Seconds ticked by on laptop clocks and student wristwatches.  Complete silence filled the lecture hall save an occasional cough or whisper as the students waited for their professor to conclude the lecture.  The man scanned over his lecture notes, attempting to decide whether he was finished, and filling the whole room with an excruciating anticipation.

“Ahem.”  The man straightened his posture and faced the class.  “Dismissed.”

Before the latter syllable had even left his mouth, there was an explosive clattering of sounds as the whole room began packing up their text books and laptops, stuffing them into their bags, and scrambling to their feet.  Friends found each other in the familiar chaos, and over the course of about three and a half minutes, most of the students migrated through the doors, leaving a few lonely stragglers behind.

A baby-faced young woman hurriedly typed another line in her notes, then saved the document and put her laptop to sleep before gently sliding it into her backpack.  She pulled the bag onto her shoulders and rushed to catch up with her friends.  They greeted her halfheartedly, flashing her fake, toothy smiles that never reached their eyes.  “Yo, Jinri.”

Jinri was the girl’s real name, but the name she usually went by was Sulli.  The only place she used her real name was here at the university.  The girl repaid their false friendliness with a genuine smile of her own.  Her cheeks rose slightly as the corners of moved upward to form a gentle curve, causing her eyes to squint cutely.  “Soojung, Sunyoung,” she greeted them.  “Where are you headed?”  She didn’t miss how Soojung’s fake smile faltered as she asked.

“I’m headed for the library to research for that monster essay Teacher Kwon gave us yesterday.”  Soojung glanced at Sunyoung, who would have looked perfectly happy to anyone other than Sulli.  Sulli could see the bitter aversion in the older girl’s eyes.

“My oppa is home, and I want to spend some time with him before he leaves again,” she explained, adopting an apologetic expression upon her features.

Sure, Sulli thought.  The same old excuse you used last week.  You and I both know your brother isn’t planning to leave for another month.  She scoffed inwardly, but kept her outward emotions composed.  She nodded to the girls.  “Got it.  I guess we’re not hanging out today then.”

Soojung’s lip twitched ever so slightly.  Sulli knew she was holding back a smirk.  “Mianhae, Jinri-unni.  Maybe next time.”

“See you tomorrow,” Sunyoung chimed in, sounding altogether too cheerful for Sulli’s liking.  It pissed her off a bit.  She waved to the two girls as they left together, gossiping and joking with each other.

Sulli adjusted the load on her shoulders and hooked her thumbs in the straps of the backpack as she set off on her route towards home.  She knew her so called ‘friends’ didn’t like her much, but she couldn’t really care less.  She didn’t like them a whole lot either.  Soojung was a bit of a , and Sunyoung was one of the most fake people she had ever met.  They lied to her face all the time, so she couldn’t stand being around them terribly long.  Why did she pretend to be friends with them?  Well, that was simply for the sake of appearance; social status was all their friendship amounted to.  That was precisely the same reason they pretended to like her.

It made her sick how everyone around her was so unskilled at hiding their emotions.  Didn’t they know that their faces gave everything away?  Some of them, like Sunyoung, were quite adept at controlling their facial muscles, but when it came to her eyes, Sunyoung told everything clearly.  But then again, perhaps Sulli was the only person who could read those signals.  No one else seemed to suspect anything.  Besides, if they knew how much they told with a simple glance, would they not bother to learn to control their glances more carefully?

No, Sulli was sure most people were oblivious to the matter.  She knew she was special; she had always been able to read people quite well, almost too well in fact.  It had been both a blessing and a curse throughout her life.  It didn’t occur to her that there was anything strange about her ability until she spoke to her classmates in elementary school about it, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.  They all thought she was crazy.  They kept their distance from her after that, but thankfully she moved to a different city when she started middle school.  There she met new people, ones who didn’t know about her ability, and by that time she had learned to keep shut.

Despite not revealing her secret, Sulli still had difficulty making friends.  She found that almost everyone she encountered was fake in some way.  The only genuine people she met either disliked her or she disliked them.  Her ability remained a secret until she confided it in her best friend in high school, the only genuine person with whom Sulli had ever felt was worth developing a friendship.  This friend accepted her unconditionally.  To Sulli’s dismay, she and her friend went separate ways after graduation, ending up attending universities in cities a couple hours’ travel apart.  Thus now, in university, Sulli was forced to settle for fake friendships with fake people.

Sulli stopped by her usual convenience store on her way home.  “Hi Sulli!” the girl behind the counter greeted her, smiling warmly.  Being a frequent customer, Sulli was known by name to most of the employees.

She’s tired, Sulli observed.  She’s been smiling for at least three hours straight, and feels like her face is about to fall off.  She also looks really bored, but at least she seems genuinely friendly.

She walked over to the magazine stand and started flipping through an issue of a fashion magazine.

Should I get ramen?

Sulli froze.  Did she think that?  Why was she suddenly thinking about ramen?

No, but hyung will scold me if I don’t eat real food.  How about this instead?

Who will scold me?  Confused, Sulli closed the magazine and set it back on the stand.

Nah…too much work.  I’ll get ramen.

What the…  Sulli wrinkled her forehead and turned around to walk to the food section, but just as she rounded the corner, she collided with another body and fell to the floor.  The stranger immediately began spouting half-coherent rushed apologies, bowing frantically and clasping his hands together.

Ah, …oops.

“I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry.  I wasn’t looking where I was going.  Are you okay?”

Sulli looked up and blinked at the boy in front of her.  She wasn’t surprised to see that although he meant the apology, he was being overly dramatic and did not enjoy having to be that polite.  If he’d had his way, she could tell he would probably just mutter a quick ‘sorry’ and continue on his way.  It puzzled her why he was trying so hard, but she didn’t put too much thought into it.  It didn’t matter anyway.  The boy reached for her hand and Sulli grasped it.  As he pulled her to her feet, they made eye contact for a brief moment, and Sulli’s thoughts doubled in their confusion.

Wow, she’s kinda cute.

He looks weird.

I wonder what her name is.

Not a bad kind of weird though…

Should I ask?  That’s kinda creepy.

Maybe a more straightforward weird.

I won’t.

I can tell he’s hiding something though, and WHAT THE HECK?  I’m not thinking those thoughts, am I?

Sulli shook her head, blinking her eyes rapidly and pulling her hand free from the strange boy’s grasp.  “It’s fine.”  She smiled brightly, and the boy returned it with a small nod.  “I was just distracted.  What was I getting?”

Oh right!  I still need to get ramen.

She frowned.  “Oh, ramen.”  Scurrying away from the stranger, Sulli turned down the aisle which held the instant ramen.  Then she halted.

Wait…I wasn’t getting ramen.  She scratched her head.  What the…

Sulli wasn’t stupid, just confused.  She did suspect that the strange boy had something to do with these foreign thoughts in her head, but by the time she spun around to speak to him again, he was gone.  She glanced around the store but the stranger was nowhere in sight.  Sighing to herself, she decided to pick up some ramen after all and took it to the register.

A/N - Happy birthday, fuff!  Too bad this isn't finished. ;A;  But I wanted to at least give part of it to you on your birthday, which is almost over. :x

SARANGHAE ♥ chu~ >3<