“I’m sad, Minho.”

“Sounds like you enjoyed your holidays, Chansung,” I greet the pouting boy as he slumps against the lockers beside mine.

“I did actually,” he confirms, the frown disappearing from his face for a second in remembrance of his week off before it finds home on is lips again.

“Then what are you all bummed out for so early in the morning?” I ask him seriously as I slip my mittens in my coat pocket and hang my coat on a hook in my locker.

“Kibum,” he says simply.

“What?” I gulp because I can feel an angry outburst coming up if he found out about what I did during my break.

“I was standing out on the pavement because I didn’t want to come into this prison of a school yet, and I saw Kibum walking in. I waved to him like I usually do,” he takes a deep breath before continuing. “He usually waves back nearly as enthusiastically and comes over to greet me verbally, you know?” I nod in understanding. “But he didn’t this time… He just gave me a half-hearted wave and continued walking into the school. Do you think he’s mad at me?” he finishes sadly.

“I’m sure he’s not mad at you specifically. Maybe he was just… tired,” I attempt to console him. “Besides, when are you going to realize no one waves as enthusiastically as you do?”

“I guess,” he sighs. “And you’re right about that,” he finally cracks a smile.

“There you go,” I pat him on the back. “No need to stress.”

“You’re right,” he says nodding his head. “Well, I’m going to make a stop at my locker before heading to class. See you at lunch,” he waves to me as he walks down the hall.

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. I know that once the guys find out about the conversation I had with Kibum, they are going to flip , especially Chansung.

I walk to my first class, trying not to think about it, but that’s a little more than difficult seeing as Kibum is in most of my classes.

I watch him carefully to make sure he’s alright. I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. In fact, he seems a little too okay. He looks intently at the white board or chalk board, whichever is installed on the wall, in each class, taking notes thoughtfully. He doesn’t turn to look at me, not even once. It’s as if he’s erased me entirely from his radar. The radar I had been pinned on permanently since seventh grade, or so I thought. Permanence is never truly permanent apparently.

I hear whispers floating through the stuffy air of our classrooms about our “break up” and my reunion with Jeesun. I hear various versions of the story. Some people say I was cheating on him with Jeesun, resulting in a fiery eyed Kibum to dump my sorry , which is a version I can’t even imagine Kibum embodying such a “fiery eyed” person. Others say I was only using Kibum to get Jeesun back, which isn’t far off from the truth. Then a minority is even saying that Kibum cheated on me with a more handsome member of the soccer team, making me the initiator of the break up; it’s version like these that make me scoff and laugh at the improbability. First off, I don’t mean to be cocky, but last time I checked, there isn’t anyone more handsome than me on the soccer team, according to popular opinion. Secondly, Kibum isn’t the type of person to cheat, even when he’s only in a fake relationship; he’s too ethical for that kind of scandalous crap.

I tune out all of the rumor-stained murmurs as I stroll towards the cafeteria for lunch time, my eyes fixed ahead, ignoring the curious glances directed at me.

Once I walk into the lunch room, I feel icicles pierce through every open plane of my body. I look towards my usual lunch table to be met with the icy glares of my soccer team plus Kyuhyun, sitting at a decidedly smaller table. I realize I’ve neglected the possibility of all the rumors reaching them.

I cautiously walk towards them with a guilty smile on my face, their disapproving gazes following my every move.

“Hey there, guys…” I greet cautiously as I take my seat. “It’s rather chilly in here isn’t it?” I laugh nervously at my lame joke about their cold stares, which they probably didn’t get. No one replies; they just continue staring sternly.

“You took him away from us!” Chansung cries out, breaking the silence as he crosses his arms angrily and opening a dam of pent up complaints.

“I feel so empty…” Seulong deadpans dramatically.

“You cut the size of our table in half!” Siwon shouts at me.

“You cut my chances with her in half, too!” Kyuhyun adds without thinking, getting caught up in the outburst of emotions.

“Wait, cut your chances with whom?” Eunhyuk interrupts with a smirk.

“Uh… well, t-that…that’s beside the point! The point is this bastard here ruined our family circle!” Kyuhyun saves himself by sacrificing me instead with an accusatory finger pointed in my direction.

“Yeah! How could you!?” Niel helps the flames of anger find its way back towards me.

“Guys…” I sigh. “You know that this wasn’t all supposed to last. This was all a part of the scheme that you helped me with.”

“ the plan!” Junsu, the most composed person at our table, bursts. “We all forgot about that stupid plan ages ago! We thought you did, too!”

“Well, I didn’t. I was serious when I said I wanted Jeesun back.”

“Ugh,” Donghae groans. “Why would you want that back?”

“Hey, don’t call her that,” I defend her calmly.

“Why not? That’s what she is,” Taecyeon retorts with a grimace.

“Look, you guys, I didn’t tell Kibum that he had to leave,” I try to explain. “He came to me and said we have to stop hanging out so it’s not entirely my fault.”

The boys all turn their heads to look at each other with blank faces.

“Yes, it is!” they shout at me in unison, making me flinch from the volume of their conjoined voices. And I was just starting to think they fell out of that habit…

“No one said you had to get back with that hag, you idiot!” Siwon scolds me.

“I’m not an idiot…and I wanted to,” I state with a pout.

“Jesus Christ, Minho, you’re hopeless,” Taecyeon groans.

“How could you want someone as vile as Jeesun and discard someone as pure as Kibum?” Chansung frowns.

“I didn’t ‘discard’ him!” I argue.

“Do you really hate it that much that he likes you?” Niel asks, puzzled.

I only sigh in response because I know their barrage of judgments will never end if I keep fighting back.

“You know how you said Bummie was just tired this morning?” I look towards Chansung as he asks me the question, deciding not to complain about him calling him ‘Bummie’ and allow him to continue with a nod of my head. “It wasn’t that, and you knew it. He won’t even look at me anymore,” Chansung says miserably. I notice that everyone else’s heads hang low, indicating that the story is the same for them. I feel my heart cry out for them. It’s all my fault they’re all depressingly sad now.

“Look,” I say, calling them all to lift their heads. “I’m really, really, really sorry. I know you guys grew really attached to Kibum. Hell, I grew attached to him, too,” I admit. “But I’ve tried to talk him into changing his mind, but his answer is always the same: no,” I tell them dejectedly.

“But there must be more you can do!” Niel shouts hopefully.

“Like what?” I ask hopelessly.

“Break up with… that,” Taecyeon says, scowling and eyes fixed on a point behind me.

“Hey there, Minnie~” I hear Jeesun chime, her hand placed on my back as she leans over to capture my lips. As she pulls away, she makes a move to sit beside me before Seulong objects frantically.

“No, don’t sit there!” he shouts, making Jeesun straighten reluctantly.

“And why not?” she spits out with a hand positioned on her hip.

“Because uh… you’ll like this seat better,” Siwon says standing up from his seat on the other side of me, motioning her to sit in his seat instead.

Jeesun scrunches her eyebrows before moving to sit in that seat. “Geez, Minnie-baby, you have the weirdest friends,” she says, eyeing everyone around the table condescendingly.

“They’re just different,” I laugh, appreciating just how ‘different’ they really are. “Why don’t you sit down, Siwon?” I ask him as he stands awkwardly with his hands in his pockets behind us.

“Huh? Oh…uh… no, I’m fine where I am,” he dismisses as he eyes the empty seat beside me sadly.

“Well… okay, if you insist,” I leave him be.

“So anyway,” Jeesun starts. “I’m assuming you dumped that loser.”

“Yes, but he’s not a loser,” I desperately correct her because I can see Chansung clenching his fists across the table and I can feel Siwon huff, blowing strands of my hair to dance in the air.

“Whatever,” she waves me off with a motion of her hand. “I’m just glad you did, and I’m even gladder you exiled him and his lame friends from your table, too.”

“We didn’t kick them out,” Seulong corrects her defensively. “They left on their own accord.”

“Either way, it’s good they’re back in their place,” she says looking across the way at a table in the distance. As we all turn our heads, we are met with the eyes of all of our used-to-be tablemates, who are presumably all talking about us now. They only person not looking in our direction is Kibum, who has his back turned to us and is hunched over his lunched tray, drifting off in his own little world like he normally does when he’s eating. “Anyway, I’ve got to go, my English teacher is forcing me to have working study during lunchtime now because I’m doing that bad. She’s probably sent out the troops to find me already. Well, it’s been a pleasure speaking with you all,” she smiles sarcastically to everyone before pecking me on the lips again.

All the boys’ eyes follow her until she walks through the cafeteria doors before they snap their heads back to look at me.

“Thank God, if she was going to be sitting with us for lunch again, I would go off myself right now,” Siwon lets out a sigh of relief as he takes his seat again. “Ew… she’s made it all warm…”

“What was with all that ‘you can’t sit there’ school girl crap?” I ask them, remembering the instance a few minutes back.

“That’s Kibum’s seat,” Junsu states sentimentally.

“Everyone took their seats with them when they took back their table, except for Kibum’s,” Eunhyuk elaborates. I shift my head to look at the vacant seat beside me. A handful of memories of our past lunches flash through head: every smile he’s flashed, every laugh he’s giggled, every blank stare he’s worn when he’s drifting off in la-la land.

“Do you miss him, too?” Chansung asks, breaking me out of my reverie.

“No,” I force myself to say. “’This is how it has to be,’ that’s exactly what he told me, and that’s how it’s going to be.”

Any trace of hope falls from their faces. I feel incredibly guilty, but this what Kibum wanted. He’s been firm in his decision so I’ll let him have his way. Might as well start accepting it now otherwise we’ll all never move on.

The rest of the day rolls by. Once again, Kibum barely acknowledges my existence in the afternoon classes we have together.

Still, practice couldn’t come sooner. The air is chilly, but the field is void of any snow so we’re able to have practice outside again. We’re all wearing sweats and sweatshirts. I even decide to wear the green mittens that I’ve come to adore; our apparel in partnership with the body warmth we earn from physical exertion keeps us from shivering uncontrollably.

I wish I could say we’re making progress today, but then I’d be lying. Siwon and Taecyeon don’t have the same insane energy that they normally do. Niel’s thin, long legs aren’t moving as swiftly as I usually expect of him. Seulong is tripping all over the place, which I generally wouldn’t be surprised about, but he’s more times than not surprisingly graceful on the field compared to how he is in real life. Donghae and Eunhyuk are doing a bunch of standing around and blowing puffs of cold air out from their mouths. Chansung is the worst of them all; he’s not trying at all. He’s struggling to just carry his body across the field, and he can hardly align his foot with the ball to give it the most basic kick. I sigh. I suppose I can’t blame him; he is the one who has grown the most attached to Kibum, and to find out one day out of the blue he’s not talking to you anymore, it must have been devastating. I know how much it hurts myself since he dropped the bomb on me first, but what can I do? He’s made up his mind.

Astonishingly, Seunghyun, who is normally the one performing as well as a grade school rookie at best, is showing us all up. He’s dribbling the soccer ball between his feet effortlessly while the rest of the team half-heartedly tries to steal it, failing after each attempt. He does a few fancy turns to avoid any oncoming players who are threatening to make a steal. Not to mention, he’s doing this all with a bright smile on his face. I rub my face tiredly, realizing today was probably not a very good practice day… for most of us anyway.

“Alright, let’s just call it a day, guys,” I finally decide because it’s obvious they are not at all in the mood for kicking a ball back and forth. They all look towards me and nod, exhausted and worn. They all make their way to the bleachers to retrieve their bags. Seunghyun walks past me, but I grab his arms to get his attention.

“Hey, you did really well out there today,” I offer him a compliment that he rightly deserves. He nods in thanks with a smile. “And we’re cool, right?” I ask, referring to the whole situation with Jeesun.

“Huh?” he utters, puzzled at first. “Oh! Yeah, we’re cool, don’t worry about it, Captain,” he smiles sincerely. I release his arm from my hand, and he continues his trek towards his belongings.

That was easy… I expected a punch to the face… or some fighting words at least. I watch Seunghyun as he shoves all his equipment into his bag and rushes toward the school.

“Hey, Minho, are you sure it’s okay if we cut practice short today?” Donghae calls my attention.

“Yeah, it’s cool. You all seem pretty tired so it’s probably for the best. I’ll just work your asses even harder tomorrow,” I , pulling a small chuckle from his lips.

“Right, well, see you tomorrow then.”

I wave good bye to him as he heads to Siwon’s car with Eunhyuk and a few others in tow. Chansung decides to hitch a ride with Junsu, and I bid goodbye to them as well.

I pack up my few things swiftly and make my way to the parking lot as well. As I walk towards the parking lot, I see that Siwon and his moochers had already left, but Chansung and Junsu are frozen at their opened car doors, one hand positioned on the door the other on the roof of the car as they fix their eyes on the same spot. Once I pass a brick wall that obstructed my view from whatever they’re staring at, I see Kibum standing with his back towards me at the school entrance. I hear Junsu and Chansung finally get into his car and shut their doors. The sound of the engine turning over rumbles through the air.

I turn my attention back to where Kibum is standing, with his arms wrapped around himself to conserve warmth. I decide I should try talking to him again, for the guys’ sakes. I mean, sure, to my discontentment, he refuses to hang out with me, but I’m sure he can make an exception for the rest of the guys at least. He didn’t make a corrupt deal with them, just me, so no reason for him to decline their company.

“Ki-“ I take quick steps towards him and open my mouth to get his attention, but my action is cut short. I halt my steps at the sound of another’s voice.

“Hey, sorry for keeping you waiting; I got my text book,” someone else speaks over me, gaining his attention first as he waves a large, thick book in the air.

“Good because I’m freezing, Seunghyun,” Kibum says jumping up in down, trying to heat up his muscles.

“Aw, poor baby,” Seunghyun chuckles as he wraps an arm around Kibum and leads him off the pavement. “We can go now.”

What the is going on?

Seunghyun halts his steps; as a result halting Kibum’s as well, as Junsu slowly drives out from his parking space and rolls towards the parking lot exit, revealing a navy blue four door that was hidden behind Junsu’s car. The navy blue four door.

Seunghyun releases Kibum from his hold and jumps into the driver’s seat. Kibum walks towards the passenger side door and slides in.

Are they… a thing? It can’t be true. No way is it true. They can’t possibly be compatible at all. Seunghyun isn’t Kibum’s type; he’s nothing like me. There is no way they’re together.

Not that it’s any of my business, but Seunghyun and Kibum? It doesn’t sit right in my head… Seeing his arm around his shoulder makes me squirm so it must make Kibum squirm, too, being the one who has the arm around him…

Them? Together? No. It just would not work. I think I know Kibum well enough to know his taste…

But… what if they are? He’s already been inside Kibum’s house. It took me a couple months for me to gain entrance into his home, and I invited myself in... Why the hell am I comparing anyway? It doesn’t matter to me who Kibum is seeing. He is free to see anyone he pleases…

…But even so, from what I’ve seen so far, Seunghyun would not be a very good boyfriend…

…He didn’t even hold his car door open for him…

A/N: So... yeah, most of you correctly guessed who the mysterious guy with the mysterious car was. Haha. Now, Seunghyun can have a bigger part in the story than just 'the guy who stole Minho's girlfriend'... although that was a pretty vital role all in itself. Aha.

To desyta, ahah, yeah, I originally planned to make Jeesun's character an idol so you guys could easily have a visual of her, but I felt bad making her that horrible so I went back and changed all the times her name appeared to 'Jeesun.'

To TkeChan, oh yes, I can only imagine what a burden being a hardcore mind reader would be. Haha. And hahaha, I'm glad my story can alleviate some of your stress. Writing it alleviates my stress. And then reading everyone's reactions makes me giddy. Haha.

To MissLiliGon, in time, my friend, in time... Minho must go through an emotional journey first. Or something like that. Haha. And I hope you guessed right who the mystery guy was. Aha.

To jess_mmam, oh yes... must make him suffer... Haha. And I'm glad you're enjoying my story.

To naadianadeen, did you get your clue? Haha.

Since I didn't get too many comments last update, I thought I might as well just respond to them all. Haha. Long author's note ends here.

Thanks for reading and for all your feedback! Until next time!