The next day after school Haneul went to Woohyun’s house despite the disapproving gaze of her friends.

“And you said yes?” Dongwoo said with sad eyes. Hyerin shook her head.

“Haneul, he has being a jerk to you for the past month. Forget about him ignoring us, we don’t care about him like you do. You we’re mad at him, remember? And know, just a smile and a cheesy line, and you run to him like a lost puppy that just have found its owner.” Sunggyu said with a hard stare.

‘Maybe they’re right; I shouldn’t have agreed to this.’ Haneul’s hand stopped halfway to the door.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, the front door to the Nam’s house opened and a beautiful, bright woman smiled at her with her arms opened.

“Haneul, darling, you’re here!” She said/yelled.

“Hi, omonim.” Haneul smiled and gasped when Woohyun’s mother embraced her tightly.

“I’ve miss you~ Why haven’t you been coming more often? This house is so empty and quiet without you.” She could hear the pout in the lady’s voice and laughed.

“I think Woohyun is everything but quiet, omonim.” Woohyun’s mother leaned back, flicking her wrist.

“But he’s a boy and too noisy for me. Come in, honey~” She made room for Haneul in the doorway. “That jerk is waiting for you in his bedroom.” She closed the door and walked towards the kitchen. “Do you want something, honey?”

“No, thank you, I’m fine.” Haneul ran up the stairs, then turn to the left and entered the second door without knocking.

Woohyun jumped startled at the sound of the door closing loudly and spun around from his desk; hands over his racing heart and eyes wide open.

“What the ?! I almost myself, Haneul!”

“Watch your language, Nam Woohyun.” She said, flopping in his bed. “If you mom hears you you’re going to be in a lot of trouble.”

“As if I care, that woman says a lot more swearing than I do.” He stood up and sat next to Haneul with a sigh.

“What’s with the sigh?” Haneul said, resting herself on one elbow, studying Woohyun’s face.

“Do… do you remember our last night’s talk?” He said softly, eyes on his lap. Haneul tensed and slowly nodded. “I need help. I-I don’t know how to confess to her.” He gazed at her, confused.

Haneul’s blood turn cold but she tried to act normal. She sat up, legs crossed.

“Do you have something in mind?” She asked softly. Actually she doesn’t want to know, but Woohyun needed her and she couldn’t said no to him, especially since he looked confused and scared. It broke her heart but if it made Woohyun happy, then she would endure it.

“Well,” He imitated her, sitting in front of him, knees touching. “I thought about writing her a letter… and flowers. Girls love flowers. Mom and you always said that I have a great voice so maybe I could sing to her? I don’t know!” He ruffled his hair, clutching the sides.

He kept telling all the ideas that flowed through his mind while Haneul’s gaze was focused on her lap where her fist laid in an attempt to suppress her tears. She wanted Woohyun to write a letter for her, bought flowers for her and sing for her. She wanted to be that special girl that can made the always confident Woohyun in a pool of shyness and nerves. She wanted Woohyun to love her.

But you can have everything, right? So Haneul took a deep breath and lifted her gaze, smiling at the man that will never be hers.

“Maybe you should do all of that.” Woohyun stopped his rant and stare at her. “Maybe you should write her a note dating her in some special place… and you would be waiting for her there, with a bouquet of her favorite flowers and confess to her with a song.” She said smiling softly. “She would love it.”

‘I would love it.’ She thought sadly.

Woohyun’s mouth hung open with wide eyes. Then, slowly, a wide grin started to appeared in his face, eyes disappearing.

“You are awesome, Haneul, did you know that?!!” He shouted excited, laughing stupidly while hugging her. “That the most amazing idea ever! Thank you so much, I knew I could count with you. You’re the best friend anyone could ask for.”

“Anything for you, Woo.” Haneul murmured softly in his ear, feeling how her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach at Woohyun’s lasts words.



The next week Haneul didn’t saw Woohyun at all. She kept hanging out with her friends and became more comfortable around Hoya during dance class. Dongwoo was more than happy to have his two best friends getting along well.

The next Monday, school’s hot topic was that Nam Woohyun and Park Hyomin were officially dating. Dongwoo was sad with the news and didn’t leave Haneul’s side through the day. Hyerin was mad at Woohyun for being so stupid for not noticed Haneul’s feelings and asked her for love advice. Sunggyu was just quiet about the news, he was neutral because; first, Woohyun was a stupid jerk for not realizing that his best friend was in love with him, and second, Haneul was just as stupid as him for keeping it all by herself.

Thursday came around and still Woohyun somewhere with his girlfriend. Haneul saw him a few times in the hallway with Hyomin by the hand, but she turned away before he could notice her.

