Mochali was happy, actually that happiness was short lived and recalling that moment only made her pout down at her food. Her actions caught the attention of her unnies who all turned to her in concern, each asking what was wrong. Eunhye had begun to rub her back, Chaeni placed a hand on her arm and looked through the cafeteria trying to catch who upset the maknae, Soorin smiled gently at her and Teayon kept repeating her question over and over. Mochali released a heavy breath as she started to tell them what happened.

She had been sitting in her literature class before the lecture started and she was so focused on the conversation she was having with a couple of girls she didn’t notice who took the seat next to her. It was halfway into their lecture that her seatmate tapped her on the shoulder.

“What page are we on?” a boy whispered, leaning in towards her.

Mochali looked up at him in shock, finding that it was the youngest kingka, Taemin, who ended up being her seatmate. She stuttered as she answered, “P-page ni…ninty-six.”

He smiled and nodded in gratitude, turning his book to that page so he could catch up. When the teacher had his back turned again she leaned over to her, a flattering smile on his lips as he asked her a question, “Are you a new student?”

Surprised by the proximity between them she squeaked out a ‘no’ and somehow ended up pushing her book onto the floor, the loud thud disrupting the class and turning all eyes on her.

When she had finished her story, Eunhye continued to rub her back as Molachi held her face in her hands to hide the same blush that was on her cheeks when the class turned to look at her.

“So…you were embarrassed, huh…" Chaeni commented sympathetically and moved over to gently give the maknae a hug.

"Do you think now that I’ll leave a bad impression from him?" Mochali asked removing her hands from her face and having the same pouty and slightly disappointed look. The same look she had before covering her face.

“Of course not. Hey, at least you’ll be with him this school year every literature right? I’m sure he would forget about the incident,” Soorin said with reassuring eyes.

“Yeah, Soorinnie is right and you should be grateful. Fate has given you a chance to be with him,” Teayon added while going back to eat her precious food.

"I hope so," Mochali replied cheerfully, agreeing with Teayon. She began to smile when she realized that they were right and she'll be Taemin's seatmate for literature this year.

“And besides, everyone has those times of embarrassment right? You shouldn’t let it haunt you.” Eunhye spoke up while still facing the maknae and had stopped rubbing her back.

“Cheer up, Cici!!” Chaeni cheered with her usual energy.

After that, the girls continued eating their lunch and Mochali was grateful that her friends were always there to comfort her. Sometimes, she thinks that she has the best friends in the whole wide world.

They continued talking about their own summer trips and experiences. Everyone was asking questions and commenting on the stories being told.  

“I envy you, Eunhye-unnie! You get to travel and eat different things at the same time!” Teayon joked while everyone laughed at their friend’s antics.

Teayon also had an amazing experience during her summer vacation. She had taken a trip to her mother’s hometown: Manila, which was actually the country she would mostly like to visit. Whenever her mother would talk about the Philippines and how beautiful that country is and how the food tastes, Teayon starts to imagine all the things she would do if ever she had a chance to go there. She would eat the delicious food, shop in the outdoor markets, swim in the beautiful blue waters that were in display in her mother’s picture frames, and most importantly, relax. And this summer, Teayon was able to do all those things she fantasized.

There was this time during her vacation when she ordered a bunch of Filipino food from a restaurant named Barrio Fiesta for her and her mother to eat.  She labeled this place as “The Best Restaurant” by the time they left. 

“Maybe we could go with you the next time you go there. All the stories about the food there makes my mouth water, Teayon-ah,”  Chaeni suggested and all four of the girls seem to agree.

“Sure. Why not? Besides, I’ve been craving the food there since we left.”  Teayon stated while nodding.

The girls planned what to do after school and they all were excited, deciding to visit the new bakery Soorin mentioned earlier.  Of course, everyone was excited to try the sweets and it had been a long time since they last hung out. Sure, some of the girls saw each other from time to time during break, but things were much livelier when they were all together.

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break and the girls hurriedly stood up from their seats to make their way to the next classes they were going to take. They all walked out the cafeteria together and parted ways when they reached the door, only walking with one of the others if their next class was in the same direction. 

Soorin and Teayon headed to class together, sharing the same period math. Still chit-chatting, they reached class and the volume of the chattering students welcomed them. They were used to this scene every time they entered their classrooms.

As Teayon glanced around the room to find any familiar faces she saw Choi Sulli, a queenka who’s crazy about SHINee. Always, for no reason at all, she would focus on trying to make Teayon’s life miserable. She would come up to Teayon wherever she saw her, and start insulting her. “Brat” and “Idiot" were the words Sulli usually used to insult her during these times while picking at her appearance or attacking her heritage.  Sulli made it her mission in life to embarrass people in front of the whole school.  Other students didn’t seem to mind Sulli’s actions. But still, the embarrassment would stick with the victim throughout their school life.

