I took the SAT 2 today! Took 3 exams, had bulgogi for lunch, and then wrote this entire thing in one sitting to reward myself! Holla~~~~
The bell for a ten minute break rang and Soo leaned into her seat with a prolonged groan. "Don't be like that, Soo," Woo Hee said beside her. "Everyone has bad days. I'm sure you can pull your grade back up in no time."
Soo tossed her head to the side, staring at her deskmate. Woo Hee folded her test in half and used it to mark her book. The red one hundred on her exam shined like a middle finger. The teacher's 'Wonderful work as always, Woo Hee~' was like a personal insult.
Looking at her own test, Soo winced when she caught sight of the grisly sixty-seven and the horrible 'This is why we don't sleep in class, Hae Soo. Redo.'
"How do you do it?" Soo asked her friend, laying her head against Woo Hee's shoulder. She nuzzled her cheek against her friend's soft uniform as Woo Hee chuckled and patted her hair. Soo jutted her bottom lip out as her deskmate sighed and pointed to her textbook.
"I don't have a social life is how I did it," she said. Soo smirked and let Woo Hee lean against her. Neither moved as Soon Deok crossed into their classroom and slammed her test down onto their shared table. Her skirt fluttered as she beamed at them.
"Fifty-three!" she declared triumphantly. Soo immediately sat up and high-fived her friend, grinning as Woo Hee shook her head. Giggling, Soo finally smiled pushing her books aside so Soon Deok could sit on her side of the desk.
"Mom isn't impressed," Soon Deok whispered. She and Soo peered at Woo Hee who scoffed. The three girls grinned at each other, using their break to brush each others' uniforms off and tuck stray hairs behind ears. Soo played with Soon Deok's pink earrings while Soon Deok fiddled with Woo Hee's necktie. "Woo Hee you realize Kim Baek Ah is in love with you because you wear a boys' uniform, right?" she asked. Woo Hee stared at her friend before nodding.
Soo perked up at the mention of her other best friend's name, and pressed her hands beneath her chin as Woo Hee sighed and tossed her long hair over her shoulders. "My brother's uniform happens to fit and I don't want to waste money I could spend on geomdo books," she sighed. Woo Hee motioned for Soo to turn around. She slipped her fingers into Soo's hair and asked for a hair tie. "I want to practice that braid you taught me."
Their idle chatter drifted toward the newest gossip on campus: "Did you know Wang Wook's family is adopting a kid? He's supposed to be in our grade."
Soo leaned against her seat as a few members of the class drifted toward their table at the back of the classroom. "Apparently Ji Soo Hoon from Level Three saw Mrs. Wang at the front office signing a kid up for classes. And then Wang Wook confirmed that he has a new brother," Woo Hee said. "My dad says they adopted the kid because he was in the foster system for super long."
Tipping her head, Soo wondered if the new student would be in the third level like his brother. Wang Wook was the same age as them, but he had skipped their grade because of his stellar academics.
The others around them murmured and Soo frowned when she heard their comments.
"I hear he's like that character from Game of Thrones- his face is burned and super ugly," Song Eun Ji giggled, her hand pressed over her mouth. Soo looked at the girl and narrowed her eyes.
"My uncle is a detective and apparently his parents were killed in a car crash when he was little and he was really badly injured- I hear he's blind too!" declared Yoon Han Min.
"Are they really letting a kid like that into our school? Wouldn't he ruin the pictures?" asked Park Won.
Her anger flared and Soo whipper her head around, jerking her hair away from Woo Hee and glowering at the people that had been tittering. Of course it was Park Won. He never knew when to shut up. "Stop being such an asshole," she snapped. "You haven't even met him and you're judging him because of his looks? Song Eun Ji, Yoon Han Min, Park Won, you all should look in a mirror before you trash someone about their face."
The three people she had just pointed out flushed shades of purple and Soo crossed her arms, ready to shout some more if someone offered a rebuttal. But before anyone could refute her, Woo Hee sighed. "Go back to your seats before I hit you with my sword," she said to their peers. "You too, Soon Deok. Break's over in forty seconds."
