Hana POV

 

Now that Chansik and I were on friendly terms again, I looked forward to the physics lecture I could attend next week because my lab classes had finished. 

 

I remembered those times at the start of semester where he would chat so much to me without moving his mouth at all, making it seem like I was talking to myself. The lecturer would give me weird glances all hour. I'm sure he thought I was slightly mental. 

 

Walking into the lecture theatre, I cursed at myself for forgetting about Hyeri. Chansik was sitting with Hyeri in the middle row, taking a selca and giggling. They looked devastatingly cute together, even I had to admit it, despite Hyeri being extremely cold and unfriendly toward me everytime I was with Chansik. She was a tall, athletic girl that complimented Chansik's boyish looks well. 

 

I only hoped that, when Woohyun and I used to be together, that we looked as good as they did together. But of course, it was only a figment of my imagination.

 

I didn't want to be a third wheel; it would only make me feel more lonely and depressed, so I turned left to avoid the couple to sit by myself. Unfortunately, Chansik saw me and motioned me over. 

 

"Hana!" He yelled, embarrassing me when I pretended to ignore him. "Up here! Sit with us!" The few people in the theatre shot me amused looks. 

 

I shuffled toward him, head bowed in shame. Today, I would be third wheeling. 

 

"Hey," I greeted, sitting next to Chansik. "What's up, guys?" 

 

"Nothing much," Hyeri replied, giggling again and snuggling into Chansik's neck. I felt a pang of jealousy. "You?"

 

"Er, yeah, nothing," I replied as I eyed Chansik leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. I felt extremely uncomfortable. Did they not know they were in the running for the most Public Display of Affection award right now? 

 

I chewed my lip nervously as they leaned in for another kiss. Wow. I looked around to see if anyone had noticed, but there was only a few other people in the lecture theatre, and they were engrossed in their laptops. 

 

I felt like screaming out. The whole situation was comical and annoying at the same time. 

 

I pulled out my phone in an attempt to not look like a loner, as we often did in public, and scrolled through my apps aimlessly. 

 

I clicked open Snapchat. I pulled a sad, pouty face and clicked three seconds for the timer. I sent it to everyone in my contacts with the caption, third wheeling :( 

 

I waited for people to reply to me. Much to my dismay, most of my friends opened it without sending a reply snap. I huffed. That was very impolite Internet etiquette. 

 

Five minutes passed which were, arguably, the most awkward of my life. I didn't want to turn to look at them, but I heard smooching noises that begged me to do otherwise. I thought Chansik and Hyeri should show a little most respect for the person who basically matched them up! 

 

My phone vibrated on the table, causing an amplified noise. I jumped in shock and slid down in my seat in embarrassment. I at least thought the noise would have stopped the, er, smooching noises beside me but if anything, they got louder. 

 

I clicked the notification and saw that it was a reply Snapchat from Woohyun. I grinned and opened it. I was so happy that he was the only one of my friends who had the decency to reply with a snap of his own. 

 

It was a picture of him laughing with his head thrown back. The caption read, aww, where are you? 

 

I sent him back a snap. Physics lecture, I said, drawing tears coming out of my eyes. 

 

A reply came seconds later. In room 210? I'm coming~ It was a picture of him with his thumbs up, grinning until I couldn't see his eyes. 

 

I threw down my phone and sighed in relief. Finally, I was being saved from the awkwardness. I gathered my things and moved down a table so that I was still sitting close to Hyeri and Chansik, but not on the same row. I knew things were a bit awkward between him and Woohyun so I decided not to risk it. Chansik was probably too busy lip-locking with Hyeri to notice my moving, but I didn't mind. 

 

I waited for a couple more minutes, glancing anxiously at my phone. The lecture was due to start two minutes, and from what Woohyun told me, it took at least fifteen minutes  to walk from his sports college campus to mine. 

 

"Boo!" A pair of strong hands grabbed my shoulders from behind and shook my gently. I couldn't help but gasp, but I knew who it was. 

 

Woohyun turned around to greet Hyeri and Chansik, who had finally stopped their smooching.

 

"Hey guys," he said, mainly directing it at Hyeri, with a steely nod in Chan's direction. "How's it going?"

 

"Woohyun -" Hyeri gasped. "What are you doing here?! You don't attend this university!" 

 

He shushed her with a cheeky grin on his face. "They won't check the attendance - there's over three hundred people in this lecture theatre!"

 

I looked around, and it was, more or less, true. The seats that had been so awkwardly empty before we're now filled with chattering students waiting for the lecture to begin. I eyed him and bit back a smile at his complacency. 

 

I reached down to into my bag to pull out my notebook, only to bump heads with Woohyun who was also reaching down to retrieve his phone. 

