I just moved in Seoul with my family yesterday. We came to this city because of my dad’s job promotion. He’s now a manager at a financial company here, my mother is working as a chef at a restaurant here too.

It’s saturday, my father is currently at work to meet with his boss and discuss some things before he’ll start working on monday. Me and my mom are at home unboxing our stuff when we hear the doorbell.

 

"Baby, can you open the door?" My mom yells from the second floor.

 

"Sure!"

 

When I open the door I’m greeted by a woman about my mom’s age. Her hair is black and she’s giving me a beautiful smile.

 

"Hello, sweetheart!"

 

"Hello. Can I help you?"

 

"I'm your neighbour, Mrs Jung. I just came to welcome you into our neighbourhood and invite your family over tomorrow for dinner, so we can get to know each other." Just when she’s done talking, my mom arrives behind me and answers her.

 

"Oh, hello! My name is Mirae and this is my daughter Y/N. We would love to come over for dinner, thank you for the invitation!" My mom smiles sweet at the lady in front of us.

 

"Great, I’ll be waiting for you around 7PM."  Mrs. Jung responses delighted.

 

"Alright, see you tomorrow!"

 

We bid our goodbyes and I close the door.

 

"She seems really nice. We’re already making friends here Y/N." My mom is more than happy to make new friends already, since she’s a social butterfly, totally the opposite of me. I'm a shy introvert that becomes anxious around strangers or big crowds.

 

It's already sunday afternoon so we’re getting ready for the dinner with our neighbours.

I choose to wear a black blouse and a grey skirt with black boots. I let my hair down and put some light makeup on. After I take a final look at myself in the mirror to make sure I look good, I head down where my parents are already waiting for me.

When we arrive at our neighbours’s house, Mrs. Jung opens the door for us with a smile on her face just like the first time I’ve met her.

 

"Welcome! Please enter."

 

"Good evening, Mrs Jung." I say smiling back at her.

 

"Hi. Thanks again for inviting us. This is my husband, Hyungsik."

 

"Hello, it’s nice meeting you." My father says after my mother introduces him.

 

"Hello, I'm glad you could make it. My husband and sons are in the living room, that's straight ahead. I have to go back into the kitchen now or I’ll burn the dinner." She laughs a little then leaves through a door on the right.

 

In the living room the rest of the Jung family are sitting on a couch. Mr. Jung sees us first and comes to introduce himself, followed by two boys. He then presents us his sons and the older one, Wooyoung, scans me head to toe, then makes eye contact with me with an expressionless face and I can feel how my cheeks are getting warm from the blush, because I don’t like it when someone gives me attention. After a moment he averts his gaze from me.

He’s wearing a red hoodie with black sport pants, his hair is black and a little long, he also got a lot of piercings and rings. He looks really handsome and seems to be around my age.

 

We all wait in the living room for Mrs. Jung to finish the dinner, while my parents are discussing about their jobs with Mr. Jung. Wooyoung is on his phone sending messages to someone and from time to time I can see a little smile on his face. His younger brother is watching a show on TV and I'm thinking about how would be at my new school tomorrow. I hope someone will approach me first and I’ll make a new friend, because I’m very shy around people, especially strangers.

 

"Dinner’s ready! Please come and take a seat at the table." Mrs. Jung announces us happy.

 

At the table my mom sits to my left and Wooyoung is at my right.

Mrs. Jung prepared a feast for this dinner. The food looks and smells so good so we start to eat right away.

The dinner goes without any big events taking place, except Wooyoung's little brother making a fuss that he wants to eat while playing games on his phone, but his mother scolded him saying it’s not nice to play while eating, especially when guests are over.

After having the dessert, we head back in the living room to continue the chat.

 

"So, Wooyoung, how old are you?" My mom asks him.

Everyone turns their attention to Wooyoung, who didn't pay any attention to us the whole night and continued sending messages on his phone. He locks his phone and looks at my mother now.

 

"I'm 17 years old."

 

"Oh, you’re one year older than Y/N then. That's great, I hope you can become good friends then. You see, she's very shy and it’s hard for her to make friends." Wooyoung looks at me for a second and sees that I’m embarrassed because of what my mother said.

 

"What school do you go to, Y/N?" Mrs. Jung asks me.

 

"I go to The High-School of Arts."

 

"That's where Wooyoung goes too. Then you can go together tomorrow morning and he can show you around and help you." His mother's suggestion makes Wooyoung click his tongue in annoyance but doesn't say anything.

 

"That’s not necessary, but thank you. I can manage by myself, plus he may be busy and I don't want to bother him with this." I say hoping she will drop the subject.

 

"That's nonsense. He isn't busy and has enough time. Right, Wooyoung?"

