One year has 365 days, a time to get to know someone.   365 days has 8760 hours, a time to fall for someone.   8760 hours has that one time when people change, causing the world to be eclipsed by a dark abyss.   If he could turn back time, he would.   Back to the days when they were mere strangers. No, in fact, he had always known about her existence, but at the same time never registered her existence in his mind. People often talked about her, so he was quite familiar with her name. But that was it. He never wanted to waste his time on the likes of her. ‘Strangers’ was perhaps not even the right word.   They were two people who were there at the right time and right place, but were too busy to realize it. However, when fate decided to play a game, it made sure everything was happening at the right pace when the time was right.   “Nam Woo Hyun will be paired with Jang Hyun Mi.”   The guy looked up from behind his silky jet black bangs covering his eyes. His head rose from beneath his arms he had used as his pillow. The entire class was set in a joyful uproar when the final pair of names for their upcoming group project was announced. Honestly, he didn’t think he’d have to participate for such assignments anymore since he had an important upcoming soccer match.   “Please come to the front to take your assignment,” Mr. Lee, their homeroom teacher instructed. The request was mainly aimed to the girl, because Woo Hyun’s reputation as the troublemaker student was quite infamous among the instructors. He wasn’t actually that terrible; it was just that he had better things to do, such as practicing for the match.   There was a small nearly inaudible “yes” coming from Hyun Mi’s direction, followed by the screeching of the chair against the ground, and the shuffling of her timid footsteps against the grey colored linoleum floor. Even when she walked, there was some kind of a good girl aura emitting from her by the way she clenched her fingers together while her sight was focused on the assignment papers.   Honestly, he worried they wouldn’t be able to work on the project. She seemed like the uptight kind of person; pretty boring even. She was the type who wore thick black framed glasses because she probably read too many books. Her shirt was always neatly tucked in, and her skirt measured exactly 5 cm above the knee. The black dull strands of her medium length hair bounced strangely on her shoulder; unmaintained, but constant through the days. She exhibit the outerly traits of a perfectionist.   “Thank you,” she told the teacher as she received the stack of papers with their assignment. She hastily hurried back to her seat without bothering to glance at her partner. The classmates continued to cheer for her as if she had reached the finish line of a marathon, and he could see a goofy smile escape her lips. He knew for certain she wasn’t smiling because she got paired with one of the hottest guy at school, if he may say so himself.   “You’re so lucky, Woo Hyun,” Hoya turned to him from behind his seat as soon as the teacher left. He immediately took out a piece of gum that was forbidden to eat during class time, and broke the rule. “Everyone knows that being paired with that girl is like… Paradise.”   “Why?” Woo Hyun blinked in confusion.   “She is going to do all the work for you, and you can relax,” Hoya replied, gnashing his teeth loudly together to create the chewy sound from the gum.   “She was in my group last time and she ended up doing everything,” Sung Yeol added on with a smile. He slammed his hand loudly against Woo Hyun’s desk. “You’re so lucky!”   Woo Hyun widened his eyes in amazement. He thought goodie two shoes people were just an urban legend, like Santa Clause. But as his friends quickly insisted him to go over there to talk, he decided to test it out.   “Hey… Hyun Mi?” He called out unsurely, wondering if he remembered her name correctly. Again he had known about her existence but never bothered to know her beyond that.   The girl turned to him abruptly. The glasses that were too big for her frame nearly fell off her nose. Her bangs bounced along with her turn, giving her a very childlike look. She could be easily mistaken as an elementary student actually.   “I’ll actually be quite busy with soccer practices since I am the team captain, and we got an upcoming match… The greatest coaches are coming to see if they will award someone with a scholarship.. So…” He started ranting his excuses, hoping she’d be smart enough to get the hint where this was going.   “If you don’t have time, I’ll do it,” Hyun Mi replied, just as the legend said about her. Instead of feeling burdened, she actually flashed him a smile, somewhat a crooked smile.   “And about the grade?” He asked her.   “Don’t worry, I’ll write your name on it too,” she reassured him.   “Wow! Okay, thanks! That will help me out a lot!” Woo Hyun grinned as he quickly went back to his seat. He couldn’t believe it; there was actually a person who was willing to do all the work. Why did he never get paired with her before?   “I told you, didn’t I?” Sung Yeol jerked his arm as soon as he returned. He then started blabbering about random topic and what they should do for the upcoming soccer game.   Woo Hyun furrowed his eyebrows as he saw his two classmates, Hyorin and Soyou, exchange weird giggles with each other before calling Hyun Mi over to their table. Hyun Mi simply obeyed by going to them at the back of the class and calmly stared at them.   “Since you are so good at studying and making essays like this, do you think you could help my group?” Hyorin asked with a pout.   “Me too, me too,” Soyou added.   Hyun Mi looked slightly taken aback by now, but the crooked smile was plastered on her face like a default mode. “I am not sure if I have time. I also need to do my group’s project-”   “But you’re the best at this! You’re the first person we thought of,” Soyou said, giving her a slightly disappointed look.   “You have 24 hours in a day. Surely you can use one hour to help out your friends, right?” Hyorin asked with her lips pressed firmly on each other.   There was that weird look of hesitation as Hyun Mi’s lips slightly trembled. This was a project that was going to take up more than one hour, especially if she had to work on two groups. She momentarily faced the ground before she ended up giving a nod that did not seem all too convincing.   “Great!” The two girls chorused and high fived each other giddily.   Woo Hyun raised his eyebrows at the odd behavior. There was zero resistance from her, almost as if the petite girl was too scared to talk back. But no, there was something else going on that was soon going to become the root of all problems and solution.   She must’ve caught him staring at her as she suddenly approached him to pose a question that would soon define her existence. “What time is it now?”   “Uuhm… 3pm,” he answered after looking at his watch.   “Ah, I should start doing the assignment then,” she panicked to herself and quickly returned to her seat to organize her already organized desk. Her movements looked so frantic and chaotic for someone who looked so organized and composed most of the time. It was so peculiar.   Within 8760 hours, that was the time when things would start to change.     “And he shoots! And he scores!”   Sung Yeol’s loud voice could be heard all across the soccer field right behind the campus building. The tall guy ran up to his friend with open arms and tackled Woo Hyun down with a big hug for scoring a perfect goal.   “Careful, you don’t want to injure our star player,” Hoya warned him. “What if he can’t play on the d-day?”   “That’s not gonna happen. I’ll play even if I’m injured,” Woo Hyun laughed as he walked to the bench together with his fellow team members. He picked up the rolled up towel to wipe off the sweat forming all over his face. He took his red colored water thermos and splashed some of the cool water over him.   “You better get the scholarship since you’re really bad at studying,” Hoya , though he wasn’t joking. They all knew Woo Hyun was street smart, but definitely not book smart.   “Is that girl really doing all the work?” Sung Yeol asked curiously, picking up a water bottle to gulp down from it. He let the water drip down from his mouth into his shirt on purpose, feeling refreshed.   “I guess so, I haven’t spoken to her ever since we got the assignment,” Woo Hyun said. Their weekend was soon coming to an end, and he had honestly forgotten all about it. He wouldn’t even bother finishing it on time if it were up to him.   “At least try to look like you’re helping. How can you let her do all the work herself?” Hoya asked with sudden concern.   “Eihh… She enjoys it, let her be,” Sung Yeol said as he pulled the other back up from the seat. “Shall we continue the match?”   “Actually, let’s take a break,” Woo Hyun suddenly said. He reassured his friends he’d be right back as soon as he checked on something.   Their words affected him. He wasn’t a mean guy of some sorts and wouldn’t want to enslave another student to do all the work for him. He just had to set things straight and make sure his partner had a common understanding that this was all done on her own free will. He certainly did not want a misconception on how other people saw him.   With the towel still around his neck, the thermos in his other hand, and his sports bag drooping from his shoulder, his feet blindly led the way up the pavement. He absolutely had no idea where she was, nor did he care enough to ask her contact information that day. But judging on the kind of goodie two shoes she was with her bookworm appearance, wouldn’t she be at a library?   