30

The school bell rings and everyone cheers as they get to finally leave the school. I close my books and put them into my backpack. I walk up to Mr. Han while he was also packing up to leave. He smiles when he notices me.

"I would like to participate in academies." I say, coming to a decision.

He nods his head and walks over to his desk. He reaches into a drawer and pulls out papers. He walks back over and hands them to me. I take them.

"These are the times and locations of the courses you need to take. You need to earn up to three hundred credits. To be honest, it doesn't matter if you take a majority of one course, all the school cares about is the credit number."

I scan my eyes through the papers and look back up at him with a smile.

"Thank you so much." I say, bowing a little.

He smiles and hums.

"I'll be going now." He says, excusing himself.

I nod my head and watches as he walks away. An arm is looped through mine. I look to my side and notice Jugyeong. I instantly smile.

"What's this?" She asks, pointing to the papers.

We make our way out of the classroom and down the hall.

"I have to go to some academies in order to catch up, you know, since I missed a lot of school."

She 'ah's'. I groan.

"Well, it can't be that bad, right? You're smart." She says, nudging me a little.

I smile to myself.

"Yusoi." I hear someone call out.

Jugyeong and I stop and turn our heads to look behind us. I see Seojun approaching me. I smile and unlink my arm from Jugyeong's to turn fully around. He stops walking up to me once he is close enough.

"Do you want to go on another date today?" He asks calmly.

I glance over at Jugyeong and she looks at me confused. I look back to Seojun.

"I should really catch up on my school work." I say, not really wanting to do it.

His face falls from my negative response.

"I see." He says.

"Maybe we can go out this weekend? I might be free then." I say.

I extend my arm so my hand can take his. I squeeze his hand lightly and smile. A small smile grows onto his face.

"Okay." He says.

I smile and let go of his hand. I turn back around, but I look back at him and wave. Jugyeong catches up to me quickly, linking her arm again with mine as we walk away.

-

"Jugyeong, what are we doing here?" I ask as we get off of the bus and walk to the mall.

She drags me along quickly, pushing past a few people that I then need to apologize to. We walk further into the mall and reach an elevator. She presses the button. The doors open before I could say anything and she drags me inside, pressing a floor number and the doors close. I turn to her, seeing excitement written across her face. The doors open and she drags me back out and into a cosmetic's store. I look around at all of the vast displays of makeup and skincare products. The store was lit up brightly from the white lights, pop music playing in the background. She stops in front of a display and gasps.

"Perfect!" She says, grabbing a lip tint from the shelf.

She swatches it and smiles happily.

"Did we come here exclusively for a sale?" I ask.

She look at me guiltily and smiles nervously.

"Maybe." She says, turning her attention back to the makeup.

I smile and shake my head as she swatches some more. I look around and my eyes land on a face mask display. I walk over to it, sifting through the different kinds. I find a pack of four, each a different one: rose, cucumber, rice, and coconut. I walk back over to Jugyeong with the masks in hand. She looks at me and then at the masks.

"Oh, those are a good brand, I'll get them for us." She says, finishing her swatches and taking a few of the lip tints with her.

We walk over to the cashier, where Jugyeong puts down the tints and I put down the masks. She pays and we leave the store.

"I made plans with Suho yesterday about hanging out in a little bit, I hope that's okay." She says as we get into the elevator.

The doors close and I turn to her.

"Why wouldn't it be okay?" I ask.

She shrugs her shoulders.

"I don't know, I just don't want you to feel like I'm leaving you." She says quietly.

I smile gently at her and link my arm with hers. She turns to me with a smile.

"You'll never make me feel that way."

-

I sit down on the mattress Jugyeong's family is letting me borrow, letting out a relaxing sigh. I put on one of Jugyeong's hair bands, pushing it up so my hair get's out of my face. I reach into the bag, pulling out the face masks. I decide on using the cucumber one because Jugyeong called dibs on the rose one. I remove it from the pack and open it.

"What?" I ask, looking at the contents inside, confused.

I read the label and notice it says "bagged clay mask". I groan. I look back at the other packs and notice it comes with a small applicator. The smile returns to my face as I stand up. I walk over to Jugyeong's mirror and begin to apply the mask gently. I laugh a little from how cold it was. I hear my phone buzz, but I decided to ignore it and continue. All of a sudden, just as I finished putting the rest of it on, the door opens. I jump a little from shock. My eyes widen.

"Seojun?" I ask.

He looks at me and starts laughing. He closes the door behind him, his fit of laughter becoming more intense. I frown and look at him annoyed.

"Wow, you look ridiculous." He says.

He sets down a bag he was carrying and pulls out his phone. I cross my arms. He begins to take pictures of me.

"Hey!" I say, trying to grab his phone.

He moves it away from me and shows me the picture. I look at him annoyed and walk over to the trash bin to throw away the packet.

"Is this the school work you had to do so desperately?" He asks.

I turn back around and glare at him before going back over to my "bed". He sits beside me, putting the bag between us.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, grabbing my phone from my bag.

"I texted you saying I was going to come over. My mom made you more food." He says, grabbing the bag and shaking it lightly. I smile a little, restricted because of the face mask.

I open the bag and grab out the container along with the chopsticks it came with. I open it, steam arising from the food along with a delectable smell.

"It looks really good." I say, my face mask becomes harder.

"You can barely talk." He says, laughing slightly.

I set the food down and stand up, beginning to rummage through Jugyeong's desk. I grab another hairband and turn around. I sit back down and put the hairband on Seojun.

"What are you doing?" He asks, trying to take it off from him.

"Making you pretty." I simply say.

I hold out the coconut and rice mask in front of him.

"Pick." I say.

He looks at me and I smile a little. He chuckles and points to the coconut one. I put the rice one down and open the pack. I clean the applicator and lean in to apply the face mask.

"I guess we're having a date after all." I whisper.

He smiles. I continue putting the mask on him, finishing up shortly after. I get up to throw away the trash. Seojun pulls out his phone and looks at himself. I sit back beside him and he smiles at me. I grab my phone and open it.

"Let's take a picture." I say, getting the camera ready.

I look at him and he nods his head. I hold my phone out in front of us as we begin to take pictures. I turn to look at him and he faces me. I click the button for a picture and just as I'm about to be done, he leans in and kisses me softly. My thumb clicks the button before I lower my arm to kiss him back. He pulls away and smiles at me, putting his arm around.

"Let's eat." He says.

I hum in agreement and grab the food from the bag. We begin to share, only being able to eat a little since our masks were drying up. I look at the time on my phone and get up. I hold my hand out to him and he takes it. We walk into the bathroom and wash our faces. We finish and I pat my face dry, handing him a towel as well. I look in the mirror.

"Wow, Jugyeong was right, this is a good brand." I say, admiring my skin in the mirror.

He puts his arm around my waist and looks at me. I look up at him and blush a little.

"What?" I ask with a smile.

He shrugs his shoulders.

"I don't know, I just felt like admiring you."