Soo waved to her friend before glaring at the others. Park Won leered at her but sat straight when the bell rang.
Leaning back in her seat, Soo sighed and stared at her failed test. When she looked at Woo Hee, her best friend was already putting her glasses on, ready to face the next lesson.
One Week Later...
"Hae Soo, I swear to fuck, you need to wake the hell up."
Soo's head snapped up.
The classroom swirled around her from her sudden movements and she offered Woo Hee a ditzy smile as her senses returned. "Did I fall asleep?" she asked her friend. It was obvious they were on break; Woo Hee was the teacher's darling and would never swear when any member of the faculty was nearby.
Soo used the sleeve of her uniform the wipe the drool on her cheek, giggling as her friend gave her a dry look. Woo Hee folded her glasses and set them onto their desk.
Yawning, Soo stretched her arms out and smiled at the flowers she had drawn onto her science notes before she had fallen asleep. "Peonies again, huh?" her friend asked.
Soo nodded. "We're doing still-life in art. I've been practicing peonies because we're painting them soon." Woo Hee only hummed in response as she opened her geomdo textbook. Soo took one look at the illustrated sword forms in her friend's book and turned her attention around the room. She knew Soon Deok was no longer allowed to leave her class during break because she had been late too many times. So Soo had ten minutes to herself while Woo Hee studied for her extracurricular class.
At the very back of the classroom, Soo had a view of the backs of of her peers' heads. She knew each one by their subtle differences. Kim Min Young secretly hid streaks of red in her hair while Lee Soo Hyun's ends were lopsided. Go Si Woon slept even more than Soo did while Kim Ji Soo scratched the back of his head with a pencil.
A wrinkled formed between Soo's eyebrows when she noticed an unfamiliar head where there had once been an empty seat.
Shaggy black hair and an undercut sat above a pale neck and clean uniform. The owner of said head sat at the very front of the classroom, his seat closest to the door.
Ah… the new student. Is that the kid the Wangs adopted… Soo thought as she peered at the boy.
His deskmate, Song Eun Ji, sat as far away from him as was physically possible. Her skirt was tipping over the edge of her seat as she made no effort to hide how far she was leaning.
Soo noticed a stack of brand new notebooks in front of the boy. His backpack had yet to be broken in, and everything about him was shiny and new.
"His name is Wang So," Woo Hee said. Soo turned to her friend with raised eyebrows. Woo Hee never looked up from her book as she continued. "He's definitely scarred. 'Parently he can't see out of his left eye. You would have heard his full introduction if you hadn't fallen asleep."
Soo's eyes remained glued onto the new student even as the bell rang.
When class began, Soo looked from the blackboard, to her notes, to So, and then back to the board. She wanted to see what the huge deal was about; even the people that sat around him seemed to want to sit away from him. Was he really so scarred that they did not even want to be near him?
He took diligent notes with his right hand. Soo noticed his left hand held the bottom of his seat, his fingers drumming against whatever surfaces they could find.
"Hae Soo, come to the board and answer question three!" their teacher called. Soo flinched and glanced at the board. She faltered when she read the question on the board.
If a+bi represents the complex number that results from multiplying 3+2i times 5-i, what is the value of a?
Her mouth dropped open and a flustered giggle escaped her lips.
Pushing her seat back, Soo cringed as the metal screeched against the floor. She stepped away from her desk and brushed by Woo Hee. Sweat pooled in her palms and she smiled nervously, passing by her classmates and ignoring their titters.
She nodded to her teacher who raised an eyebrow at her.
Lifting a piece of chalk, Soo stared at the problem and nodded to herself.
Okay, so… complex numbers. You have to multiply them. Yeah. That's in the directions. Multiply.
Her heart thudded in her chest and she jotted down her math, distributing the given binomials and staring at her work. She knew her teacher would get onto her for slacking in class.
15+2i-2i²… but why doesn't it look like a+bi?
Gnawing on the inside of her cheek, she tapped the chalk against the board before looking behind her. She was finally close enough to glance at Wang So, but his head was bowed over his notes.
