I stayed with Hana the whole night. We left the party shortly after midnight and left for somewhere quieter. There was not much open, seeing as it was near Christmas, so we settled on going to a 24 hour diner. Well, just as long as we were together, I didn't mind.

"Table for two?" The waitress asked , eyes lingering on our hands which were entwined. A smirk crept onto her face and she rose her eyebrows.
I nodded stiffly, looking at her directly in the eye, giving her a warning. She flinched a little and softened, leading us to a booth at the back of the restaurant.

"Anything to drink?" She asked again, this time nicer.
"Hana?" I asked.
She looked down at her own hands which were resting awkwardly on the table.
"Umm," she said, not looking up. "Hot chocolate?"
She nodded.
"And I'll have a, uh, cola, please."

To be brash, I had said this to provoke some kind of reaction from Hana. I knew she didn't like it when I drank caffeine late at night, and she would always scold me when we were together and I ordered cola.

But when a word didn't escape her lips, I knew something was wrong. The way she avoided my eyes at all costs told me she was uncomfortable. Was I too...forward by kissing her?

"Hana," I said gently.
"Hmm?" She said, still looking down.
"Is everything okay?"
She paused. I saw her open and close it again, apparently unable to find the right words to say.
After a tense, uncomfortable silence in which my palms got sweaty and I could feel my heartbeat palpitating in my chest, she finally spoke in a small voice.

"Where's Chaeyeon?"
My heart dropped. Everything I had said, or not said, came flooding back to me. I had dug myself into a huge rut here, and I didn't know how even start to explain myself out of this situation.

"She - we - I," I took a deep breath as words started tumbling out of my mouth, making absolutely no sense. I just wanted to explain everything as quickly as I could.
"We broke up." I finally said.
Hana looked at me dead in the eye. I could see hurt, confusion and anger.
"Are you sure?" She asked again, quietly and dangerously. What the..?
"Yes, I'm sure we've - "
"Well, because last time you told me you had broken up," she said, raising her voice louder. Her cheeks were flushed pink slightly too. "And the next thing I know, I find you two kissing in the locker rooms, and then you completely ignore me at school!"

I gaped at her. This was all a misunderstanding.
"Hana, I - "

"No, Woohyun." She cut me off dangerously. "I don't even know why I bother with you! You treat me like I'm a ......joke! You can't just...ignore someone for three months and then all of a sudden kiss them! You - you're outrageous!"
She bit her lip to fight back the tears. She just sat there, looking at me with pained eyes ad crossed arms.

"Hana, you're not a joke," I said quietly. Here it goes. "I like you, Hana."
She bit her lip before replying. "Well, I don't know if I like you a lot, right now to be honest, you always - "
I smiled to myself. She was blabbering.
"I like you, Hana. Like, like like you."
I kicked myself inside for how stupid that must've sounded.

Her cheeks turned pink.
"I - we'll, Woohyun, I - "
"Will you be my girlfriend? I'll worry about you.  I'll take care of you. Until the end."
When she didn't respond, I rambled on.
"You know me, right? I'll protect you. Until the end."

I bit my lip. Was I a little too...greasy?
I could do nothing but wait for her answer. Why was she taking so long to answer? And why we're her eyes...a little unfocused and gleaming?

After what seemed like a year, she finally opened . I could tell she wasn't angry anymore, yet she didn't look like she was going to accept my proposal.
"Woohyun-ah, you still need to explain."
I sighed. This was something I did not want to do.

"Chaeyeon's insecure. And she didn't want people know that I had broken up with her, because she's the one who does the breaking up, not the guy. So she, uh," I paused. As soon as it came out of my mouth, it sounded silly, and I seemed like a coward. "She  threatened me. With you."

I paused and looked at her. Her eyes were wide, and looked murderous.
"How?" She whispered.
"Park Jiyoung." I spoke only two words, but Hana seemed to understand. She gasped and put her hand over , just as our drinks arrived.

She quickly wrapped her hand around the mug to keep her hands from shaking.
"I - Woohyun, you - "
I bit my lip. She saw me as a hero, I knew it.
"It's okay," I smiled masochistically. "As long as I could protect you."

