I was finally standing outside the vice principal's office, taking a deep breath before knocking on his door. I had changed into my uniform today before coming to school, but I was concerned that my hair was still too long. Also, I didn't have too much faith in the so-called padding - although they felt securely in place, they really felt rather thin, and I didn't think that they would protect me much more than regular jeans. I contemplated just not going into his office; I was never at school anyway and the chances of him catching me in class was very slim. However, I didn't like to think about what would happen if he did happen to catch me in class. Shaking my head and taking another deep breath, I knocked softly at his door.

"Come in," I heard from the inside. I turned the doorknob carefully, and opened the door.

"Hello, sir," I said, bowing.

"Oh, yes," he said, looking up. "I was expecting you. Good to see you in uniform today."

I shuffled my feet and didn't say anything.

"Close the door behind you," he said, motioning for me to come inside. As I was doing as I was told, he got up from his desk to lean on the wall of his office instead. I stood still and lowered my gaze out of politeness.

"So I had a brief talk with your manager yesterday, but obviously, we didn't have much time to talk," he said. I stayed silent.

"It's news to us that we have an SM trainee at this school, no less one that's about to debut," he said. I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to respond, so I didn't say anything again. "I also spoke with your homeroom teacher who assured to me that everything was taken care of on his end."

"I told you it was" was on the tip of my tongue but I was able to control myself well enough not to say it out loud.

"And given your excellent record, I don't feel right in punishing you," he said.

Shocked, I looked up. Was I actually off the hook?

"Please return to class, and continue to work things out with your homeroom teacher - he knows best. Also continue checking into class every day."

"Yes, sir," I said, still surprised. I just stood there, unsure of what had just happened.

"You're dismissed," he said.

Confused but happy, I bowed and left the office. Instead of going to class, however, I made a trip the bathroom to take the spongy padding out of my pants. Laughing at myself again, I slipped them in my pockets and checked into class.

My luck with this seemed to continue. we had a trouble-free choreography check with LSM that night before returning to the dorm, and luckily for me, this had put all of the members in an excellent mood. That night at the dorm, I was able to study peacefully at the kitchen table while the other members slept. I had almost caught up with my work when I heard a bedroom door open from the hallway. Being in the middle of a problem and in a train of thought that I didn't want to lose, I didn't stand to greet whoever it was; I didn't even look up and I continued working at my problem.

"Hey," I heard. I ignored him, knowing how risky this might be. When I finished the train of thought a few seconds later, I stood quickly from my chair and even before I registered anything, I bowed to him from my waist. When I straightened, I finally got a good look at who it was - it was Ryeowook.

"Hi," I said. I was concerned that Ryeowook might be upset that I didn't greet him as soon as he came out of the room, but I needn't have worried.

"Are you ever going to bed?" he asked. I frowned a little. When did he ever care?

"Soon," I said, looking at the clock in the kitchen. 3:21am.

"Why do you do this?" he asked, looking at the books sprawled out on the kitchen table.

"I want to go to university," I said.

"You know celebrity status can get you into top universities with mediocre test scores, right?" he said.

Of course I knew. This was no doubt the reason why Ryeowook and Kibum weren't studying as much as I was although we would be taking the test on the same day.

"I'm applying as a regular student," I said. "I promised my dad."

"Even when you go to university, do you really think you'll be able to go to class and participate?"

I looked at him. Ryeowook was starting to annoy me. What was he playing at? Why was he trying to convince me not to go to university?

"I've been working my whole life for this. It doesn't make sense to give up now, when I have to push through just a few more months."

Ryeowook looked at me. "Aren't you tired?"

"No," I snapped.

"Okay," he said. "I couldn't sleep either."

I never said I couldn't sleep, I thought. We sat there for a few seconds in silence.

"Do you want to go out for a drink?" asked Ryeowook.

"What?" I asked, unable to believe my ears.

"Let's go out for a drink," he said. "I've got a few things on my mind and I can't sleep."

I knew that I should refuse, but I wasn't able to do so easily. This was the first time that anyone in Super Junior offered to do anything with me, and this meant so much more than I ever imagined it would. The small gesture of inclusion was more than I'd felt in a very long time.

"I'm underage," I said carefully. "I can't go to bars."

Ryeowook looked at me like I was crazy for a while. After several moments, he finally spoke. "I meant let's go out to the rooftop to drink the soju that's sitting in the fridge."

"Oh," I said. I contemplated for a second. What did I have to do tomorrow? I was finally getting my hair styled and there was a costume fitting for the music video. I thought there was a live performance practice towards the end of the day, but as far as I remembered, the morning didn't involve dancing, singing or even exercising. "Okay." I said. "Let's do it."

I moved to the fridge, thinking that I should obviously be the one to get the drinks, but Ryeowook got there first. He grabbed four bottles of soju out of the fridge.

"Let's go," he said, and we both left the apartment as quietly as possible. Once we got upstairs to the rooftop. We both sat down under the dark sky.

"You drink, right?" asked Ryeowook.

"I can handle my alcohol," I said, opening the cap on one of the bottles and handing it to Ryeowook. He took it and waited until I uncapped another. We clinked our bottles together and started drinking.

It was the most bizarre thing I'd ever done. We were completely silent as we drank - we never spoke to each other the entire time that we were on the rooftop. I thought I had high alcohol tolerance, but Ryeowook was really something else. After finishing his first bottle at a ridiculously fast speed, Ryeowook uncapped another. I was worried that Ryeowook might be drinking more than he could handle on an empty stomach, him being so tiny, but I didn't say anything. After half a bottle of my own soju though, I stopped caring about Ryeowook and I was more wallowing in my own thoughts.

As I finished my first bottle of soju, I was so deeply immersed in my thoughts that I almost forgot that Ryeowook was there. Then Ryeowook put his second empty bottle of soju down on the ground, which made me look over at him. To my shock, I saw tears rolling down his cheeks.

"What -" I started, but then I shook my head. What is going on? I looked over at Ryeowook, and even in the middle of his crying, he reached for the third bottle of soju. I simply watched him reach for it for a second, and then momentarily came back to my senses. No one as small as Ryeowook should be drinking more than two bottles of soju on an empty stomach. I snatched up the bottle of soju before Ryeowook could reach it.

"This one's mine," I said. Ryeowook looked at me and blinked, but didn't say anything. I didn't open that last bottle of soju and kept it in front of me. I could feel the euphoria coming, and I suddenly felt the need to go back to the apartment before I completely let myself go.

"Hey, let's go back," I said, getting up to my feet. To my horror, I was already feeling lightheaded. Surprisingly, Ryeowook got to his feet as well without protest. He still had tears in his eyes.

It was crazy how someone as small as Ryeowook could drink that much and not be completely wasted. He was the one to lead the way back downstairs, and even took extreme care to be silent as he was opening and closing doors. When we entered the suite, I was afraid of an awkward atmosphere, but Ryeowook returned to his room as soon as we were inside without saying anything, and closed the door. Wondering why he even wanted me there as he drank, I set the one full bottle of soju down on the kitchen table and went into Donghae and Sungmin's room, and not even bothering to spread out the blankets, I laid down on the floor to sleep in my clothes.