Soo looked back and Woo Hee who only smirked at her. Judging by the way her friend flipped her the bird, the teacher was obviously more interested in reviewing Soo's work than looking at her. Soo glared at Woo Hee who blew her a kiss.
A small cough brought her eyes back to Wang So. He did not look up from his notes but Soo gasped in relief when he held his left palm up before slamming it back onto his desk. The movement was too fast for their teacher to catch, but Soo saw it well.
i²= -1
A new sense of hope filled Soo's heart and she turned back towards the board with a smirk; she had this.
Her hand flew across the blackboard, the chalk in her hand drawing out new patterns and numbers.
15-2+4=17
a=17
Triumphant, she turned back to the teacher and beamed. "Seventeen," she declared with certainty. Setting the chalk back into the stand, she moved aside for inspection.
"Hae Soo…" Soo braced herself for endless praise. "How did you manage to do everything wrong and still get the right answer?"
The class laughed and Soo felt her cheeks heating. Staring at her teacher, she gave an awkward chuckle as the correct way was written beside hers. "Back to your seat. I expect you to pay close attention during math," her teacher said, erasing the board. The wet eraser deleted whatever shame Soo had just tossed onto the board and she turned around and walked past her classmates, hanging her head and blushing.
Soo hit Woo Hee's arm as she sat down. The snickering athlete hit her back and Soo pressed her palms over her eyes as Woo Hee stifled her giggles.
Later, by the time the lunch bell rang, Soo was too hungry to even care about what had happened. Tossing her thoughts aside, she tied her hair into a ponytail and linked arms with Soon Deok and Woo Hee as they walked to the cafeteria. On Wednesdays she ate with her female friends.
They made their way to the line and picked up metal trays from the stack, grabbing chopsticks and spoons.
"-and I swear, she literally went through all the wrong steps and got the right answer!" Woo Hee declared to Soon Deok.
Soo laughed with her friends as she scooped rice onto her tray. "The new guy helped me but I guess I didn't use his information well."
"So it's true? The Wang family actually enrolled him here?" Soon Deok asked. Soo nodded and ladled soup into the section beside her rice. She thanked a serving lady as kimchi and glazed black beans were added to her tray.
Soo stood by as Soon Deok and Woo Hee also added food to their trays. She went through the line, accepting bulgogi in a different section of her tray, and grabbing a few pieces of lettuce and perilla leaves before ignoring the stewed eggplant and grilled zucchini. She made a face when Soon Deok added the vegetables to her tray. Soo watched Woo Hee ask for twice her portion of meat. Her friend tossed a handful of lettuce onto her tray and Soo grabbed a few more leaves just for Woo Hee.
They sat down at their usual table, Soo sitting beside Soon Deok as Woo Hee thanked them both for getting more lettuce. "How do you eat so much yet stay so thin?" Soo asked enviously.
"Exercise, Soo," Soon Deok muttered as she spooned rice into her mouth. Soo blinked between her two friends: the captain of the girls' geomdo team and the captain of the girls' taekwondo team.
The two captains grinned back at their friend: that one girl in art class that drew pretty pictures. "Soo, you're beautiful. We just want you to be healthy," Woo Hee stated. She wrapped a piece of lettuce around a large hunk of meat and stuffed it into her mouth.
Soo smiled at her friends before puffing her chest out. "I'll have you know I ran two kilometers in twenty minutes!"
"And then you nearly passed out from overexertion," Soon Deok pointed out. Soo stuck her tongue out at her friend and took a bite of rice.
"Is he sitting alone?" Soon Deok asked.
Soo glanced over to where her friend was looking and she frowned when she saw the back of Wang So's head set his tray down at a desolate table. "The only person he knows is Wang Wook, but Wook has lunch at a different time because he's in Level Three," Woo Hee said. She and Soon Deok returned to their meals, but Soo continued to stare at the boy that had helped her in math.
"You guys eat on your own," Soo said, standing. She heard her friends' protests but turned a deaf ear to their calls.
