Counting on Stars // NCT Ten

Yuyu to the Rescue

Byeol smiled to herself in the bathroom mirror. She couldn't get the thoughts of the talent show out of her mind all night long. Yes, she wanted to perform on stage. No, she did not want to mess up in front of everyone. But yes, she did want to try out the experience.

So, she finally made up her mind during second period the next day while walking back from the bathroom. She was so deeply lost in thought that she didn't realize someone was walking her way. They suddenly crashed into her with so much force that she got knocked off-balance and stumbled towards the lockers lining the wall.

"Oh, I'm so sorry-" Byeol started to apologize as she rubbed her shoulder. She nearly smiled when she looked up to find Elaena, but the latter's deep frown and narrowed eyes took her aback.

"Yes, you should be sorry," Elaena said with her arms folded. Her two other friends, who looked just like her, came on either side of Byeol with dissatisfied expressions. Byeol was too confused to even comprehend what was happening.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just lost in thought and I didn't... see you there..." Byeol said hesitantly. Elaena tsked and rolled her eyes.

"She's not worth our time," Elaena simply said and gestured to her friends to follow her. The three girls left a confused Byeol in the middle of the hallway staring after the three blondes.

Behind her, Yuta had seen the whole thing. He didn't mean to, he just happened to pass by, but then he saw Elaena and some brunette girl with a translucent butterfly clip- and he knew things weren't going to end well. As he saw the three blondes leave, he quickly ran up to Byeol.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, scanning her up and down.

"Huh- Yuta?" Byeol furrowed her eyebrows. "Were you here the whole time?" He ignored her question when he noticed how she was holding her shoulder.

"Did she hurt you?!" Yuta gasped, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hurt me? No, I just bumped into her by accident. I wasn't looking where I was going, that's all." Byeol responded. She found it very weird how Yuta kept looking at her like she had just escaped hell.

"What did she say to you?" He asked.

"She... Well, I apologized for crashing into her, and she said I should be sorry." Byeol frowned. "Weird, don't you think?" Yuta rolled his eyes.

"From her, that's nothing." He mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Byeol raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing. Hey, let me take you back to your class. I don't wanna go back to science anyways." Yuta said and started to walk down the hallway Byeol was faced towards. She was very suspicious of his behavior but followed him regardless. She rubbed her shoulder one last time before dropping her arms to her sides.

"You're acting all strange," She mentioned as they headed back to her history class.

"Me? No, I'm fine." Yuta waved her off. "So, have you made any other new friends?"

"Aside from your group, just Elaena. Oh, and this girl named Julia." She said and Yuta nodded.

"I know Julia, she's really nice. You should hang out with her more often!" He said. Byeol was going to reply, but they had already reached her classroom by then. Yuta waved a goodbye and went the other way.

Byeol frowned. That was weird.

Yuta was about to breathe out a sigh of relief as he walked away from Byeol when someone crossed his path.

"I wouldn't be relieved if I were you," she smirked at the taller boy.

"What's your problem, Elaena? Byeol hasn't done anything to you." Yuta said firmly, but the girl just rolled her eyes.