wind stirred the leaves. With my heart singing to the stars, I shall love all things that are dying. And I must walk the road that has been given to me. Tonight, again, the stars are brushed by the wind.”

Kyungsoo’s voice sounded so soothing while reading the poetry of Yoon Dongju. He delivered the raw feeling of the words that the poet wanted the readers to feel. Jieun felt sad, knowing the meaning of the poem that she just heard. A small smile came to her face when she saw their Literature teacher nod in satisfaction. Kyungsoo has this strong grasp of emotion when it comes to poems. He’s one of the guys who would literally make a letter for a girl.

“Yoon Dongju became popular for his resistance poetries during the Japanese colonialism. And this poem, Foreword, was one of his major works,” Mr. Kang started while looking at the class. She was trying to concentrate on what he was saying but she couldn’t help but be distracted by the orange head who was sitting beside her. “He was arrested for being a suspected thought criminal with his friend, Song Monggyu, by the police while on vacation and on the way home on July 14, 1943.”

Sehun was leaning back on his seat and his arms were crossed in front of his chest. He was looking blankly at an empty space. Jieun slowly craned her neck to his direction. The bandages on his face were newly changed. She was just thankful that Jongin did not throw him out of the window yesterday. She hasn’t talked with Jongin yet about what happened that night. She looked in front and noticed that Jongin was dozing off.

She kicked his chair and he lifted his head in an instant. Jongin looked around before turning to her with a frown. Jieun made a face and gestured for him to look in front. Did he not sleep? He’s not really the kind of guy who sleeps in class. I wonder what happened yeste-

Blink.

She stopped her musing when she noticed that Sehun was staring at her with a blank expression. Slowly, she turned to meet his eyes. As soon as they met each other’s gaze, Sehun looked away. There was no change in his expression.

Why…was he staring at me?

The loud ringing of the bell brought her back to reality. Mr. Kang closed his book and bid the class goodbye before taking his leave. Jongin stretched his arms while yawning. “Let’s go and eat. I’m starving,” Chanyeol remarked as he stood. He looked at Jongin then at Jieun. “Are you two coming with us?”

Jongin shook his head. “I’m going to eat lunch outside with Sarang.” Chanyeol smirked, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Lover boy~” he teased. Jongin threw a ball of paper towards his friend before standing, grabbing his bag.

With Sarang…huh. I should really get used to this. Jieun started cleaning her desk, picking the pieces of torn paper and crumpling them. “Jieun, let’s go,” Junmyeon invited, nodding his head towards the door where the rest of the pack were already waiting. Baekhyun waved his hand when she turned to them. She smiled.

Sehun stood amidst the loud exchange of greeting between the flower boys and took his exit from the back door. Jieun looked at him as he walked away. “I like him better when he’s unconscious,” Jongin suddenly muttered. She turned to her friend with bristled brows. He shrugged. “You can’t blame me. I took a fist on my face.”

“He thought I needed help so he did that.”

“Whatever. I still don’t like him. He did not even thank me when he woke up. He just took his leave without a single word. We should’ve left him on the streets. And with those bruises on his face, I really think he’s up to no good,” Jongin started before pulling Jieun, hanging his arm around her shoulders. Jieun sighed. “So as your ever responsible Peter Pan, I’m telling you to stay away from him. I don’t want my Tinkerbell being dragged into a mess.” Jieun pushed him away when Jongin started messing with her hair again.

“Aren’t you judging him without even knowing him well?”

Jongin stared at her with a quizzical expression. “Are you taking his side? What is this? Are you close to him?

“That’s not what-”

“Who’s close to who?” Chanyeol suddenly butted in, looking at Jongin and Jieun with his big eyes filled with curiosity. Jongin pushed Chanyeol away. The giant turned to Jieun, asking for an answer and she just grinned. “You and I are close to each other,” she replied.

Chanyeol mirrored the grin on her face. “Of course we are.”

Jongin gave Jieun one last ‘warning look’ before walking out of the room. “Babe, hurry up~” Sarang called out with a cute tone that almost made Jieun cringe. “Coming~” Jongin replied, almost singing. Minseok and Yixing grimaced when the two held each other’s hands.

“Hurry up and get lost,” Baekhyun commented, waving his hand to shoo Sarang and Jongin away. “PDA’s not accepted in this school,” he continued and the other chuckled. Jongin punched his friend’s arm before pulling Sarang to take their leave.

“You’re just a bitter bacon,” Sarang joked before sticking out her tongue. Chanyeol was laughing his off but stopped when Baekhyun shot him a deadly glare. “Try dating once in a while,” she added, waving at them.

“Come on, Baek. Let’s just go and eat,” Junmyeon said, patting Baekhyun’s back.

“I should really try and date someone,” Baekhyun muttered. It’s not that hard for him to find a girl to date. There are already girls lining up for him. All he needed to do is pick one. But knowing that Baekhyun’s still in the process of getting over his past relationship, dating a girl for the sake of just dating will not work.

And just like those usual days, Jieun found herself sitting in the same table as the 7 flower boys. And as usual, she’s getting all the judging and deadly glares from the other girls. She does not have a girl friend and it’s not really that hard to know the reason why. Sarang greets her every now and then but Jieun couldn’t consider Jongin’s girlfriend to be her own friend. Although she’s sure that Sarang’s a sweet girl, there’s a bugging feeling deep down that Sarang’s being extra nice to her because she’s Jongin’s friend. <