Jieun tapped her yellow pen on the table again and looked out through the window. The time was almost over and she had no idea what should she write. It was a bright, sunny day with history test. She didn’t study last night, so she couldn’t do the test well. She didn’t like social, though. Jieun cupped her cheek on her left hand and took a glance at Juniel who did the test really well. She answered the essay with long sentences while Jieun answered with a sentence only. Jieun prefer music lesson than social or even science.

“Jieun! Jieun!” someone whispered from the corner of the class. She looked back and found Peniel staring at her. “Can you do this?” he whispered again and Jieun shook her head. “Me too,” he answered and both chuckled in silence. “This is so hard!”

“I know, right!” Jieun answered and sighed lightly, made sure their strict teacher didn’t notice. She looked back to the front when their teacher cleared his throat, giving Jieun and Peniel a warning. She tapped her pen again and looked around to her friends. Some were doing it smoothly, some were frowning and depressed like Jieun, and some were even sleeping because they gave up.

Jieun looked out to the school’s field. Autumn has finally begun. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter, when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier. One of its main features is the shedding of leaves from some trees as they pave way for further growth. And of course, halloween. The weather was cool and crisp, and the sky was blue with few clouds. The heat of summer still seems to linger in September with the daytime being hot, but the weather is cool in the morning and evening. It was the best time for hiking and Jieun was thinking of doing it with BtoB and Juniel. She started to scribble around what should she do and bring, even though it was not fixed yet.

“Okay, time is up! Collect your paper now and you may have your lunch,” the teacher said and stood up in front of the podium. Some students who was sleeping suddenly woke up and wrote anything they could write on their test paper. They were not sure their answer were right, or maybe their answers didn’t make any sense at all.  Unlike Juniel, Jieun stared at her test paper and sighed. She knew she’s going to failed anyway. Peniel patted her shoulder as she stood up and walked towards the podium to collect her paper. She walked out from the room and went to the canteen with duo Niel. I mean Peniel and Juniel. As usual, Juniel sat next to her boyfriend and cuddling each other, Peniel sat next to the leader, and Jieun sat next to her ‘oppa’.

“Hey, how was your history test?” Minhyuk asked when Jieun sat next to him. He was still pretending like she forgot all about her after the car accident.

“Bad. Really bad,” she answered and sighed. Ilhoon offered her his bubble tea and she shook her head as a reply. She didn’t have any mood of eating at that time. If only she could turn back time. “Anyway guys, do you have free time next week?” The others nodded. “Let’s go hiking.”

“Where?” Hyunsik asked and took the last bite of his red velvet.

“Seoraksan mountain? I heard it’s a good place for hiking,” she answered.

“It is. I’ve been there before. Like 2 or 3 years ago,” Changsub said and turned the page of a book of art he was reading.

“Wait, next week?” the leader asked. “I don’t think we can. We’re going to have soccer match next week.”

“Next two weeks?”

“We’re free,” Ilhoon answered and slurped his bubble tea.

“Okay, fixed, we’re going to go at October fourth,” Jieun said and ate the sushi. Juniel gave her.

“Hmm.. I think it’s a special day for one of us,” Hyunsik smirked and took a glance at Ilhoon. October fourth was BtoB’s failed maknae’s birthday.

“Shut up, hyung,” Ilhoon said and covered his face with the plastic glass. “No one remembers.”

“How can I forgot your birthday, kiddo,” Jieun pinched his left cheek and laughed.

“I’m not a kiddo!” he covered his face with both hands and the others cracked up.

“You’re so cute,” she said and messed his hair.

The bell rang. As usual, they went back to their classes and continued the lesson. Even though Jieun was sad because of the History test, she was still excited for the upcoming plan. She bet it would be a great vacation for her and her friends. Before that, they made a desicion to met up when the school is done.

--

“Chocolate ice cream, please,” Eunkwang ordered. According to their plan, they met up at the nearest ice cream shop to have a relaxing time with friends. They usually did this at least twice a month, even though they always met each other at school. But hanging out in the other place always feel better. It was only them. The nine of them. No one else. They talked about everything. School, family, teachers, homeworks, pets, games, and how hard life was. There was no secret between the nine of them, except Jieun and Juniel who shared about girls things. But they didn’t talk about that recently. They were focused on the song they were composing at that time.

“So, what is your plan for nexr week?” Sungjae looked at Jieun who was focus with her phone.

“She’s not going to answer. She didn’t even listen to you,” Ilhoon whispered. Jieun looked up and glared at him.

“I’m not deaf, please,” she answered and looked down to her white phone again. “I’m searching for it right now.”

“There’s a beautiful waterfall,” Changsub suddenly said and scoop vanilla ice cream.

“I love waterfalls,” Peniel said. “I can’t wait to go there.”

