*

GONG MINJI

*

Part III

Clothes!!!!!!!!!!

I needed an outfit quick! And it had to be something pretty darn cute since the only thing Kris had really seen me in was the school's uniform. The problem was that I only had fifteen minutes to get ready since we were meeting up at the school's library at five o' clock. But I seemed to hate everything in my closet today: they were all either too tight, or too loose, or too old, or too ugly- I really needed to go shopping for a few new outfits.

It most certainly didn't help that Bom was growing more suspicious by the second as I ransacked my own closet. I could practically feel her eyes glaring into the back of my skull every which way I turned.

See, I hadn't exactly told her that Kris confessed to me yesterday; neither did I tell her about him and I meeting up for a study date. It's not that I was trying to hide it or keep it from her, after all, she is my best friend, and I could tell her anything, but I knew exactly what would happen if I did tell her. I had learned this from previous experience: Bom could not keep secrets. Like, she was physically incapable of being able to keep a secret. She had the worst case of “word vomit” out of anybody I'd ever known; if you wanted to tell her something, you had to make sure that it was something that you wouldn't mind her letting other people know because sooner or later (most likely sooner) the whole world would know your secret.

I knew that if I told her about me and Kris, then she would make a big deal about it, then she'd rush off to tell Chaerin and Dara, and then they'd all come back to tease me about it and probably drive me crazy by completely taking over my wardrobe and making me wear all these crazy outfits until they agreed on one that they liked.

So, that's why I decided to just keep my mouth shut. It's just too bad that I forgot that I was practically an “open book” to Bom who could easily “read me” whenever I was keeping something from her. That's why at the very moment, I was trying my hardest to avoid her intense scrutiny as I went through outfit after outfit.

“You know that whatever it is, I'm going to find out sooner or later,” I heard her say from across the room.

Ignoring her, I rolled my eyes and stared at my outfit in the mirror. Instantly I frowned at the long-sleeve shirt I had on. Why did it look so unflattering today? I always loved this shirt, but it wouldn't do. Maybe I was just over thinking my outfit too much.

Shaking my head at the outfit, I pulled the shirt over my head and hung it back up in my closet. That was when I spotted a top that I'd completely forgotten about. I had bought it just before school had started along with a few other nice tops. In fact, it still had the tags on it. Pulling out the maroon colored, button up blouse, I smiled at it and spun around to go back to my mirror only to find myself jumping back in shock, gasping for air because Bom had been standing there with her arms crossed over her chest.

I hadn't been expecting to come face-to-face with her when I'd turned around and as a result, I'd jumped back so quickly that I ended up tripping and falling into my closet.

Bom's laughter filled our dorm room and I glared at her from my position on the floor before standing back up. I moved passed her, going back to the mirror and put the blouse on, smiling at the results. It was perfect! Now all I needed were shoes.

I turned back around only to jump again when Bom was staring at me face-to-face again.

“Would you stop doing that?” I yelled at her, annoyed. She shrugged.

“First tell me why you're getting all dressed up.”

“It's nothing,” I lied, not looking her in the eye. If I did, she'd see right through me.

“You're going out with Kai, aren't you?”

The question had caught me so off guard that my neck literally snapped from twisting around too quickly.

“What?” I asked, rubbing my neck, but continued with that I was doing. I was already back in my closet, going through my shoe boxes. “What made you ask that?”

“Because it's true,” she said. “Plus you didn't deny it, so that tells me it must be true.”

“I am not going out with Kai,” I told her, pulling out the shoes I wanted.

“Then who is he?”

“Why do you assume it's a guy?”

“Who is he?” she repeated, not budging.

I stayed quiet this time, but Bom sat down next to me on my bed, got right in my face and stared at me with her big, animated eyes. It was a little creepy really.

“Who is he?” she asked again and when I didn't answer, she decided to do the most annoying thing, which was poke me repeatedly while constantly asking over and over, “Who is he? Who is he? Who is he? Who is he? Who is he? Who is h-”

“BOM!” I screamed. She was silent for two seconds before she asked again. I groaned.

“You really want to know?” I caved in. She nodded excitedly. I knew she wouldn't stop asking, and knowing Bom, if I didn't tell her, she'd probably just stalk me wherever I was going and find out about Kris herself.

“Fine,” I sighed. “I have a study date with Kris.” I'd mumbled it out really quickly in a low tone hoping she wouldn't pick up on it, but as I watched the expression on her face, I knew she'd heard me loud and clear.

