“Ugh, ever heard of personal space?” she spat, turning around to face him.

“Can’t you just hear me out for 1 minute? You just have to stand here for 1 minute and then you can leave” Shinwoo pleaded, trying to convince her.

Choa looked at him for a moment before she finally decided to give in “fine, but it’s only cause you look damn pathetic right now” she sighed.

“I could really care less as long as I get to say what I’ve been wanting to say for the past few weeks” Shinwoo replied.

“What is it? Are you upset I embarrassed you in front of your “friends”?” Choa asked curiously.

“You know me better than that”

“Do I really? How much do we even know of each other?” Choa questioned, becoming a little more serious.

“I know that I like you…and I know that you like me too…” Shinwoo said hesitantly.

Choa let out a puff of laughter at his sudden statement “really now? Well I know you don’t actually like me and I can tell you I have no interest in dating anyone,” she stated coldly.

“But I do. Why would I lie to you and go through all the trouble and embarrassment of confessing to you? Even after you already rejected me! You really think I would do this to prank you? Who has the time? And why would I anyways? You’ve never done anything to me.”

“Jinyoung,” Choa plainly replied, “maybe he put you up to this, how should I know!?” Choa sighed in frustration.

“Jinyoung? You know I’m not even on good terms with him. I mean, who even actually likes Jinyoung at this point? You think Baro and Sandeul actually like him after what Ellin confessed? Those two are totally faking it, where as Gongchan and I are making it clear we are just hanging out with him to make things easier on us” Shinwoo revealed, making Choa’s expression turn confused. She didn’t understand why he always easily told her things that seemed like big secrets he would only tell someone he trusts.

“He must really trust me…but why? Maybe he does like me…” she thought.

“Shinwoo…I have something to clear up too…the reason why I accused you of those things that day…was because Ellin once had a guy play her. After Jinyoung left some guy approached her and comforted her. He made her think he was being sincere but he was just an . Us girls just always have our guard on for her, okay?” Choa explained.

“I…I understand…I wish we had talked earlier” Shinwoo sighed, scratching the back of his head.

 

A rush of hot air suddenly rushed through both of them and a moment of awkward silence swept over them. They both weren’t sure what their relation to each other was. They felt something change but none of them were sure what it was. They both continued to stare at each other silently, waiting for the other to stay something.

“Do you accept it now?” Shinwoo finally asked.

“Accept what?” Choa asked, pretending to be completely clueless.

“Do you accept how I feel…about you?” Shinwoo asked nervously.

“I- I don’t know…” Choa sighed, biting her lip in frustration. “Why the hell did you have to like me of all the damn people in this school?” Choa mumbled.

Shinwoo laughed at her irritated expression “do you like me, Choa?” Shinwoo asked desperately wanting an answer.

“I don’t know!” Choa yelled. “That’s not a no” Shinwoo replied joyfully.

“Whatever Shinwoo, I’m so out of here” Choa groaned, overwhelmed with what was going on.

Shinwoo quickly caught her hand and pulled her in for a hug.

“What the hell are you doing!” Choa yelled as he wrapped his hand tightly around her.

“Do you want me to kick a ball in your face again?” she continued to curse.

“If it means you like me, then you can kick how many balls you want in my face” he chuckled.

“Weirdo, everyone in this school is weird” Choa replied, only making Shinwoo laugh even more.

Choa pushed Shinwoo away, trying her best not to smile “I- I’m leaving. Aish seriously, making me miss lunch for this!?” she mumbled before she ran to the door to leave. She quickly ran down the stairs and made her way to the cafeteria where the girls were all waiting for her in anticipation.

 

“What the hell just happened” Choa thought as she sat down in front of the 4 girls who all stared at her with smiles on their faces.

“What the hell are you 4 looking at? AND YOU, you’re so dead!” Choa said, pointing at Soyul.

“You can kill me later, now spill it! Are you and Shinwoo officially a ‘thing’?” Soyul questioned. All of the girls leaned in for her answer.

Choa’s expression went blank for a moment because she honestly didn’t know what to tell them “I don’t know…” she replied.

