In which love happens slowly, then all at once. At one moment you are arguing over colour of balloons and the next there are fireworks in the sky. 

"Haneul! How was your winter break?" Jaehwan asked, pulling the strap of his book bag up. "I had a lazy break. I didn't end up going anywhere this December" Haneul told him truthfully as she came to stand next to him at the bus stop. "How was yours?" she asked him. "Taekwoon and I went skiing with our families. It was a lot of fun" he said with a grin. Haneul smiled along with him. His good mood was always infectious. 

Lee Jaehwan was her favourite sunbae. She had met him two years ago when she had joined high school and discovered that the two of them lived nearby and took the same bus to school. It had been awkward at first because Haneul took some time to warm up to people and Jaehwan was friendly but could sense her hesitation. But after a while, they had started to get along. Granted it was just a few conversations at bus stops and greetings as they passed by in corridors. 

"I will show you the pictures some time. It was so cold that hyungs face was practically pink and not white the entire time!" he shared conspiratorially. Haneul shook her head. Jung Taekwoon was practically the enigma of the entire high school. It was hard to imagine him laughing and getting into snowball fights. But around Lee Jaehwan anything was possible.

"You should go to the mountains some time. But you just might freeze to death" he said playing with the scarf around her neck. "Sunbae!" Haneul protested indignantly. He knew that she had low tolerance for cold environments and got colds easily and always for it. "Ottokaji? What ever will we ever do if the temperature goes below twenty degrees here?" he asked playfully. The bus' arrival stopped her from answering but she felt flustered all the way to school.

"What's got you so pink?" Sanghyuk asked, looking at Haneul's pink face. "It's the cold breeze. I think I am catching a cold" she replied, faking the reason for the colour in her cheeks. "How will you ever survive in Seoul at this rate? How are you even alive right now after that long gruesome winter?" he asked teasingly. "I'll just steal all your clothes and leave you to freeze" she deadpanned sitting down next to him. "I thought we were best friends! How can you leave me to die Hannie?" Sanghyuk asked dramatically. "If I am your best friend then you would willingly sacrifice yourself for me!" she protested. "I don't love you that much" Sanghyuk snorted.

She smacked his shoulder and looked away, unconsciously pulling her scarf closer to herself. How was she to survive at this rate? To be honest with you, Haneul knew the exact reason she had felt flustered this morning. She had a suspicion last semester but had dismissed the incredulous thought only for it to be firmly planted in her mind. It stay at the back of her head and cast a shadow of doubt over all her actions. 

Kim Haneul knew, rather suspected very strongly, that she had begun to have a crush on her affectionate sunbae Lee Jaehwan. But that was a silly idea to entertain. Jaehwan sunbae was friendly. He was nice to everyone. Period. He didn't do it because he particularly liked her. He was playful with everyone he met. This was just a phase. And she would grow out of it. Just like she had grown out of the ridiculous attraction to Jung Taekwoon necause he had been the mysterious bad boy she watched anime about. It was hilarious now and she would never admit it to anyone. But she had phases and just like that this would pass as well.

"Attentionr everyone! I have an importannt announcement!" the teacher called out. The students straightened up and the chatter died. Everyone looked towards their assigned class teacher. It was probably about the school festival that was coming up next month. The school held an annual spring festival in the first or second week of february every year. It was a simple affair organised by the junior and sophmore years which meant this year it was there turn to work with their sunbaes.

"As you know, the spring festival is coming up next month. An hour of your self study periods have been dedicated to preparations that will begin on Friday. No one is allowed to skip class for it" she said firmly. Haneul could see Sanghyuk pouting because she knew that he planned to do just that. The boy did not like sitting in one place in classes and would often stand up impulsively and walk about. Naturally, his favourite period would be the gym period where he could run about as much as he wanted. Haneul felt like a docile lamb in comparison to him and often wondered how they ended up being friends with the differences in their personalities. 

"The signup sheet has been placed on the class bulletin board. Please sign up by Wednesday evening as the committees will be formed by Thursday. And everyone has to participate in one event or the other so you will be automatically assigned to a committee if you haven't registered. If you have ideas for any event that isn't already included then you should meet me in the break" the teacher concluded. Everyone started discussing the committees with their friends and the teacher had to shout to get their attention back to roll call.

