"What's that?"

"A notebook obviously." Yixing rolled his eyes at Jongdae before tucking his notebook inside his coat.

Baekhyun's voice came next. "So you went to the washroom to get a notebook?"

"No, Sojin gave it to me."

Baekhyun, Jongdae, Tao and I stopped in our tracks and stared at him incredulously.

"You met with Sojin in the washroom to get your notebook?" Even I couldn't comprehend my own question.

Yixing laughed. "No, of course not. You guys are ridiculous. I was coming back from the washroom when I crossed paths with Sojin and she finally returned my notebook."

"She's here? Right now?" I couldn't stop myself and it was my turn to receive questioning looks.

It was the end of June and we were all done with quarter finals, though I finished mine a week earlier than they did as mandated by the SASD and seconded by the Faculty. Remember the Prefects' meeting last quarter? It was about that.

Effective starting the quarter finals, Prefects were required to take their exams a week earlier than the rest of the school with the aim of having added security during exam weeks. We were tasked to double patrol in the evenings of the 'crucial week' and roam the corridors during exam hours.

You'd think that with such special treatment, it was an opportunity for non-Prefects to dote on Prefects in the hopes of scooping up answers. Not at all.

On the contrary, Prefects had become rigid as bricks, snob as royalty, paranoid as hell, particularly during exam weeks. We were bound to secrecy by our positions and on the first sign of leakage, we would be the first to answer to the SASD full court; anyone found guilty would automatically face expulsion.

We'd decided to pay metropolitan life a visit while we were waiting for our final results - a form of distraction really. It was scheduled to be posted tomorrow and the guys thought it'd be nice to have some fun before we were to face inevitable good or bad news. Now that we were in our sixth mall, we all just wanted to grab a bite and head home.

"Speaking of."

We traced Baekhyun's line of sight and spotted a pale and petite girl skipping tiles by the indoor fountain.

At first, I could hardly make her out through the curtain of sprouting water. As she circled the fountain's mounted boundary, however, her features grew clearer.

Tied in a messy bun behind her head, her dark hair bounced in rhythm to her skipping. She was wearing a black cardigan over her blue flowy, knee-length dress, with black and white sneakers for footwear. But the most striking part was her bespectacled face. It was the first time I'd seen her in glasses and she looked.. Sojin actually looked nice.

Stunning would have been a better description.

"She sure is pretty.." Tao noted.

Yixing nudged my side. "Remember to breathe, Luhan." And winked.

I grunted. "If not for her queer fascination of attracting trouble, she could be decent. I guess."

"Yeeeah -" Jongdae.

"- riiight." Baekhyun.

"What?"

"Er, like it isn't that obvious you like her," said Jongdae.

"Intrigued with her." Baekhyun high-fived all the others except me.

"Am not," I negated calmly. Intrigued, perhaps a little but like, definitely not.

"Sojin-ah." A tall man in blue suit approached her. "Where're your shopping bags? Didn't you get anything? I thought you needed new clothes?"

Sojin simply shook her head.

"Where's your Eomma?"

She squinted her eyes up at him, crossed her arms and shrugged.

"Sojin-ah." He patted her shoulder. "I'm sorry I'm late but I thought you were coming with your friends?"

She gazed absently at the man, her signature lazy eyes unmoving.

"She was."

When did Baekhyun, in his humorous wirey brains, ever decide to join them - oh heaven forbid - what'd gotten into him!

We weren't that far from Sojin and her.. companion so that when they turned towards their intruder, they had a clear view of the rest of us as well.

When Sojin's eyes met mine, she held me in arrest, gaze penetrating. She seemed as sluggish as when I'd first met her, blank on the surface but calculating underneath. If there was any difference at all, it would be the way she was captivating at the moment.

Sojin and I had never spoken to each other outside academic concerns since she had stormed out of my presence the afternoon after her hearing. She still hadn't ceased her random side comments in class but she'd managed to not make it seem like they were addressed to me. By all means, she had been talking to herself.

"Sojin?" The man called to her as he assessed our group.

"Yeah, I almost forgot," she answered, never averting.

For some strange reason, I found myself staring unrelentingly back. It was almost like I wanted to keep her caged in my sight forever.

Another minute passed.

"Sorry," she said at last, piercing my eyes for another ten seconds before turning back to the guy. "These are Baekhyun, Tao, Jongdae, Luhan and Yixing. My classmates. Er," she turned to us this time. "This is Eunjin, my.." She bit her lip, adopting a guilty expression. "My, uh.."

The man stared open-mouthed at Sojin, and I knew exactly what that expression meant: he was mortified that she was so embarrassed to introduce whatever he was to her.

Sojin's eyes, half-lidded still, darted from Baekhyun to Yixing to Jongdae to Tao then back again to Baekhyun then Yixing then Jongdae then Tao before they finally fell on mine. She narrowed her eyes. "He's, er, he's my -"

"I'm her -"

"Fiance," Sojin finished.

"What?" My four companions demanded.

No, make that five, since the mysterious man had asked as well.

Fiance. Right. Wait, fiance? Fiance? Like the one you're betrothed to be wed and to be with til death do you part?

Yes, you idiot. You don't need a dictionary to remind you.

As my mind strained to process everything, Sojin's lips curled up to a smirk at what I imagined was the look of utter horror across my face. Then she sighed, hooking her arm around her.. her.. her fiance's, who, too, was beyond shocked. Why was he shocked?

"Chill, you guys, he's my brother."

It took another freezing moment before Jongdae finally laughed, closely followed by Baekhyun and Tao and even the man himself. Yixing stole a glimpse of me, released a deep, funny breath before joining in the laughter.

I simply managed an airy chuckle.

Brother, I thought. Brother. Just her brother.

But what was I thinking, reacting like that?

Stilted pleasantries exchanged between the five of us and his brother shortly after. But I was barely aware of it, my attention directed at Sojin and her half-smiles as she tried to gaze distractedly at her surroundings but often ended up throwing knowing glances at me.

What was that supposed to mean? Did she think it was funny faking something like that? Or rather, did she think it was funny watching my expression as I believed - for a few dreadful seconds - in her joke?

"Well, Sojin," her brother said in a concluding tone. "I didn't think you still preferred boy friends over girl friends in your new school."

"Oh, she has girl friends in school," Yixing argued, to which Sojin frowned.

"Girl friend, Yixing," she said. "Just one. Lichen. She's cool. And not feminine-ly annoying."

I scoffed at that. How could she judge others as annoying when she was the complete enlivened human example of it