Jeongyeon tapped her fingers against the desk, eyeing her mysterious pencil that she asked for from a colleague in the same class. She looked back at Lisa who showed a devious smile as she shot a wink at her.

Jeongyeon shivered to herself and looked back at the exam that was on her desk. 

This pencil looks really different... 

The teacher tells for them to start and Jeongyeon felt the cold sweat rolling on her forehead when she saw the questions and that the first section was multiple choice. She then eyed the barcode on her pencil and quietly gasped.

The answers were hidden in the barcode. 

Jeongyeon had to cover to hide the shock and sneaked a glance at Lisa who was bubbling in the answers with ease. 

OH MY GOSH, LISA IS CHEATING AND TECHNICALLY IM A CULPRIT!?

She swallowed hard and thought about what should she do. She had already seen some of the answers... 

I guess it’s not really cheating if you only do a few answers... 

She looks around, aware of her environment as she kept eyeing the barcode on her pencil and was about to bubble in the answers but stopped herself.

I can’t do this... 

She immediately breaks half of the pencil, taking the half with the answers and sneaking it under her leg as she continued to actually do the exam with the other half. 

“Sorry about this morning.” Nayeon quietly apologized to the new guest, Mina. The latter nods, understanding that during this time of the year is usually tense for students. They had just finished with a breakfast of everyone yelling at each other. Dahyun and Jihyo were arguing about who was going to get the last potato but then it ended with them indirectly arguing about Chaeyoung. The girl who had no clue that they were talking about her was just yelling at them to stop arguing in the morning while Tzuyu and Jeongyeon also did the same, resulting in everyone just shouting at eight in the morning.

Mina stays quiet since it was her first morning and she could see that both Momo and Nayeon were apologetically looking at her. Sana silently stabs her potato with her chopstick, biting her tongue back to say anything that will make things worse— Even though things have already escalated. While JYP groans in his seat, closing his eyes and covering his ears, wanting to get out of this breakfast.

Since many of the students in the guest-house went to the university early to prep for their upcoming exams today. Nayeon didn’t have any exams because of her CO-OP so after hearing from Mina that she would like to walk around Seoul, to help get familiar of her new home. The med student offered to walk with her until she was needed at the hospital. 

“Are you sure you want to walk around alone? I could get one of the foreigners to come since I’ll be leaving soon.” She suggested, but Mina shook her head. She was usually the type to do things on her own. 

“It’s fine. I’ll be fine.” She looked at Nayeon to assure her and the latter takes a deep breath as she patted her surprisingly muscular shoulders. 

Nayeon retracts her hands for a second and awkwardly scratched the back of her head. “Uh-uh, yeah! Just watch over yourself, okay?” She stammered out, her cheeks flushing and Mina shyly nods, not knowing how she flustered the girl. Right on cue, Nayeon’s phone beeped which meant that she had to go to the hospital. “I mean it, Myoui. Not everyone in Seoul is the nicest person in the world.” Nayeon strictly warned before walking away with a smile and a wave, thinking about Mina’s muscular shoulders. 

Mina stands in her spot, waiting for Nayeon to be out of her sight. “That was weird.” She whispered to herself before looking up to see the buildings. The only reason why she didn’t want any of the others to come was since she knew only Momo would be available and that was the last person she’d want to come. They were already so awkward and although Mina was also a quiet person, she has to talk at some point with the girl! She has been told by JYP that it was normal for Momo to act like this and advised her to patiently wait for Momo to speak the first words because if she does it first, then that means Hirai Momo trusts you. 

She sighed to herself and starting walking, admiring the little shops on the street. She shouldn’t be thinking about her roommate, she needed to focus on not getting lost. 

When Nayeon and Jeongyeon were five, they were the best of friends, attached to each other’s hips like a strange bond. In school, they were always put into classes that were next to each other since Nayeon was older by one year and sometimes sneaked out to visit each other in their homerooms. In fact, they even lived next to each other at a young age until Nayeon’s parents decided to move away to a “better house” as the med student remembered her mother saying. Although they moved, Nayeon still made it clear that she wanted to see Jeongyeon whenever she had the time and gladly, her parents allowed it to happen, also growing fond of Jeongyeon and her family. 

They grew up together, always telling each other secrets and being young, they would tell each other everything. “I love you.” Seven-year-old Nayeon says to six-year-old Jeongyeon. The latter shrugs it off and replied to her. 

“Appa says love can only be between boys and girls.” She almost says robotically, shocking Nayeon who has heard the exact opposite. 

“My eomma says love can be with anyone, even aliens!” Nayeon exclaimed with excitement, grabbing Jeongyeon’s attention as she cutely gasped. 

“Really?” She looked at her with eyes of hope. It was as if Jeongyeon just discovered the most incredible thing and Nayeon will never forget that look. 

