“Hoseok?”

“Hey, I’ve been calling you all morning! Did something happen?”

Hyunsoo had only just left Jungkook’s house, when she had felt her phone vibrate. She hadn’t noticed before, but there were nine missed calls from Hoseok. He was right to have kept calling her, because as Hyunsoo’s eyes wandered to the time at the top of her screen, she realised with a jolt of her heart that badminton practice was in two hours.

“I need to tell you something,” said Hyunsoo quickly over the phone, trying not to think about the people she’d be seeing at practice.

Hyunsoo then started updating him not only on what happened between her and Jungkook this morning, but also what she remembered from last night about Baekhyun and Jimin. It must have sounded like a dramatic episode from a TV show to Hoseok, because all he kept saying in the middle was, “Really?” and “Ohmerghad.”

When Hyunsoo was finally through, Hoseok said with a matter of fact kind of tone, “You need to confront the dude.”

“Baekhyun?”

“Of course Baekhyun, who else would it be?”

Hyunsoo was nodding subconsciously as she listened. “I’m going to call him now. I’m ready to do it right now.”

“Yes! You go Hyunsoo! And tell me how it went when we meet for badminton practice,” said Hoseok.

“Okay, bye,” she replied, hanging up. Without a second thought, she called Baekhyun’s number right away.

“Hyunsoo,” Baekhyun said, answering the call, “Hey, I’m a bit busy right now, but–”

Hyunsoo replied in a completely different tone from earlier. “We need to meet. It’s urgent.” This sentence alone had the anger that Hyunsoo felt all over it. She wasn’t trying, but her voice had taken on a hard and cold approach.

“Why? Is everything okay?” he asked, sounding worried.

Just then, someone else suddenly yelled, “Hyunsoo!”

Hyunsoo turned around, her phone still clutched to her ear, as her eyes widened at the sight of Jungkook running towards her.

“Who was that? Is someone yelling?” asked Baekhyun.

“Uh.” Hyunsoo wasn’t sure what Jungkook was thinking, but she couldn’t let him interrupt her and Baekhyun’s call.

Too late, Jungkook was already there, saying in a loud voice, “Hey, Hyunsoo, you left something in my room.”

He was grinning at her like everything was going great for him. This put Hyunsoo in a bad mood.

“Shut up,” she hissed.

“Hyunsoo?” said Baekhyun. There was a thud noise, before he continued, “What’s going on? Who’s room? Who’s that guy talking?”

Jungkook, looking proud of himself, pointed at her phone and then made a crying motion with a questioning look on his face. Hyunsoo understood what he was asking, but instead of answering, she turned her back towards him.

“Just meet me tonight at the park’s entrance,” said Hyunsoo.

“What’s going on? Did you sleep over a guy’s place last night? Is that why you were acting weird before? I thought you sounded upset after our last call.”

Hyunsoo paused, before saying, “And yet, you didn’t think to call back to check on your girlfriend?” Baekhyun stayed quiet. Hyunsoo sighed and added, “Meet me at 9,” then hung up before he could say something.

“So,” said Jungkook in a casual tone, “I’m guessing he's the one that cheated on you? Seems to be the only explanation, considering how much I know.”

Hyunsoo turned to him. “Do you have some kind of problem with me? What do you want now?”

“To give you your bag back,” he replied. He looked innocently down at her, with his messy brown hair and the corners of his lips curling up.

Hyunsoo didn’t expect that answer. “What?”

“I said earlier that you left something in my room. I wasn’t lying,” he said, “Here.” He was holding out a dark red bag towards Hyunsoo.

Without a word of thanks, Hyunsoo took her bag and began to walk away. She was tired from talking to him since she woke up and couldn’t deal with him any longer. However, she stopped when Jungkook started yelling again in a loud enough voice for Hyunsoo to hear, who had already created a bit of a distance between them.

“You know, I never thought it would happen to this extend, but it’s true when they say that once you’ve noticed something, or someone, you continue to notice them again and again.”

That was it. After that, Hyunsoo turned to find that Jungkook was walking back to the house with his hands in his pockets. She thought it was a bit random of him to mention this to her, but then again, what he said was completely true.

Hyunsoo arrived home and didn’t waste a single moment getting ready for her badminton practice. She badly needed to shower, due to last night’s excess smoking, and to rinse out the ‘Jungkook smell’ she had acquired after staying the night.

It wasn’t long before Hyunsoo was finally leaving the house and speed walking to campus. She texted Hoseok that she was on her way. His reply came at once, saying he was already waiting for her. Hyunsoo reached the campus a while later, and could already make out Hoseok waiting outside the on-campus apartments.

“Finally! What took you so long?” asked Hoseok, as she reached him.

Hyunsoo rolled her eyes but smiled. “Sorry, had to wash off a bad smell.”

Hoseok chuckled, but stopped when he heard something. Hyunsoo heard it too. They had started walking towards the sports building, and on the path in front of them was a girl standing next to some other girl who looked like her side kick.

“You,” the girl whispered, and then continued louder, “Will stay away from Jungkook.”

“What the heck,” muttered Hoseok in Hyunsoo’s ear. “Why is it always you?”

The same thought miserably ran through Hyunsoo’s mind. Why indeed, she thought.

“Listen, I don’t know who you are,” said Hyunsoo, taking a step forward, “But rest assured, I am trying my best to stay out of Jungkook’s way.”

“Well, it doesn’t seem to be working because I keep seeing you with him!” The girl looked mad as she said this. The side kick pumped up her chest, as if to make herself look tough.

“Woah,” whispered Hoseok.

“Shh,” said Hyunsoo to Hoseok, and then said to the girl, “What are you? To him I mean.”

“Excuse me? What am I?” The girl took a few steps towards Hyunsoo, making them stand only inches away from each other.

“I don’t think she’s going to listen. I say we just run,” said Hoseok.

Hyunsoo gave him a quick glance, then nodded. “Run!”

Without warning, Hyunsoo and Hoseok bolted around the girl and her sidekick as quickly as they could. Hoseok was running fast towards the sports building, without turning back. However, Hyunsoo couldn’t help but look back to see what the girl was doing, causing Hyunsoo to somehow trip up.

It was when Hyunsoo’s vision was doing somersaults when she saw the same blonde hair and the same twinkling eye smile that she remembered from her dream … or was it reality?