For the fifth time that day, Mira had brushed her teeth again. It had nothing to do with the fact she was a dentistry student and therefore needed to keep her teeth clean like a germaphobe person, but because she felt dirty. The kiss still lingered in her mind, and she could vividly remember Mark’s lips pressed against hers and her inability to push him away. The memories haunted her like a broken record on repeat, loud and eerie, yet invaded her mind uninvitedly. How could he have done that?   It was true what people said, you see people’s true character once they fall into a slump of depression. Mark always treated her like a royal princess, acting like a first class gentleman to make her feel like she was the luckiest girl in the world. But as time passed, he began taking up more and more classes and activities, eventually sparing no time for her. He was out of reach when she needed him the most. Even as an independent woman, there were moments where Mira would like to feel she was dating a person, not the air.   Other people may deem her argument as unreasonable, or tell her that at least he didn’t cheat on her, but constantly being fed with false hope was as painful as unfaithfulness and lies. She was tired of giving him a second, third, fourth, and more chances afterwards when he took them for granted every single time. Mark simply wasn’t the type who could appreciate others, and she was glad to know before proceeding to the next stage of their relationship.   She dried her face off using a towel, staring at her reflection in the mirror to ensure no one would notice her worries. Nobody asked her anything considering she had locked herself in her room since then, and was extremely lucky her roommate had been sleeping in late and waking up early to practice for her upcoming exam. So, she was free from interrogations. But, she couldn’t hide forever.   Mira opened the door of their bathroom, seeing the room was indeed empty. It was dinner time, so perhaps Hyunmi was at the cafeteria with the others. She decided to head there and soon found the others sitting at their usual table. The menu today was kimchi fried rice without kimchi. Interesting selection by the culinary students, as always.   “Hey guys,” she casually greeted, taking a seat at the table as if she hadn’t locked herself up for days. Everyone at the table froze, immediately staring at her with growing smiles. She wasn’t sure whether they were glad to see her because of her wellbeing, or because they finally had someone to interrogate.   “You have a lot of explaining to do, young lady,” Yerin spoke like an old woman. Frankly, the image of Chanyeol’s stupid grin next to her made her seem a little younger.   Of course, Mira should’ve known it was the latter. She got her utensils ready and started scooping for some kimchi fried rice without kimchi, preparing her heart for their questionings and Seulyi’s inappropriate comments.   “What else do I have to explain?” she asked coolly.   “Well, a pink birdy told us about a certain incident during club day. Would you like to tell us yourself or do we have to pry for information?” Maerin asked, staring at her friend in anticipation.   “A pink birdy?” Mira asked, her eyes immediately moving to Biah who was, as always, dressed in pink from top to bottom. She may have given herself a pink tan, and no one probably would’ve noticed the difference.   “Yes, it was me,” Biah said, giggling to herself.   “She said she saw you kiss Mark!” Heejin said, completely excited by it.   Mira looked scandalized, wondering how or why Biah even knew about it. “I didn’t kiss him.”   “Oh, did you immediately jump to third base?” Seulyi asked, wiggling her eyebrows.   “What is third base?” Maerin interrupted.   “Love making,” Taemin answered her, choosing a very reserved vocabulary.   Maerin’s eyes turned bigger, as did her cheeks blush. She did not expect the answer to be so blunt, especially coming from her beloved Taemin. Oh, she could never see him the same way ever again, wondering whether he had those thoughts too. He probably did, all healthy boys did, or else they’d be monks.   “Seulyi, can you please stop applying your dirty thoughts in my situation? Not everyone is like you,” Mira said, flattening her eyes at her friend.   “Hey, my mouth may be dirty, but my body is holy. I am still waiting for the day I can someone,” Seulyi said, casually exposing so many unwanted information about herself.   “Don’t worry, someday, the right person will come along,” Chanyeol told her encouragingly, thinking he had once again said the right thing. He turned to Yerin, awaiting her approving nod, or some compliment like ‘good job’ or ‘I love you.’ But instead, Yerin shook her head at him, like always.   “This isn’t exactly about prince charming, Chanyeol,” Heejin said, laughing at him. Seeing the sudden change in his expression, she couldn’t help but coo in sympathy.   “Oh! Speaking about prince charming, I met mine during club day!” Biah suddenly exclaimed. Thinking back of their encounter made her heart flutter, and she got carried away into her imaginary fantasy world.   “A prince visited our school? Are we famous now?” Chanyeol asked, his eyes widening in excitement.   “I wasn’t aware our school is prestigious enough to be visited by men on white horses,” Yerin spoke sarcastically, meant for both Biah and Chanyeol. She waited for any of the two to counter her, but Chanyeol was still in amazement, and Biah was chuckling in delight.   “He doesn’t need a white horse to be my prince charming. He was such a gentleman and caught me before I fell. But I think I fell for him instead. Kyaaa!” Biah began squealing to herself, actually uttering the word ‘kyaaa’ like they did in anime. Clearly, she had found her future husband.   “Well… That is great… Do you know his name?” Maerin asked, trying to be supportive, but not knowing what they could do with the ample information Biah had given.   “No. I don’t even know his face,” Biah said, bashfully hiding her face behind her hand. Every thought made her heart melt into pink goo. This was it, she was finally experiencing the college romance she had always dreamed of. Her wish came true.   The others stared at each other, unsure what to do with their friend. It seemed she was entering a dangerous zone, being infatuated with a guy no one even knew—not even herself, apparently. They genuinely hoped he was a good guy.   “You should be careful, Biah. Some guys may act like a gentleman, but they turn out to be jerks,” Mira gave her piece of advice, scooping some fried rice into to mark her protest.   “Hm, sounds like someone’s talking out of personal experiences,” Taemin loudly hummed to himself, not looking at anyone in particular, but kept a sweet sweet smile on his face.   Mira flinched, not expecting her issue to be discussed again after they had successfully been distracted. Darn you, Taemin.   “Oh yeah! So why did you kiss Mark?” Seulyi asked, and everyone was secretly glad she stopped her questions there instead of taking it a step further.   “Last time, you told us you broke up, but now you’re kissing him. What do you have to say about this, Han Mira?” Maerin imitated a news reporter, holding her spoon as a microphone, shoving it in front of Mira’s mouth.   The sight made Taemin chuckle as he kept staring at her with his one sided dimple smile. She held back her playfulness when she noticed him staring, so he guessed he had to help out a little. He took his fork, just so that they could be a set, and held it against Mira in a non threatening way.   “Kibum is seriously angry thinking you lied to everyone. Please explain yourself,” Taemin added on to Maerin’s claims, perfectly joining in on her weird antics.   Maerin was mesmerized for a second, but proceeded to smile. Not a furtive or a shy shy shy smile, but a derp one. Their relationship had come to this.   “Can we seriously not talk about it? We broke up, and that is all you need to know,” Mira said on a stern note, not reciprocating to their playfulness. She needed to stop thinking about Mark and everything that reminded her of him. Her stern outburst surprised the others, and she felt slightly sorry. But it was still their fault. They had it coming.   “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned anything. But it seemed you two were making up,” Biah apologized, clearly remembering past details wrongly. After her encounter with prince charming, the whole world was filled with cotton candy clouds and pink roses everywhere. Everything was lovely.   “We can talk about other things too, of course. Uhm… Like…” Heejin trailed off, trying to think of something.   “Like the way you ran away from my roommate!” Chanyeol revealed yet another secret that night, surprising the rest. “Luckily he is a nice guy, and I told him a lot of good things about you, so he won’t have a bad impression.”   “I’m sorry, but you ran away?” Taemin repeated, looking at Heejin with disbelief and started to laugh.   It wasn’t even funny, but as long as Taemin laughed, Maerin found herself laughing along unknowingly.   “I… I was scared. I crashed his tree—”   “What? You crashed his tree?” Seulyi asked out loud, slamming her fists on the table with concern. “Are you okay?”   Everyone was surprised to see her passionate concern, thinking she had probably misunderstood the situation.   “His miniature trees from his 3D modeling project,” Heejin explained. “Don’t you remember? You were there.”   Seulyi pursed her lips, tilting her head in confusion. Clearly, she had no memories of that incident.   “Of course she won’t remember. Would be weirder if she did,” Maerin said, laughing at her friend.   “The only thing she remembers are her dirty thoughts,” Taemin added on.   “Oh, no doubt.” Seulyi winked.   Biah cringed a little, hoping the conversation wouldn’t turn rated. She had to focus on Heejin’s story. “That sounds like a cute meeting though.”   “No, it was for his final project this semester and I ruined it. What if he failed the class because of me? What if he would kidnap me and not feed me? It would be a good diet, but what if I die?” Heejin panicked, thinking of a gazillion possibilities.   “I’m sure that won’t happen. Cause I’m not into kidnapping people,” a voice said.   Heejin could not identify the voice, yet, her heart began to thud louder in fear and panic. Could this perhaps be, number 34?   “Minseok, glad you could make it! Come sit with us,” Chanyeol invited his roommate.   “I’d rather not. We just had our soccer practice, so we still have our… natural scent,” the Minseok guy said, laughing heartily.   The entire table stared at Minseok, scanning him for some information. They couldn’t judge personality based on looks alone, but would like to believe he seemed like a good guy. Then again, based on stories they have heard, they weren’t sure the entire soccer team consisted of nice and humble guys.   Speak of the devil. The one they recognized as Nam Woohyun appeared, nudging Minseok as he relaid some information in secret. Then he glanced over at the table, feeling everyone’s eyes on him. He did a quick observation