The girls’ faces all crunched up in confusion “You don’t know? The hell can you not know if you’re dating a boy or not?” Gummy asked, raising her eyebrow in suspicion.

“No, seriously. I don’t know…like- I didn’t reject him but I didn’t accept him either? But like…we hugged- well actually he forcefully hugged me that little-“

“He hugged you? And you let him!?” Minsun asked in shock.

“You totally like him! You would never let a guy you don’t even like hold your hand!” Ellin said, excited.

“FINE, I like him? Jeez. Can I eat my lunch in peace now!” Choa yelled. The whole cafeteria was now looking at their table. “Can we eat without people nosing in on us for ONE DAY” Choa yelled, making everyone look away. 

She then proceeded to dig into her food while Shinwoo was at the back laughing at her.

“Your boyfriend seems to be enjoying this” Minsun said in amazement.

“Whatever, I’m gonna kick a ball in his face after school today anyways” Choa said, continuing to stuff food into .

 

 

Choa was dreading the next morning because yesterday she had ran out of class right when the final bell rang. She didn’t even say bye to her friends all because she didn’t want to have to deal with Shinwoo. She didn’t know why she was avoiding him, she just was, and she convinced herself it wasn’t because she felt nervous just being around him.

“What, are you scared of him or something?” Minsun asked as the two were eating their breakfast.

“Scared!? Are you kidding me? I’m not scared of him, okay!” Choa replied, annoyed at her sisters comment.

“Oops, sorry, I meant nervous, or maybe anxious? You know, since you’ve already admitted that you like him now, AND because you didn’t reject him yesterday” Minsun said, continuing to annoy her sister.

“Hah, I’m not nervous, okay? Matter of fact, I’m going to go right up to him today before class and set things straight!” Choa stated confidently.

“Set what straight? You’re going to reject him?” Minsun asked, but Choa didn’t reply. The truth was, she had no idea what to say to him and she didn’t actually know if she wanted to be in a relationship with him. She didn’t take high school dating too seriously so most of her relationships ended within a few months. Once she got sick or angry with someone, she just tossed them away, but she didn’t know if she could do that so easily to Shinwoo.

“I’m leaving, see you at lunch loser” Choa said, stuffing a piece of toast in before she ran off.

“Good luck!” Minsun chimed as she laughed at her troubled sister.

 

Choa quickly walked to school since the weather was getting really cold and she couldn’t stand it when the cold wind hit her face. Her nose always stung while she breathed in the cold air. When she reached the school she quickly ran in search of Soyul since she knew she always came in early.

Strangely, Soyul was nowhere in sight. She wasn’t at the library nor was she in class. “Where is that girl?” Choa sighed. Choa finally gave up and decided to just sit in class and wait until the bell rang. To her expectation, someone she didn’t want to see reached the classroom before class even started.

“Choa-ah, you’re here early?” Shinwoo smiled happily, sitting at his desk, which was conveniently beside hers.

“Yeah, unfortunately” she grumbled, avoiding his gaze. “Why the hell am I here so early anyways? It’s all because Minsun was annoying me…about this exact moment” she thought as she desperately waited for the teacher to walk in and shut everyone up.

“Why are you avoiding me, huh? I know you ran away from me yesterday after school” Shinwoo suddenly said, making Choa scoff.

“Ran away from you? Are you kidding me!” she said rolling her eyes. “I’m a really busy person, I have places to go, things to do. What? Are you disappointed that I didn’t wait for you?” Choa shot back.

Shinwoo smiled at her get so defensive. “Yeah, I was” he honestly replied, making Choa even more flustered.

“Well, deal with it” was the only reply that came to her mind. Shinwoo chuckled at her, once again gaining a cold stare from her.

“You finally turn to look at me!” he said joyfully. “Aish, you’re really something, you know that!” she said before the teacher finally walked in and ordered the class to be quiet.

“Where’s Soyul?” the teacher asked the class as he scanned the room. “She’s never been late before” he said in shock. “If anyone sees her, tell her she needs to hand in her signed midterm report” the teacher said annoyed.

Choa’s face became worried. “Where the hell is that girl? She didn’t even call me to tell me she was going to be late…”

 

“Yah, Soyul-ah! Where are you? You better come to school with a good excuse” Choa texted under her desk.

