It was a few weeks before our finals when a news broke out in the school. Joochan ran towards Minji, Soojeong, Youngtaek, Seungmin and I while holding his phone. 

“Guys, guys!” He called, everyone gathered towards him to see what he has.

Joochan showed us a picture of a guy and a girl kissing behind the school building. The picture was blurry but the figure is all too familiar. 

Soojeong broke into tears.

I immediately dragged Joochan out of the classroom, pulling his hand.

“Mate, you’re ing dumb, are you?” I sighed in disbelief as I saw Minji trying to calm Soojeong down. Joochan was confused but then he realised what he has done. “I’m sorry,” he said and deleted the picture.

“I truly am. I forgot she had a crush on him,” Joochan said, bowing his head down. 

I sighed. This isn’t Joochan’s fault anyway. We went back to class and I saw Youngtaek hugging Soojeong as she sobbed on his shoulder. 

I waited for him to look at me before giving him his own trademark smirk. 

I remember when I offered him a hug when he was breaking down. He never told me what it was for but I’m glad he’s now doing the same to Soojeong. At least he knew the problem, even if he can’t solve it for her. 

After finals, Soojeong took up as much leadership roles as she can. She decided that she still likes Sungyoon. And him dating someone else cannot stop her. She says that it’s going to be Sungyoon’s last year in this school. So she might as well make the best of it while he’s still here.

Sometimes, Youngtaek would tag along with her activities. He tried to stop her from doing too many things at once but she was so determined, she didn’t really care what he said. 

Soojeong ended up to be the one of the committee members in charge of the school camp at the end of the year. It was a cold 2 day 1 night camp in school but the atmosphere was warm around the campfire. 

We shared a lot of stories as a cohort. We sang songs and danced under the moonlight. That night, I learnt a lot more things about other students that I don’t know much about. Seungmin has a really nice voice and Jang Jun can actually rap. Bomin is actually a model, Jaehyun is an American and Donghyun has sick dance moves.

Soojeong is still in love with Sungyoon while he’s dating his classmate. While she is holding on to an imaginary string, Youngtaek was the one standing in the shadows. 

 

•

 

I didn’t see my friends for the rest of the holidays until one day, Joochan decided to appear at the most dangerous times. It was a dark night and I was walking home from buying groceries my mom asked me to do. I would usually take the long way home around the block but since it’s a super cold night, I took the shortcut through the alley. 

Suddenly, I felt a group of men surrounding me. I looked up and all I see is danger. I tried to walk past them but I was scared at each step I took. I’ve heard stories around the country about and murder. What if they me and kill me??!!! I don’t want to be a victim! 

Out of the blue, I heard someone called my name. I turned around to see a familiar figure running towards me. Joochan wrapped his arms around my body before taking me away from the group of scary guys. 

“Just play along,” he whispered in my ears. I was shivering and I didn’t have a choice. When the group of guys were out of sight, he finally let me go. 

“Thanks for that,” I said. Without him, I would be dead. 

“Don’t go there, especially at night,” he said, “there’s a lot of gang members waiting for girls at night.”

“Yeah, no. After everything that has happened, I don’t think I will ever take that shortcut ever again.” 

“I’ll take you home, just in case,” Joochan said as he helped me with the groceries. I was about to protest but the things were already in his hands. 

“Lead the way,” he said. 

“Thanks again for everything,” I said when we reached the front gate of my house. 

“No problem,” he waved goodbye before I stepped into the house. That was a smart move, pretending that we were together. Maybe Joochan isn’t a stupid idiot after all.

 

•

 

The first time I saw my friends again was the first day of second year. We were all still in the same class, same teachers and same sitting arrangements. Our classroom is just one level higher now. 

The week started with Jaehyun and Joochan looking for funds for Jibeom’s birthday. They were going to surprise him with a cake in school. I thought they were joking but when Soojeong has agreed to help, everyone else jumped in. We all contributed $5 to buy a cake for Jibeom. 

“We should buy two cakes. One for our tummies and one for his face,” Donghyun suggested. 

“Or we could get a whipping cream for his face instead,” Youngtaek suggested and everyone liked the idea since it’s cheaper. 

“What flavor should we get? Strawberry? Chocolate?” 

“Don’t buy nuts. I’m allergic to nuts,” Minji said and we decided to rule out everything that contained nuts. 

“Chocolate sounds good. Everyone would love it,” I said. 

“I’ve tried Chocolate Crumble before. It’s really good,” Joochan pointed out at the most expensive chocolate cake at the website.

“Too expensive,” Seungmin said, “what about this one. It’s just $40.” 

Everyone agreed to get what Seungmin suggested. Now he’s in charge of getting the cake. Since we have a little bit of leftover cash, we decided to use the money for decorations and a little gift for him. 

Back at home, I was watching an anime when my phone buzzed. 

