The first week of college was almost over. Friday came and Ri Ah got through her classes, even eating lunch with Hye Ri after Biology class. Ri Ah ate her packed lunch and Hye Ri bought food from the cafeteria.

Since it was Friday, Ri Ah decided to go home after she ate. Chan Yeol still had classes so Ri Ah decided to take the bus back. She was glad to find that her books had arrived in the mail so she wouldn’t have to stay late at the library any more. Ri Ah passed the time reading some novels and chatting with Mrs. Park. When Chan Yeol came, she watched him play the drums as a 10,000 won “favor” and even took some more lessons from him until it was dinner time.

“Ri Ah, Mr. Park and I will be out tomorrow for a charity event of mine. We may not be back till late, will you be okay alone?” Mrs. Park asked during dinner.

“What do you mean alone? I’ll be here,” Chan Yeol said looking up.

“Yes, sleeping till late afternoon. It’s like you don’t live here. We hardly ever see your face,” Mr. Park said with a hint of sarcasm.

“I’ll be fine, ahjumma,” Ri Ah quickly answered.

“Actually, I was going to have my friends over tomorrow. I haven’t seen them in a week because we’ve all been busy with school,” Chan Yeol added.

“What? You’re going to have your friends over when I’m not here? What about my house?” Mrs. Park asked with real concern.

“Mom,” Chan Yeol whined. “I promise we’re not going to break anything. We’ll just be in my room.”

“Are you okay with this Ri Ah?” Mrs. Park asked her.

“Of course, I don’t mind,” Ri Ah said with a smile.

Ri Ah and Chan Yeol ended up watching movies after dinner (another 20,000 won “favor” for Chan Yeol) until midnight. Ri Ah got ready for bed while Chan Yeol stayed up late in his room.

The next morning, Ri Ah got up a little later than her usual time but still early for a Saturday. She went on her jog and ate breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. Park before they left for their charity event. Ri Ah called her mom and told her about her first week of college and then passed her time reading until it was lunch time.

Ri Ah was making lunch for herself and Chan Yeol, who she expected to wake up soon, when the doorbell rang. She went to the front and opened it to find 3 boys standing there.

“Oh, you must be Ri Ah-ssi,” one boy answered with a sweet smile.

“Yes,” Ri Ah answered with a bow of her head. “You must be Chan Yeol’s friends. Come in,” she said, stepping aside for them to enter. “Chan Yeol is still sleeping.”

The boy that spoke earlier chuckled, “That’s okay. We can wake him. My name is Kim Joon Myun,” he said holding out his hand.

Ri Ah shook it and smiled, “Nice to meet you Joon Myun-ssi.”

Chan Yeol came down in his pajama pants and a t-shirt at this time. “Oh, Su Ho Hyung, Baek Hyun-ah, D.O.-ah, you’re here,” he said, walking over to them.

“I see that you’ve kept up your good habits from the army,” D.O. said sarcastically.

Baek Hyun laughed. “We were just meeting Ri Ah-ssi. Hi, I’m Byun Baek Hyun,” he said, holding out his hand to her.

“Nice to meet you, Baek Hyun-ssi.”

“And I’m D.O.” the last boy said, also holding out his hand to her.

“Uh, yes, nice to meet you. If you don’t mind my asking, why are you called D.O.?”

“It’s his nickname from the army,” Chan Yeol answered her.

“Oh, I see. So if you’re Joon Myun-ssi, and you’re Baek Hyun-ssi, and you’re D.O.-ssi, who is the Su Ho Hyung you mentioned?” Ri Ah asked looking at Chan Yeol.

“That’s me,” Joon Myun said with a smile, raising his hand.

“It’s a nickname,” Chan Yeol said with a laugh. “We like to joke that he’s Mini Su Ho because he’s short and he’s like a mini version of my dad, Park Su Ho.”

“A mini version of Mr. Park?” Ri Ah asked in confusion.

“Yes,” Su Ho started with a smile. “Like Mr. Park, I want to be a lawyer. I’m currently a first year graduate student at K University. Although I resent the comment about being short,” he said, giving a disapproving look to Chan Yeol.

“Ahh, that’s really good for you Su Ho-ssi.” Ri Ah said as she nodded in agreement. “What are you studying Baek Hyun-ssi?” she asked turning to him.

“I’m a senior at S University. I’m a Biology major, studying to be a doctor.”

“Oh, we go to the same school? Then you’re my Sunbae. I’m actually studying to be a doctor too,” Ri Ah said with a big smile.

“Is that so? Hmm, then if we ever started dating, we could be a ‘campus couple’” Baek Hyun said with a big smile.

“Eh?” Ri Ah’s eyes widened.

“Yah!” Chan Yeol interjected. “What are you talking about campus couple?”

Baek Hyun laughed. “I was joking. Although that’s not to say I don’t find you cute, Ri Ah-ssi.”