Bom's mouth hung wide open and her brown eyes doubled twice their normal size. She suddenly jumped off my bed and rushed to her side of the room and went through her bag.

“I have to tell Chaerin and Dara,” she said, pulling out her phone. I looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Well, I already knew this would happen.

Five minutes later, and Bom was letting both Chaerin and Dara into our room.

“Whatever this is about, it better be good,” Chaerin instantly threatened the moment she walked through the door. She made her way over to our little love couch in the corner and sat. “I was just in the middle of watching my favorite drama when Bom texted me about a code red.”

Dara sat down on Bom's bed and waited patiently for the news, but I didn't say anything so Bom took it upon herself.

“Guess who's going out tonight with a boy?”

“Bommie you got a date?” Dara asked, surprised. “Good for you? Which lucky senior guy is it? Or does he even go to this school?”

“That's it,” Chaerin cut in, but she didn't sound so amused herself. “That's what you called us over for. Bom, if I miss anything important in my drama, I'm gonna get you for-”

“No, not me,” Bom cut her off. “Minji-ah!”

The sound of shocked gasps from behind me made me roll my eyes; couldn't they at least try not to sound so shocked.

“And guess who with?” Bom said. She paused for dramatic effect.

“Kai?” Dara and Chaerin both guessed at the same time.

I turned away from my mirror, and glared at the three of them, furiously. “Okay, why do you all think it's Kai?”

“Well, after the way we saw you two hugging that time in the office, I just figured...” Chaerin trailed off, her lips forming into a little knowing smile.

“Nope, actually it's Kris,” Bom interjected. The moment Bom said Kris' name, Chaerin's smile instantly fell and she went blank-faced, which I found a little weird.

Dara looked surprised by the news too, but she looked like there was something she knew that I didn't with the way she was staring back and forth between Chaerin and I. It was silent between the four of us for a moment before I questioned them.

“What is it?” I asked, unsure.

The room continued to staye silent until Dara piped up. “Chaerin likes Kris, too!”

My eyes widened and I looked over at my raven-haired friend. “You do? Since when?”

Chaerin gave me a sheepish smile, the little dimple in her cheek coming out of hiding. “Um... like is too strong. It's more like a little crush. But I was still feeling him a little.”

For the first time that afternoon, I halted all my efforts to get ready for my study date with Kris and plopped down on my bed. I felt less thrilled about hanging out with him now. I'm a firm believer in “chicks before ”; in other words, I would never choose a guy over any of my best friends, no matter how cute or fine he was, and that applied to Kris as well. If Chaerin liked him, I didn't really want to be getting chummy with him when she possibly liked him first.

“But it's okay really,” Chaerin tried reassuring me. She came over and sat down next to me. “Like I said, what I feel for him is only a crush, it'll probably go away. But you got an actual date with him.”

“It's not a date,” I replied, not feeling any better despite her rubbing my shoulder.

“Right, study date,” she corrected, then tried reassuring me again. “Really it's fine, besides, he seems to really like you if you too if you two are hanging out together.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded and smiled. “Besides, this is the only real date you've had throughout your entire high school life besides during the school dances we used to have when the schools would pair us up with guys from the other schools. This may be the only chance you have date someone; I wouldn't want to stand in the way of that. I'm sure I'll find some other guy.”

Ah, she just had to bring my lack of past boyfriends up, didn't she? It was true though; I had never gone out with a single boy during my high school years, but I guess that's what happens when you go to an all girls, private school for majority of your high school life.

I mulled over what she said before agreeing. If she really wasn't bothered by Kris and I, then I wouldn't worry about hurting her.

I stood back up feeling much better now that things were clear. Now, I could just put my shoes on, grab my books, study tools and then I could go meet up with Kris.

“Doesn't she just look so cute smiling like that,” I heard Chaerin say. When I turned around, all three of my friends staring at me with wide grins, which scared me a bit, but I chose to ignore them.

“Oh she's all grown up now and going out with a boy,” Dara cooed.

It's not a date...

“Just don't do anything I wouldn't do,” Bom joked and they all started laughing.

I rolled my eyes. And now is my cue to leave the room, because if I didn't, they were going to start teasing me. This is the downside of being the very last out of all my friends to actually date a boy. But it's not a date!

