"How are things with Suho?"

     Chaeyoung and Seolhee are eating lunch in the cafeteria. Suho and Sehun are busy with the Freshie Ball. Surprisingly, Sehun has been cooperative. And to Chaeyoung's advantage, she's not nervous all the time since Sehun's rarely around.

     "I don't know. He still hasn't talked to me about it yet. He's been very patient." Seolhee explains.

     "That's a good thing, right?"

     "Yes,"

     "But?" Chaeyoung asks.

     "How did you know there's a but?" Chaeyoung just chuckles at Seolhee's question and lets her speak. "The thing is, I wanted to give him a chance, I really really do, but I don't think there's a chance."

     "Suho's a sweet guy. He's nice and smart, and he respects women." Chaeyoung suddenly says. "I know." Seolhee replies.

     Chaeyoung gives Seolhee a knowing stare. "And that's not your type, right? You like guys who are reckless and rude... like Baekhyun."

     Seolhee feels her heart race at the mention of his name. She hasn't told anyone about Baekhyun yet and if she continues being this nervous by just the sound of his name, she knows she'll end up telling the truth.

     "Hello pretty woman," Sehun suddenly appears behind Chaeyoung, sitting down on the empty space beside her. "And hello to you, pig." Sehun glances at Seolhee and immediately, her eyebrows furrowed. 

     "Where's Suho?" Seolhee asks. "Ooohhhh," Sehun teases, "You miss him, huh? You're over Baekhyun the bad boy already?"

     The two girls can only roll their eyes at Sehun's teasing. 

     "Hi!" Suho then appears, greeting them a little cheerful than usual.

     "You seem to be in a good mood today," Seolhee observes, looking at her side to watch Suho takes a seat beside her.

     "Freshie ball is going well. Sehun here is helping a lot." Suho replies and smiles at Seolhee. "How are you?"

     "I'm fine." Seolhee smiles back.

     That angelic face... and I'm still thinking about Baekhyun. I'm an idiot.

     Fortunately for Seolhee, her friends aren't asking her about Baekhyun lately. On the other hand, she gets quite frustrated by how hard it is to get in touch with Baekhyun. She'd text him to ask where he is and it would take him hours or even at least two days to text back.

     "Where were you?" Seolhee approaches Baekhyun when she sees him in the hallway. "Can we talk later? People are watching." Baekhyun immediately replies. That made Seolhee a bit embarrassed because first, it took all her courage to talk to Baekhyun in public, and second, she feels embarrassed that Baekhyun seems so ashamed of talking to her in public.

     Seolhee, being the polite person she is, nods and continues walking with a heavy heart.

     Is dating really supposed to be this hard? According to her past relationships, these early times in dating are supposed to be the most fun parts, but with Baekhyun, it's constant anxiety, worry, and melancholy.

     As Seolhee walks towards her next class, her mind is filled with doubts about what she was really doing. This isn't dating. What they're doing is fooling one another.

     Seolhee takes a deep breath before entering her class. She needs to regain the energy that Baekhyun seemed to have drained within the few seconds of talking to him. It was barely even a conversation but Baekhyun had managed to out all energy in her.

     After class, she planned to go home but Chaeyoung begged her to accompany her or else she'd be left with only Sehun and Suho in the gymnasium. "Sehun will be will me aaaall the time and do you know what that means? I might die, Seong, I. might. die!" was what she said and how can Seolhee refuse to that?

     "Who's that?" Seolhee asks when she notices a girl holding a clipboard and talking real close with Suho. She looks pretty with her extremely fair skin and silky brown hair. They watch Suho and Irene from afar while they're sitting on the benches, waiting for them to wrap things up.

     "That's Irene. She's a transfer student here." Chaeyoung replies.

     "Really? She's so pretty." Seolhee says in admiration of the petite girl. "I know right? And I bet you 500 dollars that she has a crush on Suho." Chaeyoung challenges. "500 dollars? You're that confident?"

     Chaeyoung hums and nods in agreement. Seolhee stiffens at the thought. It's not impossible for Suho to like that kind of girl. She's beyond gorgeous, almost angelic and flawless, plus, they're the same age. 

     Somehow, she feels bitter with the thought of Suho dating Irene. What about her? 

     Selfish.

     She knows it was selfish to think that, but lately, she's been unsure of pursuing things with Baekhyun. He hasn't changed a bit. The only thing she's sure of is her feelings towards him. Despite his messy attitude, Seolhee still can't hold herself back from liking him. But what about Suho?

