It is 1 PM, Thursday afternoon, when Mirae realizes something is wrong.

The entire day, her entire body has felt itchy, like there is something tingling below her skin. Every color and line and texture Mirae has seen is popping out at her, twisting strange patterns within themselves. Initially, Mirae dismissed this feeling as mere anticipation for the tutoring bet. But when she found her fingers digging into the palm of her nails after passing a group of boys wearing green Brazil soccer jerseys, and after she nearly threw up after seeing an asymmetrical polar graph in Calculus, Mirae knew something was not right.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” Suyeon informs her in 6th period. “Our cheerleaders and basketball team have offered to come to help us today. That way we can attract guys and girls. Oh, and Hoseok asked if I could tutor him!”

“G-got it.” Mirae stutters.

Suyeon narrows her eyes. “Mirae, are you okay? You look sick again.”

Mirae pants, “I’m not sick. Don’t w-worry about me.”

“Okay. It must be the stress.” Suyeon pats her friend on the hand. “But dude, you’ve parted your hair, like, 10 times in the last 5 minutes. It looks fine.”

Mirae’s eyes widen to the size of saucers and she violently jerks back. Her knee hits the edge of the table, causing the entire desk to jolt. Their class stares at Mirae.

“Sorry,” she says faintly.

Suyeon stares at the girl. “Mirae, get up. We’re going to the nurse’s office. She can give you some medicine or something to calm your nerves.”

Medicine. Medicine! Mirae gasps, prompting their class to look back at the girls again. I haven’t taken my OCD medicine in 2 days!, Mirae realizes.

“I’ll be right back,” she hurriedly tells Suyeon, and races out the classroom. After safely locking herself into a bathroom stall, Mirae fumbles around her backpack.

I’ll just take my medicine, and everything will be fine. It’ll be fine. It’ll- where’s my medicine?

A cold, chilling sensation washes over Mirae. Her legs give out from underneath her and she plops down onto the toilet seat.

I lost my medicine.

Fear grips Mirae’s heart; how is she supposed to get through the rest of the day- no, the week- without it? What if she has an attack in public? Her fingers clutch at her cell phone, only a few seconds away from dialing her mother’s number-

And then she remembers Suyeon. Her eager expression when discussing their tutoring schedule, her desperation regarding their ongoing bet with the Sunset Tutoring Group.

I can’t let her down, Mirae tells herself. I’ll just bear with it for a few more days, until the bet’s over. I can do this. I’ll just remember what Dr. Yoon told me in therapy. Focus. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Mirae doesn’t even feel alive by the time school ends.

Her mind is stuck in a haze, where certain objects pop out in her vision, shouting into her ears with their unpleasant colors and horribly deformed construction. The orange hydrangeas lining the gardens of the school are mocking her, she swears! Mirae wants to curl up into a ball and run away and hide from these evil, evil things, but she can’t. She clenches her fists, unwilling to succumb to her compulsions. But Mirae feels sicker and sicker by the minute.

She barely manages to get into her makeup and outfit, and while the cheerleaders and the basketball team are pumped for their showdown with the Daewon students, Mirae is quiet and reserved. Suyeon notices her friend’s unusual behavior and slinks back to her.

“Mirae, something’s been bugging you the whole day. I know it.”

“No, it’s nothing,” Mirae smiles nervously, shaking her head. “Really, really, really, really.”

Suyeon quirks an eyebrow. “You don’t have to say ‘really’ that many times.”

I kind of have to, Mirae thinks, digging her nails into the palm of her hand. 4 is my special number. Repeat everything 4 times. 4 times. 4 times. 4 times. Good. I’m good. Good. I'm good.

Suyeon is completely taken aback. Mirae has somehow slipped into her own world, thinking about god knows what. Maybe she’s nervous for tonight?, Suyeon wonders. But she’s usually never nervous-

“We’re here!” Jihae trills, interrupting Suyeon’s train of thought. They have reached The Cat Cafe, a large coffeehouse teeming with several customers. This is the location that Suyeon and Mirae picked for their next tutoring spot. It’s right next to Dankook Middle School, meaning tons of little preteens will be at this cafe, studying.

“You two are in your outfits and makeup already, so we can immediately start,” Su Ah tells the Daegu tutors. “Let’s go! Team cheer!”

Taehyung sticks his hand in the air. “Team cheer! Everyone put your hands in!”

“Do we have to?” Suyeon grumbles, but one glance at Hoseok, who is smiling at her encouragingly, prompts her to join the cheer as well.

“On the count of three!” Jihae calls, her voice full of spunk and excitement that only a cheer captain could hold. “Let’s shout ‘Beat Daewon!’ Ready? 1, 2, 3!”

“Beat Daewon!” everyone hollers as loud as they can. Suyeon embarrassedly ducks her face away from view. They are making quite the spectacle; random passerby are staring at them like they’re crazy people. Well, I guess we kind of are.

