As I arrived at the lecture hall the next day, I was extremely flustered and disorientated - I woke up precisely five minutes before class was supposed to start. Panting heavily, I barreled into the lecture room, one minute late, only to see that my usual seat had been occupied by someone. I groaned, quietly, and started scanning the room for another seat, but they were all taken unless I wanted to sit directly next to someone - no thanks.

The seat stealer abruptly turned around and saw me. It was Chansik. He smiled widely and beckoned me over, patting the chair next to him and moving his stuff to the other side so that I could sit there. Granted, I was running late, so I really had no choice. My lecturer and the whole class were staring at me, a little irritated, and I quickly slid into the seat, banging my knee on the table.

"Hi, Hana," Chansik whispered to me.  "You banged your knee. Running a bit late?"

I gave him a sarcastic smile and ignored him, but he didn't seem to get the hint.

"After school, lets work on our project, yeah?" He whispered again, eyes trained on the lecturer and speaking out of the side of his mouth.

"Can't. I'm busy," I whispered back, as equally covertly.

"Doing what?"

I raised my eyebrows albeit a bit playfully. It was none of his business, really. "Meeting someone." Boyfriend, I thought.

"Boyfriend?" He nudged me. "Your face has gone all red."

"Oh my God." I put my hand against my cheek and it felt burning hot. "No, it hasn't."

The lecturer cleared his throat loudly, telling us to shut up. I bit my lip and slid lower into my seat, embarrassed, while Chansik just have the lecturer a wide smile that looked overly enthusiastic. I was one hundred percent sure that there was something wrong with this boy.

We didn't talk for the rest of the lecture and when it ended I rushed out quickly before he could say anything to me but unfortunately as I walked into the food court, I was ambushed by Chansik.

"Mind if I sit here?" He grinned, sliding into the seat before I could answer. I shrugged and sat down, but I felt a few stares coming from people around us. Did I have something on my face? I touched my nose quizzically.

"It's not you," Chansik said matter of factly, his mouth full of chicken rice. Did he eat anything else? "It's me. I happen to be extremely handsome."

He looked at the girl sitting near us and gave her a wink. She immediately turned bright red and ran away.

I raised my eyebrows. "Really, Chansik? You're insufferable. That poor girl is probably going to the hospital to recover from shock! Poor girl!"

"Hey! People would pay money to have me wink at them!"

I snorted again. "I wouldn't."

He clutched his heart. "Ouch, Hana. That hurts."

"Aw, you'll live," I laughed. "Pretty boy."

Before he could say a witty remark, my phone vibrated. I pulled a face at him and answered it.

"Hello?" A deep voice answered. My heart flopped in my chest. It was Woohyun.

"Hana!" He breathed, puffing slightly. I think he had just finished with football practice. "Let's meet today! I miss you! 5 at the cafe near the library?"

"Sounds good! See you then Woohyun...oppa," I added when Chansik stared at me with a knowing smile on his face. I kicked him under the table. "I miss you a lot."

"But I was at your house last night?" He teased.

I turned a bit red. "I know," I scowled. "Bye!"

"Aw, Hanny has a date today," Chansik cooed after I hung up.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "So Chansik, what do you say about having a red shirt?" I held up my plate of spaghetti and looked at his white shirt. "It would suit you, I think!"

"Hey," he hugged himself defensively. "That's mean. I'm gonna get some napkins, just in case," he muttered, getting up and walking to the sauce counter.

I chuckled. Chansik never failed to entertain me, or get me in trouble, because of our conflicting personalities. While Woohyun and I had a lot in common, Chansik like to tell me his opinions on almost everything - Albert Einstein, what makes the perfect chicken rice, how the 'gentleman' was a dying race and how girls came from another planet. I mostly sat there listening to him while he rambled on about everything and anything.  I liked to watch him talk - he had this deep-ish voice that reverberated deep in his chest.

 He was friendly and outgoing, which perhaps made up for how I kept to myself. Plus, when word got out that I was the recipient of the scholarship, one I did not personally apply for, some students on campus seemed to regard me with certain hostility and expectation that I was a genius - I was not - and become extremely competitive in our results. Chansik seemed like the only one who didn't seem to care about this stuff, and be my friend regardless.

The end of the day rolled around quickly. Professor Choi was bugging us to start our projects early and not to leave it to the last minute - exactly what Chansik had said to me - but I brushed it off. I would begin later, after meeting Woohyun.

"Hana!" I heard someone call from the left of me as I stepped into the cafe.

"Woohyun!" I was smiling widely like a kid. I gave him a kiss and sat down opposite him in a big booth, just smiling super widely. "I missed you!"

He chuckled. "Me too! Here, I ordered your favourite," he said, pushing toward me an iced chocolate.  "With double icecream and no ice! Do you mind if I just meet up with my friend for a bit? Just some documents I need to fill out for football - "

I nodded. "Okay, that's okay! So, tell me." I beamed at him. "How is everything?"

He sighed and began to launch into a rant about how his coach nagged him constantly, how there were some thugs on the football team that did nothing except drink and party, how he was the only guy in his engineering classes, how everyone thought he was weird by taking a double major, and how his campus was so big he needed ten minutes to walk from the food court to the lecture hall building.

