Chapter One: The Circle

A message alert sound coming from a pink customised iPhone sitting prettily on the bed side caught the attention of four girls lying down on an equally pink king-sized bed. The clear enthusiasm and joy written on their gorgeous faces made it appear that they had been waiting for that certain text message for a while now.

“It’s Fei’s phone! Oooh, Fei, who could the unlucky person be?” redhead Yubin teased as she playfully winked at her friend, who was now reluctantly reaching out her hands to grab her cell phone.

Wang Feifei was hesitant all for the right reasons. It was one of their usual weekend sleepovers – this time at Sunye’s house – and Yeeun had come up with an idea for some fun. They were going to make honest confessions towards the person who was going to contact their phones, about how they really felt towards that random person.

Just going into the game, Park Yeeun was already regretting her so-called brilliant game because that very idea ate her up. Fate had it that her long-time crush had decided to send her a text, asking her about an assignment they were given by their Sociology teacher. Of course, true to her promise, she had to add her confession at the end of her reply message. She could vividly recall how red the hue of her cheeks turned when she typed, “Seulong, I think you’re really cute .” Not long after, he responded with an awkward “Thanks, Yeeun...”

“Oh, thank god it’s just Junsu!”

Min Sunye’s antenna perked up at the mention of his name – as it always did.

“Sunye's lover.” There was too much emphasis on the word 'lover'.

The subject rolled her eyes at the mocking Yeeun. “Oh shut up,” she retorted, appearing more annoyed than usual.

“Yah, why so sensitive? Are you mad that he’s contacting Fei instead of you?” Yubin teased furthermore.

“Sunye, don’t worry, darling. He’s just asking about my brother’s number. Apparently, the boys want to have some jamming sesh with him. Wow, my friends are actually idolising him. Oh god, what has the world come to?” Fei said in disbelief, recalling her older brother. She really couldn’t comprehend how was it possible that he failed at everything else, yet he excelled so much in playing drums. It was starting to get annoying how much her goofy brother was becoming ‘cool’ in front of her group of friends.

“You and Sunye should get married fast and have beautiful babies, okay?” Fei purposely voiced out loud as she pressed the letters on the screen.

“Yah!” Of course, came the complaint from Sunye.

“What? This is really my honest thought when it comes to Junsu,” Fei said, in point of fact.

A few minutes later, the same familiar message tone was sounding its way towards their ears. Sighing, the mildly irritated Fei stood up again and reached for her phone.

“Why me again? Are you guys playing tricks on me and told everyone beforehand not to contact your phones?”

“Yah, I had my turn,” Yeeun disagreed, still reeling from her little confession towards Im Seulong. Meanwhile, Sunye and Yubin just shrugged their shoulders in nonchalance. Just their luck.

Baby, I miss you. :’(   - Nichkhun Horvejkul.

“Who is it? Who is it?” Yubin asked, curiosity mounting up as she noticed the displeased look carved on Fei’s face.

“Ugh, he’s texting me again!” she said, so annoyed that she threw her phone carelessly on the bed.

“This dude is such a psycho,” Sunye remarked, genuine concern growing for her harassed friend.

“I thought he stopped?” Yeeun asked.

“Well, apparently, he isn’t done suffocating the daylight out of me.”

Grabbing the tossed iPhone, Yubin, true to her bold character, began replying on behalf of Fei. She was also getting seriously aggravated by Fei’s pathetic, desperate ex-boyfriend.

Psycho, stop harassing me! If you do this again, I’ll file a police report and a restraining order against you . I’m already seeing another guy, who’s ten times better than you and your pathetic ways. So, LEAVE. ME. ALONE. OKAY?!!!!!!

Kim Yubin was going to regret it later.

“Mother expects you to send me home.”

“Yeah, I know, I was told,” Junsu replied, scratching his head. “I have practise until 5, though. Are you sure you don’t mind?”

Sunye looked at him and contemplated. She definitely was not a fan of watching some guys fighting over some bouncy orange ball. She barely understood how basketball worked, to start with. How was she going to bear watching the boys train without yawning endlessly, when she hardly found their real games interesting and exciting?

“But, Yubin and Yeeun usually watch us train. At least you have company,” he suggested.

“I don’t know if Yeeun is gonna watch this time around.”

Junsu glanced at her in interest. “Why?”

“We had this silly game when the girls were sleeping over last Saturday, and we had to make confessions towards whoever was contacting our phones that night – you know, what we really feel about that said person. It so happened that Seulong texted her.”

Aware of Yeeun’s mighty crush towards his team mate, Junsu chuckled in amusement. “So she told him she likes him?”

Sunye rolled her eyes, recalling the events from two nights prior. “That was what she was supposed to, and obviously what we were anticipating. But Yeeun was too shy, adamant that it was wrong for her to concede her feelings towards him when he is apparently getting close with someone else. So, in the end, we settled with her telling him “I think you’re really cute” with a smiley.”

“Have you seen Yub?” their close friend, Ok Taecyeon interrupted their conversation as he joined them at their usual table at the cafeteria.

Closely following behind him were Lee Junho and Jang Wooyoung.

“I think she went to meet her Art teacher or something. I’m not too sure,” Sunye answered. “Why?”

“Where did she hide my tie? It’s Monday, I’m gonna get in trouble during assembly later.”

As if on cue, along came Yubin with the rest of the girls just moments later.

“Yah, my tie!” Taecyeon complained at Yubin.

“I told you I didn’t hide it. I swear I put it on top of your bag before we left class...”

The cocoa pair – always on each other’s tails, yet were the best of friends. You could say they were the linking bridge in their circle. If it weren’t for them, the boys and girls wouldn’t have gotten so close with one another, although Junsu and Sunye had a long history together.