 

"I will give you a ride tomorrow and help you out." He says without looking at me.

 

"See, I told you he'll help you."

 

"Thank you..." I say shyly in his direction but he doesn't acknowledge me.

 

After a little while, I announce that I’ll head back home to prepare my stuff for tomorrow.  

 

"I will head home first to get ready for my first day at school tomorrow. Thank you for inviting us over for dinner, I had a great time."

 

"You want to leave already? Wait until I take my purse, I think I left it in the kitchen earlier."

 

"No, mom, you don't need to come. I will go back first, you can enjoy the rest of the night."

 

"Then let Wooyoung accompany you back." His dad suggests.

 

"It’s not necessary..."

 

While I was speaking Wooyoung got up from the couch.

 

"Let's go." He says and starts leaving already.

I quickly go after him while saying a "Good night." to his family at the same time.

He opens the door for me and I thank him.

The walk is only a few minutes but it’s awkward as neither of us talks.

He opens his mouth to say something only when we are in front of my house’s door.

 

"We’re leaving at 7:20 AM, so be ready by then."

 

"Ok. Thanks for coming with me and driving me tomorrow too, but you don't have to help me at school, I’ll manage by myself." I say smiling a bit while he has his cold gaze on me. He doesn't say anything, just turns around and leaves.

 

The next morning I wake up at 6:00 AM to make sure I have enough time to get ready so I won’t make Wooyoung wait after me.

I take a shower and then get dressed in my new uniform for school. The uniform consists of a white blouse, a grey skirt and a black jacket. I pun on some black shoes to go along with it and apply a natural makeup. I tie my hair in a ponytail and finish my look with a pair of earrings and a necklace to complete my look. I take a look at the clock too see it’s 7:15 AM.

When I get out of the house, Wooyoung is already waiting for me. He’s leaning against his black car looking down at his phone screen. He doesn't seem to notice my presence yet so I take a better look at him. He’s wearing his uniform, a white shirt with a black tie, black pants and a black jacket. His hair is parted in the middle, it’s a wet hair style that really suits him. He’s also wearing a lot of earrings and rings just like last night. When I move my attention to his face I observe he’s looking at me with a smirk on and a raised eyebrow. He caught me staring at him.

 

"Let's go if you’re done checking me out."

 

I widen my eyes at his words and I can feel the blood rushing to my face already, making me blush. I only nod in response.

 

He goes to passager’s side and opens the door for me. I get in saying a "thanks" and avoiding his gaze, still embarrassed.

When he gets in the car too, we put on our seat belts and he starts driving. Soft music is playing through the radio.

"We have to take three of my friends with us. They can be very loud so I'm sorry if they make you feel uncomfortable."

 

"It's ok." I say even if I'm already feeling a little anxious to meet new people.

 

We stop the car in front of a big house and I see three boys coming out. They are laughing loud enough to hear it from the car. When they spot me inside the car, a confused expression takes place on their faces. They get in the back seat and look at me then at Wooyoung, waiting probably for him to introduce me.

 

"She's my new neighbour, she’s going to our school too. Her name is Y/N. My mother asked me to drive her."

 

They all look at me smiling and say "Hi!" in unison.

 

"My name is San, pretty." The guy in the middle with black hair says and gives me a wink that makes me blush. He smiles at my blushing face and I can see a cute pair of dimples showing.

 

"Please ignore him, Y/N. That's how he is with everyone." The boy on San’s left says with an eye roll and San pouts at his statement. "My name is Yeosang." His hair is blonde and he has a mullet.

 

"My name is Jongho." The last one says with a polite smile.

 

"It’s nice too meet you all."

 

After that Wooyoung starts driving again so we won't be late. After a minute or so, San starts speaking again.

 

"Y/N are you in our class?"

 

"No, I'm a year younger than you guys."

 

"She's in Jongho’s class." Wooyoung says without moving his eyes from the road.

 

"Oh, I can help you with our classes then, and I will give you my notes so you know where we are currently with our lectures and catch up." Jongho tells me excited, probably because he found out we are the same age.

 

"That would be great, thank you so much." I smile back at him. I thought I will fell anxious with so many strangers but they are really friendly so I feel kinda comfortable with them.

Jongho is telling me about how are the teachers for the rest of the ride and some other school related things.

 

When we arrive at school, Wooyoung parks his car next to another black one, where four boys are standing beside it. When we get out, they came to greet the boys from our car. When they land their eyes on me, San starts talking first.

 

"She's Wooyoung’s new neighbour, Y/N. She's in the same class as Jongho."