Haneul idly wondered what she should sign up for. She knew Sanghyuk would sign up for sports and she didn't particularly fancy being the water girl. And arts and creative committee would be a lot of work. Perhaps she could find a specific event or game she liked and help organise that.

She wondered what Jaehwan sunbae had signed up for. Working with him would be fun. She didn't know many of her seniors and it would be nice to have one familiar face to talk to... she shook her head and pushed all thoughts of the festival out. She really didn't think she should follow the daydream.

"Kim Haneul! You were just the person we were looking for!" a loud voice exclaimed causing her to jump and drop her books. "Yah! Don't scare the poor kid" another voice chastised as she hurried to pick her stuff up. She looked up when she saw a mysterious hand help her with the last notebook. "Hakyeon sunbae?" she asked, hoping she remembered him right. "Yup. I'm sorry about Jaehwan scaring you. His mental health is debated by everyone" Hakyeon said. 

"Hyung!" Jaehwan protested as he took the heavy books from Haneul. Haneul was too confused to say anything as the two sunbae continued to debate on the topic of Jaehwan's mental health and his actions scaring little children in the corridor. 

"Sunbae? Were you looking for anything specific?" she asked, interrupting the two. "Oh yeah!" Jaehwan remembered. "Have you signed up for a committee yet?" he asked her. "I haven't had a chance to look at the list yet. We just got the announcement this morning" she told him. "Ah. Well we are thinking of a new event and I want you on the committee" Jaehwan said proudly.

"A new event?" she asked, ignoring how her heart had skipped at the declaration that he had wanted her to work with him. "A karaoke battle between the breaks for the main event.  We thought it would be a good filler and it could make a lot of money because everyone loves karaoke. We just had the idea approved by your classroom teacher" Hakyeon explained. "Yeah! And I instantly thought of you because you said you loved listening to old songs. We could use your help to build up a collection of old sings so that the teachers could also sing along with their old favourites" Jaehwan added.

"That's really thoughtful of you" she said genuinely. It caused a nice warm feeling in her chest. He was really thoughtful to have included even their teachers in the festivities. "I'll help! What do I need to do?" she instantly agreed. "Awesome. Just turn up to the meeting on Friday afternoon. We'll decide who does what accordingly" Hakyeon told her. She nodded and they left, excitedly discussing everything they could do with the event. 

"Oh wait!" she heard Jaehwan exclaim further down the corridor. Oh right! Her books!! She turned around sharply and almost collided with Jaehwan who had jogged back to return the said books to her. "Sorry" they apologised in unison before Jaehwan laughed awkwardly. He handed her the books and left with a small smile. She adjusted the books before walking back to her class.

Jaehwan sunbae wanted to work with her. That was the best possible thing to have happened today. And it was just Monday. There was an entire month that she would get to spend with him. And Hakyeon sunbae had been so kind as well. And she loved karaoke. She could sing decently but she wasn't shy about singing her heart out on songs she liked. By the time she reached her classroom, she was just as excited as well.

"Who is Kim Haneul?" Taekwoon asked frowning at the list Jaehwan had given him. "She's in the sophmore year. She has good music taste and is all round friendly" Jaehwan told her. "Yeah. She instantly agreed to help us. She sounds nice" Hakyeon said. "But she's the only girl and only junior in the group" he frowned. "Really?" Hakyeon asked looking at the list. Apart from him, Jaehwan and Taekwoon there were only Haneul and Hongbin. Hongbin was a junior too but Haneul was effectively the only girl. 

"I think Wonshik is on the committee too. Will it be a problem if Haneul is an only girl?" Jaehwan asked worriedly. "She might feel uncomfortable. Maybe you should ask her to bring a friend along" Taekwoon suggested. "Good idea. Or maybe we can add Kim Minah to the list" Hakyeon suggested with a wink to the black haired boy. Taekwoon cleared his throat as everyone threw him knowing grins. 

"She will probably be working on the sports committee" he said off handedly. "People who want to participate in sports events can't take part in the sports committees remember?" Hakyeon reminded him. "We're going to ask her as well" Jaehwan decided putting her name down. Taekwoon grumbled but was ignored by the other two.

"Why would you think of adding a random junior anyways?" Hakyeon asked to no one in particular. Then again, Lee Jaehwan was known to do strange things.

