Mi-Hyun couldn't decide whether she was supposed to go to the roof the next day.

If I go today, Ga-In will probably follow me, she thought as she walked to school. As close as she was to Ga-In, she just didn't want to share Baekhyun's friendship yet. Or Chanyeol's. But who was she kidding, Chanyeol had probably made about a thousand new friends already. If she was really honest, she didn't want Baekhyun to be close to anybody else. Stop being so posessive, Mi-Hyun scolded herself. I forbid you from turning into one of those fans! If Ga-Iin wants to come, it's fine. It's totally fine.

When Mi-Hyun arrived in the classroom, Ga-In wasn't there. She felt a flutter of relief, then immediately felt guilty. How could she be glad that she wasn't at school? What kind of a friend was she? She scanned the class again and realised Baekhyun wasn't there either. It wasn't new, he always had a schedule so him missing school was always accepted. Mi-Hyun did a mental shrug and sat down in the back by herself.

She loosened her tie to get comfortable and flipped open the draft of the next issue of the newspaper. Little post it notes bombarded the cover and Mi-Hyun flipped it open to continue editing it. She was almost halfway through when Mr Kim walked in, followed by a out-out-breath Hyorin.

'What's up?' asked Mi-Hyun as Hyorin collapsed in her seat. 'You're almost never late.'

Hyorin shook her head, eyes watery. She squeezed them for a second then the tears were gone. 'It's nothing,' she gasped. 'Just home stuff.'

Mi-Hyun knew what 'home stuff' was so she didn't push. 'Do you know where Ga-In is?' she asked instead.

'Oh, yeah,' Hyorin said, jumping at the change of topic. 'She texted me last night, saying that she came down with a fever. Probably from crying too much and eating and sleeping too little.'

Mi-Hyun frowned. 'Why didn't she text me?'

'She did, check your phone.'

Mi-Hyun did and discovered that it was dead. 'Oops,' she smiled sheepishly.

'Miss Kim, IS THAT A PHONE I SEE?'

Mi-Hyun looked up to see Mr Kim's smiling face peering down at her. However, there was no amusement in the hand that was extending for it.

'Uh, yeah...'

Mr Kim stopped smiling. 'Hand it over.'

Mi-Hyun sobbed in her head while preparing to let go of her beloved device. But suddenly, she was interrupted by a knock. Mr Kim turned around and Mi-Hyun used her chance to slip her phone back into her pocket. Thank you, stranger!

The stranger turned out to be Baekhyun, looking deliciously dishevelled (no, stop it, stop it, bad, bad, bad), with tie badly done and hair messy. 'Sorry I'm late,' he said, between puffs, 'There was a traffic jam on the way from the company.'

Mr Kim accepted his apology with an, 'It's alright, take a seat. ' He paused. 'Where was I?'

Mi-Hyun looked down, to her right, to her left, anywhere but at Mr Kim. Forget that I'm here, forget, forget, forget, she chanted. It must've been her lucky day, because Mr Kim furrowed his brow, walked back to the front of the room and continued with his lecture on the cosine rule. From his seat in the middle, Baekhyun turned around to face Mi-Hyun. He smiled that secret smile and Mi-Hyun felt that secret pull that she hoped he couldn't see in her returned smile. He subtly pointed to the ceiling with a finger and Mi-Hyun knew what he was asking.

The roof?

Ridiculously glad that he still wanted her company, Mi-Hyun gave a slight nod. Baekhyun turned back around and opened his notebook.

'What,' Hyorin whispered from Mi-Hyun's side, 'was that?'

'I'm having lunch with him.' Mi-Hyun whispered back. 'On the roof.'

Hyorin frowned. 'Like a date?'

'No, no, no,' Mi-Hyun reassured her. 'Like friends. And it's not just with him. There's another guy as well.'

Hyorin's eyebrows went even higher at this. She looked at Mi-Hyun with disbelief. 'I'm sure as hell not coming with you but I want details. Phone. Tonight.'

Mi-Hyun smiled and gave her a thumbs up. 'Of course.'

'Be safe.'

'Of course.'

'Come back straight after lunch.'

