You and Giselle decided to eat dinner on a nearby American style diner. You ordered a three-layered ham and cheese burger, steak with fries, a tall glass of pineapple juice and vanilla ice cream for dessert. You mentally took a note to visit the grocery so you could cook dinner at the dorm.

"How's the first day of being a freshman student?" you asked Giselle as you waited for your order to arrive.

"It was exhausting I swear I could feel wrinkles starting to form on my skin. My professors gave us a lot of homework during the first day. What about you?"

"We're lucky enough that our professors didn't give us any. I also met a lot of people, and I met three pretty girls in my Science class. I'm sure you'll love them."

"I'll meet them when we have free time. By the way, I heard that there were hot guys in your department," Giselle said excitedly.

You instantly thought about Doyoung when you heard the word 'hot'.

"Really? What year?" you asked.

"Duh! First year of course! Not only one, not two, but seven!"

Seven hot guys in your department in the same year? You must be beyond blessed.

"I did meet some handsome guys earlier. Mark has a baby face, Renjun looks like a flower boy, Haechan is also good-looking, Jeno is masculine but cute, and..."

Jaemin.

You couldn't utter his name.

"And?" Giselle asked.

"I forgot the other one," you lied. Perhaps, pretending that you didn't know him would actually help you to forget about him.

Fake it until you make it, they said.

"Girl, you just mentioned four out of the seven hot guys in your department," Giselle said while scrolling through her phone. "The other three are:  Zhong Chenle, I heard he's so rich. The second is Park Jisung, this one is so tall and he's a good dancer. The last one, probably the one with the largest fanbase in NeoU is Na Jaemin."

As expected, Nana.

Your order arrived and you thanked the waitress. You and Giselle quietly dug in for awhile since you're starving. After you filled yourself enough to talk, you continued your conversation.

"They gathered a lot of fans during their first day as a freshman student," you commented. "That's hella impressive. However, I met someone really hot today, also from our department but he's a third year."

"Who is it?" Giselle asked curiously.

You gave her a mischievous smile. "Kim Doyoung, the Vice President of the Student Council."

Giselle's eyes widened. "Girl! You've got taste! Did you know that he's a good singer? Your department is so lucky I swear!"

That only made you admire Doyoung even more. Not only was he responsible, he's also talented. Damn, he's almost perfect.

You finished your dinner and headed back to your dorm where you plopped down on your bed after taking a bath, too exhausted to dry your hair.

The next day, you finally met the other two hot guys from your department, Zhong Chenle and Park Jisung. They were your classmates in Art History and the three of you were groupmates in one activity. All three of you were late so Professor Eunhyuk grouped you three together.

"I'm not good at art," Jisung admitted. He had a surprisingly deep voice, a contrast to his baby face. "But I can help give ideas."

"You literally told us one second ago that we should combine yellow and blue to make orange," Chenle taunted him as he crossed his arms.

Chenle was the type to speak his mind and not afraid if it might came out offensive. Some people might think he was being rude, but him and Jisung were friends during high school (according to them) so it's okay for him to be savage towards Jisung.

The given task was to paint something that represents the three of you. You had been staring at the blank canvas for fifteen minutes, and not once have you thought of something useful. You had been brainstorming for quite a while but none of your ideas work.

"What do you say, (Name)?" Jisung asked.

"It's never gonna work if it's only me and Jisung, we're useless at this," Chenle sighed, defeated.

"Okay, let's do it this way—" You didn't finish your sentence when Professor Heechul spoke.

"All right class, I will give that to you as a take home group task. Next meeting, I expect everyone to have a decent presentation of their art. Class dismissed."

You breathe a sigh of relief because this would give you time to think of an approach for this task. The three of you stood up and left the classroom, stopping near the stairs to make a schedule about the group assignment.

"When are we going to meet and where?" you asked them. Jisung was already fiddling with his phone, playing mobile games, you heard the gunshot and bomb sound effects. Only Chenle was talking to you now.

"We can meet up in my house on Saturday noon, if you don't have any schedule. I'll send you the address later after class. Give me your number first," Chenle said. You obeyed and typed your number on his phone, dialed it to verify if it's really yours to which you simply rolled your eyes to. "What? I can't risk my group mate to ditch me and expect me to do all the work. Jisung is just as useless as is."