She nods her head in return. “Love is love and you can’t do anything to fight it.” The girl wisely says, despite her young age and Jeongyeon shows a small smile, going back to playing with her toys. 

Years later, they all grew up tall and pretty. They were both admired by many students and had lots of them wanting to date them but Nayeon only had one person set on her heart, but it broke her heart to hear after confessing her feelings, Jeongyeon had rejected her by saying. “Unnie… Let’s not do this… I want to stay friends...” That was when the older girl ran back to her house that was twenty minutes away and cried in her bed. She decided that having a life without Jeongyeon was horrible and promised her best friend that she will never fall in love with her and Jeongyeon does the same as she welcomed Nayeon back with open arms. 

It was sort of hypocrite, wasn’t it? They break each other’s hearts yet they hug each other like their lives depended on it, pretending after that nothing was wrong. 

Nayeon was lying on her assigned bed in the on-call room (a/n: it's that room where the nurses and doctors can rest in the hospital if you didn't know ;d) and heard a knock on the door, she slightly tilts her head to see that Sowon was opening the door. “I see that you’re resting on your break. Smart idea.” The girl jokingly says as she entered the room, softly closing the door behind her. 

Sowon was also in the same year as her and was doing the CO-OP just like her. Nayeon lets out a tired groan as she fidgets around in her bunk-bed. “How was it?” She asked with a slight smirk on her face and Sowon plops on her bunk-bed, face first. 

“It was horrible, I’m telling you that woman hates me!” She yelled into her mattress and lifts her face up, angry about her patient. “She wouldn’t let me do my job and asked for someone else to do it.” Sowon then looks at Nayeon with anger forming on her face. “She personally asked for Yerin… YERIN!” The girl yelled out in disbelief, making Nayeon laugh. 

“That kid sure is something.” She calls Yerin a “kid” even if the age difference between her and the latter is only a year apart. 

Sowon grunts at her. “Well, she stole my job and now I’m here.” She crossed her arms, pouting like a little kid and Nayeon quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Yah, what’s wrong with being here? You get to rest after like what?” She paused to think how long it’s been since they’ve had a proper break. “Many months of Hell.” She answered herself, earning a soft chuckle from the latter. 

“I guess so.” Sowon whispered and grabbed the ramen packet that was on the circular table in front of her, thinking that she’ll have a quick snack. “How’s the people in your guest-house? I know that most of them are university students so they must be stressed.” 

Nayeon groaned at the mention of her guest-mates and shook her head at the latter. “Don’t get me started on them. It’s chaos, Sowon.” The latter shows a warm smile, thinking about the people she lived with. Sowon also lived in a guesthouse with five other students, around her age, one of them was Yerin. 

“I know how you feel. Poor Umji wouldn’t stop stressing over her exams, making her study like crazy.” She spoke in a concerned voice and Nayeon frowned, showing her sympathy. 

“Must be hard for the first years to do their exams. Maybe, I’ll ask Sana and Tzuyu how they did on their exams tonight.” She mutters the last part to herself. 

Sowon quirked an eyebrow from hearing the familiar names. “One of them is a Maths major, right?” She asked, making Nayeon slowly nod her head. “I heard she has a 4.8 GPA.” 

Nayeon snaps her head at the girl, in disbelief of the sudden news. “Sana? Minatozaki Sana?” She asked for assurance and her colleague nods her head, also thinking back to when SinB told her the shocking news. “Wow… Sana really is smart after all.” She muttered to herself, still in disbelief. She always knew the girl was smart from the fact that she was studying Math as a major, but she didn’t think she was that smart. The phone in the room rang and Sowon eyed Nayeon to get the phone, making the girl loudly groan as she crawled out of her bed and answered the phone. “Hello?” After a few minutes, Nayeon groaned again, almost sounding like a monster. 

“I have to go help Yerin with your patient.” She whispered to the girl who widens her eyes in shock and anger. 

“Aish, seriously!? I’m going to go crazy because of that woman.” She gripped her chopsticks, still waiting for her ramen to heat up. Nayeon stands in front of her, telling for her to calm down. 

“Have fun with your ramen, Giraffe.” She winked before rushing out of the room, not wanting to witness Sowon’s annoyed reaction. 

“Dahyun, please answer me. I messed up, okay!? It slipped out of my mouth and now I think everyone knows. Dahyun, PLEASE ANSWER ME.” Tzuyu left the girl a rushed voicemail, panicking in her spot as she couldn’t concentrate on her books. She only had an hour before her exam starts and Tzuyu just couldn’t concentrate because of her stupid mistake. She never meant for this to happen, Elkie pressured her to tell her and now it seems that Elkie has told many people on campus. 

But if Elkie told everyone, then that means Jeongyeon will only go after her— 

Tzuyu slapped her own face, in disbelief of her own thoughts. 

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING CHOU TZUYU!? 

She slapped herself again before she quickly straightened up in her seat and tried to