"I don't understand why I have to suffer along with you" Sanghyuk grumbled. "Because you love me. But above all because you want to participate in the track events and rules forbid you from being on the sports committee" she reminded him. "Still!  Who'd want to get their eardrums damaged by listening to you sing?" Sanghyuk grumbled. Haneul hit him squarely on his leg before walking ahead to classroom 4B where the karaoke event meet was to happen. Sanghyuk followed her, dramatically cursing his misfortunes. He opened the door and almost exclaimed in joy.

"Minah! You are my one true salvation!" he exclaimed running in to hug the confused girl. Haneul shook her head. "What am I saving you from?" Minah asked, laughing at his antics. Minah and Sanghyuk were good friends as they were both part of school sports teams and got along famously. If anything, you could say that she was his best friend along with Haneul. Haneul found her to be pretty cool as well.

Someone cleared their throat and Hanuel realised that there were other people by the doorway.  She moved out of the way to give way to Hakyeon and Taekwoon who gave her a look begore nodding at Sanghyuk and Minah. Haneul instantly felt awkward and decided to just sit down.

"Am I late?" Hongbin asked peeking into the classroom. "Nah. We're waiting for Wonshik and Jaehwan" Hakyeon said, gesturing at Hongbin to come in. He really was good looking Haneul noted. Which probably explained the jealous stares she had gotten from fangirls when the committees had been announced. 

"Where are they?" Hongbin asked sitting in front of Minah. "Getting scolded by the teacher for disturbing her class earlier in the day" Hakyeon said with a sigh. Haneul gathered it was a common affair that caused him a lot of exasperation. But it was kind of funny because she did know Wonshik sunbae and he didn't seem like the type to start trouble at all.

"We don't have detention!" Jaehwan announced as he slid into the classroom. "Aren't you lucky" Hakyeon said wryly. Jaehwan grinned while Wonshik looked a little ashamed at the censure. "Everyone is here so we can begin" Hakyeon said. Jaehwan sat in front of Haneul and gave  her a friendly wave as a greeting. Habeul blushed a little before waving back and that didn't escape Sanghyuk's notice. 

"Let's start with an introduction. I'm Cha Hakyeon of class 11 A" Hakyeon said introducing himself. The seniors took turns to introduce themselves. Taekwoon and Wonshik belonged to 11B while Jaehwan was in the same class Hakyeon. Hongbin and Minah were in 10 A while Sanghyuk and and Haneul were in 10 B. With the introductions out of the way, everyone got down to business.

"So let's see. We'll need to check with the sound system set up but till then we will need to collect karaoke songs that we can play on our laptops" Wonshik listed. "We can divide the song collection amongst us. But we'll need two people to liase with the stage setup people" Hakyeon said. He wrote down everyone's names on the blackboard with chalk so that they could record the assignment of duties clearly.

"I could help with that" Sanghyuk volunteered.  "Probably not the best idea because we'll need people on the scene on the day of the festival. And as far as I know, Minah, Taekwoon and you are competing on the day of" Hakyeon pointed out. Haneul was pleasantly surprised to hear Taekwoon's name.

"I could help" Haneul volunteered. "I know a few people in the stage setup team" she offered. "Perfect. And as a punishment for coming in late. Jaehwan can help you as well" Wonshik added. "You came in late with me!" Jaehwan protested. "Not that I wasn't going to volunteer as well but you came in late with me as well!" he put in, hoping Haneul wouldn't feel offended. "We know you both will end up together anyways so I might as well put down your name too" Hakyeon said wisely. Jaehwan pouted but let it go and teased Wonshik instead. 

"We're waiting on the numbers from the finance committee before we can decide what sort of decorations we want or how much we should charge people per song. That should be next Tuesday. Hongbin can you help me with the finances later on?" Hakyeon asked. Hongbin nodded and gave him a thumbs up. "That should settle everything for today. We can meet on Wednesday and discuss the finer points. Meanwhile you fuys can start collecting all the songs and we'll start reviewing them next week too. Last thing we need are people offended over trivial things like song choices" Hakyeon said to himself.

"Well that was brief" Minah commented. "Not much work to put in actually. Everything happens in the day of the event. Can't believe no one thought of the karaoke idea before" Hakyeon said. "Well that's a good thing for us. We can relax and prepare well" Hongbin put in. "Yeah. For now I want to hit the track and get some laps in" Sanghyuk said as he stood up. "I'll join you. I have to get to tennis practice too" Minah said, gathering her things as well. 

