It was time for ninth grade graduation soon, and Sarang decided to attend to congratulate Minseok with Luhan and Sehun; Eunji had to attend her brother’s ninth grade graduation at another nearby school and opted for sending Minseok her congratulations through Sarang and Luhan.

The graduation was where Sarang met Kim Jongin.

“He’s our friend,” Luhan introduced blandly, not liking the intrigued look in Sarang’s eyes. Damn it, Kim Jongin, why do you have to be so good-looking? He’d never had any problems with Jongin’s ability to get girls’ attention simply by existing, but he surely had a problem with Sarang being one of the girls who was attracted to him. What he didn’t know, however, was that Sarang was only intrigued by his mysterious aura; he was quieter than most boys at the age of puberty, much calmer. He seemed more mature, and it fascinated Sarang that a boy could have such an adult-like presence.

Jongin only offered Sarang a curt and wordless nod of his head, but Sarang didn’t peel her gaze away.

“Umm…hi, I’m Jung Sarang.” He spared another look at her and saw none of the usual moony eyes every other girl had usually given him; those girls annoyed him. But he decided this girl was different and his eyes were less cold when gazing upon her.

Unfortunately, Luhan noticed and pouted childishly.

“He never talks to girls much, so I was getting a bit worried that you two wouldn’t get along…but it seems he likes you!” Sehun smiled happily. Sarang blinked before turning a fair shade of red and looking down at her feet. The corner of Jongin’s lip twitched up in the slightest trace of an amused smirk, aggravating an already-annoyed Luhan. Wipe that devilishly handsome smirk off your face, you punk.

No more words were exchanged because the graduation ceremony began and the valedictorian gave her speech before diplomas were handed out. Luhan, Sarang, Sehun, and even the silent Jongin cheered like maniacs when Minseok’s name was called. Not that he needed it; as the captain of the soccer team and quite the goofball, Kim Minseok had his fair share of friends and admirers among the student body. The whole gym reverberated with the deafening cheers he received.

“Minseok sunbae’s really popular, isn’t he?” Sarang commented in awe, loud enough for the two boys sitting by her, Jongin and Luhan, to hear.

Luhan frowned. “I’ll have you know that I’m quite popular too,” he notified with a bruised ego and Sarang shrugged.

“Well, yes, but you’ve never had your entire student body cheer for you before,” she argued. “Minseok sunbae can be quite charismatic.”

Luhan clenched his fists and Jongin chuckled at his hyung’s reaction. “I have lots of charisma too!” he proclaimed childishly, contradicting his statement.

Sarang laughed. “Keep telling yourself that, oppa,” she patted his shoulder comfortingly, officially landing the final blow on his ego.

He jumped to his feet and scowled at her angrily. “Hey!”

The entire gym went silent and the principal stopped reading off the list of names at his unintentionally loud outburst. All eyes were pinned on him and Sarang began tugging on his sleeve in mortification.

“Luhan oppa, sit down!” she whispered pleadingly, torn between guffawing and feeling mortified for her best friend, and Luhan sat. But he was in a sour mood. Hmmph, she doesn’t know how awesome and charismatic I can be too! I’ll show her, all right. I’ll show her that when compared to me, Minseok hyung’s popularity is nothing!

After the ceremony, the group congregated outside, congratulating Minseok on his graduation while his parents took pictures of them all together.

While they were making plans to go out afterwards, Luhan suddenly pulled out his phone and pressed it to his ear to make it seem like he was taking a call. “Hello? Jinhyuk hyung? The arcade?” He peeped out of the corners of his eyes and saw Sarang looking at him curiously. Bingo. “Sorry, I can’t. Maybe next time, yeah?”

Song Jinhyuk was the soon-to-be captain of the varsity soccer team, which meant he was soon to be one of the most socially significant kids in the school. This would no doubt make Sarang rethink Luhan’s popularity as well!

“Who was that?” Sarang asked when Luhan tucked his phone back into his pocket and he bit back a smile. Get your swag on, Luhan!

“Oh, Jinhyuk hyung?” Luhan flipped his bangs out of his face casually. “He’s just a friend.”

“Really? You should’ve gone to meet him,” Sarang replied easily and Luhan was sent into a stupefied silence for a short pause. Doesn’t she see how charismatic that was? I just said I’m friends with Song Jinhyuk! Song Jinhyuk! Okay, time to step up the game.

Again, he held the phone to his ear. “Hello? Oh, Nayoung?” Sarang turned to look at him again with those curious eyes of hers. “You want to meet up where? Oh, Hyunji and Soyeon are there too? I don’t think I can do today though, girls. I know, I’m disappointed too, but I’m at my friend’s graduation ceremony right now.”

“It’s over though,” Minseok chimed in, taking Luhan by surprise. His eyes widened at the unexpected kink in his plans. No, hyung, stay out of it! Don’t ruin the plan! “If you have other places to be, then I don’t want to hold you back. Thanks for coming though.”

“No, I’m—”

“Yeah, Luhan oppa,” Sarang chimed in. “Go and have fun with your other friends.”

This isn’t going according to plan! Luhan was on the verge of tearing his hair out by the roots, but he kept his cool and tried his best to imitate those actors in dramas when they were being all suave and cool. “But what about you, Sarang? Will you be okay?”

“What about me?” Sarang repeated with a shrug. “I have Minseok sunbae and Sehun. Plus, I can get to know Jongin more. Apparently he’s in the same grade as me!” Everyone looked at Luhan like they were expecting him to smile and wave while going to meet his other friends, but there were a couple things wrong with this:

1. He didn’t want to go meet his other friends, he wanted to look cool in front of Sarang, and

2. He didn’t really have any other friends waiting for him.

Which meant he was left to panic to himself on the inside.

“Well, go on,” Minseok encouraged before turning to Sarang, Jongin, and Sehun. “So where do you guys want to go for dinner? I’ll treat tonight.” As they excitedly began discussing dinner options, they began walking away, even stopping to wave at Luhan one more time before disappearing out the school gates.

Luhan wanted to throw a temper tantrum. This isn’t how it was supposed to happen!

Sarang laughed so hard that her stomach ached and she doubled over while clutching it, unable to stop guffawing.

If she’d thought Minseok had been funny before, she was dead wrong; he was even funnier than she’d expected. Evidently, Sehun and Jongin thought the same.

“You know, this is the most I’ve seen you laugh, Sarang,” he noted with interest when they’d all settled down to a certain degree.

“I’m pretty quiet,” she said with a shy smile, aware that she’d let her guard down around these boys.

“Come to think of it, I always thought you just didn’t like us,” Sehun said, taking a long sip of his boba, “and that was why you stopped coming to church after that one Sunday.”

“Oh.” Sarang went quiet again, wondering how to explain her mys