"There she goes again, being a martyr."
"Her mom yelled at me for not controlling her when she adopted that kitten we found."
"What can you do? She's more stubborn than anyone we know."
"This time you're taking the blame if she adopts… Wang So."
Soo smirked as she walked through the cafeteria before setting her tray down before the seat in front of Wang So.
Smiling, she prepared to introduce herself but froze when she looked at the face of her classmate.
The rumors were true.
Wang So's pale skin was marred by red and purple scars that streaked over the left side of his face. His left eye was cloudy and discolored behind an obvious contact lense.
Soo smiled. "Hi!" she said, taking the seat in front of Wang So. "I'm Hae Soo. Thanks for sort of saving my butt in math."
Plopping down in the seat in front of him, Soo picked her chopsticks off of her tray and popped a black bean into her mouth, chewing and grinning. When she looked behind Wang So, Woo Hee was flipping the bird at Baek Ah while Soon Deok made cute faces at Eun Woo. She did not have to worry about any of her friends.
Wang So coughed and Soo returned her attention to him, never letting her smile falter. He was cute. His eyes were narrower than what TV considered pretty, but his chin was angular and his dark hair cut into a trendy style.
"I can't believe I forgot i equals negative one," Soo said as she ate. "I feel kinda stupid, but I'm happy I didn't get in trouble for falling asleep in class." She knew she was rambling, but So was not talking and she liked having conversations when she ate.
"I'm Wang So," he finally said. Soo felt her heart leap as she realized she had extracted words from her silent lunch partner.
"I know," Soo replied. She grinned when he looked puzzled.
"You were asleep when I introduced myself to the class," he muttered, his voice betraying how confused he was. Soo pointed to his chest- specifically to the name badge sewn beneath the school crest.
"Wang So," she read. She pointed to her own uniform and held it out for him to see. "Hae Soo. See? I'm not completely stupid. Street smarts count as smarts too, you know!"
When So snorted, Soo mentally patted herself on the back. She munched into her bulgogi as So nodded and ate his own food. He was not laughing yet, but Soo considered getting him to half-smirk half-snort was a step closer to seeing the lonely boy's smile.
"You're right-handed," she noted, grasping for any conversation starters that would not offend him. She knew full well she could not talk to him about the fact that it was rumored that Wang Wook was dating a girl in his grade- Jang Myung Hee.
"You're left-handed," So replied. His voice sounded bored, but Soo saw the way his lips turned up ever so slightly. She shook her head before she could fully wonder why she was looking at So's lips.
They met eyes and she prepared her party trick. She tossed her chopsticks into her right hand and continued to eat. "Ambidextrous," she corrected.
So nodded to her and Soo watched as he set his chopsticks down and picked his spoon up. Passing the utensil over to his left hand, he dipped it into his soup and took a sip. "Semi-ambidextrous," he said.
Wang So stared at her as she laughed, but Soo did not mind. She held her stomach and giggled until she could not breathe.
By the time she caught her breath, Soo noticed So was already done with his food. In fact- most of the cafeteria had already cleared out.
Soo hastened to finish her food, expecting So the leave for the classroom or the soccer field like the other boys did. Instead, he sat around, staring around the desolate cafeteria and drumming his fingers against the table as she scooped rice into her mouth and slurped her soup.
As soon as she set her chopsticks down, a hand swiped in front of her and Soo watched with uncomprehending eyes as Wang So stood and picked her empty tray up along with his, carrying them to the washing lady. He turned towards her after thanking the washing lady for their meals before walking out of the cafeteria.
"What?" Soo asked into the open air. It took her two seconds to realize she was alone in the cafeteria.
Standing up, she jogged out of the cafeteria, sluggish from having finished too much food too quickly. "Hey! Wait!" she called after So.
By the time she rounded the hallway, he was slipping into the room and the bell was ringing. Soo burst into the classroom as the bell ceased is horrid jangling.
"Tardy, Hae Soo. I hope you have a good excuse," their English teacher said with a click of her tongue. Soo only bowed her head and made another walk of shame back to her desk.
