It was already evening when she finished her host club duties. As Rinn walked out from the classroom, she felt someone looking at her, raising all the little hairs on her arms and her back. She looked around her, and she was feeling rather spooked out when she found out there was no one.

 

“Hey!” someone called Rinn as soon she was walking out to the school gates, passing by the fountain nearby. It distracted her for a moment. Minwoo stood up, being previously sitting at the fountain ledge.

 

Rinn saw him jogging over and immediately went into panic mode, forgetting about the mysterious looker. She fiddled with her knapsack strap and looked at her hands. Just looking at him made her remind of the past embarrassing event and made her shrink.

 

“Wow, looked what happened to you.” Minwoo commented, examining the Rinn's new uniform, then continued, “Been looking for you for a while.” and flashed her a smile, which made Rinn breathless.

 

“And what happened with your uniform? Uh, not like I'm saying the previous one is bad, uh wait, I- I'm sorry-” Minwoo went on, but when he realized what he said felt like a jerk, he held himself. He knocked his head as he cursed himself silently.

 

Rinn chuckled at his cuteness. “It's okay. What were you doing here after school anyways?” she asked. Minwoo blushed. “Ah, about that. I was just thinking of showing you around the school since we didn't have a chance to. Is it okay with you now?” he asked.

 

She nodded, though embarrassingly, a bit too enthusiastic. Just when they started to pace, someone said, “My my, Minwoo. Your mom's so gonna kill you when you're home late.”

 

Both of them turned to see another boy morphing out from the shadows. “No she's not, Yukwon. I already called her that I'll be late.” Minwoo retorted.

 

Rinn observed the boy who she learned was Yukwon. Something about his eyes caught her attention, a feeling that she couldn't really put her finger on.

 

He lazily pushed his leaning self off the wall and made his way to both of them. Rinn noticed he had piercings in both ears, his hair maroonish, his tie tugged down and his uniform untucked.

 

He was hot, Rinn admitted, but in a bad-, gangster-ish way, unlike Minwoo, who appears to be soft-spoken and princely.

 

“Mommy's boy. It's okay though. Your girlfriend?” Yukwon asked, tilting his chin towards Rinn. Rinn blushed furiously. “Are you blind? Rinn's my guy friend.” Minwoo said. Rinn felt a heavy tug at her heart. Did Minwoo just categorize her under the 'buddies only' section? Or did he didn't know she was a girl?

 

“Oh really? Well, why don't you introduce me to your guy friend?” Yukwon said, stressing on the word 'guy'. Rinn winced as she looked away uncomfortably.

 

Minwoo grunted unhappily. “Rinn, Yukwon. Yukwon, Rinn.” he mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets, frowning as he did so.

 

“Since I'm here, how about I join you guys for the mini detour?” Yukwon asked, pulling off his headphones and let them hang on his neck. “No one invited you to.” Minwoo scoffed as he went off. Rinn hurriedly tried to keep up with his long, fast strides.

 

As she was walking, she felt the weird feeling of her goosebumps rising. She turned around, and froze when she saw U-kwon looking straight at her.

 

“Uh... hi.” Rinn awkwardly said, waving at him. Yukwon twitched into a smirk, instantly making Rinn shiver. He looked intimidating, almost felt like he was going to eat her up. She quickly turned her focus back to Minwoo, who was already immersed into his tour explanation.

 

“... and this is our school's garden. There's a greenhouse nearby. And that's our school aviary, the largest outdoor aviary in this area. We keep exotic birds from all around the world and our workers make sure these birds enjoy top-class environment, straight from their original habitats...”

 

Rinn looked on as he explained. She gasped in awe as she saw a hornbill flying across her head, two cockatoos gwarking away on a tree branch and a peacock showing off its feathers to a peahen.

 

Minwoo proceeded to a small, overgrowned path, with wild flowers and long grass covering the way. Long bamboo leaves swept Rinn's face as she went past, and willow trees arching towards them, as if forming a tunnel.

