“Yoong!”

The tall brunette looked away from one of the many shelves in the library before her and found Jonghoon heading towards her. “Hey.”

“Hey back.” He greeted easily though the look on his face anything but happy. “Have you spoken to Jonghyun?”

Yoona shook her head. “No, I haven’t.”

“Ah, crap.” The dark haired man ran a hand down his face. “I’m getting really worried about him.”

“It’s because of…” She trailed off, knowing he understood what she meant. “Isn’t it?”

Jonghoon nodded glumly. “Yeah.”

A sigh escaped her lips as she reached for the book she was looking for and stepped away from the shelf. “There’s nothing we can do about it, you know, except be a good friend.”

“Do you think that Sooyoung needs to know?”

“And ruin her happiness?”

Jonghoon groaned, flopping himself onto the seat across from the one Yoona settled on. Jonghyun was his best friend, almost like a brother to him, but Sooyoung was his friend too and like Yoona, he’d known how Sooyoung’s life had been growing up an orphan. If there was anyone who deserved to be happy, it was her. “This .”

“It does.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“I’m on my way home.” Sooyoung held her phone against her ear with one hand and two bags of groceries in another. “Yes, Kris. I’m okay with walking and the bags aren’t heavy anyway. It’s fine. You don’t have to come and get me.”

“Why didn’t you take your car?”

“Because it’s a nice night for a walk.” She reasoned easily. “You don’t have to worry so much, okay?”

Kris sighed from the other end of the line. “Call me when you get home.”

“I will. I promise.”

“And I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning for school.”

“O– Wait, what?” Sooyoung paused, looking to her left and right before she crossed the street. “How about Xiumin and Luhan? Won’t they mind?”

“They’ll manage, believe me.”

“If you’re sure…” When he grunted in affirmation, she smiled even if he couldn’t see it; delighted that she’d get to go to school with him for the first time. “See you tomorrow, Kris.”

“See you too.” A beat passed. “Call me when you get home, okay?”

Her eyes rolled good naturedly. “I promised, remember?”

“Alright. I love you.”

“I love you too.” She giggled to herself, stuffing her phone into the pocket of her coat before she shifted one of the two bags to her now free hand. She couldn’t wait to get home, sleep and wake up the next day.

Sooyoung rounded the corner, happy to finally reach her street, when she abruptly stopped, thanking her reflexes from keeping her from colliding with the person heading her direction. Shifting the bags in her hands, she straightened up, opening to apologize to the person she nearly crashed into, only to realize that it was Jonghyun. A surprised look had made its way to his face and when he recovered, he tried to smile.

“Hey, you…” Sooyoung greeted hesitantly, noticing that the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes like it normally would. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He answered as nonchalantly as possible; his eyes falling on the grocery bags she held. “You on your way home?”

“Yeah.” The brunette nodded slowly.

“Let me help you with that.” Ignoring her protests, the two grocery bags were soon in his possession.

She sighed, knowing that arguing with him further would prove to be futile. “Thanks, Jong.”

“No w