Three out of six classes, plus a lab. Over fifty percent. Ara could not even begin to fathom how such unimaginable statistics had resulted from her eager class sign-up process she’d fulfilled just a month ago. Golf ball eyes and Hyunshik were in over fifty percent of her first year classes. Research Seminar, Biology, Biology Lab, Chemistry.

For reasons unknown to her, heavy anxieties and the imminent fear of the second place status all over again forced Ara to bury herself in studying, her first semester of college. Yoonjo constantly begged her to attend clubs, organizations, fairs, campus recreation events. Ara rejected all of them. She stayed crammed in the quietest corner of the library, one with her books and her papers.

What she struggled for even more so than studying, was avoiding golf ball eyes. He would text message her. Hyunshik would text message her. Every time, she feigned busy, tired, occupied, whatever she could think of. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was afraid of that boy. Afraid of him and what he could do with that brain of his. Infinite achievements Ara couldn’t dream of.

By the third time golf ball eyes came up to her in her miniature library shelter, Ara was convinced that he came to find and annoy her on purpose. He’d somehow scouted out her secret corner, and come exactly during her study time.

The first time, golf ball eyes asked her if he could join her at the empty chair across from her. They chatted briefly, Ara avoiding carrying anything more on than simple one word answers, then golf ball eyes studied right across from Ara, for an hour, before he had to leave for some meeting. The hour had consisted for Ara intervals of falling into concentrated studying only for it to be dramatically broken by a prickling in her skin.  The misery and embarrassment of her latter high school years was sitting right in front of her, in clear view.

The next time, she’d wanted to physically kick him out of that chair. He sat in the chair even before he asked if it was available. He’d brought her a vanilla latte with one for himself.

Ara hated how she actually managed to fly through a biology questionnaire assignment with him, in a matter of minutes. Or, for that matter, how he guessed right on his first try on her Starbucks drink preference.

“Sweet, now I don’t have to worry about Bio homework until next week! Nice teamwork Ara.”

“I’m glad we only had the questionnaire this weekend. I’m surprised Professor Seo didn’t assign more…”

“He said the questionnaire was supposed to take up to two hours with the reading, remember? I’m so glad we’d both already read through the material. How long did we just take with that, like, twenty minutes?”

His laugh, even, made Ara cringe. How was he so intelligent, so laid back, so altogether? What could Ara possibly do to beat this golf ball eyed boy, out in the real world?

He grabbed his things, his coffee, and wished Ara a good weekend. He left her in her library shelter for another meeting of sorts. Ara hadn’t been able to focus on her Korean reading assignment, for a good hour afterward.

After the third time, Ara moved. To her relief, he didn’t bring her a 5,000won coffee this time. Just a few lollipops, which he insisted she save for when she got drowsy or bored. Again, he just stayed for a little over an hour, quietly studying, until it was time for those meetings he always seemed to go to.

Why she didn’t just tell him no, go away, she didn’t want to see him and his huge golf ball eyes near him, she didn’t know.

By the time she moved her spot in the library though, the semester had already trailed to an end.

Professor Seo praised golf ball eyes on his biology lab reports. The Chemistry professor curved test grades according to everyone else’s scores in comparison to golf ball eyes’ score. The day of the research symposium, the boy had given Ara a two thumbs up on her presentation panel. He ended up winning first place. Ara received third. Yes, she and golf ball eyes received the only two ‘A’s in Professor Kim’s class. It didn’t do anything to Ara but prove to her once again, that golf ball eyes was above her, too high, where she could never reach.

“Ara. Please. You know you have all weekend to work on that Korean paper. This event is Big.”

Ara ignored Yoonjo, popping a tea bag in her mug, waiting for her water boiler to heat.

“That one campus acapella group that everyone’s been talking about is gonna be there! We get to finally see who they are! Come on Ara. I’ve talked to some friends over at Sungkyunkwan, and even they’ve heard about this group. We need to go see them before they get cast for Super Star K or something and get huge!”

“Yoonjo. If they get huge, you can watch them all you want on tv.”

“Are you seriously telling me that’s the same thing?!”

“And I’m not even dressed.”

“Then get some clothes on so we can go!”

Yoonjo forced Ara’s closet open, tossing Ara’s scarf onto her bed.

