“You’re late too, go stand next to the others,” the gym teacher whacked the air next to Somin to get her to quicken her pace. That morning Somin had woke up late and rushed to get Sohun to school on time. Luckily she was able to get him to school on time, but missed her usual bus to get to school and had to wait for the next one resulting in her coming late.

She glared at the gym teacher as she took her spot next to a tall lanky male with black hair. Although the boy was also being punished for coming late he continued to mutter calculus equations. Somin stared at him in hopes that he would catch onto her annoyance and shut up, or at least down at her instead of the ground.

“Arms up what are you doing?” the gym teacher raised his wooden stick at them to get them to hold their arms above their heads. Reluctantly the student did as they were told. The male next to Somin continued to recite calculus equations as he stood with his arms raised.

“Can you be quiet?” Somin asked him out of annoyance. The male stopped reciting the equations and turned to her, his eyes becoming wider as to ask if she was referring to him. “Yea, you,” she nodded, “And it’s not just minus square root but plus or minus square root,” she stated matter-of-factly and rolled her eyes before looking forward. Jisung repeated after her as a light bulb went off in his head when he realized his mistake, he then looked closer to the girl realizing he didn’t know her name or seen her before. Seeing her nametag, Kwon Somin, another light bulb went off in his head, remembering what Jaemin had said the day before.

“I’m Jisung,” he lowered one of his hands for Somin to take.

She looked at it and rolled her eyes, “Somin.”

“What are you doing? I said arms up!” the gym teacher pointed his stick at Jisung and the male quickly lifted his arm into the air. After ten minutes of standing there with their arms in the air the gym teacher allowed them to go to class. Somin turned to go to her class before Jisung could say anything else to her. Still standing in his spot, with an arm reached out he watched as she got farther.

The next day Somin repeated the same process of waking up late and trying to get Sohun to school on time, making her late to school. Nearing the entrance of the school Somin saw the gym teacher standing near the gates with a stick in his hand, ready to catch students that were coming late.

“Just great,” she muttered under her breath trying to wait for the gym teacher to turn around so that she could make a run through the entrance.

“What are you doing?” Jisung stood behind Somin.

“Oh goodness,” she jumped from her spot. “Can you be quiet?” she whispered.

“Oh sorry,” he whispered, “Are you hiding from him?”

Somin gritted her teeth annoyed at how ignorant the male could be, “What does it look like?” she sarcastically asked.

Jisung stepped in front of her, squatting down and leaning close to the brick wall, peeking over it to see where the gym teacher was.

“What are you doing?” Somin asked him, but he didn’t reply, instead he kept his focus on the gym teached.

“Now,” he whispered as he grabbed onto Somin’s wrist and pulled her across the front entrance to the other side, “Now we jump,” he took off his backpack and slung it over the gates before climbing up himself.

“Easy for you to say,” Somin looked up at Jisung who was at the top of the gates.

“Hand me your backpack,” he held out a hand. Somin looked back at the main entrance of the front gates and reluctantly took off her backpack handing it over to Jisung to which he threw onto the ground.

“Hey be easy with my stuff!”

“Give me your hand and hurry!” Jisung held out a hand for her. Somin grabbed onto his hand as she tried to lift herself over the gates, Jisung tugging on her hand to help her up. Once Somin was over the gate, the both of them jumped down and stood just out of sight from the gym teacher,

Somin let out a breath, “If you knew how to get over without getting caught then why didn’t you do it last time?” she asked him.

Jisung let out an awkward smile, “I needed more time to study for my test last time.”

Somin formed an O with her lips, “Well thanks,” she patted his arm and made way for the front entrance of the school without getting caught by the gym teacher. She left again before Jisung could say anything else.

“Somin-ah,” Minho called her once lunch break had started. Somin was asleep, her arms crossed over the desk and head had laid on top. “Somin,” Minho called out and shook her shoulder.

“Hmmm,” Somin stirred in her sleep but didn’t get up.

Minho kept a hand on her shoulder, continuing to lightly shake her, “It’s lunch time Somin, let’s get food.” Her eyes lightly fluttered open and she rubbed her eyes as she stood from her seat following Chan and Minho out the door to the cafeteria.

“What’s wrong?” Felix asked her when Stray Kids, with the absence of Jiyun, were seated outside at their usual spot, Somin had only taken a few bites from her lunch before setting her head onto Felix’s lap, getting ready to take another nap.

She looked up to meet Felix’s worried gaze, “Nothing, I’m just tired,” she sighed before closing her eyes.

Truth was her father had been coming home late for the past few days, drunk and mad at her mother. Somin and Sohun took shelter in their room and were spared of their father’s wrath but they could hear the yelling and beating their mother suffered through the thin walls. Somin stayed up late trying to provide comfort to Sohun and didn’t sleep until she was sure that he was soundlessly asleep even with the constant yelling.

It didn’t take long for Somin to fall fast asleep on Felix’s lap, seeing that she was sleeping he took off his blazer and draped it over her body to which she snuggled close to. A small smile spread across his lips.

When Somin woke up she was still on Felix’s lap, the rest of Stray Kids was gone along with the other students that were outside during lunch. Sitting up Somin rubbed her eyes, the blazer sliding off of her.

“Have a good nap?” Felix looked up from his phone, he had been playing a game as Somin slept.

Somin nodded, “Did class already start?” she looked around to see no other students around and noticed how quiet the school was.

Felix put his phone into his pocket, checking the time one last time as he did, “Classes are over now, we should head to practice,” he stood up from the stairs and stretched his legs out before holding a hand out for Somin to take.

She put her hand into his and held out his blazer, “I need to get my stuff.”

Felix took his blazer back in his other hand and slung it over his shoulder. “We can stop by your locker before we head there.” With their hands entwined, the two entered the school and walked through the quiet halls. Only a few students were still at school, but they were in the classrooms quietly studying.

When they arrived at Somin’s locker a figure was leaned against the locker right next to hers. The two ignored the figure as Somin unlocked her locker.

He cleared his throat before speaking, “You should join my band Somin,” Chenle spoke.

“Not interested,” Somin answered him, not sparing him a glance and zipped up her backpack. She shut her locker and turned back to Felix, just about to leave until Chenle grabbed onto her arm. Somin yanked her arm from his hold and glared at him.

“What if I paid you?” Chenle was quick to turn desperate, but he knew NCT Dream needed her, there was just something about her, her voice, her vocal range, her potential that he saw would help the band. With her there wouldn’t be a need for Renjun, Jeno, and Haechan to sing all the time but could let them focus more on playing their instruments. She was the missing piece to NCT Dream. Just before Somin could deny him, he stopped her. “My family’s rich, I have all the money in the world. I can buy you anything and everything. I have enough to even pay for your future, if you want a house, money to pay for tuition, cars, diamond rings, I have enough,” he pressed.

Somin’s jaw clenched, as much as she needed the money to help her mother and Sohun, her loyalty laid with Stray Kids, “I said no,” she snarled and turned away from Chenle, pulling Felix along with her.

Chenle sighed as he saw her retreating figure. He dialed a number on his phone and waited for the other end to pick up.

“So how was it?” Haechan mockingly asked.

Chenle sighed once more, “She said no.”

“See, what’d I say? Hard headed. Even money isn’t enough to buy her,” Haechan clicked his tongue three times, “What to do, what to do,” he sang.