MiYeon narrowed her eyes at the door. HyoRi still wasn’t home even though it’s already past the curfew she set. What is she still doing in Sehun’s home? What if she..? No, MiYeon shook her head. That would be impossible. Sehun is a sweet boy, sweeter than Jongdae sometimes so it’s impossible for him to do that plus HyoRi loves Luhan too much to even agree on that.

When the door slowly opened, MiYeon quickly said,” So what happened?” She tried to keep her cool and not squeal about it. Even if HyoRi didn’t like Sehun that way, they look good together in a sunbae-dongsaeng kind of way. And they would always tease each other if Baekhyun wasn’t around HyoRi. Sehun-HyoRi ship is logical.

“Sehun-ssi was a slow learner,” HyoRi said, locking the door behind her. She sighed and went past her best friend, going directly to the kitchen. MiYeon followed her. “He keeps on making me repeat freshman things, sheesh. But I had my fun,” HyoRi said, heating up her dinner. “Had your fun? What do you mean?” MiYeon had a naughty smile on her face as she narrowed her eyes on her best friend.

“Spill it,” she told her. HyoRi rolled her eyes. “Not in that kind of way, seriously, MiYeon. I mean he gave me food and he told me about Luhan-oppa,” HyoRi’s lips curled up into a smile when she mentioned the love of her life. “Did he mention Mina-ssi though?” MiYeon asked. HyoRi’s smile disappeared and she slowly nodded.

“But he told me not to worry though so it’s fine and you, missy, need to stop talking and rest your voice and just sleep if you won’t study,” HyoRi said. “You talk like my umma,” MiYeon rolled her eyes. “I don’t care,” HyoRi jerked her head from side to side with her hands on her hips. “Now go to our room,” she pointed at the kitchen door. MiYeon slowly nodded.

“Ok, ahjumma,” MiYeon teased before going out. HyoRi sighed when she left. “Aigooo… Luhan-oppa…” The name seemed to be hard to let go for her. She clutched her skirt as she stared at the microwave. “I don’t know what I’ll do if you were gone,” she whispered to herself.

MiYeon stretched on her bed and stared at the ceiling with her phone right next to her ear. She closed her eyes and opened them again. She did this for a few times then held her neck. “My voice huh…” She whispered to herself, closing her eyes again. “Surgery’s the best option now. There’s still a chance I can regain my voice,” she told herself. “I have to be strong. Just one quarter to go and we can go to America. I just have to tell HyoRi about this too,” she sighed.

“I have to say goodbye to Jongdae-ssi soon too…”

The next day was a normal school day for the pair except almost all teachers gave their time for students to review. HyoRi preferred studying alone near the door and MiYeon and Jongdae were teaching each other what they didn’t know. They would sometimes consult HyoRi but she usually tells them to figure it out themselves.

“English…” Jongdae muttered with hatred in his voice. He always hated this subject. He thinks English was some complicated subject and British and Americans could just stop. And MiYeon would by saying “English isn’t so bad” and in English too. “MiYeon-ssi, please explain how to use the tenses again,” Jongdae said, tapping his pen on the notebook.

MiYeon explained it to him very well. Being one of the best students in English of her class, it was expected she mastered these types of lessons, completely the opposite of how she encounters Math. “Understand?” MiYeon tucked some of her hair behind her ear and looked at Jongdae.

He lightly nodded and smiled a bit. “I think I do. This is a miracle,” Jongdae’s face enlightened that made MiYeon laugh. “Ugly!” She pointed at him. “You’re not that pretty yourself,” Jongdae poked her nose. “At least I’m not as ugly as you,” she stuck out her tongue. “At least I’m not shorter than you.” And that’s where Jongdae crossed the line. “At least I’m not a camel dinosaur like you,” MiYeon hissed.

“Ok, ok, I’ll stop. Let’s just continue studying,” Jongdae said as he flipped the page. MiYeon couldn’t agree more and looked at her own messy notes. Doodles here and doodles there, and her messy handwriting didn’t help her to understand her notes. She needs her tutor. She needs her best friend. She needs HyoRi since she always taught MiYeon back when they were kids.