 

As soon as the lunch bell rang, Choa got up and quickly walked outside the door in search for the other girls. Whenever she walked over to Gummi, Minsun, and Ellin’s homeroom, she always had to deal with the crazy girls that crowded around. She was still amazed at how utterly foolish they were to consume so much of their energy over guys they barely knew.

“That’s high school for you” she though in annoyance.

 

“Where’s Soyul?” Gummi asked as she approached Choa alongside Minsun and Ellin. “I don’t know… she didn’t show up to class” Choa alerted.

“Eh? Really? And she didn’t text you?” Minsun asked, concerned. “Yup…strange isn’t it? She didn’t text any of you either?” Choa asked, although she already knew the answer.

“Nope” they all replied.

“Maybe she’s sick and her phone went out of battery or something” Choa tried to reason.

“Maybe…she seemed fine yesterday though…” Ellin said, making a point.

“I’ll go to her home after school and see what’s up” Choa said. “We’ll go with you” the girl’s added, Choa nodded her head and the girls quickly headed to the cafeteria.

 

Moments after the girls plopped their trays on the table and sat down, two familiar faces sat next to them.

“Aish! What the hell do you two think you’re doing here, huh?” Choa said, giving both Shinwoo and Gongchan cold glares.

“Hey, what did I do, it’s Shinwoo you’re dating, not me” Gongchan smiled, making Choa mouth drop in shock.

“Did you just say, “dating”? I don’t know what this delusional creep told you, but we’re not dating!” Choa insisted, only making everyone laugh.

“I’m going to kill you after school” Choa muttered to Shinwoo who was sitting beside her. “As long as you’re not running away from me” he replied with a chuckle.

“So what, now that you and Choa have kind of stopped fighting you two think you can just come back here and sit with us?” Gummi said, shaking her head at the two.

“Well…Shinwoo and Choa got into a fight so I thought it would be kind of awkward for me to just ditch him and keep hanging out with you girls. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to though…” Gongchan defended.

“That still doesn’t explain why you guys went back to hanging out with Jinyoung” Minsun brought up.

“It’s cause we’re cowards, okay? We wanted to make things easy for us, that’s why” Shinwoo honestly replied.

“Fair enough” Minsun sighed.

 “Speaking of the devil, I suggest you two leave, Jinyoung alert,” Ellin said as she spotted Jinyoung walk through the cafeteria doors.

“We’re not moving” Shinwoo said. “Aish, not this again. Now he’s gonna come and make a scene” Choa groaned.

“After you girls left that other day, we kind of got into another fight with him. You don’t have to worry about him coming over her” Gongchan reassured.

“Then why the hell is he walking this way?” Choa said, making Gongchan turn around in confusion. “He seriously is coming this way…” Shinwoo mumbled.

 

“Hi Chingus” Jinyoung smiled, sitting beside Ellin as if they were close friends.

“The ” Ellin said in confusion and amazement, meanwhile Minsun and Gummi couldn’t stop laughing at how fake Jinyoung was acting.

“Yah, what the hell do you think you’re doing sitting with us?” Gummi said, continuing to laugh.

Jinyoung continued to smile and then finally leaned his head forward like he was about to tell them all a secret. “Listen up losers, two can play at this game. You want to make me look like the bad guy? Well it’s not going to happen” Jinyoung whispered.

“Hah, bad guy? What are you even talking about? Everyone still loves you despite you being a pampered coward who ruins peoples lives as a hobby” Choa chuckled.

“That might be true, but when people leave my group, it makes people start talking and thinking that I’m to blame”

“Which you are” Gummi commented, Making both Shinwoo and Gongchan laugh.

“There’s only one problem, you’re leaving Sandeul and Baro out so aren’t you just making yourself look even worse by ditching them for us?” right when those words came out of Ellin’s mouth, two other trays hit the table. “You’ve got to be ing kidding me” Ellin face palmed herself as Baro and Sandeul sat on each end of the table.

“This is my nightmare coming true,” Ellin cried. “You’re telling me? How the hell are we supposed to eat? Not only do I feel disgusted being near Jinyoung but everyone is staring at us like we killed 5 people” Choa sighed.

