Jihyun had barely left class, but she already saw Taeil grinning at her from beside the doorway that led to the cafeteria. 

"Hey Jihyun!" He greeted warmly, immediately proceeding to grab her hand and causing butterflies to swarm her stomach recklessly. 

"H-hey Taeil," she stuttered, obviously taken off-guard. "You came here pretty fast today." 

"Well, I just missed you a lot today. It felt like I didn't really get to talk to you," he answered with a small frown gracing his flawless face. Jihyun merely laughed and patted his dumpling-like cheek with her free hand. 

"It's okay, you're talking to me now," she said reassuringly, wanting to live in the moment forever. 

Taeil smiled back at her and Jihyun swore that she saw Heaven in his grin, but that image was quickly shattered as she saw Haemi bounding in, squeaking out her boyfriend's name loudly.

"Hey Taeil! Taeyong told me you'd be here!"

Jihyun cursed at Taeyong internally.  

"Oh, hey, Haemi! What's up?" 

Jihyun also wanted to punch Haemi for taking away her boyfriend's attention from her. A cold burning sensation swept inside her stomach and spread all over her body slowly, and she felt her heart rate quickening in pure, raw anger. 

"Nothing much!" The other girl grabbed Taeil's arm and much to Jihyun's disappointment, he didn't even pull away. "I just wanted to hang with you! Oh, hey Jihyun. Didn't see you there!" 

Jihyun forced a smile back at Haemi and waved, hoping that she could see the hidden disgust in her gesture.  In truth, she wondered if another girl would even put up with a situation like this. It just seemed ridiculous, considering that her boyfriend also didn't even seem to notice some of things that he did. Surely, he couldn't be that oblivious, could he?

Haemi pulled a seat up to Taeil, and Jihyun stared in annoyance, as the other girl clearly sidled up to him and ignored her. Perhaps it may be out of innocence or out of spite, Jihyun couldn't tell which, but it still irked her anyway. She didn't want to be a third wheel to her boyfriend and his best friend, so to get out of the situation, she did the only thing that she could think of: she called her best friend for help. 

Going to her phone, she texted Aeri to call her in a few minutes and explained the situation (with all caps because the moment absolutely required it), and her best friend merely replied with a simple thumbs up. It was ironic how best friends were always there to help, but in Jihyun's case, Taeil's best friend was wrecking everything with his life - or at least, that's what Jihyun thought. After all, how could a smart, handsome, and overall amazing person be so close to a cunning, sly, and calculating devil? It made no sense. 

Just as Aeri had promised, her face flashed on Jihyun's screen as the phone vibrated noisily, and there wasn't a moment of hesitation as she answered, pretending as if she didn't know the other girl was going to call. 

"Hello?" She greeted, asking with furrowed brows. 

"Come now! I need you!" Aeri screeched through the phone, and while Jihyun's ear was pulsating in pain, she was still glad because it seemed like Taeil and Haemi had clearly heard what she said, as they both stared at her curiously.

"O-okay, where are you?"

"Quad! And hurry!" 

"Okay!" Jihyun hung up and tried to look as apologetic as she could. "Sorry, I have to go to Aeri right now."

"Ah, it's okay," Taeil smiled, and she felt a mixture of disappointment and hurt. Did he not even care? "I'll see you later okay?" 

"Yeah," she nodded, trying her best to look unfazed, but when she left the lunchroom, her lips fell into a natural frown. She suddenly felt like going home and burying herself in the safety of her covers, but as tempting as it sounded, she didn't want her boyfriend to worry too much about her. After all, she was just a scaredy cat when it comes to being honest with him.

With a sigh, Jihyun quickly met up with her best friend, who was staring at her with slight disappointment. "You know, this didn't have to happen if you just told him about your true feelings," she immediately said as Jihyun walked up to her. 

"I know," she groaned, letting out a long sigh. "It's just so hard, though! It never feels like the right time."

"If you keep saying that, it never will! You have to be honest! Why are you so shy when your own happiness is at stake here?" Aeri mumbled disapprovingly, staring her friend with a hard gaze. 

"True..." Jihyun trailed off, unsure of what to say. Aeri was right and she shouldn't have to stand with this treatment anymore, yet it was easier said than done. She couldn't quite come up with a great comeback, but luckily, someone jumped to her rescue. 

"Jihyun? What are you doing here, I thought you were with Taeil?" 

The said girl glanced up and saw Doyoung staring at her quizzically. 

"Oh, good morning Doyoung," she greeted, hoping that he didn't hear her previous conversation with Aeri. 

"Hey Doyoung," her friend also acknowledged the male's presence, and he gave a friendly nod. 

"Mornin' guys," he gently smiled. "Anyway, what are you guys doing here?" 

"Uh, I'm just having a female... dilemma," Aeri carefully stated and he nodded, seeming to accept her answer. 

"I see. I thought you guys just seemed to be talking quite seriously amongst yourselves," he said innocently, but Jihyun wondered if he knew more than what he was showing them. "But I hope your dilemma is solved soon!" 

"Yeah, me too..." Aeri answered, slightly perturbed by his strange intuition. 

Just when the two girls thought that he was going to go off and hang out with his own group of friends, they were shocked when he plopped himself on a seat next to them, and smiled innocuously, as if he was waiting for them to talk about something. 

"Uh... what are you doing?" Aeri bluntly asked, not one to sugarcoat her words. 

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you have your own friends to... you know... be with?" 

"Oh! I'm sure they won't mind not seeing me for a bit. I'm expanding my horizons and making friends with everyone I can," he grinned and the other girl gave a slight grimace back. 

"Did we ask?" She retorted, and Jihyun was going to nudge her friend, but Doyoung didn't seem too bothered as he responded to her. 

"I mean, you didn't say no!" 