'Of course.'

'Be safe.'

'God, Hyorin, they're idols, they can't do anything!'

~~~

At the ringing of the lunch bell, Mi-Hyun waited until after Hyorin departed with mutters of, 'Library,' and 'Be safe' and Baekhyun left with obvious eye gestures to the ceiling. Mi-Hyun had answered with an eyeroll and a funny face. Geez, obvious much, she thought as Baekhyun screwed up his face in reply then walked off.

A minute later, she grabbed her lunch and followed. Opening the door of the roof, it promptly tried to shut back on her, but a pair of hands grabbed the edge and pulled it back open. For a second, she was blinded by the sunlight streaming through.

'My eyes!' Mi-Hyun cried dramatically, as she covered her face and staggered back.

'Ha ha,' said Baekhyun sarcastically, as he moved aside to let her in. 'You took ages.'

'Well, I don't have much expertise in sneaking around like you do,' Mi-Hyun retorted back. She looked up to see the blue, blue sky. 'Wow,' she said appreciatively, raising her arms up. 'Look at this sunlight. It's beautiful.'

'And that,' said Baekhyun, 'is why we're sitting in the shade.'

'What?'

'We're sitting in the shade.'

Mi-Hyun gaped at him. 'Why?'

'For my skin,' Baekhyun rolled his eyes. 'I don't really care but the company wants it to be paler, so yeah. No sun.'

'Aw, that ,' said Mi-Hyun. Companies can tell you that? she thought. She knew about the ridiculously high beauty standards idols had these days but for some reason, she never felt like they were connected to Baekhyun. He was just real, and other idols, were, like, not real. She saw idols on TV but she saw Baekhyun at lunch. Her mind just couldn't make any connection between the two.

'Well, I already put down my stuff when I was waiting. Come on.'

Baekhyun lead Mi-Hyun to the wall of the small building on the roof, where she had entered from. He settled down in the shade and Mi-Hyun sat next to him. She pulled out her lunch and gazed at the view.

'Where's Chanyeol?' she asked curiously.

'On schedule,' answered Baekhyun, mouth half full. He only had small portions of rice, vegetables and meat in his lunchbox and Mi-Hyun wondered if that was all he was having. She took a bite of her own omelette rice.

'You don't do that together?'

'Nah, sometimes we have separate activites. For promotions and stuff. I think Chanyeol's doing an interview right now.'

'Wow...that's amazing.'

'I guess,' he said. 'How's Ga-In?'

Mi-Hyun turned to Baekhyun, surprised that he'd remembered. 'I think she's doing okay,' Mi-Hyun said slowly. 'Though she didn't come to school today. Probably 'cuz she cried too much and her face swelled up.'

Baekhyun chuckled. He poked Mi-Hyun's omelette rice. 'Is that good?'

Mi-Hyun her spoon. 'Of course. My umma made it.'

'Let me have some.'

'What?' Mi-Hyun pulled it to her chest protectively. 'No way!'

'Come on, just a bit.'

'No!'

'Why not?'

'You're a teenage boy! Teenage boys eat anything! You have absolutely no capacity at all to appreciate my umma's food.'

Baekhyun laughed, his eyes turning into crescents. Mi-Hyun felt her heart being pulled towards him again but stopped dead when she heard his next words.

'I guess you're right. Maybe that's why we're on diets.' He smiled for a moment or so before he noticed Mi-Hyun's staring.

'Who's we?' she asked after a pause.

'Uh, everyone in EXO?'

'You're on diets?!'

'Yeah...' Baekhyun fidgeted uncomfortably. 'Company told us to.' He blabbered on when Mi-Hyun dissolved into shocked silence. 'I don't care, I don't actually want to diet at all, I mean, I think I'm fine, but I'm a singer, right? And I wish people would just judge us on our voices and music but that's not how it is in the industry, you have to look like somehting first before someone will even consider you-

'Here.'

Unceremoniously, Mi-Hyun dumped half of her omelette rice into Baekhyun's already empty container. His eyes widened.

'You need to eat more,' Mi-Hyun said, her voice taking on a bossy tone. She refused to let Baekhyun feel awkward. 'Eat it now. Now.'

'Are you sure?' Baekhyun asked, chopsticks hovering but still not touching it. Mi-Hyun could tell he was holding himself back.

'Yes,' she said firmly. When he still didn't eat, she prodded him. 'Hurry and eat before you turn into a skeleton!'

Baekhyun let out a disbelieving snort but dug in. There was a minute's silence of eating. 'You're right, this is really good,' he finally mumbled.

'I told you so,' Mi-Hyun said smugly.

'Even Kyungsoo doesn't cook this well,' Baekhyun said through the rice.

'Baekhyun-shi?'

'Yeah?'

'I don't think your company wants your image to be talking with your mouth full.'

'...Got it.'

