The first time Seungcheol saw her was in his favorite coffee shop in the city. He went to Les Sentiments almost everyday since He and his friends liked to hang out there. It was rather large, with two floors with a lot of seating.  On one of his trips during the summer, he noticed that the girl at the register was different. For one, it was a guy who was usually at the register or the older owner of the café. She was short and fairy like, with glittering brown eyes and dirty blond hair in a neat ponytail. Her smile when she greeted him made him forget his order.

“Seungcheol!” One of the baristas called. “The usual?” He nodded dumbly.

“What is the usual?” The new cashier asked, cocking her head to the side.

“A-a-Americano with hazelnut.” He stuttered. She smiled again before putting it into the register.

Over the next month, he got to know the girl. Her name was Jiyeon, she was 16, a year younger than him, and loved dogs and music. She had memorized his two regular orders as well, always asking if he wanted one or the other with a smile. He had talked to her during her breaks, always trying to make her smile and laugh. Even when he was in a hurry he would linger a little bit to watch her. He liked her more everyday he got to know her. He dreaded the start of the school year.

He didn’t expect to see her in the hallway on the first day of school. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her. She didn’t seem to notice him as she walked by with a teacher. She looked so cute in her blue and tan uniform with her hair down.

“Hey. Coups. Let’s go.” One of his friends, Jeonghan, said. Seungcheol shook his head and followed Jeonghan to his classroom.

Wonwoo didn’t talk much in class, no matter how many girls tried to talk to him. He only talked to the three of his friends that were in his class. Unfortunately for him, they sat in different parts of the classroom, like the teacher intentionally separated them, which was probably true. Jun sat in the front row by the door and Soonyoung sat on the other side of the room in the third row. Jihoon was smack dab in the middle of the classroom and he was in the back. By the window. Like some cliché drama. The popular, brooding, mysterious boy by the window in the back. The school year was going to be as boring as the last.

When the door slid open, he didn’t lift his head up off his desk.

“Welcome back students.” The teacher said happily. A little too happily. “We have a new student this year!” When Wonwoo heard that, he lifted his head. “This is Han Jiyeon.” The girl, Jiyeon, bowed and waved.

“Please take care of me!” He blinked. She was pretty. He didn’t really know what else to think. There was no way for him to describe her other than pretty. He never really thought about girls before since none in the class caught his attention.

“You can go sit in front of Wonwoo. Wonwoo raise your hand.” The teacher looked at him. He raised his hand, trying hard to not look asleep. Jiyeon came over and put her bag on the hook on the desk.

“Hi.” She smiled. Wonwoo only nodded, too tired to form words.

All through class, he stared at the back of her head. She played with her hair a lot; pushing it back, pulling it over her shoulder, twisting it with her fingers. It was a little distracting. Not that he paid much attention anyway.

“Wonwoo. Jeon Wonwoo” He jumped and looked up to see the teacher looking at him. “Can you read the passage on page 15?”

At lunch, Seungcheol had decided to go find Jiyeon. She was a year younger than him, so that meant she must be in the same class as some of his friends who were the same age. He all but sprinted down the hallway, weaving through the traffic, and opened the door to the classroom.

“Hyung!” Hoshi yelled, waving at him. Seungcheol half-heartedly waved back as he scanned the classroom. Sitting in the 5^th row by the window was the girl he was looking for.

“Jiyeon!” She looked up from her lunch.

“Seungcheol!” She smiled then paused. “I guess it’s Seungcheol sunbae huh?” He smiled.

“Anything you want.” Jiyeon laughed.

“What are you doing here?”

“I go here.” He replied, sitting down in the empty seat in front of her. She rolled her eyes and smacked his arm.

“I mean in my classroom you goof. Aren’t you in the year above me?” He grinned.

“I am but I came to see how you were doing.” Jiyeon shook her head and went back to her lunch.

“Really now?” Seungcheol laughed, watching as she ate her sandwich.

Wonwoo had left the classroom to go to the bathroom to perhaps introduce himself to Jiyeon when he came back. Since she would be sitting in front of him. He returned to find her laughing with Seungcheol who was leaning his elbow on her desk.

“Hyung. What are you doing here?” Wonwoo said stiffly.

