Of all the surprises she could have heard in her whole life, Seulgi never thought there would be anything that could make her choke on her own food. For one, she LOVED food. And second, she didn’t think anything that dramatic could ever happen.

But it did happen.

Because of her best friend, Yeri, who just announced something utterly shocking.

“Seulgi, it’s finally happening!”

“What is?”

“I’m finally dating Chanyeol!”

That was when Seulgi choked on her seaweed soup.

“No” she responded apprehensively, after gaining her breath again. “You can’t be dating that guy!”

“Why??? You always know I have the biggest crush on him!”

“Knowing you’re crushing on him doesn’t mean I agree to you dating him! Yeri, please! He loves to fight and he’s a playboy! There are even rumours that he made half a dozen girls in this school pregnant and they had abortions because of him!!!”

“Rumours are not always true!”

“There’s no smoke without fire, Yeri!”

“.........don’t throw weird quotes at me, please. You’re supposed to be happy for me. We should be jumping happily!”

Seulgi sighed.

“You know I care about you the most. I do want you to be happy, but not with the worst guy in school!”

“Which worst guy? Chanyeol is the best guy in this school!”

“We have different definitions of good and bad, I see. I wonder why I’ve never realized it until now!”

“Whatever! He’s gonna take me to see the midnight movies tonight! And look, that’s him! I’m gonna go and say hi to him!”

Horrified, Seulgi turned to the direction Yeri was running to.

True to her words, he was running to Chanyeol, who smiled his mischievous smile at her and casually slung his arm onto Yeri’s shoulder. Her Yeri. Her soon-to-be deized and abortion patient to-be.

Should she start googling for an indiscreet clinic that could handle abortion without killing the patient?

Seulgi shook her head, trying to calm down, before leaving the cafeteria, leaving an almost full tray of lunch, for the first time in forever.

****************************************************

Seulgi wasn’t exaggerating when she said Chanyeol was the worst guy in school. He seemed to play with girls a lot, dating a different one every month and leaving trails of heartbreaks everywhere. Rumours said that he wouldn’t even blink to threats of suicides from his exes.

Not only that, he also often appeared in school with bruises on his face, the result of fist fights.

One would think the students of the most expensive high school in the country wouldn’t do fist fights, but they did. Despite the money their parents had, they were just the cliché high school, not much different with other high schools, except in the facilities they use.

Speaking of said facilities, Seulgi was leaning her cheek on the table of the school’s biology lab. Biology was her favourite subject, and she’s obsessed with animals. Her dream was to be a renowned vet. Maybe having her own zoo one day. South Korea could do with more zoos, she always thought.

But that day, she couldn’t even read the biography of The Most Famous Veterinarians in the World, too stressed with the prospect of her best friend getting ruined by that cursed Park Chanyeol.

She should have been in Chemistry class by then. She’s 15 minutes late. But she couldn’t, wouldn’t be able to focus in class anyway.

Midnight movies? On their first day dating? Then what? Would Chanyeol bring Yeri to an expensive hotel then.....then.....

NO!!!

She’s not Kang Seulgi if she'd just sit quietly seeing her Yeri getting slaughtered. Or de--ized.

Full of resolution, she ran to the school’s admin office.

“Can I please have Park Chanyeol’s number?” she asked to the staff.

The middle-aged staff had to do a double take. She had never seen Kang Seulgi as the type to be one of Park Chanyeol’s fangirl.

“I’m sorry, Kang Seulgi-ssi. We are not allowed to divulge the personal information of students.”

“............”

Drastic situations called for drastic measures.

She leaned forward and whispered, “Mrs. Cho, please, if you give me Park Chanyeol’s number, I’d buy you an authentic Chanel bag. Please. It will be delivered to you tomorrow in whatever model you want. Please?”

She could see her wavering, but then received a definite no.

Surprised by the staff’s integrity and quite impressed, Seulgi then left the Admin Office.

Now what?

She needed to talk to Park Chanyeol that very moment, but bursting into his class was not an option.

No one from his class was her friend.........

Wait.

Of course!

Instagram account!!!

Seulgi slapped her own forehead with her hand, cursing herself for being so stupid.

She quickly took her phone and clicked her Instagram app. She was not the social media type, she swore to God. But she had an IG account, mostly to see cute animals online and followed her family and friends accounts.

She clicked Yeri’s account. She followed 800 accounts.

“Kang Seulgi-ssi? Why aren’t you in class?”

