“Next period, we will have a laboratory experiment consisting the speed of a chemical reaction— sit down.” the chemistry teacher ordered when she started losing the students’ attention, “So I expect you to read the piece of paper I passed out to understand the experiment. Understand?” she paused and stared at the students. “Now you may choose your partners.”

The classroom went from deafening silence to the sound of chairs moving and voices calling for a friend. Everyone moved around the classroom in search of their partner, including Jung Hoseok.

“Seokjin!” someone called as the same time as Hoseok and he turned to that person.

“Namjoon.” Hoseok squinted his eyes at him.

“Hoseok.” he returned the gesture.

“Seokjin is my partner!” they both called and rushed to the boy in question’s side.

“Guys, guys, guys. Calm down. I'm not an object you can possess.” Seokjin said before putting a hand on Hoseok’s shoulder, “But sorry Hoseok, I promised Namjoon last time.”

Hoseok pouted with a frown as Namjoon prepared himself to celebrate with a dance.

“Fine. But don't let him dance.” he poked Namjoon’s side and the latter struck a weird defence pose to protect himself as if Hoseok would continue poking him.

The two partners sat elsewhere and Hoseok turned around to look for a partner. All his friends were already partnered up with each other and he knew there was no use in bothering them. At this point, everybody was already in teams of two, so he tried looking for someone that looked lonely. Luckily, he spotted Choi Inha, the new transfer student. She looked pretty nice, so why not?

He made his way towards Inha and plonked down in the seat right next to her. She turned to him with widen eye and he only smile back at her.

“You…” she quietly started.

Hoseok titled his head to the side with a hum, not hearing what she said. It wasn't surprising considering the noise surrounding them.

“Let's be lab partners. Is it okay with you?” Hoseok asked loud and clear.

He saw move and pointing at herself in confusion. He couldn't hear her quiet voice. He understood she was trying to confirm he was talking to her.

“Yes you. Everyone else is already teamed up. It's only you and me, so you okay with that?” he gave her a smile and she nodded, a faint smile forming on her own face as well.

“You're quite a shy person aren't you?” he asked, looking at her face. She replied with a nod, avoiding his eyes.

“Alright I won't make you uncomfortable anymore,” he stood up, understanding she gave up on talking because everyone was being too loud, “I'll read the sheet at my desk then.”

She gave him another nod, but this time, she actually looked at his face that had a smile plastered on it.

“You're bold as well aren't you? Didn't even talk to me and you looked at my handsome face.” he chuckled as he pushed the seat back under the desk.

A tint of pink appeared on her cheeks and she quickly covered it with her hands, looking away.

“I'm just messing with you,” he said with a smile, “Come find me if you have anything to tell me. I won't bite.”

Like that, he left her side and sat in his own seat, a smile still lingering on his face.

“Maybe it was a good idea to partner up with Inha. She's cute.” he thought as he glanced back at the girl for a second to see her fanning herself with her hands.

***

The final class was finally dismissed and Hoseok slung his backpack over his shoulders. Just as he was about to leave with his friends, he heard a quiet voice call his name. He had no idea how he heard it, but he did.

“Guys, meet me outside. I forgot something in my desk.” he told his friends.

Without a doubt, they left with a nod. Turning around, he saw Inha holdings something behind her back and once again avoiding eye contact.

“You have something for me?” he asked as he scratched his head.

“C-call me when you're free. I'll tell you what we're gonna do for the lab.” she presented a little sticky note with her phone number with both hands, her eyes carefully looking up at his face.

“Okay. I'll call you.” Hoseok happily accepted the sticky note with a smile before leaving the classroom to join his friend, sticky note into his pants pocket.

Inha rested both hands on her chest and took a deep breath. Once she calmed down, she grabbed her things and left the classroom, praying she didn't seem awkward when she gave her number to Hoseok.

***

It have been hours after school was over and it was only when everyone was asleep that Hoseok finally arrived home. His friends insisted on playing basketball and he just lost track of time. The shower was calling him when he stretched his arms thanks to the awful smell of sweat.

About half an hour later, he stepped out of the bathroom with black boxers, white t-shirt, a towel on his head and the set of dirty clothes he sweated in. He checked his dirty pants’ pockets and found the sticky note with Inha’s number on it. Dumping his pants in the laundry basket along with the other clothes, he jumped in bed with his phone and the note.

One hand holding his phone and the other the note, he debated whether he should call her or not. It was really late and she was probably asleep, but he knew that he had chemistry class the very next day. Maybe she was still awake waiting for him to call.

