Haerin wanted to melt into a puddle and disappear through a crack in the floor.  She racked her brain for escape routes.  The windows? No, they were all locked.  The stairs? They were way behind Kyungsoo.  The other end of the hall? The guys are coming her way.  No, as much as she hated it, there was no way she was escaping this little gathering smack in the middle of the cafeteria.

“Hyung!” A tanned guy took Kyungsoo’s hand and they shoulder-bumped each other before sitting down. 

As Haerin snapped out of her daze, they were already sitting on the same table as she is, as if it was the most, common, everyday, thing in the world.  She’s been using hyperboles a lot, lately.  Things have been wholly hyperbole-worth for her.

“What’s up?” A chirpy looking guy with a super-deep voice placed his elbows on the table, eager to start a conversation.

“Know what?” Some other guy with dyed hair and a lisp spoke up.  “I got an A+ on my math test,”

“Kkaepsong!” One with wide, thick-rimmed glasses says in unison with lisp-guy, and they both laugh afterwards.

“Sehun, watch your drink!” The last one who hasn’t spoken finally does, pointing at the one they call Sehun (who is about to knock off his glass of juice).

Haerin just stayed quiet.  Oh, this? This is normal.  Her sitting in between the school’s kingkas, acting like she knows them her whole life; that’s totally normal. 

“Oh, hey, hey,”

Haerin lifts up her head at the call and immediately regrets it when she realizes that all 6 men were looking at her.

“Who’s this?”  Kkaepsong guy asks.

“Yeah, now that I realize it, who’s this?” Chirpy guy clears his throat, a smile evident in his voice.

“Oh this?”

Haerin’s eyes widen as she looks at Kyungsoo, who is smiling at her.  He’s smiling at her.  He’s freaking smiling at her.  She shakes her head.  Oh no, you don’t-

“This is my girlfriend,”

The whole table falls into silence and Haerin wished she had never been born.  This might make the top to her topmost miserable moments in her whole life. 

Tanned guy reluctantly responds.  “Kkaepsong?”

Kyungsoo chuckles.  “Nah, it’s not a joke, right, Haerin?”

“Haerin?!” Lisp guy gasps.  “The Son Haerin?!”

“Oh my God,” Kkaepsong guy fans himself and slaps chirpy guy repeatedly on the arm.  “For real?!”

Chirpy guy catches Kkaepsong guy’s hands and flaps them together frantically.  “Kyungsoo-hyung-had-his-eyes-on-someone Son Haerin?!”

The whole table erupts loudly as quick as they fell into silence, practically fangirling over this single girl sitting with them (or the one they decided to sit with) during lunch, when they’re supposed to be the kingkas. 

“Hey, hey, hey, quiet down,” Watch-your-drink guy speaks up, shushing the kids.  “Kyungsoo, for real?”

“Hey,” Kyungsoo nudges Haerin’s arm with his elbow.  “Why don’t you introduce yourself?”

Haerin scrunches her nose at him before dipping her head in a bow towards the boys.  “Hi, I’m Son Haerin, nice to meet you,”

“It’s ‘Son Haerin, Kyungsoo’s girlfriend’ for you,” Kyungsoo drums his fingers on the table.  “Now, you guys, to her,”

Kkaepsong guy goes first.  “Hi, I’m Byun Baekhyun, second year, best singer in town.  Kkaepsong, it’s Kyungsoo,” He sighs in fake dejection.

And then comes chirpy guy.  “I’m happy virus Park Chanyeol, second year,”

Tanned guy.  “Kim Jongin, or Kai, for short, second year,”

“Oh Sehun, who apparently, does not have a girlfriend, second year,” Lisp guy.

“And Kim Joonmyeon, but everybody calls me Suho, third year,” Watch-your-drink guy finishes.

Haerin likes how playful they are.  They turn out to be friendly and childish, unlike the unapproachable image of kingkas the girls in the school had placed around them.  They had only introduced themselves and Haerin already likes them.  It’s like having 5 other brothers she didn’t know of before.  “Baekhyun, right? What does kkaepsong mean?” She asks out of pure curiosity.

