Soojin's POV

"I don't get it!" I shouted in frustration. The words of my history textbook started to look less like words and more like ancient lettering that no one would ever be able to decipher.

"Oh sweetie," Jina said concerned. "Here, let's go over it again."

"It's no use," I sighed. "I'm going to get held back a year at this rate. And because of this one stupid subject!" Because Chanyeol was unable to tutor me, I was too ashamed to ask for another. If I did, questions would be raised and I didn't want to answer them. What was I supposed to say exactly? Besides, I knew I wouldn't learn as well as I did with Chanyeol.

"Soojin," Jina tried again. "History is like one big story. You have to think of all of these people as characters and the conflict as the plot of the story."

"Easy for you to say," I let out another breath of frustration. "This is a story you've known all your life. How am I supposed to learn this 700 page book in less than a year? I'm not a genius!"

Jina laughed at this. "You're not a genius, true. But you are an intelligent girl. You've come a long way since your first day. You just have to be patient and continue working hard." she encouraged.

"Can we take a break?" I asked. We've been trying to decipher my history textbook for almost six hours now. I'm sure Jina needed a break too.

"I'll get dinner ready," Jina said, looking at the clock.

"Let's just order in," I suggested. "You're probably just as tired as I am to be cooking."

Jina smiled and gave me a nod. "Okay, what do you want?"

"You pick." I told her, when my phone rang. It was Suho. "I'll be in my room. Hello?"

I walked up the stairs towards my room, surprised at the phonecall.

"Hey, what's up?" Suho answered.

"Nothing, losing battle after battle with the horror that is history," I told him. I walked out onto my porch and breathed in the cool, fresh air. The weather was slowly starting to warm, which meant spring was on its way...which meant the end of the school year...which meant one thing for me, for Chanyeol. "What's up with you oppa? It's been a while since you called me."

Suho laughed embarrassed. "Sorry about that, I've been pretty busy myself. Senior year really isn't something to be taken lightly." he said as I nodded as if he would have seen.

"So what gives me this pleasure?" I asked. I couldn't help but to be curious and susipcious. Suho and I were close, but we rarely called each other to just "talk". Oh no, is he calling because Chanyeol told him what happened that night at the playgrund? Is he calling me to tell me I'm a horrible person? I started to get so nervous, I couldn't stay still and started to pace back and forth on my porch.

"No reason," Suho replied. "I just feel like I barely see you anymore since we got back to school."

"Awh come on, there has to be a reason why you called." I urged nervously. If he was calling to yell at me, I rather get it over with.

"No really!" Suho exclaimed with a chuckle. "I know we only met in the beginning of the school year, but you're still a really good friend of mine. Is it so wrong to want to have a nice conversation with a friend?"

I narrowed my eyes to the distance, not fully buying what he was trying to sell. But I decided to play along to see where it would go. "Alright, I'm sorry." I said. "I'm flattered."

Suho laughed again. "Yeah, I've been feeling oddly nice these days."

For the next hour, we talked about everything under the night sky. Random things that had nothing to do with anything. It was nice. It's been a while since I had a conversation with someone that didn't have to do with the problems in my life. It was refreshing and was a nice moment to appreciate what I had at the moment.

"No way! Are you serious?" I laughed, my cheeks starting to hurt.

"Whatever, you didn't hear it from me. Baek will kill me if he found out I told you," Suho laughed on the other end.

"Soojin! Food is here!" Jina called from downstairs.

"Hey oppa, I gotta eat dinner," I told him, reluctant to hang up. I was enjoying myself, something I hadn't done in a really long time. "But thanks for the call. I had a lot of fun."

"Anytime Soojin, you helped me with a little stress-freeing myself. Thanks," Suho replied. "Let's hang out more often okay? I know you and Chanyeol are...you know. But that doesn't mean we still can't hang out right?"

I bit my lip, feeling guilty for making him feel that way. "Of course oppa. Sorry..."

Suho laughed. "No apology necessary, I get it. Anyways, go and eat. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay, thanks," I said, ready to hang up.

"Oh wait!" Suho called after me. I put my phone back to my ear. "I know Chanyeol said he couldn't tutor you anymore right?"

"Yeah..." I answered quietly. Don't remind me.

"Do you want me to help?" he offered.

"Huh?" It threw me off. Suho tutor me in history?

"You may not know this, but I'm just as smart as Chanyeol," he chuckled.

"Are you serious?" I laughed at his self-compliment. "But you said you were busy with your own stuff."

"Hey! Do you want my help or not?" he said jokingly offended.

"You would be a life saver," I answered gratefully.

"See you tomorrow after school then," he concluded and we hung up.

I rushed down the stairs at the smell of pizza. Even after all that has happened during my first year in Seoul, I couldn't be more grateful that I had met such wonderful people in my life.

*****

Chanyeol's POV

"Hey, I'm outside," I said into my phone.

"I'll be right out," she responded.

The nights were beginning to warm as spring was starting to arrive. I looked up at the clear night sky, happy to see the stars once more. My heart sank a little seeing those twinkling lights up at the night. They always reminded me of someone. I wondered if she was looking at the stars that moment too.