“Oh. Wonwoo. I forgot you were in this class.” Seungcheol ignored his question and went back to talking to Jiyeon. Wonwoo huffed and plopped down into his seat.

Wonwoo got his chance to talk to her a few days later. His hyung had been monopolizing her time at lunch and she always left class before he could go up to her. When he saw her walking ahead of him on morning, he jogged up to her, leaving a confused Mingyu staring after him.

“Jiyeon!” She turned around in surprise.

“Oh! Wonwoo! Good morning!” She smiled. “How are you?” Wonwoo took a moment to catch his breath before responding.

“Good. I’m good. How are you?” She shrugged and adjusted her bag.

“Ok. A bit tired.” Wonwoo found out she worked at Les Sentiments and wondered how he had never noticed her on the 1000 trips he and his friends had made they over break. He wondered if that’s how she had met his hyung.

“Jiyeon!” Wonwoo grit his teeth. Not again. He looked to see Seungcheol fly out of nowhere.

“Sunbae!” She giggled, “Be careful! You could fall!”

“Seungcheol!” There was a call from behind them. Jeonghan came up and smacked Seungcheol in the shoulder. “You can’t just leave us like that.” Jiyeon’s eyes widened.  The new boy in front of her had the prettiest hair. “Sorry Jiyeon.” Jiyeon blinked. The pretty haired boy was talking to her.

“N-no problem.” She stuttered. “How do you know my name?”

“Your sunbae here won’t shut up about you.” Jeonghan gestured at Seungcheol, who scratched the back of his sheepishly. Wonwoo grumpily watched the scene. When the first bell rang, he grabbed Jiyeon’s wrist and dragged her off.

“See you later! Jiyeon and I have to get to class.” Wonwoo called over his shoulder. Jiyeon waved and just let him pull her to class.

“Are you ok?” She asked at break. He looked up to see Jiyeon frowning at him. He blinked before letting a small smile form on his face.

“Yeah. Just tired.” Jiyeon rummaged in her bag for a minute before getting up.

“Wait here.” She rushed out of the classroom. She returned a few minutes later with two warm cans of coffee. “Maybe this will help.” She handed one to him and opened the other one. Wonwoo only stared at the coffee. She really bought him a can of coffee, after really talking to him for the first time that day. “Do you not like it? I could-“

“No! It’s perfect!” He cut her off. She smiled and nodded.

“Good.” Jiyeon turned back to the front.

Through class Wonwoo was smiling. Soonyoung was suspicious. Wonwoo never smiled that much in school. It must be because of that new girl. This needed further investigation. He smirked. He was going to figure this out, no matter what.

“HI!” Soonyoung plopped down into the seat across from Jiyeon, who jumped.

“Hello!” Jiyeon blinked at the smiling boy.

“I’m Sooyoung but you can call me Hoshi!” he waved. Jiyeon waved back and went back to her lunch. Soonyoung cocked his head to the side and squinted.

“What?” Jiyeon felt herself turning pink at his scrutiny.

“You’re cute.” If Jiyeon was pink before, she was bright red now.

“Th-th-thank you.” She stuttered, not used to being called cute. Soonyoung giggled. Jiyeon turned even redder and got up and scurried out of the classroom to go to the bathroom.

“She really is cute.” He smirked at Wonwoo.

“Leave her alone.” Wonwoo growled.

“Oooooo. Defensive.” Soonyoung chuckled and left to go bother Jihoon. Wonwoo sighed. First Seungcheol, now Hoshi. How was he supposed to get time to talk to Jiyeon alone now? He hadn’t gotten to talk to her much since the day before since Seungcheol had come in and felt upset. He sighed. What was going on with him?

Jiyeon was so preoccupied on her way back from the bathroom, she ran into someone.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” She bowed.

“No I’m sorry!” Jiyeon looked up to see a cute boy with rather curly hair. “Are you ok?” Jiyeon nodded furiously. “That’s good.” The bell rang and Jiyeon bowed again.

“I’m sorry again! Bye!” She took of to get to class before the second bell. The boy stared after her.

“Minghao!” He turned around.

“Coming!”

