“Did Appa set you both up on this?” Joohyun asked with a frown. She did not want her father to mingle with her life more than he already was.

"Of course not! Even if he did offer us, why would you think we would even agree?" Minho replied with a smirk, hands resting on his hips. This made the girl blush with embarassment that she had thought way too highly of herself.

"I'm sorry. I guess I was just too full of myself." She apologized, head hanging down. What she did not expect as a reply, was the chuckle that followed.

"Gee! You're still such an easy target! We may not have been arranged to attend classes with you but we wouldn't mind. Either or, you'll be trapped with us since it's not like you have any other friends, right?" The  tan boy smiled his signature bright grin, pinching her cheeks. 

"Yah!! You made me thought for a moment that I was a bad person!" She yelped at Minho's playful act and hit him on his shoulders, making him feign a pained look.

As the two friends went on with their mischeivous arguments and back-talks, Jonghyun, who had been silent, decided to speak up. "Don't worry, Seohyun. He's only being demure. He 'loves' the idea of sharing classes with you." 

As soon as those words came out, Minho sent his buddy a death glare, followed by a serious punch on the stomach that made the latter grunt in pain. "Pardon me?" The tan boy threatened. The other immediately raised his arms in defeat and waved them, indicating that he had meant nothing at all. "Good!" The attacker said with a satisfied smile.

The situation they were now in was exactly how it had been years ago. The two boys would always fight with the girl clueless about how it all started. But knowing they meant no real harm to each other, she would allow herself to find amusement in their childish fights and even join in, at times. While this all seem too familiar and made her reminise about old times, her mind could not help but replay Jonghyun's words and Minho's sharp and immediate respnse.

What is going on, she thought.

After a while, when the pale boy had finally recovered from the pain, the trio continued their bickering until the party was over and everyone had left.

"See you tomorrow at campus then!" Minho said, giving her a goodbye hug. This was a ritual that the three shared ever since they were kids. Whenever they had to head back to their individual mansions after a small gathering at the park, they would hug each other and bid their farewells.

The boy seemed to have such a hard time letting go of Joohyun that Jonghyun had literally pulled him away to get his share of her hug. She giggled at the scene and waved them goodbye as they walked back to their houses on the same street.

There was no dress code for university, especially when you're a Music student like Joohyun was. Nonetheless, the Freshman girl wanted to keep things simple and decent. After all, she had literally begged her father to further her studies because she wanted to learn and pursue her hobby instead of chasing after boys. So, she was quite happy that her butler had chosen to cloth her in a denim button-up, white jeans and yellow ballet flats. She then threw on a matching sunshine yellow satchel before going down for breakfast.

As she settled down for a piece of toast and jam, her father spoke up.

"Changmin is going with you to school."

Joohyun blinked a couple of times in disbelief.

"Appa! You can't seriously mean that!"

"Of course I do!! I can assure you that paparazzis will be all over you today. If you don't have Changmin around you, you'll will not survive your very first day."

"But..."

"No buts, Hyunnie!! You don't want to create trouble for your schoolmates, do you?"

The girl became silent and bit her lips. Her father was right. As much as she yearned for a normal and free school life, her status as a socialite restricted its possibilities. Rather than requesting something that is impossible and bothering the staffs and students, she would allow her butler to follow her around, at least for one day as a trial or until the media's interests in her died down.

"Ok then. But appa, you promise that only Butler Shim will be around me and no other bodyguards?"

Mr. Seo smiled and nodded. "Of course. Changmin will suffice ten guards."

Joohyun was slightly surprised at the fact, wondering if it was only a bluff but let it off. "I'll leave then. Wouldn't want to be late on my first day."

Kissing her father on his cheek and bidding goodbye, she left the mansion with her butler, taking the house's black SUV to school.

She had told the chaffeur to drop her off in the parking lot of the university instead of the front gate. She did not want to catch any attention or give others the wrong impression that she was cocky by letting everyone witness she had an expensive car to drive her around. It took her a ten-minute walk to get to the school gate but she did not mind at all until she saw a couple of suspicious fellows with heavy cameras, poking around as if looking for something. She mentally prayed that they were not after her for she knew that the school had a lot of celebrity attendees. They may be after them and not me, she thought. 

But to avoid any unnecessary attention, she slowed her pace. However, with Changmin tagging behind her in a black suit, it was hard not to stand out. Not to mention she did not have a pair of sunglasses or a cap to conceal her identity. As she contemplated how she could get pass them without being noticed, a sudden loud cry spoiled her plan before she could even think of one.

"Why the serious face, Joohyun?" The voice was immediately recognized by her and had caught the attention of the prying reporters as well. Before the girl could even scold Minho for blowing her cover (not that she had one at all), the paparazzi was already chasing after her like a pack of lions after a vulnerable prey. For a moment, she frozed, not able to move a single bit until a hand pushed her towards her two childhood friends. 

"You two, bring her to the school office. I'll deal with them!"

Before she could understand the situation, Minho and Jonghyun were already dragging her to the said location while Changmin stayed behind to fend off the reporters. 

After a five minute run and a lot of coughing and panting, the trio reached the office where Joohyun was to register. When she had gotten her timetable and a school map plus other important information like school policies and operating hours of different facilities, she went out to meet her friends. Minho was scratching his head.

"I'm really sorry for the outburst. I did not know what a chaos it would cause." He started, eyes looking down at the floor. The girl had wanted so badly to lecture him but knew it was in his nature to be careless and overly passionate.

"It's okay, I'm sure you didn't mean it. You would never have anticipated the result. Just don't do it next time." She said in reply, giving him a pat on the back.

"I told you to be careful," The other boy said with a knowing smile. "You're lucky that Changmin hyung was there to deal with those scary reporters."

"Hyung?" Joohyun asked as she heard how Jonghyun had addressed her butler. "You know him that well?"

"Well, we're not really that close but we have seen him a couple of times when we would visit Mr. Seo. Your father told us to address him that way, so we did." The paler boy explained. Then he added, "We should probably head to class now. It's already 5 minutes to 8, we wouldn't want to get detention, right?"

The other two nodded and they all set off for the Arts building where they were all going to attend the same class --- Music theory.

The teacher had been most kind and the lesson was not at all difficult but one thing bothered Joohyun--- her classmates. 

They had been murmuring and whispering the moment Mrs. Lee introduced her to the class. She had wondered how they could have known about her until she caught a student holding up a piece of news article with a picture of her from her tea party. Trying to ignore the buzzing noises and concentrate on the class, she busied herself with jotting down notes. The gossiping died down after a good half hour as her classmates began dozing off, including Minho. She had stared at him with disbelief and Jonghyun gave her an understanding nod, hinting that their friend was always like that.

"He is taking BBA and Music all at once so he's quite exhausted." Jonghyun whispered to her. She was quite surprised by the revelation but was fully aware why this was the case. Minho's parents have high expectations that he should overtake the familiy business one day. He probably had enrolled in BBA to please his family while studying music at the same time to pursue his dreams. In a way, Minho was having a more difficult life than she did.

When the bell had rung to indicate the end of the class, Minho had woke up with a startle causing his two friends to giggle.

"What?" He barked, clearly annoyed that he was made fun of.

AN:

Hopefully you guys are still keeping up with the story since I have not been getting any comments lately :P

Not that I am complaining though since I have 32 lovely subscribers, for which I am really thankful for!

It will make my day to hear from you guys!!