“Where’s Soyul?” Sandeul suddenly asked, changing the subject.

“None of your business” Choa replied. “You don’t know, do you?” he laughed. “Aish, so what if I don’t? You think we put our friends on a leash like you guys do?” Choa shot back, making all the girls grin at her comeback.

“She’s good” Shinwoo laughed before he took another bite from his food.

“This is going to be more grating than I thought” Jinyoung groaned. “You’re telling us?” the girl’s said in unison.

“Yup, this is going to be fun, I can feel it” Baro smiled, putting his hand on Gummi’s shoulder.

“Get your hand off of me unless you want me to bite it off” she grated. He nodded his head in obedience as the others laughed.

 

“So how long are you losers going to sit with us?” Minsun finally asked. “Until the rumors that I’m an disappear” Jinyoung replied with a grin. “Well girls, I guess we’re stuck with this insect forever then” Minsun said as she rolled her eyes.

“Who even cares, we can just get up and leave” Gummi said, getting out of her seat. “I’m not eating, how about you girls?” she went on to ask.

All the girls nodded and stood up with her.

“Seeya losers” but as soon as they took their first step, Sandeul, Baro, and Jinyoung got up and followed them “where to chingu?” Jinyoung said, putting his hand on Ellin shoulder.

“You want me to ruin your hair you piece of ?” Ellin threatened as she took his hand and twisted it behind his back. “Ow!” he cried. “Don’t provoke me you disgusting rat” she said.

“Ok, ok I’m sorry, Ellin-ah!” he said, making her let go.

“What the heck, why are they all acting so close?” Ellin heard a girl whisper. “Yeah…did they make up or something?”

“Aish, this is so annoying” Ellin groaned, stomping out of the cafeteria with the rest of the girls.

 

“Ok, so here’s how its going to go” Gummi began as she stood in front of the 5 boys who couldn’t seem to stay away from the so-called Illjins of chrome high. “You three are going to remain as far as you possibly can from us” Gummi said pointing at the three intruders “and you two…well… just to make it fair, you can’t sit with us either. Shinwoo and Choa, you’ll have to sit alone if you want to-“

“Shhhhh” Choa cried, putting her hand on Gummi’s mouth, “they don’t know you idiot” Choa whispered to her.

“Oh, right. Oops”

“What about Shinwoo and Choa?” Jinyoung asked suspiciously, “yeah, why don’t you continue Gummi” Baro followed.

“Uhmm… well” Gummi panicked.

“She’s talking about them fighting all the time, duh. We’re sick of them fighting in front of us so they better just do it on their own time, away from us” Minsun made up.

“Bless my sister” Choa thought. Shinwoo also showed a huge amount of relief on his face. Baro and Jinyoung on the other hand, remained to look at the two suspiciously.

Suddenly the bell rang, signaling students that lunchtime was over.

“Finally” Ellin sighed “Oh wait- we’re in the same damn class” Ellin groaned, face palming herself again. “Not only that, but you sit beside him” Gummi laughed, taking Ellin and Minsun’s hands.

“We’re off to class. Shinwoo, since Soyul’s not here I’ll trust you to walk Choa to class” Gummi chuckled before she left.

“Ya, I can walk my self to class!” Choa said, annoyed. “Let’s go then” Shinwoo smiled, walking closely behind Choa.

“He walks with her but not us, funny” Sandeul laughed dryly. “Are you even surprised? But something seems fishy about those two” Baro commented. “What do you mean?” Sandeul asked curiously.

“Choa is Shinwoo’s type, isn’t she?” Baro replied, making Sandeul look at him with interest. “You’re right…”

 

After school, the girl’s all met outside and headed to Soyul’s house. They wanted to make sure she was okay since she wasn’t answering any of their texts.

“This is it…” Choa said as she looked at the house number. She proceeded to ring the doorbell.

 “Wow, her house is huge, it’s almost as big as Ellin’s” Minsun said in amazement.

“Well, all of the kids that go to this school are rich, except us of course” Gummi laughed.

“What’s being rich when you’re a stuck up though?” Ellin intervened.

