"What?" Soyeon got up abruptly from her fluffy bed and gaped at her for a couple of seconds when she announced that she'll be spending her summer break in Thailand with Lucas. "And your mom was okay with that?" Soyeon asked again, still in baffle mode.

"Yup..." Yuqi beamed at her then handing her a can of soft drink before sat down cross-legged amid scattered papers on the patterned floor rug. Yeah, they have been working on their last assignment before spring term final. 

"What did you do to convince your mom this time?"

"Nothing..."

"You did nothing?" Soyeon repeated her word in disbelieve tone. Yuqi nodded. "But.... how?" Soyeon furrowed her brows, looking curious.

"I just sat there while Xuxi did all the talking and the next thing I know we're good to go..." Yuqi elaborated while casually munching a potato chip.

"Wow!" Soyeon clasped her hands, looking impressed. "Your mom is finally coming out with her Team-Xuxi agenda huh?" Soyeon commented afterward, snickering as she slides down in front of her notebook.

"Team-Xuxi? What is that?"

Soyeon shot her a playful grin. "You don't have to know that..." she mused then sipping up her drink, still grinning. Yuqi squinted her eyes at her, trying to read the meaning behind her expression but she couldn't make anything of it. "But I still find it hard to believe that your mom was letting you go to Thailand with Xuxi..." Soyeon continued again, ignoring her curious stare.

"Surprising indeed..." Yuqi seconded her. "At first I thought mom would give me another straight-up 'NO' as an answer..." she continued again, reminiscing her parent's lukewarm reaction the first time she brought up about the Jejudo trip. Her parent— mom especially, looked so determined to not let her go no matter what but everything was quite the opposite when Lucas asked them to let her go to Thailand with him. "They didn't even oppose the idea of two of us traveling across the country. I'm not complaining but still—"

"Maybe Xuxi had something on them..." Soyeon interrupted her words, half-joking.

Yuqi gasped and pointed her finger dramatically at Soyeon. "I was thinking the same, it just weird they gave in so easily to Xuxi, it feels like..."

"What so weird about that?" A low tone male voice interrupted their conversation, both of them turned toward the door in unison and found out Lucas was leaning onto the door's frame, crossing his arms on the chest. "It could only mean one thing, your mom sees me as dependable and trustworthy man..." he said with a pompous expression then strolled toward them.

Yuqi rolled her eyes at his confident remark then sarcastically mumbled, "Sure..." He ignored her reaction and squeezed himself between her and Soyeon.

"For God sake, Xuxi! There's a whole space over there, no one is going to steal her away from you..." Soyeon groaned as she scooted away from Lucas while he settled himself closer to her.

"You know the old saying about keeping your enemies closer, right?" Lucas mused while throwing on of his arms over her shoulder. "I'm keeping this one closer for a reason!" Yuqi yelped when he had her in a headlock. "Thanks to her great artwork I've become extremely famous overnight..." he continued again in a sarcastic tone. Yuqi stopped struggling to free herself when she realized he was referring to his doodled-face picture.

"Yah! How is that my fault? I only shared it in our group chat. You should blame Ten-oppa who posted it on the SNS..." He snorted in response. "Besides, I posted the cutest picture of you, everyone said you're cute, right babe?" she asked Soyeon who was watching them with an amused expression for support.

"Yeah, you look really cute with those whiskers, Xuxi..." Soyeon added cooly. Lucas scowled at her comment while Yuqi broke into a fit of giggles.

"You better not call me tonight!" He grumbled while drawing his hands away from her.

"I won't..." Yuqi stucked out her tongue at him. He glowered at her with a sulky expression.