“So you want me to wear a scarf over my pajamas? In the summer?”

Yoonjo stomped over to Ara’s water boiler defiantly and unplugged the cord.

“I don’t care what you wear. I’m sick of you being cooped up studying and being the most antisocial person ever. You are coming out with me tonight, that is final!”

Despite her words, Yoonjo padded back to Ara’s closet, inspecting for apt articles of an outfit.

The final graded score of her Chemistry exam glared at Ara from her desk. ‘Wonderful job!’ the professor had written. ‘Almost no curve at all!’

There she went again, comparing golf ball eyes’ absolute perfect score on the exam, to her almost perfect one.

An outdoor stage stood in the middle of an open campus courtyard. A few beverage vendors surrounded the mass of plastic tables and seats. Ara bit her lip at the foreign feeling of the people around her. She’d been so closed off into her own classes and work, she didn’t even know who the heck the End-of-Semester Fetival emcee was. Apparently everyone else did.

“Their name is Heavenly Voice?”

“Hmm, it has a ring to it.”

“It sounds way too egotis…”

Before Ara could finish, the group had come on stage, cheers from the crowd steadily carrying on. Ara weaved her eyes past a few obnoxious, unnecessary posters some girls were holding up, catching the emcee head down from the stage, leaving the four acapella group members in the spotlight.

“Hi, my name’s Shin Dongwoo, I’m a 2013-class political science major, and I’m apparently the leader of this group. Glad to be here!”

The guy gave a dry laugh, and a few girls sitting in the table in front of Ara squealed.

“Hi guys, my name’s Jo Jinho, I’m also a 2013-class, business major, and I’m honored to be performing tonight.”

“Hi! My name’s Im hyunshik, a 2014-class biology major. Thanks for being here!”

For a moment, it brought back memories, Hyunshik’s voice projecting so naturally into a ringing microphone. And then, no matter how hard she tried not to, seeing golf ball eyes up there next to Hyunshik made drop.

“Hi! My name’s Do Kyungsoo, a 2014-class biology major, nice to meet you!”

Yoonjo tapped Ara’s wrist.

“Aw, he’s cute!”

Ara glared at her roommate, but Yoonjo took no notice, too busy watching.

“The first song we’ll sing for you guys is 2AM’s ‘This Song’. Enjoy!”

At the guy named Dongwoo’s introduction, the four bowed, and lined up across the stage. Hyunshik, Jinho, golf ball eyes, and Dongwoo.

Having grown up with Hyunshik, Ara knew the guy could sing. He’d given up his dream of being a singer some time in middle school, so it surprised Ara, seeing him up there.

The small pool of dread that had been gathering since seeing golf ball eyes on stage, however, slowly took over Ara’s thoughts. The song rang in her head, hollow. The guy named Jinho had a beautiful voice and great control. Ara almost gave way to the music, pushing down the stupid, unfair existence of perfection that was golf ball eyes. Almost.

When Kyungsoo took the chorus, Yoonjo physically held her breath. Ara tore her eyes away from golf ball eyes, his heart shaped lips moving gently along with the music. She focused on her roommates’ carrot orange hair, her lips tightened in a slight smile, her whole concentration on golf ball eyes’ voice.

And it became unbearable, so Ara just closed her eyes. Hyunshik took his turn, and Ara enjoyed it, a soft, but powerful voice. He hadn’t lost one bit of the talent.

What made Ara open her eyes, near the end of the song, made her roommate chuckle in sympathy. Golf ball eyes’s voice shook and cracked, not too badly but still, it did.

Ara watched him, grinning shyly, side glancing his group mates. It might have been the only thing that kept Ara sitting there. Golf ball eyes, screwing up.

Following 2AM, Heavenly Voice covered Brown Eyed Soul’s ‘My Story’ and Kim Taewoo’s ‘Memory and Recollection’.

Ara tried to ignore her roommate’s constant comments about the cute one. But then her roommate had a of actual brains, unfortunately remembering them, both golf ball eyes and Hyunshik.

“Hey wait, aren’t those kids in our Research seminar class? I knew they looked familiar… and our Biology class, now that I think about it…”

“Took you ages to figure it out.”

Ara rolled her eyes, but Yoonjo snapped her fingers, brightening.

“They’re the kids you know from high school, aren’t they?”

