“Should I meet you at the bus stop after school?” I asked Sunggyu and Hanbyul after the bell rang at lunchtime.

They nodded. “Don’t be late! The bus comes five minutes after the bell!”

I pulled a face at Hanbyul and headed to my next class. We three were going to visit Woohyun after school to bring him his homework and keep him company. I hadn’t been to see him for two weeks because I had been busy with my homework, but truthfully, I didn’t really want to go to the hospital to make the situation awkward for Woohyun so he had to choose between keeping me company and visiting his brother. I knew he would have a difficult time making the decision so I just decided to not go at all.

       But I missed him too much. Two weeks without seeing him made me realise how much I missed that greasy boy. We had spent the past few months together at the hospital everyday, me bringing him snacks after school and teaching him the schoolwork, and him being the cheesy and funny self he was.

I waited impatiently at the bus stop. If Hanbyul had told me not to be late, then where was she? I tapped my foot impatiently and checked the time. Just as the bus pulled up, I looked around and saw them running toward me hurriedly.
“Sorry, Hana,” Sunggyu gasped, clutching his side as he gasped for air. “We were busy – “
He stopped talking abruptly as Hanbyul nudged his side with her elbow.
“We were busy talking to our history teacher,” he amended, looking at me shiftily.
I narrowed my eyes at them. What was going on? Why where they being so suspicious?

“Are you three getting on or not?” The bus driver snapped from the bus. We quickly bowed and scanned our cards, finding a seat.
“Where should we sit?” I turned around, asking Sunggyu and Byul but they were trailing behind me, whispering into each other’s ears.
I was seriously confused. Why were they acting so secretive? I stopped to wait for them and craned my neck to try listen to their conversation.
“We can’t tell her!” I heard Hanbyul whisper to him in a undertone. “She’ll never agree and say no! She’s too protective over him.”
“Who’s protective over who?” I asked loudly as the bus turned a corner. “Who are you talking about? Why are you being so sneaky?”
Sunggyu cleared his throat. “No one! Come on, Mrs. Woohyun, let’s go sit down at the back.”
I narrowed my eyes and evilled him. “I’m not Mrs. Woohyun, Sunggyu!” I cried, scrunching up my face at him.
He just smiled and rested his head on Hanbyul’s shoulder, but not before they exchanged triumphant looks. Something was definitely up.

We arrived at Woohyun’s room only to see it empty. I began to feel frantic.
“Where is he?” I asked worriedly, checking in the bathroom and behind the curtains. “Where did he go?!”
I heard Sunggyu and Hanbyul chuckle. Before I could turn around and ask them what their problem was, my vision went dark as a pair of hands covered my eyes.
“Who am I?!” A cheesy, greasy voice yelled in a singsong voice.
“Woohyun?” I asked, not being able to keep the happiness and joy out of my voice as I breathed in his nice scent.

I took a step back and looked at Woohyun. He looked exactly the same. Well, it had only been two weeks since I last saw him, but still. But why was he dressed in casual clothes? In skinny jeans, black vans and a sweater?

“Why are you dressed like that?” I asked him curiously.
“Why? Don’t you like it?” He winked, causing my cheeks to go red. I put my hand on my cheek unconsciously to try and calm it down.
“No,” I flushed. “It’s just…. aren’t you a patient at the hospital?”
He shook his head. “Not for today!”
“Not for today? Huh? What’s that supposed to mean? Woohyun?”
Before he could answer, Sunggyu hurriedly stepped into the room.
“Quick! Taxi’s here guys! Let’s go!”
“Taxi? Go? WHERE?” I cried as Woohyun grabbed my wrist and we four took off down the hospital corridor, toward the lift.
“Woohyun!” I yelled. “How can you run?!”
He let out a loud, exaggerated laugh. “You can do a lot in two weeks!” He yelled back at me as we sprinted down the corridor, with Sunggyu and Hanbyul close behind us.
“Oh my God, quick, turn, now!” Woohyun grabbed my arm and pulled me in the opposite direction. “I just saw my mom! She’s here to see me after work!”

Unfortunately, she spotted us.
“Woohyun? Darling, is that you?” She squinted at us but it was too late – we were already sprinting down the stairs.
“NAM WOOHYUN, YOU COME BACK HERE,” she yelled down the staircases. I turned around and looked up at her, immediately regretting my decision. She stared straight back at me with fiery eyes.
“KIM HARA! COME BACK HERE!” She tried, screaming now.

I cracked up laughing at her failed attempt to get my name right and gripped onto Woohyun’s hand harder, running down the last flight of steps before getting to the main entrance of the hospital. From there, we tried to walk smoothly and nonchalantly.