* * *

“Hey, sorry I'm late,” I instantly apologized to Kris the second I found him at the back of the library. His head that was previously buried in his book, shifted upward and he smiled once he saw it was me. I on the other hand had to stop myself from fawning over his current look. Thick-rimmed glasses sat on Kris' perfectly long, defined nose, giving him the look of a studious student but they also made him look ten times hotter than he already normally did.

“No problem,” was his cool reply and I sat down next to him. “Being fashionably late is okay- by the way, speaking of fashionable, you look really cute.”

Kris' eyes were currently running up and down my frame, checking out my attire. Maybe it's because his gaze was always so intent, but whenever he stared at me, I always started fidgeting like I had autism or something. I hated to admit it, but his compliments made me feel all weird and fluttery like a girl on the inside; but I didn't want to show that to him, so I avoided his eyes by looking down at my outfit and thanked him.

“Oh, this old thing,” I fibbed, knowing my top was brand new. “I just grabbed it out of the closet.” I figured I should compliment him too, so I added, “I like your glasses on you.”

His hands came up to adjust the brim of his glasses and his lips formed into a smirk.

“Oh, really?” he asked, kind of smugly. “A lot of girls have actually told me that I look hot in them. What do you think?”

Definitely, I answered inside my head, but I only replied to him with a smile. I decided to change the subject. “So, what were you working on before I got here.”

Kris looked down at the textbook he was flipping through. “Oh, I just took the liberty of getting a head start on noting down the topics we covered during last week so we can figure out what we need to focus on. It's going to be hard to study without any sort of study guide.”

“That's okay,” I told him shaking my head. I turned around to reach into my bag and pulled out my binder with all my notes. “I've had Kang sunsaengnim for science before, and he only uses the questions that are at the end of each chapter for the quizzes. Whenever we read a chapter, I answer them and use them as notes for studying.”

I handed him my notes and showed him all the questions I had answered. Kris just stared at my notes in awe.

“Wow, they're all color coordinated,” he marveled, going through my notes, looking seriously impressed. Yeah, I always color-coordinated my notes so that they were easier to study especially since its a lot of information. I made all the color of all definitions in blue ink, the explanations in black ink, the questions are in red ink, and the answers in purple ink; plus, I noted and highlighted topics and page numbers in yellow highlighter.

“I just like to be certain that I know what I'm studying,” I said.

Kris flipped through my notes a few more times before looking up at me and giving me a small smile. “Yeah, I most definitely need a smart and pretty girl like you in my life. With you as my study partner, I'll definitely ace science this year.”

I looked down, biting my lip to keep myself from erupting into a cheek-splitting grin. It was bad enough that I could already feel my cheeks turning red, the last thing I wanted was to look like a fool with one of those same goofy grins Chanyeol got whenever Dara complimented him.

“Alright,” I said, grabbing my notes from him, without looking him in the eye, although I could feel his eyes still focused on me. I could see him still smiling at me out the corner of my eye. “Let's get studying.”

* * *

All thanks to my color-coordinated notes, (which Kris loved so much, he actually asked if I could help color-coordinate his notes the same way) studying was a complete breeze. After helping Kris get his notes together, we decided to go to the diner on campus to get something to eat. Our conversation was pretty natural; the thing I liked about Kris was that although he held a cold demeanor, his personality was actually quite the opposite. The only thing was it seemed we didn't have too much in common, like if we actually ever wanted to do something together besides studying, we might be at a loss. For example: Kris apparently loved basketball, I on the other hand quite disliked the sport. I told him about my love of playing soccer; Kris however, didn't consider soccer to be a “real” sport. But we were still getting to know one another; I was sure we could find things we had in common.

Anyways, over the course of the week, we'd continued to meet up at different places on campus to study. Right now it was a little after five o' clock in the afternoon and we studying in the dining area outside.

“Alright,” I said flipping the pages in my medical terminology textbook to its proper chapter. “Now we can start on the reproductive system.”

“Now this is where things get interesting,” Kris joked. Moving my gaze from my textbook to Kris sitting across from me, he lewdly wiggled his thick brows at me and smirked. I just rolled my eyes. Boys...

Kris flipped open his book to the same chapter before gawking at the pages. “Woah! There are a lot of terms in here.”

I nodded. “True. But a lot of them should already be recognizable to you.”

“Oh yeah,” Kris agreed, picking up his milkshake to sip on while flipping through pages. “, ion, , foreskin- maybe I won't do so bad on this test after all.”