Of course, lunch was always a time when they never thought of studying. Well, except for both Joonmyun and HyoRi in this case. Joonmyun had his flash cards with him and HyoRi was studying history from the looks of it which was peculiar since she doesn’t usually study. “Is something bothering you?” MiYeon asked, looking at her best friend while the boys were playing around.

HyoRi’s attention was stuck on the book. She slowly shook her head. “Nothing, nothing. I’m fine really. I just want to ace the exams for once before we leave,” HyoRi said in a lowly whisper. “Sorry that you have to come with me,” MiYeon said, braiding some strands of HyoRi’s hair. “It’s alright, really. You can’t survive without me after all,” HyoRi’s lips curled up.

“Yeah, of course. You’re too precious for Choi MiYeon,” MiYeon said before chuckling then letting out a sigh. “Will you tell them?” HyoRi lifted her head to gaze upon the boys. “I’m afraid to…” MiYeon bit her lower lip. “If we suddenly disappear, they’ll be worried sick, surely. But it’s good to just cut our ties with them,” she added.

HyoRi wanted to argue about that. It wasn’t a smart decision but she doesn’t want to strain MiYeon’s voice too so she only stayed quiet. “Hey, are you two having some lesbian love there?” Baekhyun shouted. HyoRi put on a smirk and put her arm on MiYeon’s shoulder. “What if we were?” She said cockily and MiYeon had a disgusted expression on her face.

“Never in a million years,” she shook her head aggressively, throwing HyoRi’s arm away from her. “Sorry but you’re not my style,” MiYeon said, pushing her best friend away, making HyoRi have a discontented look. “My apprentice,” Kris clapped his hands before laughing a bit.

“Don’t worry, HyoRi-ssi! You’re our style!” Chanyeol suddenly shouted which made HyoRi laugh. “Are you confessing your undying love for me, Channie?” HyoRi teased. Chanyeol’s face lit up and he furiously shook his head, making the members laugh. “Are you cheating on me?” Baekhyun laughed, pretending to be hurt. “Baekkie, don’t be like that,” Chanyeol said, putting his arm on Baekhyun’s neck.

“This is just too gay. It stinks gay,” Jongdae said, pinching his nose and fanning away an imaginary stench. “But Jonggay, you have gay in your name. What’s gayer than that?” HyoRi blinked innocently a few times. The members laughed some more. “You’re killing me, guys,” Tao said, wiping a tear from his eye. “At least you’re dying from the best medicine in the world,” Baekhyun posed.

The boys then went near the tree, surrounding the girls. “What?” HyoRi asked for MiYeon and blinked her eyes. “We want to sing for you,” Yixing answered with a cute smile on his face, exposing his dimples. “What’s with the sudden performance?” HyoRi asked as she narrowed her eyes. MiYeon almost asked that but HyoRi elbowed her before she opened , telling her not to strain her voice.

“No reason particularly, we just want to show how much we love you,” Minseok smiled. ‘This is too cute,’ HyoRi and MiYeon shouted in their minds. “Kyaaa, EXO is going to sing for us,” HyoRi pretended like one of the group’s fangirls. “Minseok-oppa said he loves us. Kyaaa,” MiYeon said, holding hands with HyoRi.

“That’s too disgusting. Just stop,” Baekhyun said, raising his palm to face them. “Just sing already,” HyoRi said before laughing. Joonmyun looked at Kris and nodded at him. “Anyways, you do know EXO is divided into two,” he said as he looked at the girls. “EXO-M and EXO-K, duh and so?” HyoRi lifted one of her eyebrows. “And so tell us which group is better after the two songs, okay?” Kris said. Both of the girls nodded but EXO already knows EXO-M will win. Jongdae and Luhan are there after all.

