13

"Everybody hurry!" Gowoon says as she tapes up some wall decorations.

"I'm doing the best I can!" I snap back, grabbing a roll of streamers, taking them over to a guy named Cho Rong.

He nods to me as a quick 'thanks' before hanging them up. I walk over to Jugyeong, who was setting up the small food table we borrowed.

"Do you think they'll like it?" Jugyeong asks as she re-adjusts the bowl of punch.

I chuckle.

"They'll like anything you do." I say.

She gives me a funny look and goes back to placing some more snacks on the table.

"Shh, here they come!" A guy named Taehoon whisper-shouts.

Everyone looks at each other before beginning to hide. I crouch over in a corner with Jugyeong. Someone turns the lights off before hiding themselves. I feel Jugyeong take my hand in the dark. I look over at her, seeing her outline in the dark room. I squeeze her hand and turn my attention back over to the door.

"Why are the lights off?" I hear Suho say as he opened the door.

He turns on the lights while Seojun enters behind him. We all jump up.

"Surprise!" We all say in unison.

Seojun and Suho stand there, clearly not sure what to do.

"You threw us a party for our last day at the hospital?" Suho asks nonchalantly.

"Don't sound so ungrateful!" Taehoon exclaims.

"Yeah, we worked hard on it." Soo-ah comments.

"Thanks, you guys." Seojun says.

"Mhm, thank you." Suho says.

-

"So, you were friends with Jugyeong at her old school?" Soo-ah asks.

I was eating some food in a small group with Jugyeong, Soo-ah, Taehoon and Soojin. I only met them for a few seconds when they came to set up for the party.

"Yeah. We met before then, actually."

"Oh, what was child Jugyeong like then?" Taehoon asks.

I notice Jugyeong giving me a worried look out of the corner of my eye.

"She honestly hasn't changed." I say. "She might be more clumsier, though." I say jokingly.

"Hey." She says with cake in her mouth.

The others chuckle, well, except for Soojin. She just smiles before going back to a frown.

"I'm going to talk with Suho." Soojin says before setting down her plate and leaving.

"Ah, they so clearly act like a couple." Soo-ah says as she watches Soojin walk over to Suho.

I start to choke on my cake. They all look at me, worried. Jugyeong rushes over to me and pats my back.

"Are you alright?" She asks as I still cough.

I hit my chest and nod my head.

"Hey, don't do that." She says quietly before taking my hand away from my chest. "Let's go get some punch." She says, excusing us from Taehoon and Soo-ah.

We reach the snack table and she grabs me a cup.

"Hey, how come Soo-ah said Soojin and Suho should be a couple? Aren't you dating Suho?"

She ignores me, pouring punch into a cup.

"Do they not know?"

She shakes her head, handing me the cup.

"No one knows. Well, except for Seojun."

"Why haven't you told them?" I ask, taking a sip from the cup.

She sighs.

"I don't want them to know because then everyone will be wondering why he's with someone like me."

"Someone like you?"

"Yes. He's too good for me; everyone will judge him. I don't want him to get made fun of." She says with a sad look.

"You don't want him to get bullied like you did." I say, piecing it together.

She nods her head while looking down.

"Jugyeong, they aren't going to judge you and Suho. They all seem nice, I'm sure they'll be happy for you two."

She shakes her head, looking back up.

"They won't, especially when they find out what I really look like." She whispers.

I frown.

"Looks shouldn't define your relationship." I reply.

She doesn't answer.

"You said it yourself, Suho likes you for you. Don't you think it might make him a little sad because you don't want to tell anyone about you two because of how you feel about your looks? Imagine how upset it might make him to know that what he thinks about you isn't good enough for you to feel comfortable in your relationship."

Her eyes widen and her mouth falls agape. She looks over at Suho, who is no longer with Soojin.

"I- I never thought about that." She says, now clearly feeling bad for Suho.

"Also, shouldn't you tell Soojin? It seems like she likes him." I say, looking over at her with Soo-ah.

"She told me she does." Jugeyong states.

I look back at her, shocked.

"What? Then you really should tell her!"

"I can't. How would you feel if your friend stole someone you liked for a long time?"

"Not good, but I would feel worse if they kept it from me, making me think that I still had a chance with the guy." I retort.

Jugyeong frowns.

"I hate that you're always right." Jugyeong whines.

I smile.

"I like it." I say.

She smiles and I smile back at her.

"I'm going to talk to Suho, then." She says.

I nod my head. She waves and walks over to him. I begin to drink the rest of my punch when I notice Soojin coming over to where I was. She looks at me before grabbing something off of the table.

"So, you've known Jugyeong since you were little?"

I nod my head. I don't like her already.

"Yeah." I reply, trying to end the conversation quickly.

"So you know about her wearing makeup." She says while taking a bite out of some food she got. I turn to her.

"How do you know?" I ask. Jugyeong told me she told no one.

"At the school trip. I saw her without it and helped her get back to the tent with no one noticing."

Oh, so she helped her. I loosened up from feeling tense around her.

"Oh, well, that was nice of you."

She smiles, continuing to eat. I go back to drinking my punch, now that it's become awkward.

"You helped set this up?" I hear a voice ask.

I got startled, turning to who was talking.

"Oh, yeah. Do you like it?" I ask.

Seojun takes a deep breath, looking around at the decorations.

"Which ones did you put up?" He asks.

"I helped tape up those ones." I say, pointing to a spot on the wall.

"Those ones are my least favorite." He says, looking back at me.

I scowl.

"Do you two know each other?" Soojin asks.

"Unfortunately." I answer.

Seojun 'tsks' and smirk.

"Hey, Seojun, you're being very flirty towards Yusoi." Soojin says.

We both turn towards her with horrified looks on our faces.

"What? No I'm no-"

"Shouldn't you be with Jugyeong? You guys are rumored to be dating." She says with a tone and expression that I can't pinpoint. She looked like she wanted the rumor to be true and wanted him to leave. But she also looked like she was about to flip the table.

"Hey, I've told everyone a bunch of times: I'm not dating Jugyeong."

She hums before walking away from the two of us.

"Are you friends with her?" I ask him while we both watch her walk away.

"Hell no." He replies.

"Good. I don't like her."