An ordinary get together, with ordinary young adults drinking and conversing. Nevertheless, in their midst lay undetected a rather irregular someone, hiding her unconventional self behind a gentle smile. Said unconventional person was a short girl with dark, frizzy hair and fair skin, observing rather than participating, unlike her peers. She watched with amusement the similarity amongst interactions, all following the same pattern: smile and pretend in order to fit in.

“Sora...Sora!” she felt someone shaking her up out of her pensive state.

On cue, she composed a well-practised gentle smile. After all, she was also pretending. Mina watched her with a slight scowl expressing her annoyance.

“I'm sorry, I got distracted,” Sora apologised in a soft voice that showed no hint of regret, with a disarming smile. Seo Jun laughed across the table, drowning another shot and forcing his face not to contort at the taste of alcohol.

“You are always distracted,” he gushed, giving Sora a goofy smile. “Come on, live a little! You won’t die if you get drunk tonight!” he proclaimed, passing her a shot of strong soju.

“I won’t, but you will,” Sora teased her friend, lazily pushing the cup aside. “Do not forget who is picking us up,” she reminded Seo Jun in a singsong voice, enjoying his pained expression.

Sora did not particularly mind the effects that alcohol brought, yet she could not get past its disgusting taste or the sensation of alcohol burning her stomach. The less than pleasing process and caustic after-effects were not exactly appealing either.

“Pay attention, everyone! My best mate, Yunho, just arrived! You'll treat him well, do you understand?” announced the deafening voice of a drunk senior, drawing most of the attention to the newcomer.

Sora inspected and dismissed the stranger right after noticing the well practised amicable expression he wore as a mask, finding disturbing the resemblance it had to her own.

“Look at him! He's so handsome,” Mina whispered on Sora's ear, “you don't know, but he's really popular. He's the best student in the department, though you might steal his spot. Anyway, he is the perfect gentleman and is always considerate. Ah, Yunho is the perfect guy!” Mina almost simpered while Sora shared an exasperated look with an amused Seo Jun.

“Too bad you have no chance with him,” Seo Jun teased.

“How dare you? You are my lackey! You should be supporting me, not stab me in the back!” Mina spluttered indignantly.

Sora sighed at their childish exchange, deciding to observe the newcomer once again. A girl was latched at his side, trying to force a soju glass onto him while he was rejecting it. Out of the blue, the glass spilt all over the girl, causing her to stop pestering him.

“I'm sorry, are you okay?” said the newcomer to the shocked girl in a soft voice. “It was my fault, so do not worry. I´ll take care of the mess here, while you go to dry yourself” the guy told her with a soft smile.

“Yes, thank you,” the girl gushed, almost running away with her face burning in shame.

Sora observed the stranger's face carefully. There was a small smirk lifting the corners of his mouth, which he carefully hid by lowering his head. Another girl was eagerly helping him to clean. If his curled lips were any indication, the stranger's amusement turned into disdain that he carefully masked with a polite smile.

So he did it on purpose. Sora was amused by the interaction, it was so strange to find a kindred spirit. Though she admitted being impressed by his convincing facade.

Yunho looked to the side, feeling someone´s stare on him.

There was a pretty girl, or at least he thought she would be pretty if her lips were not twisted in a sardonic smirk that almost dripped poison. She raised her glass at him in a silent toast before turning towards her peers, her previous expression being replaced with the gentlest of smiles, making him wonder if their brief exchange was a product of his imagination.

However, Yunho could not deny that her casual dismissal aroused his interest - a hard task to accomplish yet that little girl somehow managed to achieve it with no effort whatsoever. There was no doubt in his mind of her noticing his small prank to that annoying girl, but she was amused where any other person would disapprove of his actions. So he observed her with discretion in order to satiate his unwelcomed curiosity.

The little girl had symmetric features and mesmerizing green eyes that commanded attention. Her features were definitively Korean, but Yunho strongly suspected she had a foreign ancestry because her colouring was not common. She was interacting with another girl and a guy, her gentle mask unwavering. She is strange, he decided. Instead of raucous chitchat, she seemed to prefer tranquil conversations, judging by her small group's interactions. Yunho watched her rise from the table towards the stairs that lead to the restrooms, with reluctant steps, he followed soon after.

Sora noticed the new comer´s gaze and she wondered whether it was an intelligent decision to allow him a glimpse of her true nature, with a sigh, she decided not to think about it and washed her hands. For a moment, she wondered if the stranger was like her, giving up on the idea of testing her hypothesis as soon as the idea formed. She had enough trouble dealing with herself, she definitely did not need more.

With faint steps, she left the bathroom, finding two inadvertent human hindrances blocking her path, whispering in rather loud tones. Deciding to avoid possible problems, she performed the inebriated girl role at perfection and her seniors dismissed her as an innocuous bystander. Stealing from the student sports council founds, eh? You should at least try to avoid being incautious morons, she thought with disdain, still being able to listen to their rowdy conversation despite being a whole flight of stairs away.

“We can´t take more money this month or someone will notice. I told you we shouldn't invite so many persons, what do we do now?”

"What if we ask Yunho to pay? He's loaded and you know how generous he can be." Sora immediately recognized the voice, it belonged to the senior that declared the stranger as his best friend.

“Good idea, sometimes I almost feel guilty for playing him this way,” said one of the voices, laughing afterwards.

Sora knew she avoided a rather messy situation, too much drama in which she had no intentions to partake in. She left the stairs and turned towards the narrow hallway at a faster pace, only to come face to face with the troublesome newcomer. The loud conversation taking place above was painfully audible.

He heard them, Sora knew so because of the stranger's inscrutable expression. Whatever, it is not my problem. She left without looking back, ignoring the uncomfortable sensation of someone staring at her.