"Hey! I'm still here!" Jisung whined but didn't look away from his phone.

"Whatever, just don't fight while we're doing our work. I'm free on Saturday, I'll expect you to give me your address later. And, I also expect that you already have thought of something by that time."

When the meeting for Saturday was settled, you left the building and ventured across the neighboring building where your next class was. It was absolutely tiring that you had to run so far so you wouldn't get late. Needless to say, you successfully reached your classroom without being late but you're drenched with sweat.

The next day, you spent your free time exploring the library of NeoU. The library had two floors and both were filled with bookshelves that lined up next to each other. Every shelf was packed with books, sorted into different genres and purposes. Since it was the beginning of the school year, there were a lot of donated books that arrived and some of the senior students were helping the librarian to arrange the books.

There were long tables and worn out chairs situated near the window, for studying purposes. You could sit on the plum velvet couch lined up near the shelves if you wanted to read leisurely. Right now, none of those were occupied because everyone was moving.

Staying away from the busy students to avoid getting in their way, you occupied yourself at the last shelf filled with fictional novels, some of them you've read, some haven't. Your fingers traced the spine of the books, leaving a dustless trail. You were dusting your hands off when you heard someone sneeze on the next shelf.

"Why did I even agree to do this?" you heard someone say.

Curiously, you took a careful step to find out who that person was. They must have been regretting their life decisions.

You gasped when you saw who it was. Crouched near the box of old books was Doyoung. It's been two days since you last each other.

"Doyoung!" you exclaimed.

He dropped the book he was holding in surprise and clouds of dust blanketed the air. You heard a series of sneezes and coughs from him. You suddenly got worried if his allergies would attack, if he had any, and that would be your fault.

"I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to surprise you," you apologized when the clouds of dust dissipated. You could finally see Doyoung clearly, his nose was red and his eyes were moist.

"It's okay, it's not your fault," he reassured you. "Oh, it's you (Name)." He smiled when he recognized you and you felt something lurch in your stomach.

"Do you have any handkerchief?" you asked.

"I only found out I have none when I started filling this shelf with books," he sighed. "I wouldn't volunteer if I had known."

His desire to help others when he was clearly suffering himself made the butterflies in your stomach flutter. You fished your hand from the pocket of your jeans and brought out a clean handkerchief that you haven't used.

"Here, wear this," you extended your hand to him. "My compensation for surprising you earlier."

"Thank you, but I'm good. I'm your senior remember, I'm supposed to be the one helping you," he said.

"I'm sure you also had moments when you wanted to help your senior when you were a freshman," you told him. "It won't kill you to accept this little gesture."

He contemplated for a while before accepting it. "If you don't mind, can you tie it around my head? My hand is already dusty."

Of course I don't mind at all.

To him, it was a simple favor to ask but for you, it was enough to send your insides rumbling. You walked towards him and tiptoed since he was taller. He bent a little so you could tie the handkerchief around his head. When you're done, you took a step back to admire him, your canary yellow wrapped around his head, almost covering his entire face.

"Wow, your perfume smells so nice," he said.

You bit your lip to suppress a stubborn smile. You looked like a high school girl around her crush, good thing Doyoung wasn't looking at you. "Thank you, it's lilac and sweet candies."

Doyoung went back to his task and you were left with nothing to do so you sauntered from shelf to shelf, looking for something interesting.

Until you found it there, leaning on the shelf reaching for a purple hardbound book. He must have felt your burning stare on him so he snapped his head at you.

"Why am I not surprised," he muttered to himself but you heard it loud and clear.

"Hi!" you said cheerfully and walked towards him. He took a step back on reflex and he glared at you.

"I'm sorry, who are you again?"

"That was a bad acting," you scoffed at him. "What are you reading?"

He didn't answer but he showed you the book long enough to read the title. He vowed to himself that he would stay away from you, a remnant of his past, but he couldn't seem to refuse your requests. He was used to fulfilling it for five years, nine years before he left.

It's like an involuntary reflex, something he couldn't control like blinking or breathing.

"Wow, I didn't know you're so passionate about history," you said in awe.

Ironically, he didn't like talking about his past but he loved history. Even he, was conflicted about his interests.

"Yeah, a better hobby than harassing people I guess," he replied.