            There were a lot of customers at Les Sentiments during Jiyeon’s Friday afternoon shift. She was a barista that day and the amount of drinks she had lined up was driving her crazy. Every time she finished one drink, another one seemed to show up. Latte, Americano, latte, chai. A never-ending cycle. It was boring till she saw one of the cups. Americano with hazelnut. Seungcheol.

            “Sunbae?” She looked up to see him smiling at her.

            “Hey Jiyeon.” He had been watching her for a while. He watched as she rushed around, making drink after drink, looking so focused.

            “What are you doing here?” Jiyeon turned back to make his drink.

            “Why else would I be here?” He chuckled. Jiyeon slapped the back of her head.

            “Of course.” She handed him his drink. “Enjoy it Seungcheol sunbae!” Seungcheol smiled and went to go sit down to continue to watch her work.

            Jiyeon got out of work around 9. She stepped out of the cafe and sighed. Work was over for the night and she had an early shift the next day. Pulling her hair out of the ponytail she had it in for work, she sighed and began to walk down the street towards her home.

            “Jiyeon?” Jiyeon turned around to see Seungcheol walking behind her.

“Oh! Sunbae!” She smiled as he jogged up to her.

“Walking home?” he asked. Jiyeon nodded. “You shouldn’t be walking home alone so late.” She laughed.

“No one can with me. I’m a strong girl.” She made a muscle and Seungcheol laughed.

“I’m sure you are.”

The two walked in comfortable silence for a little while. Seungcheol snuck looks at Jiyeon out of the corner of his eye. She was swinging her arms happily, humming an unknown tune. When she pushed her hair behind her left ear, he noticed the six piercings going up her ear, each with diamonds studs. How had he not seen these before? Jiyeon felt him staring and looked at him.

“What?” He shook his head.

“Nothing.” He paused, “I like your piercings.”

“Thanks.” She replied. After a few more minutes, they reached her building. “Well…I’m here. Thanks for walking me home sunbae.” She waved at him and walked inside.

Seungcheol watched her watched her walk away. He smiled to himself and ran home in a good mood. Even if he knew he was going to be in trouble with his parents.

Mondays were awful. Jiyeon really hated Mondays. This Monday was particularly awful. It was rainy, and a little cold, and just extremely dreary. She had forgotten her umbrella and couldn’t go back to get it because she was close to being late. She also regretted not wearing tights. Her knee-highs were not enough to keep her legs warm. The wind kept blowing up her skirt and she had the hardest time keeping it down. The subway was even more crowded than usual and someone grabbed her .

She was in a foul mood when she got to school. She stormed down the hall, ignoring Seungcheol as she passed. Jiyeon threw her backpack to the ground, collapsed into her seat, and laid her head on her desk angrily. She felt terrible.

“Jiyeon?” she looked up and saw Wonwoo looking down at her. She groaned and put her head back down.

“What?” She mumbled.

“Are you ok?” He asked. Jiyeon groaned again.

“No.” She shifted in her seat and sat up. “I’m exhausted.” She shook her hair, spraying drops of water everywhere. “And I’m damp.”  Wonwoo gave her a small smile and placed a can of warm coffee.

“Here. Would this help?” Jiyeon nodded and opened the drink. Café latte. Her favorite.

Class dragged on. Every second felt like a minute and every minute felt like an hour. Jiyeon missed most of the notes and didn’t understand half the lectures. Everything was terrible.

It only got worse when she opened her bag to get her lunch. It wasn’t there.

“God ing dammit!” She yelled in frustration. “Ugh!” She slammed her fists on her desk and collapsed back into her chair. Tears came to her eyes. Nothing was working that day.  She threw a mini tantrum. What did she do to deserve this?

Wonwoo watched quietly as she had her fit. He was shocked that the usually sweet girl in front of him was acting the way she was. Not that he liked her any less. No. He felt badly that she was going through this and he didn’t know how to help.

“Jiyeonnie! What’s wrong?” Hoshi plopped down in the chair in front of Jiyeon.

“Absolutely everything.” She went on to explain her horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day. Hoshi frowned as he listened to Jiyeon whine. “And now I have no lunch.” She sighed and put her head back onto her desk, her arms reaching over her head.

