In a flash, the weekend ended and it was time for school again. Aejin did her usual morning routine and left her apartment.

          The past few days hasn’t really been well for her. Not only did the unknown man made her confused, but Hongbin also started to act weird. She didn’t find it weird when Hongbin hugged her, but the way he looked at her was different. She thought about what could’ve made Hongbin act that way, but all she remembered was Himchan asking her if she found her mate.

          Was it possible? Was Hongbin jealous? Did Hongbin feel the same attraction towards her? She quickly shook the thoughts away. It was impossible. Hongbin wouldn’t like her. Why would he always push her away if he did? He probably found his mate anyway.

          Hongbin’s mate. Just by the thought of it, Aejin couldn’t help but feel jealous. The thought of Hongbin treating another girl better than how he treats her, hurt her. But it wasn’t something Aejin had a control of. Hongbin wasn’t her mate.

          With the continuous thoughts on her head, in no time, Aejin arrived at her school. She walked towards her locker and punched in her code before the locker door swung open. She grabbed her books for her first three subjects and placed it inside her bag.

          “N!” she heard a voice call. Aejin looked away from her locker and looked at where the voice came from.

          Eunyoung jogged towards N’s locker with a big smile plastered on her face. N smiled back at her and they entered a conversation. Aejin noticed the smile on both of their faces. Both of them were happy and Aejin could tell that they were getting closer by the minute.

          Aejin’s eyes drifted to a girl a few lockers away from N. It was Ellin, N’s ex-girlfriend. She was watching the couple interact with sad eyes. Seeing Ellin made Aejin’s mood drop. She had found N’s mate, but she has yet to find Ellin’s mate. Aejin vowed to herself that she will find the guy for Ellin.

          Aejin’s thoughts got cut when Yunha abruptly wrapped her arm around Aejin’s neck.

          “Good Morning, Aejin!” Yunha greeted and gave Aejin a big smile.

          “Hi, guys!” Aejin greeted her two friends. Yunha tightened her hold on Aejin’s neck as a response to Aejin’s greeting while Jaeyoon just waved.

          “Ready to go to class?” Jaeyoon asked her. Aejin looked back at her locker and made sure she got everything she needed before she closed her locker shut. She took a quick glance at N and Eunyoung before she started walking to class with her friends.

          Once they arrived at their classroom, Aejin and Yunha went in while Jaeyoon went to her own classroom. Aejin sat on her seat and silently waited for class to start. Her mind started to go back to the happenings of the past few days not minding the students around her. She was idly staring into space, just thinking, and didn’t even notice that Yunha was staring at Leo, once again.

          Soon, class started and Aejin tried her best to stay focus on her teacher. The past few days has been bothering her, as if she was sure that a similar thing will happen to her that day.

          After fighting her thoughts for hours, the last few minutes of her last subject for the morning arrived. Lunch was coming and it was currently Home Economics class. Economics wasn’t one of Aejin’s favorite subjects nor was it one of her hated subjects. She found it quite easy and so unchallenging.

          The bell rang, signaling that it was the end of class. The students started packing their things while some were already running out of the room. Aejin started packing her things and was about to go to Yunha’s side when the teacher called her.

          “Ms. Yoon Aejin.” The teacher called.

          “Yes, Ms. Yu?” Aejin asked the teacher.

          “May I talk to you for a moment?” Ms. Yu said. Aejin looked at Yunha and signaled for her to go to the cafeteria without her. Yunha nodded and proceeded to leave the classroom, doing as what she was instructed to. Aejin walked towards her teacher and waited for her to speak.

          “You have been missing classes, lately.” Ms. Yu pointed out, “You’ve missed a lot of activities and your grades will surely be affected.” She said as she checked her class attendance. Aejin just nodded at her teacher, somehow having an idea what her teacher wanted, and waited for her to continue talking.

          “You will have to make up for missing those activities.” Ms. Yu said and gave Aejin a few pieces of paper, “I will be finding a tutor for you to guide you in your activities. These will be the lessons that you will be tackling.” She said and motioned to the papers in Aejin’s hand.

          Aejin scanned the papers and sighed. Home Economics wasn’t that hard for her to need a tutor. She wouldn’t need help in cooking some meal for her activities. Though she had a strong disapproval to having a tutor, Aejin decided to keep silent.

          “For now, I’ll look for your tutor. I’ll introduce you to him or her when I find one so you’ll be able to start on your tutoring as soon as possible.” Ms. Yu said and dismissed her. Aejin bowed to her teacher before she left the classroom. She studied the papers in her hand, some pamphlets about cooking utensils and ingredients, as she walked to the cafeteria.

          A set of complaints was ready to come out of mouth, but she decided to just keep quiet. She took a deep breath, calming herself, and hid the pamphlets inside her bag. Aejin quickly entered the cafeteria and left her bag on their table before buying her food. Once she bought her food, rice and meat, she joined her friends in eating at their table.

