“What did you say?!”

Chanhee almost dropped his phone at Changmin’s screech, Juyeon looked up from his bread and watched as his friend strode towards Ahyoung and Younghoon.

“H—Hey, what is he doing?” Chaerin stammered, Kevin tilted his head as he noticed Changmin’s backpack.

“I don’t know which is more disturbing, Chucky’s bouncing grinning face or Changmin walking up to Ahyoung without any introduction.”

The two paused as Changmin reached them, and they saw Ahyoung grin at him. Changmin then started pulling the two towards their kioks, Chaerin froze, stunned.

“They know~”

“Younghoon hyung,” Changmin said as they reached them, Juyeon looked on with interest. The older male looked confused, but he nodded, Ahyoung plopped down beside Kevin with a grin.

“Hi.” She said, Changmin sighed and looked at his friends. Ahyoung paused, realizing that the table was quiet, way too quiet. She looked around and blinked.

“What’s~”

“Younghoon hyung, Ahyoung is?”

“What?” The older male was confused.

“Ahyoungs is Lee Hyunjae’s?” Changmin pressed, Chaerin pinched his arm but he shushed her.

“Sister?” Younghoon said, still confused. Ahyoung shook her head at her cousin.

“S—Sister?” Chanhee blurted out, Younghoon slowly nodded back, he glanced over his shoulder, his classmates were calling him.

“I have to go. It’s good to see you’re back, Changmin-ah.”

Changmin nodded back and sent his friends a look, Younghoon patted Ahyoung’s hand.

“I’ll see you later.” He said before excusing himself and leaving the group.

“What was that for?” Ahyoung asked as Changmin sat down across her, he was about to open his mouth but Kevin beat him to it.

“Want to walk around and check out the clubs?” He offered, Ahyoung nodded back and slid down from the seat.

“Sister? They’re siblings?” Chaerin mumbled as she walked with Juyeon, the male grew amused.

“Why? So you don’t hate her anymore?” Juyeon mused.

“I never did hate her. I just…I thought they were a thing.”

“It’s because you three gossip too much.” Juyeon teasingly said, he looked ahead and watched as Kevin and Chanhee showed her around, students were usually stationed to different booths that advertised their clubs.

“I didn’t know she made friends with you guys.” Changmin commented as he walked with them, he was smiling.

“Oh, it wasn’t easy at first.” Chaerin said as she hooked arms with the two.

“Are you okay? I heard about the thing with Goeun and her minions?” Changmin asked as he glanced at Juyeon.

“Actually, it was funny how Ahyoung…gave her ice cream. Your cousin is a miracle.” Chaerin laughed, and then Ahyoung glanced at them.

“You guys thought I was dating Lee Hyunjae?” She hollered, Juyeon paused and his lips curled up.

“Ahyoung-ah,” Chaerin grimaced at her, Ahyoung shuddered and slapped Kevin’s arm, Chanhee’s too.

“Ew! You guys! He’s my brother! I don’t even get why girls want him!”

Juyeon watched as Ahyoung took her tray of food, he saw how the girl frowned before heading back to their table.

“Juyeon-ah,” She spoke, Juyeon noticed how a couple of senior guys were following them.

“Hm?”

“What’s this? Radish?” She asked him as she lifted her tray slightly.

“Pickled radish.”

“Why does it smell bad?” She murmured, Juyeon smelled his tray and shook his head.

“It smells okay.” He replied, Ahyoung grumbled under her breath and they reached their table. Juyeon pulled the chair for the girl before taking his seat beside Chanhee.

“You, I noticed you’re being quiet.” Changmin said as Ahyoung picked up her utensils, the girl’s forehead creased.

“I just had a bad morning.” She murmured as she spooned around her rice, she scrunched her nose and Changmin went back to eating.

Kevin and Chanhee were still explaining about the Hyunjae thing to the girl, but she laughed it off and even showed them pictures on her phone.

“I feel bad, I’m sorry, maybe we should have asked before discussing you and Hyunjae sunbae.” Chaerin chimed in.

“But, our Ahyoung is not the most approachable.” Chanhee teasingly pointed out, Ahyoung sighed at him.

“She made our homeroom teacher “almost” cry on her first hour here at school, not first day, but first hour.” Kevin chuckled, Ahyoung shushed him, she tried bringing a bit of rice to her lips and she set it down.

“I just wasn’t in the mood when our teacher asked me to introduce myself.” She reasoned as she pushed the pieces of meat around her plate. Juyeon studied the look on her face, she wasn’t eating.