“Wow, is this for real? I can understand Yub and Yeeun, but you two, really?” gossipboy Junho asked in bewilderment, pointing at both Fei and Sunye.

If you had known how the two were like, then you would understand precisely why Junho was seemingly exaggerating about their presence at the basketball court. Opposite from the chill and laid-back vibes from Yubin and Yeeun, the two girls were like princesses and pretty much were very girly, in every sense. It was funny how well they got along. If these characters were to be put into some high school movie, they would end up in different cliques.

“Shouldn’t you be practising right now? Why are you bothering us instead?” Fei never enjoyed how annoying he could be a lot of times.

Fei might not notice it, but Junho’s favourite person to annoy was her and always her. She didn’t realise just how often his attention would be solely hers, just how much she made him smile and grin from ear-to-ear. Even Lee Junho himself was in denial when the guys confronted him the other day, resorting to a disbelief scoff upon that supposedly ridiculous idea.

“Yah! Junho, get your big over here!” Taecyeon said, growing annoyed at the lapse in concentration exhibited by his friend.

Their coach wasn’t able to be present that afternoon, and being the team captain, it was his duty to make sure everyone was well-disciplined. Taecyeon himself expected nothing less, anyway.

“Fei kept on calling me to come over,” Junho reasoned, knowing that his voice was loud enough for her to hear.

“Ugh, he’s lying!” she retaliated, just as he had expected.

“Oh my gosh, Yeeun. Seulong is staring at you right now. Don’t look!” Sunye said – more like mumbled, somehow, through her pursed pink lips.

Yeeun, understandably, couldn’t contain her excitement. “Oh my gosh, really?”

“Where is he, where is he? I can’t find him!” Fei squealed in a careful low tone. Although looking ever so calm, hair pair of dark brown eyes were frantically searching for Seulong.

“At the bench next to Wooyoung!” Sunye replied.

“Oh my god, totally!” Fei agreed, looking like she was the one with the huge crush on the tall senior instead, having displayed a high degree of sheer enthusiasm.

Yeeun could feel her hand getting squeezed excitedly by Yubin.

“Okay, now is your turn to turn your head in his direction. Don’t forget to smile, don’t be too much, just a sweet smile. Get it? At the count of three...” It was expected coming from Fei – she was the best and most experienced with this kind of stuff.

One, two... three!

Unfortunately for Yeeun, right about the same time, Im Seulong had refocused his vision towards the centre of the court, after successfully rehydrating himself with a bottle of Gatorade.

Jang Wooyoung had not been in the best of moods of late, and his brooding expression and endlessly furrowing eyebrows were starting to drag his friends along into his state of misery. It was depressing, to say the least. Holding the chirpy persona in the group, and ever-so-true to her creative roots, Yeeun suggested that the bunch to go to the noraebang, just like the old times, after their training session ended for the day. Like everyone else, she had hoped that it would keep poor Wooyoung’s mind off of the pains of his broken heart. Jokes aside, Wooyoung’s situation was starting to worry them. The girls were feeling the guilt because, after all, they were partly responsible for Ahn Sohee leaving him – regardless how deep their denial was.

Being the spoilsports that they always were, Junsu and Sunye had to excuse themselves as they had to attend a family dinner. Yeeun giggled mentally at just how much the duo must be rotting themselves to boredom at the moment. However, with that said, she had to applaud them for their extreme perseverance and high degree of obedience. Truth be told, if she was raised in such a strict upper class family like theirs, where the most minute display of manner was as significant and especially the fact that she practically had no rights to voice out her true opinions, she would either rebel and run away from home or simply go mental.

Ten minutes into the session, everyone was already laughing out loud and having such a good time. Ok Taecyeon and Lee Junho, particularly, were going overboard with their usual display of bromance. Whilst singing a nauseatingly romantic song, they would hold hands and stare at each other, trying so hard to contain their sealed laughter. The three girls watched from the side, with tears bursting from the corner of their eyes. Their antiques were just plain hilarious. They should be used to the amusement, but no matter what, they could never get enough of it. The way the two handsome boys were gazing at each other’s eyes was just too much. Yubin practically lost it and couldn’t stop incessantly taping her feet on the floor – a trademark of hers when her laughing would get out of control – when Taecyeon inched closer and closer to Junho’s face, outwardly going for a kiss.

Yeeun took out her phone and managed to capture a picture of them right at the very moment, stealing everyone’s attention in the process.

“What do you think are the chances I would spread this all over school?” she teased, showing off their suggestive picture on the screen. What was splendid was the fact that their two faces could be seen crystal clear.

“Yah!” Taecyeon warned jokingly, walking towards her.

“No!! Girls, help me!” she screamed, as the two males surrounded her, demanding that she deleted that embarrassing picture.

It was to no avail, not surprising considering the fact that the girls’ petite builds were no match to their muscular, athletic bodies. However, Yeeun wasn’t to give up and held onto her phone like it was her precious life.

Sitting at the very corner of the room was Wooyoung, who was laughing heartily at the sight of the scene unfolding in front of him. He was finally feeling so much better. Oh forget their bro-code, he just couldn’t resist himself walking over and helping Yeeun. The candid shot was too precious.

In the end, Taecyeon and Junho had to settle with treating all four of them dinner at their rendezvous, Press Play – which, mind you, was not cheap at all – and only then would the picture be vanished. The popular boys’ reputation at school was at stakes! Definitely a lesson learnt for them both.

However, it didn’t matter because the bigger picture was clearly more significant, that Jang Wooyoung was not frowning anymore.