“You have another private session today,” Sehun informs Jongin. He stiffens.

    “Who’s the client?” he asks tensely. Sehun glances at the spreadsheet.

    “Do Nanji,” he responds, and Jongin exhales in relief.

    “Okay, I’ll go.”

    Sehun raises his eyebrows. “Are you still freaked out after that Mimi girl you tutored a few weeks back?”

    “Hey, she was a creepy chick,” Jongin says defensively. “I think she ruined all my future private sessions for me.” He has not told his best friend that “Mimi” is actually “Mirae”; he only mentioned that his client was a demonic, strange girl and to place her on the blacklist.

    But when Jongin goes to meet “Do Nanji” at the Autumn Cafe, he sees Hwang Mirae sitting there, instead. He narrows his eyes.

    “Seriously? Don’t you think you’re going too far with this?”

    “I’m not going to talk to you about that,” Mirae says tremulously. She raises a cup of coffee to her lips with trembling hands.

    “Then what do you want?” Jongin curls his lip, noting the girl’s pale face, the dark circles under her eyes, and her weak voice. She looks terrible.

    “I just- I just wanted a friend,” Mirae whispers.

    Jongin scoffs. “I’m not your friend.”

    Mirae seems to deflate. “Yeah, I know. Well, I don’t blame you. You’re not the only one who doesn’t want to be around me. I just wanted to spent time with someone other than my therapist.”

    Jongin clenches his eyes shut. What am I supposed to say to that? “If I wasn’t getting community service hours for this, I wouldn’t be here,” he growls, throwing himself in the seat across from her. “What’s wrong with you? You look like a mess.”

    “Well, Suyeon’s mad at me. I’m not sure why.” Mirae rubs her eyes and lets out a soft laugh. “All this time, I was stressing about ruining our friendship. But it doesn’t really matter anymore, does it?”

    “Wait, what?” Jongin leans over the table, convinced that he misheard her. “What do you mean?”

    “Ever since a few weeks ago, she’s been kind of distant around me. I don’t know what I did. We still talk and everything, but it seems... forced. And she hangs out more with the cheerleaders now anyway.”

Jongin props his chin upon his palm. “Have you done anything to make her mad recently? Forgotten important dates? Said something stupid?”

“No!” Mirae exclaims. “We were fine, and then- I don’t know, she went and got her hair done and stuff and now she’s acting really strangely. She’s assimilated! She’s one of them now!”

“Shut up!” Jongin cries. “You’re speaking nonsense. Look, just call her right now and ask her to hang out. Then explain how you feel to her. Just be straightforward.”

“Okay,” Mirae says uneasily. She fishes her phone out of her bag and dials Suyeon’s number. It rings 5 times before going to voicemail. “She’s not picking up.”

“Then wait until she calls you back,” Jongin tells her calmly.

“Oh, okay.” Mirae stuffs her phone in her pocket. “Thanks. You’re really sweet, Jongin.”

He scoffs. Sweet? Please. “I’m just here because I’m getting community service hours,” he maintains stubbornly. Mirae flashes him a wide smile.

“But still, thanks. Hey, by the way, I’m sorry for messing up your shot at the basketball game. That was pretty cheap.”

“Whatever ,” Kai mumbles, shrugging. “It was just a shot.”

“Well, still sorry.” She smiles. “But I’ve heard that Daewon’s won every other game, anyway.”

Jongin eyes this girl warily. “Why are you so peppy and cheery all the time? It’s weird.”

“I’m peppy and cheery? Thanks!” Mirae laughs. Jongin looks at her in disbelief. What is with this girl?

“Whatever, I’m leaving,” he says, but Mirae exclaims, “Wait, I owe you something! Let me treat you!”

Jongin sneers. “Treat me to what? What could you even afford?”

“Cake?”

“That’ll make you fat.”

“Sorry, Princess, I didn’t realize you cared so much about that.”

He scoffs in indignation. “Princess? Okay, fine! Buy me cake. But I won’t eat any less than 5 slices, so I hope you have a lot of money.”

Mirae grins. “Perfect.”

Suyeon sees Mirae’s call and promises to call her back later; right now, she’s too preoccupied with getting ready for the most important day of her life.

Well, one of the most important days of her life.

“What would Hoseok like more- a pink top or a red top?” she broods. “Should I go casual or should I wear something nicer?” Finally, she opts for a cream peasant blouse tucked into a short cyan skirt. It’s bright, eye-catching, and should do the trick.

Suyeon is barely finished tugging her feet into pumps when her phone buzzes. From Jihae: I’m here!

“,” Suyeon curses, grabbing her purse and racing out the door. On her way out, she bumps into her mother.

“What are you wearing?” Mrs. Lee smirks, looking up and down Suyeon. “That’s a little different from your usual style.”

“She doesn’t look like a hobo for once,” Jaemi laughs.

Suyeon ignores them and hurries out.

“Ready for your big night?” Jihae grins. “Here, take a breath mint. You’ll need it if you’re lucky.”

Suyeon winks. “I thought you were saving these for Jungkook.”

“I won’t have to eat a hundred breath mints to make him kiss me,” Jihae flashes her a naughty smile. “I’ll manage, don’t worry.”

“Thanks, babe.”

“No problem, honey bunches. If Hoseok rejects you, on the off chance, we can always hook up.”

Suyeon giggles. “Of course, Jihae. I’ll always be yours.”

The two girls laugh as they cruise down the highway. By the time they have reached the movie theater, Suyeon feels a little more confident. I can do this. I won first place in the Daegu Regional Speaking contest. If I can face hundreds of strangers, I can ask him to a dance.