“Ahyoung-ah,” He spoke, the girl met his gaze while poking one of the pickled radish slices.

“You don’t like the food?”

“It’s a bit…greasy. I’ll just go get crackers.” She said sheepishly, the girl was about to stand when three girls walked up to their table. Chaerin flinched and diverted her gaze.

“Having fun?” Goeun said as she leaned down to meet her gaze.

“We’re eating, not playing games. You might have to rephrase, so I can answer.” Ahyoung replied in a heartbeat, unfazed. Kevin and Chanhee worriedly glanced at them. Changmin continued to eat happily, also unfazed.

“You’re acting tough, junior. We already told you, stay away from Hyunjae and Younghoon.” Goeun said as crossed her arms.

“With that stunt you pulled last week, you should be~”

“Why are you here? Is it going to be Pocari Sweat this time? I’m not really the biggest Gatorade fan.” Ahyoung sighed as she pulled away from the table, but the girl remained seated.

“Juyeon likes Pocari Sweat.” Changmin randomly spoke with a smile, Chanhee grimaced and looked away.

“Careful there, newbie. I can~” Goeun flinched when Juyeon suddenly stood up, the two other girls stepped back.

“You can what? Take my brother from me? Go ahead.” Ahyoung replied, her eyes went to the male.

“You said you wanted crackers.” Juyeon intervened gently, the girl pursed her lips and she stood up.

“Brother? You think we’re scared of your brother?” Goeun rolled her eyes, not really getting it. Ahyoung’s lips quirked up.

“Ahyoung-ah,” Juyeon softly said, willing her to look at him. Other students were already staring at their table, and it won’t be long till teachers would notice.

Ahyoung rolled her eyes at him, but she stood up, Juyeon started to walk back towards the stalls. She was about to follow him, but Ahyoung turned her head again.

“But looking at how you have kimchi stuck on your teeth, Hyunjae oppa would never go out with you. He prefers it when people actually brush, but, good for you, you applied lip gloss right after eating. At least you have your priorities straight.” She mused before hopping towards Juyeon.

Changmin let out a hearty chuckle, Chaerin hid her smile and continued eating.

“Is this round two? Ahyoung won again, huh?” Chanhee murmured, Kevin grinned in reply and finished his juice.

“She will always win.” Changmin informed them with a shrug and went back to eating.

Jacob carefully sat down across his friend; he noticed the Ziploc bag beside Younghoon’s tray.

“What’s that?” He asked him, Younghoon followed his gaze and he picked up the bag.

“Ahyoung made them, granola bars.” He replied as he offered the male a piece, Jacob nodded and took one.

“She was in a bad mood today.” Younghoon commented as he looked across the hall.

“Ahyoung? Why?”

“I don’t know, she wasn’t in the mood to talk.” Younghoon said, Jacob glanced up and realized that his friend was looking at where Hyunjae’s sister was seated. She was chatting with Changmin and some friends.

“You,” Jacob chewed on his lower lip before speaking, there it was again. The look on Younghoon’s face, it was so tender and he was actually smiling.

“What?” Younghoon looked away and picked up his chopsticks.

“She isn’t just Hyunjae’s sister to you, huh?” Jaccob continued, Younghoon paused, he looked up to meet his gaze.

“What do you mean?”

“You like her. You like the girl who calls me Baecob.” Jacob was grinning as he picked up a piece of grape.

Younghoon pressed his lips together, Jacob saw how he stopped chewing for a bit.

“I~”

“Hey, you two!” Hyunjae suddenly plopped down beside them that the table shook a bit. Jacob chuckled at Younghoon and the latter looked away while puffing his cheeks.

“Where were you? We decided to eat first, I got hungry.” Jacob said apologetically.

“It’s fine, I got caught up with coach.” Hyunjae said as he took off his coat and set it aside. He noticed the bag of granola bars.

“Oh, and my sister shares food. Wow.” He jokingly said as he grabbed a bar, Jacob stifled a grin and Younghoon grimaced.

“It was payment, she needed a ride here today. Remember?” Younghoon said in a light tone, Hyunjae grimaced in between chews.

“Why did she suddenly run over?”

“We had..a guest this morning, it didn’t sit well with her. She refused to eat with us. Thanks by the way.” Hyunjae said to him, Younghoon nodded back.

“Is it her?” Younghoon asked as he continued eating.

“Yes.” Hyunjae nodded with a small frown.

“Want me to talk to her?” Younghoon offered, Jacob saw Ahyoung glance at them, the girl smiled at him.

“If you can, please.”

