“Whoa! Kim Yugyeom, you did a good job, man!”

I gave a grin as people kept on complimenting and clapping their hands after I had performed for them. “Thanks,” I said as I glanced towards Hyunju, who was only glaring at me from afar, not even a word coming out from . Not even a ‘you’ve improved’ or ‘congratulations’.

Baek Hyunju was my senior— she was older than me by two years although it was hard to tell as she was a petite girl whereas I was huge like a giant. I was a member of our school’s dance club for only 2 months and I have made a lot of friends. In fact, all of the other members were my friends. All except for her.

She was not a member, but she was the manager. She was kind of like our second coach, but her job was mostly recording us dancing, for I did not know what reasons.

“Just because you’re the youngest, it doesn’t mean you’re that great.” I heard her mutter as she walked past me.

I was the youngest in the club and was often complimented for my good dancing skills. Heh, I have been dancing ever since I could walk, obviously I was a rather good dancer. I was not a narcissistic person and I was not full of myself (okay, maybe I secretly was, but I never show off) so I really did not get why she really hate me that much.

Besides, I never said I was the greatest. The coach asked me to dance to the front and they loved my performance— which made me feel a little bit confident that I was able to make it to the next competition and join the group. I never even asked them to flatter me or anything. I guess she was ticked off that I got all the compliments and she got none.

Whatever.

That wasn’t the first time she made me want to strangle her tiny little neck.

All of us usually stayed back after school, just to practice some dance routine. She would stand behind or maybe at the sides or probably at the front— okay whatever, one thing for sure she moved around to record us dancing.

After hours of moving our bodies to the same rhythm, we were exhausted. Like, really exhausted.

I was thirsty and desperately wanted a drink but unfortunately, I didn’t bring my bottle as I have forgotten to bring it on that day. Luckily, our coach and our beloved manager always bring beverages for the members. I did not usually take beverages that were provided because I was never a huge fan of green tea.

But God, I was exhausted and my brain was screaming for me to at least drink something.

She was giving out the canned beverages to the members with a huge smile plastered on her face as she told them how hard they’ve worked and how they’ve improved and stuff.

So I (kind of) swallowed my pride, and asked her nicely for a drink. “Noona. Can I have the green tea too?”

And all of a sudden, her mood completely turned. She looked at me for a while, as if she really did not want me there and then shoved a can of green tea to me with a sour face and bitterly said, “Here.” She did not even have any comment for me. She could have at least said ‘you’ve worked hard’ or anything but no. She only glared and said “here”.

“Oi!” I suddenly blurted.

She turned to me with face full of irritation and said, “Oi? That’s not a polite way to talk to your senior, no?”

I didn’t have the time to think what I was about to say because back then, all I ever wanted was to give her a comeback that will shut her up. “Just because you’re a senior, it doesn’t mean you’re any better than me!”

I completely had forgotten that I had my seniors all around me.

“Yah, Kim Yugyeom, what did you say?!” Feinoona yelled out.

“Do you want to get hit?” Jinyoung hyung added.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I mumbled as I bowed. “It wasn’t intentional!”

I love all my seniors in the club and stuff but she just made me feel… annoyed sometimes. Okay, I lied. She made me feel irritated all the time. It wasn’t her presence or anything, but the fact that when I finally got her attention, it always end badly. Perhaps it was how she treated me differently from the other. But I couldn’t comprehend how or why. What made me so different from the other members of the club? Was it because I was just a little younger? I was determined to find out by asking her.

But how could I even ask her such serious question when she barely spoken two sentences to me?

Her attitude towards me made her think about all the things I did wrong to her. Unfortunately, I found none. I was getting more curious so I watched her from afar. I watched how she was all smiley and happy whenever I was a few meters— yes, a FEW— away from her.

It was obvious how much she hated me.

I didn’t get how she could turn my mood upside down just by watching her act different around me. On one day, I got all grumpy after she had glared at me. I didn’t do it on purpose, I swear! I was glancing at her direction and somehow our gaze met. It wasn’t like I wanted to look at her or anything— it was purely accidental. But that old witch might think that I was staring at her or something that she glared at me and turned away.

“What the—”

“Okay, stop procrastinating, you lazybums! Now let’s warm up, shall we?”

I looked up to our coach, who was already standing in front and stretching her arms out. Then I turned to Hyunju who was happily handing Jackson his green towel.

“Whatever,” I found myself mumbling angrily.

I didn’t know why I was angry. One thing for sure, I wasn’t jealous at Jackson. Oh God, why would I be jealous of him? I was more angry because, maybe, I want to be treated just like how she treated Jackson too.

But because of her, I was yelled and embarrassed in front of the whole class. The coach decided that I should take a break and watched their moves carefully. I’ve messed up the dance moves and almost tripped twice and I also would have slapped Jinyoung hyung (who was dancing beside me) if I moved another step all because she was running in my mind.

