There were perks of waking up and going to campus too early in the morning. First, breathing the very fresh air within the absence of the competition between oxygen and carbon monoxide to enter the lungs. Second, tasting the delicacy of pancakes with mapple syrup in the best pancake store just in front of the campus, with a cup of Machiato on his hand. Third, admiring the beauty of cherry blossom in the campus by wandering in bicycle, plus accidentally fell off of it, due to the negligence in riding it, without anybody noticing. Fourth, who knew if he got to listen to the voice of an angel in piano.

 

On the last step of the stairs on the fourth level, his feet initiate to reach the room in the corner. He was hanging in front of the door, crossing his arm and lean on the threshold. From this perspective, the magnificent black wavy hair, the mole on her right eyelid, the blush on her pokeable chubby cheek, the sweet smile, all could be adored perfectly. It was Chrisette Michele’s Love is You. It was not only music and lyrics, she poured her soul into it as well. His heart melted, followed by the rest of the body.

 

She got him starstruck.

 

What a precious 02:30 minutes, he tought.

 

He wouldn't mind hanging in there for the rest of the day.

 

After the very last touch of the keyboard, she turned her face and give him her Yeba smile. He couldn't help himself, but smile wider with his nose wrinkled.

 

“Have you had your breakfast?” He asked her, to end their cringeworthy stare.

 

“Yes, I had mine before I got here. Hehe. And you?”

 

“Me too. By the way, I bought you pancakes and tea, Noona. Let’s move to our room and have a second round of breakfast, shall we?”

 

“LEGGO!”

 

She made the piano then followed him to the next room. The previous room belonged to the Musical Club. Yongsun had a “free pass” since she was a close friend of the head of the club, Irene. So, it was not her first time to play the piano, and it was not his first time neither to hear her singing.

 

 

“Thank you, Byul! This is sooo delicious!!” she said excitedly. He couldn't hardly reply her with words. Grinning was enough.

 

They talked and talked and talked about funny and weird stuffs. At this point, her Yeba image was too strong. She was making funny faces unintentionally and allowed him to poke or pinch her cheeks.

 

“Aah, Noona, you eat like a kid, the sauce is all over your lips,” he said to her. His thumb then gently wiped the side of her lips to clean up the sauce. After that, he unconsciously his thumb. It was unintentional tho.

 

Both of them were gazing at each other. His heart was pounding so hard. His bloodstream was flowing in the top speed. She bit her lips sofly. He couldn't help myself, but he kept telling me to calm down. Then he dared himself to hold her hand that was on the table. Their position was so perfect to get into an intimacy, cause they were sitting in crosswise. His head was getting close and close to her. He could feel her breathing along with the spring wind. He could smell the scent of her favorite shampoo. He was about to close his eyes and conduct the next action. But all of the sudden, just in a heartbeat..

 

“Ehm.. Byul-ah.. so.. ehm.. what was.. uh.. our agenda today?” She didn't even move, but terminated his act with such question.

 

Yongsun Noona, we were 1 cm close.

 

“Um.. sorry for the irreverence, Noona..,” He pulled himself and looked away. Then he put his right hand to the back of his neck and thought that was the most embarassing thing he ever did to her. “Um, let me check my notes for a second,” Hastily, he d his bag to find the notes. He didn't need it actually, he remembered the details, but the awkward athmosphere of the room obliged him to do so.

 

“Um.. yes, yes, please check your notes,”

 

She flapped her palm to her face. Then she stands up, walked towards the window and opened it. “It’s.. rather hot in here, isn’t it,” she said.

 

“Noona, do you want me to turn on the AC?”

 

“No, no, that’s okay, Byul. I prefer the air here,”

 

They were embraced by the moment of silence. It was a checkmate for him. He was the one who had the wild mind and wanted to do it so bad, he couldn’t  stop thinking of how sweet her lips would be, the sensation of their body – chest to chest, or the smell of her hair, or her hands all over his head, or grabbing her waist, or biting her neck.

 

Woohoo.

Woohoo hoo.

 

"It's still 10 in the morning, stop." He said to himself internally. He hope she would never be able to read this part of his mind.

 

“So.. Noona, today we are supposed to make the outline for the magazine, finish and print the daily paper, form the propaganda, and make an appointment with related parties,”

 

“Okay then, let’s start then,” She came back to her seat and her laptop. From Yeba, she drastically transformed into the serious and wise Yongsun-nim.