 

"Hello. My name is Seonghwa." He's taller than the others boys I was in the car with, his hair is blonde and he has a kind smile. "I'm two years older than you, so is Hongjoong." He gestures to his right to a guy with blue hair. He has even more piercings than Wooyoung and is wearing a lot of other accessories.

 

"Nice meeting you." He says with a polite smile like Jongho did.

 

"I'm Yunho, it’s nice to meet you." He looks like a cute puppy with bright eyes. His hair is blonde with some pink strands too. He's the tallest among all of them.

 

"I'm Mingi." A boy with almost the same height as Yunho says. His hair is a light shade of brown and he’s wearing a pair of sunglasses. He has a cute smile.

 

"Yunho and Mingi are the same age as me." San adds.

 

"It’s nice meeting you all!" I say with a big smile. They all seem like nice people and unexpectedly I don’t feel anxious around them, considering we just met.

I didn't expect that I will meet so many people on my first day. Wooyoung seems to be a social butterfly, and all his friends are really good looking, just like him.

 

"Let's go to our classes or we’ll be late, and I'm sure Y/N doesn't want that on her first day." Hongjoong says gesturing for Jongho to lead the way for me.

 

We all part ways and leave to our classes.

 

"I will come with you guys." Wooyoung says taking the lead.

 

Me and Jongho follow him and after we’re in front of our class Jongho goes straight inside. When I try to enter too, Wooyoung stops me by grabbing my wrist.

 

"I will give you a ride back too after we finish classes. Just wait for me beside my car." He then leaves, not waiting for my response. I look after him a little then go inside the class where I take a seat next to Jongho.

 

All the classes are a bit boring, but Jongho is making small comments during them, funny ones, and also helps me catch up so I feel a little better about them.

 

It’s lunch time. Jongho and I are seated at a table in the middle. He said it’s their group’s table. When I sit down I see the people in the cafeteria looking with confusion in my direction.

 

"Jongho?"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Why are they all looking at me?"

 

Jongho opens his mouth to answer but a voice behind me beats him first.

 

"Maybe because it’s the first time when another person besides us eight sits at our table." San says smiling at me and taking the free seat on my left.

 

"Oh... and why is that?"

 

"Well you see, we don't really have other friends beside each other." He chuckles a little and scratches the back of his neck.

 

"Why?" His answers only leaves me more confused. Yeosang replies to my question as he sees San is not helpful.

 

"Because they all think we are some kind of gang or something like that. But that’s not true. They’re all just rumors."

 

"Ok, but you had to do something for that rumor to go around." I say a little surprised to hear that, because they seem like good guys. I see them exchanging a strange look between themselves before Seonghwa answers me.

 

"Well, we actually got in some trouble one night at a club, it ended up with us fighting some other guys. We got in some trouble at school too, because we used to skip a lot of classes last year and had some little fights too. We were friends with some kids that graduated last year, and because of them we ended up doing all that. They kind of had a bad influence on us but now we are trying to study hard, avoid problems and we have a full attendance too. Unfortunately the rumors don't die that easily."

 

"Oh... Well you are doing great then, because I would have never thought you did all that if you wouldn't have confessed." I say a little lost in thoughts, trying to process all of this.

 

"Are you going to leave us too after what you heard?" San asks searching for an answer on my face.

 

"Why would I? You clearly changed and I'm sure you weren't that bad last year as you make it sound." I say with a little shy smile as all of them are looking at me. My guts tell me they’re good guys, even if I only met them today, because they didn't make me feel anxious being around them. I find it easy to talk with them, which is unusual for me to do with new people.

 

"If you still want to be friends with us don't expect other people to talk to you." Yeosang tells me.

 

"I'm good with being friends only with you guys. I never had a lot of friends anyway, so I won't lose anything." I say sincerely.

 

"By the way, where are Wooyoung and Mingi?” I see all of them tense a little at my question.

 

"They had something to do. Let's finish our lunch." Hongjoong says with a dark face, so I don't continue the subject anymore as I don't want to get in their business.

 

It’s already the time to go home and Seonghwa, Yunho, San, Yeosang and Jongho left with Seonghwa’s car. Hongjoong left one hour earlier. The boys told me he had some problems to solve. I'm beside Wooyoung’s car, waiting for him as he told me to do this morning.

 

As I wait for him to come I start thinking about how today was a pretty good first day. Thanks to Wooyoung I made a lot of friends. I never had such a large group of friends.

 

After a little while I hear Wooyoung and Mingi talking so I look in their direction. Mingi waves at me as a goodbye and leaves.

 

"Did you wait much?" Wooyoung ask as he unlocks his car and opens the door for me.

 

"Just a few minutes."

 

He nods his head and gets in the car too. The drive is quiet but I don't feel awkward in Wooyoung’s presence this time. When we are at a stop he turns to look at me.

