Mi-Hyun felt like she was on edge the entire assembly.

That's was the way she always felt when she just had to talk to somebody, a somebody that was sitting a couple of seats away, blissfully ignorant of her best friend's burning eyes on her head.

It was just so weird, Mi-Hyun thought. Hyorin and a boy? A boy and Hyorin? They were like two puzzle pieces that didn't fit together. Hyorin had never paid any boy so much as a glance and Mi-Hyun even remembered one day in middle school tentatively asking her if she preferred girls instead.

'What?' Hyorin had replied, taken back. 'Girls? No, no, no, ew.'

'Are you sure?' Mi-Hyun had insisted. 'It's alright if you telll me the truth, you don't ned to hide...'

'No, I am telling the truth! I may not have ever met a guy that can keep my attention for more than a minute but I am definitely, definitely not interested in girls. Not then, not now, not ever. Really.'

But now apparently she has met a guy, Mi-Hyun thought. She was surprised to find herself feeling a little sour, sour that Hyorin didn't have the need to tell her, sour that  somebody else could make her smile like that. But you didn't tell her about Baekhyun, a little voice in her head piped up. Isn't it exactly the same situation on your side?

Mi-Hyun pushed the thought away. Everything would be better once they talked, she decided. She'd sort this out at the end of assembly. And who was that boy, seriously?

She was sitting at the back of the hall, almost late due to her stop in the hallway. Baekhyun had graciously reminded her to get moving with a push from behind the door. She had an excellent vantage point and she used it to scan the faces of all the students.

Found him.

To Mi-Hyun's utter surprise, he was sitting next to Baekhyun. And they were talking. Like, not the polite whispering you get between strangers but the crazy muttering, nudging and nodding you got from close friends. They were sitting on the front left of Hyorin, Baekhyun being important enough to have saved seat despite arriving later than Mi-Hyun herself.

Hyorin's future husband/boyfriend/male-friend/boy-she-laughed-with was kind of cute, Mi-Hyun decided. Not Baekhyun cute, of course, but cute all the same. And judging from the female stares around the two, she had an irkling that this guy was in EXO as well.

After what seemed like forever, assembly finally ended and Mi-Hyun craned her neck over the rush of students to look for Hyorin. She couldn't find her so walked back to the classroom, only to discover Hyorin sitting at her usual desk.

'Hey,' she said, smiling at Mi-Hyun. Mi-Hyun felt could almost feel the happiness rolling off her best friend and wondered if it was that guy.

'Where were you during lunch?' she questioned, getting straight to the point.

Hyorin scrunched her eyebrows together but continued smiling. 'I was in the library..."

'With who?'

Hyorin's smile finally dropped when she realised Mi-Hyun wasn't joking. 'Why does it matter?' she asked.

'I saw you coming out with a boy.' Mi-Hyun crossed her arms. 'Why didn't you tell me?'

Imitating Mi-Hyun, Hyorin crossed her arms as well. 'You don't tell me where you go at lunch.'

At this, Mi-Hyun grew silent. Inwardly, she wondered how things had turned out like this. Aren't we meant to be best friends? How come we don't know each other anymore?

'I go to the roof.' The words ran out of Mi-Hyun's mouth before she could stop them with a big red 'NO!' sign.

Hyorin dropped her act to look surprised. 'The roof? Why on earth would you go there?'

'So what? Mi-Hyun said defensively. 'I like it there.'

'And who do you go with?'

Mi-Hyun squirmed. 'A boy.'

'Knew it,' Hyorin laughed. The tense atmosphere had disappeared and Mi-Hyun felt relieved. Trust Hyorin to never be mad at petty things.

'So, when you told me you were talking to a cute boy, you werent joking...'

Mi-Hyun nodded. 'You too?'

'Mhm.'

Mi-Hyun giggled. 'This is the first time we've said that phrase to each other with it actually being true...'

'So true,' Hyorin replied, exasperatedly laughing.

'So...this mystery guy...what's his name?'

Hyorin's face grew a little shy. 'Kyungsoo.'

'What's so special about him? You never to talk to boys!'

Hyorin shrugged helplessly. 'I don't know either! Except he's just...' She shakes her head, smiling, and hugs herself. 'I don't love him yet or anything like that,' she added quickly. 'I'm just getting to know him, actually, and I'm attracted to him, and, and, you know...'

Mi-Hyun watched her with fond eyes. Ah, our Hyorin has grown up.

'Well, I want to meet him,' she said firmly.

'How about your guy?' Hyorin shot back. 'Who's that guy that makes you run to the most windy and cold place in the whole school?'

'The roof is nice!' Mi-Hyun said defensively. 'I went there before he came!'

'Sure, sure...'

'I did!'

'What's his name?'

'Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun.'

'Baekhyun,' said Hyorin slowly. 'Mi-Hyun...Hyun-Hyun! Oh my god! I ship it!'

'No, stop!' Mi-Hyun shrieked, despite the glances from the other students slowly entering the classroom. Thank goodness Baekhyun didn't come yet.

'Hyun-Hyun!'