At Friday, Sunggyu and Hyerin skipped school to go on a date, so at the end of the day, Haneul walked out of the school gates alone, walking with difficult and holding a one sling bag instead of her usual backpack.

She was about to reached the gates when she caught sight of a guy leaning against it, head moving to the beat of whatever music was on his earphones.

“Hoya?” Haneul smiled and walked up to him, tapping his shoulder. Hoya opened his eyes startled, taking off his earphones.

“Haneul! I didn’t hear you.” He frowned. Haneul snorted.

“Of course you didn’t. I could hear your hip hop music from the school entrance.”

“Really?” His frown intensified and Haneul laughed at that.

“Of course not, silly, I’m just fooling with you.” She struggles with her bag. “What are you doing here?”

“I didn’t know I couldn’t come here without your permission.” She lifted an eyebrow. Before, she would felt confused at his comments, but now she understood that Hoya has weird sense of humor.

He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I’m waiting for Dongwoo, he told me to come for him so we could go and practice before class.” It was Haneul’s turn to frown.

“He’s not going to come.” Hoya blinked at her. “He got detention for sleeping during the last class. He won’t come out until 5.”

Hoya blinked and sighed, hanging his head.

“And what I’m going to do for two hours?” He rubbed his face with both hands.

“Well, and I’m painted or what?” Haneul put her hands on her hips, but then struggled again with her bag. Hoya glanced at her and, without thinking, took the bag from her.

“Let’s get something to eat, then.” He grinned before extending his hand in a courteous way as if giving her to walk first. Haneul laughed.

“So demanding.” She teased but walked ahead anyway. She missed the sincere smile that Hoya gave her before walking behind her.


Woohyun ran through the almost empty hallway asking the few students about Haneul whereabouts.

“She left a few minutes ago.” A guy said, pointing to the main entrance.

“Thanks, dude!”

Woohyun ran out of the school, looking everywhere for his best friend. He saw her by the gates with her hands on her hips. He was about to call her but a hand reached for her bag and a guy appeared in front of her. Woohyun frowned.

Was this guy harming her?

He took a few steps forward but stopped when Haneul laughed at some hand moves from the guy before walking away with him. Woohyun saw the guy smiled at her back before walking after her, both of them talking happily.

Woohyun felt the pit of his stomach dropped at the sight of Haneul walking away with some random guy. He wanted to run after them but Hyomin’s sweet voice at the distance stopped him. So he just turned away, walking towards his girlfriend who was waiting for him by the entrance.



Hoya and Haneul ended up eating Japanese food so they wouldn’t get stomach ache at their dance class. Hoya’s phone vibrated in the table, alerting him with a new message.

“It’s Dongwoo,” He said swallowing his food. “He said he would meet me in the dance studio.” Locking his phone, he rolled his eyes. “He should have said that earlier.”

“Am I not good enough company for you?” Haneul faked a sob, wiping a non-existent tear. Hoya’s eyes widened.

“It’s not that!” He blurted. “I didn’t mean it like that… it’s just…” Haneul laughed at him, covering .

“I’m joking, Hoya.” He relaxed before kicking her slightly under the low table. Haneul eyes shined playfully.

“Hey! What was that?!” She laughed, kicking him too but ended up almost flipping the table. Both of them grabbed the edges of the table, casting a wary glance towards the owner who just shook her head at them. Hoya was the first to laugh, Haneul followed him shortly after, eyes never leaving his face. Hoya’s smiling face was priceless. She could saw perfectly his canine teeth and she found them adorable.

They talked for an hour and headed out for a walk in a nearby park, all the time Hoya carrying her bag.

“Give it to me, it must be heavy.” Haneul tried to reach her bag but Hoya stepped back.

“It is but I can manage.” He shrugged a shoulder.

In fact, the bag wasn’t heavy but he saw Haneul struggling with it while massaging her lower back once in a while when she thought that Hoya wasn’t seeing. He wanted to ask but figured that, if she wanted him to know, she would have mentioned it already.

“You have a little brother?” She asked startled. Hoya nodded.

“Six years younger.” formed an ‘o’.

“Woow, it must be difficult being the older.” Hoya chuckled.

“A little, yes, you became their role model so I need to act carefully around him.” He paused for a moment. “But it was him who encouraged me to follow my dream.” He said with a small smile.

“How sweet of him. And you’re right; the younger one will always look up to the older.” Haneul gazed at the sky with a loving smile. “I encouraged my brother too, when he was debating about his school in America.” She lowered her gaze and both their eyes met. “We have more in common that we thought.”

“Yeah.” He said softly.

The two talked and talked until it was 5 in the afternoon. In thirty minutes their class would began so Haneul asked to Howon if he could go with her to her house to change and leave her bag.

