"Did you know that we have a test today?" Your seatmate nudges you. "It's 10% of our marks!"

Your frown deepens and you shake your head, "No..." You look at her, "Who said so?"

She bobs her shoulders, "I heard it from Minyoung." 

You hum, knowing that it should be true since Minyoung is the chairman of the class. But the teacher hadn't said anything about it before, so why is it that a graded test is to pop up so suddenly?

"Should we be worried?" She asks again.

You bite your lip in contemplation before shaking your head in thought, "If Miss Jung hadn't mentioned anything about it, it shouldn't be true."

She nods her head, deciding to listen to you as she always does. While she goes back to texting on her phone, you begin zoning out as usual. And as usual, you feel eyes on you.

You know people talk about you a lot; especially behind your back. They talk about your cold outlook and your Ice Princess attitude. If anything, you are probably on the same level as the popular kids in school without even meaning to.

At once, you flick your gaze towards the stares. You see two boys with wide eyes. They are perhaps flustered because they were caught in the act of watching you. You narrow your eyes at them, recognising their faces. One of them belongs in the popular group of boys while the other is merely his seat partner. You've caught them staring at you many a times but they never stopped.

You let out a soft sigh and turn away as your phone buzzes, signalling a text.

Be home early today, dad's back to have dinner with us.
Mom || 10:13 AM

You take note of it and pocket your phone. Your father is a CEO of a company, meaning that he is a very powerful and busy man. He never comes home for dinner and he is always out the door first thing in the morning. Today is the first time in a long time since forever that you are going to actually eat dinner as a family.

"Oh my God," Your friend exclaims, repeatedly hitting your shoulder as she eyes Miss Jung walking in the classroom. "Are those test papers I see?!"

You wrinkle your nose in guilt, "Sorry."

△▽△▽△▽△

"She's the cutest, I swear to God!" The fairest boy gushes to his group of friends. "She scrunched up her nose like this—" He mimicked the action in a disgustingly cute manner. "—It was just the most adorable thing!" 

"Sehun, please," one of the older boys, the one with the cheekbones and nice bone structure, groaned. "You've been talking about her for the past 12 minutes!"

"You should've seen!" The younger one argues.

"Jongdae hyung, don't bother," the dark skinned one places a hand on the older male's shoulder. "He can talk about her all day. Trust me."

At that moment, the last two boys of the clique walk into the cafeteria and sits at their usual table. They are the bunch of popular boys in school. Obviously it is due to the fact that they are outrageously good-looking and charismatic. Also, they are all in the basketball team, which only makes them a thousand times hotter than they already were.

"What's with Jongdae's constipated face?" The tallest one questions the early birds.

Without an explanation, the other male who had just came in answered, "Has to be about her again."

As if to prove him right, Sehun continues at where he had left off, causing Jongdae to bang his head on the table repeatedly.

"Sehun-ah, you know we will never talk to her, so why are you so strung up on her?" Jongin questions.

"Yeah, it's almost impossible th—"

"Nothing is impossible, hyung!" Sehun shouts before continuing his tale.

Jongdae looks at the others with a pained expression, "She doesn't even smile."

Chanyeol pats his back, amusingly, "It's the first time our maknae is so crazy over a girl. Let him be."

△▽△▽△▽△

Your mother glances at your younger brother and you nervously. It has almost been an hour since you were all gathered at the dining table, awaiting for your father to arrive. She gives a tight smile and picks up her chopsticks. 

"Seems like your father will be late today... Let's just start without him," she announces.

Your brother digs into the food hungrily, having forestalled his dinner by an hour. You, on the other hand, really do not have the appetite.

The reason why you're so cold and so stoic is because your father has always imprinted his motto in life on you. It is to never trust anyone and to never express your feelings. Remaining a poker face is the best way to keep yourself safe from everyone.

This clearly applies to family now, too.

In order to be a good daughter, not wanting your mother to worry, you eat as much as you deem was enough. When you are done, you decide to leave first.

"I just have to... Grab some stationery at the bookstore," you inform your mother. "I'll be back before long." 

She nods understandably and you walk away. Only wearing a thin layer of clothes, you go out into the chilly night, hugging yourself. You have not brought your wallet, knowing that you are obviously not going to buy anything. Your phone is in your house as well, since you didn't return to your room for your belongings before you left the house.

Walking aimlessly, you decide to walk to the little town plaza near your neighbourhood. It is only seven in the evening, meaning most shops are still open. You pass by a convenience store with a stack of today's newspaper at the front of the entrance.

Easily, you recognise your father's face. But why is it that you feel like you don't know him? You scrutinise the picture and see that he has a confident smile on his face. You don't even bother reading the article, probably about him sealing another huge deal again.

You turn to leave when a male a little older than you comes up to you. You frown seeing that you don't know him.

"My friends—" He motions to his group of snickering friends behind him. "—Dared me to pole dance you."

"What?" You must have heard wrongly.