 

"So, how was the first day?"

 

"Pretty good. The teachers were boring but I had fun thanks to your friends, so thank you for introducing us." I say shyly a little as he keeps his eyes on me.

 

"I'm glad you get along." He says and then turns his head and keeps driving.

The rest of the drive goes by in silence, none of us saying anything anymore.

 

"Thanks for driving me today, Wooyoung."

 

"I’ll see you tomorrow morning at 7:20 AM."

 

"You will drive me again? I don't want to be a burden."

 

"I will drive you everyday. It’s not a problem for me, plus we’re going to the same destination." He says without letting room for any arguments.

 

"Ok.. Thank you. Bye Wooyoung."

 

"Bye, Y/N."

 

The next two weeks Wooyoung drives me and his friends to school everyday. We got closer and it’s fun hanging out with them. I’m starting to like it a lot here.

 

This morning there’s only us on the way to school as he told me his friends are going with their own cars today and Jongho is going with San, because he doesn't have the age to drive yet.

 

Today the boys seem to be in a bad mood when I meet them at school and I don't know why. When I tried to ask Jongho, he said it’s nothing and to not worry about them.

 

I'm on my way to the classroom when I hear Wooyoung calling my name, so I stop and turn around to face him.

 

"I can't drive you back today. All of us will leave earlier since we have to go somewhere."

 

"Are you starting to skip your classes again like last year?" I ask in hope they don't pick up their bad habits from last year.

 

"No. We just have something to solve." He is a little frustrated by my question.

 

"What?"

 

"That's none of your business Y/N." He says narrowing his eyes at me and in a dark tone.

 

"O-oh... Sorry for asking." I turn around and leave fast. Now I can see why the others might be scared of them. Wooyoung looked pretty intimidating just now as he got mad. This is the first time I see him look so dark and I didn't like it.

I spend the rest of the day alone as they all left. When I hear the ring, I pack my things and get ready to go home.

Right before I try to leave, some girls gather at my desk and stop me from doing so.

 

"Do you need something?" I ask biting my lower lip as I'm becoming overwhelmed by their presence.

 

"How did you became friends with the boys?”

 

"I'm Wooyoung’s neighbour and he introduced us."

 

"So are you close with Wooyoung?"

 

I’m thinking what I should respond her when it hits me, she probably wants something from me.

 

"What do you want?"

 

"I want Wooyoung’s phone number." She says restively.

 

"Then ask him for it." I say quickly as I can feel by heart starting to beat faster than it should. I can feel my breath getting a little irregular too.

 

"He refused already, but I won't give up. So you have to give it to me." Her voice is irritated.

 

"I can't do that, if he didn't wanted to give it to you then he doesn't want to talk to you. Sorry but I need to leave now." I say and I start running past them to the bathroom. When I enter I take a deep breath and try to calm down. After that I leave to the bus station.

 

When I arrive home I feel a little tired so I take a nap before I start working on my homework.

 

The next day Wooyoung isn't waiting for me to go to school together. Maybe he’s mad at me..

 

When I arrive at school, Jongho is nowhere to be found, he didn’t attend any of the classes today.

I write a message in our group chat to see if something happened but nobody answers me... They still don't answer for the rest of the weekend and I start thinking if maybe something happened to them or I if I did something wrong so they’re ignoring me on purpose. They don't answer any of my calls either.

 

I ask my mother if she met Mrs. Jung and if she saw Wooyoung. She tells me that Wooyoung is staying at one of his friends for the weekend. Something is telling me that this might not be the whole truth. Something feels off and I have to find out what is it.

 

On monday, Wooyoung is waiting for me in the morning to give me the usual ride to school like he didn’t just ghosted me the whole weekend.

 

"What happened? None of you answered me and I was worried. Are you ok?" I ask concerned.

 

"We are fine. You didn't have to worry about us. We just had a full weekend, that's why we didn't answer. Now let's get going or we’ll be late."

 

"You could have at least tell me you’re alive..." I say pouting and looking at the ground.

 

I feel a hand ruffling my hair and I look up meeting Wooyoung eyes.

 

"I'm sorry. I will answer you next time. Don't be upset Y/N." He says smiling at me. It’s the first time I see such a big smile on him, and that made me smile too.

 

"I'm glad you’re smiling now. You’re more beautiful when you’re smiling rather than pouting." He says with a look that I don't really understand what it is.

I try to avoid his eyes and pass through him to enter the car trying to hide my blushing face and I think I hear him saying "It makes me want to make you happy." My heart skips a beat at that.

For the entire car ride to school none of us speaks. Unfortunately we were alone today as San drived Yeosang and Jongho.

