"Wonwoo, you really don't have to walk me to the track," Minah repeated for the umpteenth time. She felt like a broken record as she tried to decline the taller boy's offer to accompany her to her after-school activities (which she was finally willing to return to). Her brother had left for basketball practice visibly disgruntled, and she couldn't bear to have this situation worsen simply because Wonwoo felt that he had the onus to cheer her up.

"But you've been dreading practice the whole of last week and everyone in school kind of knows that some of the senior girls in track and field are as nasty as the wannabes in gymnastics," the bespectacled boy retorted. A part of Minah was touched that Wonwoo had been paying close enough attention to pick up her discomforts with her teammates, hitting the nail on its head so effortlessly. Another part of her though was hoping Wonwoo wouldn't say all this so loudly in the corridors because she was certain she'd heard whispers these days that were all too familiar with those she'd heard in middle school.

"And the cutest bowler on the team just sticks to her. That tan track and field girl with...well actually that's all about her."

"She must have saved a country before to have this cute a brother and best friend."

"Why her?"

It wasn't even a month in this new school yet.

She might feel guilty about this later in the day, but at this very moment she genuinely hope that by some miracle, she would be saved from the overprotective grasp of Jeon Wonwoo, who was now reminding her about eating lunch together the next day.

"Hey, sorry I'm late."

Minah's miracle came in the form of an arm that slung around her shoulder in an all too casual fashion, a boy smoothly wedging himself between her and her worst nightmare right now. Jihoon had slotted himself perfectly between Minah and Wonwoo, the latter looked mildly affronted.

In a much lower voice, Jihoon smiled at Wonwoo and said jovially, "thanks for walking our Minah here to the tracks. I'll take it from here!"

Although Wonwoo was a person of few expressions, Jihoon's words certainly broke that rule. The boy was slightly stunned at the affectionate term, and stood rooted to his spot as he watched the shorter male cling on to his classmate and maneuvered her down the corridor by her shoulders.

Once out of earshot, Jihoon turned to the much relieved girl in his arm.

"I'm the best, aren't I?" He winked, something that Minah would usually hit him for but today she was too grateful to do that.

"The very very best." She gave him the thumbs up that he much deserved.

"I saw Mingyu heading to practice earlier," Jihoon said, "either that guy is really in love with Jeon-something-woo, or there are other things on his mind. He looks troubled."

Minah could hardly have time to think of those words before they reached the field and the girls on her team came into view. It wasn't until Eunha scowled at her that she realised Jihoon had walked her all the way to the field with his arm still wrapped around her shoulders. Between the two of them, it was almost too normal to be close that way, and it hadn't occurred to her that in the walk here, she'd probably reestablished herself as Public Enemy No.1 just by being intimate with Jihoon in the new school. After all, the three musketeers had been so caught up with new life changes since their arrival they could hardly hang out. This usual intimacy between her and Jihoon would be a new sight to her schoolmates.

And by the looks of it, it wasn't a pretty sight to them.

"Uhm Jihoon, I think I'll head to practice now. See you tomorrow."

The boy shrugged and ruffled her hair for good luck during practice, before turning back to the school compound again.

----

Minah decided that aside from guitar, baseball and popularity, she was going to add another thing to Jihoon's list of capabilities.

Interception.

It wasn't like she was undermining her promise with Wonwoo about lunch, because she was still eating with him. She just did not tell him that she would "spontaneously" invite Jihoon and Mingyu for the meal as well.

"So Wonwoo, I heard from Minah that you are really good in your studies. Scored the highest in that crazy math test we just had right?" Minah secretly thanked Jihoon for starting the conversation, because all she had been focusing on was the sandwich that her brother made that morning, which was thankfully up to his usual standards.

The attention of all three others hence averted to the only Seoul kid in the circle.

"Ya, I do decent." The naturally shy male responded with a hint of blush on his cheeks, something Minah had never imagined was possible on his usually stoic face. Maybe that was the cuteness that her brother had witnessed long ago.

All she remembered was the other side of Wonwoo - the eyes blazing with determination behind rimmed spectacles, rushing to her in that fateful Tag game.

Jihoon wouldn't let the conversation die, and it was soon obvious to Minah that he was trying very hard to spot the links between Mingyu and the bowler. Jihoon was always one to stay silent at the beginning of a conversation, opting to deliver an impactful blow towards the latter part. Today he was like a chatterbox who was refusing to shut his trap. First he was telling Wonwoo about how her brother was one of the top scorers among all the middle schools in the Busan region, and he was easily the pride of our group in terms of grades. Then when Wonwoo tried to offer his lunch for sharing, Jihoon skilfully intercepted his chopsticks and placed food into Minah's bowl first before offering his own lunch in exchange, rather than Minah's. Wonwoo eventually took up a conversation bait to talk about the home-cooked food that they brought, so Jihoon enlisted Minah's help to promote Chef Mingyu. At the end of the lunch, Jihoon had conveniently left out all of Mingyu's Valentine's Day confession records while going through his sports, academic and private achievements, and also pulled out random facts about Wonwoo, including how his favourite subject was Literature, he liked going to the school library everyday to read and he secretly enjoyed rap music by an artist by the name of ChwenotChew.

Minah could only beam at Jihoon for his successful manipulation of the conversation. She hadn't noticed how happily she was smiling until Jihoon pointed at her, amu