“Me too,” she said without looking up again until her order came. Strawberry ice cream with some fancy cookies on top. She threw her phone to the table and started eating it first when the others were still preparing to eat. They stared at her and shook their head simultaneously. Strawberry ice cream was always her favorite since she was really young. It was like turning up her life. She would ate it anytime. When she was sad, when she was happy, when she was depressed, or when she was in love. Well, in fact she never felt in love before. She thought she did, but she was not sure though. And yes, it was with the half-Korean guy who came to Jieun’s life not long before the summer begun.

“This reminding me of my family vacation with Jieun’s family like five or six years ago,” Minhyuk blurted. After a few seconds, when everyone was staring at him in a weird way, he realized something. He shouldn’t have said that. He ‘lost’ his memories. Gladly, Jieun didn’t realized until a couple of minutes later.

“Wait.... your memory is back?!” Jieun hit the table and stared at Minhyuk. He bit his bottom lip and looked at the others worriedly.

“J-J-Juniel told me,” he said, shaking. He tried to smile but all he could do was giving a fake smile.

“Well, that’s weird,” she laid back to her seat and frowned. “I think I never told Juniel about that.”

“So, Jieun, what is your plan for next week?” Eunkwang finally tried to change the topic. He leaned forward and smiled.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “But I’m sure it would be really fun.”

An hour later, they dismissed. Jieun went with Juniel for shopping, Peniel went to a date with Jessica, Minhyuk went home, while the others went to Hyunsik’s house. On Minhyuk’ way home, he couldn’t stop thinking of what he did an hour before. He was so stupid. How could he mentioned something he shouldn’t? Soon or later, Jieun would know everything. She would hate him. He wanted to tell the truth, but he was afraid. Afraid of losing Jieun, his first love. He need to move on. He should. But he couldn’t. Minhyuk shruged and kicked a bottle of can in front of him really hard. Unexpectedly, it hit a girl in front of him. She was like five-meters away from him, but it hit her hard.

“Hey!!” the girl shouted and looked at Minhyuk.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” he apologized and looked up to the girl who stood in front of him. She was wearing white shirt with dark blue blazer, a knee-length skirt, and a brown backpack. Minhyuk stared at her for a second and was sure that it was high school’s uniform. “I’m really sorry!” he repeated. Without saying anything, the girl walked away and sat on the bus stop’s chair. She hissed in pain and took a glance on Minhyuk.

He jogged to her and kneeled down in front of her. Her left calf was bleeding, even though it was not really bad, it seemed hurt. The mouth of the can accidentally scratched her leg. “Does it hurt?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered and bit her lip. Minhyuk quickly opened his bag, pulled out a small, white case and took out a plaster. “It’s fine, it’s fine,” she said and moved away her legs when he was going to stick the plaster.

“Come on, it’s okay,” he said and pulled back her legs. She couldn’t refuse but stared at him.

He’s so kind... she thought.

“There you go,” he said and stood up. “I’m Minhyuk,” he held out a hand.

“I’m Yoona,” she stood up and shook his hand.

Yoona? I think I’ve heard that name before... maybe I’m wrong. He thought.

“I.. gotta go now,” she pulled back her hand and smiled.

“I’m sorry, and nice to meet you, Yoona,” he said as she waved at him and left him behind.

---

“Juniel, something’s wrong,” Jieun said when they were walking around the shopping mall.

“What’s wrong?” she answered and sat on a long chair near a coffee shop. Jieun sat next to her and sighed.

“Minhyuk,” she said.

“What’s wrong with Minhyuk?”

“He’s weird.”

“Weird?”

“Remember just now, he said something about our vacation long time ago. That’s mean his memory is back. But he said that you told him. But I never told you about that, right??” she let out another sigh. At that time, Juniel was absolutely confused. Jieun was right, she never told her about that vacation. She knew Minhyuk lied to Jieun. It was all ruined. She had no choice. She had to tell her about Minhyuk’s secret. Juniel straightened her body and looked at her bestest friend.

“Jieun,” she started and Jieun hummed. Her eyes were locked on the floor. “Look at me,” now Juniel sounded really serious. Jieun looked at her and frowned.

“What happened, Juniel?” she asked.

“I.. I need to tell you something,” Juniel looked deep into her best friend’s eyes. “Minhyuk....”

“Yes?”

“He didn’t lost his memory,” and there she goes. She told her Minhyuk’s top secret. She felt really sorry for Minhyuk, but she had no choice. Soon or later, Jieun would know it by herself and it would hurt both Minhyuk and Jieun. Jieun was frozen for a moment. It was hard for her to accept the reality. Juniel bit her lips. Somehow she regretted to tell her the truth. But she couldn’t do anything.

“So... M-Minhyuk didn’t lost his mind?” her eyes widened as  Juniel shook her head. Jieun wasn’t really sure about her feeling at that time. A part of her felt really happy because Minhyuk remembered everything about her, but another part of her felt disappointed because her best friend -not only best friend, he’s a brother for Jieun- lied to her and that made her felt really bad. But the disappointed feeling won. It was like 80 per cent vs 20 per cent. Jieun stared at the ground and sighed.