 

At school all of them come and apologise for making me worry about them and we get back to our normal routine.

 

I go to my third class without Jongho, because it’s an optional class I choosed.  After that is over, I go to meet with the boys for lunch. On the hallway I hear a voice calling my name, and when I turn to see who’s calling me, I see the girl that wanted Wooyoung’s phone number coming my way.

 

"I don't like it when people run away in the middle of a conversation." She says annoyed.

 

"Sorry... I needed to be somewhere."

 

"I don't care." She rolls her eyes at me. "Now give me the number while I'm asking nice."

 

"I still can't do that..."

 

"Then arrange me a meeting with him."

 

"Why don't you go and talk with him yourself? He's in the cafeteria now."

 

"Good plan. I will tell him you invited me for lunch with them. That will be my chance to ask him out."

 

"That’s not what I meant. I was just saying you can go and say whatever you want directly to him, not me."

 

"I like my plan better. Now let's go."

 

She grabs my arm and drags me in the direction of the cafeteria. She doesn't let go of me until we are at the table where the boys were chatting. When they spot us both, they look at me, ignoring the girl beside me, the one I don't even now the name of..

 

"Boys this is..." I trail off looking at her to say her name.

 

"I'm Yuri, but I'm sure you already knew that." She says smiling at Wooyoung. They still look at me, not Yuri, so I speak again.

 

"She's here to eat with us..." I say a little uncomfortable and the boys notice that.

 

"We don't have enough space for another person. You can leave." Yeosang answers irritated by her presence.

 

"But you still have an empty space." She says sitting down, next to Wooyoung.

 

Wooyoung looks for the first time at Yuri and speaks.

 

"That's Y/N’s chair. Now get up." I could sense the anger in his voice.

 

"Why would I? She can find another place to sit. I want to stay beside you." She flutters her lashes at him trying to look innocent.

 

All the boys are now looking with disgust at her.

 

"Leave already. Don't you get it that we don't want you here?" Mingi snaps at her.

 

"Hey! Let's all calm down. I will just take another chair." I say fast before they get angry, because I don't want to see that. But before I can manage to take another chair Wooyoung gets up and takes Yuri by her arm to make her stand up from her seat.

 

"What are you doing? Let go of me!" She says a little scared of him and the dark look he’s giving her. He doesn't listen to her and makes her get up and pushes her a little to the side away from the table. Then he takes my hand gently and makes me sit down instead.

 

"Let's eat now." He says like nothing happened and all the boys start eating. Wooyoung puts his tray with food between us and motions with his head for me to eat. I can hear Yuri scoffing from behind.

 

"Why would you want her instead of me? I don't understand. She's ugly and doesn't even talk much. She's dumb and..." But she doesn't get to speak more because Wooyoung rushes up and heads towards her. Seonghwa and San get up quickly too and try to stop Wooyoung from doing anything reckless. I also get up surprised.

 

"Say something bad about Y/N ever again and I will make your life a living hell." Wooyoung growls at her. I never heard that tone from him. His voice made me shiver.

 

"I suggest you to leave before you regret messing with one of us." San speaks this time and if looks could kill, Yuri would be six feet under.

 

"But-" Yuri tries again but she's cut off by Seonghwa this time.

 

"Leave or I will take you out personally and you won't like that." He says in a cold tone and I can see the fear growing on Yuri’s face. She gulps and leaves in a hurry.

 

I look around us and all the students are staring at us. I feel my heart rate going up quickly so I run out of the cafeteria. I can hear the boys calling after me with concern in their voices.

 

I run on the hallway but I don't make it far as I lose my balance and almost fall, but a pair of arms wrap around my waist catching me before I hit the ground. When I look up I see Wooyoung’s concerned gaze on me.

 

"What happened? Are you alright?"

 

"I just need some air..." I say softly hiding my face in his chest as I don't want to see anyone right now.

 

He takes me out by the back door of the school. The rest of the boys come quickly too, having concerned looks on their faces. After a few minutes when I start to feel better, I decide to tell them what’s actually going on.

 

"I have anxiety... That's why I ran outside the cafeteria. It was too much for me..."

 

"You should have told us that earlier, Y/N." Seonghwa says.

 

"Yes, we would have tried to avoid that kind of situation if we knew." Wooyoung tells me a little disappointed.

 

"I'm sorry..." I murmur looking down.

 

"It's ok. We know now, so we will take care of you. You don't need to apologise for something like this, Y/N, you did nothing wrong." Hongjoong tells me softly.

 

"Thank you for helping me and for understanding." I say with a little smile on my face.

 

After our classes are done, I say my goodbyes to the boys and I head back home with Wooyoung.