“Are you sure that’s enough?” Juyeon said, his forehead creasing, he eyed the packet of cheese flavored crackers in her hands. Ahyoung nodded back before opening it.

“But, we still have quite a long day.” He said to her as he started to walk back to their table, but the girl was already looking at the exit doors.

“I’ll be fine.” She said with a shrug.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m..going to give myself a tour around school, I haven’t..checked out the other areas yet. You should head back.”

“Why? Are you going to cut class again?”

Ahyoung let out a dry laugh and shook her head.

“There’s nothing to cut because, there are no classes today.” She pointed out, Juyeon grinned and walked with her instead.

“I’ll show you around. Come on.”

“I wanted alone time.”

“Alone time with the wall at the back of the school?” Juyeon shot back as they reached the doors, Ahyoung exhaled and followed him to the doors, she kept pace with the male as she nibbled on her crackers.

“What’s that?” She jutted her lips at the building a few meters away from them.

“It’s the main library, students don’t really go there, we have the smaller one near our building.” Juyeon replied as they went down a couple of steps and crossed the school’s flower garden.

“That’s the auditorium.”

“I know, I can see it, with the big letters and all.” She replied, Juyeon glanced at her and she grinned at him.

“Okay, what’s next?”

“You know where the pools are.” Juyeon said as he gestured for her to watch her step, the floor was slippery.

“Why…Why is Chaerin…Why does she seem so terrified of those girls?” Ahyoung suddenly spoke as they reached the school’s koi pond, she had to tilt her head that.

“There was this incident before. They bullied her.” Juyeon replied, carefully choosing his words.

“They’re s.” She stated as they crossed the bridge, Ahyoung stared at one of koi briefly.

“Where did you transfer from? Overseas?” Juyeon glanced at the girl, she had finished her crackers.

“No, I came from an international school. It’s a bit far from here.”

“Why did you transfer? Did they run out of walls for you to scale?”

Ahyoung pressed her lips together and walked ahead of him, Juyeon grew amused and jogged after her.

“You don’t have to answer that. Sorry.” Juyeon blurted out, not wanting to press her to talk. But the girl shook her head and buried her hands in her coat pockets.

“No, actually, my grandfather had to donate a building, because I was a pain in the to that institution.” She muttered as they crossed the campus’s lawn.

“Oh, do I want to know why?”

“Hmm,” She said as she looked around, realizing that her new school was bigger than her previous one, she unconsciously reached for Juyeon’s sleeve and held onto a small part of the fabric.

“I caused trouble. That’s it, the usual.”

“The usual.” Juyeon repeated in his calm tone, the girl nodded back.

“This is a longer way towards the gates.” He informed her, noticing how the girl was pinching his coat sleeve.

“Why would anyone take this route?”

“For some alone time.” He replied as he gestured for her to walk beside him, Ahyoung moved still pinching his sleeve.

“That’s the sports stadium, you play basketball. Along with that JongHoong guy.” She commented as she pointed towards another building.

“Hongjoong.”

“No wonder it sounded weird.” She chuckled to herself, Juyeon nodded along and the girl kept pace with him.

“Do we really need to head back to our classroom before going home?”

“It’s for attendance, and Kevin mentioned that our homeroom teacher would set a permanent seat plan too.” He explained while running one hand through his hair, the girl rolled her eyes.

“And the gate. The normal passage for entry and exit way for most students.” Juyeon hummed as they reached the wrought iron gates, Ahyoung smiled and shook her head.

“Transferring here wasn’t really part of my plan. Being here..can be a bit suffocating, and Changmin not being around during my first week~”

“Young miss?”

The two stopped walking, Ahyoung noticed the male standing by the gates, he was dressed in a simple gray suit.

“Young miss, your father sent me to~”

“I’ll see you in class, JongHoong’s friend.” Ahyoung patted his shoulder and hopped back to the school building.

Juyeon watched as the girl left him, he glanced at the man again.

“Student, you’re friends with Ahyoung, right?”

“Y—Yes,” Juyeon nodded, the male waved him over, he walked towards him and noticed the ID hanging around his neck.

“I’m her father’s secretary. He’s worried that she didn’t eat breakfast this morning, so,” He carefully inserted the bag through the gates, Juyeon paused and took it.

“Can you..hand this to her? The young miss can be very picky with food.”

“I noticed that.” Juyeon nodded back as he looked at the bag.

“Thank you, please make sure she at least gets a bite.”

“Y—Yes, okay.” He nodded back and watched as the male walked back to his car and drove away from the gates.

“She doesn’t need food to fight Goeun and her friends. Wow.”

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