Teayon remembered a time when a new student sat at Sulli’s clique’s table during lunch and Sulli ended up pouring hot soup all over the girl with no warning.  ”Sorry, but that’s our table. You’re gonna get punished if you sit there. See what I just did?”  Sulli had laughed, her friends soon joining in with their shrill hyena laughter.

“Teayon, is something wrong? Why did you stop?” Soorin asked looking for her Math notebook inside her bag.

“Uhhh, look there.” Teayon said trying not to be noticed by Sulli so no insulting would take place right on the very first day of school.

“What?”

“There!” Teayon used her head to point towards Sulli in an attempt to not be obvious. To any bystander, she would look like she had an over-exaggerated twitch.

Soorin started to laugh hysterically and Sulli spotted the two girls inside the room near the door. She started to make her way over to them, with an unexpected cheery expression that would have brought down any other person’s guard, but Teayon knew that it was a façade and waited to be insulted. But, right about when Sulli was going to open  the teacher walked into the room, unknowingly saving Teayon from being attacked. Sulli just sent the two girls a death glare and headed back to her seat. Teayon released a sigh of relief while Soorin lead her to two empty seats at the back of the room.

“Good afternoon, class.” The teacher greeted, entering the room. He was dressed in a coat and tie, a bit too formal for a school day. Soorin guessed he was new in this school, not recognizing him from any previous years.

“I am Mr. Shin, your new math teacher,” he introduced himself and turned back to write his name and the section on the board.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Shin," The class greeted in monotone unison, while some went back to gossiping with their seatmate.

Lectures began with only a few students taking notes and listening, mostly because the lesson was just review and they were growing bored of their teacher’s flat tone.  

Time seemed to fly by fast and the first day of school ended, the school bell becoming a welcomed reminder. Most of the students began to head home or met up with their friends.

Eunhye was the first one to reach their lockers and simply leaned on her locker while she waited; preoccupying herself by trying to plan a thesis to write for the paper her English teacher heavily suggested they think about even if it was to be a final project. Chaeni didn’t come long after that and all the other girls arrived one by one. After a while all of the girls were happily chatting while walking to the bakery Soorin told them about earlier.

“Yeah. I wonder how we survived the other school years with the same amount of homework.”  Mochali laughed.

After a while they found themselves in front of the new bakery and through the window they saw it was packed with people. Though it made sense since it was new and everyone wanted to try the place out. They made their way in and found a table for five. They ordered what they thought sounded good and started talking about random things like they always did, just like how Soorin imagined they would be like when they came here. Chaeni was enjoying her sweet Almond Croissant when she caught sight of a group of five boys walking around and looking for a place to hang out in. To her surprise, it was their beloved kingkas.

“Girls, look.” Chaeni calmly demanded, turning the girl’s attention from their food and conversations to her. Chaeni was smiling and her heart was fluttering as she was looking at one of the boys: Jonghyun, her long time crush.  She has been admiring him for a long time. But at their first meeting, Chaeni actually hated Jonghyun a little bit because of him being arrogant.

“Chaeni-ah. Stop staring. He might melt you know.” Eunhye interrupted her friend’s ogling, giggling at how Chaeni was looking at Jonghyun.

“Yah! Eunhye-unnie, I know you’re also looking at your love On-” Chaeni was cut off when Eunhye covered since SHINee was near them.

“Annyeonghaseyo, Mochali-ah,” a cheerful boy just appeared in front of their table his gaze on Mochali. “Thanks again for helping me earlier in literature.” 

Mochali, who was now blushing slightly, looked up and smiled sincerely.  “That was nothing, Taemin-sshi. You’re welcome.” 

“No need to be formal. Just call me Taemin.” Taemin told her, idly waving his hand in the air.

Mochali was surprised that Taemin was the one who dropped their formalities, her blush deepening in its color.  “Okay, Taemin,” she said emphasizing his name.

Taemin just chuckled in response.

“Taemin-ah, what would you wa- Oh, annyeonghaseyo, Soorin-ah. It’s nice seeing you here.”  Minho greeted Soorin with the charismatic smile that their school’s female population loved.

“Annyeonghaseyo, Minho-oppa. Nice to see you too,” Soorin greeted back. From the corner of her eyes she noticed Teayon’s eyes widen when she called Minho ‘oppa’.  She just rolled her eyes and talked to Minho about soccer practices and .

Eunhye felt Teayon nudging her and she turned to face her, “What’s wrong?”  

