{ SEHUN }
18 days after the incident

-- May 15th 201X

TO BE HONEST, my initial decision was flat out refuse Yeri.

I wasn’t really in the mood to chat with someone who practically ruined my relationship with my best friend. I admit, the way Huijing blew me off in the cafeteria wounded me more than I could possibly admit to anyone, even to myself. Even so, it simply showed how much I messed up. I was willing to do anything to bring things to the way they were before. Hence, my decision to accept was something that even surprised myself, and not to mention my other friends.

After revealing something I should not have revealed to an outsider like Yeri, I immediately grabbed my stuff from the table and left her there. As I looked back, I noticed that she also needed the time to process the information I literally just threw at her. Hopefully, Huijing won’t find out that I’ve actually told someone one of her biggest secrets, even if it’s for her sake.

The next class I had was physics, one of the few classes that I really hate and have with Huijing. Today was also lab day, meaning we didn’t have a lecture and instead made an experiment based on what we’ve learned so far. Usually, we would already be in pairs decided by the teacher and as if the teacher knew my struggles with the subject, she paired me up with Huijing.

That’s why it was a surprise when I’ve found out that she wasn’t my partner anymore for this lab.

“Sehun, you’ll be with Vernon and Joshua for this lab only,” the teacher told me when she noticed that I was confused about my partner’s absence. “Huijing has already notified me that she would be absent, so you’ll have to be in a group of three with them.”

I simply nodded. Although Jongin threw me a look, motioning me to ask her to be on the same team as him, I didn’t want to because not only my grades were on the line, I wanted to talk to Huijing’s robotics teammates to see what’s up with her these days. I never realized just how hard it was to pass days without speaking to Huijing—something I took for granted—and now, I had to resort to third party people in order to just know if she’s okay or not.

I’m an embarrassment to all the best friends in the world.

“Hey,” I greeted them, making their head snap up at me from whatever they were reading. “The teacher said to team up with you guys just for this lab. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Uh, sure,” Joshua replied with a small smile, but Vernon, surprisingly, didn’t seem to be as enthusiastic as the robotics leader. “Do you know what we’re supposed to do today though?”

I looked at them blankly. Usually, Huijing’s the one who informs me about all those stuff so that I could be mentally prepared for everything we’re going to do. I inwardly sighed at my own incompetence; it wasn’t my intention to make them feel like I would be a burden.

But Joshua, being the gentleman he was (according to Huijing), explained the experiment to me in details, “What we’re doing today is something an elementary kid can probably do for fun if he’s interested, but what we’re going to do for the lab is trying to make the strongest bridge possible with popsicle sticks and hot glue.”

“Oh.” I smiled in relief. “This is going to be easy.”

Vernon shook his head and finally said something. “No, like Joshua said, this experiment can be done by an elementary kid, so the teacher has decided to put restrictions. She has imposed on us the number of sticks we can use, the weight the bridge has to be and she even put restrictions on the sizing.”

“Yeah, well, that’s the whole point of it.” Joshua smiled back and pat Vernon in the back. “It’s going to be fun.”

Vernon shot a glance in my direction and snorted subtly, before going back to his paper. I looked back at Joshua and he seemed to be occupied with something as well. I didn’t know what to do in this situation, I usually didn’t have to force myself to be social since people would just naturally talk to me about anything.

I guess those two are different.

“Uh, is there anything I can do to help you guys?”

Joshua handed me a piece of paper with the list of material we needed for the experiment. “Can you get everything we need on this paper?”

My eyes scanned the whole list and I furrowed my brows in confusion; there were so many things. “Are you sure we need all this? I mean, that’s a lot. We’re simply building a bridge with popsicle sticks.”

“We’re not simply building a bridge,” Vernon replied. Almost snarling at me, and I resisted the urge to snap back. “We’re going to make the best popsicle sticks bridge out here. Unlike some people, we’re here on a scholarship and we don’t have the luxury of failing, even if it's just a lab.”

I pursed my lips and went inside the stock room that was next to our classroom, and grabbed everything I needed from the shelves, before cutting everything precisely so that it won't mess up the experiment.

What Vernon said reminded me of Huijing in a way. That girl is on a partial scholarship and can’t possibly fail one of her classes either. This sudden realization made me realize just how perfect these two are for each other. And I’m not just talking about their financial situation—that would be stupid—but more about their mentality and determination about everything that happens around them.

Both of them were dedicated and hard-working, and both of them enjoyed doing the same thing. Heck, they belonged to the same club and have all of their classes—both regular and honours—together as well. Not to mention, Vernon is also part of the s