There was a knock, just a couple of raps on the wooden door of the practice room, "Hello, princess."

Hayeon turned her head at the voice, breaking out into a wide smile at the sight of her boyfriend. Looking at him, it was obvious that he already got changed out of his practice clothes and just came back to school for Hayeon. The Vocal student smiled back at her, raising the bag he was holding and shaking it a bit in the air.

"What did you bring?" Hayeon asked as she took the bag. She also invited Dongho inside since they're currently on break anyway.

"You said you haven't eaten dinner so I brought something over." He started taking out the three containers out of the bag, each if varying sizes and contents. "Still gonna take long?" he asked, motioning to the collection of people taking their time to rest and regain their strength.

"You brought a lot." she shook her head a little, but couldn't quite hide the small smile on her lips, "Again."

"I can always finish the rest." Dongho replied casually, taking out the chopsticks as well and holding it out for her.

"Thanks! You're the best!" She took the largest container, taking out one of the carefully made sushi rolls inside and began to eat slowly. She can't suddenly eat big since they're still in the middle of practice.

"Did you bring some water?" she asked before picking up another piece of food.

"Ah! I didn't. Wait here. I'll go get something from the vending machine."

"No. It's okay, I can--"

"Just eat. I'll be right back."

Dongho was out the door before she can say anything more. She shook her head, smiling. Her boyfriend can be a real motherhen when he wants to be. 

A hand reached for one of the dumplings in the other container and Hyoyeon's smiling face came to her line of sight. "Hello, princess." she teased.

Hayeon dramatically rolled her eyes at her friend, resuming eating her food.

"You lucky little... Did you save the country in your past life? You got one of the most popular students of the Vocal Department as your boyfriend and I don't even need to tell you how many people drools over your best friend." Hyoyeon continued, snatching a piece of sushi this time.

"Well..." She made an exaggerated motion with her hair, raising her chin up in the air. It definitely earned her the expected shove and both of them burst out laughing after.

"Speaking of best friend..." The both of them looked at Minhyuk's direction, holding Hayeon's phone in his hand. He showed them the screen where it showed a picture of Taekwoon with his cheeks stuffed with food. "Ice Prince?" Minhyuk asked, looking at the caller ID with his eyebrows knitted.

Hayeon groaned as she took her phone from him.

"Ice Prince? Really, Taek?" were her first words as soon as she answered her phone.

"Have you eaten dinner yet? Eunji and I are eating out. Want me to bring you something?"

"Wow. You really just ignored me like that, huh?"

"Okay. You don't need food. Bye."

She can't quite remember the last time she had been so irritated over the sound of the beeping tone. Taekwoon can really rub her off in the wrong way at times.

Gritting her teeth, she called him again only to get a "The number you have dialed is either unattended..." when it was so obvious that it was Taekwoon reciting the words.

"Jung Taek!"

And the call was dropped again.

"I'm disowning him!" she exclaimed, irritatedly shoving another sushi in .

"Who? Me?" Dongho joked, settling a bottle of energy drink and water next to Hayeon.

"No. It's that stupid oaf!" She grabbed the water and opened it with more force than necessary.

"Ah! Minhyuk! Here. Dumpling?" her boyfriend offered. Minhyuk accepted the offer and sat in their little circle.

"You're ignoring me, too!" she complained, pouting at her boyfriend.

Dongho just laughed, an amused laugh that ended with him grabbing Hayeon's shoulder and giving her a one-arm hug. "If I take all of your little fights with Jung seriously, I'll be stressed out all the time."

Hayeon glared and pouted at him. It was just a small little thing but it feels nice to have someone she can act a little spoiled with. Plus she isn't even the least bit upset, like Dongho said, most of her fights with Taekwoon are harmless and doesn't really warrant any attention.

"Aw, here. Eat more before your practice resumes." Dongho urged, holding a dumpling in front of her.

"Back on the floor in two minutes!" their instructor reminded.

Hyoyeon, Minhyuk and Hayeon finished what they were eating and stood to their feet quickly. Hayeon was helping Dongho tidy up when he grabbed her hand to stop her. "What time do you finish?"

She thought for a moment, "Maybe until around 9. But some of us would stay for extra practice."

Dongho's shoulders slumped at the answer, "I have to sleep early because of an early vocal practice." he said dejected.

"It's fine." she said, squeezing his hand a bit.

"Okay. Take care." 

~*~

"Hayeon!" she heard from behind, finding Minhyuk walking towards her in an instant. "I'll walk you back."

She looked around then, "How about Hyoyeon?" She knows they stay near each other's place, much like Taekwoon and her and they usually go home together so it doesn't really make sense that he's here offering to take her home.

"The two others that stayed for extra practice were Hyoyeon's dormmates so they went together." he explained. He looked at Hayeon then, motioning with his head if they should go.

"But... Your dorm is in the opposite direction." But Minhyuk was already walking with her so she followed as they talked.

"It's already late and you don't have anyone to walk you home. I heard that Dongho can't pick you up and Taekwoon probably doesn't know that your boyfriend can't do it tonight." he explained, smiling at Hayeon afterwards.

She finally returned the smile, pushing him a little, "Well aren't you just a knight in shining armor."

"You are a queen, so I guess knight sounds about right."

She groaned at that, "I regret introducing Taek to you guys."

Minhyuk just laughed again, "Taekwoon has little to do with it. Almost everyone calls you queen. Even the upperclassmen. You have this... aura when you dance."

"And my sassy ? And here I thought I could finally get rid of the nickname here in college."

"So you were Queen Hayeon even before?"

"Stop!"

"Queen Hay--"

"Stop! Stop!"

They were both laughing in the middle of the street when Taekwoon came, breathing heavily from running all the way.

"I... You weren't... answering your phone." he said, trying to catch his breath with his hands on his knees.

"Ah! I forgot to unmute my phone."

"And I asked the guard... and they said you weren't home yet..." he said, a bit more composed this time. "Dongho wasn't answering either."

"So you ran all the way here?" she asked then.

"Well... Uhm... Taekwoon's already here so I'll be going now." Minhyuk said, already taking a few steps back.

"See you tomorrow! Thanks for walking me home." Hayeon said, waving, and Minhyuk smiled as he finally turned, going to the opposite direction.

"You! Why didn't you tell me Dongho can't take you home tonight?" Taekwoon asked then. The barely concealed irritation earlier, now on show that Minhyuk is gone.

At that, Hayeon lowered her head. She knows that Taekwoon had told her to message him if her boyfriend can't walk her to the dorm from practice but... "But you were with Eunji and I didn't want to bother you guys." she whispered, just loud enough for Taekwoon to hear.

"And you think Eunji will be happy if something happens to you while we're having our date?"

Taekwoon rarely gets mad. He can be pissed or irritated but he almost never scolds anyone, well except for her.

"...I'm sorry."

He sighed then, walking closer to her so he can give her a hug. He doesn't enjoy seeing Hayeon deflated afterall. "Just... Don't do this again. You're still a girl and my best friend and I worry, okay?"

She nodded to his chest, hearing Taekwoon's loud heartbeat. He must've been so worried that she wasn't answering her phone.

"Let's go. You must be tired." he said after breaking the hug. He held her hand, too, tugging her towards the direction of the dorms.

"Taek?"

"Hm?"

"I love you."

"Yes. I love you, too. So stop worrying me, okay?"

"Yeah." She finally smiled at that, snuggling close to Taekwoon's side as they walked the remaining distance back to their building.