“Oh, nothing,” she grinned. “Aren’t you jealous of them? Cici and Soorinnie are now talking to Taemin and Minho.”

“Aish. Teayon-ah, of course not. I get to talk to him in the library every once in a while. Remember?” Eunhye said finishing her banana bread.

“Okay. Whatever you say.”  Teayon teased.

“Annyeong haseyo, Eunhye-sshi!”  Eunhye recognized the voice and quickly turned to look. It was Onew, who they were talking about just now.

“Deh. Annyeonghaseyo.”  She greeted in return.

Key and Jonghyun followed Onew to the girls’ table. Jonghyun was playing with his phone while eating a cupcake and all Chaeni could do was stare and blush. She remembered when she first met him and when her view of him changed.

She recalled bumping into him and while she apologized he had offered none in return only commenting on how she should be giving him a better apology. Irked, she snapped at him for being rude and demanded an apology from him. Jonghyun only rolled his eyes while walking away, ignoring Chaeni’s yells. Oh, how much she had hated him.

But a few days after that incident she saw something that changed her view of Jonghyun’s personality.

She was walking down the streets going to her family’s shop carrying some supplies. She stopped in front of the park where many people were having their picnics or just walking around. Someone familiar caught her eye and it turned out to be Jonghyun. A frown appeared on her lips when she remembered the incident. But she saw Jonghyun holding a lollipop and bending down to give it to a little girl who was crying. He had a worried look on his face as he was asking the little girl questions and from the way things looked Chaeni knew that she was lost. She kept on watching for a little while longer, seeing the little girl take the lollipop and wipe away her tears before taking Jonghyun’s hand as he stood. He looked around, trying to find the people that the little girl may have described to him. Slowly and carefully, he guided her to a family who were frantically searching for their missing daughter. A look of relief washed over all their faces as the little girl ran to clutch her mother’s leg. Her father was thanking Jonghyun profusely and to her surprise, the male wasn’t arrogant at all. He had a smile on his face and he shook his head, signaling that it was no problem at all.

Chaeni walked away with a smile on her lips knowing that her first impression of Jonghyun was wrong. He was actually a nice and caring guy in the inside; he just didn’t act like it all the time. From that day on, Chaeni started seeing positive things in Jonghyun that she never saw before and before she knew it she started to like him. 

Good thing Jonghyun was playing with his phone that he didn’t notice her staring. Chaeni giggled when she realized how fast her impression of Jonghyun changed and she realized she was staring at Jonghyun for a whole two minutes

“I really stared at him for the whole time. I really do admire him that much,” she whispered to herself.   Little did she know that the very observant Teayon noticed her staring and Teayon decided to teaser her about it later, a sly smile on her lips.

“Oh, Teayon-sshi, you’re also here. Annyeong haseyo!”  Key greeted Teayon who was still looking at Chaeni and smiling. She was surprised that Key remembered her name since they only talked a few times.

They share the same hiding place, which was the school garden. That was where they talked to each other. Their conversations would just go from a common topic to another until they reached the most random topic and they would laugh at each other’s jokes. That was when Teayon started to fall for Key’s sense of humor, thoughtfulness, and of course, his looks. Who wouldn’t fall for that kind of guy?

Feeling that he was staring at her strangely she remembered to reply to Key’s greeting, “Annyeonghaseyo, Key-sshi.”  

“Guys, we have to go. It’s almost sunset.  Let’s go!” Onew suddenly exclaimed, getting up from his chair and grabbing his school bag. “Annyeong, Eunhye. Annyeong, girls.”

All of them said their goodbyes as SHINee left the bakery. The girls decided that it was time to head home also, not wanting to walk out in the dark. All smiling and talking, they walked to their houses. They didn’t expect to see the boys there nor did they expect that they would easily start a conversation with them. It was a good day for the girls, believing that it was a sign for a good year. They all reached home, looking forward to another day just like this one; one where they could just sit and talk with them. They wanted more days like this, where they could sit together and talk, not having to worry about the crazy fangirls or the retribution they would have to face at school.

The day ended with carefree smiles on their lips.

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Hey everyone~ sorry for the late posting, there was a miscommunication going on and we're both busy with school. This chapter was written by your beloved author ilykthatmuzik and beta'd by your co-author forgetfulxangel.

Look forward to the next chapters! >.< I'll get it to you as soon as I can. I'll be free to write on the weekends and really late weeknights because of college. - forgetfulxangel

Let us know what you think about everything!

Hey guyss. it's me ilykthatmuzik!!

how do you guys like this chapter? 

we're really sorry for updating late. Because of school and everything. 

Thanks to my awesome co-author for editing out. :))) ♥

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-ilykthatmuzik