Why, oppa.... why..... tears started to flow out from her beautiful eyes.

“But Jieun, there’s something else you need to know.”

“What else?!” she almost shout, but she was too weak.

“Minhyuk has a reason to do that,” she said. Jieun was too tired to reply. She just stared at Juniel and waited for her to tell everything. “He loves you.”

“I know.”

“As a girl, Jieun.”

“What?!” she looked at her.

“He loves you more than you know. He loves you as a women, not a sister or a daughter. He loves you very much. Remember that night on the beach? He cried because you were still pretending like he is your brother, not a man. He wanted to move on, that’s why he said that he lost his memory. He loved you since we were in elementary school,” Juniel explained.

“WHAT?!!” her eyes almost popped out. She never thought like that. She didn’t knew Minhyuk loved her that way. And all this years, he stayed calm even though his crush didn’t see him as a man. “What... should I do?”

“You need to try to be with him. I mean, I know you want him to be happy. His dream is to be your boyfriend. And I wish you can fulfil his dream. You need to try, Jieun. It’s for his own good,” Junie sugested, even she was not really sure about it. Jieun loved Minhyuk as a brother. Not more, not less. She wanted Minhyuk to be happy. But it was complicated. At last, as usual, she fought with her own feelings.

---

A day after Juniel explained Jieun everything about Minhyuk, everything went as usual, until she met Minhyuk face to face. She wanted to slap him on his face for all his lies. At the same time, she wanted to hug him tight. It was hard to hate someone you love so much. It was like hating your own pet.

“You okay?” Minhyuk asked when he met Jieun in front of her locker. She closed her locker and looked at him.

“I hope so,” she shrugged and left Minhyuk.

She’s weird. He thought.

The day went by with awkwardness between them. She refused to talk to him, while he tried to be with her all the time. Everything was so complicated. She wanted to apologize, but she thought he was the one who should do that. He lied to her, and that was awful. She suddenly remembered that Minhyuk did that for moving on. But sometimes Jieun couldn’t accept that. She felt like her life was a mess.

---

Two weeks had passed. It was the day of hiking. BtoB and the others decided to met up at Eunkwang’s house, since they went to the mountain using the leader’s car. The night before, Jieun was busy packing. She never went hiking before, so she was blank. She put in thin clothes and shorts, but a few minutes later she took it out again, afraid if the weather would be cold. At last, she brought a couple of casual blouse, a pair of long pants, and a pair of socks. She also put in first aid kit, in case something happened like when she was in Jeju with Peniel. When she was done packing, she placed her blue sneakers in front of the door and went to sleep earlier.

Jieun woke up early in the morning and got dressed. She was wearing navy blue shirt, white jacket, and skinny jeans. After done with her outfit, she cooked her own breakfast because her parents were still sleeping. It was Saturday, so they didn’t went to work. Jieun made an ordinary pancake and a cup of hot chocolate. She poured the blueberry jam on top of her pancake and started to enjoy her breakfast alone. Her phone buzzed. She pulled out her phone and opened a message from Minhyuk.

[07.11 a.m.] ‘Good morning, Jieun’

Jieun stared at her phone for a few moment and sighed before replying it with a polite greeting. Two weeks had past and the awkwardness was still linger on Jieun. Juniel told Minhyuk that she explained Jieun about everything. He was mad, but he tried to keep calm, because actually it was the best way for them.

After having a peaceful breakfast, Jieun took a post-it, wrote a short message for her parents and sticked it on the fridge’s door. She took her backpack and put on her blue sneakers. Peniel called her and told her that he was going to pick her up.

“Good morning,” Jieun said as she hoped into Peniel’s car.

“Morning,” he replied and started the ride to the leader’s house. Both of them had a warm conversation on the chilly morning.

---

When everyone was there at Eunkwang’s house, they began to place their things on his car’s luggage and got ready for the ride. Changsub with his huge, black backpack, Juniel with a cute, pink backpack, Jieun with her pink backpack as well, Hyunsik and Ilhoon with their brown backpacks, Eunkwang with his brand-new, grey backpack, while Peniel and Minhyuk accidentally brought the same backpack. Exactly the same. Blue backpack with black stripes.

“Are you ready, guys?!” Eunkwang shouted and the car’s engine.

“YES!!!” the others said simultaneously as the car started to move on.

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PHEEWWW FINALLY DONE THE 10TH CHAPTER!!! sorry for the late update. i just finished this chapter ten minutes before i post this. and i'm so sleepy now. so, forgive me if there are typos or wrong grammars......

ANYWAAAAY, i made a trailer for bittersweet high school!! well, yeah, it's kinda late. I made it myself and i'm really proud of it :')

PLEASE ENJOY AND DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE!! :***