“Aw Jiyeonnie!” Hoshi rubbed her back. “You can have some of my kimbap.” Jiyeon shook her head.

“No. I couldn’t do that.”

“No!” Hoshi got up and came back with his lunch. “Here! Eat some!” Jiyeon sat up and took a piece, quietly putting it in .

Wonwoo watched as she shared lunch with his friend. Why hadn’t he thought of that? He had been so preoccupied with her reaction that he didn’t think of how to help. Jiyeon had started to smile a bit and even laughed a little at something Hoshi had said. After the first bell rang and Hoshi had returned to his seat, she turned around.

“Thank you for the coffee earlier. It really helped.” She smiled and he felt his face heat up.

“N-n-no problem.” He stuttered and tried to smile back. He sighed in relief when she turned back. He brought himself back to focus on the teacher.

“I’m home!” Jiyeon called as she stepped through the door of the apartment she lived in with her parents. No one responded. She sighed. Only Mickey, her Bernese Mountain dog, came bounding up to her. She hugged him and smiled.

“Has Mickey been a good boy? Has he?” Mickey barked at her face. She grabbed her umbrella and took Mickey for a walk.

It was not unusual for her parents not to be home when she returned. Her mother traveled a lot for business and her father was a doctor and worked late most of the time or was on call. She had a younger sister, Jiyoung, but she was away at a special school after an extreme mental breakdown. Jiyeon missed her a lot. Everyday she wished she could see her. Even talking to her would have been enough. Unfortunately, only her parents got to talk to her regularly. Jiyeon and Jiyoung had always been close. They were only a year apart and went everywhere together. They looked so much alike that people would get them confused, which they always found funny. Now she was alone and it . Well, at least she had Mickey.

Dinner was lonely. Sure she put on music, but she had no one to talk to. Going to bed wasn’t much better. Jiyeon and her sister used to chat while they were in bed. About anything. She felt so sad. She wanted her sister. It just felt terrible. Mickey sensed this and jumped on to her bed, curling up next to her.

Jiyeon was in a scramble the next day. She hadn’t done her Math homework because she didn’t have the notes. She got to school early to try and find someone to copy their notes. When she entered the classroom, she only found Woozi.

“Jihoon.” She tapped him on the shoulder. He pulled his earphone out and looked up at her. “Can I copy your math notes?” He blinked.

“Yeah. Sure.” He nodded and handed her his notebook. She smiled and dropped into the seat next to him.

When she was finished, she handed back his notes.

“Thanks! You saved my life!” She bounced off back to her desk. Woozi watched her go, shrugged, and went back to his music. He didn’t know why Wonwoo and Seungcheol hyung liked her so much. She wasn’t anything special. Whatever the reason, he didn’t really care. She was just a girl.

Everyday, Wonwoo and Mingyu walked to school together. They had grown up together and lived close to each other. Mingyu did most of the talking. Wonwoo didn’t mind. Mingyu would just blabber on with no direction and it was amusing to listen to.

“Sooooooo… Hyung… About this Jiyeon girl.” Wonwoo stopped abruptly.

“What about her?” he started walking again. Mingyu jogged to catch up with him.

“You don’t eat lunch with me anymore and if you see her in the morning, you leave me. So what’s the deal?” Wonwoo chewed his lip. What was the deal? Jiyeon was just a girl. A sweet girl but what was special about her? All he knew was he was drawn to her.

“I don’t know.” Wonwoo shrugged, “Is it wrong for me to want to get to know her?” Mingyu shook his head.

“Well no but-”

“Then shut up.” Wonwoo felt defensive. It confused him. He saw Jiyeon but resisted to go up to her. But when he saw Seungcheol go up to her, he wish hadn’t. His hyung was a little too close to her for his liking. Seungcheol had thrown his arm over her shoulder and Wonwoo wanted to run and push him away. But he didn't.

Jiyeon jumped when Seungcheol came out of nowhere.

“Sunbae! You’re gonna kill me one day!” Jiyeon whined, holding her hand over her heart and trying to regain her composure. Jeonghan messed up her hair.

“You’ll be fine.” Jiyeon shrugged them off and fixed her hair.

“Thanks Jeonghan sunbae.” she said sarcastically and Jeonghan laughed.