'No!'

~~~

'Who?' Baekhyun said, reaching for Mi-Hyun's food again. She playfully pretended to swat him away but let him take a bite in the end.

'Her name's Hyorin,' Mi-Hyun clarified. 'She's been my best friend since middle school.'

They were sitting underneath the shade again, due to Baekhyun's insisting. Chanyeol seemed to have found somewhere else to hang out during lunchtimes and only occassionally stopped by. When Mi-Hyun asked Baekhyun if he minded, he only shrugged. 'I live with him anyway,' and with that, the matter was settled. Baekhyun frowned. 'Will she spread rumours?'

Mi-Hyun laughed. 'No. No. To be honest, she doesn't know who EXO is.'

'What?!'

Mi-Hyun laughed at Baekhyun's shocked expression. 'I doubt she'll even recognise you despite being in your class.'

'Really? What kind of a person is this?'

'Well...' Mi-Hyun thought about it. Hyorin certainly was unique. 'I guess she cares a lot about the things she's interested in...and she's really cool once you get to know her...The stories are in her head, you know?'

Nonplussed, Baekhyun shook his head. 'No, I don't.'

'She writes the fantasy column in the school newspaper every week,' said Mi-Hyun happily.

Now this caught Baekhyun's attention. 'Seriously? The one I read every week? Spring's sun? The spin off from Autumn Rain?'

'Yup!'

'Wow, daebak...'

'I have the next draft copy here if you want to read it...' Mi-Hyun pulled the draft of the newspaper out from her shirt. Baekhyun threw her a look and smirked.

'This is why boys tease you for being flat,' he said, jabbing the newspaper.

Mi-Hyun shrugged. 'Doesn't matter, no guys like me anyway.'

Baekhyun opened his mouth like he was going to saw something then seemed to quickly change his mind, looking down at the newspaper again. 'Okay,' he said taking it out of Mi-Hyun's hand and flipping it open. 'I've got something to say.''

'What?'

'The fortune telling article has got to go.'

'Why? I like it,' Mi-Hyun said, grabbing it back. 'Look, it's so detailed and pretty...'

'It's lame. All the guys hate it.'

'No, they don't!'

'It's got to go.'

'No!'

'Yes!'

And this was the last conversation Mi-Hyun remembered having with Baekhyun, this bickering, this lazy laughter underneath the sun before their little group of two turned into four.

~~~

'Kyungsoo?'

'Baekhyun?'

The two boys stared at each other, polite smiles dropping from their faces as real , disbelieving ones replaced them.

'Wait,' Hyorin said, 'You know each other?'

'We're both in EXO!' Baekhyun said, turning to her. 'Hello,' he said formally. 'My name is Byun Baekhyun. Please take care of me.'

Hyorin replied with the usual greeting while Mi-Hyun and Kyungsoo did the same. Mi-Hyun approved of the quieter boy's shy and polite tone and the firmness of his handshake. Oh, he's perfect for my Hyorin, she laughed gleefully in her head.

When they were done, Hyorin turned to Kyungsoo. 'You're in EXO?' she said, disbelievingly. 'You never told me!'

Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows. 'I thought you knew.'

'Do you sing or dance?'

'I sing.'

'Wow,' Hyorin said. 'You'll  have  to show me one day.'

Kyungsoo nodded and the two joined Mi-Hyun and Baekhyun in their usual spot under the shade.

'I'm so relieved,' Baekhyun said, sprawling against the wall. 'I thought this would be so awkward.'

'Me too,' Mi-Hyun confessed. She smiled at her best friend and observed how close she was sitting next to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo seemed to be quite tense but after the first few minutes of listening to Mi-Hyun and Baekhyun's usual taunting and teasing, he seemed to relax and join in with a few snarky remarks of his own.

The group discussed everything, from the astrology column, to Hyorin's Spring Sun, then Autumn Rain, then actors where Baekhyun made everyone laugh by doing a fail imitation of Cheon Song Yi.

Before they knew it, lunch had ended. The four went down the stairs, and Baekhyun surprised Mi-Hyun by exiting straight after her. Usually, he waited for a minute or so, so no rumours would start. But this time, when Mi-Hyun shot him a questioning look, he only smiled at her and continued talking the latest episode of Autumn Rain. Kyungsoo parted with them down the hallway to return to his own classroom so the three made their way to their next class, Mi-Hyun and Baekhyun chattering and Hyorin nodding every now and then.

When they entered the classroom, there were whispers and gasps but Mi-Hyun ignored it. Baekhyun sat down at his usual seat and talked to the agitated girls, calmly assuring them that no, he didn't have a girlfriend, and no, he was not dating two women at once. Mi-Hyun rolled her eyes at the ridiculous questions but was surprised to find herself not caring anymore. Was that how Baekhyun felt?

She was surprised, but not really, to find Ga-In sitting at the table, tired but smiling, heads in her hands.

'Hey,' she said, sliding next to her. 'Your umma told me you might've gone to school today. You okay?'

'Absolutely fine,' Ga-In replied, her usual confidence already starting to creep back into her voice. In a sadder tone, she added, 'I'm sorry for causing you two to worry about me.'

'Nah,' said Hyorin. 'It's fine.

'You've gotten over him,' said Mi-Hyun firmly. 'It's all that matters.'

Ga-In 'hmmed' in reply and turned her attention to Baekhyun's back. A gleeful smile started to grace her lips. She turned to Mi-Hyun, dropping all pretence of being miserable anymore. The Gossip girl was back. 'Damn, you guys have got so much to tell me. I did not miss you two coming in with that hottie.'

Mi-Hyun cringed at Baekhyun being described like that but let it go.

'You've got to spill,' Ga-In said. 'N-o-w, right now.'

A/N: Thank you as always for reading :)