My sister went back to China for a last minute business meeting. After our conversation that night, I honestly didn't know how our father was going to take it. She was going to tell our parents about the engagement when she returned back to Seoul next week, and this time she was going to bring her fiance. It was deifnitely going to be an interesting night.

But before any of that, I had to get something done of my own.

"Oppa!" the gate opened and I turned to see Minji with a bright smile on her face. "What's the occasion? You never come visit!"

"Hi Minji," I said as nicely as I could. "I wanted to talk about something..."

"Of course, what is it?" Do you wanna talk inside?" she asked with glowing eyes.

"No, I have to head home soon." I said with a softer voice than usual. I had been planning on what to tell her for the past couple of days and for some reason, I suddenly grew the heart to not try and hurt Minji. Admittingly, I never liked her in that way and I knew I never would. But no matter what I said, she was still a childhood friend. Sure, she wasn't a great perosn and a spoiled brat, but she cared for me a lot more than a lot of the people in my life. She put my happiness before her own and I was always grateful for that. "Minji...we need to talk."

Minji's smile immediately disappeared into a concerned expression. "What is is oppa? Is everything okay? Did something happen?"

I scratched the back of my neck, unsure of how to go about this. I took a breath and it up. There was no way I could sugar coat it. "What do you think about this?"

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"About this. About us, getting married." I clarified. "How do you feel about it?"

"What do you mean oppa? I'm ecstatic of course!" she exclaimed, her smile reappearing on her face. "I can't wait until our wedding day!"

"Let me ask you something else," I continued. "How do you think I feel about it?

Minji's smile disappeared once more, but her expression replaced with sadness this time."I..."

"I'm not here to start anything, I just think that we need to have a serious talk about the situation. We never did before and I think that we should now," I told her.

"I..." she struggled. "I know you're not happy with it."

I was surprised to hear her admit this out loud so quickly. Maybe she wasn't as clueless as I thought.

"I know you don't want to marry me. I know you like Soojin. And I'm sorry that I'm not her." Minji continued, unable to look at me in the eyes. "But what can we do? This is what our parents want."

"Minji," I said, starting to feel more guilty. "I like you. You've been one of my oldest friends. But you know that no matter how much time we spend together, I will never develop those kind of feelings for you right?"

Minji slowly nodded, seeming to grow smaller and smaller.

"And you know that...even if we get married, it's not going to change anything right?" I said softly, trying to make the burn as painless as possible.

She nodded again, her head bending further towards the ground. Regardless of all the bad stuff I said about her, I had felt bad. I felt bad that I couldn't reciprocate her feelings after all these years. I felt bad that I couldn't have been nicer to her. I felt bad for making her feel bad. She didn't do anything wrong - for the most part anyways. She was just a girl with feelings for a boy that fate never meant to have reciprocated.

"And you know...that as your husband I will never be happy? Not truly anyways." I asked. If she didn't know, she knew now. I felt horrible for letting her know this way, but I didn't want to hurt her any further than I already have. If we were going to do this, she needed to know what she was getting into, without false hope or any other expectations.

She nodded slowly once more, with a sniffle this time.

"I'm sorry Minji," I said. "I'm really sorry."

We stood there for a few minutes. I wasn't sure of what I could say to make her feel better without lying to her. It was just the way it was. If we were going to be husband and wife within a matter of months, I didn't want to be a liar on top of the man that will never love her.

She in a deep breath and looked up at me. "I'm sorry too," she croaked. "I'm sorry it has to happen this way. I know how much you were against it, and I'll admit that I didn't make it very easy for you either. And so for that, I am sorry too."

I gave her a soft smile, for gratitude and apology.

"But you heard your father, there is nothing that we can do. Even if there was, our engagement has been announced. I don't think either of our dad's want to meddle with news that has already been made public." she said truthfully. "I wish there was something we can do, but you and I both know that there isn't. Not when it comes to the reputation of their business."

"What if there was?" I finally said. This was it.

"Huh?" she asked with another confused look on her face.

"What if there was something we can do about it?" I asked again, starting to get hopeful.

"Like what?" Minji asked, unsure of where this was going.

"I found a way we can take control of the situation," I told her. "But I need you to be on board with it to make it successful."

Minji looked at me with wide eyes, still confused as to what I was asking of her. I grabbed her hand in both of mine and looked at her as intensely as I could, this was my desperation starting to seep through.

"Minji," I said softly, full of determination. "We can't let this wedding happen. We can't get married. For both of our happiness' sake. You know that I won't be happy and I know that you won't be happy knowing that. We can't move forward with this plan."

Minji bit her lip and it reminded me of Soojin. My heart soared, feeling a rush of adrenaline, more determined than ever. She blinked and looked up at me with sad but determined eyes.

"What do I have to do?"

A/N:

i know we all hate minji and all, but girl's got a heart too! T-T
hopefully you'll start to soften up to her now hehe
what could chanyeol's crazy plan be? WHAT COULD IT BE? LOL

i lost a few subscribers...ow..my heart T-T
i'm sorry to see you go~
i'm so sad...

i hope the rest of you stick around <3
subscribe, comment, upvote. i'll love you forever :)

baek can be such a cutie sometimes forreal....

LOL his ears, i just noticed~ LOLOL

chanhan flirting lol

much love, thatxmusic