“do you really don’t know how to do this problem?”, Jeongyeon asked Nayeon who sat across him, playing with her phone.

Nayeon just ignored Jeongyeon, kept playing with her phone, chuckling occasionally.

Jeongyeon sighed.

“well, you’ll be in a big problem, Nayeon-ah. We’re already on our final year. Don’t you want to go to university?”

“of course i want to go to university. So you must help me, Jeongyeon-ah”

“then stop messing around! And stop dating around, too. 5 boys in a year, really?”, he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“i think we have agreed that we won’t meddle with each other relationship, haven’t we?”, Nayeon put down her phone, glared at Jeongyeon.

She was still mad with Jeongyeon about that day, 6 months ago. All Nayeon did was just helping that girl , a second-year girl, who asked Nayeon to set her up with Jeongyeon. So she decided to asked Jeongyeon out in a nice weekend, then ditched him and leaving Jeongyeon with no chance but to spend the weekend on a date with that second-year girl.

Jeongyeon marched angrily into her apartment unit later that evening, fuming to Nayeon, then asked her to not meddle with his love life anymore.

“well, i’m not planning to meddling with your love life. but if it led me to exercising more effort to tutor you and wasting my precious time, I won’t stay silent”, Jeongyeon took his notebook and pen then started scribbling something there.

Nayeon sighed. This won't do. She should have a goal to be motivated.

“Jeongyeon-ah, which university you’re planning to go after?”

“i don’t decide yet”, he said quietly ,”but i’ll go study at Seoul for sure.”

“then i’ll enter the same university as you”, Nayeon grinned.

Jeongyeon’s eyes widened. He’s taken aback by Nayeon boldness.

“d-don’t you have your own goal?”, he stuttered.

“well, my goals include you. So you must tutor me until we enrolled in the same university, okay?”, she flashed her signature smile again. And Jeongyeon sweared he could feel his heart beating faster by that smile.

On their last semester of high school, a new student came to their school. The news spreading fast, that the new student, who were coming from Japan, was such an eye candy. The new boy, Hirai Momo, was assigned into the class where Jeongyeon, Nayeon, and Jihyo were.

Their homeroom teacher enters their class with a boy tailing behind him.

“everybody...”, the teacher said to the class, and the student went to silence instantly.

“this boy is...”, he put his arm around the boy’s shoulder,”...a new student here. Introduce yourself”, the teacher push the boy forward.

“annyeonghaseyo, i’m Hirai Momo. I’m japanese...”, he quickly added when the students looked at him questionably, maybe confused by his name.

“okay, be nice to him. And you, Momo...”, the teacher looked around the class briefly, and noticed a vacant seat beside Jeongyeon ,”...you may sit with Jeongyeon over there”.

Momo walked over to the desk where Jeongyeon sit. He nodded and smile at the latter, who smiled back at him.

“may i sit here?”, Momo asked Jeongyeon.

“of course!”, he stood up quickly and stretched his hand to Momo.

“I’m Yoo Jeongyeon, you can call me Jeongyeon.”

“Hirai Momo. Just call me Momo”, he took Jeongyeon’s hand

“Your Korean is good, i’m surprised!”

“yeah, i’ve been living in Korea for 4 years. I lived in Busan before”.

“oh, so you’re Japanese, but had been living in Busan before?”, Nayeon suddenly involved herself into the conversation. She turned back her chair to face Momo and Jeongyeon.

Momo laughed.

“so, can i know your name, miss bunny?”, Momo stretched his arm to her.

Nayeon blushed a little.

“i’m Im Nayeon. I’m Korean”, she joked. “I wonder why so many Japanese enter school around this neighbourhood”.

“well, so i’m not the first one?”, Momo asked her back, slightly amused by the girl in front of him.

“well, there was a Japanese girl too, her name is Mina...”, Nayeon threw a side eye at Jeongyeon, who stared back at her confusedly ,”...but she came back to Japan after middle school graduation”.

“well, tell me about this Mina girl. We might have known each other before back in Japan”, Momo engaged more conversation with Nayeon.

Nayeon, being a chatty girl she was, happily accepted Momo’s attempt to talk more with her.

The four of them, including Jihyo, got closer quickly. Momo, the opposite of Jeongyeon who was reserved and was quite hard to get close with – according to Nayeon and Jihyo - , was a very friendly and they got closer easily. The four of them could be seen often together eating together at a snack stall near their school, with Jeongyeon and Nayeon bickering, Jihyo eating – not caring for their bickering – and Momo who trying to tone down their bickering and calming Nayeon - who didn’t let Jeongyeon away easily – with more fish cakes.

Nearing the university entrance test, the school gave students a survey to fill with their desired university.