Finally deciding to call her, he dialed her number. It was ringing for quite a while and he was about to hang up when he heard her quiet voice.

“Hello? Is it Jung Hoseok?” she quietly asked.

“Ah yeah. It's me. Sorry for calling this late. I was afraid you'd be asleep already.” he guiltily apologized.

“Ah… I-it's okay. I was waiting…”

“I'm sorry again! I was playing basketball with my friends and lost track of the time. I feel awful for bothering you this late.” he apologized again without letting her finish her sentence.

“It's okay. I forgive you.” she said, quietly as always.

There was a silence over the phone for a few minutes when Inha suddenly said: “Sorry.”

“Hm? Sorry?” Hoseok asked in confusion.

“I-It was— I g-going to h-hang up.” she stuttered.

“Wait! No! Don't hang up!” he tried to stop her. He listened for a second and he couldn't hear a sound.

“Are you still there?” he asked.

“Yes…”

“Why don't you tell me about the lab? That's why you wanted me to call you didn't you?” he tried. He reckoned that she wasn't a good conversation leader.

“Ah! Yes about that, she gave a list of substances that would be available tomorrow and we should react a concentration of hydrogen chloride and calcium carbonate three times at different temperatures to compare the speed of each reaction.” Inha excitedly explained, her voice this time a lot louder than usual.

“I'm sorry, but I lost you at ‘substance’.” Hoseok scratched his head, confused by all the terms, but amused by her voice.

“I'm guessing you're not very good at chemistry.” she said, almost sounding amused.

“You could say that, but I'm pretty good at making chemistry with people.” he chuckled. There was a moment before she spoke again.

“S-so we n-need to determine w-what f-factor influences the s-speed of a ch-chemical reaction for tomorrow’s lab…” Inha started stuttering once again with her quiet voice. Hoseok tried thinking of a way to hear her bright voice again. It was a lot more beautiful and confident than her quiet one.

“I think—tzzzz— I'm losing connection,” he made weird noises for a second before continuing, “I think the connection—tzzzz— would be better if you could speak a little louder?” he asked in a cutesy voice and he heard a little laugh over the phone.

“Okay.” she replied before she started calmly explaining everything to Hoseok with a louder voice just as he requested.

He smiled and he didn't even know why. Maybe it was because he liked hearing Choi Inha talk with a beautiful and confident voice.

***

“Okay, so what’s calcium carbonate again?”

“It's chalk, but chalk isn't pure calcium carbonate.”

“What are we measuring again?”

“The carbon dioxide that forms when the chemical reaction between the two reagent react together.”

“You know you’re the saviour to our lab experiment?” Hoseok sighed in content.

“I know you told me so many times.” she said, almost reaching the limit to her patience.

“So has anyone ever told you you were just as good as me at chemical reactions between people?”

At that, Inha quickly turned away to hide her blushing face, unable to find something to distract her from him.

“Stop it. I'll go get the glasses.” she accidentally kicked his shin and sped off towards the glasses.

“Jung Hoseok, your pick up lines are the worst.”

“Just date Jimin, won't you, Min Yoongi?”

“If I could just throw this at you.” Yoongi held an Erlenmeyer flask with a clear yellow liquid substance in it. “Stop telling me to be gay.” he said before he turned back to his experiment.

Inha came back with the glasses and they both put them on.

After their nerve wracking experiment that went quite well, Hoseok sat down on the high stool with a sigh.

“That was intense.”

“You're just bad at chemistry.” Inha commented as she rinsed the instruments they used with tap water.

“You know, I'm not actually that good at chemistry between people. I'm just good at socializing, which means talking.”

There was a pause.

“Talking and saying random stuff.” he added.

She continued rinsing the instruments in silence.

“Do you want to go on a date with me?”

That's when Inha ceased all movements and froze. Date?

“I think you're really nice and I like hearing your voice.” he explained.

She turned to him, putting down the wet instruments on the table. She had her hands clasped together and looked at him straight into the eye. He waited for her answer.

“I think it's too early for a date…” she quietly said, but Hoseok carefully listened to hear her. “Can we start by hanging out first? Getting a little more comfortable with each other first? I don't think I'll survive if it were just us two alone for now.”

“I understand.” Hoseok said a little disappointed, but he suggested something else. “So do you want to join my friends and I for a basketball game? You can just watch if you want. You can cheer me on.”

She thought for a moment before answering with a quiet “Okay.”