The following day,

Hyoyeon opened her eyes to a familiar voice,

“Naega tteotta hamyeon da wechyeo oppa oppa

Tokyo, London, New York, Paris, oppa oppa

I’m so cool, I’m so cool, Party like a superstar

Ippeunideul da moyeora tteotta oppa oppa”

And just like every morning, she began her day with a smile.

It was a silly recording of Donghae singing a song he had self composed. Hyoyeon had smacked his head the first time he sang it for her causing him to pout at her like a wounded puppy.

-flashback-

“Whyyyyyy? You don’t like it?”

“The tune’s catchy but the lyrics! Oh Donghae.. could you BE more conceited?” she rolled her eyes for effect, but at the same time she couldn’t help herself from patting his head affectionately. Those sad eyes were her kryptonite.

Donghae pressed his head into her hand a bit more – grinning from ear to ear. “You were my muse, you know!”

“Me? Oh no! How did I inspire you to become a narcissistic worldmap narrator?” Hyoyeon asked in mock horror, not buying his words one bit.

“No, not that part!”

“Then..?”

“You know how I always insisted you call me ‘oppa’ but you never did? Well now, whenever you sing along to the song, you have to! Admit it! I am a genius!”

Hyoyeon threw back her head and laughed, “What makes you think I’m going to even remember the song, huh?”

“Oh Miss Hyoyeon, I have my ways!” he simply winked, refusing to tell her anything else.

But Hyoyeon found out what he meant the next morning - when instead of her regular alarm – she woke up to Donghae’s voice singing -

“Naega tteotta hamyeon da wechyeo oppa oppa

Tokyo, London, New York, Paris, oppa oppa

I’m so cool, I’m so cool, Party like a superstar

Ippeunideul da moyeora tteotta oppa oppa.”

A little while later in the shower, Hyoyeon was unconsciously humming “hmmm.. hmm.. hmm.. hmm.. hmm.. hm… oppa oppa”

Then again, while she was making coffee at the Café.

And again, as she counted inventory in the stockroom.

It was only when, Yuri - one of the baristas, asked her what the title of the catchy song that Hyoyeon had been singing all day was that Hyoyeon caught herself.

‘Damn you Lee Donghae!’

- end of flashback -

And Hyoyeon had kept the recording on as her morning alarm. Hearing Donghae’s voice first thing in the morning and the memory that accompanied the song always made her start in a cheerful mood.

Thinking about Donghae this particular day, however, caused Hyoyeon to frown a little.

She flipped to the calendar on her phone and counted the days.. Donghae had been gone for almost three months now and his phone calls and messages to her had trickled down to an almost stand-still.

‘Pabo Lee Donghae! Don’t you know I get worried when I don’t hear from you?’ she muttered to herself.

“Yes! It’s evening over there right now! Maybe I can finally get a hold of him!” the thought cheered her up and Hyoyeon sat up in bed while pressing #3 on her speed dial.

“Yo Man! This is Aiden! I am busy right now so call me later. You can also leave me a message but I won’t call back unless I like you! hahaha Peaceee!”

The message was all in English which only grated on Hyoyeon’s nerves more. All she knew was she could start talking when she heard the beep so as soon as she the sound went off she started yelling in Korean,

“Ya who is this Aiden and what have you done to my Donghae? Really, you fish! Are you too busy to call or text me back? Wait! maybe I should tell you my name, in case you don’t remember my voice anymore. It’s Kim Hyoyeon, you know, your best friend! Or has that changed with your name too? I have called you 6 times now and you still haven’t called me back…” she sighed, “Are you okay, Hae? Just text me back a yes or no at least…. Aish!” Her temper flared up again, “You better be too busy having fun or I’m going to kick you back to America when you come back! Lee Donghae! This is the last time I’m calling you.. I mean it! Ya! Just message me back, you jerk!”

She threw her phone on the bed in annoyance and stepped into the shower.

================================================================

Thinking about Donghae inevitably led Hyoyeon to thinking about Hyukjae and the realization she had come to the night before.

“It would’ve been nice to get Donghae’s perspective on Hyukjae… if that idiot would just call me back!” she mumbled as she went about her morning chores. “Well whatever!” she polished her aunt’s treasured china viciously (silently thankful that there were no CCTV’s in the house or else her aunt would probably give her head a nice polish with her knuckles too), “I'm going to get married and you’re never going to see your godchild, Lee Donghae!”

Her hand flew to , realizing what she had just unwittingly said. “No no! I am not thinking about getting married and having kids with Hyukjae. oh god no!” she was blushing furiously as if someone had heard her. “I just mean, when I get married - in general - to a person who may or may not be Hyukjae.. aish! Why is Hyukjae’s name even coming up? I just have a crush on that guy; not like I’m imagining my initials changing to LHY.. oh that’s pretty! Lee Hyoyeon. No! Hyoyeon No! stop it!”

Needless to say, by the time Hyoyeon had to leave for the Dance School, she was a nervous wreck.

============================================

All day long she flip-flopped between wanting the hours to go by sooner (so that she could see him) and wishing that the time would never come (afraid that her feelings would now give themselves away).  As a result, she ended up spending close to twenty minutes circling around the subway station. And for a brief moment, she even considered skipping the day’s lesson altogether but she knew that acting was not her forte, so she eventually made her way to face the music.

Hyoyeon’s heart was racing as she turned the handle of the dance practise room.

“For the love of god, just act normal, Kim Hyoyeon!”

The room was already packed with students when she walked in, having waited until the last minute. A furtive glance to the front of the class revealed – much to her relief - that Hyukjae had yet to arrive and shuffled towards the back as quickly as possible.

Just as she had finished setting up her things on the floor beside her, she heard a chorus of, “Hello Sunsengnims!” announcing Hyukjae’s arrival.

“Good evening class!” His voice was as cheerful as always. “Oh ho! Are you guys sad that you’re going to miss me or what? I can see everyone made it today!”

“Neh!”

“We will definitely miss our Kkotminam teacher!” MinYoung announced cheekily.

“Really really!” her good friend Nicole chimed in, “can we not extend classes? I can’t believe next Wednesday is the last day. I think I’m going to cry!”

“Oh I will definitely cry! Curse these water tanks I inherited instead of my eyes!” Jonghyun yelled causing everyone to burst into laughter since they knew what he said was hilariously true.

“Aieee don’t get all sentimental on me. Even if this course is over, you can still visit me! I will just be chingu, hyung or oppa instead of ‘teacher’! Isn’t that better?”

The girls paused in thought for a short while, before beaming smiles broke out on all their faces, “OPPAAAA!! Aigooo.. that’s so much better!”

“Oppa!! you like aegyo? Buing buing!” Nicole asked cutely while making the hand actions.

“Do you have a girlfriend, oppa?” JiYoung asked excitedly.

“Ya what are you asking?” Hyukjae’s cheeks colored and if Hyoyeon had not been looking away from the conversation on purpose, she might have even noticed the brief glance he threw her way.

“Is that a no?” Jiyoung squealed. “Assaa! When we’re no longer student-teacher, we are allowed to date right?” she asked shamelessly while giggling behind her hands causing Hyukjae to jump off the milk crate that he had been sitting on.

 “Look at the time! You guys already distracted me for 10 minutes!”

“But oppaaaa you didn’t answer us yet!” the girls whined together – and this time Hyoyeon briefly looked up, just in time to catch Hyukjae looking flustered and embarrassed. 

“I am still your teacher for three more days! We can talk about other things at the farewell party next week, ok?”

================================================================

updated! so much love for Hae so i wrote some parts for him :) i have a feeling u guys might hate me later but enjoy for now? :D