"I am not harassing you, this is what you call interacting, Na Jaemin." You rolled your eyes at him so you didn't see the shock in his face when you called him by his real name. You looked back at him and he quickly masked it under a nonchalant expression. "If you're not Nana then where are you from?"

"That's none of your business," he said defensively, afraid that he might give away too much information if he couldn't resist to give you just a tiny bit.

"That doesn't even exist in the map," you said.

He smirked at your witty reply. "It will be once you stopped nagging me. Why are you obsessed with your childhood friend anyway?"

"That's none of your business," you replied. He was both surprised and frustrated by your witty comebacks.

Meanwhile, you were enjoying this little moment with him as if you were kids again back in your hometown. You used to bicker a lot, fight, then make up. That's usually how the cycle went.

"I miss—" You were cut off when somebody arrived and interrupted you. For the second time today.

"There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere," Doyoung said. You momentarily forgot about Jaemin standing far away from you. "I'm here to give this back. Thank you for helping me today."

"I only gave you my handkerchief," you said.

He handed it back to you and you tucked it in safely in your pocket. Doyoung's eyes moved from you to the man standing behind you.

"Oh, it's you, the silver-haired guy," Doyoung exclaimed. You turned around and you remembered he was still there. "Your black hair suits you well."

"Thanks," Jaemin replied curtly as he walked away and left you two.

"Don't mind him. That's just his natural mood," you told Doyoung so he wouldn't think bad about Jaemin.

"You know each other?" he asked.

We used to, you answered in your mind. "He's my blockmate, one from our department."

Doyoung put his hand on his hip like a mother about to beat his child's eyes. "It's my duty to discipline him, then. I will not allow him to act disrespectful and ruin the reputation of our department!"

Little did you know, two shelves away, Jaemin was listening to your conversation. His blood boiled when he heard that word again. That one thing that took everything from him. That one thing that diminished his worth into a mere name and blood connection.

Reputation, huh? he thought to himself. Yeah, fuck that. Fuck everything.

"Don't think of him that way. He may be timid and cold but he's a good person. Let's just wait for him to warm up. You know the people with the best personalities are the scary one," you defended him.

What a hypocrite, he thought. You've never seen me for nine years but you're acting as if you still know me.

What Jaemin didn't know was that he never really changed.

Not at all. At least in your eyes.

The next day, you were standing outside your dorm, waiting for Kim Doyoung to arrive. Giselle was making a fuss about it, but you told her that it was just a favor he was returning for helping him. However, she didn't want to believe any of it. Of course she wouldn't.

"Stop lying to me! What happened to being single until you're forty? I will tell your father about this!"

"Giselle, stop! I told you I only helped him yesterday and he just wanted to return the favor. And we're not going on a date, stop shoving me that miniskirt. We're going to the groceries."

"Why didn't you ask for my help then?" Giselle narrowed her eyes at you suspiciously.

"Because..." You wanted to take the chance to be with your crush, but your sneaky ass wouldn't admit it. "We needed groceries. We'll starve to death."

And now, you're standing there waiting for Doyoung. Groceries, huh? Who were you fooling?

"(Name)!" somebody called you. You turned around and saw Doyoung jogging towards you. He looked amazing as usual, something you wouldn't get tired of praising. "Did you wait for too long? I'm sorry."

"It's alright, I'm just too early," you said.

"Let's go before the grocery is packed with shoppers. I'll gladly tour you around the city. You're the first student I will help since the school year started," he admitted. Again, his sense of responsibility rendered you speechless.

He toured you around the city and patiently answered your questions. Not being biased but his tour was informative and less overwhelming.

He applauded your shopping skills, your knowledge about the signs you have to note when buying perishable goods, and how you negotiated with sellers to get a discount.

"You're really good at this," Doyoung complimented you.

"Of course, it's an accumulation of years of shopping with my mother," you said proudly.

"I might ask you for some advice when shopping for myself then." Doyoung gave you a smile which sent your insides twisting in euphoria.

"We can go to a cafe if you're tired, it's my treat," you said.

"No, I will pay—"

"At least let me pay for this one, Doyoung," you let out an exasperated sigh. "Don't use your senior card on me if you don't want me to call you a senior citizen. You've helped me a lot today, more than what I did for you yesterday, so let me pay for this one, okay?"

You didn't wait for Doyoung to answer when you turned your back and trudged down the familiar path to Starbuxks.

