“Is that her?”

“I think so?”

“It sure looks like her.”

She takes a quick glance in the direction of the voices. One, two, three girls.

She then makes a brief eye contact with the said group of girls standing idly at the door. One of them decides to scan her from top to bottom with extreme scrutiny and it honestly made her feel a little self conscious of herself. She takes a quick look at her school uniform and is relieved to find it all neat and tidy.

Words get around real fast in this school in particular, and sometimes its for the littlest things. She would hate to be the talk of town but judging by how everyone is throwing her occasional glances here and there now, perhaps she already is. Nevertheless, she focuses on her task at hand, which is a form, a form to be submitted by the end of this week.

A form that she has taken a long time to dwell upon, not quite knowing what to fill in, despite having several options in mind. She takes a long look at the big bold words on the form once more, hmmm…just what could Kang Haerin be?

She thinks deeply as she looks at what she had written for option number two and number three. Number two, lawyer, and number three, accountant. Sighs, these options seems rather stressful, but it is what her parents have told her they preferred.

However, for some reason, Haerin didn’t feel like all of these options were right for her and given her strained relationship with them, she rather not make it worse by listing down something that they would frown upon. Her parents have occasionally mentioned their liking for her to pursue something more medical but well, she still has time to decide right?

Right.

Let’s just dwell on this a little bit more, she thinks.

“Okay let me go talk to her.”

“No, come on, that’s too forward.”

“Are you being serious?”

The voices are getting louder now but she still tries to ignore the voices anyways. However, with how loud their voices are becoming, it almost seems like they actually want her to hear them. Of course, she pays them no mind, or rather, she tries to.

But of course, one of the girl finally decides to walk towards her confidently with the other girls following suit rather timidly. As the girls stand there in front of her, with one of the girl having her arms crossed and all, looking rather intimidating despite her short stature, she thinks of how it is rather overwhelming to have not one but three girls surrounding her desk.

This is a little too much for her introvert self but she tries her best to keep her cool.

Breathe, just breathe.

“Kang Haerin, that’s you, right?”

“Yes, do I know you?”

“You should stay away from Kim Minji.”

The girl says rather loudly, making everyone in the class just stop whatever they were doing and have their attention focused solely on them. But of course, being the introvert she is, Haerin doesn’t like the attention so she stands up and suggests that they take this conversation somewhere private. Upon hearing this, the girl in front of her gives her a deep scowl but nonetheless still agrees to her suggestion.

As they now stand near the bleachers, Haerin notices how some of the girls are still observing her almost as if she is a piece of meat, ready to be devoured by a pack of hungry wolves. It feels rather intrusive to say the least, but she tries to not let herself get affected any further.

She fidgets with her fingers as she stands there awkwardly, just wanting to get this whole ordeal over and done with. The girl must have noticed her being a nervous wreck because she dismisses the rest of the girls with a hand gesture, leaving both of them alone.

Maybe she isn’t that mean after all, she thinks. Haerin heaves a deep sigh of relief.

“I’m only going to say this once. Stay away from Minji.”

“And why should I do that?”

Oh, sometimes she can be rather blunt but wait, who is this girl anyways? What is her relationship with Minji? Whoever she is, Haerin must have triggered something in the girl because now the said girl steps forward and grabs the collar of her shirt harshly, eyes glaring into hers rather intensely.

Ah perhaps, is this a girlfriend that Minji didn’t tell her about? Because it certainly feels personal.

That glare in particular, definitely feels a little too close for comfort.

Haerin thinks of the possibility that Minji might have multiple girlfriends and that she is just one of them, which to be honest isn’t something that seems too far-fetched, considering how attractive the girl is but she hopes deep down that this isn’t the case.

“Don’t you already have Danielle Marsh? You shouldn’t be greedy, you can’t have the attention of two of the most popular girls in school at the same time.”

Again, who is she anyways? Haerin had to know. The curiosity is killing her now, but of course, first things first, she is quick to refute such unfounded accusations against her.

“There’s nothing going on between me and Danielle.”

“Oh really? Doesn’t seem to be that way. Someone saw Danielle at your place yesterday.”

Haerin doesn’t say anything because truth is Danielle was at her place, but for what it’s worth, it wasn’t in any way romantic. She thinks of how to say her next sentence without being too blunt but the girl in front of her suddenly releases the grip on her collar with another deep scowl.