 

The next few days the boys constantly made sure that I was feeling ok and took care of me. Wooyoung wouldn't leave me alone any second, so he would walk me to all of my classes, even though Jongho was already with me.

I’m really grateful for having such good friends. I’m truly happy for meeting them.

 

On friday night we all gather at Seonghwa’s place for a movie night, since his parents are leaving the town for the weekend.

 

I’m staying between Wooyoung and San on the couch, and we watch ‘Frozen 2’ at Mingi’s request. He said the first one was really good and needs to see the second part too, so we all agreed when he started whining.

I’m feeling a little tired, since last night I had trouble sleeping, so I start dozing off in the middle of the movie. My head falls on Wooyoung’s shoulder. He sees I’m asleep and tells the boys to keep quiet not to wake me up, then makes sure to cover me with a blanket and that I’m in a comfortable position.

 

I wake up feeling a little bit too warm, so I try to remove the blanket from me when I feel a hand is placed on my waist. I look behind me and I realise it’s Wooyoung’s hand. We are still on the couch at Seonghwa’s place. I try to remove his hand and get up without waking him too, but he only tightens his grip on me and comes closer. I could feel his soft breath on my neck as he nuzzled his nose in my hair.

I instantly start to blush and my heart starts beating like crazy.

I try to get up again but he wakes up this time, still not letting me go from his grip.

 

"What time is it?" He asks with his raspy morning voice, causing me to get shivers down my spine as he’s still breathing on my neck.

 

"I d-don't know..." I curse in my head at my stuttering. "We should get up, we’re still at Seonghwa’s place..."

 

"Five more minutes." He says getting even closer to me, not leaving any space between ourselves anymore.

I gulp and attempt to calm down my heart. I won't be surprised if he can feel it too considering how close we are to each other right now.

After a moment I hear a ‘click’ from a phone, announcing a picture being taken and I look up to see Seonghwa doing just that.

 

"Hey! Delete that!"

 

"Not a chance. You both look so adorable. I’ll send it in our group chat for the others to see it too."

 

"Noooo!! Seonghwa please!" I start whining at him.

 

"Too late, Y/N." He says laughing at my pouting face.

 

"You are mean." I say narrowing my eyes at him.

 

"Seonghwa don't upset her or I’ll kill you." Wooyoung says from behind me with a threatening voice.

 

"Easy tiger, I was just teasing her. I have to be careful around you now Y/N, or Wooyoung will attack me." Seonghwa smirks while saying this and then gives me a wink. Making me wonder what he means by that.

 

"Let's go Y/N. I will drive you home." Wooyoung gets up from the couch, helping me too.

 

It's been a week since the movie night, and since then Wooyoung began to act different around me. He was beside me all the time, excepting my classes and at home. Even then he would send me a lot of messages or call. He would always sit beside me and even suggested another family gathering for saturday. It was better than the first one we had when I just moved there.

 

It’s been already two months since I moved here, time flied fast. I’m feeling really good being here. Me and the boys became really close, and they didn't do anything strange anymore since that one time when they disappeared without any explanation for two days. They helped me be less shy than before. I also don't feel as anxious anymore since they’re always with me, making me feel relaxed and safe just with their presence.

 

It’s sunday morning, and Wooyoung just called me asking if I have any plans this afternoon. The answer was no, so he told me to be ready by three because now I have and he’ll come get me by then. He didn't say where we’ll be going but he mentioned that it’ll be just the two of us.

It's been a while already since I started to realise I might have feelings for Wooyoung, but I could never bring me to tell him that. We’re friends, so I tried to get over it to not ruin our friendship, but being around him all the time and getting all the attention he was giving me just made my feelings grow further.

It's already three. I'm wearing a cream blouse with a grey plaid skirt and I got some gray high boots to match. I‘m opting for a natural make up look, put on some accessories, I did my hair in waves and I got a matching purse to complete my look. I glance at myself in the mirror when I get a message from Wooyoung, announcing he's waiting for me outside.

 

When I leave the house, my eyes land on Wooyoung. My breath gets stuck in my throat, he’s breathtaking. His outfit is composed of a white shirt and white pants, that he paired with some sneakers. This is totally the opposite of his usual black outfits. He made his hair into a ponytail, wears a white bandana and got some accessories to finalise his look. This style suits him a lot. When I look at his face, his mouth is slightly open, but he closes it when he realises I catched him staring too.

 

"You look gorgeous." He said with a big smile that made my heart skip a beat.

 

"You look very handsome too." I say avoiding his gaze.      

 

"Let's go. I want to show you a place." He says excited while opening the car door for me.

