A sudden loud thud made Yoon Haru jolts from her seat in the cafeteria. The loud thud came from the newspaper slammed on their table. She was in the middle of putting her spoonful of rice in when she got greeted by a fuming Chinese man in an all-white uniform. Park Chanyeol, who is sitting beside her, almost choked on his food at the sudden appearance of an angry stranger.
    Haru’s eyes drifted down to the newspaper on the table. She regained her posture upon seeing it. In the front page was a very familiar photo taken from the strike that went bad last weekend.
    The man looked at Haru with a glint of anger in his eyes. He pointed at the newspaper, eyes never leaving Haru.
    “That’s not me in the photo,” Haru calmly defended, then continued eating.
    Chanyeol can’t seem to find the urge to continue his.
    “Clearly,” the man stated with a hint of betrayal in his voice, “Because you took the photo. But, hey, at least they gave you credit and put your goddamn name in the article, right?”
    “Right,” she smiled.
    “Wrong!” he roared with rage.
    Chanyeol stiffened in fear. It’s as if the whole cafeteria stopped and went silent. He can’t figure out how Haru can stay calm despite of having a very angry stranger in front of them. Haru, meanwhile, sighed tiredly. She knew that the newspaper would reach her childhood best friend soon, but not sooner than this. He doesn’t read newspapers. Well, he does now.
    “Yixing—”
    “I feel offended,” the man cut Haru off. “And betrayed,” he sternly added.
    Haru groaned in frustration.
    Chanyeol relaxed when he figured that Haru knows the stranger, who she just called Yixing. His eyes landed on the newspaper at the table. It’s one of Haru’s uploaded photos from her website.
    “What’s wrong with that?” Chanyeol bravely asked. He nervously gulped when Yixing drifted his eyes to him.
    Yixing raised a brow at him. “The current administration sees activists as terrorists, that’s what,” he coldly stated.
    “I’m fine, Yixing,” Haru tried to sooth his friend down.
    “But I’m not,” he countered briskly. “I told you not to go out protesting without me. You could’ve ended up in jail like the others!”
    Right after Haru and Chanyeol left the scene, a bunch of backup officers came to stop the riot. They arrested some of the strikers, along with some supporters and journalists for physical injury, illegal assembly, and scandal.
    Haru furrowed her brows. “They can’t put me behind bars for taking pictures and siding with the strikers.”
    Yixing gave Haru the same look he gives her every time Haru is being too confident with wrong reasons. That same look that says, ‘you don’t ing say?’ He took the empty seat beside Chanyeol, across Haru.
    “They are still arresting people involved, so yes, they can. You know why?” Haru was about to answer him but he continued, “Because your freaking photos are in newspapers all over the country, with your name beneath them!”
    Chanyeol moved away a bit from Yixing out of fear. “Aren’t you supposed to be proud of her?” he mumbled as his voice slowly faded off when dagger looks were thrown at him.
    Haru widened her eyes at Chanyeol, indirectly telling him to shut up.
    Yixing shifted from his seat to face Chanyeol. “Oh, I am very proud,” he cackled.
    Chanyeol glimpse at Haru then back at Yixing. “Is that sarcasm I heard? That— that’s sarcasm,” he scoffed in an irritated manner.
    He couldn’t believe how ignorant Yixing is. He’s proud that Haru’s photos made it in the newspapers, why can’t this Yixing guy be?
    Yixing furrowed his brows and turned to Haru in confusion. “Who the heck is this guy again?” he irked, pointing at Chanyeol.
    Haru ran her fingers through her hair before taking a deep breath. “That’s Park Chanyeol,” she told Yixing. “And this is Zhang Yixing, my best friend,” she told Chanyeol, then turned to Yixing quickly with a warning in her eyes, “…Who is about to calm the down right now, right?”
    Obviously, Yixing is not a bit bothered by Haru. He’s a year older than her, anyway.
    “Calm down?” he echoed like it’s the most ridiculous thing he had heard today. “How the fu—”
    “You’re never wrong to do the right thing,” a man, who just arrived with a water bottle in his hand, cut Yixing off. He sat beside Haru and gave Yixing a small smile before he continued, “Mark Twain. The government is arresting the strikers and supporters involved, simply because they are threatened. All Haru did was speak the truth. If the government will have her arrested, then that’s saying something about the government and not her.”
    Haru drifted her eyes to the cafeteria counter and avoided everyone’s gaze.
    “Sorry, I heard what you said and can’t help but say something,” the guy added.
    Yixing looked at the new comer confusingly. He just noticed another plate of untouched food at the table. It’s only been one week when the semester started and he hasn’t talked to Haru since, but he did not expect his childhood best friend to gain new friends that fast.
    Guy friends for that matter.
    Yixing sharply turned his gaze to Haru, who’s been avoiding eye contact with him since the guy came. He slammed a hand hard on the table that made Haru turn to him. He raised a brow at her, then tilted his head to the right.
    Haru took a deep breath. “This is Byun Baekhyun,” she monotonically muttered, introducing the new guy in their table.
    Yixing gaped at her sarcastically. “You’re hanging out with a Byun now? That’s new,” he exclaimed, a bit shocked of having a presence of a Byun at the table.
    Earlier after class, Chanyeol asked Baekhyun to eat with them in the cafeteria. Haru did not stop him, knowing the youngest Byun will turn the invite down once again. But she was proven wrong when Baekhyun walked with them to the cafeteria. On their way, Baekhyun was trying to be civil around her by asking her questions which she answered almost politely.
    Haru is trying to be considerate around Baekhyun. The image of him telling her how powerless he is unlike his family keeps flashing in her mind every time she tries to think bad of him. That image of him that looks tired of explaining himself to other people that he is not like his family. A part of her wants to believe him—that he is not like them. Maybe… maybe that’s why he’s at the strike last weekend.
    That’s why Haru tried to loosen up a bit towards Baekhyun.
    Baekhyun left to buy a bottle of water when Yixing came to their table.
    “Is she not allowed, too, to hang out with a Byun?” Baekhyun coldly asked Yixing. He started eating his untouched lunch with a stoic expression.
    Yixing smirked. He’s going to tell the oblivious Byun in front of him why Haru shouldn’t hang out with a Byun if Haru did not kicked him under the table. He turned to Haru with a playful look in his face.
    He cleared his throat. “I have Biochemistry in ten. We’re not yet done talking. I’ll drop by your house later after class,” he declared before standing up. Then he shifted his gaze to Baekhyun. “I didn’t say she’s wrong for doing what’s right. In fact, if you’re just a little attentive a while ago, I told her she could’ve, at least, brought me along with her. I’m just worried for her. I don’t expect you to understand this kind of matter knowing your… family’s history. But it was nice meeting you in person.”
    Yixing bowed a bit to Ba