THE members were standing in one of the busiest corridors at school, piles of flyers attached to their hands while they handed them out to the students passing by.

"Hi, please come to our concert," Mal spoke in a sweet, inviting tone as she handed one of the flyers to Olivia.

"Of course, Mal! I can't wait."

A few familiar girls passed by Mal and took flyers, muttering greetings and words of congratulations as they passed by. Felix was standing not too far away from his girlfriend, handing out flyers as well but not as effectively, as people continued to stare at him up and down in disgust.

Mal walked up to her boyfriend while Hyunjin and Han approached them, fewer flyers in their hands at that point.

"Hey, guys. How much did you invite?"

Han began counting on his fingers. "Well, Sofia is coming, Anne, Joshua, Karan, Diego-"

"You invited Diego?!" Mal exclaimed, a baffled, exasperated look over her face.

"I... You didn't want me to? I thought everyone was supposed to come."

She sighed, rubbing her temple. "I guess so. But I don't think he's going to make it anyway. Not after how I yelled at them, and they have this tradition of going to my mother's restaurant after homecoming."

Hyunjin bit his lower lip. "You're going to be upset when I tell you that Griffin asked me for an invite, right?"

Mal hit her forehead with her palm.

"Are you serious right now? Why would you invite Griffin?"

"He practically pulled the flyer from my hand. I told him that I didn't think he was invited and he was like 'too bad' and he took it anyway!"

Felix shrugged. "That does sound like Griffin."

Han sighed and turned to Felix, reaching his hand out to take his pile of flyers.

"Anyway. How many did you invite, Felix?"

 Felix stared down at his feet in guilt, a flash of hurt crossing his face.

"None."

"What? Why? Felix, seriously?"

He shrugged again, heat rising to his cheeks as he avoided their gazes.

"It's not my fault no one likes me here."

That made Mal's heart drop to her stomach.

"Don't say that, sunshine. They just can't see how amazing you are, okay?"

She reached over to hug his waist quickly.

"It doesn't matter, baby."

Before she could say anything further, they all heard a voice behind them. Mal turned around slowly and saw a familiar face.

Long, soft dark brown hair, deep brown eyes, tanned skin, the mostly-athletic, slim body.

"Mace!"

Mal stepped towards him and hugged him tightly.

"Oh my God, I missed you so much!"

He hugged her back. "I missed you too!"

They let each other go after a few seconds, which allowed Mace to shake the others' hands with a welcoming smile.

"How is everything going?"

"It's going great, thanks for asking," Felix replied with a small smile.

"Of course. I heard you guys were having a concert. Am I invited?"

Han handed him one of the flyers.

"Of course!"

"Thanks."

Mal turned to her best friend of three years. "How are your grandparents?"

Mace's face dropped in disappointment. "Well... My grandmother died. My grandfather came to live in the house across the street so we can help him with... Well, everything, and my parents are grieving but they're are fine. At least, I hope."

He was met by a few words of condolences.

"I'm sorry, Mace," Mal frowned, "I know how much you love your grandmother, but she's in a better place now."

"Yeah. I know. Thanks, guys." he let out his phone from his pocket and glanced at the time. "Anyways, I have to get to class, but I'm definitely coming to that concert. I'm also supposed to be at the last homecoming planning so we get to spend time together."

They replied with a few goodbyes as he walked away. Han turned to Mal with furrowed eyebrows of confusion as he handed her the remaining flyers.

"Who was that again?"

"That was Mace, my friend of three years," Mal explained, taking notice of Felix's sad, hurting expression. "You guys go ahead and hand out the rest of these, will you? I think I need to talk to Felix."

She pulled him by his hand away from the group as they obeyed. Felix tried to match her pace by walking faster as she pulled him away from the corridor, towards the familiar red door.

☂︎

"Come on. Spill it," she ordered gently as they stood next to each other by the veranda. He reached up to put his hand above hers.

"I just..."

Tears began to fill his eyes once again.

"I feel left out."

She wrapped her arms around his torso, rubbing his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down.

"I appreciate what you're doing for me, I really do. But I don't think there's a way of changing how these people feel about me. They all hate me and I didn't even do anything."

He hugged her back and sunk his face into her neck.

"They don't hate you, okay? They don't even know you. I know you, and I would gladly say that I would replace this entire school with you. They would never know you as I know you. You're the sweetest person I've ever met. You helped me through so much and you made my life better..."

He let her go gently and stared at her beautiful face for a few moments, trying to appreciate her existence between his arms.

"I don't deserve you."

"Yes, you do." she began in a firm voice, "You deserve the entire world, sunshine."

He allowed a small tear to stream down his face as he hugged her again desperately.

"I love you."

"I love you more, sunshine."

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