In the school bus, you take a seat towards the front, next to the window. All the girls stare in envy at you, and you stare quietly at the window. You eavesdrop on the two girls gossiping who sit just behind you.
“Look at her, she thinks she’s queen just because the teacher assigned her to sit next to Daniel oppa.” comments a girl in a harsh tone.
“I completely agree. She feels so high about herself, when really, she’s just a lonely girl with no friends.” replies her friend.
You sigh and stare out the window again. You try not to care, but deep inside, you do, and it is killing you. You can practically feel the eyes of all the girls pierce through your chair and into the back of your head. You hated judgement and gossip, since you have experienced it in every school you have been to. This is why you became the ice-princess, so you could make it seem like you were not a vulnerable and weak target.

All of the boys teasingly shove Niel saying how lucky he is. Niel silently takes his seat next to you blushing. As the guys walk past, they continually make comments about Niel and you.
“Look at Daniel, he got a seat next to noona.” said a guy in a jealous tone.
“That pig! Next to the ice princess?!” yelled another guy.
“I wish I was him.” wished another guy.

Even in the midst of all the loud comments made by the guys, you still hear the whispers spreading around the room.
“Just because she’s pretty, doesn’t mean she can act like a and get all the guys to kneel down to her.”
“I can’t stand how annoying she is, always acting cute and stuff!”
You can feel your heart ache. But even with the disheartenment from all the judgement, the one thing you can think of is that you hope that Niel doesn’t hear them. But destiny does not allow this wish, and Niel hears them, loud and clear. He turns around, and points his finger to the end of the bus.

“Hey, I chose to sit here because Yuri-ah is really nice to me!” he yells at no one in particular. “Yeah!”
His awkward ‘yeah’ sends everyone in the bus laughing. They all laugh hysterically at Niel’s awkwardness of speech, and everyone begins chatting normally. You face turns red and suddenly you’re embarrassed to sit next to Niel. You quickly shake your head and forget it.

After a few hours in theb bus, you steal a glance at Niel. His head rests while he leans on his elbow, and his lips are slightly apart. His eyes are shut gently, and his body rocks to the movements of the bus.
“Thanks,” you whisper quietly that you’re almost inaudible. “Thanks for everything.”
He sleeps peacefully like a puppy by your side.

As you step off the bus, you see a grand entrance saying, 'Camp Acorn’. The carved sign is decorated on chipped wood and wooden acorn cutouts hanging in the bottom of the sign. The teacher assigns everybody in their cabin groups. You are in a group with Maria, two other classmates and Minwoo. From the corner of your eye, you see Niel grouped with all his fan girls. You see him look at you as he mouths the word ‘help’, but you simply flick your head in the other direction. He looks at you then you see his eyes shift between you and Minwoo.

“Will you accept my request to go out with you?” asks Minwoo ask your group walks to the next activity.
“Ah,” you say, just remembering his extravagant letter of confession.
Maria squeals ever so silently, happy for you. Without thinking, you accept with a simple nod of the head, because Minwoo was a good and friendly person that you were interested in, to a certain degree. Minwoo wraps his fingers around your hand, and you stare at his hand awkwardly.

As you walk, traveling from one activity to another, you and Minwoo hold hands. Soon enough, you walk past Niel’s group. All the girls in the group cling desperately onto Niel’s arms.
“Ah, Ga-yun Yuri and No Minwoo,” says a girl in the group, surprised. “You’re dating?”
“Uh—” says Minwoo.
“That’s wonderful!” exclaims another girl before he could properly say anything.
“I hope your relationship thrives well.” says Niel, expressionless. His face is blank, and you can’t tell whether he’s being genuine or not. But for some reason, you want to rip all of the girls’ hands off Niel’s arms. For the sake od Maria, of course, who seems to be boiling next to you.
“Get your hands off Niel.” you say superiorly, making all the girls scared of you. From the corner of your eye, you see Maria mouth ‘thank you’ to you. This is a good thing of being so cold; people tend to obey you.
“No Minwoo, take care of her,” he continues sternly. “Good care of her.” His statement would sound just like a death threat if he wasn’t smiling so warmly at Minwoo.

As you walk off, your boyfriend grips his hand more tightly on to yours.
“Don’t worry,” he says to himself after Niel is long gone. “I will never let her go.”

In the bus you sit next to your boyfriend instead of Niel. You and Minwoo both share earphones and listen to a various arrangement of songs. Eventually he gets bored of just listening to music and he takes out a packet of Pocky.
“Have you heard of the Pocky challenge?” he asks.
You know what he is inferring. You nod in reply.
“Well, we’re only two people, so I guess we have to make a bigger group when we have a stop over.” he says.

The bus stops and the teacher announces that the bus will be stopping for refueling, and dismisses everyone for a break. Everyone's chatter volume increases as they all rush excitedly out of the bus. Then a small group is assembled: you, Minwoo, Niel, 3 fan girls and 3 friends of your boyfriend.
“Let’s play the Pocky challenge!” yells your adorable boyfriend in complete joy.
As a response, everyone bursts into cheers loudly except for you.

Everyone passes normally and slowly, and whenever the girls got near a boy their faces would turn red. Tch, how typical. Even if you are positioned next to both Minwoo and Niel, you don’t even turn one shade of pink. For some strange reason, you’re not even embarrassed. Not until the pocky stick gets much smaller.