Class was abysmal. Wonwoo absolutely hated English. Hated it. So much. Nothing made sense. There, they're, and their. Where and wear. Who and whom. whoever came up with this. He flipped his hair out of his face and tried to pay attention but failed. He focused his attention on the girl in front of him. She was playing with her hair while she took notes. When she wasn’t writing, she would tap her pencil on her notebook and tilt her head when she didn’t understand something. It was adorable. The guy next to him tapped his shoulder.

“Dude.” He whispered, “You ok?” Wonwoo nodded. “Cool. You looked zoned out.” Wonwoo blushed. Oops.

Jiyeon tried to pay attention in literature. She really did. But they were reading To Kill a Mockingbird, which she had read over the summer. A great book. She ran her fingers through her hair then braided it. Her hair was pretty long, about elbow length. It was only annoying when she had to tie up. There was just so much of it that she never could get it all up on the first try. After braiding her hair, she turned to look out the window. It was a sunny fall day. The leaves were starting to change colors and the air had gotten a little colder. Soon she would have to wear tights rather than her knee-highs and probably need to break out her boots. She was going to have to buy a new hat, scarf, and gloves. She was brought back to earth when the bell rang. She stood up and began to pack up as everyone around her was doing the same thing.

“Hey! Wonwoo hyung!” Mingyu ran into the classroom, “You ready to go?” He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, excited for the upcoming weekend. Wonwoo looked up in time to see Jiyeon leave the classroom.

“Uh yeah. Hold on.” He pushed past Mingyu to go after her. Mingyu groaned and followed him out.

“Hey! Jiyeon! Wait!” Jiyeon turned around.

“What’s up?” She asked, adjusting her bag. Wonwoo didn’t really know what he was going to say but blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Do you wanna study for our math test together this weekend?” Jiyeon looked surprised.

“Yeah. Sure.” She paused, “How about Saturday afternoon after my shift at like 2? We could go to the library.” Wonwoo nodded furiously.

“That’s great!” He thought for a second, “C-c-could we trade numbers? Just so I can um… text you when I leave my house.” He hoped that sounded reasonable. Jiyeon smiled and nodded.

“Okay!” She took his phone and put her number in. He saw that she had put a smiley emoji next to her name. “So you really know it’s me!” she giggled. She looked down at her phone and gasped. “Oh . I gotta go. Bye Wonwoo! See you Saturday!” She waved and ran off to catch her bus for work.

Wonwoo belatedly realized on Saturday morning that he had actually asked Jiyeon on a study date. He was in such a rush to just talk to her that he didn’t notice what he was saying. He had gotten a text from her earlier.

‘We’re still on for studying today, right?’

He had been shocked when he got it, having also forgotten that they had exchanged numbers. He was worried about everything. Especially his clothes. He hadn’t thought of anything to wear the night before, so he googled ‘outfits for a study date’. His best choice was a sweater and jeans. Sweater paws were absolutely necessary to hide his shaking hands. Now to pick a sweater. Wonwoo went through about three quarters of his sweaters before he decided on a black and white striped one. He thought about styling his hair but decided it might be too much so he just left it as it usually was; kind of in his face. He was really nervous. On his way out the door, his mother called him over.

“Where are you going in a rush?” She asked, looking at him from over her book. “Why do you look so nervous?” Wonwoo looked away and felt his face heating up. “Oh my gosh are you going to see a girl?!” His mother squealed and clapped. “Finally! My son is interacting with girls!” Wonwoo was so embarrassed that he ran out the door before his mother could interrogate him.

            Work seemed to drag on for Jiyeon. She just wanted to be finished so she could meet Wonwoo. She really needed to study for this test and she hoped he knew what he was doing so he could explain it to her. The teacher’s explanations always went one ear and out the other. Straight over her head. She understood nothing.

“This is a Caramel Latte! Not a caramel macchiato!” A customer said angrily. Jiyeon apologized and remade the drink. She was really distracted.

She took her break at one of the tables by the window playing with her phone. It was pretty boring. Nothing interesting was on Facebook or Instagram, so she just played a puzzle game and listened to her music. She hoped some Nicki Minaj would motivate her to pay more attention. She jumped when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hey Jiyeon.” She looked up to see Seungcheol and another boy she didn’t know looking down at her. “What’s up?”

