She just didn’t get it. From the information she had gathered from her first day, Soomin had discovered, much to her disappointment, that Jonghyun and Minho had been friends since middle school.

That punk was best friends with the flawless model. Soomin was stumped for words.

She couldn’t figure it out, why a guy like Minho would degrade himself by hanging out with a thug like Jonghyun. Minho had beauty and brains, and Soomin thought the boy’s personality was perfect. On the other hand, there was that gangster. Soomin couldn’t help but shiver in repulsion. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Jonghyun wasn’t lacking much in the looks department either, although that was the only thing going for him. All brawn and no brain, and that personality- he was a gang leader, enough said.

“What, you daydreaming now?”

Soomin snapped back to reality to see Jonghyun, his hands in his pockets as he casually walked over to her seat at the back of the class. She felt several things at once: slight fear, and absolute disgust.

“I thought you wanted to go for round two. You seemed surprisingly feisty after I put you down yesterday, and I was so excited for today I could hardly sleep,” he added sarcastically as he pulled a wry smile.

“Lay off, Jjong,” Minho commented with a bored tone from somewhere to her left.

“Stay out of it, model boy,” Jonghyun replied as he gave a sideways glance at his friend.

“Hey, I thought you were talking to me,” Soomin snapped automatically to both his, and her own, surprise.

“Oh.” Jonghyun raised his eyebrows, before he smiled in amusement and turned his eyes back to her. “Then you have my full attention. Not that I actually need to pay much attention to you. You probably punch like a girl.”

That struck a chord. Before she knew it, she had already stood up and closed the gap between them, her palms making contact with his chest as she shoved him roughly backwards. He almost lost his balance as he hit the desks and chairs behind him.

, she thought to herself as she watched Jonghyun regain his footing. The few students in the room froze as they eyed the duo, aware of what was going to follow. Jonghyun turned to her, his teeth clenched and his hands balling into fists.   

“You’re dead.”

Soomin barely had time to close her eyes as a body collided lightly with hers and sent her stumbling backwards to the ground, much to her surprise. She was expecting something entirely different, mainly a punch being thrown at her. Soomin’s eyes snapped back open in time to see a figure stagger in front of her, partially blocking her view of Jonghyun.

“You got quite a right hook there, Jjong,” Minho commented dryly as he rubbed his jaw.

“What the hell Minho,” Jonghyun snapped back, his eyes wide in shock.

“You know I need this face for my modeling career,” Minho joked as he eyed his best friend, his right hand still on the left side of his face where Jonghyun’s punch had landed.

Minho, took a blow, for me. Me. Soomin thought she was going to melt. You’re so cool Minho, she said silently as she stared at him from behind.

“You’re friggin stupid Minho,” Jonghyun said in frustration, relaxing his fists and shoving his hands in his pockets as he left the classroom.

The class suddenly regained motion, as if someone had pressed the play button on a paused screen. The other students restarted their conversations, keeping their eyes from wandering to the pair in the incident. It seemed like no one wanted to be pulled into a situation involving Jonghyun, or Minho for that matter.

“You okay Taemin?” Kyuhyun asked quietly as he came over.

Soomin got up and brushed her pants, looking over to see that Minho had gone back to his seat, both his arms crossed on his desk, his head on his hands. It looked like he was trying to take a nap.

“Yeah, I’m alright Kyuhyun,” she replied, giving him a reassuring smile. He nodded, before going back to his conversation with another student; Yesung, she was pretty sure.

She stared at Minho’s back as she bit her lower lip, inwardly debating on whether or not to approach him. She had been trying to find a ‘normal’ reason to go talk to him, and it seemed that an odd opportunity had just presented itself. Finally making up her mind, she made her way past the pair towards Minho’s desk, the latter still relaxing in his seat.

“Umm, hey. I just wanted to thank you,” she stammered, unconsciously straightening and playing with her uniform as she waited for his response.

Minho lifted his head, his left cheek hinting a light shade of pink as he shot her a bored look. “Thank me for what?” he asked lazily.

“Umm, for back there. You know, you defended my rep, and stuff…” she said as she rubbed the back of her neck. What the heck was she saying? She had no idea, but wow he looks so hot with that just-woken-up look.

“Oh, that,” he replied simply, his eyes already somewhere else. “Yeah well, if he had hit you, you probably would have run and tattled like a baby, and I’m tired of teachers screeching around here.”

Soomin’s eyes widened at the remark. “Hey, I keep to myself,” she told him sharply. “I’m no tattletale.”

“Yeah whatever.” Before she could turn and leave, Minho spoke up again, “Hey, come here.”

She raised her eyebrows as he lifted a hand, flapping it a little and indicating that she should come closer. “Yeah? W-what is it?” she asked as she approached him, trying to keep herself from squealing out loud. Minho looked really good up close.

His hand suddenly shot out, grabbing her tie and pulling her in so that their faces were mere inches apart. “I’m serious,” he muttered quietly, a hint of reproach in his voice, “if you even think of ratting on Jonghyun, I swear you’ll be in a world of pain.”

Minho spread his arm across his desk and shifted in his chair to get in a more comfortable position. His gaze fell on the shorter boy who had just turned away, and Minho narrowed his eyes, watching Taemin return to his seat.

I could have sworn the kid was blushing when I pulled him in, he thought to himself as he let out a sigh. He moved his head to the side as he closed his eyes.

I almost thought he was going to kiss me. What a weirdo.