"You?" He grinned his boyish, toothy smile after talking non stop for fifteen minutes while I just stared at him talking.

I groaned. "Well," I began, ready to tell him about the dumb partner project that seemed to be ruining my life, except I never got the chance to because we were rudely, I might say, interrupted.

"Minji!" Woohyun was waving to someone who had just walked into the cafe. His eyes had lit up at the sight of her and I gulped down my ice chocolate quickly before I could choke and splutter.

"Who's that?" I asked as nonchalantly as I could, while staring at the beautiful girl heading toward us.

He ignored me. She reached our table and Woohyun stood up like a gentleman, giving her a hug before siting down. She had long, luscious black hair that was slightly wavy, big eyes and an easy smile. I could tell guys in the cafe were staring at her in awe.

"Noona," Woohyun cooed. My eyes almost bulged out of my sockets. Noona?! She looked like she belonged in high school.
"This is my girlfriend Hana. Hana, the head of cheerleading, Minji."

Was it me, or did she smirk at little when Woohyun said girlfriend?

"Nice to meet you, Minji-shii," I said as politely as I could while gritting my teeth.

"You too," she replied with a smile that did not quite reach her eyes. "Now, Woohyunie, here's the documents coach wants you to fill out. Health statements, that kind of stuff. Everyone on the team has to fill one out."

"Did you personally deliver them to everyone on the team too?" He chuckled while skimming the documents.

"No. You're special," she said with a coy smile.

I sat there, wide eyed in shock. Was it just me, or was she hitting on Woohyun, right in front of me? I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what to say. And Woohyunie? Even his mom or brother didn't call him that.

I stirred my ice chocolate mindlessly. They made no attempts to include me in their conversation, discussing things like choreography and the first match of the season. I cleared my throat. Was this Woohyun and I's date, or hers?

"Woohyun?" I said quietly. He didn't hear me. "Woohyun!" He looked up from Minji's face for the first time in twenty minutes. "I-I'm going to the toilet," I said lamely. He nodded and gave Minji a 'look' that I don't know how to describe except full of surprise and annoyance.

I didn't really need to pee. I just needed to get away from all that... tension at the table. Where was the toilet, anyway? I might hide there for a bit, but then Minji might think I was weird for going for too long. But why did I even care for what she thought of me? I knew, deep inside, though, that she was very important to Woohyun.

Chansik, I typed into my phone out of boredom. What are you doing now?

Studying, like a good student should. Why? :-)

I didn't reply for a second, but he wrote another message.

Where are you?

im at the cafe near the library~

Oh, on a date with the boyfriend? ;-)

you could say that, haha

wait, what? why are you texting me while you're on a date with him?
I hesitated.

is everything ok? should I come?

I felt tears building behind my eyes.

Please come

After I hit send, I walked back to the table. Those two were still in deep conversation. They hadn't even realised I had returned.

"I'm back," I said to no one in particular. Minji had just cracked a joke and Woohyun was laughing hysterically. She touched him on the arm, which, I knew from reading those gossip magazines, was the universal sign that she was interested in him. I gulped.

"Hana," I heard someone say from above me while pushing me over in the booth so they could take a seat. It was Chansik. Never before had I ever been so happy to see him.

"Chansik! Hi!" I looked at him with pleading eyes. Not here, I begged him. Don't ask me anything. Please.

He tensed while looking between Woohyun, Minji and I, and when I elbowed him softly, he exhaled deeply.

"Hana, who is this?" Woohyun asked, a hint of hardness in his voice.

I ignored him. "You guys look like you're have a dandy time. I'm going now, bye."
 

I pushed Chansik out of the booth and stormed out. As soon as I was away from the cafe, I found a bench and plopped on it, my legs giving way.

"Whoa - what did I just see?" He paused. " Hana, I thought you said you were meeting your boyfriend? Is that him? Who is that girl? Has he come yet? Why are you leaving so soon? You didn't even finish your drink? Do you want to go somewhere else? I'm free now, I just finished studying, so I can hang out! Hana, say something." He nudged me.

"I knew something like this would happen," I whispered to myself, hugging my stomach like it would help me keep my thoughts together. Right now, they were all over the place. "He - I, um, Chansik thanks for coming. I really - thanks."

He still looked confused as hell. But he didn't press the issue further, and I was extremely grateful.

“Dandy, Hana? Who uses that's word anymore, seriously!?"

He nudged me playfully and got up from the bench. "I need to go buy some...garlic for my mom," he scratched his head sheepishly.

"Okay, I'll come." I hopped up and followed him as we walked past the cafe in the direction of the green grocers. As we passed, I couldn't help but look into the cafe again. Was Woohyun trying to call me, maybe? Was he curious, anxious or angry that I left?

I scanned the room and my heart caught in my throat. There he was, siting at a small table - they must have shifted seats when I left to a more intimate table - talking as animated and lovingly to Minji as if I hadn't even been there in the first place.

It took every bit of me not to burst into tears. Chansik was looking at me with an expression of confusion, amusement and anger. I shook my head and walked ahead to pick some garlic for his mom, biting my lip to stop myself from crying til I tasted blood. It was like high school, all over again - and I thought I'd left that stupid place.