His footsteps found way towards the large building located next to the main campus building. It was decorated as an old Renaissance styled building with rose stained glass windows on the sides. Many might’ve mistaken it as an old church building, which it probably was before its interiors were turned over into a library. It stood out as the only odd looking building on their entire modern styled school premise.   The familiarity of the vintage door handle pressed firmly unto his skin, lowering the shaft to push the large entrance open. How it managed to remain silent without making any creaking noise would forever remain a mystery whenever he came to this place. His eyes scanned the entire place, retrieving nothing but the sight of books and disheveled bookshelves in his vision. The girl was nowhere to be found.   With a small sigh of disappointment, he turned around with his shoulders slouched low. Until he realized the presence of a certain someone in front of him, appearing like a thief at night without hollering any noise. Hyun Mi looked equally surprised when he flinched backwards.   “Shouldn’t you be out there practicing?” Was the first thing she asked him, looking back at him with a puzzled look from behind her glasses. The dark color under her eye bag made her look even more confused than the question intended to be.   “I wanted to see how you were doing,” Woo Hyun replied, seeing the blank look on her face. She was probably not buying any of the things he said and proceeded to a nearby table that was already filled with bunch of papers and a laptop. He automatically took the seat in front of her, intently watching her as she began to type something. The clicking noise of her fingers against the keyboard came to a halt as she looked up to stare at him.   “What are you doing?” She asked him with some emotion, bothered by the way he just kept staring. This was perhaps the first time she said anything resembling an action of opposition.   “Offering my assistance. Need any help?” He asked just for the sake of asking.   The offer caught her off guard as a deep frown sunk in her forehead. It was almost as if hearing someone offering help was a foreign and bizzare behavior. That crooked smile was back on her face again. “No thanks,” she quickly answered, burying herself back into the papers and books she had lying out in front of her.   “Okay, just let me know if you need help,” Woo Hyun said just for the sake of being polite. He pushed himself from the chair and scanned the endless amount of papers, books, and even folders, scattered according to the colors of the color wheel and alphabetically. If she wasn’t a perfectionist, she probably had OCD. His eyes fell on the document supposedly written by Kim Hyorin, and another one by Kang Soyou. He took the paper in his hand, surprising Hyun Mi who suddenly jumped off her chair towards him.   “Aren’t these two in another group?” He asked, raising his hand up high where the shorter girl was unable to reach. He sternly turned to see her stop jumping,  and ending her poor attempt to retrieve the paper.   “Yeah, they asked me to help them out, so I did,” Hyun Mi said, finally gaining the paper back when he lowered his hand.   “Why? They’re not even in our group?” Woo Hyun said. He remembered the conversation they had in class when he saw the two girls ganging up on Hyun Mi, but he never thought she’d be stupid enough to actually say yes. Wasn’t she supposed to be the smart one?   “They needed my help. They probably didn’t have time for this. How could I say no?” Hyun Mi said as she sat back on her chair and began smiled faintly at him. “Seeing them happy makes me happy.”   Woo Hyun did not even realize he had been giving her a weird stare the entire time. He could not even comprehend her mindset. “It’s dumb if you ask me,” he told her without filtering his words.   The words must’ve hit Hyun Mi harder than he thought it would judging on the way her fake excitement faltered. Part of her noticed that disapproving look in his eyes, and it scarred her. That look of unacceptance began to make her feel inferior.   “Don’t worry, I will work harder on our project. This will boost up your chances to get picked for the scholarship, right?” she asked him quietly, hoping he’d be on her side again. Instead of feeling offended by his words, she was trying so hard to find his approval again.   Woo Hyun was slowly sensing what was going on and decided to test something out. He rummaged into his bag and took out a red checkered notebook and carefully laid it in front of her. “I forgot to take notes last time, do you think you could help write them down for me, since I’m sure you have them.”   “Sure,” she answered with no second of hesitation, picking up his notebook before putting it back in her bag.   Woo Hyun continued to stare at her weirdly. There was something he disliked about the girl, and at the same time couldn’t escape from. She looked so happy once he asked her for a favor, but not in the sense of genuine happiness. She was happy because she felt needed; like some sort of twisted reassurance that she was important when she was able to please others.   “You know you can say no,” he told her. “You’re supposed to have fun on the weekend anyway.”   Again, the words were like foreign linguistic she had never heard of before. Yet she held back the emotion and smiled faintly at him. “A year only has 8760 hours; there’s no time for fun,” she replied mundanely.   That was exactly the attitude that made him feel so compelled to stay away from her, which he would as soon as their project ended.   “What time is it now?” Hyun Mi suddenly asked.   The question interrupted his train of thoughts as he took out the phone from his bag. “6PM.”   “Oh no! I forgot to eat!” The girl exclaimed dramatically at her own realization that time had gone by way too fast for her own liking.   “Y-you forgot to what?” Woo Hyun watched her quickly pick up her stuff in a rush. Even in such a panicked state, she couldn’t leave the books on the table and felt responsible to put them back on the shelves.   “I gotta go now, bye!” Hyun Mi quickly waved him goodbye as she clumsily pushed the door of the library open to let herself out, almost tripping on the way. The laptop was dangling from her exposed backpack she forgot to zip up for once. The papers were held tightly and carefully against her chest. The sight really resembled a small child with no clear sense of direction in front of her, or in life.   Within 8760 hours, that was the moment when he realized the change taking place within him.     In the few coming days, Woo Hyun couldn’t help but study the girl’s odd behavior. He suddenly realized why neither he nor anyone else ever realized her presence. She appeared in people’s mind only when there was a need. When people needed something to be done, they’d come to her. Aside from that, it seemed she had no real personality other than to please people. When the teachers asked her for a favor, she’d say yes to it willingly. When the classmates asked her to take over their shift, she’d say yes to it with that crooked smile.   Many times, he stayed back late to continue his soccer practice. He left his sports bag in the classroom on purpose, just so he had a valid reason to go back later and check whether the girl was still there or not. And sure enough, she was always the last person sweeping the floor, dusting the white board, or drowned beneath books on her small little desk.   “What time is it?” he asked when he entered the classroom during nighttime. The darkness had befallen upon the entire city, and streetlamps in the dark narrow pathways outside along with the ceiling lamp of the room inside were the only sources emitting some brightness.   Hyun Mi looked up from her paper; eyes rapidly scanning the surrounding to realize it had gotten dark already. “I’m not sure,” she answered, looking back at him with questioning eyes since it was the one thing she always asked him anyway.   “It’s 7 PM,” Woo Hyun answered, knowing that his intuition was right about her forgetting the time once more. He only had to see it happen once at the library to know it had been a habit of hers. For someone who who kept repeating every second within the span of 8760 hours was important, she sure seemed to forget the time ticking by every day.   “I should g-”   She halted her movements when Woo Hyun suddenly placed two cups of instant noodles on the table. Her eyes stared at the item in disbelief before she slowly glanced up at Woo Hyun, seeing him stare back at her intently with what seemed like a rather angry look. It was scary.   “Do you want me to make them for you?” she asked timidly.   “One is for you, you haven’t eaten right?” Woo Hyun cleared his throat as he pulled up a chair to sit on the other end of her desk. He tried his best to seem uninterested in case she misunderstood his nice act. There were zero hidden intentions behind his kindness—he was simply a kind person. Everyone knew that.   Hyun Mi was quiet for some time, seemingly touched by his act of kindness. But the words that came from proved she had a different reason for her silence.   “Do we even have hot water here?”   The statement left Woo Hyun stupefied, seeing how his random act of kindness was going to fail. He had seen this kind of things work out in dramas, but in reality, finding a hot water tab at the campus building wasn’t an easy task. The look on his face must’ve looked completely stupid by now, cause for the first time ever since they were assigned on the project together, he heard her laugh.   “I’ll go do it,” Hyun Mi got up from her seat, taking the two instant noodle cups in her hand before she quickly rushed out of the classroom. Rushing because she had probably set a time limit for herself.   Woo Hyun blinked his eyes as the melodious sound still lingered in his mind. If she was capable of producing such a joyful sound, why didn’t she? Why did she constantly have to give in to what other people a