“Uh, thank you, Baek Hyun Sunbae,” she answered in a fluster. “Um, what about you, D.O.-ssi?” she turned to D.O. and asked, wanting to change the subject.

“I’m a second year business major at K University. Unlike Chan Yeol here, I got into college after high school, but I deferred for two years to finish my army training.”

“Yah!” Chan Yeol yelled at D.O.’s underhand way of making him feel stupid.

“Do you smell something burning?” Su Ho asked, sniffing the air.

Ri Ah gasped, “Oh, it’s my lunch!” She quickly ran to the kitchen and turned off the boiling pot of soup. The boys rushed to the kitchen after her.

“Are you okay Ri Ah?” Chan Yeol asked with concern.

“Yes, I’m fine. But the soup has overboiled.”

“It’s okay, we can order in. How about pizza?” Chan Yeol asked.

“Pizza sounds good!” Baek Hyun said.

They ordered pizza and Chan Yeol went to his room to shower and change. By the time he came down, the pizza had arrived and the five were sitting in the living room, chatting and eating.

“Baek Hyun Sunbae, if you go to S University, why haven’t you met Chan Yeol-ssi all week?”

“That’s because he’s trying to kill himself with his schedule. He has five straight classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and none on Monday, Wednesday, Friday so he doesn’t come to school on those days,” Chan Yeol answered for him

“Wow, then you have a four day weekend,” Ri Ah remarked.

“Well, not exactly. I’m usually tired on Tuesdays and Thursdays from all my classes so I spend the other days of the week doing homework. Senior level Biology classes are really tough. I hope you’re ready for them when you’re a senior, Ri Ah-ssi,” Baek Hyun said with a smile.

“Ri Ah-ssi seems like a smart girl. I’m sure she’ll do well,” Su Ho remarked.

“Thank you, Su Ho-ssi.”

“You know Ri Ah-ssi. You can call us Oppa if you want,” D.O. commented.

“No way!” Chan Yeol yelled. “She won’t even call me Oppa. There’s no way she’s going to call you guys that.”

“Yes, I don’t feel comfortable calling you guys Oppa. I’m sorry,” Ri Ah said nervously.

“That’s okay. But I hope you don’t mind it if we call you just Ri Ah,” D.O. answered.

“Of course, go ahead.”

They chatted more about how they became friends (Su Ho was Chan Yeol’s neighbor when they lived in their old house, Baek Hyun has been Chan Yeol’s best friend since high school., and D.O. and Chan Yeol met in the army when they were put in the same unit) and funny memories they had. Chan Yeol and his friends eventually went up to his room after they were done eating and Ri Ah passed the time reading and watching TV, even getting interested in her first drama.

“Ri Ah seems like a sweet girl,” Su Ho commented when the four of them were playing video games in Chan Yeol’s room.

“She is. She also has some adorable quirks, like the way she’s so polite with everyone she meets,” Chan Yeol answered him, not looking away from the TV screen.

“Oh, this is the first time Chan Yeol is calling a girl adorable,” D.O. remarked. “You don’t have a crush on her, do you?”

“W-what?” Chan Yeol answered with a stutter, pulling his eyes away from the game. “N-no way.”

“Then you won’t mind if I ask her out?” Baek Hyun asked with a mischievous smile.

“You can’t!” Chan Yeol yelled, a little too quickly. “I mean, Ri Ah needs to focus on school. And, it’s not like you have much time to be dating anyways. You don’t even have time to eat lunch with me.”

“If you like her, all you have to do is say so. We’re not going to judge,” Su Ho said.

“I’m protecting her like an older brother. I don’t like her like that,” Chan Yeol answered. He wasn’t sure what Ri Ah was to him, but he knew that he never wanted to see Ri Ah hurt. It must be because I see her like a little sister, right? He thought to himself.

“Well, I’d be surprised if you didn’t start liking her as more than a little sister. You guys do live together,” D.O. commented.

“Yah, what do you guys see me as? I’m not a hungry animal!”

The three friends laughed at him. They could tell that Chan Yeol felt something special for Ri Ah, but sometimes he was too slow to understand even himself.

Author's Note

I took a step back to look at the story so far and realized that I was really dragging it out, writing 16 chapters and still a week hadn’t passed so I’ve decided to speed things up a bit more in the future. FINALLY we get to meet Chan Yeol’s friends. And it looks like I chose to go with some of the members of EXO-K. I’m really sorry Kai and Sehun fans, but 5 friends is too many to introduce and write about. I hope you don’t hate this author for being age discriminatory and not including the two maknaes :(

Aww, I’m sad to hear that many of you don’t like Tae Sung. He’s actually been a really fun character for me to write about. So much so that I’ve planned out various scenes for him and even written whole excerpts with him. Sigh, I guess I’ll just have to live with my readers not liking him. - 6/24/12 4:48 PM