TRUST || STRAY KIDS

PART VI - BACK UP PLAN

"You mean the sausage that he bought a while ago?" Min Hyuk widened his eyes before becoming into a laughing mess. Joo Heon who lost his favorite sausage pouted and only ate his noodle in silence, trying to soothe out his pain from losing his one and only sausage. Since the cafeteria always packed with students at this hour, she decided to go to the nearest convenience store. Craving for their instant noodle and sandwich also become one of the factors she chose the convenience store. However, she accidentally met with Chang Kyun and his college friends also having their lunch. Immediately, he pulled her inside his circle since they also know her a little from him.

"Here," Hyung Won gave the brand-new sausage he bought from behind, making the sad boy's eyes gleamed. He quickly thanked him and eating his noodle in a cheerful mood.

"Whoa, you went inside the convenience store just to buy him a sausage?" Ki Hyun asked, eyes following him as he took his seat beside Joo Heon. He nodded proudly and gulped his cola. The first social circle that she felt comfortable with was Chang Kyun's social circle. Although they came from very variative background, she could feel the family-vibes from them. They also didn't mind though, her being the only girl on the circle.

"Y/N," Hyun Woo called making her whipped her head towards his direction while munching her chicken sandwich. "How are you lately? I haven't seen you too much in the campus these days." Right. She forgot that Hyun Woo also took the same major as her, even though he's already on senior year.

"Good," she shrugged once she finished gulping her food down. "Nothing interesting these days. Going to campus then going home. Nothing interesting."

"Really? I heard from Chang Kyun you got a boyfriend lately," Min Hyuk teased her, leaning in. She glared at Chang Kyun who just looked away innocently. As if his throat got dry suddenly, he took a sip of his cola.

"No way. I don't have time for that," she denied after averting her focus to Min Hyuk, plastering her fake smile while deep inside she wanted to kill Chang Kyun so much. Before Min Hyuk could respond, a familiar tone greeted them.

"Oh? Aren't they your friends?" the girl pointed at them with her surprised face. Chang Kyun and her immediately became alert once they recognized her. Hanna. It seems they'll be meeting with her more often than they think. A boy popped up behind her, showing the familiar figure they already knew. Of course, the one and only Min Ho.

And yes, of course she knew about the others after seeing her suddenly called out to them. Either Min Ho told her, or she really remembered the others that night. One thing for sure, she already got Min Ho on her hands. She glared a glance to him, asking for some explanation. He mouthed a 'sorry' and 'I'll explain tonight' before dragging her inside the convenience store to buy something they need. Chang Kyun and her immediately groaned.

"Do you know her?" Ki Hyun asked them both.

"Do I?" she sighed heavily while standing up, leaving them. "Thanks for the lunch guys. See you later." The boys only looked at Chang Kyun, confused about her sudden turn of emotions. While Chang Kyun only shook his head.

.

"Really? She suddenly transferred to your class?" Johnny raised an eyebrow, not believing anything he said. "Out of the blue."

"You got to trust me!" he begged. "By the time I realized, she already dragged me everywhere, not leaving my side." Everyone kept silent, didn't know what to respond. Now her worries already came true, she probably should carry out her back up plan. However, Min Ho shouldn't know about this to lower the chance Hanna might know about the plan. And that's quite a challenge. How will he know their plan without joining their weekly meeting plan?

"Fine," she broke the silence. "On one condition. No relationship. And I mean, no relationship with outsiders also." Of course, they looked at her confusedly as she was the only who would usually be angry about Min Ho. Now, she just keeping her cool, forgiving him. Obviously, she had something going on in her mind and Chang Bin did notice that, as she once mentioned about her plan. It might be the reason she looked relax about the whole situation.

"Finally! Okay!" Min Ho sighed, leaning his body back to the couch freeing all the tension kept up on his body. True that he indeed felt she let him go that easily, but maybe he thought she's too tired to deal with all of this. Not to mention, Jackson did call Chang Bin for one more game with a stake of 400 million. They shouldn't have a bad blood if they wanted this plan to carry out perfectly. "Anyway, I should go home. My parents called."

"Don't think to run away with that excuse and meet with that girl," Seung Min eyes still glued at him. He sighed as he stood up from the sofa grabbing his bag.

"I swear I'm not lying!" he huffed and headed to the exit. "See you!" Just then, he disappeared before the door. Now, the eyes looked at her as if waiting for her next words. She took out a spare of card keys and put in on the table.

"We'll be doing our weekly meeting on my apartment. The address is written under it. If you want to ask anything about my residence, call. Don't chat anything into the group chat," she started while the others nodded and took their own card. The day after their first plan, she secretly met up with each of them secretly. Basically explaining about her back up plan. Meeting on her apartment only when their weekly meeting held and going to Chang Bin's residence afterwards as if the plan will go as usual. In conclusion, they will have two weekly meeting going on that day. The meeting on her apartment will be held earlier than scheduled while they will also hold their usual weekly meeting on Chang Bin's residence to reduce Min Ho suspicion. For now, leaving Min Ho out in the blue is the most plausible option. Let him believe they still going to carry out their original plan, while actually she already prepared a back-up plan.

They still have time though. Jackson offered the extra game will be hold next month. It only gave them time to build the back-up strategies from zero. Not to mention, her term has just come to an end, making her completely study-free. Seems like the others also have finished with their term and finally can solely focus on their plan.

"I still don't know how you can think about all of this alone," Seung Min still looked confused while he's trying to solve her mind.

"Yeah, thanks to my overthinking though. It creates infinite worries and I tried to reassure myself down afterwards. Funny, huh? I create my own problem while trying to solve it myself," she chuckled. Has she ever shown any emotion rather than angry in front of them aside from Chang Kyun? No. And that could be the reason why they looked at her, slightly surprised by her smile. People said someone who always frown or never shown their smile always shine the brightest when they smiled. Now, they're the one witnessing firsthand. "What?"

"Huh? No. Nothing," Johnny cleared his throat and looked away, followed by the others except Chang Kyun.

"They just never seen you smile before," he smirked.

"Really?" she asked, rather surprised herself while Chang Kyun just nodded.

"It's just... your smile is pretty," Seung Min mumbled the last part while scratching his nape, looking elsewhere.

"It's just what?"

"Nope, nothing," he looked back at her, putting his signature smile while she squinted her eyes trying to figure the boy's mind out. He sighed in relief after finally able to calm his rapid heartbeat after she looked at him directly.

"What's wrong with me?" He thought to himself.