She looked at me, her eyes full of tears.
"Woohyun," she cried, throwing her napkin at me. "I hate you!"
I was taken aback. Why did she hate me?!
"Why?" I whispered.
"I - I thought you hated me," she sniffled. "I thought that everything we had was a joke. A game to you. I thought I was the only one who took this seriously!"
I looked at her dead square in the eyes.
"Never. Never. You think everything you feel, I don't feel too? You're wrong. I feel it too. You're not a joke, Hana. No way. No freaking way, Kim Hana."

We were silent for a bit as we just stared at each other.

"Yes," she whispered.
"Huh?" I blurted out, caught off guard.
She turned red and narrowed her eyes at me.
"Yes...at what you said before."
I bit my lip. I was silently screaming inside. She accepted my confession! Yay! I was seriously the happiest man on earth. But I didn't say anything, because watching her squirm uncomfortably like that was cute.

She stopped blabbering and just looked at me.
"Woohyun," she pleaded. "You know what I mean. Don't make me say it again."
I grinned boyishly and grabbed her hand that was on the table.
"I know what you mean, don't worry," I said, smiling and tracing circles on her hand with my thumb. I winked at her. "Let's order."

After eating, we walked out of the diner hand in hand, swinging it back and forth between us. I breathed a sigh of relief, watching my breath cloud and fog up in the misty night.
"What time is it?" Hana commented, not really waiting for the answer before she ran off infront of me.

"4.46am," I yelled as I caught up to her.
"Hey!" I scolded, pulling her into a hug as she squealed. "Why are you running away from me?!"
"I'm not!" She yelled loudly into the night sky, wriggling out from under my grip and running off again. "Try catch me, quarterback!"
"Bring it on!" I yelled, smiling as I ran after her, watching her black hair flowing behind her in the moonlight.

It was getting pretty late as we chased each other through the streets that were basically deserted at this time of night. Finally, we reached the outskirts of the main town buildings and Hana turned a corner.

"Hana!" I yelled as she disappeared from my sight. "Where did you go?!"
Silence. I heard the shells crack under my feet as we left the pavement of the city and entered the sandy beach area.

"Hana," I whispered, getting a little scared. What if she got kidnapped?!

"ROAR!!!!!!" I heard from behind me and feeling someone hugging me from behind as I yelped in surprise. "GOTCHA!!!!!!"
"Hana," I sighed in relief. "Babo! You scared me! Never run away from me again," I scolded her.
She hugged me tighter around the waist.
"Don't worry," she whispered into my ear. "I won't."

I hid my smile at these words. I felt like bursting, I was so happy. Finally.

"Come on, you weirdo," she laughed, giving me a weird look. "Let's watch the sunset!"
I realized how funny I must have looked, with a half frown and half smile on my face. I chuckled.

Hana took my hand and held it tightly, leading me toward the shore. The sky had turned a light grey, signalling that the night was about to be enveloped in the rising sun.
"Don't you have a curfew?" I murmured as we found a spot close to the shore yet far enough that the gentle rolling waves wouldn't touch us.
Hana shrugged. "You only live once."
I laughed loudly, the sound disappearing quickly into the night. I could seriously burst from happiness right now. There was a permanent smile plastered on my face.

"You know," I said, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen between us. "We've been in the same classes since year eight."

I was thinking about it when I felt lonely, and when I missed her. I had been cleaning my room out of procrastination and stumbled upon my middle school memories box.
And there Hana was. Smiling in the year book wearing a horrible sweater with braces and her hair plaited on ether side of her face, looking as cute and beautiful as ever.
"How did I not know you?" I murmured.
She shrugged. "We were immature in year eight." She eyes me cautiously. "I thought all boys had germs...still."
"No," I said. "I was blind. Big headed." I laughed to myself. "Being captain of the football team does that to you sometimes."

"Me too," she said, squeezing my hand tighter. "I thought that you were big headed too."
I nudged her with my elbow. "Hey!" I protested.
She chuckled. "We all grow up, don't worry."
"Can you believe high school is over?" I sighed.
She sighed too and leaned her head on my shoulder. "Nope."
"I just wish...we would've met earlier. Been friends earlier. We would have so much time. But now," I bit my lip. "We have to go to different colleges. Have different schedules. Not be in the same classroom for six hours a day."
She just nodded and sighed. "I know. I'm going to miss it. A lot."

I opened my mouth to say something, but she just shushed me.
"Sunrise," she said, pointing to the horizon.
"It's so beautiful," she sighed wistfully.

I sensed this as the perfect moment to go, "but you're more beautiful, Hana," but I held it in. I didn't want to kill her with my grease.