“Yuri!”

Yuri stopped her journey down the hallway as she turned back to find Junsu jogging up to her.

“Junsu, hi.”

“Yuri, I need to talk to you,” he choked out while panting.

Yuri arched a brow, rather unsure of what he was referring to, until she recalled what happened during lunch. “About Taeyeon?”

“Yes.”

“You’re in luck. Taeyeon’s in her extra class.”

“Good. Look, Yuri, I just wanted to clarify the thing about Taeyeon…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell her anything. I’ll keep it a secret, you can confess or something—“

“No, Yuri, listen. About just now, I just wanted to tell you that… I don’t like Taeyeon.”

Yuri felt something hit her ribcage. What did he just say? “You don’t like Taeyeon?”

“I mean, I like her, as a friend. But that’s it. I don’t like like her.”

“But—But you told me not to tell her anything—“

“That’s… because I don’t feel for her the way you think I do.”

“Are you… serious? Are you kidding me?”

“Yes, I’m serious. No, I’m not kidding you.”

Yuri sighed outwardly. On the inside, she scoffed at his words.

In all of Yuri’s life, she had been pretty damn accurate with her predictions on love. And she wasn’t about to make a mistake today.

It was obvious – beyond obvious – that Junsu liked Taeyeon. Just through those eyes of his and how he stared at Taeyeon.

Yuri scratched her neck, biting her lower lip. “Well… If that’s what you say.”

Turning back to face her original route, she took a step or two down the hallway again. Then she stopped and faced him again. “By the way, just saying… Taeyeon doesn’t like cowardly guys. Maybe if she learns about everything that we’ve discussed, she’d change her mind about you. But don’t worry, I’ll keep it a secret.” Yuri punctuated her sentence with a small wink. “Bye!”

Junsu stared at the retreating Yuri in disbelief.

So Taeyeon… likes me?

Realization hit him faster than an eight-wheeler.

And Jaejoong likes Taeyeon.

= = =

Seulong rushed into his house, finding Yoona in the living room munching on chocolates.

“Great,” he panted, “you’re back home safe.”

Yoona smiled at him. “Of course I am. Yunho sent me home.”

Seulong’s smile disappeared as he sat down beside her. “You’re pretty close to him, huh?”

“He’s a really nice friend. Look, he gave me these chocolates.”

Seulong stared at the box in her hands. Without a reply given to her, he wrenched the box out of her hands and slammed it on the table, a few pieces of chocolates flying out from the impact and hitting the table.

Yoona stared at him in shock. “Seulong-oppa! What was that about?”

“You—Look, you should just… Just stay away from him, okay?”

“Yah, Seulong-oppa! What’s going on? Yunho’s a nice guy; why do you seem so wary of him?

“I’m just saying… that you should maintain a distance from him. You don’t know him well enough to judge that he’s a nice guy.”

With a clenched jaw, she looked up at her brother. “It doesn’t seem like that at all.”

Seulong his lower lip in exasperation. “That’s all I’m saying. Keep yourself safe. I’m going back to work.”

Yoona watched in silence as her brother stormed out of the house. She stared at the box of chocolates on the table and sighed. What’s going on?

= = =

Yunho entered his mansion through the main door, finding him face to face with a lady seated by the grand organ.

“Yunho, you’re home.”

He glanced in the opposite direction with just a tinge of resentment and grunted to show his answer. Without even stopping, he continued on.

“Yunho, stop. I need to talk to you.”

He sighed inwardly and sat down on the couch. She followed suit, and sat on the couch opposite his. “Yunho, I’ve heard something about the friends you’re making in school…”

“Did you get your bodyguard to spy on me again?” he asked, cutting her words off.

She kept a straight face. “No. I’ve just heard something about the friends you’re making. And one of them is Im Yoona.”

Yunho’s head shot up to stare at her, his eyes not giving a friendly stare as he usually did. “What’s wrong with that, then?”

Her countenance did not change in the least bit as she shifted herself in her seat. “Yunho, I know you’re a smart boy. But are you sure you’re wise enough to make friends you deem as ‘good’ ones?”

Yunho scoffed. “I don’t think Yoona could be anything close to evil.”

“I don’t want to seem like I’m being mean, but you really should look at her again—“

Yunho stood up, almost knocking the couch behind him over. “Is this about her being crippled?” he shouted, accusingly at the woman right in front of him. “I know you’re not my mother, but it doesn’t give you any right to insult my friends. Yoona is a good girl, and I don’t care what you think about it.”

She watched as he turned even before finishing his last word and trotted up the staircase, figure disappearing in no time. She stared, deep in thought.

Yunho, you don’t know who she is…

= = =

Jaejoong was back to school on a Saturday. He had no extra lessons, and his lady love (Taeyeon) wasn’t in school, but he had another thing to do.

And there he went, surreptitiously strolling down the hallway as he made his way to the last classroom at the end.

It was lit and there were students inside. He stopped right outside the door and fixed his hair a bit, before peeking in with his most charming smile. The middle-aged female teacher sitting behind the teacher’s desk looked up at him and arched a brow, clearly not welcoming this visitor at all. “Yes, Jaejoong?”

“Good morning, Mrs Oh! I need to fetch a certain somebody from this class. Is it okay if—“

“Jaejoong, this is a class for the high achievers, and you are definitely not allowed to disrupt their studies—“

Jaejoong had slid into the classroom already, despite the teacher’s protests and clearly raging tone. He smiled again at the teacher before turning to one table at the side. It was Yuri’s table.

“Kwon Yuri! Come with me! I have something urgent to talk to you about!”

Yuri stared at him, dumbfounded and at a loss for words. She didn’t even have time to let go of her pencil before Jaejoong had grabbed her hand – a strangely, foreignly warm hand that contrasted with her air-conditioner-cooled hand – and dragged her out of class. Yuri finally managed to struggle out of his grip when they had reached the hallway.

“Yah, Jaejoong, what the hell?”

“I need to talk to you!”

“About? Don’t tell me it’s about Taeyeon, you disrupted my class just to talk about—“

“Yes, it’s Taeyeon.”

Yuri sighed loudly and tousled her long hair in exasperation. Raising her right hand, she pointed her pencil at him. “Don’t make me stab you with this.”

“Aigoo, Yuri-ah… We’re good friends! You can help me with her, right?”

“I can give you my number and you can call me to talk about her, but not now. I have lessons, you idiot!”

“It’s just for a while. Please?”

“Talk to the phone.”

“Wait, so you’ll help me right?”

“No. I only answer the phone when I’m free.”

“Yuri-ah! Do it for your forever-charming friend, okay?”

“… Jaejoong. Get real.”

“I am real! And you’re nice! So you’ll help me, right?”

Yuri stayed quiet as she glared at him. She could feel Mrs Oh glaring at her as well.

Jaejoong tried to think of another way to coax Yuri into helping him. Snapping his fingers, he inched closer to Yuri until he was an inch away from her. “Beautiful Yuri… Come on… Help me… Please… Help the beautiful Jaejoong… Yuri-ah…”

Yuri scoffed and used her pencil as a defense weapon. “Get the hell away from me!”

Jaejoong scratched the back of his head. “Come on!”

Yuri pondered over this for a moment. She knew class was more important. “Fine. I’ll help you. Just… Don’t drag me away from class again!”

“You got it, beautiful girl! Bye! I’ll call you tonight!”

Yuri smacked her forehead as Jaejoong skipped away in glee and triumph.