“You shouldn’t play with her feelings, Kang Haerin.”

Haerin takes this moment to read the name tag on the girl’s shirt. Pham Hanni. Wait, Minji has definitely mentioned this name before, she remembers hearing this name pop up in one of their conversations as of late. Ah, was it yesterday? She thinks for a moment and realizes that Minji did mention this very same name just yesterday during lunch.

Ah! Haerin blinks in realization. So this must be her best friend, the one from Australia. The foreigner best friend! Haerin remembers now that Minji did say just how close they are and has even planned for them meet once their exams are over. Okay, she needs to be a better girlfriend and remember names better.

But at least for now, let’s focus on the present situation. Sighs, Kang Haerin, you have now somehow upset the best friend of the girl you’re currently dating. This doesn’t look good at all. Truth be told, Haerin just want to run away and hide, but somehow she feels that by doing so, it certainly complicate things further. So she decides that she should at least explain herself to the girl.

After all, she really, really likes Minji and of all people, she really, really doesn’t want to be on the bad side of her girlfriend’s best friend. She needs to play her cards right with Pham Hanni and it begins now.

Okay, here goes.

“Danielle came over yesterday because her mum wanted to pass something to my mum. Our mums goes to the same yoga studio. I only found out yesterday.”

Pham Hanni seems to be deep in thoughts now, frowning ever so deeply, as if what Haerin has just said didn’t quite make any sense. Something is not adding up it seems. Haerin frowns at this and tries to think of what could be the cause of the girl’s concerns and then it hit her. It suddenly dawn on her so startlingly that she involuntarily let out a small gasp. Pham Hanni seems to be startled by this action of hers as well.

“Danielle has mentioned that she is quite affectionate since she lived overseas so sometimes she does kiss people’s cheeks when she greets them. I’m pretty sure it’s not just mine that she kisses.”

She says all of this under one breath with determined eyes, knowing that this must be the reason for Pham Hanni’s hesitation earlier. She is proven right when Pham Hanni stops frowning but is left confused once more when the said girl raises an eyebrow at her now.

“See, this is where you are wrong. Danielle doesn’t do that to anyone else. It’s just you.”

Pham Hanni corrects her with a defeated sigh emitting from her small stature, as if she finally realized that Haerin did not know of this until she told her. Haerin blinks in understanding now, realizing that the girl did made sense, because to be honest, up till now, she really hasn’t seen Danielle being this affectionate with anyone else.

This sudden realization makes her frown, and somehow or rather, elicits some sort of guilt from within her. How can she not notice this earlier? Ah, all this while, Minji must have been-

“I’m pretty sure Danielle has feelings for you and I think it’s actually hurting Minji more than you think.”

It’s obvious from the way she stands that Pham Hanni looks rather relaxed now, offering Haerin a seat next to her as she sits down. Haerin does the same but in a rather absent-minded manner because she is still trying to process all of this.

Her girlfriend feels hurt, her girlfriend, Kim Minji feels hurt.

But why didn’t she tell her? Is she not good eno-

“That girl is always trying to look all cool on the outside especially in front of someone she likes but she really is just a softie and I think knowing that you see Danielle so frequently is actually making her feel, what’s the word she used again? Ah, insecure.”

“Why is she-no, I mean, why would she be insecure?”

Haerin asks timidly, looking at Pham Hanni as if the girl next to her possess the answer to the world’s greatest question, why would the high achieving Kim Minji ever feel insecure of Danielle Marsh? The person she is dating is Minji, not Danielle, she reasons. Minji shouldn’t ever feel insecure.

Ever.

“Yes, you are dating Minji but the problem here is, the two of them has always been rather competitive ever since they were young. I know you only moved here recently but I guess Minji didn’t tell you all of this.”

Of course, Minji would never tell her all of this, they’ve only started dating just three weeks ago. But she did notice Minji’s slight frown whenever she mentions Danielle. She thought its because she told Minji that Danielle was the first person she danced with at the school dance but it’s pretty clear to her now that the two have a history that is way beyond her knowledge. Maybe she can pry more from Hanni. It’s not like Minji is going to tell her anything anyways.

“When you say competitive…”

“Basically everything you can think of, Minji used to be the head of the debate team until Danielle took over. They compete in almost everything, mostly because their parents are close friends. This is a small school, Kang Haerin. Everyone knows each other here.”

Haerin n