Without any further explanation, the stranger started dancing around you in a dirty manner. You try really hard not to show the disgust on your face but it is really difficult when someone is trying to grind you awkwardly. Seven seconds into the dare and it is stopped by someone stepping in between you and the weird dancing guy.

"Please stop harrassing the lady," the newcomer speaks up.

Gently, he guides you away with his hand hovering at the small of your back. You follow him, thankful for his interjection. He is walking straight to another guy whom you think is extremely familiar.

"Oh?" The friend expresses his shock through the roundness of his eyes and lips.

You furrow your eyebrow again, finally recalling who he is. Your eyes move to the one who brought you here. They are from your school. The three of you light up in recognition. However, only the boys grin while you watch their every move.

"You're from our school!" The tall one with elfish ears exclaims.

You nod, giving them a small smile. "I recognise the both of you too."

"I'm Chanyeol!" He beams, sticking his hand out for you to shake.

You take it and he gives you a firm handshake. His hand is big enough to envelop your small hand but it is calloused; something earned from working too hard in sports. The shorter and fairer one sticks his hand out too. Unlike Chanyeol's, his hand is pretty and slender. His cheeks are chubby and when he talks, you notice that his mouth does a thing.

"Baekhyun," he introduces himself.

In turn, you introduce yourself as well. And you bow in thanks for Baekhyun's interruption previously.

He chuckles, "You were looking so uncomfortable, someone had to do something."

A small smile breaks out on your lips and you don't miss the way Chanyeol whips his head around to share his astonished expression with his friend.

"Well, thank you again," you bow. "I would buy you coffee but I don't have anything with me... I'll buy you lunch tomorrow?"

"Cafeteria food?" The smaller guy crinkles his nose. "No thanks."

An amused smile displays itself upon your lips as you nod, "After school then? I'll buy you dinner."

"What? Without me?" Chanyeol points to himself indignantly.

"You too," you politely offer.

"I was just kidding," he beams. "Anyway, it's getting late... If you don't mind, I think Baek and I should walk you home."

You shake your head, taking a step back. "It's fine. It's only seven anyway."

"It's still dangerous," persists the male.

His friend nods, "I think we should bring you home too... Unless you're uncomfortable with the idea?"

You don't reply and they know that that was your answer to his question. Baekhyun nods, smiling in understanding while Chanyeol frowns but doesn't say anything.

"Then... We'll see you in school tomorrow," Baekhyun bids goodbye.

"Get home safe!" Chanyeol seems so worried.

"I will," you bow respectfully to the older males as you leave.

When your back couldn't be seen anymore, Chanyeol faces Baekhyun with a deep frown etched on his face. "Are we really going to let her go off alone?" 

"If she wants it so, then I guess we can't stop her," the other shrugged. "She'll be fine."

Baekhyun starts walking away. Chanyeol rushes after him, gushing just like Sehun had done in school previously. "Did you see her smile? Twice! Sehun's going to go crazy!" He cackles.

△▽△▽△▽△

You hear your name being called out and you turn to see Tao and Luhan waving at you from behind. You are about to enter the school gates but it seems like you might have to be late for your first class; Tao never has a sense of time.

"What are you guys doing here, Chinese?" You tease when you hug the both of them.

"We are going to have a friendly match with your school's basketball team!" Luhan informs. 

They are both your friends, probably the closest to you anyone has gotten. You knew them because they are your neighbours. However, they are in University now, which means that you hardly get to see them anymore.

Tao starts scanning the student body and you roll your eyes, knowing that he is undoubtedly looking for a hot girl. The people around you eyes the two charismatic guys before focusing on you. You ignore their talks and whispers about how you are friends with older guys from university.

"You'll bring us to your basketball court, right?" Luhan nudges you.

You shrug, "Sure."

"Where are your friends?" Tao asks, giving up on looking for girls. Instead, he decides to hit on your friends. If you have any friends.

Seeing the blank look on your face, Luhan sighs and pokes you on the cheek, "When will you get any friends, huh, Korean?"

You make a face, "I have friends!"

"Really? Friends in this school?" Hearing silence from you again, he knocks you on the head lightly. "You need friends, girl."

"Here's the basketball court," you bring them right to the edge of the court.

The basketball team from your school are all already there, warming up. Their attention were on you the moment you came into view. The two Chinese guys turn to you and you beam at them, patting their shoulders.

"Have fun!" 

You are about to leave when Tao speaks up, "Let's catch up before we have to go back to school, okay?"

You nod, walking away from them. Luhan shouts so that you could hear him, "Call me!"

As you continue walking backwards, you give two thumbs up and smile at them before rushing off to your class. Seems like you wouldn't be late after all. You frown when you enter the class, seeing that your teacher has already started teaching despite it being two minutes before class offically starts. You mumble an apology before getting to your seat. 

"Heard you were with two cute guys who are from a university," Your partner whispers, looking at you excitedly.

"They're my childhood friends," you shrug. "They're here for the friendly match."