Apparently Kris was comfortable enough with me to make dirty jokes now. I had to suppress my urge to giggle while keeping my focus on the book. I was busy making all the flip cards with the terms on them for Kris and I to study from. From the last few times we'd studied, I'd learned he was pretty good at memorization, so this was definitely the best way for him to learn. Plus, testing him helped me remember the terms too, so it was pretty much “hitting two birds with one stone”.

I had made quite a few note cards in record time when the sound of Kris erupting in laughter made me stop what I was doing and look up at him confusedly. I quirked an eyebrow at him, silently questioning what he found amusing.

“Sorry,” he shook his head. “I'm just being immature.” He went back to drinking his milkshake without another word. I frowned and glanced at the page he was looking at only to spot a few photos of animals mating. One photo was of two buffalos about to get it on: one buffalo was mounting the other from the back, while another photo had two gorillas in missionary position.

The longer Kris stared at the photos, the harder it was for him to contain his laughter. It was so amusing to watch, that I couldn't help but laugh at him laughing.

“Kris, you keep ruining my original image of you,” I finally told him, which caused him to stop laughing and earned me a questioning look.

“Why? How did you see me before?”

I shrugged focusing back on the cards. I explained without looking at him, “The first day we met, you were dark, cold and expressionless. You wore a lot of black and you never spoke much. I didn't really know how to place you, and I was actually starting to think that you might have had a personality disorder.” At this Kris, chuckled making me stop for a second to stare at him. He was trying not to grin, but the longer I stared at him, the more he couldn't help but let his lips spread into that beautiful smile he rarely ever showed in public. Gosh...

Kris really was a sight to see up close...

I shook my head, coming out of my reverie before I continued.

“But after talking to you in class, and studying with you, you changed my perception of you.” Afterwards, it was silent between us for a few moments and I'd gone back to making note cards before Kris broke the silence.

“Would you be surprised if I said I felt the same way about you when we first met?” he asked.

I frowned at this. He thought the same way about me? What? That I was cold and expressionless? When people described me the words “cold” and “expressionless” were hardly ever said.

I removed my eyes from my notes and looked up at him to question exactly what he meant by that, only for my breath to unexpectedly get caught in my throat.

Oh boy! Kris' stare.

Kris' gorgeous dark eyes were now staring up at me through his thick, dark lashes. His head was tipped down causing some of his dark hair to fall over his left eye all while he continued to sip on his milkshake. I watched as he on the straw and followed where his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. My eyes then zeroed in on his lips and for a split second I actually ersely imagined what it might've been like to be that straw he was on.

But I caught myself!

I immediately turned my attention from him back to my textbook. Damn it! Kris was too good looking to stare at. I hadn't even known the boy that long to be thinking about him like that. Where the heck did that thought even come from anyway? I wasn't erted! I mean sure I'd fantasized about a few males before, mainly celebrities, but not on someone I considered a friend.

“You thought I was cold too?” I asked nonchalantly, trying to ignore whatever that weird moment I just had was.

“Well, you never spoke the entire time we talked to you and your friends,” he said. “Well, except to Kai once you found out he was your co-president.”

I shrugged. “I didn't speak to any of you because I didn't trust you guys.”

“And now?” he asked.

I looked up at him to see him still smiling at me with his mouth still on the straw, now biting down on it. I couldn't help but to mirror his expression because of how cute he looked at the moment with his gentle but deep eyes and adorable smile. He didn't remove his eyes from mine so we were literally just sitting there, having a silent staring contest, until I grew embarrassed and ended up laughing because of my nerves. I'd already looked away from him making me lose the staring contest and Kris cheered in victory.

Well I guess I trusted Kris, but I still wasn't so sure about the rest of the boys- maybe Chanyeol and Tao could be trusted as well considering they're the only ones who hadn't gotten on my nerves yet. I; however, was still suspicious about his three other friends: Sehun, Luhan, and then, of course, Kai. Speaking of Kai, I hadn't seen him much at all this entire week, which actually would've been just fine with me except for the fact that we still had some pretty important things to plan and discuss. We still had yet to go over the procedures we were going to take for when the superintendent visited our academy this Friday. Our headmasters had made it our responsibility to show him around the senior corridors, plus, we still had to finish going over the nominations for the student committees because they had to be turned in to our headmasters by Monday.