“Jihyo-ya, where will you go?”, Jeongyeon asked Jihyo, whom seemed thinking hard to choose between two university, Yonsei University or SNU.

“well, i haven’t decided yet. I’ll ask my parents first for opinion”, she folded her survey paper neatly and put it into her bag.

Jeongyeon, have decided the university he wanted to enter, didn’t hesitate to write his desired university.

Seoul National University.

“how about you, Momo-chan?”, Nayeon asked Momo, who sat in front of her.

“well, i think i’ll go to Konkuk University. I heard their Art and Music Department is quite good”, Momo mumbled, had been wrote his choice on his paper, not quite sure about his choice of university.

“oh, come on, Momo-chan. I think you could enter SNU art department with your dancing skill. Don’t underestimate yourself”, Jeongyeon bumped his shoulder lightly.

Nayeon was back to her paper, writing her choice.

“well, i’m not quite sure of myself..”, Momo said quietly, then asked Nayeon to divert their attention from him,” how about you, Nayeon-chan?”

Momo pulled Nayeon’s paper to him and Jeongyeon.

Jeongyeon’s eyes widened. He felt like the air suddenly squeezed out of his chest.

Nayeon’s first choice : Konkuk University. Second choice : SNU.

“Nayeon-ah, do you want to enter Konkuk too?”, Jeongyeon asked her.

‘...my goals include you...’

That one phrase from Nayeon at the start of their senior year back then was being replayed in his head.

“well, i think i couldn’t enter SNU. My brain is not as smart as you and Jihyo, Jeongyeon-ah”, she just smiled at him.

“you have improved a lot, i even tutor you until late night this semester”, Jeongyeon said to her.

“Jihyo-ya, you should go to SNU too, four of us can live together near the campus”, Jeongyeon pleaded to Jihyo, hoping that if two of Nayeon’s bestfriend coming to SNU, she would follow.

“Jeongyeon-ah, you know that even i enter SNU, i will live with my parents. We had planned to move to Seoul as soon as i graduate from high school”, she sighed.

Jeongyeon nodded slightly and then lower down his head. Momo, sensed the change of mood in Jeongyeon, patted his back slowly.

“Jeongyeon-ah, even if we get into different university, we will be together in Seoul. We still could live together!”, Momo tried to console him. Jeongyeon sighed.

“you know, actually my parents asked me to go study abroad and living with them there. Seungyeon noona will go there too, to finish her master degree”, Jeongyeon said quietly.

Nayeon, Jihyo, and Momo’e eyes widened in turn.

“no, don’t go there!”, Nayeon was the first one who talked. She grabbed Jeongyeon’s hand a little strongly and Jeongyeon pulled his had from hers reflexively.

“oh, look who’s talking. I even didn’t hold you up when you said you want to go to Konkuk”, he said cynicly to Nayeon.

Jeongyeon quickly cleaned up his desk.

“tell the teacher i can’t attend the last lesson, my head suddeny felt heavy”, Jeongyeon stood up and grabbed his own paper a little harshly.

Late evening after school ended, a bell sound rang in the Jeongyeon’s grandmother apartment. Jeongyeon was lying in the couch, watching some documentary film about Switzerland. He finally got up and opened the door when his grandmother yelled at him to open the door and let the guest in.

When he opened the door, he saw Momo grinned at him and waved his hand.

“hi?”, Momo greeted him hesitantly.

“what do you want?”, Jeongyeon asked him, sounded a little rude. Momo just lifted his eyebrow, looked at him confusedly.

“I-i’m sorry, my head still hurt a little”, he lied. “So, what brings you here this late?”, he asked him back, then noticed that Nayeon was not with him.

“if you’re looking for Nayeon, she has arrived home. She walked home with me just now”, he noticed Jeongyeon who’s looking at Nayeon’s family apartment. “The two of you are really stubborn”, Momo muttered to himself.

“tch, i’m not looking for her”, he glared at him.

“can i come in? The air is quite chilly”, Momo asked him.

“oh, i’m sorry. Sure, just come in. Make yourself comfortable”, he stepped aside to let Momo enter his apartment first.

“jeongyeon-ah, whatever happens, we will still be bestfriend, right?”, Momo asked him when they finally seated on the couch.

“of course. Why are you asking that?”, Jeongyeon stared at Momo confusedly.

“i want to tell you something, and i felt guilty for hiding it from you, even if it’s just barely a week”, Momo inhaled, “Nayeon and I... have been dating for a week”.

“you two..what??”, Jeongyeon couldn’t believe his own ears.

“well, Nayeon said that you two have agreed to not meddle with each other relationship, so she just told me not to tell you that. She said you wouldn’t care anyway. But for me it’s wrong if i hide that from my own bestfriend”

“well...”, Jeongyeon felt something stuck in his throat. He cough a little, clearing up his throat.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter