Woohyun’s POV

“Wait, Kasumi,” I blurted out. “Why don’t I walk you home?”

What the hell did I just ask her that for?!

She blinked, startled. “Um, no, it’s okay,” she declined politely a second later and I felt my body freezing. “I’ll be safe with Botan. Thanks for the offer, anyway.” She even did a polite ninety-degree bow.

This was the first time I’ve ever been rejected.

She ruffled Botan’s head and I tried to hide my wounded ego when she looked up to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said softly.

As I watched her go, I sighed. I’ve never been rejected before, until this day. I turned to face Myungsoo, Sunggyu and Sungyeol. I could see that they were trying to hide their smiles, and it made me scowl at them for some reason.

“She must really hate you,” Sunggyu laughed.

“One . . . two . . . three . . .” I began counting down, showing a finger at every count while I glowered menacingly at him.

The scaredy-cat took off.

Sungyeol held his hands up in defense while Myungsoo smirked.

“We didn’t say anything, hyung,” Myungsoo said, chuckling nervously.

I scowled deeper. “I don’t need you to say anything. Seeing you mile is already enough for me to know what you are thinking about.”

Sungyeol laughed even harder and shook his head. “Hyung, you’re being paranoid.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Anyway, we should go before hyungs eat all the cookies themselves.”

“Let them eat the cookies,” I said bitterly but we made our way to Hoya’s house, anyway. “Let them eat and get fat, for all I care.”

He pouted and placed his fists against his puffed cheeks. “Aww, but I wanted cookies. I love Hoya’s mom’s cookies. They are so delicious,” he said.

I sighed as I followed him and Myungsoo to Hoya’s house. I watched as the two of them goofed around. I shook my head at their behavior but the two of them were oblivious. But I was smiling.

You gotta love them.

Once we got to Hoya’s place, his mom greeted us cheerfully and led us into the kitchen, where the others were. I wasn’t surprised to see the four monkeys already munching on the freshly baked cookies. There was a packet of gummy worms out on the table too. I was sure Hoya took it out to eat.

“Hi,” he said, somewhat gummy-wormily, when he saw us. He smiled sheepishly at us, knowing he did something bad.

“Thanks for waiting for us,” Sungyeol grumbled, sitting down next to him. “I wanted to eat the cookies.”

“There are still some left!”

“Not as much!”

“Why do you want to eat so much for?”

“They’re cookies!”

“Oh, shut up and let me enjoy my cookie,” Myungsoo said.

I sat down in between of Hoya and Sunggyu and grabbed a cookie from the plate. I took a bite from it and smiled contently when I tasted the heavenly chocolate crumbs melt in my tongue. It was so delicious.

“So, when are you and Kasumi going to start on the tutoring session?” Sung Jong asked, turning to me.

I gave him a withering look and it was like the whole atmosphere in the room suddenly turned dark as I remembered he was the reason why I got rejected: if he hadn’t been in the fifth class, I wouldn’t need to get him as my tutee. And if he weren’t my tutee, I wouldn’t have asked for a different one. And if I hadn’t asked for a different one, I wouldn’t have gotten Kasumi, and then humiliated myself in front of her and my friends. “Why are you in the fifth class?” I demanded to know.

He winced and shrank back in his seat. “Ah, that. Well . . . I didn’t do so well in my final exams last year,” he explained, scratching the back of his head with his hand, giving me a guilty grin.

“And why not?”

“Uh . . . mollayo.”

Myungsoo ruffled his hair. “You’ll do better this year, neh?”

Sungyeol pouted. “What about me, Myungsoo?” he asked, wanting attention from his dongsaeng.

Myungsoo smiled at him as well. “You’re smart, hyung,” he replied. “I know you can pass all your exams. I have completely confidence and faith in you.”

Sungyeol beamed and Sung Jong snorted.

Sunggyu and I exchanged glances and shrugged.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at Hoya’s place. While the others played on the Wii, I was thinking about how I was going to tutor Kasumi. I knew she was having trouble with her math and science, but I hope she wasn’t that bad.

The next day after school, while I was standing outside the gates with my friends, I was wondering where Kasumi and I could have our tutoring session. I forgot that the school’s library closed at four and it was almost four.

My tutor used to make me use my lunchtime for tutoring but I didn’t want Kasumi to waste her lunchtime by studying. And I wanted to hang out with my friends, too, so the only way was the tutor her after school.

But now that the library would be close, where could we go?

“Why not you go to her house or your house?” Sunggyu suggested after I had explained about my dilemma to him. “You guys could always study in the kitchen or living room. Okay, living room, since I want to eat.”

“Yeah, living room!” Sungyeol nodded.

“Or my place,” Hoya piped up hopefully. “You guys can relax while eating cookies and then later you can hang out with us.”

I shot him a look. “Or maybe you just want to see Kasumi but don’t want to admit it,” I replied dryly.

He smiled and shrugged.

How shameless.

“Well, you better decide soon because she’s heading over this way,” Myungsoo spoke up, turning to me.

I looked up and sure enough, Kasumi was heading over to where we were. She smiled and bowed politely when she saw us. “Annyeong.”

“Uh, Kasumi-sshi,” I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck, and she turned to me. “I kind of forgot that the library closed at four, so is there anywhere in mind that you’d like to have the tutoring session?”

“How formal,” Dongwoo muttered behind me.

I turned and glowered at him before I turned back to her. “The places I thought were either my house or yours.”

“Yours,” she quickly said.

I blinked. Was she afraid or ashamed of her house?

“Uh, sure, I guess,” I said, feeling a little confused by her sudden behavior.

Dongwoo shook his head. “Let’s have it at Hoya’s house,” he announced. He placed both his hands on either sides of her shoulders and pushed her forward lightly. “Hoya’s mom made cookies, they’re really delicious. You and Woohyun could study in the kitchen, while enjoying the meal and everything.”

I scowled and gra