*It's probably because I keep interacting with Minjoon. They did mention that he was like their idol. Maybe trading numbers with him was a bad idea...*

Minji did her best to ignore the whispers and waited impatiently for class to start. She hung her head over her desk and allowed her hair to cover her face. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the group of girls who approached her the first day give her nasty glares.

...

"Yejoon" Minji called out while approaching Yejoon who was sitting on the grass. He looked up from his book and gave a warm smile.

"Hi, Minji. Are you here to join me for lunch today?" Yejoon asked while cocking his head to the side.

"What else would I be here for?" Minji replied sarcastically. There would be no other reason to show up if she wasn't going to have lunch. She plopped down next to Yejoon and took out her lunch.

Minji didn't plan on coming back to this location this quickly, but she didn't want to have lunch by herself. After some contemplation in the classroom, she remembered that Yejoon had invited her to join him anytime.

"Thanks for inviting me the other day. I hope you don't mind if I come here often." Minji said as she munched through her bread. Yejoon didn't respond. He just nodded and continued to eat in silence.

They both had the same menu as yesterday: bread and milk. Minji wasn't a huge fan of milk, but it was better than whatever the school's cafeteria had to offer.

"Just don't tell other people about this place" Yejoon finally replied after minutes of silence. It came out of nowhere, so Minji was caught off guard for a moment. After processing what he said, she nodded her head.

She had no one to expose to place to anyways. No friends. Just one weirdo who keeps talking to her and the group of girls who seem to hate her now.

*I wonder if they would grow angrier if they found out I ate lunch with Yejoon. After all, his visuals are on par with Minjoon, so I'm sure he must be popular too*

"Anything fun going on with you?" Minji broke the silence. She decided it would be better to get to know her secret lunch buddy more.

"I don't know if this fits your definition of 'fun', but I did receive a confession yesterday," Yejoon said through his bites. "Wow, as expected. You're quite popular, huh?" Minji wasn't surprised, "So, did you accept it?"

Yejoon shook his head in response. It might have been the light, but Yejoon's expression seemed to darken for a brief moment. Not wanting to press further, Minji stopped herself from asking more questions. Then, the two continued to sit in silence, eating their respective lunches and enjoying each other's company until the bell rang.

...

"Minji," Minji jolted awake when she heard someone call her name. She drowsily opened her eyes and saw that the sun was already beginning to set. She yawned and started rubbing her eyes. Just who called her?

And her question was answered immediately. Minjoon was sitting in front of her, reading a book. His eyes were fixated on his book.

"Sorry, I was going to let you sleep longer but the sun is setting. It might become dangerous to head home if it becomes too late," Minjoon said. He finally looked up from his book and stared Minji in the eyes. She unconsciously held her breath as she looked into his pink eyes. For some reason, she was reminded of their first interaction when those eyes were filled with anger. After realizing just how much their dynamic changed, Minji began to laugh. Startled by her sudden laughter, Minjoon raised an eyebrow, his mouth hanging open.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Is everything okay?" he managed to ask after Minji's laughter began to die down.

"Yeah, I just thought back to our first meeting where I thought you were going to hit me," Minji said and hit Minjoon on the shoulder playfully. Although she didn't like him, it was nice to see that he stayed after school for her.

"Hit you? I wasn't going to hit you..." Minjoon replied a little flustered.

"Yeah right. You raised your arm and stared at me with such an intense glare," Minji said as she puffed up her cheeks.

"I'm... sorry. But please trust me that I wasn't going to touch you in any way," Minjoon apologized and raised both of his hands, presumably to prove that he was indeed innocent. Minji didn't want to drag this on any further and just shook her head. Before Minjoon could say anything else further, she gestured for them to grab their belongings and leave.

"Let's go home."

...

"So, how come you didn't go home with your friends and waited for me?" Minji asked the question she was most curious about. Although she's only been here for a few days, she knew that Minjoon stuck with his group like glue.

"I thought it would be dangerous to leave you alone, especially since your image in the classroom isn't all that great," He replied rather nonchalantly as if it was no big deal.

"Wait, you know about how the girls have been ignoring me?" Minji was rather shocked. She didn't think he would care enough about her to realize just what kind of situation she was in.

"Anyone who doesn't is an idiot," Minjoon replied, "It usually happens to those anyone in my group interacts with. They seem to be ignored by everybody the next day"

Minji stopped in her tracks and gave Minjoon a confused look. So, he knew this was going to happen to her? Her heart dropped as she felt a sense of betrayal.

"Then how come you interacted with me?" She mumbled after some time. Her school life would have been fine if he didn't talk to her in front of everyone.

"Bla-..." Minjoon seemed to say before immediately stopping, "I mean... I wanted to befriend you."

Minjoon seemed embarrassed after confessing that. The tip of his ears grew red and he stared at the ground. He continued to walk, mindlessly.

"But we haven't even known each other for that long..." Minji sighed.

None of this made sense to Minji. She's only known this guy for three days now and all of their interactions were pretty much one-sided.

"No thanks. I don't want to be your friend." Minji replied after a moment to think, "But we can get to know each other slowly and then maybe try the friend thing"

Minjoon laughed after hearing her reply. She couldn't see if he was smiling because of his black mask, but it was rare to hear Minjoon laugh, especially since his resting face looked so scary. Not to mention, the black mask that he wore all the time added to his intimidation.

"Okay sure," Minjoon replied with no hesitation.

...

"See you tomorrow," Minjoon said as he waved her goodbye.

Minjoon dropped her off at her home and then left cooly. After waving goodbye, Minji hurriedly walked from the front door to her room. She slammed her door loudly and heard her mom's blurred shouting through it.

*It doesn't make sense. Just why in the world would Minjoon want to befriend me? Not to mention he was doing everything deliberately in order to prevent me from making friends*

Minji didn't express it while she was with Minjoon, but she was extremely angry at him.

*My chance of having a normal school life is once again ruined by somebody*

Minji sighed as she threw herself on her comfortable bed. After thinking too much about her situation, she drifted into sleep.

...

"Minji!" Her mom called out for her. She knocked on her door before entering and turning on the lights.

"Minji, it's time for dinner. We have something important to discuss," Her mom gave Minji a little shove and left the room after making sure she was awake, "come down in 10 minutes"

Minji grumbled as she forced herself out of bed. After hearing Minjoon's confession, she lost all of her appetite. She dragged her legs towards the dinner table.

"You said there's something important?" Minji asked halfway through her yawn, "I wonder just what is so important that you had to wake me up from my beauty sleep."

"It's not a beauty sleep if the owner currently looks like a disaster," her mom replied as she set down the dishes. She took one look at Minji's messy hair and sighed.

"Sit down first," her mom gestured at her seat. After making sure Minji sat down and started eating did she finally bring up the topic.

"Remember when Minjoon came over and didn't know that we moved in? I thought maybe it would be a good idea to hold a house party with their family," her mom mentioned.

... It took Minji a moment to digest the information. "Wait, what?" Minji almost stood up in shock at her mom's words, "What do you mean? Do I have to meet his entire family? That's a terrible idea...!"