"Who are you texting?" Soonyoung asked when he noticed Wonwoo was no longer going through the songbook. Wonwoo usually almost never gave the microphone up but the guy shook his head when Soonyoung handed him the mic after seeing one of Wonwoo's favorite songs to be next on the lineup.

"No one," Wonwoo muttered but kept staring at his phone. Being at a karaoke after a long time brought him back to that time Mingyu dragged him out of the dorm to that forced double date.

He remembered the hurt look on Jung Eunhye's face when he told her that she faked her smile every day. It was not a bad smile. In fact, Wonwoo liked it better if she was smiling, so why did he have to snap at her like that? She was right to tell him she did not have to explain herself to him. When he realized what a disrespectful jerk he was, he sent her an apologetic text message.

The message was read but he did not get any reply. A mug of beer was pushed in front of him and he took it absentmindedly. He chugged it down, wondering why his sunbae was not replying. Was she mad at him? What if she failed him in their class?

Wonwoo: Sunbae
Wonwoo: Sorry about earlier.
Wonwoo: pls dont fail me
Wonwoo: i like ur subject so pls dont fail me.
Wonwoo: be honest. im the best in your class, aren't i?
Wonwoo: Sunbae
Wonwoo: Sunbaenim
Wonwoo: Eunhye-sunbae
Wonwoo: why aren't u replying?
Wonwoo: noona
Wonwoo: i dont want to call u noona
Wonwoo: or sunbae
Wonwoo: or anything.

*******

The messages came like wildfire. Eunhye suddenly laughed out loud as she read through, guessing the kid was drunk while texting her.

"Ah, Jeon Wonwoo," she muttered to herself. "You're going to regret all of this."

CS2.JeonWW: i dont want to call u noona
CS2.JeonWW: or sunbae
CS2.JeonWW: or anything
CS2.JeonWW: just eunhye
CS2.JeonWW: eunhye-ya
CS2.JeonWW: eunhye-yaaa
CS2.JeonWW: why aren't you answering?
CS2.JeonWW: i said sorry already
CS2.JeonWW: but seriously tho, eunhye-ya
CS2.JeonWW: it's ok if you wanted to cry
CS2.JeonWW: it's ok too if you smile
CS2.JeonWW: forget what i said earlier. just smile.
CS2.JeonWW: u look better when u smile

The moment Eunhye realized she was smiling, she locked her phone screen. She should not let herself be affected by this kid. When she got out of the cubicle, Sana was no longer there, which relieved her. She went back to her lab, setting her phone to Airplane mode so she could focus on her work. In another hour, she was on her way home.

*****

"She's not answering."

"Who?" Soonyoung asked. Wonwoo had been on his phone for an hour. The group had been planning to go clubbing, but Wonwoo did not respond if he was going or not.

"Eunhye-noona."

Soonyoung choked on his beer. He smacked Wonwoo's head and put a finger on his lips to signal Wonwoo to lower his voice. Some of their classmates were not aware of their close relationship--which Soonyoung seriously thought was either a misunderstanding on Wonwoo's part, or a product of his imagination. Just one false move could lead into a breakout of rumors and Soonyoung was worried about that.

"She must be very angry," Wonwoo babbled on. Soonyoung counted the empty glasses in front of his friend. "What if she failed me? I won't become the best programmer in the Republic of Korea."

"So are you coming?" Changkyun asked Soonyoung, referring to the club.

Soonyoung waved his hand. "Nah. I need to take this guy home."

Changkyun chuckled, seeing how Wonwoo kept babbling inaudible things. Their whole group left the place and they parted ways. Soonyoung flagged a taxi and threw Wonwoo in, who was still rambling on about his dreams and plans for his future. Soonyoung told the driver their address. 

He should have known Wonwoo was up to no good when he fell silent. The moment he turned to his drunk friend, the guy was on the phone, making a call. He snatched it away from him, and saw the number he dialed was their TA's. Soonyoung ended it before it became a problem. He refused to make a comment that it was saved as "Hye.Noona" on his friend's phone.

"What the heck are you doing?" he asked Wonwoo. "You're going to get me in trouble, too."

"I have to tell her I'm sorry."

"What did you do?" Soonyoung had long noticed that his friend's attention to their TA was not normal. There would be times that Wonwoo would suddenly comment about something she did or said after their class as if he had been thinking about it for a long time before saying it out loud.

Wonwoo pouted. Soonyoung could not help it and took a picture. "I told her she should stop faking her smiles."

Soonyoung decided that a picture was not good enough, so he took a video instead. He saw the cabbie glance at them at the rearview mirror and Soonyoung winked at him. "How did you know she was just faking it?"

"Because she must be hurting!" Wonwoo went on. "She looks at her like the girl stole her most prized possession but when they look at each other, or when she's talking to her, she's all smiles and, 'Oh! You have to check this." Wonwoo made an exaggerated reenactment of their TA running a hand through her hair to push it back and Soonyoung got goosebumps at how accurate it was. "Or, 'Yeah, you don't need to do that,' as if they had been friends since forever."

"Who are we talking about again?"

"And she smiles at YOU. She NEVER smiles at me like that." Wonwoo paused and then smiled like an idiot. "Well, she did smile at me that night--" He clamped a hand over his own mout