The smell of acrylic paint wafted up towards her nose, but Soo only grinned, happy to be standing in front of an easel, wearing an ugly red smock, as she painted the peonies laid out before the class. Her stomach whined when she moved too quickly, but Soo ignored her achy tummy as she attended the class she loved most of all: Extracurricular A, aka art class.
It was the only class she had without Woo Hee or Soon Deok, but this time Soo was joined by her other best friend. Beside her, Baek Ah dabbed pink onto his canvas. "I saw you eating with the new guy today," he said. "You haven't eaten lunch with me for three days. I miss having my other best friend sit with me. Jung and Eun Woo are both terrible at giving dating advice."
Soo did not bother looking at her friend as she nodded. A burp escaped her lips before she replied. "That's because they're idiots," she said matter-of-factly. Soo smirked when Baek Ah laughed. His deep voice cracked into a higher pitch as he guffawed and Soo giggled as he cleared his throat.
"True, but you still didn't say why you ate with the new kid instead of me."
Scoffing, Soo turned to her friend as he added brown underlays to his sketches. "Kim Baek Ah, his name is Wang So. And you have lunch with Baek Eun Woo and Yang Jung. Why do I need to eat with you? Wang So was lonely."
She let her brush glide over her preliminary sketches, covering the white canvas in a glossy cover of ochre. Soo looked over at Baek Ah as he mixed black and red on his palette. "Soo you realize if you keep eating with him, people will think you're dating, right?" he asked. His expression was innocent, but Soo could not help the exasperated look that came over her face.
"Baek Ah, oh my gosh, if you keep sending love poetry to the captain of the girls' geomdo team, people will think you have a death wish," she snapped back. Waving her brush in front of Baek Ah's face, she copied Woo Hee's movements from when she had watched her friend compete. Flecks of yellow paint dotted Baek Ah's pink apron.
"If she's the one that kills me, then I'm okay with it," he said with a smirk.
Soo pretended to throw up. Feigning barfing into her paint canisters, she giggled before frowning when her stomach actually roiled with her movements. Soo swallowed before taking a deep breath.
"You okay?" Baek Ah asked. Nodding, she closed her eyes and breathed again.
"I had too much lunch today," she sighed. Soo pursed her lips at the sudden discomfort emanating in her stomach and groaned before shaking her head. "I'm tapping out. Tell the teacher I went to the nurse's office."
"Will do." Baek Ah was already closing her paint canisters for her as she tossed her apron aside and took another breath, trying to calm her stomach. "I'll even cover for you during music."
"I love you, friend!"
"Get me a date with Woo Hee!"
Soo stepped off of the campus and sighed, still uncomfortable after having laid down for an hour. She did not feel like she was going to throw up, but her stomach still hurt and she just wished to go home to her kitty.
Taking the direction that would lead to her home, Soo immediately perked up up when she saw a now familiar undercut walking in the same direction as her. "Hey, stranger!" she shouted.
Ignoring her discomfort, Soo jogged over to Wang So as he turned to face her. She grinned when he stopped and waited for her to arrive. "We live on the same block," she called to him, "so we should walk together!"
Around the halfway mark, Soo expected So to turn away and leave her in the dust, but he again surprised her by staying rooted to his spot and waiting for her to reach him. From afar, Soo could tell that some people were just born to wear school uniforms. She brushed her idle thoughts aside when she finally reached So.
"I didn't see you in art class," she said as he resumed walking. Soo maintained So's pace and met eyes with her classmate. "Aren't new kids signed up into art class before they choose their extracurriculars?"
"I already chose mine," So replied. His voice was deeper than Baek Ah's and Soo suddenly wondered if his voice also cracked when he laughed a bit too hard. She hoped to answer her hypothesis one day. "I'm a third dan black belt in taekwondo and third dan in geomdo so it was no dice. I chose those two," he explained.
Soo raised her eyebrows at how accomplished So was and clapped her hands together when she realized what his choice in extracurriculars meant. "That means you must have met Soon Deok and Woo Hee!" she exclaimed. So offered her a peculiar smirk before he nodded.