Aeri stared at him increduously, as if she could not believe that he actually used that as a comeback and snorted, not even bothering to reply back anymore. Jihyun could tell that Doyoung had rubbed her friend the wrong way and now, she had to say something or else it would become incredibly awkward - fast. 

"Uh... so, back to what Aeri was asking, why aren't you with your guy friends? It's not that we want you to leave, but we're not exactly... the closest, so I was just wondering," Jihyun questioned, choosing her words carefully. 

"Oh no reason. I'm just intrigued by you guys," Doyoung smiled innocently. "Especially you, after you started dating Taeil." 

Jihyun was flustered when he brought that up, considering what had just happened to her. "Er... Why do you say that?" 

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I always thought he was going to start dating his friend, so hearing him say he developed a crush on you was pretty surprising - probably because I didn't know you that well though. Anyway, I'm just curious what type of person you are and how different you are, compared to Haemi." 

Jihyun's blood boiled. 

Hearing her being compared to Haemi so negatively was like a stab to the heart and the rise of anger in her chest made her fume. "I'm not Haemi, you know? I'm my own person, so I'd appreciate if you didn't compare me to her." 

Doyoung's eyes widened as he realized the weight of his words. "Oh, I didn't mean to compare you to her, I don't even really like her all that much. I was just curious because I wondered if you were different because I can't stand the idea of being around two Haemi's, that's all. I didn't mean to compare you to her, even though that's what it probably sounds like right now."

"Wait... You don't like Haemi?" Aeri narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Your freaking group hangs out with her." 

"Okay and? Am I really going to tell her I don't like her to her face and then have her cry about it to Taeil? It'll cause a huge mess and I don't want that. Plus, most of the guys don't even like her," he scoffed.

"Oh really, you boys don't?" Aeri challenged, standing proud.

"Very nice generalization of us, when you don't even know us personally," Doyoung fired back.

"Right, like you didn't just generalize my friend." 

Jihyun coughed loudly, wanting them to stop bickering. "Anyway, well, now you know that I'm not like Haemi, so I guess you're probably pleased and now, you're gonna go off to your guy friends, so see you," she mumbled, attempting to walk away with her best friend. 

"Hey wait, I didn't say that was my only intention!" He whined, following along. "I do think that you would be a good friend, and judging by the way you care about Taeil, I can definitely see it. There's no harm in making connections, you know?"

"You sound suspicious right now, you know that right?" Aeri narrowed her eyes. "You could be a snitch for all I care." 

"I'm not," Doyoung promised. "I swear! If I were a snitch, would I profess my hatred for Haemi out loud?" 

"You could be lying," Aeri fired back and he groaned loudly in return. 

"I don't have underlying intentions the way she does. I'm actually a decent person!" He grumbled, seemingly annoyed that he was being misunderstood. 

"Underlying intentions? What do you mean by that?" Jihyun piped up, mostly out of curiosity. 

"Oh, she's just very fake and two-faced. All of us hate it, so we can't really understand why Taeil enjoys being around her, but oh well," Doyoung shrugged nonchalantly. "I mean, I don't think she likes him or anything, but... she definitely loves to manipulate people. I'm surprised she hasn't gotten any benefits out of Taeil yet." 

Jihyun's heart stared at a crossroad. She wanted to tell her beloved boyfriend everything that Doyoung had just told her, but she wasn't sure if he was going to take it well, and she also didn't want him to call her a liar either. It would just seem petty and suspicious if she told him everything, and it would probably be chalked up to some measly jealousy - although Jihyun didn't deny that she was definitely jealous. She wanted to be taken seriously, though, and if it was her telling him all of this, she'd probably never be fully taken seriously. 

"Your boyfriend is weird," Aeri scoffed. "I don't understand him at all."

"Neither do I," Doyoung flashed a gentle smile back at the both of them.

"Right... Well, I have to get back to class a little earlier. I'm supposed to talk to my teacher about making things up today, so Doyoung, you better not touch my friend or I'll punch you," Aeri threatened menacingly, and the male gulped down a nervous breath. "See you guys." 

Jihyun waved her friend goodbye, and when it ended up being just her and Doyoung, she wondered what she was going to say to him. They weren't exactly friends in the first place, so it ended up becoming quite tense and unpleasant, but the awkward moment was saved when she heard a familiar voice call out her name. 

"Jihyun!" 

She turned around to see Taeil jogging briskly towards her with an item in his hands. 

"My book!" 

He held her assigned reading for her literature class, and she was so grateful to see it because she didn't even realize that she forgot it at the lunch table. 

"Thank you so much," she said, as he put it into her hands. 

"No problem! I thought you might need this today, so I wanted to make sure you had it," he grinned, and then noticed Doyoung behind his girlfriend. "Oh, hello Doyoung! What are you up to?" 

"Just talking to your girl," the other male responded with a small smile. "She's very cute." 

"Right?" Taeil nodded vigorously. "I agree." 

"You better treat her well, though," Doyoung hinted, and Jihyun became slightly nervous. What if Taeil started to suspect something?! 

"Of course I will!" He grinned. 

"Just making sure," Doyoung chuckled. "Anyway, I'm off, so see you guys." 

Jihyun and Taeil waved the brunette off, and turned to each other as he disappeared into a corner.

"So why were you talking to him?" Taeil questioned, reaching for her hands. 

"Oh... no reason," Jihyun replied. "We were just talking about dumb stuff." 

"Ah, I see. Well it's great to see that you get along with my friends!"

Although it was nice to see that Taeil didn't suspect her of being unloyal, it still made Jihyun feel bad. While he was believing in her and trusting her wholly, she was doing the opposite and was becoming jealous over Haemi hanging around him, while always seemingly doubting him. 

She was just a terrible girlfriend.