“Oh! Sunbae! Hi!” The two boys sat down in front of her.

“Enjoying your break?” Seungcheol asked, taking a sip of his Americano, Jiyeon was sure of it. She nodded.

“It’s nice. A little boring.”

“Well not any more!” Seungcheol gave her a huge grin that Jiyeon couldn’t help but return.

“Nope. I guess not.” She eyed the boy sitting next to Seungcheol. He didn’t look completely Korean. Not that that was a bad thing. It was just a little surprising.

“Oh! This is Vernon.” Seungcheol gestured at the boy who nodded.

“What up?” Jiyeon blinked before introducing herself. “I know.” Vernon smirked. “Hyung told me about you.” How many people did Seungcheol tell about her? She was a little worried.

“Shut up Vernon!” Seungcheol hissed. He then turned to Jiyeon with a smile. “What are you doing after work? You wanna hang out?” Jiyeon looked out the window.

“Sorry sunbae. I’m studying with Wonwoo today.” Vernon snickered at his hyung’s shocked expression.

“Too bad Coups hyung! Wonwoo hyung beat you to it.” Seungcheol frowned. It wasn’t fair. He really wanted to spend time with her that day. He had planned to go bike riding by the river and basically just hang out, maybe get pizza, but Wonwoo beat him to it. Before he could ask Jiyeon to hang out with he next weekend, she got up.

“I gotta go back to work. See you Monday sunbae. Nice meeting you Vernon.” Seungcheol watched her leave and felt his mood plummet.

“Let’s go Vernon.”

Wonwoo stood in front of the library, waiting. It was 2:10 and Jiyeon wasn’t there. He was getting antsy. Did she forget? Was she standing him up? He was about to call her when he heard his name.

“Wonwoo!” He turned to see Jiyeon jog up to him. She stopped to catch her breath. “Sorry. I got out of work late.” Wonwoo sighed. She came.

“N-no problem.” He scratched the back of his head. “I like your uuhh… sweater.” Jiyeon looked down at herself.

“Thanks!” She pulled her hood up. “It has cat ears!” She giggled, posing like a cat. “Let’s go inside!” She grabbed Wonwoo’s arm and pulled him inside. He looked down at her tiny hand wrapped around his wrist and smiled.

The two had been working together for over two hours. Jiyeon was so thankful the Wonwoo knew what he was doing. Now she actually an idea of what she was doing. Kind of.

“What the ?” She hissed, glaring down at the problem in front of her. “How did that happen?” Wonwoo chuckled. It was funny watching her get frustrated. She would curse, pull at her hair, slam her pencil down, and then drop her head to the table.

“You just forgot to add the two.” Jiyeon looked up.

“Oh.” She scribbled the last part of the equation down and sat back. “Take that.”  She turned to Wonwoo. “Do you feel ready?” Wonwoo nodded.

“I think so.” Jiyeon smiled and stood up.

“Then let’s go get pizza! I’ll buy!” Wonwoo smiled and packed up his things, ready for pizza.

Hoshi and Chan had been sent out for food. A few of the other guys were at Vernon’s house and had gotten hungry. When the two got to the pizza parlor, they saw Wonwoo and Jiyeon chatting and laughing.

“Channie. You see that?” Hoshi whispered.

“What hyung?” Hoshi pointed over to the pair.

“It’s Wonwoo and Jiyeonnie. Eating together.”

“Jiyeon sunbae?” Chan turned. “It is! Take a picture!” Hoshi took out his phone and snapped a picture.

“Hehe. They’re so cute.”

When they returned to the rest of the group, Hoshi showed them the picture.

“Guys! Look! Wonwoo’s on a date!” Seungcheol’s head snapped up and he snatched the phone from Hoshi’s hands. “Whoa hyung!”

Seungcheol felt himself getting mad. Jiyeon and Wonwoo were smiling. Jiyeon was playing with her hair and looked so pretty. He was upset because he could have been the one sitting across from her if he had asked her to hang out first. Unable to look anymore, he got up to go find something to drink.