~~~

By the time the two had finally finished their lunches, talking about school, EXO and everything inbetween, it was already the end of lunch.

Baekhyun sure can talk, Mi-Hyun thought. How can he stay so quiet in class when he really has that much to say?

'What do we have next?' Baekhyun asked, while standing up and stretching. Mi-Hyun thought for a second.

'Today's Tuesday, right?'

Baekhyun 'mhm'ed in response.

'Then we should have assembly.' Mi-Hyun got up as well but Baekhyun stopped her, his eyebrows raised.

'They're never going to let you into the hall with your uniform like that,' he said jokingly, tugging on Mi-Hyun's loose tie. She felt her cheeks going warm. Had they really become this close in just two days? It was weird though, Mi-Hyun felt like she knew him much longer than that and oh god, her heart was suddenly being pulled and pounding. Baekhyun's face was just too close to hers right now, she could see every fleck in his eyes, faint freckles on his cheeks, soft lips softly breathing-

and then he just pulled her tie off.

'Hey!'

Mi-Hyun tried to snatch her tie back but Baekhyun dangled it above her head. Which he shouldn't have been able to do since he wasn't that much taller than her anyway. Shorty.

'Now you need to redo it so you can go to assembly,' he said smugly.

'I could've just tightened it,' Mi-Hyun grumbled. 'I don't know how to do a tie.'

Baekhyun's gave her a look. 'Really? Who does it everyday for you then?'

'My dad.'

Baekhyun scoffed. 'Are you serious? Even in highschool?'

'What?' Mi-Hyun retorted. 'A lot of other kids do the same.'

'Well, you're not a kid anymore. It's not even that hard, look.' Baekhyun suddenly came close again and looped the tie around Mi-Hyun's neck. He tucked it under her collar and Mi-Hyun felt her cheeks burn again.

'Watch,' he said softly. Carefully, gently, he carried through a series of loops and twists while Mi-Hyun could only look down at his slender fingers, hoping he couldn't feel chaotic drum that was her heart, ready to march straight out of her chest. She could feel the warmth of his fingers through the thin school blouse, moving on a thin layer against her skin. After what seemed like forever but certainly not long enough, Baekhyun's hands moved away, leaving a perfectly tied knot.

But not before a finger accidently brushed against her neck when he withdrew, leaving what felt like a burn to Mi-Hyun but probably just an accident to Baekhyun. She was silent for a moment.

'Thanks,' Mi-Hyun managed to splutter, failing abysmally to sound casual. She dared to look up, and saw Baekhyun was smiling. Was it wrong too feel pleased when she noticed his ears were red?

'You're welcome,' he said a bit too loudly. He shoved his hand in his pocket, like he was trying to control it. 'Should we go?'

Mi-Hyun nodded and together, they descended the stairs. Without a word, Baekhyun waited for Mi-Hyun to go out first. She felt a little disappointed that they couldn't be seen together outside of the roof but she understood his reasons. She gave him a smile and walked out first. Just as she did though, a girl and a boy rushed past her in the hallway. Mi-Hyun stepped back to let them pass but when she glimpsed their faces, she paused in disbelief.

It was Hyorin, her face alight and alive, laughing as she ran. In all the three years Mi-Hyun had been her best friend, she could count the number of times Hyorin had laughed like that on her using just her hands and toes.

And she was with a boy, a boy laughing with a heart shaped smile.

A cute boy.