"Trust is the first step to love."
Munshi Premchand

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It had been two months since the incident and everything seemed like it went back to how it was before. Yein managed to put her confused thoughts aside, enabling her to interact with Jungkook with no issues.

In fact, their interaction was so normal that their friends became a little worried about the situation between the two. However, knowing that it would be of no help if they probed, they all decided to kept quiet.

"Yein noona!"

Yein cringed and made a face. Who the heck are you calling noona?! Wiping the look of distaste off her face, she turned around sporting a blank expression, "yes?"

In front of her were three freshmen whom she didn't recognise. They weren't from her group and hence, she had no idea why these kids would come calling for her.

"We wanna ask," one of them sheepishly started. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

Yein blinked. Was it that times were changing and the younger generation was becoming more annoyingly straightforward? Or was it just her being stubbornly conservative? All she knew was that she disliked it when these kind of guys approached her.

Through gritted teeth, Yein flashed a smile and said, "whether I have a boyfriend or not doesn't concern you. You should focus on your studies, please."

As the boys turned around to go back to their group, she heard them whispering to each other, "she doesn't have a boyfriend, for sure!"

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Yein tiredly wondered what kind of other nonsense would befall upon her. It was the second time she was asked the same question within the first day of orientation. In just one freaking day.

Heading back to her own group, she sat down with a sigh. Feeling a hand hook her arm, she looked at the girl to her left and sighed once more.

"Unni, next time you should just punch them or flick their foreheads or like, do a shoulder-throw! They're so annoying!"

Yein chuckled, "Yoojung ah, I think that will get me into a lot more trouble."

"But she's right unni, maybe you can step on their feet or something!" agreed Dayoung who was nodding fervently by her other side.

"Why? Did someone come and bug you again sunbae?" another group member, Joochan, asked.

Noticing how worriedly her juniors looked at her, Yein smiled. She was reminded that this was what having juniors felt like – dongsaengs who looked up to her and clung onto her, and were also sometimes protective.