"Park Soon Deok is a good captain," he said. "She was really welcoming. Baek Woo Hee… she glared at me and hit me on the head with her sword before we even started practicing."
Giggling, Soo nodded as So described her two best friends. "Soon Deok plays by the rules but Woo Hee doesn't until it's illegal not to play by the rules."
She looked up at So and grinned when he glanced down at her. She wondered if his uniform was tailored to fit his skinny body. She noticed his hair was slightly damp from having two sports as his extracurriculars. Soo was not fooled by how skinny Wang So was. Knowing Woo Hee, she knew there were certain special people who were blessed with good looks, insane metabolisms, and super strength. "Do you walk home?" So asked.
Nodding, Soo held the straps of her backpack and tipped her head from side to side. "Yep! Walk to and from school! How about you? Do you walk with Wang Wook? Where is he anyways?" She glanced around for So's adopted brother but saw no sign of the overachiever.
"Wook leaves the house at six and comes back at eleven because of his extracurriculars and studies," So explained. "We only see each other at home."
Soo hummed as she listened to So's voice. She wondered how Wang Wook managed to survive with all those classes crushing his brain. "I heard a passing rumor that you were in the infirmary today," So muttered. Soo glanced up at him. "Why?"
Shrugging, Soo patted her belly. "Too much lunch and too little time. I'm skipping going to a convenience store with Baek Ah and Eun Woo because I just want to lay down."
She grasped the straps of her backpack, not paying attention as So turned his bag around and dug into the front pocket, removing a little white bottle. Soo glanced at the label and blinked as So offered her antacids. "Why do you carry antacids around?" she asked, opening her palm and accepting two.
So stowed the container back into his backpack before silently offering her his water bottle. Soo popped the pills into her mouth and downed them with a large gulp of cool water.
"I have anxiety," So said quietly, taking his bottle back from her hands. "I get bad indigestion, so I carry meds with me."
Soo nodded slowly, registering his response. "Oh," she said, trying to come up with a way to reply. A sudden wave of doubt hit her and she peered up at her classmate's stoic expression. "Is that… Did you want to be alone during lunch today?" she asked. "Am I being imposing right now?"
"No!" Soo was taken aback at So's sudden, forceful response. "I mean," he amended, "no, you're not bothering- I um- I like talking to people." So ran a hand through his hair and returned his backpack to its natural position- with one strap hanging as the other clung to his shoulder. "I'm not good at starting conversations, but I like talking and listening," he explained.
Relieved, Soo pressed a hand to her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! I was afraid I'd have to walk home alone- no one lives in this area."
Thinking over a few ideas in her mind, Soo grinned at So and clapped her hands together. "Can I sit with you for lunch tomorrow?" she asked. So's eyes flickered towards her and Soo continued. "I'll introduce you to my other friends- Baek Ah and Eun Woo and Jung. They're guys and I think you guys would get along."
She could see the surprise written across So's features and he stopped in his tracks to address her. Soo paused and bounced on her heels when he gaped at her. "You'd… you'd do that for me?" he asked.
"Of course!" she declared, as if it were the most most obvious thing in the world. "I always help my friends! We're friends now, Wang So. It's official! I annoyed you for an entire meal and you didn't call the police on me afterwards. We're friends now."
Soo once remembered her mother telling her she was too pushy with her friendships. Even as a little girl, she had bullied Baek Ah into becoming her friend. Soo wondered if she was being too pushy with the boy she had met for the first it me that day.
Instead of giving her a weird look or backing away from her, Wang So smiled. His lips pulled into a grin and his cheeks rounded, little dimples forming around the corners of his mouth.
Soo saw his radiant beam and immediately gave herself an internal slap as the first words to enter her mind were, Awww he's so cute when he smiles.
"Thanks for being my first friend at our school, Hae Soo," he said. They continued to walk and Soo nodded her head, skipping as she matched So's pace and smiled with him.