 

After an hour of driving, we finally reach our destination. We stop in front of a huge park. Inside it, cherry blossom trees are welcoming us on each side of the main path, and further into the park there’s a lake surrounded by benches. The wind makes it rain with cherry blossom flowers and the whole place starts to feel magical. I’m overflowing with joy seeing the beautiful scenery around us.

 

"Thank you for showing me this beautiful place." I tell Wooyoung and hug him out of excitement.

 

He wraps his hands around my waist too, hugging me back, then says: "Let's go seat on a bench. I have something to tell you." with a nervous tone.

 

After we take a seat on one of the benches, he turns his face and locks his beautiful eyes with mine, taking my hands into his. My heart pounds faster at the small gesture.

 

"Y/N, I don't know how to tell you this, or when the perfect moment to do it would come, but I think waiting for the perfect moment won't take me anywhere, so I decided to make one by inviting you here. I didn't really mention it, but this is actually a date."

 

"Really? A date?" I ask surprised by his words.

 

"Yes. Now the important thing I wanted to tell you." He takes a deep breath to calm his nervousness. "I like you, Y/N."

 

I look at him surprised, thinking I might have heard him wrong.

 

"Are you being serious right now?" I can see him getting sad after my question.

 

"Yes... Well, if you don't feel the same it’s fine, but I’d like us to continue being friends, if that’s not too uncomfortable for you and- " I cut him off.

 

"I like you too, but I couldn't believe what you just said, that's why I wanted to make sure I didn’t misunderstood you." I say with the biggest smile on my face.

 

He looks at my face like he’s trying to capture this moment in his memory.   

Then he comes closer, coups my face with his hands and kisses me. I’m taken by surprise by his sudden move but I soon start kissing him back, and I could feel his lips turning into a smile against my mouth. His lips are soft and move gently against mine. I put my hands on his chest while we deepen the kiss. When we break apart, we rest our foreheads together.

Wooyoung takes my hand and intertwines our fingers, bringing me to stand up.

 

"Are you hungry?"

 

"A little."

 

"Ok. Let's go eat something."

 

Wooyoung took me at a restaurant where we eated some pasta and cheesecake for dessert.

 

"Wow, the food was amazing. Thanks for the dinner."

 

"I'm glad you liked it. This is my favourite restaurant, so we’ll probably come here often on our next dates."

 

"Next time I want to try their tiramisu."

 

"Already planning what to eat next, sweetheart?" Wooyoung says laughing a little at me and my love for food. I hear him saying an "adorable" under his breath and I blush.

 

He drives me home and walks me in front of my door.

 

"I had a great time. Thanks for today, Wooyoung."

 

"I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Goodnight, princess." He says then kisses my forehead and turns to leave.

 

"G-Goodnight..." His pet name made my heart flutter. I head inside fast to hide my pink turning face. If he keeps being like this my life span will get shorter.

 

The next morning Wooyoung greets me with a kiss on the cheek and a big smile.

 

After we arrive at school, all the boys are already there, waiting for us. When I get out of the car, San comes and hugs me.

 

"Congratulations!"

 

"For what?" I ask confused.

 

"For your new relationship, of course!" Yunho says on his way to hug me too.

 

"You already told them?" I turn and ask Wooyoung.

 

"We knew he likes you, and also his plan on inviting you out and confess. And we kinda guessed you might like him too after we saw how you act around him." Yeosang explains, giving us a teasing grin.

 

"We need to celebrate!" Shouts Mingi.

 

"After school. Congratulations, you both deserve to be happy." Seonghwa says while smiling with affection.

 

We all leave to our classes and after school we go to celebrate, as Mingi suggested.

 

We came to a pastry to have some cake, and of course a lot of teasing from the boys, to Wooyoung for being a coward with his confession and for me because I was being so obvious about liking him. Although I think I did a good job since Wooyoung didn't knew about it. Unfortunately I have to cut this happy moment, because I need to ask them something.

 

"Guys... Remember when you left without any signs of being alive that weekend?" I can see them sharing a look.

 

"Yes... Why?" Hongjoong responds.

 

"What did you do? Why did you avoid answering my question back then? I need to know the truth. I don't like to be lied. After so much time together you can trust me, I hope you know that..."

 

"It’s not about trust. We do trust you, Y/N." San says softly.

 

"Then?"

 

"It’s just... If we tell you, maybe you’ll look at us in a different way..." Wooyoung says a little sad.

 

"Whatever it is, I don't think that would change how I see you."  I try to reassure them.

 

"You know that we said people think we are a gang?" Hongjoong asks me sighing.

 

"Yes, I remember."