 

They were discussing together, brainstorming, even arguing for hours until they got stuck. Yongsun was running out of ideas. So was he. Refreshing their minds with a break would be a great idea. Moreover, it was already 12:47 pm, time to get lunch. He asked her to take a break for a moment and had lunch at the same time, but she refused to. Yongsun had a high level of curioustiy, she wouldn't stop until she found the answer. She would keep digging the ground until she discovered the well. So, he let her fulfill her curiousity while himself bought something to eat. Besides, he could get some fresh air to erase what had been on his mind and what happened this morning. He repeated it again, it was really embarassing. However, before he walked out of the door, the queen of annoying aegyo was suddenly showing up.

 

“Annyeonghaseyo, Oppa, Unnie!! Do you miss me??” The serious and wise Yongsun was extremely transformed into Yeba again after hearing this.

 

“Comaniiie!! You finally came!!” Yongsun said with a high pitch.

 

“Decal!!!! I had morning classes today, that’s why I couldn’t join you guys earlier. Now I am so free until night!!” She continued, “By the way, I bought dakgalbi and pajeon for us! Let’s have lunch together!”

 

After Wheein came, the silence was enlivened as easy as turning her palm. Even their conversation and laughters became the main dish of their lunch. The foods she brought were so tasty as well. She could draw happiness on people faces. She was the puppy of the group. It seemed like they had known each other for so long, but in fact, Moonbyul and Yongsun met her one semester ago. Even Yongsun and her had their own nicknames, Décal and Comanie. The origin of it was decalcomania, they obtained it after writing an issue about some kind of art for our magazine. These little cuties were 뭔들 (mweondeul).

 

 

“So, what did I miss?” Wheein asked both of them passionately.

 

Both Yongsun and Byul choked, and coughing. It was a good question, but interpreted badly. She reminded them, Byul especially, of something they had thrown far far away. Byul also missed a thing this morning. And he really needed some fresh air to eradicate the dirty thoughts remains.

 

“I need to go to the toilet,” he said.

 

“Oh, well, okay. So, Unnie, could you please explain me?” begged Wheein.

 

As Yongsun Noona begins explaining, I’m passing the door as fast as possible.

 

A couple of minutes later, he was back again to the room. He could see that Yongsun was enlightened by Wheein’s thoughts. Wheein was briliant and full of fresh ideas. Her creativity was balancing with Yongsun’s and Byul's straight and flat logical thoughts.

 

“Eureka!!” She exclaimed, “Good news, Byul! Wheein came up with a great idea!”

 

“Ah, as usual! What is that?”

 

Wheein explained, “So, Oppa, about the propaganda, basically, based on the survey I took earlier with my partners, most of our civitas academica are not aware that the new library will be taken place at the same location as the orphanage. Even 65% of our students don’t know that there is an orphanage in there since most of them doesn’t come from the area nearby and the orphanage is quite remote. All they heard is that the university will be expanding the building to the northwest,” She continued, “We have at least two tasks, (1) to inform them about the existance of the orphanage and (2) to increase their empathy about this issue,”

 

Both Byul and Yongsun solemnly listened to her. They nodded for every statements that came out of her genious brain.

 

“The most critical thing is to gain and grow the empathy, we have to dive in the deepest core of a certain thing so that we can comprehend the essential value of the thing. Concretely, undertaking a direct contact is a must,”

 

“More concrete? What do we have to undertake?” He cut her.

 

“I’ve been thinking of inviting students to be a volunteer teacher for the orphans. They don’t have to be a serious teacher like at school, they can teach anything they want, and the most important thing is building a strong attachment between the students and the orphans. This is where we begin to gain mass for the further action,” she finished her statement firmly.

 

“Wheein, I really appreciate your opinion. However, is it still possible to develop the so-called empathy in three months from now? Besides, we are student press, we have to be in a neutral position. Doing such activities obviously means taking sides,” He still had a lot of questions in his mind actually. But he decided to patiently gush them out.

 

Seeing Wheein holding back, Yongsun helped her to answer, “We will never know if we never try. Besides, I will be responsible for the advocacy and negotiation directly to the university to spin out the time, I will try my best to do that. And about this activity, we will be doing this not on behalf of our club, but on behalf of justice and humanity,”

 

He kept quiet and thought for a second, whether to agree or not. Before he finished and was able to give anymore thoughts, somebody was knocking the door.

 

“Hello, I am looking for Yongsun, is she here?”

 

The guy clinging on the threshold smiled at them. It was not a familiar voice and face to Byul. That was his first time to see this person.

 

“Eric Oppa, I thought we’ll be meeting at the park. Could you please wait for a moment?” Yongsun was a little bit shock, but still mantained to answer him politely.

 

“I thought it would be great to see you doing your daily activity hehe. Okay, I will wait for you outside,”

 

After he disappeared, Yongsun was in hurry to pack her things. “Byul, I save our work in this pendrive, here. Please back me up for today, could you? By the way, what time is it now?”