"I was hoping we could all go out for ramen" Jaehwan said with another pout. "Wednesday. We don't have sports practice on Wednesdays." Taekwoon said. "Yeah. And I have music club as well" Wonshik added. "I'm supposed to be tutoring Hongbin but we can push that off for a while" Hakyeon said and Hongbin nodded. "It's cool. I'll just take Haneul along!" Jaehwan proclaimed. Everyone turned to look at Haneul who seemed caught off guard. "Sure" she said giving into his puppy dog eyes.

"Don't always give into his puppy look Haneul! Before you knownit he will be making you do all his work for you" Wonshik told her seriously. Jaehwan protested while everyone laughed. Haneul chuckled as well. She found Sanghyuk giving her an odd look but chose to ignore it. Everyone left the room one by one talking about various things and Jaehwan pulled her along, telling her about a particular noodle house that was near the bus stop just before the one they got down at.

"Jaehwan si! You've brought a friend along" the grandmother at the reception greeted him. "Halmeonim! You look prettier every week!" Jaehwan said in reply. "This is Haneul. She is a school friend. She's never been here before so I decided to bring her along. Haneul, Halmeonim makes the best ramen ever!" he said, introducing the two of them to each other. "He flatters me too much. What do you both want to eat?" the elderly lady asked them. "We'll have two bowls of the special ramen!" Jaehwan said happily before making his way to a table.  Haneul smiled at the grandmother before following him.

"When did you find this place?"  Haneul asked. There was no doubt that he was a regular for him to be so friendly to the staff. "About two years ago. Once I got down at the wrong bus stop because I didn't know my way back home and ended up here. Halmeonim was kind enough to feed me and take me back home" Jaehwan told her, smiling at the memory. "But I am glad I did get lost that day because I can't imagine living without eating Halmeonim's  food. Someday we'll come back here and try the radish and fish soup. Or the spicy and sweet deokbokki. In fact we  should come back multiple times and try the entire menu" he said excitedly.

"Sunbae breathe"  Haneul said with a small laugh. A talkative and excited Jaehwan was a cute Jaehwan. His eyes literally twinkled like in advertisements and dramas. "You should call me oppa. We've known each other for more than a year and we'll be working together now. We shouldn't be so formal with each other" he insisted. "Okay... oppa" she tried, the word sounding awkward to her. "And don't believe what Wonshik says! I won't bully you into doing any work for me. Even if you have zero resistance to my charms" he said doing aegyo. Haneul burried her face in her hands and groaned. Jaehwan did more exaggerated aegyo causing her to facepalm but finally give in and laugh.

"Here you go. Eat well both of you. Kids are all so obsessed with being skinny these days" Halmeonim said shaking her head before leaving them. "Oh wow" Haneul said, looking at the bowl. The ramen had noodles to one side with vegetables and meat arranged along the edge of the bowl.  There was a boiled egg resting on top of the soup and Haneul could feel watering at the sight. "Thank you Halmeonim! I will eat well" Jaehwan yelled before separating the chopsticks and using them to mix the food. Haneul smiled at the sight and dug into her food, the warm spicy soup adding much needed warmth to the pleasant evening.

"He asked you to call him oppa?" Minah asked in surprise. "Yeah. It was no big deal. Then the food came and we mostly ate in silence because it was yummy. And he insisted on paying because it was 'his treat'  and he only relented when I said I would never eat with him again" Haneul said. She carefully kept her tone neutral. She had been thinking about the not-date and blushing since Friday. She was sure she had dark circles because she hadn't been able to sleep properly. And everytime she attempted to get the music together or talk to Yuri in the stage setup team she could only think of how Jaehwan had specifically asked for her to help in the event.

"Are you sure this wasn't a date?" Minah asked her with a raised eyebrow. "It was supposed to  be a group activity but everyone else was busy!" Haneul protested. "So you don't like Lee Jaehwan?" Minah asked bluntly. "Who said something like that?" Haneul asked feeling a little alarmed. Had she been too transparent?  Did everyone know? Did Jaehwan know??

"Sanghyuk did"  Minah said simply. Haneul narrowed her eyes. "That kid only believes in starting rumours! He also told me that you liked Jung Taekwoon" she told Minah. Minah choked on her apple juice. "That evil demon" she cursed as she  coughed into a napkin. Haneul patted her back in sympathy. "He is going to be dead when I meet him. Just because