jihae hasn't been the happiest person over the weekend, for obvious reasons.

this definitely did not go unnoticed by her family and has asked her a couple times about it, but she always comes up with a smart excuse which makes them not question her any further.

monday has arrived which meant she had to go to school and do her best not to bump into seonghwa.

although, she knows it's going to be hard. seeing that his best friends are now also her peers, and the last thing she wants to do now is push them away as well.

first thing she heard when arriving in school was mingi calling(screaming at) her.

"jihae! jihae! jihae~" the strawberry haired yelled in a sing-song manner.

"hey, mingi." the girl awkwardly greets which made mingi tilt his head in confusion.

"are you okay?" he asked, this time with a more serious look.

jihae gave the same answer she's been giving everyone. "yeah."

"hah, you're definitely not." mingi touched his chin as if thinking of something.

"mingi, i'm-"

cutting her off, the boy lets out a small gasp and snapped his fingers. "we're eating lunch together today."

"i think i'll just-"

"that wasn't a question, dear." mingi smiled mischievously.

the girl inwardly panics, not wanting to see the junior but also not wanting to seem rude. she quickly makes up an excuse in her head. "but the rest might not-"

"ah, so it is about seonghwa hyung." the boy's grin became wider as he confirmed his theory.

"i never said that." jihae pursed her lips.

"psychology is fun. i should switch classes." mingi giggled.

the girl looks at him in amazement. "you're learning psychology?"

the dance major shrugged boastfully. "just binged watched on youtube, so just the basics."

"you're a genius." jihae complimented sincerely, truly in awe.

"so, will you accept the invite for lunch of this so called genius?" mingi suggestively wiggled his eyebrows.

the psychology major's face turned to a frown.

"it'll just be the two of us. you can invite wooyoung, if you've talked to him about hyung." the redhead reassured her.

"i haven't, actually." she smiled gratefully at the boy walking her to class. "can i really talk to you about it?"

"of course!" mingi ruffles her hair. "you've been hearing me out a lot. i'd do the same to you any day."

"what if you rat out on me?" jihae mindlessly stated which resulted an offended look on mingi's face. "i mean, you are best friends."

"dude, he hasn't even told us anything. and how could you think so low of me?" the boy pouted. "i trusted you when i barely even knew you."

jihae chuckled at him. "you're right, i'm sorry." noticing the time, she gave him a side hug. "i'll get to class now. we'll see each other at lunch."

"alright. text me." and with that, the two went on their separate ways.

-

during her classes, she mostly spaced out. this resulted her to get called out by her teachers, apologize, only to do it again.

she doesn't know why she's so distracted because of a guy.

maybe it was her first time being rejected, if you even call it that. or maybe it's because she knows seonghwa does like her and they can be together, just not now.

or maybe it's the way-

"jihae!" someone whisper shouted to grab her attention. it was her seatmate, yuqi.

the chinese girl tilted her head towards the teacher, who was looking sternly at her.

"jeon." mrs. kwon called.

the girl mentioned gulped at the calm yet intense glare from the professor.

"yes, mrs. kwon."

"can you tell us the evolutionary and biological basis for attraction?" the woman in front raised an eyebrow at her.

"uh.." she stood up to prepare her answer. she really didn't listen in the slightest today. however, she has a way with mixing up her words based on previous studies she did.

"evolutionary theorists argue that the purpose of attraction is to allow mating and the passing on of one's genes to the next generation." she said as she tried not to sound too unsure. "while, uhm, biology believes courtship and mating is choreographed by nature and that nature designed men and women to work together."

mrs. kwon still had a blank face, but nodded which made jihae secretly exhale in relief.

"you must know a lot about attraction since you were clearly not listening." the professor claimed.

the class lets out ooh's and giggles at the statement. the girl awkwardly stood there with an uncomfortable smile painted on her face.

somebody cleared their throat in an obnoxious and loud manner, then yelled out, "park seonghwa." which made her tense up, and made the class murmuring even louder.

"alright, that's enough!" mrs. kwon tapped on her desk. "sit down, jeon. pay attention next time."

jihae mumbled a 'sorry' before taking a seat and hanging her head down.

how do they know about seonghwa?