 

"Ow," I cried, rubbing my forehead. "Woohyun!" He chuckled. "Is your head made of steel, or what?! Why is it so hard?" 

 

"My head isn't made of steel, Hana," he pouted like a little boy. Then his face brightened. "Something else is made of steel, though." 

 

He grinned and started to lift the hem of his shirt to show me his 'abs of steel.'

 

"Hey!" I scolded, slapping his arm, trying to hide my furious blush. "Stop that, the lecture is starting soon." 

 

He just laughed silently and winked at me. Furious at myself for turning beet red, I turned away and concentrated on the PowerPoint in front of me.

 

As the lecture progressed, I felt Woohyun yawn loudly next to me, earning the stares of people around me. It was one of those dramatic, comical yawns that went on for too long. I stifled my laugh as people turned to glare.

 

I nudged him, telling him to shut up, but he just shook his head and leaned down to get something from his bag. It was his iPad. 

 

"Hey, Hana," he whispered. "Have you seen the trailer for that new scary movie? I heard it's really good, here," he one earphone at me which he'd plugged in at the top of his iPad. "Let's watch."

 

I look around hesitantly before plugging it into my ear. Everyone around me was busy taking notes or playing on their phones. 

 

"What movie is it?" I whispered back. "I'm not scared of scary movies, you know."

 

I tried to convince both myself and Woohyun. But he didn't answer. He only shushed me and pressed play on the video that he was loading. 

 

I gulped as I heard eerie, bone chilling music play through his earphones. I immediately forgot that I was inside a lecture theatre, learning about quarks, instead focusing on how close Woohyun and I were sitting and the video playing on his phone that he had propped up against my pencil case. 

 

I gripped his arm as the girl in the trailer saw a flash of light and a shadow walking pat her in the mirror. A faceless creature leapt out at her and a malicious scream escaped her lips. She leapt to the door only to find it bolted shut. The girl froze as she felt a presence in the room. Turning around slowly, she faced the demon that she had seen escape the mirror five seconds earlier, leaning in, fangs bared, thick and viscous blood dripping from the point incisors. Just as the demon dived for her neck, the screen flashed and went black. The voice over announced the movie and release date and showed a glimpse of the demon lifting its head from her corpse before ending the video. 

 

But was it the end? Silence; then, a sudden loud bang and her body was lifted from the floor by an unseen force. 

 

This sudden bang caused me to scream and jump in my seat. Rather loudly, much to my dismay. I clutched onto Woohyun's forearm tightly as the lecturer himself stopped talking to give me a curious look, as did the people behind me. 

 

I felt like sinking into the floor. More, I felt like yelling furiously at Woohyun for showing me a horror movie trailer inside a lecture. What kind of person does that?! 

 

"Huh. I knew physics was frightening, but I have never heard anyone screaming at the prospects of quarks," the lecturer commented, chuckling, before resuming his teachings. 

 

The people laughed and turned back to their notes. 

 

I turned to slap Woohyun's forehead but he was doubled over, shaking silently with laughter. I just glared at him. He lifted his head and swiped tears from his eyes before choking out an apology, and then laughing again. 

 

I ignored him and tried to concentrate on my lecture, but Woohyun dying of laughter next to me was proving to be too much of a distraction. I waited slowly until the clock struck the next hour and leapt out of my chair, running away from Woohyun but secretly hoping he would catch up to me. 

 

I heard his loud footsteps behind me, and he reached out to grab my wrist. 

 

"Hana," he said, his deep voice full of humor. "I'm sorry, but your - your reaction was just too funny. You should have told me you can't stand scary things!"

 

"I can so," I snapped back defensively. "Just not - just not things leaping out at me suddenly. Like that. When it's all quiet." 

 

"Yeah, yeah," he said, waving his hand. "Hey, is this how you thank me?!  By running away from someone who saved you from being the third wheel?"

 

I narrowed my eyes at him because he was right. 

 

"Thanks," I said in a strangled voice. "For nothing!"

 

I stuck my tongue out at him and ran away from where we were standing. Being the quarterback of the football team, the fastest and most agile position, I knew he would catch up to me soon, but I ran away. 

 

As I ran, I felt carefree. There was no other way to describe it. Dodging through people on campus while glancing behind me to see where he was was exciting, thrilling and silly. 

 

He caught up to me pretty quickly, though. 

 

It seemed like we were running further away from our problems. 

 

*Snapchat is an app where you can send pictures of yourself for up to ten seconds. After that time, it disappears. You can send a caption, or draw with a rainbow pen. ^^ 

 

*Quarks are particles smaller than electrons, protons and neutrons.