Normally I would see Kai with his friends bopping around all over campus, (he was hardly the quiet type of student) but after picture day, I hadn't really seen him the rest of the week, leaving me to grow more and more frantic each passing day we got closer to Friday. Whenever one of the headmasters stopped me to ask how things were coming along between Kai and I, I had to lie and pretend like everything was just fine. I was beginning to wonder if disappearing without a trace was a regular thing for him. Either way, when I found him, boy was I going to open a serious can of whoop- on his-

“What's up you two?”

And just like that, I was torn away from my thoughts. I looked up to see none other than the very boy I was cursing in my head only a second ago.

Kai smiled at us before inviting himself into our study-date, sliding himself into the empty chair next to me. He slammed down a tray full of food on the table causing me to jump slightly from the force he used.

“Man, I'm hungry,” he said before greeting Kris with a nod which he returned. I on the other hand wasn't feeling all that welcoming and instead opted for silently shooting daggers at him from my seat next to him, but it didn't seem to bother him at all as he opened his wrapper to his burger. He then casually asked, “You two study buddies get much studying done, yet?”

“Actually, we were just-” Kris began but stopped when he was interrupted by me.

“Where have you been?” I questioned Kai, the tone of my voice serious enough to make Kai's previously relaxed demeanor stiffen and halt his efforts to enjoy his meal. He put his burger down as his head turned to face me and his eyes met my own, his expression unreadable. He then glanced at Kris across the table but I kept my eyes focused on him, not letting up my glare.

It wasn't normally like me to cut someone else off while they were talking, but Kai's sudden presence after being AWOL pretty much all week left me with lots of questions. He knew we had important work to finish and he hadn't made any effort to work with me. I'd been patient enough with him, now I wanted answers.

The space between Kai's brows wrinkled slightly as his black brows furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean, where have I been?” He asked like he genuinely had no idea what I was talking about, which surprised me.

“Did I stutter?” I quipped back, rudely. I was really annoyed with him and his general lack of awareness despite being a president. I wondered if it was possible to impeach my own co-president; it was something I would have to look into. “I meant it exactly as I'd asked it, where have you been?”

“Why Minji-ah?” Kai's lips formed began to form into a smirk this time and I already knew that he was going to reply with some smart- comment. “Awe, did Minji miss me? Kris must not be keeping you entertained.”

That little comment made me glare at him again; I was hoping it was intense enough to be threatening, but when he started laughing at me, I figured it must have looked quite the opposite to him. Man I wanted to slap this guy!

“I didn't miss you at all actually.”

“Well, did you miss me?” another person asked and I looked up to see Chanyeol pulling up a chair beside Kris as he too, put his tray of food down on the table.

I rolled my eyes. Were any more of Kris' friends going to be joining us tonight? Didn't they know that this little gathering between Kris and I was supposed to be private?

Oh wait...

That suddenly made me wonder if Kris had even told any of his friends about him and I. I mean, not that there was much to tell, we were only studying, but he had definitely confessed to me that he liked me, so there was potential for these little study-dates to turn into something more. But based off the way Kai and Chanyeol just barged in on us, I'm guessing that he hadn't told them very much about our meetings throughout the week.

“Chanyeol, I see you every morning in English,” I replied, now amused by the cute expression on his face as he took a bite out of his own burger. His big eyes widened as he stared at me, happily chewing his food.

“Yeah I know,” he began to talk with his mouth still full, but he stopped once some of his chewed up burger remains flew out of his mouth and skidded onto the table, causing me to frown in disgust before laughing.

“Dude, say it don't spray it,” Kris said dismissively, as he grabbed a napkin and removed the chunk of food from the table. It was the tone of Kris' voice that made me look up at him, concerned, and I noticed that his expressionless face and cold demeanor made its reappearance for the first time since we met up that night.

I got the feeling that he didn't want his two friends to be there at the moment. Heck, I didn't blame him. Although, I had nothing against Chanyeol unlike the guy next to me...

“You know the superintendent is coming tomorrow, right?” I turned my attention back to Kai who just looked at me, still eating and nodded, then turned his attention back to his burger. I rolled my eyes for the umpteenth; I should shove burger down his throat.

“We just have to show him around, right?” Kai said, like it was no big deal.

“Well yes, but-”

“Well then we'll show him around, give him a few compliments, tell him he looks great in his suit, tell him all the things he wants to hear about how great the senior guys and girls are getting along and then it will be done. Everything will continue on as normal: the grass will still be green, the earth will still rotate, and Kris still won't have any game when it comes to the ladies.”

