I had my first running session with Dahyun and Jisu later that week. The two older girls had somehow found out where and when my classes were, and they waited outside for me.

It was Thursday afternoon, and we planned to run laps around the school track. Jisu and I got changed first and headed out to the track. Dahyun was nowhere to be found for some reason, so we started to jog lightly as to not get too frozen over.

It was starting to get chilly out during sunsets, but silly me forgot to check the weather so I had packed my summer gym sports uniform. Thankfully Soobin never locked his sports locker so I borrowed his tracksuit jacket.

Jisu didn't notice at first, but she burst out laughing when she realised my jacket hung way over my shorts, and it had "CHOI" printed in block letters on the back and "Volleyball Captain, '18-20" printed on the sleeve. She said she was surprised that Soobin would lend me his jacket. When I told her that I actually helped myself to this, she laughed even more.

"He'd kill you if he found out, won't he?"

"You think?"

"That's his captain jacket. His dignity and pride."

When I first met Jisu, and even upon our first few exchanges, I thought she would be very cold. But the rosy, cheerful and warm girl I was jogging with, was not who I had imagined.

She was quirky. She giggled at my lame jokes, and she made genuine effort to keep our conversations going.

A while later, Dahyun finally arrived, but we were already at the far side of the track.

The timing was also just perfect, because I had finally worked up the courage to ask Jisu about her love life. Guess that would have to wait.

The older girl had to cut through the middle of the field to get to us, avoiding the afterschool cricket club as she did so.

When I looked over at Jisu, she was laughing, calling out to Dahyun. Her beautiful puppy eyes had curved into small, upturned crescents.

"Sorry I was late! Stupid Hyunjin and Yeonjun kept the whole class behind."

Dahyun had her long dark locks bunched up hastily in a high ponytail. Her tracksuit was also slightly crumpled at the edges. Jisu helped smooth her clothes down as the older girl fixed her own hair.

"Aren't you cold?" She nodded at my bare knees, which were slightly shivering from the chilly afternoon air.

"Yes, very..."

Dahyun tilted her head to read from my sleeve.

"Volleyball... Oh, this is Soobin's jacket, isn't it?" She gave me a smirk that had made me wanted to hide behind Jisu. "That's cute."

Dahyun had that kind of power. She might have been a small girl, but she always stood with her chin up and she radiated with confidence. I heard from Yuna and the other girls that she had won MVP awards for sports aside from volleyball. She was all-rounded in sports and she knew that.

"Sorry we started without you. It was kinda chilly." Jisu piped up.

Dahyun shrugged it off. "It's fine. It's my fault for being late anyways. Argh, if I ever get my hands on Choi Yeonjun I'll rip his hair out."

Jisu chuckled and glanced at me.

"Soojin's pretty close to Yeonjun."

"You are?" Dahyun started to jog away, clearly already geared up for a workout. "Well, hook me up with him sometime so I can beat him up!"

I laughed and called back to her saying I will. Then, Jisu grabbed my arm and we started to jog after our teammate.

We ran a little faster this time, and I was already starting to pant after our second lap. Jisu noticed, so we slowed down a tad bit again at the next bend. Dahyun had sped off far ahead, so she didn't notice us slow down.

We'd probably just catch up to her later, I guess.

Jisu had a habit of biting her lips as she ran, and she would glance around us every so often. I figured it was because she was bored of our pace. After all, she looked like she could be going as fast as Dahyun was...

But, with Dahyun out of sight and earshot again, I remembered what I had wanted to find out about her. Before I could try and set her up with Yeonjun, I had to know if she was seeing anyone... because if she was, I would have no choice but to give everything up at this point.

"D'you have a boyfriend, Jisu?"

She looked over at me with a puzzled smile. "All of a sudden?"

I looked away quickly, just as taken aback as she was. Why did I blurt it out just like that? I was supposed to feed it in and approach this slowly. With caution.

"I was just curious! So... do you?"

She chuckled and shook her head. "A great time to have some girlie talk, huh?" She quickly added, "But no. No, I don't."

"Anyone you have your eyes on, then?"

She pursed her lips and thought about it, before shaking her head. "No... I don't think so." She then let out a laugh. "I actually haven't thought about this such a long time."

Jisu gave me a playful nudge. "What about yourself? Are you interested in anybody?"

"No, not really."

"Not really?" Jisu's teasing voice was still pretty steady, whereas I was beginning to sound like a dying horse.

"Hmm, what about that boy you're always with... is his name Kai?"

"Oh," I laughed as I panted. "No, never, he's just... my best friend!"

My lungs were dying and I had to stop, so we did, and I bent over to catch my breath. Jisu was grinning at me obnoxiously, but I feigned ignorance.

"Would... would you? Date someone if... the opportunity comes?"

Jisu's laughter were like bells.

"If he's the right person, hell yeah I would."

That's good. That's good news. This is good.

Out of nowhere, a pair of hands landed firmly on the shoulders, giving me the absolute shock of my life.

"Why are you stopping? You guys gotta go for one extra lap!" Dahyun called out as she circled around us once before taking off again.

I look up at Jisu, and she was watching Dahyun run off, squinting a little into the afternoon sun. She was so pretty. She was a senior, yet her skin was immaculate. Her cheeks and the tip of her nose were slightly pinkish from running and the chilly air, and her parted lips looked so soft.

"Are you good? Shall we go for one more round?"

I nodded, and we continued. No matter how tired I was, I had to keep going. If not for my own fitness' sake, for Jisu's sake. She had a really convincing smile and I just didn't want to disappoint her. Or even worse, think of me as a sore loser.

Now I understood why Yeji seemed to be friends with Jisu through all these years. Jisu was really quite nice, and there wasn't anything weird about her, nothing I noticed so far seemed to hint at why she didn't appear to have many friends. Apart from the girls from the volleyball team, Jisu really did keep to herself most of the time.

Sometimes, I'd see her head straight to the library instead of the cafeteria. She also studied a lot, because whenever I'd see her in the library, She would have her headphones on, head down, working away at whatever she had to get done... and she'd always be by herself.

Except once.

I was running out of the library one time, late for class. Out of habit, I glanced at the spot behind the second bookshelf where Jisu would usually sit. That day, she had her headphones and workbooks pushed to one side and she appeared to be talking to someone. Though, it didn't look like a very fun conversation because she wasn't smiling, and was talking quite animatedly.

I left before I could work out what was happening between them, but there was definitely something odd about the whole thing.

Were they arguing? It didn't look like an argument, otherwise the librarian would kick them out. I had been so bedazzled by her smile so it was really off-putting to see her frown. Were they checking answers for class? The person she was talking to stood in front of her empty handed, so that wasn't possible.

Don't get me wrong, seeing Jisu talk to another person wasn't that alarming. What threw me off was the person she was talking to.

That someone wore the same maroon blazer as she did. He was tall and had light brown hair. I'd recognise his side profile even with my eyes closed.

It was Yeonjun.

+ Although this chapter was slightly shorter than the previous one, I'll work on posting longer chapters from here on out!