One.

“So…?”

You sighed as all five pairs of eyes turned to you. You held your hands up to your face, hoping they would hide your flushing cheeks. “Why do I have to go?!”

“Because you’re the only one left!”

You rolled your eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” you said defensively.

“Come on, give it a shot?” Sunggyu pleaded. “Please?”

You had a soft spot for Sunggyu. You always wanted an older brother and when you entered university, you found the older brother you never had in Sunggyu. He was the one that came up to you on the first day of classes when he saw you alone, made friends with you and invited you to lunch with his friends. Since then you never had to lunch alone ever again.

You looked around at the other faces at the table – Myungsoo, Sungyeol, Dongwoo and Woohyun. All of them were his friends and they eventually became your friends. Really good friends. The six of you were a clique in university, despite you being the only girl.

All five of them were eagerly trying to persuade you to go on a date with this new transfer student, Lee Howon. He was more commonly known as Hoya though. He was the quiet, brooding sort and he had been attracting a lot of female attention because of his quiet, mysterious presence in school, and that he had impressive dancing skills.

You were the only one single in the group. They all had girlfriends for a while now. You had met all their girlfriends, except for Dongwoo’s and Myungsoo’s. You couldn’t keep up since Myungsoo was changing them so frequently. As for Dongwoo, he never really mentioned his girl in front of you guys and you left it at that.

“Do you know how many hours I had to spend at the PC café just to build up that level of friendship with him?” Sungyeol stated exasperatedly, holding his hands high for emphasis. “It wasn’t easy to get him to agree!”

“But…”

Woohyun hit you lightly on your arm. “No more buts, young lady. You are going to try to see if it can work out. You can’t depend on us all the time.”

“Well actually you can,” Dongwoo cut in. “But you know what Hyun means.” He was another big brother figure. You had a minor crush on him when you were first introduced because he was so charismatic, but you soon realized he was attached. So you hid those feelings, and you decided to see him as an older brother instead. Things seemed to be better that way.

“Besides…” Myungsoo started and looked hesitatingly at the rest. “My girlfriend is starting to say things.”

Sunggyu rolled his eyes. “Everyone in school knows that we’re all good friends. What is she getting jealous for?”

“Well…”

You waved your hand for them to stop. You were used to it. The girls in school always spoke about you. Thinking you had motives for hanging around a group of guys almost all the time. Truth was, you just couldn’t click with the girls no matter how hard you tried. It was just so much easier and more comfortable to hang out with the guys. And besides, the guys saw you as one of them.

“They can call me a for all I care. I don’t have any intentions on any of you at all.”

Myungsoo widened his eyes. “No, no, no! Don’t get me wrong, she didn’t call you a .”

You laughed. “It’s okay Myungsoo. I understand where she’s coming from. I would get worried too if my future boyfriend hangs out as often as we do, with another girl.”

Sunggyu put his arm around your shoulder. “Don’t worry, you’ll always have us to count on. If my girlfriend starts complaining about you, I’m dumping her.”

“Aw, you would?” You looked appreciatively at Sunggyu.

“But not so soon. This one was a really hard one to get.”

The table laughed as Sunggyu sank into his seat, looking sheepish.

“Oh, wait…So what am I going to tell Hoya?”

You looked at the expectant eyes around you. You had been single for the longest time. You just weren’t looking for anyone. But you could tell the guys were definitely eager for you to find someone.

“I…guess I could try.”

Sungyeol pumped his fist in the air. “Finally! I’m going to tell Hoya you said yes, alright? I think he got the both of you tickets to this new play that just came to town.”

“Wow, play,” you muttered, slightly impressed. You weren’t expecting Hoya to be the theatre sort of person. You loved Literature class back in high school. You loved reciting poems and acting out plays. But…Hoya too? Really? “What was the name of the play?”

“Uh…I don’t know…”

The table broke out in laughter again. Sungyeol only cared about listening to his favourite songs on his headphones and playing computer games. Plays and musicals were definitely not his thing.

Dongwoo looked at the half-eaten food on the table that was left abandoned because they got excited about trying to pair you off with Hoya. “Shall we get back to eating?”

You laughed. “Oops, sorry! Yes, let’s finish this up. I want to go to the PC café after this! It’s been ages since we hung out as a big group!”

Woohyun nodded, as he stuffed a piece of chicken in his mouth. “I cleared all my appointments tonight. Bros over hoes, the saying goes. We need some quality time together!”

Myungsoo side-eyed Woohyun. “So…you’re calling your girlfriend a hoe?”

“Come on!”

“Kidding!”

As everyone tucked back into their dinners, you smiled to yourself. You loved being in their company. Like what Woohyun said, you all were like brothers. And you going out with Hoya weren’t going to change a thing.