A scary teacher suddenly appeared at the hallway.

“I’m – I was just – toilet. Just went to the toilet, Sonsaengnim.”

She then dashed to the direction of her own classroom, before taking a sharp turn and sat on the floor of an empty corner.

It felt like forever, scanning Yeri’s following list on IG, until she finally found Park Chanyeol's account.

Once she found it, she clicked his profile and messaged him.

“Park Chanyeol, I need to talk to you.”

She figured her super simple username of kangseulgi should ring a bell, hopefully. Everyone in school should know that she’s Yeri’s best friend. They went everywhere together.

She started praying once she sent it.

Her phone vibrated quickly with a reply.

“Now?” Chanyeol asked.

“Yes. Now.”

“OK. Let’s talk at the gym.”

Seulgi should have stopped and asked herself whether it was really wise to do that, meeting the devil. But she was too concerned for her friend to even think that it could have any consequences for herself.

Without thinking, she ran to the gym.

She paced around in nervousness as she waited for him.

Chanyeol arrived less than five minutes later.

“Annyeong, Kang Seulgi” he said casually, walking to her in a relaxed manner, as if they were old friends.

Now that she saw the tall guy walking towards her, it dawned on her that she was completely alone with the player and brawl-lover.

“I knew you’d reach out for me.”

It was entirely unexpected, his manner and words. However, Seulgi was too concerned for small talks.

“If you know I’ll want to talk to you, you’ll know the reason.”

“Obviously. I’m not dumb, you know. Though some people would prefer that I am.”

“DontplaywithmyfriendYeri!!!”

To her annoyance, that made him chuckle.

“Why not? She’s the one who jumped at the chance of being with me.”

“She likes you.”

“I know.”

“But it doesn’t mean she should be with you!”

“Oh? And why not?”

“Because! Because. Because, Park Chanyeol, you play with girls. I don’t want my best friend to be ruined by you!”

Chanyeol chuckled again at that, as if he found the situation completely amusing.

Seulgi became angrier. Here she was, gathering all her courage to confront this guy, and there he was, laughing at her. LAUGHING at her!!!

“So....what do you want me to do?”

“Break up with her! This is your first day with her, right? Break up before—“

“Second day, actually.”

“Second. Ok. Break up with her before she likes you even more!”

“Break up with Yeri?”

“Yes! She’ll recover faster if you haven’t been with her for too long!”

“Do I really have to?”

“YES!!!”

“Hem........”

“I need your answer now!!! Palli! Tell me you’ll listen to me!”

“I’ll break up with Yeri.”

“Thank God” she replied quickly, feeling like she'd be able to live in peace again.

“On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You date me instead.”

Everything became mute for five seconds.

Before she said, “Excuse me. What did you say?”

“You heard me. It’s impossible for the smartest girl in school to not catch a sentence as easy as that.”

“I’m sorry. I thought you said you want me to date you instead.”

“That’s exactly what I said.”

“.........you’re crazy.”

“Why? Seems fair to me.”

Ok. This started to feel surreal.

“Why do I have to date you?”

“Well, you want to me to break up with Yeri. It’s fair that you exchange yourself for her, right?”

Kang Seulgi had enough.

“I don’t get you. So you said you’d break up with my Yeri. Thank you, bye.”

She quickly ran away, but Chanyeol was faster.

He caught her wrist and blocked her way.

She tried to take her wrist back but it didn’t budge.

“That cinema I’m taking Yeri tonight? It’s the one at the mall with a hotel on top of it. I’d just check in with her after the movie. Would you like that, Kang Seulgi?”

“No. Don’t do that to her!”

“Then? I won’t go with her if you date me instead.”

“But – but she’s my best friend!!! How can I date the guy that she likes?”

“No one needs to know.”

“She’ll find out!”

“Well, date me or I’ll check in with her tonight. Your choice.”

She realized she nearly cried by that time.

She could feel her eyes getting wet.

“Please don’t do anything to her. She’s my dearest friend. Please.”

“So you’ll date me? Yeah?”

The only thing she could bring herself to do was nodding.

“I’ll break up with Yeri before school is over. See you later, Girlfriend.”

With that, Chanyeol bent down to peck Seulgi’s lips and left the gym.

When he’s gone, she fell to the floor, trying to make sense of what just happened.

******************************************

Author’s Note:

I’m on a writing slump, and trying something that could make me go back to writing.

Hope you like this.