Someone pokes Suyeon in the arm. “Hey, you promised me a tutoring session,” Hoseok grins. Suyeon flushes.

“Yeah, definitely. We’ll do that as soon as we get in.” she smiles. After Hoseok flashes her a thumbs up and walks away to Namjoon to ask him about something, Suyeon emits a high-pitched squeal and clutches onto Mirae’s arm.

“I’m so excited!” she squeaks, animatedly shaking Mirae around. “How do you think I should act around him? Does he like the cute type or y type or funny type or-,”

“Hey, can we talk about this later?” Mirae whispers. “My head kinda hurts.”

Suyeon reddens once again, except for a different reason. Mirae’s probably getting annoyed with me always blabbering about him, she realizes. I’ll stop. “Sorry, Mirae,” Suyeon apologizes, squeezing her friend’s hand. Mirae forces a laugh.

“You think we could pick up some rich guys here?” a cheerleader murmurs in Su Ah’s ear, and someone smacks her in the head.  

The instant the Daegu basketball players and cheerleaders- accompanied by Suyeon and a queasy-looking Mirae- strut into the establishment, all eyes are on them. Suyeon smiles with satisfaction. As she expected, both boys and girls are equally smitten with their team. She spots a familiar head of dark hair amongst the crowd and her lip curls with distaste. Well, I see Jongin is back today. I wonder where Sehun is hiding. The members of the Daewon basketball team are nowhere to be seen, though. At least that’s a good thing.

“Hi, everyone!” Jihae exclaims. She claps her hands together, drawing the attention of the whole establishment. “I hope you’re having a great time this afternoon. I just wanted to let you know that Mirae and Suyeon over here are open to tutor you, if you need any help on your studies! They’re super smart.”

“And we’ll be here with them, too,” Seokjin grins, throwing a dashing wink out to the audience.

“Tutor me!” a tall teenager with braces shrieks, ing her arms wide open. An enormous clamor ensues inside The Cat Cafe, similar to the ruckus caused by the appearance of the Daewon basketball team. Suyeon flings a triumphant smirk in Jongin’s direction. We outsmarted you, buddy.

Jongin is aware of the fact that the Daegu Tutors have practically stolen all his customers. He doesn’t really care anymore. Jongin is still worn out from yesterday’s dinner. His father’s words stay with him as he goes through his day, full of regret and sorrow and guilt. It makes him feel like crap. Jongin is debating whether to apologize to his father or just brush it off.

Sehun, who is sitting on the other side of the room, is glancing over at Jongin every few seconds. He’s not too pleased about his friend’s apathetic attitude towards this entire situation. Something must have gone down yesterday, he wonders. But get your together, Jongin. Right now, we’re focusing on this bet.

Sehun’s eyes dart back to the group of Daegu kids. His lip curls. Not only does he recognize the basketball team which defeated his team by a mere fluke, but he spots the annoying captain Namjoon as well. Sehun wants to go and sock every one of them in the jaw. But he’ll wait until the rest of the Daewon basketball team arrives at the cafe. Then they can all do it together.

Sehun’s eyes slide over to Mirae. Well, someone looks like crap today. The girl looks like she’s about to throw up at any minute. Hopefully it’ll be all over one of her customers.

Suddenly, Sehun’s attention is drawn by two people making their way over to a table. One of the Daegu basketball players is confidently swaggering over to a table, Suyeon following right behind him. But what displeases Sehun the most is Suyeon’s face. She’s blushing. Hard. And wearing a goofy, dreamy expression. Her eyes don’t leave the basketball player’s for a moment.

The pair sits down, and Suyeon withdraws her iPad and a textbook from her bookbag. Oh, so he’s tutoring her, Sehun realizes, but something inside him tells him it is much more than that. At least to Suyeon. Sehun notices with distaste that the normally cool and aloof Suyeon is stumbling over all her words and emitting these nauseating high-pitched giggles.

“She likes him?” Sehun growls. He clenches his fingers so hard that the pencil he’s holding snaps. The boy and girl Sehun is supposed to be tutoring exchange frightened looks.

Great, now she’s made me irrationally pissed, Sehun grumbles, rubbing his temples. But before he can stop himself, Sehun finds himself standing up and heading over to Suyeon.

Mirae stiffens when she sees the topic her customer has asked her to cover. Photosynthesis, featuring her least favorite color ever: Green. A strange misty fog cloud her vision and Mirae hurriedly shakes her head.

Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it.

“Alright,” Mirae says in a faint voice, gesturing to a diagram of a plant. “This... is a chloroplast. They are comprised of th-thylakoid membranes, folded in stacks called grana...,”

The boy Mirae is tutoring throws a skeptical look at her. “Uh, are you okay?”