-

her most awaited part of the day finally came around. with a pout, she texted her red haired friend, telling him she's on her way to the canteen.

"ji!" mingi yelled once she arrived, earning stares from other students.

jihae jogged towards him to avoid any more second hand embarrassment. "don't scream." she looked around and as promised, only he was there.

"where are the others?" she asked skeptically.

mingi tilted his chin up proudly. "i may or may not have used some psychology tricks to bribe them to eat outside of school today."

the response made the girl grin widely. "you're amazing."

"i know."

they both sat down, and it looks like mingi already ordered food for both of them which she was thankful for.

"so? what happened?"

jihae cleared her throat, "well-"

"jihae, you bitch. there you are." a high pitch voice called, along with putting their hands on her shoulder. "you should have texted us."

"wooyoung? i thought you had classes." she raised her eyebrows in surprise, even more shocked when she saw yunho beside him.

"prof got sick so free period." the silver haired boy explained, welcoming himself in the table.

jihae sorrowfully looks at mingi, mumbling a sorry, who just smiled.

yunho squints his eyes at both of them. "were you the two of you planning on eating alone?"

"i don't mind." mingi waves off, glancing at jihae who beamed gratefully.

"you have a lot of explaining to do." wooyoung pointed at the girl.

jihae sighed, and began telling them what happened. from jaehyun hurting seonghwa, to the junior rejecting her confession but confessing as well.

the three boys listening had different reactions. wooyoung was ranting about how he wants to choke jaehyun and slap seonghwa for being a pussy.

yunho was trying to be understanding of the junior's situation, telling them he would be scared in that scenario, too.

mingi only nodded his head, saying that his hyung only wanted good intentions, just really stupidly executed.

"this is just like yeona, god." the computer science major groaned, not minding his words until he realized all head were facing him.

"who's yeona?" jihae questioned.

feeling his throat going dry, yunho gulped and answered, "no one."

wooyoung teasingly nudged the taller. "she's the one you like, isn't she?"

"n-no." the blonde tried denying, only to fail because of his evident red ears.

"holy shit. he stuttered." the culinary major started poking his sides. "is she hot?"

"stop it." yunho grabbed the shorter's hands. "we're talking about jihae."

"oh, come on, yunho. we're totally curious about your crush, aren't we?" the gray haired looked at the other two who've been rather quiet since the mention of 'yeona'.

"yeah." mingi responded, resulting jihae's eyes flicking towards him. "tell us, yunho."

"see?" wooyoung persisted, then slapped the poor blonde's back. "spill!"

"okay! fine! stop hitting me." yunho complained with a glare, to which the culinary major replies with an accomplished grin.

"she's a classmate, and i find her really cute. gorgeous, too. kind, and innocent, and smart, and-" he stops when he sees wooyoung's cheesy smile. "quit looking at me like that."

"my best friend's in love!" the shorter exclaimed. "why don't you just tell her? i'm pretty sure she'd like you."

"that's the problem." yunho sighed in sadness. "i already did."

"and?"

"just like seonghwa hyung." the blonde's eyes clearly held hopelessness. "she told me i shouldn't like someone like her, and that i need to sort out my feelings."

wooyoung says an 'oof', before a silence for the mourning of the boy's feelings took over.

"i'm sure it'll work out." mingi suddenly comforted. "may i ask her last name?"

"kang yeona." yunho answered with a glint in his eyes.

mingi lets out an airy chuckle. "what a small world. she's yeosang's cousin."

"that's great! sangie can be your wingman." wooyoung wiggled his eyebrows.

"i don't know. i just don't wanna bother yeona." yunho defeatedly exhaled. "and well, yeosang, too."

"i'm sure yeo won't mind." the redhead reassured.

"you guys really think i should try again?"

"i mean if you really like her, which seems like you do, go for it." mingi advised.

after a couple of light punches and teasing from wooyoung, the two boy realized they haven't even ordered their food yet.

both yunho and wooyoung left to get their meals, leaving mingi and jihae alone again.

"wanna come over to my place later?" the boy offered.

"yes, please."

a/n: filler chapter because i'm simping so much over their photoshooooottss:')) woo/jongchest and mingi's revealing vest is *chef kiss*