Inside the popular cafe, Jeno and Jaemin occupied the seat near the glass wall where they can observe the events outside.

"What happened after that?" Jeno asked, referring to your small conversation at the library yesterday.

"We were interrupted by that senior who looks like a rabbit," he answered bitterly as he sipped on his coffee. Jeno grimaced as Jaemin let out a contented sigh when the bitter taste spread in his mouth. His best friend was weird but he's stuck with him. "The one who called me out for my hair."

"Oh, Kim Doyoung? That's his name, isn't it?" Jaemin nodded. "I helped him carry the box of donated books yesterday. He's generous, bought me a blue lemonade after," Jeno said and Jaemin glared at him.

"Aren't you ashamed? You're easily bribed with food."

"Aren't you ashamed? You're literally sulking like a child because of your hair."

"Don't say it like—"

They were interrupted when a tan-skinned boy approached their table, slamming his hands playfully. They recognized him as the bubbly classmate who complimented their Science professor.

It was none other than Lee Haechan.

"Woah! I can't believe I'll see you here, my fellow handsome classmates!" he said and plopped down on the available seat uninvited beside Jeno. "I assume this is where good-looking people hang out because you're here, and I'm here as well."

Jaemin didn't bother replying to Haechan, which forced Jeno to have a conversation with him instead. He finished his first iced Americano and was about to drink the next when Haechan grabbed it before he did.

"I didn't know you're so generous, you even bought a drink in advance," Haechan said.

Jeno tried to stop him but it was too late. Jaemin was smirking evilly, waiting for Haechan's reaction.

And there he was, choking on the bitter taste of Jaemin's notorious poison drink.

"Dude, are you okay?" Mark Lee asked, who just arrived in the scene with Huang Renjun. He saw Haechan practically rolling on the floor, choking to death. Haechan yanked Mark's salted caramel drink and took a sip, washing away the bitter taste.

"I almost saw Jesus," Haechan said, still choking.

"Who said you're gonna go to heaven?" Renjun asked.

"Oh, it's a five feet Satan," Haechan mocked Renjun and the latter was ready to fight but Mark stood between them.

"This is so cool!" someone spoke and they all turned around. Chenle and Jisung just arrived and joined the chaos.

The seven most popular freshmen students gathered coincidentally in the famous cafe in the city, where minutes from now, you would arrive together with Doyoung.

"Is there a meeting that we're not informed?" Chenle asked, puzzled. He checked the official page of your department to see if there's any meeting among freshmen students but he found nothing.

"We just met here coincidentally," Jeno answered Chenle's question.

Jaemin remained silent despite the ruckus around him, but it was momentarily broken when he saw you walking down the block, Doyoung trailing behind you. The two of you entered Starbuxks and was surprised to see the unexpected crowd gathered around.

"(Name)!" Haechan called you excitedly. He ran towards you and linked your arms together as if you were best friends.

"Woah... hi!" you greeted him. You saw Mark, Renjun, Chenle, and Jisung all staring at you and your company. Chenle and Jisung walked towards you, revealing Jeno and Jaemin sitting in the corner.

Your heart started beating erratically when Jaemin lifted his head to look at you. He was the last person you expected to be there. Sitting across him was the smiley Jeno.

Your eyes met Jaemin's gaze boring into you, as if reading what's inside your head. You were surprised that he didn't avoid you. In his mind, he was full of questions.

Why is she hanging out with someone as boring as Doyoung? Is it normal to see them together outside the campus?

"Yow, groupmate," Chenle called you.

"Hey, didn't expect to see you guys here," you said.

"It's our vacant period," Jisung replied.

Behind you, Doyoung decided to butt in in the conversation and introduce himself as one of the most respected seniors in your department. "Are they your classmates?" he asked you.

You faced him and nodded. "Yes. Let's go over there, I'll introduce you to them. We're blocking the door."

You walked to their direction and every step you took made Jaemin's heart pound in nervousness. He was afraid that you would suddenly reveal to everyone that you're friends with him in the past

You introduced everyone to Doyoung and he introduced himself back.

"My name is Kim Doyoung and I am the Vice President of the Student Council of NeoU. It's all a pleasure to meet my juniors," he said his usual line, expecting everyone to be amazed by him like you were. Yet all he received was a grunt and nod.