“Can you lend me a million dollars Ellin?” Choa joked, the other girl’s laughing along.

All of a sudden, the front door flew open.

“Yah, what are you girls doing here? Are you crazy?” Soyul suddenly said. She looked a little pale but, other than that, nothing seemed wrong with her. The girls were shocked at how flustered she was; they had never seen her get angry before. They were also incredibly confused as to why she was making such a big deal out of their visit.

“Soyul-ah, what’s wrong with you? Are you okay?” Choa asked worriedly.

“Just leave, please? Hurry and go before someone sees you. I- I gotta go, bye” Soyul said before she slammed the door in their faces.

“The hell just happened…” Ellin said. “Uhmm…I’m speechless” Choa sighed.

“Well, you heard the girl. We better leave” Gummi said annoyed, dragging the rest of the girl’s along with her.

 

The next morning, the girl’s walked to school, still with no Soyul in site, well until Gummi seemed to spot someone in the distance.

“Yah, isn’t that Soyul?” Gummi said, squinting her eyes. “Wait, that rude girl Joohee is talking with her…” Gummi pointed, the girl’s all following where her hand lead.

“It can’t be…why would Soyul be talking with Joohee?” Ellin said, confused.

“Well, after yesterday’s happening…” Minsun sighed. “Yeah, that was awfully weird, wasn’t it?” Ellin added.

“Let’s go talk to her and see what’s going on” Choa suggested, the girl’s following along.

 

As the girls walked towards Soyul, they could sense the atmosphere become tense. While Joohee turned to look at them with a smirk on her face, Soyuls expression seemed rather nervous.

“Soyul-ah, what’s going on?” Choa asked, but Soyul avoided Choa’s gaze. “Yah, Joohee, why are you bothering Soyul. You still won’t leave her alone!” Minsun spat.

Johee began to laugh before she replied to Minsun’s comment “Aww, they’re so out of the loop, huh Soyul-ah?” she continued to laugh.

“What is she saying Soyul-ah? Why won’t you say anything, huh?” Gummi said, irritated.

“I- I gotta go to class, the bells about to ring… bye” Soyul said before running off.

“What the ” Ellin muttered, annoyed.

“Whatever, if she wants to be this immature then let her be. She can talk to us when she feels like it” Gummi said, crossing her arms. But Choa couldn’t let this situation go so easily. She needed an answer now. After all, it’s because of Choa that Soyul even became a part of their group. She felt responsible to find out what was going on.

 

“Yah, Park Soyul” Choa called out in the hallway. She grabbed her wrist to get her to stop.

“What the hell is up with you? Yesterday you acted like we were some intruders and now you’re ignoring us?” Choa yelled in frustration.

Soyul looked down at her feet for a moment before she spoke. “Choa…let’s… let’s stop hanging out with each other, okay?” Soyul said, looking her in the eye now.

“W-what?” Choa said, confused at Soyul’s sudden request.

“You four and I… let’s end it here. I-“ she paused in hesitation at what she was going to say next “I… don’t think we match well anymore.”

“What the is that supposed to mean?” Choa raged, Minsun, Gummi and Ellin now standing behind her.

“We’re a part of two different worlds. Just… stay away from me, okay?” she said coldly before turning around to leave.

Choa was about to chase after her until Gummi held onto her hand “just leave her Choa…” Gummi grated.

“Aish, what the is going on” Ellin cursed. Everyone was staring at the four now. Everyone roaming the halls had witnessed what just happened and whispers began to fill the halls.

 

“What did I tell you guys…they’d crack sooner or later” Jinyoung said to Baro and Sandeul before he went into class. Shinwoo and Gongchan also stood near by, too shocked to even say anything. Shinwoo couldn’t take his eyes off of Choa’s expression.

She was disappointed but also embarrassed. All the things she did for Soyul came rushing through her mind all at once

 

“how could she…there’s no way” she whispered under her breath.

 

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Here's a super long update for updating super late. The drama is just beginning! Not much (ƒ) left! Hopefilly i'll soon start writting about the present! Thank you for supporting this fic this far, it really means a lot since i know fics about several characters and two different idol groups aren't really popular. Happy Holidays everyone!