Kai smirked as he said the last line and glanced over at Kris who responded by giving him a glare so cold it could probably freeze hell over.

I hated how Kai made everything sound so easy while at the same time making me sound insane for caring so much about our duties as presidents. But I had to remember, although Kai and I were both born into pretty wealthy families, Kai's family was actually wealthier than mine and I got the feeling that his parents hadn't made any effort to teach him the importance of hard work or staying well-grounded. Kai lived in a world where everything was either handed to him on a silver platter, or was done for him and if he did have to work, I'm pretty sure he had every tool he needed at his disposal to make sure he succeeded in whatever it was. I on the other hand had been taught the value of working hard for what you want and keeping a level head while doing it. I was concerned, I was aware, and I made the effort.

I wondered, would Kai and I ever be on the same page as co-presidents?

Even though I hadn't noticed I was, Kai must have felt me staring at him because he turned his attention away from his food to me. He sighed before turning completely to face me and placed his hands on both my shoulders, staring me square in the eyes with his dark browns.

“Don't worry, Minji-ah,” he reassured, shaking my shoulders a little to further show me he was serious. “Trust me. Everything's going to be just fine.”

He followed that with a bright reassuring smile that unbeknownst to myself, caused me to reciprocate the expression. It was because Kai had one of the most gorgeous smiles I had ever seen in my entire life and I wasn't exaggerating either. Seeing his genuine smile was like the equivalent of greeting the sun first thing in the morning only you didn't have to worry about going blind if you stared at it for too long. His perfectly straight pearly white teeth, encased by a pair of thick deep red lips; his soft, slightly turned-up eyes; and arrow-shaped smile lines all had me in complete awe.

Still, regardless of how gorgeous his smile was, I couldn't trust Kai- that I knew for sure. After all, he hadn't really proven to be all that responsible based off some of his past actions. But with the way his baby brown eyes were staring into my own, he had me wanting to believe that I could trust him. He told me not to worry but considering what was on the line, I felt I had all the reasons in the world to worry. I mean, it was the freaking superintendent we were talking about here! One false move and he would report it back to the school board- the people who had the ability to shut down our school if they wanted.

So why was I doing the exact opposite of what my brain was telling me and nodding at him? I had better sense than this!

I should've known that the moment I trusted Kai, that I had just made the biggest mistake.

“Ehem!” I heard someone suddenly loudly clear their throat from across the table.

My body reacted to the sound before my brain could register what was going on as I jerked away from Kai's grasp on my shoulders. I hadn't even realized how long he and I must have been staring at one another until I looked across the table to see a wide-eyed Chanyeol staring at the both us with a mouth full of his burger. Next to him, a rather pissed-off looking Kris, was patting his chest with his fist and coughing as if he was still trying to clear his throat.

! I knew he was upset now just by the way his face had pretty much turned to stone. His jaw was gripped tightly like he was trying to refrain from saying something he'd regret later and although he wasn't trying to make it obvious, I could tell he was sending some serious death glares, cold enough to turn even Medusa to stone, towards Kai's end of the table.

From there on out, the four of us remained dead silent making the vibes around our table incredibly awkaward. Chanyeol was silent but clueless, his big eyes frantically shifting around looking like he had absolutely no idea what was going on; Kris, on the other hand, was silent but tense, looking like he could blow a gasket in any minute as his fist clutched the edges of his textbook and his head stayed down; I still remained awkwardly silent, as I tried to avoid looking at anybody else at the table in order to avoid making eye contact with any of them.

Kai didn't say anything either the rest of the night, but he was literally the only one that looked completely unaffected by anything going on around him as just he smirked at both his friends and went back to eating his burger. The silent air between us all was unbearably tense; in fact, our table was so quiet now that the sounds of the crickets chirping- which I hadn't even noticed before despite the fact they'd been chirping all night- were now so loud it sounded like they were being blasted by stereo.

I tried to ignore the awkwardness currently enveloping us, and went back to what I was originally doing which was making study cards. I hoped everything would just blow over and go back to normal.

But little did I know, this was only the beginning...  

* * *

Hey, has anybody else noticed that the "Minzy" tag has almost hit the 1,000 mark? I'm pretty sure that the number of stories is actually already over 1,000 since they don't count the "Minji" tag, but still. Whoo! Go maknae!