Seulgi flounced into the classroom, waving with both hands at Minhee as she did, and Minhee felt a weird feeling that could almost be described as guilt wash over her as the events from that morning at the vending machine ate at her already fraying nerves.

    The guilt faded when she remembered that Chanyeol had run off with her Cheetos and left her without any sort of breakfast. Minhee was cranky when she didn’t get her 3 meals. That and Bora was making her diet with her, and Minhee was already dying on Day 2.

    All of this stress was additionally making Minhee break out, which was really not the best timing because she was set to get lunch with Minho in the cafeteria after class. The two had been texting nonstop since their date in the coffee shop.

    “Minhee,” Seulgi squealed, pulling out the seat next to Minhee and making a huge show of collapsing in the chair. “You have to tell me about that boy from your date.”

    Knowing that Seulgi would tell Chanyeol all about it because no way could a girl wear that much lip gloss not have loose lips, Minhee played it cool, lifting a manicured hand to her face to examine it. “Oh, you mean Minho?”

    “Yeah him,” Seulgi waved her on impatiently. “You two looked so great together.”

    Minhee chose her words carefully, knowing exactly what to say to rub Chanyeol the wrong way when Seulgi inevitably told him everything. “He is just so sweet and caring. We met when I accidentally bumped into him outside of the cafeteria a few days ago and he gave me his number. He’s so different from any other guy I have ever met.”

    Ha. Take that, Park Jerkyeol.

    Seulgi smiled wistfully. “That is so romantic. You know how I met Chanyeol?”

    The smug smile that had made its way onto Minhee’s face slipped. “No, I can’t say I do.”

    “I actually met him through his friend Baekhyun,” she shrugged. “I met Baekhyun in a class, and I guess he figured out I didn’t have any friends because one day he invited me out to lunch.”

    Minhee tightened her grip on her lucky pencil. Not once had Chanyeol even spoke of his friends, even offered to introduce her. A bitter taste rose on her tongue as Seulgi revealed to her just how little of Chanyeol’s world she ever knew.

    “Chanyeol was going through a bit of a nasty breakup at the time, I guess,” Seulgi shrugged. “He looked a bit down, so I said hello, and that was it. Like magic,” she swooned.

    Minhee had to fight the vomit back because she wanted to save the little face she had left. “Magical. Yes.”

    “You know what,” Seulgi suddenly lit up. “We should go on a double date some time.”

    Actually, Minhee liked that idea a little bit too much to have good intentions. She could already picture Chanyeol’s face screwed up into a sour pucker as he watched her shamelessly drape herself over Minho. “I would love to. That sounds ah-mazing.”

    Seulgi looked around carefully before leaning in conspiratorially. “You know, I heard Chanyeol’s  ex-girlfriend was a real psycho.”

    “What?” Minhee almost fell out of her chair and on her denim clad (which actually looked better today- probably because of her secret stash of Cheeto puffs that Bora did not know about). “Who told you that?”

    “Kai did,” Seulgi nodded, batting her innocent eyelashes that Minhee wanted more than anything to be fake even though she knew that they had to be natural. Everything about Seulgi was irritatingly genuine. “Apparently she was horrible to him and then went crazy after they broke up.”

    “She did, did she?” Minhee could swear she felt some sort of wolflike transformation come over her, and she half expected fangs to come out of . Minhee wished she were wearing more lipstick because last thing she wanted her lips to do was crack. “How… interesting.”

    “Poor Chanyeol,” Seulgi shook her head sadly, the ends of her hair down over her blouse. “He still won’t really talk about her. I guess she was really that horrible.”

    Minhee was going to force feed Chanyeol his own hands when she saw him next. Her response was cut off when the professor came into the room, and Minhee’s eyes widened in horror.

    “Is she really wearing plaid with stripes,” Seulgi shrieked into her ear.

    Minhee smoothed her t-shirt down in the front, slapping herself internally for thinking that wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and (shudder) sneakers would be acceptable for a semi-date in the cafeteria. Her legs were skinny and her face felt without her war paint.

    Minhee made a mental reminder to kill Bora for ever convincing her that this would be a good idea.

    “You look amazing,” Minho called from behind her, making her jump. “I don’t know if I ever said this to you before, but I have a thing for blondes.”

    Minho winked playfully at Minhee, sending her heart into overdrive and causing her cheeks heat up with embarrassment at being caught fussing with her clothes. She didn’t want to look desperate or insecure.