Sunggyu smoothed his clothes. “Sorry, Hana. We couldn’t tell you we were planning to sneak him out of hospital, or you would’ve had a massive fit.”
“Damn right!” I said. “What if the doctors or nurses find out? What if he injures his leg again? Which, by the way, Woohyun, how can you walk again? So fast?”
He smiled at me, causing his eyes to go wrinkly. I noticed how he hadn’t let go of my hand. Even though we had stopped running five minutes ago, my heart was still beating rapidly in my chest.
“Two weeks is a lot of time for physiotherapy, Hana,” he answered. “The doctor said, because I was an athlete before, my muscle structure has helped my healing. So it’s fine. My leg it fine, see?”
He stuck it up and wriggled it violently.
“Omo, okay, okay, it’s fine,” I said with reserved horror. I didn’t want to see Woohyun become a contortionist. “But what about your ribs?”
He shrugged. “Still hurts. But as long as my leg is fine, I can deal with my ribs.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. I could tell straightaway that he was lying, and that his ribs still were in a lot of pain. But he looked so happy, so carefree to be away from the dreaded hospital and confined to the one room for three months that I didn’t have heart to scold him and tell him to go back to there.
“If anything hurts, you have to tell me straightaway, okay?” I said sternly.

He nodded excitedly like a little kid. “Yes, Hana!” He saluted me.

“Have you two stop bickering now? Can we go now?” Hanbyul said, half amused, half annoyed.
I felt my cheeks go red as we stepped into the taxi, Sunggyu sitting at the front and us three at the back.
“Where are we going, mastermind plotter?” I asked Hanbyul jokingly. “ I mean, stage whispering is the way to go if you don’t want me to hear.”
She punched me in the arm. “We’re going to eat at the new Japanese buffet that opened near my house.”

We walked into the restaurant and asked for a table for four.
“I can’t believe we snuck out of the hospital,” I said as we sat down. “I mean…out of all places to sneak out of…a hospital.” I chuckled.
Woohyun gave me a secret smile and winked at me.
“Yah!” Sunggyu reached over and smacked him on the head. “Stop being so greasy! I want to eat, you know!”
He chuckled and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Sorry, hyung. I just can’t help it! I haven’t had anyone to be greasy to these last two weeks. There’s only so much you can annoy your mom,” he replied cheekily.
“Let’s go get food first!” I stood up and grabbed Woohyun’s hand, feeling my face go red and heart beating faster as I did it. “Stay here, Sunggyu and Hanbyul. Look after my school bag! It has my physics assignment in it.”

“What do you feel like?” I asked Woohyun, leaning down and fetching two plates for us to get food on. “Sashimi? Hot food?”
He was staring at me. I felt extremely uncomfortable. I chuckled awkwardly and looked away. “Sashimi it is.”
My heart wouldn’t stop thumping in my chest. Why was it like this?! Every little thing Woohyun did, like pour soy sauce into a plate or toast bread make my heart skip a beat. Was I crazy?
       I shook my head to try and clear my thoughts. “I want that one,” Woohyun said next to me as we walked past the sushi bar. We both reached out to get it for him, and our hands accidently brushed. I felt an electric shock fizz up my arm and I jumped a little. Again, I felt my face turn red a little and I cursed my genes for allowing such pigmentation of my cheeks to occur so easily and frequently.
“Sorry,” I chuckled awkwardly, leaning in once more to get it.

Unfortunately, Woohyun leant in again to get it too, and our hands brushed again. Damn! Was he doing it on purpose? Was Woohyun trying to kill me?!

“Sorry,” I muttered again, this time cradling my arm to my chest like I had been electrocuted or something. “I’m, um, going back first. Seeya.”
And I quickly darted away before I could do or say anything more stupid.

At the table, which I was sitting alone when I told Hanbyul and Sunggyu to go and get their food now I was here to watch the bags, I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. My cheeks felt like I had been sitting in front of a heater for about five hours, constantly red and flushed.

“No more soy sauce!”
I jumped up from my seat and went to grab some, leaving Hanbyul alone at the table while the two guys went to get food.
I saw Woohyun and Sunggyu lining up for the salmon chef, whispering secretively so I decided to go up behind them and scare Woohyun.
“How’s Chaeyeon going these days, bro?” Sunggyu said as they moved up in line. I was standing a few metres away from them but I could hear everything they said, as clear as crystal. I felt myself grip the soy sauce bottle tighter and my chest constricting in my body.

I quickly walked back to my seat, pretending I didn’t hear anything, but my heart was pounding in my ears. I excused myself to the bathroom and quickly splashed my face with water.
        Of course Woohyun still had Chaeyeon. I had never thought about it, because he never mentioned it, but I guess that thought was always looming there. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this news, but I knew that deep inside I knew he was still with her. Was I trying to push the news away? I don’t know. But I decided that it wasn’t going to affect me because Woohyun and I were just friends. I wasn’t going to let my stupid, weak heart wreck something that had taken so long to build up over the whole year.