You have been added to a group “JIBEOM PARTY”

bominnnnn: supp
jang june: supp
kevin: supp
minji: who the is kevin?
kevin: it’s me
kdh0223: MARIO
kevin: no it’s me jaehyun
minji: ooo
soojeongii: ooo
rihyun33: ooo
young tag: *sends a meme that has Jibeom’s face in it*
young tag: we need to print this out
hongjoochan: LMAOOO WTF
bae seungmin: LOL JIBEOM
rihyun33: LMAO NANI TF
minji: wow jibeom the living meme 
kdh0223: ooh I have an idea!!!
kdh0223: should we make a meme album????
young tag: kim dong hyun you ing genius
soojeongii: I have a few Jibeom memes.
soojeongii: *sends another Jibeom meme*
rihyun33: we could all print a few memes each and compile them tomorrow. 
rihyun33: I have a spare scrapbook we can use.
hongjoochan: ok guys time to send every memes we have on jibeom
rihyun33: *sends one*
young tag: owo u have lover boy’s meme
jang june: owo
minji: owo
soojeongii: owo
rihyun33: I got it from Bomin okay...
bominnnnn: courtesy of yours truly. 
kevin: yo seungmin did u place the order already?
bae seungmin: oh brb
young tag: smh
young tag: remember to print out all the memes u have 
young tag: rihyun u better bring the scrapbook here tomorrow or I will ing choke u
rihyun33: u
young tag: oi dont swear at me
soojeongii: says the one who taught her how to say
kevin: OOF
bominnnnn: OOF
minji: OOF
bae seungmin: OOF
jang june: OOF
kdh0223: OOF
hongjoochan: OOD
hongjoochan: OOF*
young tag: SMH JOOCHAN ALWAYS BREAKING THE ING STREAK
minji: yeah what the joochan
hongjoochan: :(((((((((((((

 

•

 

bominnnnn: remember to write something for our jibeomie!
young tag: yes sir
kevin: yes sir
jang june: yes sir

The next day during break time, we each took turns to make sure Jibeom doesn't catch us in the act. The meme album was a big mess because none of us were good in making pretty scrapbooks. It looks more like a crapbook with memes honestly. 

I had to take the matter into my own hands when I realised that some of the pictures were falling out. At home, I added a little more glue and some touches to make it look less crap. 

D-day is the next day. Seungmin got the cake ready in the morning and Soojeong helped to store it in the councillor’s break room. During break, we get ready into action as Jaehyun and Bomin brought Jibeom back to class pretending to need his help. 

Everyone was hiding behind the pillar and when Jibeom entered the room, Youngtaek hit his face with a plate full of whipped cream.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIBEOM!” Everyone shouted in unison and blew out the mini birthday trumpets.

“WHAT THE !!! GUYS!!!!” Jibeom screamed. His face was literally covered in whipped cream. He took off his glasses and there was a perfectly clean part of his head that wasn’t covered with cream and he looked super funny in it. 

He saw Youngtaek with the plate of cream on his hand and charged at him. 

“Come back you ,” Jibeom threatened as he chased Youngtaek around the classroom. Everyone had a good laugh when he finally caught after the taller guy and putting some whipped cream on his face.

“Jesus christ, I look ing ridiculous,” Jibeom said when Minji showed him a picture of his face. He started to clean his face with his own bare hands. Seeing there’s a tissue box beside me. I handed some to him.

“You have a bit of cream behind your ears,” I pointed out at his earlobes. 

“Oh thanks,” he said and wiped somewhere behind his ears but he didn’t caught it. 

“Uhh, it’s still there,” I said as I took a piece of tissue and wiped at the spot that wasn’t clean. 

“All done,” I said.

“Guys,” Donghyun started, “did you all get a picture of that?” 

Jibeom and I turned around to look at everyone else having their phone taking a picture of us. Everyone said yes while smirking.

“Even better. I got a video!” Youngtaek announced. 

“Ah hajima...” I told everyone but they just kept giggling and laughing at what I did. I could feel my cheeks get hotter and hotter. Jibeom was looking like a tomato too. 

“Come on we have to cut out the cake,” Soojeong said, as if saving me from this embarrassing moment. We all sang the birthday song together and lit up the candles. Jibeom made a wish before blowing them out.

“What did you wish for?” Joochan asked.

“If he says it out loud, it won’t come true,” Seungmin said.

I suddenly feel Youngtaek’s eyes on me. He gave me a smirk before saying, “I think we all know what he wished for.” Then I jumped at him to choke him. 

“Ok, it’s time to get the big present!” Soojeong announced. She pulled out the scrapbook that we made for Jibeom. He had a good look at it and almost died because of laughing. 

“You guys... what the hell...” he almost had tears in his eyes for laughing too much. 

“You’re welcome,” everyone patted his head. Jibeom deserves all the joy and love he could get. 

“Let’s take a selca!” Jaehyun said and everyone got together and posed. Youngtaek was pushing me in so I could stand beside Jibeom. “Thank me later,” he mouthed at me. I rolled my eyes.

We all had a quick bite at the cake before Soojeong had to put it back to the councillor’s break room because break time is almost over. 

The picture came out really nice when Jaehyun posted it on the group chat after adding Jibeom in it. 

minji: uwu we look cute
soojeongii: no u
minji: NO U
hongjoochan: no me 
bae seungmin: lmao sure
young tag: my parents looking cute as
young tag: *sends a picture of cropped Jibeom and I with cute filter*
kdh0223: MY PARENTS
minji: MY PARENTS
kevin: MY PARENTS
beomeme: uhm
rihyun33: this is getting out of hand
soojeongii: don’t overdo it taeggi
young tag: :((((((((((
bominnnnn: MY PARENTS
bominnnnn: oops late
bominnnnn: but I am saving that fo sho
jang june: but I am saving that fo sho 2
minji: but I am saving that for sho 3
young tag: courtesy of yours truly

I found a really nice picture of Soojeong and added a really cute filter to it before sending it to Youngtaek. 

rihyun33: I might also make one with your picture and send it to Soojeong. 
young tag: GOD NO

 

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