Ara froze. Ironically, Do Kyungsoo saved her.

“Our last song is actually a song that I personally really like, so I asked my group mates if we could sing it. We lowered the key a lot, since we’re guys covering a female song, but we hope you enjoy it!”

Golf ball eyes bowed by himself. The other three looked at him. Then, the one named Jinho gave a laugh.

“Kyungsoo, you forgot the title of the song.”

Those white irises almost doubled in size. Yoonjo giggled.

“Oh! Oh! Sorry about that! We’ll be singing IU’s ‘Good Day’.”

The music began. Ara hid her face in her hands. When she recognized Hyunshik’s voice, she peeked out from her fingers. She caught the four boys, exchanging grins, harmonizing to the bubbly soundtrack. Golf ball eyes swung side to side, the smallest of the four, pleasantness tinting his voice.

 With Yoonjo tapping her fingers against the table lightly, Ara’s insides churned, boiling with everything that golf ball eyes had taken from her, all down to even her favorite, mood-control song.

“Everybody!”

The boy with the glasses directed, and the other three pointed their mics toward the audience.

“Oops, one, two!”

Yoonjo cupped and pitched along. The song’s signature three-octave note, the boys shared as a harmonized series, Hyunshik taking the soprano confidently.

And just like that, it was all over, golf ball eyes having stripped Ara of everything. She just couldn’t get the kid out of her life.

“Ara, can you introduce me to your old high school friends? Please? Please, please, please~?”

After the show, the Heavenly Voice boys came out to a welcoming, excited crowd, girls and boys flailing for pictures and handshakes. Ara desperately wanted to leave, but Yoonjo clung to her, inching her by force closer and closer to where golf ball eyes and Hyunshik basked in their newfound fame.

Ara tried to reprimand herself, without much avail. The IU song she loved so much didn’t actually belong to her. She knew that.

Apparently, Yoonjo had managed to inch them close enough for golf ball eyes to see them. She recognized his voice, unfortunately, calling her. It felt just like the unwanted disturbances at the library.

“Ara, you came!”

The white irises sparkled. Those heart shaped lips pulled back in a full smile. Hyunshik greeted Ara with a smile as well. By Yoonjo’s standards, she should probably have been honored that the newly famous boys from their class strayed from the front line of fans to greet her.

“What did you think?”

Ara avoided looking at the two, especially golf ball eyes, chewing on her lower lip. Yoonjo took over for her.

“I really liked it! You guys are high school friends with Ara, right? She’s told me about you! I’m her roommate, Yoonjo.”

Ara stood by, even stepping back a tiny step, as Yoonjo shook hands with Hyunshik and golf ball eyes. It was always the same. Where ever golf ball eyes happened to be, Ara wanted to be as far away as possible.

Yoonjo seemed to entertain the two effortlessly. Ara was glad, still noticing the foreign bubble around her from months of seclusion and studying. She stole quick glances at golf ball eyes. For the most part, he paid full attention to the conversation with Yoonjo. Only a few times, did Ara meet his eyes, and look away furiously.

It felt like hours before Yoonjo finally allowed Ara out of there. Hyunshik had asked if Ara was going back home for the break, if she’d like to form some sort of reunion with old high school classmates. Ara, practiced in rejection from the entire past semester, casually shook the offer off.

The rest of the semester whizzed by in a blur. Ara stopped listening to IU’s ‘Good Day’ for a while, opting for some of IU’s other songs.

At some point before she and Yoonjo parted for the break between semesters, her roommate confessed her crush on the cute boy with big eyes.

“That’s great, Yoonjo. You’re so social and likeable, I’m sure you’d do well with him.”

“But Ara, you’re friends with him already. You can help me out, right?”

The halfhearted nod Ara gave her roommate, she shook off when she returned home. For the first time in what felt like ages, she got a good rest. She didn’t have anything to study for, and she built herself back a social mindset. She met up with a few old high school friends, taking caution not to run into the guys, just sticking with girls.

Over the break, she managed to ease herself into ‘Good Day’ again. Chilly temperatures and sunshine, or freezing and snow, she managed to fall out of all worries and just enjoy herself, enjoy the song.

For what reasons golf ball eyes also happened liked the song, her song, Ara tried not to think about.