"Since we're friends now, you're my walking buddy, okay?" Soo asked. "I walk to school in the morning and walk home afterwards, so if you also walk to school, I'll enlist you to be my buddy." They neared their shared apartment complex and Soo grinned when So led her to building 109. "I live in one-thirteen, so I'll come around by eight and we can walk to school, alright?"
So chuckled and nodded his head. He reached a finger out to punch the number code into the front entrance of his building. Before he completed the code, he turned towards Soo and cleared his throat. "I live in apartment four hundred thirteen, so… if you want to study sometime… I know you're bad at math," he trailed off. Soo only smiled.
"Are you offering to tutor me, Wang So?" she asked. Soo scrunched her face up at him when he coughed into his hand and punched the rest of his code in. "I'll take you up on your offer. God knows I need as much math help as I can get."
They smiled at each other and Soo waved to So as he entered his building and boarded the elevator.
Five months later…
Wang So sat alone at a desolate lunch table within the loud cafeteria, quietly chewing on a piece of kimchi and staring out at the open seats in front of him.
He sighed and spooned some soup into his mouth, munching on a soft piece of tofu and wondering if it would rain that day. There had been clouds in the sky… he did not remember if there was an umbrella in his backpack.
He did not like sitting alone.
So ate another piece of tofu before cutting into the donkatsu on his tray. He used a knife to slice into the crispy, fried pork, dipping it into the given sauce.
"Why are we having donkatsu again?" Baek Ah groaned as he set his tray down in front of So. "We had this on Monday!"
"Lighten up, it's the best meal they give us here," Jung replied as he took the seat to Baek Ah's right.
"As if you don't eat everything they serve," Eun Woo said, grinning. He took Baek Ah's left and So smirked at his friends. The three began eating and So continued to quietly have his meal, listening as Jung complained Eun Woo never treated him as an equal.
"It's because I love you more than anyone else in the world," Eun Woo teased. So laughed and Baek Ah rolled his eyes.
A clatter sounded beside him and So knew Woo Hee took the spot to his left. There were two large pieces of meat on her plate as well as a mountain of rice. She slammed her sword onto the table and fell into her seat with a huff. "We had donkatsu on Monday!" she complained loudly.
So glanced at Baek Ah, whose eyes lit up into hearts.
"Stop complaining, Woo Hee, you love when they serve meat-based meals," Soo said. So grinned when his girlfriend took the seat to his right. As soon as she sat down, So put an arm around her shoulders and nudged his chair closer to hers. He waved to Soon Deok when she took the chair beside Soo.
"Oh sure, Wang So," Woo Hee snapped, "scoot away from me and cuddle closer to your girlfriend! It's not like I'm bitter that you two are dating and I have no one!"
All eyes turned to Baek Ah as he glared at Woo Hee. "Is it your life's mission to make me cry?" he demanded. Woo Hee merely smirked at their friend.
"Yes. Because you're cute when you're emotional."
So heard Soo gasp beside him and he laughed when Baek Ah's mouth fell open.
They all laughed as Woo Hee offered Baek Ah a genuine smile, causing the boy to blush and look away from her.
So pulled Soo just a smidge closer to him without anyone noticing and Soo quietly held his hand beneath the table. She smiled up at her boyfriend as he continued to eat his food, not giving away their little secret.
Happy to have all of her friends sitting at one table, Soo looked around at her bickering peers before laughing when Soon Deok told Woo Hee to make the first move. "I already did!" the geomdo captain protested.
"Well it's obvious Baek Ah's been sending too much love poetry to think properly anymore so you'll have to ask him out!" Soo called over the table, adding her laughter to the din. She heard Jung tell Baek Ah to be a man and make the first move as Eun Woo declared that Jung was right.
"Come on, Baek Ah, ask her out!" So said.
"Fine! Fine!" Baek Ah tossed his fork down and looked straight at Woo Hee, his expression unsure. "Woo Hee, will you go out for dinner with me tonight?"
Soo grasped So's hand when Woo Hee peered at Baek Ah before nodding. "Sure, why not?"