    Which she totally was not; girls like Minhee did not get insecure.

    “Good thing I’m not actually a blonde,” Minhee managed to hit back a retort as she scrambled to find her self-confidence. “Wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea about me.”

    Minho shifted closer to her, raising a cocky eyebrow. “Oh really? And what would that be?”

    “That I am just your type,” Minhee joked nervously, blushing even harder at his proximity.

    “Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong,” he leaned in even closer, so close he could probably hear the embarrassing gulp come from . Minhee could smell his cologne; it reeked of expensive. “You are exactly my type.”

    There was a moment where Minhee stood in shock, unsure of quite how to respond. Minho drew back, laughing at her discomfort. Slinging a casual arm around her shoulders, he began to steer her towards the cafeteria. His biceps were very defined, she also noticed with approval.

    “Come on,” his voice was friendly. “Let’s get some food.”

    Thanking the fashion gods for her sneakers, Minhee stumbled after him; if she had been wearing heels, she probably would have been tripping all over herself.

    The inside of the cafeteria was just hitting rush hour, and Minhee had to physically grab onto Minho’s shirt as they navigated the food lines. Well, actually, no, she did not really have to, but it gave her a sneaky opportunity to feel his back muscles. She was not disappointed- if anything, he was better than Chanyeol in that department.

    Minhee made another mental note to invite him to go swimming. She would go swimsuit shopping that night to find a cute two-piece. Also, it was time to get her beach bod back up to par; the breakup with Chanyeol had not been good to her abs, especially with all of the ice cream and Cheeto runs she had been making lately. Maybe Bora’s ridiculous diet would be a good idea.

    “Over there,” Minho pointed at a small table by the windows.

    Minhee could not help but grin as he made a huge show of jogging with his tray to the table so he could be there to pull out her chair for her.

“I am glad to see that chivalry is not entirely dead,” she remarked as she sat down.

  “Since I didn’t pay,” Minho slid in across from her, “I figured this was the least I could do.”

  A flash of dark red out of the corner of her eye caught her momentary attention, and Minhee knew that Chanyeol and his posse had arrived in the cafeteria. Now was her chance.

Slapping Minho playfully on the arm, Minhee giggled loudly, horrifying herself. If it got Chanyeol’s attention, then it was a sacrifice for a good cause. “Just being here with you was enough.”

Minho lapped it up, and Minhee would be lying if she said that deep down she did not feel even a speck of guilt. Minho was a nice boy, and while Minhee had originally meant to just acquire some arm candy and maybe force him to carry her shopping bags once or twice, she actually liked him.

“You know,” Minho gestured to her outfit. “You look a lot different from the other day.”

“The clothes? The makeup? Darn, I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Bora,” Minhee felt immediately self conscious, bringing a hand up to her face.

“No,” Minho tried to backtrack, looking horrified. “No, I didn’t mean to say that you look awful. I like it.”

Minhee relaxed slightly, but she was not entirely comforted. To be honest, making the adjustment from her previous elaborate outfits and intense eyeliner to a more laid back vibe had her second guessing herself all day.

“When I bumped into you that day, I thought you were going to gouge my eyes out,” he explained. “You always seemed so intimidating.”

“Me? Intimidating?” Minhee scoffed. “I’m the friendliest girl you’ll ever meet.”

Minho shot her an are-you-kidding-me look, and she shrugged. So maybe she was a bit standoffish at times.

“What?” She shot back. “I can’t help it? I have an addiction to my eyeshadow palette,” she patted her purse where it was nestled safely inside.

“You aren’t wearing that much today, though,” Minho pointed at her eyes.

“Bora,” Minhee said as if that explained everything.

“Oh,” Minhee could tell that Minho actually did not understand her explanation at all, but for some weird reason, she did not really feel the urge to explain that she was in fact just using him to get back at her ex that was sitting three tables away, pointedly not looking at the two of them.

“Let’s talk about something other than my makeup,” Minhee squirmed in her seat, slightly uncomfortable.

The rest of the meal went really well, and Minhee found that she barely had to try to make Chanyeol jealous because Minho was actually really funny. The entire time she found herself laughing, not giggling, and it felt really good; for the first time in two months, she was not angry or in angry tears.

If she wasn’t over Chanyeol quite yet, Minhee reassured herself, then Minho would get her there. In no time she would be able to laugh in his face as he begged her to take his sorry (and very hot, she had to admit- the boy did something to her when he wore jeans) back.