 

Wheein reponded, “It’s almost 3, Unnie,” She added, “Unnie, who is he? Where are you going?”

 

“Aigoo, I am almost late. Ah.. he’s a friend of mine. I’m going to accompany him to the bank. He’s having a hard time dealing with finance,” Yongsun answered.

 

"What the heck? Are you his wife now, Noona? Only married couple dealing with banking," Byul said to her with half laughing. It was not really a question that he expected be answered, actually.

 

"Ya!! No, of course! As an accounting student, I gotta help a friend who's dealing with economics problem!" She continued, "Even if it's you, Byul, I will voluntarily help! But not as your wife!"

 

He smirked. Seeing her expression was entertaining for him, despite a bit jealousy covered his mind.

 

“Noona, what time are you going home? And how?” He asked her.

 

“I have no idea, after I finish the appoinment I will go home. Don’t worry, I can go by myself,”

 

“Then I will be going home alone. It is so sad to walk without you,” He was acting to frown himself.

 

She was squinting her eyes and start showing her WTF look.

 

“In every step I take, I know I’ll be missing you, Noona,” He and became a spoiled jerk. Meanwhile the latter didn't stop squinting, seeing his unbelievably expression.

 

“Your existance is the reason why I feel so warm, today will be definitely freezing,”

 

“Byul-ah!! Stop that!! You are so greasy!! It’s disgusting!!” She finally responded with words. “I’m going now. Bye, Wheein-ah, bye, Byul!”

 

“Take care, Noona! Aren’t you going to blow me a goodbye kiss?”

 

She shouted, “YA!! What are you saying?!! STOP THAT!! I’m going now!! BYE!!” She finally walked out of the door to find that Eric guy. She was so funny, and irritating their ears at the same time.

 

After Yongsun completely disapeared, Wheein teased the boy with a green shirt, “Byul Oppa, you’ve been surpassed by Eric Oppa! Kukukukuku,”

 

“Surpass what?!” He pretended not to know what she meaned.

 

“Ah, you’re lying!! I’m sure you understand! You like Yongsun Unnie, right? Why never tell her?”

 

“What do you mean? I don’t have that kind of feeling for her,”

 

“Then you should prepare a mirror to take a look at yourself everytime you’re gazing at her. Kukukuku,”

 

“What? Mirror? Why are you laughing like that, it’s weird!” I keep denying like there’s no tomorrow.

 

“It is obvious that you like her. No. You love her! I can see it in your eyes!” She said those words melodically.

 

He responded Wheein with a smirk. Wheein didn't stop there, she chased for the answer, seriously. “Oppa, what’s the matter? Why haven’t you tell her your true feelings? Just showing affection in front of her will leave her hanging just like that, and misunderstanding as well. She might think you treat her as your sister, not a lover,”

 

For Byul, being asked this kind of question was annoying. That was why, he kept denying.

 

“Oppa, please stop denying. I have witnessed your affection and sacrifices for her, you were the one who’s always there for her even in her darkest time. What if this Eric guy likes her as well, are you going to let her go just like that?”

 

He looked away and smirked, leaving her in silence again.

 

“She doesn’t like greasy guy. Her ideal type is Simon Dominic. She likes a straightforward guy,” He laughed at myself. “I don’t match with any of her criteria. I'm a bad person, I'm not good enough, Wheein-ah, she deserves better,” He continued his response while packing his things up and tidying up the room. “Besides, I guess she wants to build a professional relationship. We have been together and completing each other as comrades. Will not be more than that.” He stopped for a second. "Moreover, she can choose any type of boy, a.. so much better one, she wants only by pointing her finger at them." Then he closed his sentence, “Wheein, let’s go to the orphanage, shall we?”

 

Wheein didn't reply. But, after they finished tidying up the room and got ready to the orphanage, she slapped Byul with her words, “Be careful of what you are saying, Oppa. Be brave and be true to yourself. Change your way of thinking,”

 

He left her with silence, again.

 

Finished playing with the kids, Byul accompanied Wheein until the last subway nearby her apartment. Before they splitted up, he told Wheein that he agreed with her idea to volunteer in the orphanage. Today’s experience changed his mind, a lot. Now he understood what Yongsun meaned by “something more important”. He was really inspired to defend those kids, they had bright future and it should not be razed to the ground. Somehow those kids reminded him of the old him as well.

 

He promised himself to give his best for them. He deemed if somebody asked him why, it was simple, because behind every sacrifices, there was always a reason, it was called love.

 

 

 

---

Note:

Hello! I'm revising this story!

No extreme plot or substantial changes, only some typos and perspective edited kekeke.

Solar covered Love is You, check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iecQsOFojF8

Btw, thank you so much for subscribbing! Longing for your comments about this story! :D

I hope you enjoy it!