“Evening, girls,” Jimin calls from the ticket stand. His eyes linger over Suyeon. “Suyeon.”

“Jimin,” she responds smoothly. “Nice to see you here.”

“Same to you. We’ve never hung out before. I’m excited.”

Suyeon gives him a distracted grin, scanning the group of boys for Hoseok. Her stomach does a quadruple pirouette when she spots him leaning up against the wall, his hair ruffled up. “Hey, Hoseok,” she beams, waving at him.

“Hey, Suyeon,” he smiles, walking over to her. “How’s it going?”

“Pretty well, I think. How was your last basketball game?”

“We won by a landslide. Namjoon was a star.”

“Don’t flatter me,” Namjoon chuckles, slapping Hoseok on the back. “Hoseok was the real player of the game. 14 shots, was it?”

“Oh, stop.” Hoseok reddens, ducking his head sheepishly.

Oh my god, he is so adorable, Suyeon thinks dazedly.

    When the group goes inside the theater to watch the movie, Su Ah shoves Suyeon between Hoseok and Taehyung. “Sit next to him,” she hisses in Suyeon’s ear.

    “Oh, okay,” Suyeon whispers back, ungainly plopping down in the chair. Taehyung throws her a strange look that Suyeon doesn’t catch. Instead, she turns to Hoseok. “Hey.”

    “Hey. You gonna sit next to me?”

    “Uh, yeah. Is that okay?” Suyeon’s voice gets a little squeakier at the end of her question.

    “Of course!” Hoseok laughs, and she lets out a sigh of relief.

    “Okay, which flavors have we done so far?” Jongin groans, rubbing his stomach. “God, I feel like I’m going to puke.”

    “Please, you’re such an amateur.” Mirae stares at the dozens of empty plates stacked on their table. Several customers and waiters are staring at them, aghast. “We ate chocolate, tiramisu, strawberry, vanilla, green tea, mocha frappucino, hazelnut cream-,”

    “Which was disgusting,” Jongin interjects.

    “-carrot, coconut lime, raspberry fudge, peanut butter-,”

    “I didn’t even know they had peanut butter cake.”

    -and pineapple upside down.” Mirae takes a deep breath. “That was great.”

    “I’m never eating cake again,” he swears.

    Mirae tosses him a napkin. “Hey, thanks a lot again. You made me feel a lot better.”

    “I only did this because of community service,” Jongin grumbles, scratching his nose.

    “Community service must be super fun, then. You get to eat lots of cake,” Mirae muses. Jongin rolls his eyes.

    “No, I’m just lucky I got stuck with someone like you who likes eating cake with others.”

    Mirae giggles. “Aww, so you do like me!”

    “Wha- how did you reach that conclusion?” Jongin protests. “I don’t like you! You’re weird, annoying, and obsessed with cake!”

    “We should do this again some other time!” Mirae suggests energetically. “Oh, hey, I have to go. My mom will be pretty worried if I don’t come home before dark. Bye, Jongin!”

    “Wh- hey, I’m not going to do this again with you!” Jongin shouts after her. “I’m too cool to hang out with you! I have tons of other friends to hang out with, in better places! Like my hot tub, hm? Or a new club? Or a VIP suite? Don’t call me again! You’re officially blacklisted from the Sunset Tutoring Group! And don’t use a fake name again!”

    Suddenly, Jongin becomes aware of a deafening silence.

    Slowly, he turns around.

    Every single patron in the cafe is staring at him.

    “Oh, great. He hurries out the restaurant, completely flustered.

    The movie is good, but not good enough to distract her from Hoseok’s presence. Every time he laughs, Suyeon can feel his entire body shaking. She’s happy the movie theater is dark, because her face is burning brighter than a stop sign right now.

Dinner progresses fairly well. The boys on the basketball team seem impressed by the amount of food Suyeon can stomach in such a short amount of time. Suyeon credits it to her numerous cake binges with Mirae.

The night has gone very well. Hoseok has been grinning with her the entire time. And he even offered her the last breadstick when he heard her stomach rumbling!

So when Suyeon approaches him after dinner, when they are alone by the soda dispensers, and asks, “Hey, Hoseok... I was wondering if you wanted to, uh, go to the Halloween Ball with me?”, she fully expects him to say yes.

But when Hoseok’s features contort into a mortified expression, Suyeon knows what is coming next.

“I am so, so sorry, Suyeon,” he stammers, avoiding her eyes. “But I- I can’t. I’m so sorry.”

“Oh! That’s okay!” Suyeon responds in an unnaturally chipper voice. “Don’t apologize! It’s fine!”

“Suyeon, it’s-,” Hoseok begins to say, but Suyeon shakes her head, giggling.

“No! Really! It’s fine! I didn’t really think you’d say yes, anyway.” Her head begins to spin and her vision goes foggy: dangerous signs. “Uh, I have to go now, Hoseok. Can you say bye to everyone else for me?”

Hoseok winces. “Suyeon-,”

She is already out the door.

Suyeon sprints into the neareset store, locks herself in the bathroom, and collapses in tears.

What did she expect? That Hoseok would say yes just because she was prettier now? Ridiculous! She never, ever had a chance with him. He outclasses her. He’s way out of her league. Suyeon sniffles, rubbing her eyes.

What was the most thrilling night of her life has quickly turned into the worst night of her life.

A/N: Lol guys I just wanna point out that Suyeon and Mirae are still technically friends... they're just not talking as much to each other