     Seolhee feels like Suho can be her safety net, that when things go wrong she can turn back to Suho and work on her feelings for him instead. No, that's so horrible. Seolhee wants that thought to disappear from her mind so she can just pretend that she's not a bad person for thinking that way. 

     "Why are you so tensed? Are you realizing that you like Suho now that there's another contender for his heart?" Chaeyoung teases. On point.

     "Is it wrong if I feel that way?" Seolhee replies seriously, earning a gasp from her friend. "What do you mean?! You like him?" 

     "No,"

     "Then what?"

     "I don't know." Seolhee sighs in frustration. "Well then make up your mind, Seong. Either you let Suho go or you let him in. Make up your mind." Chaeyoung urges, not liking the way that Seolhee seems to only want Suho's attention when another girl appears. "Suho wouldn't wait for you forever, you know. He's waited long enough and I'm sure he knows what he deserves."

     Seolhee avoids Chaeyoung's eyes. She has rarely been this serious with Seolhee, but now she is and she sounds a bit mad. "Unlike you, Suho knows his worth."

     "What's that supposed to mean?" Seolhee replies, now offended by her friend's words. Chaeyoung scoffs. "Don't act like I'm an idiot, Seong. I know you're still hung up on Baekhyun. If I had known better, I'd say you're still hooking up with him."

     Seolhee's eyes widen. "Hooking up? Is that what you think of me?"

     "Actually no. Not until you've been failing your exams, coming late to school, and suddenly disappearing for hours and then coming back looking messed up. I'm not stupid, Seong. I know." Chaeyoung stands up and heads to the other students, joining them in the conversation silently.

     Seolhee stands up and exits the gymnasium. She made sure that the hallways are empty before she bursts into tears. She covers with her hand, muffling the sobs so she wouldn't attract any attention. She wanted to continue walking until she gets home but the intensity of her sadness manifested into her limbs. She sits down in one corner, leaning into one of the lockers, and cries.

     "Hey, hey," she hears a gentle voice. "Seolhee, what's wrong?"

     "Suho?" she looks up to see him. "Suho, I'm sorry." Seolhee grabs Suho's shoulders and rests her head on one side. "I'm so sorry."

     Suho puts his hand on her back, gently rubbing her back in hopes of calming her down. "Is it about my confession? I'm so sorry for putting pressure on you, Seolhee-ah. It's okay. I swear."

     "I said I'd give you a chance. I tried to but-"

     Suho shushes her, partly because he doesn't want Seolhee to have a hard time explaining herself to him, and the other half is because he doesn't want to hear what she's going to say next. "I know, Seolhee. I know you tried and I can't be more grateful to you for that. But I'm going to be okay, do you understand? I'll be fine." Suho tries to swallow the lump in his throat, not wanting to cry in front of Seolhee.

     "I promise you, Seolhee." Suho holds Seolhee's shoulder to make her face him, brushing his thumbs against her cheeks to wipe her tears. "I'll be okay." he smiles to assure her. Despite his shattering heart, he smiles.

     Suho offers to take her home and Seolhee agrees. She wants to spend more time with Suho. She wants to make sure that he's really going to be okay.

     "Do you know that I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing by rejecting a man like you?" Seolhee suddenly says on their way home. The ride home is short so she wants to maximize the time by talking to him.

      "Seolhee," Suho softly calls. "I don't want you to force yourself to like me. Like I told you, it's enough to just know that you gave me a chance." Seolhee nods but she still felt the need to say something.

     Not knowing what else to say, Seolhee remains silent until they arrived in front of her building.

     "Suho I- I..." Seolhee speaks when she follows Suho's line of sight.

     It's Baekhyun, standing in front of her building with his motorcycle parked across the street.

     "No, it's okay. What you're doing is none of my business, right?" Suho says. It hurts him, but he means what he says. It's Seolhee's life and he cannot be entitled to say anything about it unless she asks him to. "And I know that it was him... Why you ditched the sleepover. It was him, right? I saw that same motorcycle there."

     "I'm so sorry. I- I don't know what to say."

     "You don't have to say anything, okay? Just... please, Seolhee, please protect your heart." Seolhee nods and calls his name. "We'll still be friends, right?"

     "Of course, you idiot. Just give me a little time, okay? I can recover. You're not even that beautiful." Suho jokes, earning a light slap from Seolhee. They both laugh. "I'm just kidding. You're the most beautiful girl I have seen and you gotta believe me in that."

     Seolhee feels her heart clench. This guy, this kind and understanding guy... she's so lucky to have known him. "Thank you," sh