Yeonwa smoothed her skirt as she waited by the side gate, her attention on her uniform as she twisted her body a bit to make sure there was nothing out of place. She opened her hand mirror to check her makeup and quickly snapped it shut when she heard footsteps approaching her.

“Min—” She spun around and walked right into him, and a hand shot out to steady her under the elbow.

“You alright?”

She blushed and slowly looked up. “Minho, I’m so sor—” She stopped mid-sentence at the sight of the boy in front of her, the boy that was not Minho. “Who the hell?”

“A simple thank you would have worked,” the boy replied coolly.

“You should watch where you’re going, Taemin,” she retorted, taking a step back as she brushed presumed dirt off her shirt.

“You’re the one who bumped into me,” Taemin reminded her as he gave her a look.

“Whatever,” she snapped back, her eyes already looking past him. “Is Minho coming yet?”

“Minho? Why are you looking for Minho?”

She glared daggers at him, but he didn’t flinch, Yeonwa was even sure he was returning the gaze right back at her. Taemin had always seemed uncaring and she was surprised by the sudden reaction.

“Cause I want to see him, of course, why do you care?” she replied sharply. “I don’t go for girly-boys, as you probably know. There’s no way a feminine boy like you could even compare to man like Minho,” she added sourly after he didn’t budge.

His eyes flashed, much to her surprise. She had expected him to be indifferent to her comment and simply leave, because that was how he would normally react. “And there is no way a man like Minho would even care to go for a Barbie-wannabe like you,” Taemin replied coldly, a tiny smirk playing on his lips.

Yeonwa’s jaw dropped at his sudden reply but she quickly recovered with an audible ‘hmph’, flipping her hair and brushing past him as she decided to go look for Minho herself.

Sure, she had never gotten such a reaction from Taemin before, but she had much better things to do than to waste her time thinking about it.

Minho leaned on the railing, his elbows lying coolly on the metal as he waited for Jonghyun to leave the school. It didn’t come to his surprise when a fellow student told him that his friend was being held back by one of the teachers, again, and Minho hoped the reason being merely an oral lecture. Although Jonghyun had narrowly escaped suspension several times, he was walking on a thin line and sooner or later it was going to leave its mark on his permanent record.

Minho straightened up and readjusted the single bag strap on his shoulder as Jonghyun strode out, one hand in his pocket and the other holding his pack that was slung on his back. The rest of Jonghyun’s ‘gang’ had already left, presumably waiting for their leader at some hang out nearby.

“What the hell did you do this time?”

Jonghyun shot him a bored look as he replied, “What, you my mother now?”

Before Minho could answer, he saw Jonghyun’s facial expression change, the latter’s eyes moving past him. Minho turned around to see Yeonwa approaching, and Minho took a quick glance back at his friend to see Jonghyun matching the smile that was b on her face.

“Minho!”

Minho forced a smile, but it was Jonghyun who answered, “Hey Yeonwa.”

“Hi Jonghyun. Why are you guys still here?” she asked, turning to the model.

Minho put a hand in his pocket and nodded at his friend. “Jonghyun over here was being delayed.”

Jonghyun merely shrugged in response. “Teacher was being an . You didn’t wait long, did you?”

Yeonwa giggled and shook her head. “I thought I’d just come find Minho instead of waiting by the gate. Besides, I ran into that girly-boy from your class on the way here, so I wasn’t bored.” Minho didn’t miss the rude sound she made under her breath to accompany the comment.

“Girly-boy?” Jonghyun asked curiously.

“Yeah. Taemin. He was a lot more… Reactive, than usual,” she said slowly, obviously trying to find the right word to describe the earlier boy’s behavior.

Minho saw a scowl cross Jonghyun’s face as the latter replied, “Taemin? Does that kid want me to beat him up?” he asked sourly. “I don’t know why, but he’s gotten pretty cocky lately, that little bastard. It’s getting on my nerves. Especially with you this morning—”

“I don’t get why you’re getting so worked up over something so pointless, Jjong,” Minho interrupted casually, earning some eye rolls from his friend. Minho honestly didn’t care about Taemin per se, but what he did care about was the fact that Jonghyun would get suspended if he kept his bully act up.

“Anyway, Yeonwa. What’s up?” Jonghyun asked, directing his attention to the girl.

“Just the usual,” she replied with a sweet smile. “Everyone wants to know your thoughts about that girl you were seen with, and if the rumors about starring in a drama are true.” She directed her response to Minho, her hands already on her smartphone as she eyed him intently.

A sigh escaped his lips as Minho gazed away, lazily studying the vines that crawled up the school fence. Not that he had anything against her but ever since Yeonwa had learned of his career, she had taken the opportunity, and the advantages, of knowing a celebrity. Minho couldn’t recall a time when they were such close friends before he started modeling, but now it seemed like she met him at least once a week, as the ‘informant’ to his so-called ‘fanbase’. Of course, trusting her was better than trusting a fan he didn’t know personally, so he didn’t completely refuse when she mentioned forming a fanclub for him, one that she was now president of.

“That’s management stuff, Yeonwa, even I don’t know,” he said offhandedly, not bothering to turn to face her.

“Come on Minho, really? Wouldn’t they at least mention something with you? And what are your thoughts on those pictures?”

Minho sighed again and finally looked over. “What do you want me to say Yeonwa? Especially since you yourself know that that girl was just another model. Is that all?”

Yeonwa caught the hint of his tone and pouted before tucking her phone back into her purse. “You know that’s not the only reason I’m here. Can’t a girl just hang out with her friends?” she asked innocently.

“You’re the one who needs to cool off Minho,” Jonghyun finally spoke up, defending her. “Yeonwa was just curious.”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be Yeonwa?” Minho asked, ignoring his friend’s comment. “You mentioned that you had plans today.”

She nodded as she looked down, obviously disappointed that he was dismissing her so soon. “Yeah, you’re right. Well, I’ll see you two later then.” Minho could see the forced smile as she looked back up and waved before spinning around and walking off.

“Way to be harsh Minho,” Jonghyun commented as they started towards the side gate.

“Since when were you such a gentleman?” Minho retorted.

Jonghyun scoffed but otherwise didn’t answer the question, and the pair walked to the exit in silence.

“You should ask her out,” Minho suggested offhandedly as they reached the sidewalk.

“What’s the point,” Jonghyun replied tartly, “when she’s obviously in love with you, like the rest of the freakin’ female population.”

Minho clenched his teeth but didn’t respond. It wasn’t that Jonghyun lacked in looks, even Minho would admit that his best friend was good looking. Jonghyun wasn’t exactly the boy-next-door type of guy but Minho knew his friend well enough to know that he wasn’t a bad person. If Minho wanted to be brutally honest about it, their personalities were actually quite similar, although Jonghyun always had more of a rough edge. It was primarily because of his job that Minho had simmered down. If he hadn’t taken up modeling, they’d be running the gang together, but Minho had to plan out his future, something that Jonghyun seemed to be avoiding.

It was the so-called status that brought Minho all the biased opinions, and all the assumptions people had about him without actually knowing him.

Sometimes he wished the limelight hadn’t accompanied the career he had chosen- it just made everything that much more difficult.