 

“And here is my favourite place in this school. It used to be our school's astronomical observatory tower. I'll share this only with you, so don't go around telling everyone about this place, okay?” Minwoo said, winking. Rinn giggled. Yukwon let out a snort as he rolled his eyes.

 

The first thing Rinn noticed about the building was that it has a transparent top-half and it was dome-shaped, with a protuding tube that looked like a giant telescope near its top. Its paint was peeling, revealing maroon-red bricks. The building itself was situated near a cliff, out to the open, vast sky.

 

“I happen to stumble across this abandoned building while I was walking around. It was my favourite hide-out ever since. Sometimes, I'll sneak over here if I can't sleep.” Minwoo said, shrugging as he pushed open the tall wooden doors of the old building.

 

It seemed like a field inside, but the grass looked like it was constantly trimmed and taken care of. In the middle, there was a machine, a giant telescope sticking out through the top of the dome. It looked like a place where astronomy researchers should be.

 

“Do you want to stay here till night? It's almost seven, and in another one hour you could see stars.” Minwoo offered. Rinn nodded. It seemed fun, to lay on her back and enjoy a scenery of a sky full of stars.

 

Suddenly, Rinn's phone rang, blaring loudly of Epik High's 'Don't hate me'. She blushed, and went out of the building to answer the call. She flipped open her phone and saw it was her dad.

 

She rolled her eyes, but smiling. Her father was the typical type of worry wart, and was practically crying his eyes out when he heard that Rinn was going to YG High, afraid she couldn't mingle with those rich kids and die of depression.

 

“... yes dad, I'll be late. I'm with my friend, but I promise I'll be back before 10.” Rinn explained. Her dad yelled at her for not informing about it earlier, but nevertheless letting her go. He was quite surprised when he heard Rinn telling him about having friends. It was quite sometime since she had any ever since her mother passed away.

 

“Okay dad. I'll be careful.” Rinn said. “And remember NOT to mingle with guys. Guys are-” her dad nagged. “Dangerous wild beasts, I know. Bye bye, dad.” Rinn continued for her dad. She felt guilty for lying to her dad, but Minwoo didn't seem dangerous. If anyone was dangerous, it probably would be-

 

“I don't see any dangerous wild beasts around.” Rinn turned around to see Yukwon at the entrance, his hands in his pockets, the same smirk lingering on his lips. “Uh, hi.” Rinn said quickly before heading back towards the door. Yukwon raised his brows in amusement.

 

To her surprise, Yukwon lifted his leg, blocking the entrance. Rinn winced as Yukwon leaned towards her, narrowing his eyes. “Awkward around me? Don't worry, I won't bite.” he bared his teeth, then chuckled.

 

Rinn gulped, unsure what to say. She wasn't exactly awkward, she was more like scared. His presence was overwhelming, almost suffocating for Rinn. His eyes that were full of mystery and felt dangerous was what scared Rinn the most. She couldn't read him at all.

 

“N- no. I'm fine.” Rinn stuttered, stepping back. Yukwon put his leg down and crossed his arms as he leaned against the door frame, studying Rinn silently.

 

Yukwon felt Rinn was weird. His first instict told him Rinn was a girl, but he couldn't see why Rinn was dressing up as a guy. This unknowingly made him drawn interest in Rinn. He find her interesting.

 

“Soo... I'm thinking of being very frank...” Yukwon said, going towards Rinn. Rinn stepped back, and before she knew it, her back scraped against the trunk of a tree. Her eyes wildly looked around, before she could even bolt, Yukwon grabbed her hand and flung her back to the tree.

 

He slammed his palm right above her shoulder, trapping her nicely. Rinn shrunk, her heart pounding crazily against her ribcage. Yukwon was feeling contented. He was already expecting this sort of reaction. “Are you sure you're a guy?” he went on, to confirm his conclusion.