“Peachy,” Mirae smiles. A bead of sweat trails down her back. “Now, the stroma is a pigment in the chloroplast-,”

“That’s wrong,” someone scoffs. With difficulty, Mirae turns around. Jongin is leaning on a table, sneering disdainfully down at her. He jabs at the picture of the plant with his index finger. “The stroma is the liquid surrounding the thylakoid membranes. It contains ribosomes and DNA.” Jongin looks over at the boy. “See, this is what you get when you hire this third-rate tutors.”

“I... I’m so sorry,” Mirae murmurs, blinking rapidly. Jongin glances at her in mild bemusement. What’s wrong with this girl? She’s shaking and sweating and pale. And she keeps parting her hair and scratching the palms of her hands...

“You’re messing up your hairdo,” Jongin informs her uneasily.

Mirae can’t hold on any longer.

The tinkling bells on top of the door to The Cat Cafe suddenly ring. The patrons of the restaurant are greeted by 5 tall, gorgeous boys striding into the establishment.

“He never saw it coming!” Jongdae snickers, brushing his floppy black hair back with a casual flick of his hand. “He didn’t notice that he was riding on a wide-twisted saddle. Guess whose thighs are going to be sore for days?”

Kris lets out a brutish laugh. “That’s what he gets for taking all the Fufu sushi in the lunchroom.”

Suddenly, all the Daewon kids spot 7 familiar faces standing near the side of The Cat Cafe. They freeze.

“Well, well, well,” Luhan finally drawls, swaggering out to the Daegu basketball team. “Look what the cat dragged in. The worst basketball team in the entire division.”

“And the team that beat your ,” Jimin snaps.

“Get out, pretty boy,” Jungkook sneers. “You’re outclassed here.”

The Daewon basketball team collapses into a fit of laughter. “We’re outclassed?” Baekhyun howls, doubled over and clutching his stomach. “Do you want me to list out all the reasons why we’re miles above you?”

    From her table, Suyeon peers at the showdown occurring at the front of the cafe with anxious eyes. “Should we do something?” she asks Hoseok.

    “Relax,” he chuckles, patting her hand. “It’s just a little bit of a friendly rivalry. Makes things exciting, hm?”

    Suyeon playfully rolls her eyes. “At least you aren’t up there with your teammates. I’m not up for restraining you today.”

    “It wouldn’t get that out of hand. I would just punch them. Once. Twice. 18 times.”

    “Oh, stop.” Suyeon giggles as Hoseok gives her an impish shrug. “You wouldn’t-,”

    Suddenly, a hand slams down on the table. The two look up in shock. As soon as she sees the face of the culprit behind the disturbance of her lovely moment with Hoseok, Suyeon’s face draws into a tight glare.

    “What do you want?” she hisses to Sehun.

    “I just wanted to ask you if this was supposed to be your best strategy,” Sehun smirks. “Bringing in a few cheerleaders and some crappy basketball players to even the playing field. It’s not working.”

    Hoseok stands up. Although he is a few inches shorter than Sehun, he has no problem getting all up in his face.

    “Crappy basketball players?” Hoseok asks smoothly. “Hm. That’s a funny thing for a loser to say.”

    Sehun narrows his eyes, shortening the gap between the two. “Loser?”

    “That’s right. You did lose the game against my team. So you are a loser.”

    “Guys, cut it out,” Suyeon says, sliding between the two boys. She turns to face Sehun. “Look, I don’t know why you came over here. Just go back to your customers. There’s no need to be annoying.”

    Sehun is very aware of the fact that Suyeon’s body is very close to his. He is about to back away; but, then he glances at Hoseok’s face and is reminded of the whole reason why he came over to their table in the first place.

    “I’m not annoying,” Sehun rasps, completely closing the space between them. Suyeon’s chest is now pressing up against his. She turns redder than a stop sign, attempting to slide away from Sehun. She can feel the outline of his well-defined abs through his shirt and smell the scent of sharp cologne on his body and smell the tang of spearmint on his breath-

    Hello? Hoseok is right behind you!, Suyeon shouts at herself. Stop, stop, stop!

    Sehun catches Suyeon by her arms, preventing her from escaping their suggestive position. He leans down, placing his lips a centimeter away from Suyeon’s neck. “I think I’m quite the opposite of annoying, really,” Sehun murmurs in a husky voice.

    A shudder runs through Suyeon. “Get away from me, ,” she mutters, pushing Sehun away from her. Suyeon is mortified; did he have to do that in front of her crush? What if Hoseok thought she was taken?

    But Suyeon realizes Sehun’s actions had the complete opposite reaction when Hoseok grabs onto Sehun’s shirt collar.

    “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he growls at an unfazed Sehun.

“You want to fight, poor boy?” Sehun asks, a smug expression on his face. “Try me.”

And Suyeon is positive Hoseok would have punched the man if it were not for the loud “MIRAE!” that rings through the restaurant.

Suyeon whirls around, searching for the source of the scream.

She gasps.

Jongin is kneeling over her best friend, who has collapsed to the cherry wood floor. Mirae’s chest is heaving, her hands shaking.