Letting out a long sigh, I sat at the back of the room on one of the benches and watch them dance to some pop song.

“Ow!” I let out a shriek as I felt a cold item pressed against my cheek.

Irritated, I looked up at the person and regretted shrieking like a girl. It was her. She was holding a cold ice lemon tea with an unpleasant look on her face. I would actually yell at her, but instead, I only rubbed my cheek and waited for her to say something.

“Take it.”

Without looking up at her, I took the tin and hold it. The thought of drinking it right there and then made me want to drool as I was super exhausted. However, I wouldn’t actually drink that in front of her. No, not ever! I didn’t want her to see me drinking like a mad man.

Besides, she must have noticed that I never took any drink that they brought for us (except that one time when I left my bottle) so it would be weird if I drank it. She might have the idea that I was too thrilled to drink something she had given me and I did not want that to happen.

“You should pay more attention.”

Her sudden statement made her look up at her with a speed of lightning.

How dare she say that when she was the one who caused me to lose my concentration?! I wanted to yell at her to leave me alone but at the same time, I was tempted to ask her why she was being like that to me.

But then, she murmured, “But you did good.”

I blushed.

Before I could say anything, she turned around, causing me to become anxious.

Don’t ask me what I was anxious for, because I really had no idea.

“W-wait, noona!” I blurted out.

Unlike what I expected, she actually turned around. The look on her face made it hard for me to speak. I mentally slapped myself for being an idiot. Why, why, why, why oh why did I even call her when I have nothing to say to her?

She had this look on her face that made me more nervous than ever.

“I—” Oh my god, think, Kim Yugyeom. Think! “I was thinking that maybe you and I could go out s-sometime.”

She raised her eyebrow.

Oh God, I’m going to pissed myself.

“No, it’s not a date, I s-swear,” I gulped. My main intention was to find out why she hated me so much. That was just it. Not a date. Just to find out why. Even if she did hate me, maybe I couldmake her un-hate me. If that’s possible. “I have tickets to a Probably Heroes concert which is going to be held on Sunday on the stadium. If you don’t mind, can you go together with me?”

She opened to say something, but no words escaped her pink lips. She thought for a while before biting her lower lip, I could tell that she was hesitating.

Right then, I wanted to jump out of the window, steal a car, drive off somewhere far and then jump off a cliff.

This was one of the things that I hated about her.

She managed to make me want to kill myself just by doing nothing.

“Not a date?” she asked.

“Not a date,” I assured her.

“Fine,” she answered. Her tone was a bit irritated but I was feeling too joyous to feel mad about that. “Happy Burgers, 11AM sharp.”

“What?”

“Pick me up there.”

“Could you please repe—”

But she already walked away.

Happy Burgers, 11AM sharp. Ha. Okay.

I would dance a celebratory dance (and I wasn’t even sure why I was that happy) and now, the only thing I should be worrying about was concert tickets. Oh, screw me and my big mouth! I didn’t even have the concert tickets, for God’s sake!

When Sunday finally came around, realization dawned that I still didn’t have the concert tickets with me. The tickets were completely sold out and I’ve imagined her face and the way her hands would be placed on her hips, as she yelled at me for being irresponsible and dumb. I wasn’t irresponsible and dumb okay, I panicked!

To make matters worse, I slept late (I couldn’t sleep thinking about the tickets the night before) and woke up late. When I woke up, the digital clock showed that it was 10.47AM and I never screamed so loud before in my entire life. It was chaotic… alright, maybe I was overreacting but you should see the look on her face when she was mad. Even her normal demeanor was scary because she liked to glare.

I took a shower, wore the black shirt and jeans I’ve prepared the night before (I kept on thinking of the attire I should wear— afraid that she would think of something else if I wasn’t dressed properly), sprayed cologne all over my body and dashed outside of the house. I heard my mom yelled for breakfast when I was wearing my shoes, but I decided that girl was far more important than breakfast.

So I ran and ran and ran; my lungs were desperate for oxygen but I knew if I stopped, I would be late. Alright, damn it, I was already late. And when I finally reached Happy Burgers, she was standing outside of the entrance and I finally stopped to catch my breath.

“You’re late,” she stated.

I pursed my lips tightly and tried to breathe steadily with my nostrils. “Yep…”

She was clad in a simple white shirt and black shorts. And not to mention the gray cap she was wearing. Seeing her dressed so casually made me forgot for a moment that she was our manager who liked to yell at people (particularly me… I lied. She only yelled at me) and probably couldn’t stand being so close from me. She looked, perhaps, harmless — just like any normal girl you see.

I looked up at her when I regained my breath, and she was raising her eyebrow, as if waiting for an explanation.

For a few seconds, I mumbled a prayer under my breath before I decided to tell her the truth. With a deep breath, I said, “I don’t have the concert tickets with me. In fact, I never even have th