“Kkaepsong?” Baekhyun grins.  “You use it when your joke , or when someone’s joke , or when something is a pity.  It’s Byun Baekhyun copyrighted,” He winks.
Haerin lets out a laugh.  “It’s pretty catchy,”

“We use it all the time,” Kai grins.  “Baekhyun is like a walking variety show.  He’s the funniest singer in town,” He eyes Chanyeol and the two says “Kkaepsong” in unison, laughing again. 

“But really, he’s funny,” Chanyeol nods in agreement afterwards.

“Anyways, sunbae, how did hyung ask you out?” Sehun asks, genuinely curious.

“Ask me out?” Haerin lets out a scoff.  “There’s nothing like that.  He just, you know, I was waiting for a cab, on my way home from part-time, and then he shows up, and goes, oh, hey! You think you’re falling in love with me, right? Then date me, because I don’t dislike you!”

Baekhyun laughs.  “Did you say yes?” He laughs even harder at the look Haerin throws him.  He puts out his hands, palms out in surrender.  “Okay, okay,”

Haerin chuckles lightly, in contrast to her glare.  “I didn’t, but our sweet, sweet Kyungsoo here,” She jerks her thumb at Kyungsoo, venom practically oozing out of her words.  “Labels me as his girlfriend already,”

“But how did he know that you’re falling in love with him?” Suho tilts his head in question.  “Did you tell him? Are you?”

“I, um, I kind of did.. and well, a little bit, yeah..” Haerin looks away, but retaliates.  “But that’s not the point! He didn’t have to say that, right? He asked me out and he doesn’t even like m-“

“I like you,”

Haerin turns in horror towards Kyungsoo, who has his head propped up by his hand, looking at her with a thin smile on his lips.  Man, she was almost happy that she got that close to forgetting that he was there.

The table erupts in a loud and long ‘ooooooh’ as they curl their fingers to Kyungsoo’s blatant confession.

“W-what?” Haerin gapes but puts a hand out to stop Kyungsoo.  “Never mind.  Don’t say it again, I don’t want to hear-“

“I like you,” Kyungsoo says it again, grinning.  “There,”

Haerin looks at him, and then the boys, and then him again.  “Okay,” She shrugs dismissively, taking her tray from the table and standing up.  “Gotta go.  Got class, nice meeting you guys,” She throws a wink at the boys. 

When Kyungsoo stands to follow her, Haerin turns without an expression.  “Kkaepsong, Kyungsoo, I’m still not your girlfriend,”

With Haerin’s exit comes the kids’ laughter. 

“She’s so chic, it hurts,” Chanyeol laughs, patting his chest.

“No,” Kai clutches at his stomach.  “It hurts me to see Kyungsoo-hyung’s pride get hurt,”

They all laugh again and Kyungsoo returns to his seat, throwing a bottle cap onto Baekhyun’s head.  “That’s for teaching her about kkaepsong,” And then, he pushes Kai’s head and Chanyeol’s.  “That’s for laughing at me,” He sighs and stands up immediately, going out the cafeteria.  “I have a headache, I’m skipping class,”

The boys’ eyes follow Kyungsoo’s back until he disappears.

“It’s been a long time since he gets to be so comfortable around a girl,” Suho chuckles, rubbing his hands together. 

“Right,” Sehun murmurs with a twinkle in his eye. 

“It’s been what, 2 years?” Baekhyun leans back into his chair, eyeing the cafeteria exit, where Kyungsoo had just gone through.  “Since Nara-noona,”

“It’s been a long time, too, since I saw Kyungsoo-hyung look at someone like that,” Kai lets out a lopsided smile. 

“Do you think he really does like her?” Chanyeol asks to no one in particular.

“Oh, he likes her, alright,” Everybody’s answers ripple in joint agreement as they chuckle altogether.

“We just have to look out on whether he loves her back or not,”