 

“I- I... am...” Rinn tripped over her words, shrinking under his intense gaze. Suddenly his shadow cleared. “What do you think you're doing?!” Minwoo's voice came, hard and tense. He yanked his shoulder and pushed him aside, causing Yukwon to stumble.

 

“Chill man. I was just checking her out, something you would do.” Yukwon said, coolly shugging his shoulders. Minwoo blushed. “No I won't, you beast! What are you talking about? I didn't know you were gay.” Minwoo quickly retorted.

 

“Are you okay? I'm so sorry for my friend. He's a bit... wild sometimes.” Minwoo said, pulling her away from the tree's shade. Rinn hugged her arms closer, nodding.

 

“I didn't know you were gay too.” Yukwon sneered. “I'M NOT!” Minwoo snapped, his face turning red. “If both of us weren't gay, then it must be something wrong with that guy. Right? Miss Rinn?” Yukwon said.

 

Minwoo turned to Rinn, bewildered. “Miss?” he croaked hoarsely. Rinn nodded meekly.

 

“Oh damn. I knew something was wrong.” Minwoo mumbled. He let out an exasperated sigh, walking in small, troubled circles. Yukwon looked on, leaning against the tree, hiding himself.

 

Finally, he stopped, his arms dropped by his sides. “What? Why? How?” he asked, not giving eye-contact, as if embarrassed. This time it was Rinn's turn to sigh.

 

“Long story.” was all she could think of. “It's okay. We have the whole night.” Yukwon said, shrugging. Rinn was about to mention her curfew when Minwoo in, “No Yukwon. No later than 10pm.” he said firmly.

 

“Let's go in first.” Minwoo suggested. A red-white checkered picnic cloth had been spread, with food and drinks laid on it. Minutes later, they were all spread out on the grassy ground, watching stars.

 

Minwoo sighed. “I used to look at the stars like this when I was younger. My mom doesn't allow me to lie on the grass. But whatever.” he chuckled. Rinn silently turned to see his profile gleaming under the moonlight. There was a little smile playing on his lips and his eyes were misty, as if catching moonlight in it.

 

“Its rude to stare.” Yukwon whispered over her shoulder. Rinn turned around, shocked. “I'm not staring, okay?” Rinn whispered back, hoping the darkness of the night could hide her blushing face.

 

“I'm jealous.” Yukwon said flatly, giving a little pout as he closed his eyes, his arms folding behind his head. Rinn froze as first, but shrugging off the comment. He couldn't have possibly meant it anyways.

 

Rinn took the opportunity to observe him. She found that he wasn't as scary with his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling in a regular fashion. It was soothing, and almost comforting. His jaw was strongly set though he was sleeping and his lips were not playing the smirk that was intimidating to Rinn.

 

“Like what you're looking at?” Yukwon suddenly twitched open one eye, smirking. Rinn quickly turned away from him and to Minwoo. Yukwon chuckled to himself. Cute, he thought.

 

“You know, I like looking at stars too. It reminds me of my mother.” Rinn cleared and said something to warm the frozen air. “Me too.” Yukwon unexpectedly agreed. Rinn checked his eyes for any sign of sarcasm, but he was serious, his eyes sad and lost.

 

“Of my dad, I mean. He's always there, you know, and suddenly he wasn't. He was a cool person.” Yukwon said, looking above to the endless sea of stars. Rinn laughed. “That's what I thought too. The way my dad told me about my mom seemed like she was a superhuman.” she said.

 

“Yeah.” Yukwon whispered, chuckling. He suddenly cleared his throat. “Any drinks around?” he asked, his voice returning to the usual air of chill it had. Minwoo tossed him a can of cool soda water.

 

Yukwon popped it open and took a long swig, then spat it out. “What the hell is this?!” he coughed, wiping his mouth on the sleeve of his uniform.

 

Minwoo chuckled as he passed another can of soda water to Rinn. “That's soda water. Welcome to YG High.”