“Come, I’m just going to change this hoodie.” She walked up the stairs with Hoya trailing behind.

He walked slowly, watching the photos hanging by the wall of the stairs. Family photos. He saw Haneul’s older brother photos, when he was little and when he won a soccer match; he was holding a trophy with his team at his sides. Photos of a beautiful woman with long, brown hair smiling. He assumed that she was Haneul mother; Haneul had her eyes and smile. Hoya frowned, he hadn’t hear her talking about her mother’s whereabouts, Haneul just said things like her mother’s likes and dislikes but nothing more than that. Not stories, not bonding moments. He had all of them with his mother, he even talked them to Haneul but she just smile all the time, listening him with attention. Maybe he would ask her another time… but then again he didn’t want to pry in her private life.

He kept searching the wall but found almost none photos of a baby Haneul.

Hoya frowned, walking the rest of the stairs and entered the room where he saw Haneul disappeared. His eyes widened and breath got caught in his throat.

There, in front of him, was Haneul with her back to him. She was putting on an oversized shirt and he just caught a glimpse of her back. She always wore comfy clothes so he hadn’t notice her S-line nor the small of her back. But what caught him more off guard was a big purple bruise in the right side of her lower back. So that’s why she was massaging herself all the time. But how could possibly caused that bruise? She didn’t got it in their dance lessons, he was always watching her, and she wasn’t the clumsy type.

Haneul turned around and jumped when she saw him by the doorframe.

“Oh God, you scare me.” She put a hand on her chest and slowly glared at him. “How long have you been there?”

“I just arrive.” He lied.

“Well, then let’s go! I’m ready.” Haneul smiled, taking a water bottle form her desk before walking out with Hoya by her side.



A few weeks passed and the month ended with Woohyun still busy with his new popular life being Hyomin’s boyfriend. One Thursday Haneul was looking for him around school, she even asked to the ‘popular ones’ about his whereabouts and one of them told her that he saw him by the gardens.

She ran out of the many back doors of the school, watching everywhere for him with an excited face. Haneul turned to the right and she saw them; locking lips under a big tree. Hyomin’s hands were tangled in Woohyun’s dark locks while his hands were resting comfortably on her waist.

Haneul gasped and felt something heavy on her chest. Her eyes started to itch and she turned away, giving them some privacy.


At the end of the day Haneul waited for him by the gates with Dongwoo by her side. Well, he was more like jumping and doing waves with his arms.

“Why isn’t he coming? It’s getting late.” Dongwoo frowned looking at the entrance. Haneul looked at him and sighed.

“Let’s wait five minutes more.”

“Then I’ll warm up.”

He started to stretch his arms then reach down to touch his toes, forehead almost touching his knees. Haneul saw him with an amused face before kicking his , making lost his balance and almost fell face first on the ground.

“Pwahaha!” She clutched her stomach, laughing hard.

“Yah! What’s your problem?!” But he was laughing too. He took her cap away and examined it. “I thought you didn’t like purple.” Haneul snatched it away, putting in on backwards.

“I don’t but this one is nice.” Dongwoo squinted his eyes at the cap.

“I’ve seen that before.” He murmured.

“Haneul! Dongwoo!”

Both of them turned to look at a surprised Woohyun.

“I thought you were gone.” Woohyun frowned.

“I was waiting for you actually.” Haneul search in her bag for something. Dongwoo was still eyeing her cap.

“Really?” Woohyun grinned. “You’re busy today? Maybe we could go and grab some ice-cream, like the old times.” He smiled widely but his face fell when she gave him an apologetic look.

“Sorry, Woo, I can’t.” Haneul said softly, handing him a colorful flyer. “I need to practice really hard.” She smiled. “Remember when I told you about a competition? Well, it’s at the end of the year. It would be great! A lot of our dance crew is going to participate and I’ll be dancing with Dongwoo, right?” She glanced at him but he just nodded with his eyes still glued to her cap. “Anyways, I hope to see you there. It’s really important to me, you know? And it would mean a lot if could come to see me.” She murmured the last part.

Woohyun smiled and took the flyer.

“I’ll be there, Panda bear, don’t worry.” He opened his backpack and put the flyer between the pages of his English book.

“Aha!” Dongwoo yelled and pointed to the purple-ish cap, startling the others. “It’s Hoya’s, right? Hahaha I knew I’ve seen it before.”

Woohyun glared at the cap in his friend’s head and frowned when her eyes shined at the name.

“Yeah, he lost a bet and this was the prize.” Haneul’s hand went to the cap.

“Who’s Hoya?”

“Bet?” Dongwoo laughed. “What bet?”

“In the DDR, I won all the rounds.” Haneul beamed proudly and Dongwoo blinked a few times and frowned.