For the entire day, you try to ignore her interrogation on the older boys. At the bell of the last class, you walk out after bidding your seatmate with a simple goodbye just like everyday else. You have almost forgotten about the two boys you met yesterday until you see them at the end of the hallway. Coincidentally, Chanyeol has caught your eye and he starts waving his arms like a madman.

You shake your head lightly in amusement, but make your way to him. Noticing their friend's actions, the entire group turns to find the person he had been waving to. They couldn't really focus since the hallway is buzzing with students. When you reach them, you bow respectfully since most of them are older than you are.

"You didn't forget," Baekhyun nods in approval.

You take in the other boys' face, recognising them easily as the popular guys. Also, one of them is in your class, that guy who always stares at you. His eyes are wide open, along with his jaw. You frown at Baekhyun. 

"Of course I wouldn't forget." You actually almost did, though. Your frown deepens when you realise that it wouldn't be nice not to invite his friends. "You can bring your friends along if you want to?"

"Really?" Baekhyun gives you his best eye smile.

You nod, smiling lightly. You look to the others, asking them personally, "I'm supposed to buy Baekhyun sunbaenim and Chanyeol sunbaenim dinner. But since you guys are here, let's have dinner together?" 

They eye each other for a second before accepting the invitation. The six of you leave school and decide to have fried chicken. They had lost the game and one of them—the darker one, you still couldn't remember all their names—is upset about it. So the only way to make him feel better is to have fried chicken.

"How do you know the other team?" Chanyeol asks.

"Oh yeah!" The one with the cheekbones pipes up. "We saw you talking to them!"

"They're my neighbours," you clarify.

It is noisy as all of you walk towards the restaurant that the dark-skinned one recommended. Since there are so many of you, there is never a quiet moment.

"Sehun is in your class, do you know that?" Chanyeol pushes the said boy towards you.

You take in the boy's features and nod, "You stare a lot."

At once, his face flushes and the others start guffawing. In order to save himself, Sehun tries to say something in his defense, only to stutter. The others are cackling now. You give him an amused smile, shaking your head.

"Don't mind them, it's fine," giving the others a face, you try to make him feel better. "Don't do it too much though, it's kinda creepy."

If possible, he flushes a deeper red. This time, even you couldn't stop yourself from chuckling. He is quite adorable. Even through his embarrassment, he looks at you in ashtonishment. The others have also started paying attention to you. Your frown takes over the smile on your face.

"What's wrong?" You ask uncomfortably.

"You laughed," Sehun points out stupidly.

"Yeah..." You confirm but still don't know what the hell is going on. You raise an eyebrow at Cheekbones, whose name is Jongdae.

"It's just that we hardly see you smiling," he explains. "It's nice."

You roll your eyes, "I smile a lot." When they are all quiet, your eyes widen. Glancing at the dark one, Jongin, you realise that they are all being serious. You clear your throat, "I do smile! Just... With people I'm comfortable with? I guess." 

"You're pretty quiet as—" Jongdae was cut off by the youngest boy.

"Oh, no! She's quite talkative with her partner, actually," Sehun announces.

Actually, you are only talkative when you are feeling good or hyper. Otherwise, the amount of words you say are average. But you decide to tease Sehun a little bit more.

"You pay so much attention to me, Sehun-ssi," you point out.

The others are having the time of their life seeing their maknae being teased like this by you. It is amusing, really. You guys banter and you try to talk as much as you could so that they would think differently. However, it is hard when you do not really know them. You eventually stop trying, letting them talk for you.

The lot of you have arrived at the restaurant and have gotten a table immediately. Being hungry basketball players after a game, the boys ordered almost the entire menu.

"We're paying," Baekhyun smiles warmly at you.

"No, no," you shake your head. "I said I would buy. It's okay."

"We ordered too much," he counters.

"I have the money."

"Boasting now, are we?" Chanyeol teases.

You dip your head in embarrassment as you mumble, "I didn't mean it that way..."

"We know."

This time, all of them are laughing. You are slightly making a face without meaning to until Chanyeol pokes your cheek. To be honest, you are shocked because no one touches you unless they really know you; Luhan and Tao as examples. Instantly, you turn to glare at the culprit, who seems honestly afraid despite being two years older than you are.

"S-sorry," he stutters.

Seeing how afraid he was, you soften and turn away. You know the others have noticed your behaviour and reaction, making the entire table quiet for the first time.

"Why are you so closed off?" Baekhyun tilts his head, breaking the silence.

"I'm not," you mumble.

"Yeah," Jongin nods his head cutely. "Why is that?"

You sigh inaudibly, "Dunno."

Noticing your reluctance in speaking, they drop the subject, moving on to other news.

You actually know why you're not as sociable as other girls though. You're different from the other girls. Your personality and character are different from theirs. So much so that girls can never really click with you. No one has ever tried hard enough to want to really know you. Thus, you ignore other people's pleas to let them in. Even Tao and Luhan had to get to where they are now in four years, and they don't even know you well enough yet. 

Looking up from your hands, you catch Baekhyun's eyes and you see a spark in his eyes. You suppress the chills down your back when it looks suspiciously like determination...