The bell sung proudly through the halls of the school. Finally, freedom.

*That took more than long enough* every twitch of the second hand grew further from the next. Time was mocking me; forcing me to think of him. 

I shuffled all of my things into my school bag as quickly as I could. With any luck I could be out of here before Byunghun asked, or forced me, to walk home with him. I slung my bag over my shoulder in record time, but I still wasn’t quick enough.

“You seem to be in a hurry. Are you going somewhere?” Byunghun stepped out into the row of desks just in time to block my path.

“Well, I might’ve but it looks like I’m not going anywhere until the aisle clears,” he had to know that already though.

“I’ll take that as a no then. Good! Then how about you come meet my friends?” Without waiting for my response he grabbed my hand and began leading me off down the hallway.

“Wait, what? I don’t want to do that!” I tried to fight my way free, but his grip was surprisingly strong.

“Aw, come on. They want to meet you, and they won’t leave me alone until they do,” from the sound of his voice you would think I wasn’t putting up a fight at all.

“That sounds like your problem, not mine,” by now we already off the school grounds. I gave up, there was no use trying if I was just wasting my energy. He laughed at the defeated tone in my voice. Personally, I didn’t find it funny at all…

“I promise they’ll be nice,” he offered up brightly. Like that would make it better…

He continued leading my away into a nearby park. Every shade of green on earth seemed to be glimmering under the springtime sun.

“I still don’t see why they want to meet me…,” I muttered to myself. I found myself hoping that Daye would call and invite me to go to library with her. Usually I hated studying, but I hated meeting strangers even more. Ever since I was little I had always been awkward around people I didn’t know, and over the years it had only gotten worse. If I had learned anything, it was that it was safer to keep my mouth shut. And of course smile and nod politely when necessary.

I only had time to check my phone once before Byunghun finally stopped dragging me along. Still holding my hand, he moved to my side casually.

*His friends must be close by… Wouldn’t want them to see him herding me along* but the excited smile on his face told a different story. It reminded me of a child on Christmas morning. I had to admit, that childish grin suited him well. It was a glimpse of that very different Byunghun I had seen earlier. I really wished I could just keep him as he was now and get rid of the jerky side; he’s the one I don’t trust. Walking next to this Byunghun with his simple smile was comfortable and I couldn’t help but to smile myself.

*Has that smile been there all this time? * I wondered to myself.

“Hey L.Joe, we’re over here!” a melodic voice called from somewhere off across the park. Byunghun turned towards the voice and waved. I felt my heart stutter as I realized there was no way out of this now. I could already feel the shame I was going to bring upon myself. Yet, I didn’t hesitate as we headed towards the five boys sitting casually at one of the park’s picnic tables.

They were, admittedly, all very handsome; some in a manly way and others in more girlish way. They weren't the kind of people you saw everyday. They reminded me of televison drama characters. Maybe that’s why they seemed so out of place in an ordinary place like this. I noted that one of the prettier boys, whose lips where pretty remarkable, smiled at me as we walked closer. His brown hair fell down around his chin in a symmetrical way. It suited him very well. Another of the group, a thin boy with short reddish hair, leaped up from his seat and walked excitedly towards us. He must’ve been the one who called out to us earlier. It was remarkable how fast he got over to us.

“Hello, my name is Chunji,” he smiled as he spoke to me.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Myeongji,” I smiled back the best I could.

“Myeongji? How funny; we rhyme!” he chucked before going on,” I just wanted to be the first to meet you.” That was kind of flattering really. Not many people went out of their way to talk to me.

“Stop hogging her and come sit down!” the pretty boy with big lips screamed over to us. The rest of the table laughed as Chunji lead us back towards them.

“You should sit by me,” the plump lipped boy smiled as he pointed to the empty seat beside him. It was impossible to say no to that face. He reminded me of a small child in a way.  Byunghun, who had been silent for a while now, sat on my other side. It felt like I was being boxed in.

“Oh, not fair! I wanted her to sit by me,” Chunji pouted as the the boy next to me stuck his tongue out at him. Settling for defeat he took the seat across from me.

“I’m Niel, by the way. What’s your name?” the pretty boy asked with a sweet smile.

“My name is Myeongji,” it was impossible not to feel self-conscious with all of them looking at me as I spoke. But Niel hardly seemed my to notice my awkwardness as he went on to introduce the other three boys sitting at the table.

“This Changjo, Ricky, and C.A.P.,” he gestured to each of them as he spoke. They were all very different from each other. The boy named Ricky looked the youngest, but from the way they were acting it was obvious that Changjo was the youngest. What a strange world we live in…

The one named C.A.P. was by far the manliest of the group.  I simple smiled to each of them with no clue what to say.

“She a bit shy sometime,” Byunghun finally said, not that they couldn’t tell by now that I was awkward.

“Aw, that’s okay. L.Joe’s shy too,” Chunji said with a smile. I had to hold back my laughter.

*Byunghun? Shy? Now that was hilarious!*

“Hey, don’t say stuff like that!” Byunghun’s face turned a strange shade of pink as the others laughed at his embarrassment. It was kind of cute.

“Sorry, sorry; we meant to say that he’s super manly,” the boy named Changjo said in a joking way.

“Yep that’s L.Joe! Just look at that muscular physique,” Ricky added in, leaning across the table to poke at Byunghun’s arm.

“I’m very manly for your information! And I have plenty of muscles!” L.Joe fussed back, only gaining more laughter. I couldn’t help laughing too. They were much easier to be around than I thought they would be.  How could it not be when Byunghun was the one looking like a fool?

~~~

You can probably see why it took me so long to get this chapter out… Haha~

Maybe this will make up for the last lack-luster chapter. What a tongue twister!

I hope you enjoyed reading this and I’ll get straight to work on the next chapter.

Feel free to comment!~ ^^