“DDR? But he never loses…” He said confused.

“Who’s this Hoya guy?!” Woohyun yelled. Haneul blinked at him.

“He’s a friend from the dance studio. Anyways, I have to go, Woo, maybe we can go out another time..?” She said a bit unsure.

“We’re going to be late! Bye, Woohyun!”

Dongwoo dragged Haneul by the hand while she waved at Woohyun with the other. She yelled as she almost tripped.

“Stop dragging me! I can walk, you know!”

“But what’s the fun in that?”

Woohyun heard Dongwoo’s laughter and Haneul’s yells with an amused smile. He let out a sigh, he really wanted to spend time with his best friend, he even ditched Hyomin’s offer to go with her to shop for shoes, or it was a dress? He couldn’t remember. Woohyun sighed again and walked towards his house.



The next weeks between exams and projects to do and Haneul practicing every day after school and Woohyun hanging out with his friends they didn’t saw each other.

Exams came at the end of the month and they were free from school till the end of holidays. Sunggyu, Hyerin, Dongwoo and Haneul passed with flying colors and went to Hongdae to celebrate.

“Hey guys can I invite someone?” Haneul asked. Sunggyu nodded.

“As long as is only one, then I’m fine.”

“Thanks, Sunggyu! After all you’re going to pay.” She joked and put the phone to her ear. Sunggyu snorted and walked to Hyerin, hugging her from behind. Dongwoo laughed hysterically while covering her eyes.

“Hoya? Hi! Are you free right now? …. Mmh, we are to going to Noreabang, do you want to come?... Yes~ then I see you there, bye!” Haneul hang up happily and ran to the others. “Hoya is coming!” She cling to Dongwoo’s arm.

“Really?! That’s great!” Dongwoo laughed again.

They arrived to Hongdae an hour later and as they were walking to their usual Noreabang they caught sight of Woohyun sitting by a bench near a fountain.

“What is he doing here?” Hyerin frowned.

“I don’t know.” Haneul rushed to him. “Woohyun?” He looked up startled and stood up.

“What are you doing here, Haneul?” He asked confused.

“I was going to ask you the same.”Woohyun sighed and rubbed his face.

“I was waiting for Hyomin but she call me a few minutes ago saying she’s not going to come.”

“Why?” Haneul frowned.

“Her parents wanted to eat with her.”

The others arrived with them and Dongwoo slung an arm around Woohyun’s shoulders.

“What are you doing so alone like this?” Woohyun snorted and punched him playfully on the stomach.

“We are going to Noraebang, do you want to come?” Sunggyu asked.

Five minutes later they were outside the building. Haneul saw Hoya leaning against the wall with his earphones on. She laughed and ran to him.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Woohyun asked.

“Hoya is here!” Dongwoo ran after Haneul too.

Haneul stopped in front of Hoya and started to made moves with her hands as if she was rapping. Hoya’s eyes widened surprised and a laugh escaped his mouth.

“You have swag.” He took out his earphones and stuffed them on his pocket.

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been told.” She laughed as Hoya ruffled her hair.

“Hoya, Yaho, Hoya~” Dongwoo sang while patting Hoya’s back.

The three laughed and Sunggyu, Hyerin and Woohyun went to them.

“Hi, you must be Hoya. I’m Sunggyu.” Hoya bowed. Sunggyu nodded pleased, he loved when people showed respect to him for being older. He liked the boy already.

“I’m Hyerin, nice to meet you.” She smiled and hugged Sunggyu’s arm.

“Woohyun, Nam Woohyun.” He said with a deep voice. So this was the Hoya guy Haneul and Dongwoo were talking about. He recognized him as the guy that went to their school.

“Nice to meet you too, I’m Hoya.”

“Well, let’s get in! I want to sing “Gee”!” Dongwoo dance a part of the chorus.

“Stop it, Dongwoo.” Sunggyu entered the building with Dongwoo and Hyerin trailing behind.

“Let’s go, friend.” Hoya put an arm around Haneul’s shoulders and entered the building. She laughed and slapped his waist. Haneul looked over her shoulder.

“Come on, Woo.”

Woohyun watched as they walked away. He couldn’t help but felt a pang of pain and jealousy on his stomach. He felt as if this Hoya guy was stealing Haneul away from him and he will not allow it.

But wait, jealousy?

What for? Haneul was his friend and she has the right to found someone to be with, just like he did. And he should be happy for that, just like she is for him. And this Hoya guy seemed nice, maybe he would gave him a chance and saw if he was qualified to be her boyfriend.

He cared for Haneul as a brother would for his sister, right? So it was right to feel that way.

So he went to the building with an uneasy heart and a party of emotions on the pit of his stomach.