"We're glad to meet you too, Doyoung sunbae!" Jeno exclaimed. Doyoung instantly felt warm towards Jeno. He instantly considered him as his new favorite junior.

"Why are you two together? Are you dating?" Haechan asked, a malicious grin spreaf across his face. You instinctively hit him on his arm which earned a yelp from him.

"He's just helping me," you told them but none of them were convinced, especially Chenle, who like Haechan, gave you a suspicious look. You let out an exasperated sigh. "I swear it's not like that!"

"It's true, I'm only returning the favor she did for me yesterday at the library," Doyoung explained.

You couldn't understand the need of explaining the situation to them, but there was something in the way they look at you that drove you to be defensive.

"It's true, Doyoung hyung bought a blue lemonade for me yesterday," Jeno butt in and everyone seemed to be convinced.

Doyoung thanked Jeno silently. He was now officially his favorite junior. "Since I am your senior, I will treat you into a nice meal. Order whatever you want, I'll pay for it."

Your agreement earlier completely forgotten.

The seven men's ears perked up and all their attention was now centered to Doyoung who took a step back. Haechan's eyes glinted evilly. He must've thought of something that would make Doyoung think he was a spawn of Satan, and you weren't wrong.

"If you insist, Doyoung oppa,"

Doyoung suddenly regretted his decision. The six boys, excluding Jeno, almost wiped out his entire savings by ordering the most expensive food and drinks on the menu. Especially, Haechan, he was now what Doyoung considered his least favorite junior. Sitting across you was Jaemin in his fourth cup of iced Americano, who was strangely being clingy to Jisung.

"Jisungie, you're so cute! Can I adopt you, please? I can cook for you if you want! You're so cute like baby!" he said in a cute voice and hugged Jisung tighter.

"Stop! Let me go! You're so weird!" Jisung struggled to break free from Jaemin's deathly hug.

"Don't mind him, he's like that when he drinks coffee," Jeno told you when he caught you looking at Jaemin and Jisung.

"Oh, right, the effects of caffeine," you said. While eating Doyoung asked a lot of stuff from your classmates.

Renjun loved watching soap operas and he's good in painting.

Chenle was good in playing E-Games which made Jisung admire him and he could play the piano. (Jisung mentioned that Chenle owned a Tesla and he had his own house in an expensive village in the city.)

Jisung was an intelligent but clumsy child, according to Chenle, he was a year ahead of the people his age because he's a genius and he loved to dance, like what Giselle said last time.

Mark, who was ready to trade anything for watermelon, was from Canada and he moved here to the city. He's great at dancing and even showed off his skills in rapping, the verse solely written by him.

Doyoung made Haechan shut up when it was his turn to say something about himself and asked Jeno instead.

Jeno was a former child model that appeared on commercials. He's a freelance model now. He also said that he and Jaemin had been friends for nine years and everyone was shocked to know that he had been stuck for so long with the caffeinated weirdo across you.

So that's after he left, you thought.

"What about you, Jaemin?" Doyoung asked. Doyoung was trying his best to get to know Jaemin. He was hoping that he was a truly good person, they just started out badly.

"I'm..." he trailed off to add suspense, and everybody was waiting for his answer. "I'm sexy."

All of you let out a frustrated groan and Jaemin smiled as if he was high. The last time you checked, Starbuxks didn't have drugs on their menu.

"I'm sorry if he's acting weird. He's in his fourth cup of iced Americano," Jeno apologized to everyone.

He explained Jaemin's behavior to them when he's drunk with coffee, and everyone praised him for being such a considerate friend.

A crippling jealousy creeped inside you as you balled your hands into tight fists. You couldn't help but look at them bitterly.

You used to be like that, too. You used to know what Jaemin likes and hates. You could easily tell what mood he was in just by looking at him. You knew how to cheer him up when he's feeling down. You knew the right words to say when he needed comfort. You were once the best friend who knew him more than he knew himself.

But as you stared at Jeno and Jaemin, you realized that everything had changed. You were forgotten and replaced. It might not be the right words to say or the right thoughts to think, but jealousy blinded you.

Your Nana was gone. Jaemin was right. Nine years had passed and he found his true friend. Your five innocent years together could never beat their nine years of growing up side by side. You didn't know a lot of things about Jaemin now. He's a completely different person.

Somehow, that thought faltered the hope inside you that he would remember you someday.