“Okay, EXO-M will start,” Jong-in gestured towards the other half of the group. They all looked at each other and took a deep breath. Minseok started off the song:

Ta mi zhu wo shi xian

Ta mi zhu wo shi xian

HyoRi almost jumped up as she recognized the song. “Super Junior-M, oh my gosh,” she covered to stop herself from squealing. Kris smirked at the reaction. He knew HyoRi was an ELF. He didn’t know a bigger ELF than her. And Super Junior-M was her favourite subgroup, and her bias was there. It was a perfect plan.

After “Perfection”, Joonmyun slowly clapped his hands. “Nice try,” he said as he glared at Kris who was being cocky and all. “But it ain’t over, hyung,” Sehun said with a challenging smirk on his face. And then he started singing:

Noona neomu yeppeoseo

Namjadeuri gaman an dwo

Heundeulrineun geunyeoye mam

Sashil algo isseo

HyoRi might’ve had a heart attack. “SHINee, you’ve got to be kidding me,” she whispered to herself. MiYeon’s uniform was already wrecked because of HyoRi’s violent fangirling. “Stop. Stop,” MiYeon whispered as she pushed HyoRi away from her. HyoRi muttered a “sorry” and tried to keep herself calm.

Joonmyun smirked at Kris. He knew after being an ELF, HyoRi was addicted to SHINee and Sehun was someone close to her so he chose this song. The bad thing about this was MiYeon didn’t approve of SHINee. She doesn’t like them, thinking they’re creepy because of their song “Hello”.

“So?” Luhan clasped his hands. “Uhm…” HyoRi looked at MiYeon with pleading eyes, as if telling her who should they pick. MiYeon shrugged. “I pick EXO-M,” MiYeon suddenly said, abandoning HyoRi with the final decision. “I hate you,” HyoRi muttered and MiYeon only smiled at her.

“So… ah…” HyoRi looked back at the boys staring at her with their aegyo. “No, no, stop that, boys,” she said as she imagined pushing all the aegyo away. “I love your song choice. Perfection and Replay from my favourite groups, SJ-M and SHINee. Can’t I just say it’s a tie?” HyoRi knitted both of her eyebrows together.

“Male pride is at stake,” Baekhyun said with his serious voice. “Are you even considered male?” MiYeon said before laughing. “Okay then, to make it a tie, I pick EXO-K,” HyoRi smiled a bit. Chanyeol suddenly tackled her into a hug. “Thank you for saving our pride!” He said, making HyoRi laugh.

“She did it because I’m too cute,” Sehun smirked proudly. “Yes, your aegyo game is just too high,” Jong-in rolled his eyes. HyoRi just laughed at them. EXO-M surrounded MiYeon. “Didn’t we just nail it?” Jongdae said, raising his eyebrows a couple of times and looking silly. “Yes, yes, you did. I didn’t understand a word but I like it,” MiYeon chuckled.

MiYeon caught Luhan staring at HyoRi and she smirked to herself. ‘Yes, she does stand a chance after all,’ she thought. The bell suddenly rang and they headed towards their classrooms and as usual, the sophomores were all walking together.

“Admit it, Jongdae-ssi, we were better,” KyungSoo said before laughing. “I just noticed… So you’re the only EXO-M member here?” HyoRi suddenly said. “Yes, and Tao’s the only EXO-M member in the freshman year,” Jongdae said, seeing nothing wrong with it. “EXO-M’s full of old people,” Baekhyun mocked. “Oppa is not that old!” HyoRi almost shouted.

Almost all of them laughed. “Hey, guys, I noticed something about Sehun-ssi,” MiYeon suddenly whispered. “Huh?” Chanyeol raised his eyebrow. MiYeon suddenly shook her head, remembering HyoRi shouldn’t listen to this while her suspicions ain’t right. “Nothing,” she smiled at them, shaking her head.

“Alright then. See you guys later,” KyungSoo waved goodbye and the remaining three nodded in acknowledgement. ‘Sehun-ssi… I wonder if you do like HyoRi… or if Luhan-sunbae does like HyoRi. Complicated high school triangles are too confusing,’ MiYeon thought to herself before sitting down in her place.