          “Where did you guys go last Friday?” Jaeyoon asked as she took a bite of her sandwich. Aejin looked up from her food and was about to answer until Yunha beat her to it.

          “Aejin stalked a guy.” She said. At Yunha’s words, Aejin shot up in her seat and went to a full defense mode.

          “I didn’t stalk him!” Aejin defended, “I don’t even know who he is!” she said, half saying the truth and half lying.

          “Then why did we follow him to his apartment?” Yunha spat back and gave a pointed look to Aejin. Jaeyoon looked at Aejin, as well, with an eyebrow raised. Aejin looked at her two friends, not knowing what to say.

          “I didn’t stalk him!” Aejin repeated, not being able to say anything else, “We went to a wedding.” She said and resumed in eating, hoping to change the subject. Jaeyoon was about to speak again until Yunha spoke.

          “You know, the guy who caught us goes to this school.” Yunha informed, earning Aejin’s attention.

          “Guy who caught you?” Jaeyoon asked, totally confused at what Yunha was saying.

           “Yeah, Park Chanyeol.” Yunha nodded, “When we stalked that guy at his apartment, Chanyeol caught us. He looked insane. He kept on asking us why we were stalking his friend. He was really scary, especially since Chanyeol has a deep scary voice.” Yunha said and tried to copy the said man’s deep voice.

          “Why are you stalking my friend?” Yunha said with a deep voice. Aejin stared at Yunha weirdly, as if it was the oddest thing she saw.

          “So, what did you tell him?” Jaeyoon asked, still unsure of what she was hearing.

          “Aejin ran away.” Yunha said, making Jaeyoon give Aejin a pointed look, “I just said sorry to the guy and told him that we saw his friend at the church.” She shared and continued eating her food.

          “Why did you run away?” Jaeyoon asked Aejin. Aejin fidgeted on her seat, not knowing what to answer.

          Back then, Aejin couldn’t breathe. Her head was too busy figuring out who that guy was and calming her beating heart, that’s why she ran away. Was that what she was supposed to answer?

          “I don’t know… I just did.” Aejin vaguely answered, and looked down, not being able to say anything else. She looked a bit stupid, but it was better than telling them what she really felt that time. She figured that her friends would be more confused if she told them the truth.

          Jaeyoon looked at her with doubt evident on her face, but decided to let go of it and transferred her attention to Yunha.

          “How do you know that guy?” Jaeyoon asked Yunha.

          “Who? Chanyeol?” Yunha asked Jaeyoon with a raised brow. Aejin looked up and gave her full attention to Yunha. Chanyeol. Just by hearing that name, Aejin already felt butterflies in her stomach.

          “He’s quite popular.” Yunha informed them, “He’s from the college department.” Yunha ended. Aejin wanted to ask more, but kept quiet instead. She would find herself with another interrogation from Jaeyoon if she asked more about Chanyeol.

          Chanyeol. His name was Chanyeol, and he was from the college department of her school. Aejin didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. It was like they were so close, yet so far. Aejin wasn’t sure if she wanted to see him again or not. But despite the confusion of her thoughts, she took note to avoid the college department at all cost.

          “Anyway, do you guys want to go to Jeju Island on our three day vacation?” Jaeyoon changed the topic.

          “Oh, yeah! Our three day vacation is getting near!” Yunha exclaimed, excitement in her voice, “Let’s go! Let’s go! I want to go to Jeju Island! We can go there on Wednesday and stay until Saturday or Sunday morning! It’s even like a five day vacation!” she said, excitedly. Aejin smiled at the idea. Every semester, the students get a free three day vacation from school, to let the teachers prepare the students’ exams. Since the first semester of their school is about to end, they will be granted a three day vacation. Spending their vacation at Jeju Island was quite a good idea, and Aejin loved the idea.

          “I can’t.” Aejin sighed, remembering that she had to go to Busan for her mission. Her friends looked at her and gave her a questioning look.

          “Why not?” Jaeyoon asked. Aejin sighed once again and looked down, as if to show her friends that she was guilty.

          “I have somewhere to go to.” She admitted. It wasn’t a lie; she really had to go somewhere.

          “Where? Is it more important than your friends?” Jaeyoon pushed. Aejin could clearly see that her friends weren’t happy.

          “I’m going to Busan. I would cancel it, but I’m going with my brother.” Aejin excused, and at the mention of her brother, she knew her friends wouldn’t be able to protest. Jaeyoon and Yunha looked down, and Aejin knew she was right.

          They knew about Aejin’s brother. They knew that they rarely saw each other and that he was busy in a different country. Whenever Aejin would say that she was going with her brother, they would always let her go. Aejin didn’t feel good with using her brother to slip past her friends. She, personally, wished she could spend time with her brother as well.

          “You guys can go without me.” Aejin said, surprising her two friends.

          “Are you sure?” Jaeyoon asked.