 

"Well we kinda were one, because we used to ..” he takes another breath before finishing his sentence “..sell drugs… That’s what we did that weekend too. We went to sell the last drugs we had left, so we’d finally be done with this whole thing. We wanted to change, so we stopped after that day. It was the last time Y/N, we promise, and we didn't want you to find out because we are ashamed about it.." After Hongjoong is done talking, all of them let their heads down, being unable to look at me.

 

“Did you consume too?”

 

“No, we didn’t.” San answers firmly.

 

I get up from the chair, all eight heads now turning to look at me.

 

“I need some time to process all of this. I will leave first.”

 

Wooyoung gets up too and reaches for my wrist, grabbing it.

 

“Can I drive you?”

 

“I would like to be alone right now... And some fresh air will help me think better.” I say as I remove his hand and leave.

 

On my way home I’m lost in my thoughts, thinking about what they said again and again. I can’t believe they sold drugs... Even if they stopped, they still did something wrong... I just got together with Wooyoung and I find this about him.

 

The next two days I told Wooyoung I will take the bus to school, and I avoided them. I feel guilty avoiding them, because everytime I met them in the hallways, they would look at me with pain in their eyes…

 

On the third day, Wooyoung is waiting for me outside my class room. It was time to go home, so I tried to avoid him and leave but he called my name, so I stopped on my tracks and turned to face him.

 

“Y/N... I know I messed up and I’m really sorry. Please stop ignoring us... I know what we did was wrong and illegal, but we stopped now. I swear we won’t go near any drugs ever again... Just please forgive us...” He says with a pleading face and my heart breaks at the sight.

 

“I’m glad you understand that what you did was wrong... but I don’t know what to do right now... Woo, let me have some space for a few more days, ok?”

 

“Take as much time as you need. I won’t put pressure on you. I just wanted you to know you mean a lot to us, to me.. and we miss you already.”

 

“Thank you for understanding, Wooyoung. I’ll leave now, bye.”

 

“Bye...” He says in a small sad voice.

 

On Saturday I write them a message in our group chat, saying that I want to meet up.

 

We’re all gathered in a park. The boys look at me with what I can only describe as hope.

 

“What you did was wrong.” I start off. “Still, you seem to understand that and you’re trying to make things right now. I appreciated this and I want to be by your side in this process and help you.”

 

“Does this mean you forgive us and still want to be our friend?” San asks excited.

 

“Yes, San.” When the boys hear my answer, they quickly envelope me in a big group hug.

 

“Thanks for coming back to us, Y/N.” Wooyoung says, giving me another hug, and I hug him back tightly as I’ve missed him.

 

After a month, everyone at school found out about my relationship with Wooyoung. We also told our parents, and they were extremely happy for us.

We’re really happy together, he’s so good to me. He’s caring, understanding, and helps me a lot when I have any problems. Thanks to him I’m also getting more open and comfortable around people I don’t know. He brings out the best in me and I’m grateful for this.

 

We’re on a date at the Amusement Park. We’ve been on almost all the carousels, the only ones left are the big ones, as I'm scared of heights.

Wooyoung won me a cute puppy plushie at one of the games. We also ate a lot of food, especially coton candy; everything went great today.

 

"Hey, I want to ride one last thing before we go."

 

"Which one?" I ask as I look in the direction that he's looking too, only to see The Big Whell. My eyes are widening at the sight of it.

 

"No! No! You said you’re fine if we’re not going on the big rides." I say shaking my head, not wanting to even get close to that thing.

 

"I am, but I want to enjoy the view from up there with you, baby. Please, I promise nothing will happen to you. Don't you trust me?"

 

I sigh in defeat seeing his puppy eyes. He knows I can’t refuse him if he does this and he smirks at me, proud he won me over so easily. He then starts dragging me excited to the queue of people.

We wait in line for about 30 minutes until our turn to get in one of the boxes comes. We sit down and I grip Wooyoung’s hand as we start moving up. I hide my face in his chest and he laughs a litter. I could feel his vibration through me.

 

"It’s not funny..."

“Baby, please look at me.” He says softly, but I don’t look up, so he frees his hand out of my grip and coups my face with both of them, bringing me face him.

 

“We are already up, please look at the view, I promise you will regret if you don’t, it’s really worth it. I want to look at it together with you.” He says pleading me with his eyes and I nod my head in response. His face breaks into a beautiful smile at this.

 

I look out the window and my mouth opens a little at the sight that hits me. He was right. It’s so beautiful. It’s already dark outside so the city is illuminated. Everything looks so small from here.

I turn to face Wooyoung and he looks at me too.

 

“I love you, Y/N.” He just tells me this for the first time.

 

“I love you too, Wooyoung.” I say and he kisses me gently. He tries to pour all his love for me in the kiss and I respond back with the same amount of affection.