Hyoyeon was once again having a nice day after she just became friends with the toughest person she met in her whole life. And she went straight to Siwon to talk to him.

 

“Hey Father Siwon!” She said smiling brightly.

 

“Oh! You’re here!” Siwon said.

 

“Yeah! I just have to share some stuff with you.”

 

“Really, I think this would be a long talk. I also happen to have some stuff I’d like to share with you as well. Let’s walk?” The priest said and started walking with Hyoyeon. “What are we talking about, you go first?” He asked.

 

Hyoyeon then started speaking. “You do remember when I told you about myself and Yoon-hee not getting along very well?”

 

“Yes. Because she heard you plotting something, with which I’ve already scolded you, right?”

 

Hyoyeon couldn’t help but smile as she recalled trying to tell Siwon about her roommate and how she said mean things to her only to end up being scolded by the priest. “Yes. I didn’t forget about your wise words at that time. Anyways, the point is we’ve already made up. We’re friends now! What you said was exactly right! I shouldn’t push things and let everything fall into place. And it happened!” She said happily.

 

“And how did that happen?” Siwon interestingly questioned.

 

So Hyoyeon shared everything from the bathroom incident (Well, she sort of omitted the part of her being in the shower just ‘cause the priest shouldn’t know about that anymore. She just said she was about to change in the bathroom and the other barged in.), the fact that Yoon-hee didn’t sleep there last night and that she came home with that funny-looking clown face. The two are having some good laughs without noticing that someone was already looking at them...

---------------------------

 

Junho couldn’t be any happier. He’s now friends with his love which clearly means, no more arguing, no more exchange of bad words and definitely lots of good times together. ‘Isn’t like dating?’ He thought before he started laughing to himself. His happiness was suddenly cut off when Wooyoung came and put an arm on his shoulder.

 

“Ya buddy! What’s with you that you’re laughing alone? If anyone were to see you, they’d think you’ve gone completely insane.” Wooyoung said.

 

“Nothing. I just thought of something.” He defended.

 

“And since when did we start keeping things from each other? It’s not like we don’t tell each other everything even when you’re away when we were kids. Do you remember the three of us always writing letters to each other and share everything? Why are you keeping secrets from me now?” Wooyoung questioningly said.

 

“Buddy! I wasn’t keeping secrets okay? It’s just that I really thought of some funny joke and I can’t help but laugh.” Junho again answered in a defensive manner.

 

“Fine then, share with me that joke.” Wooyoung commanded. And when Junho remained silent, he once again bombarded him with questions.”You see? I knew it! There’s no joke! You were laughing because of something! Hmmm. Actually, for the longest time that I have known you, I’ve only seen this kind of laugh once. And this isn’t the way you laugh at jokes.” And then he grinned meaningfully.

 

“Why are you grinning like that? You’re scaring me. Seriously! Stop that!” Junho said quite annoyed.

 

“Fine. I’ll stop but not before I tell you what I think is going on here...” He stopped, grinned again and looked at Junho intently before continuing. “...You see, I’ve known when we were kids that you had this thing for Suzy and you’d always do nice things for her like carry her bags and help her with errands and all. So she cooks for you in return and sometimes helps you with your errands as well. Though I don’t know why you suddenly don’t like her in that manner anymore, I saw how you always laugh and smile when you were together in those moments.” He said as he looked at a puzzled Junho.

 

“What are you saying? I didn’t have a thing for Suzy?! She’s our little sister, remember?” Junho denied.

 

“Whatever! You can’t deny. I just know, okay? But that wasn’t the point. The thing is, you react like this when you like someone and by the looks of it, I think the person you like is your room...” Wooyoung was cut off when he saw that Junho wasn’t listening anymore. “...Yah! Are you listening?” But still no response and he just saw him looking intensely somewhere so he followed his buddy’s gaze. And with what Junho was staring at, he finally confirmed his suspicion. And since it looks impossible for the other guy to be listening right now, he just patted him hard at the back and said, “Maybe we’ll talk later. I got to go!” And with a simple nod from Junho, Wooyoung left the area.

 

Junho didn’t even mind that his buddy just left him. Sure, he was bothered by the fact that Wooyoung knew he liked Suzy at one point in their lives but what he was looking at was surely more bothersome. Actually, it was bothersome and painful at the same time. After having that fun time with him, his love was now laughing and having an even happier time with another man, a priest to be exact. “Wow! Why is my chest hurting? It’s not like I was hit or bumped. And this girl sure is interesting, she really likes that priest. She’s so into nice guys. I wonder if she would like me now that I’m friends with her. But as if that would happen? I’m clearly a girl. She wouldn’t like me if I look like this. I guess this isn’t a time for my love life. I should just definitely focus on finding Ji-eun. Where the hell in this school could she be?” Junho thought all this and as he looked at his smiling love, he knew he really should just focus on finding his sister. With his mood getting even worse, he decided to leave the scene and go straight to class...

--------------------------

 

IU was eating alone at the crowded cafeteria. She was lucky to have found a spot even before most of the students came. She was thinking about the upcoming competition wherein Coach Ahn said that she will be competing for four major medals. She can’t help but smile at the thought that she once hated the idea of being in the hurdles team and now, from what it looks like, she’s one of the best players in the group. Maybe it’s the competitive side of her, maybe it’s the wonders and uniqueness of the sport, she really cannot say but what she is sure of is that she’ll give more than a hundred percent for the coming competition. She was under this train of thoughts until a person started coughing beside her...

 

“IU?” Wooyoung said while smiling.

 

IU was surprised that he was talking to her and that gorgeous smile of his didn’t help and she’s silently panicking right now.

 

“IU? Is something wrong? Are you okay?” Wooyoung now asked, worriedly.

 

“No, I’m okay. Do you want to sit?” She managed to ask him. She was surprised with herself as she didn’t know where she got the courage to talk to him and say that much.

 

“Oh, sure! I thought you’re sick or something. You looked as if you were frozen for a moment there. I was starting to get worried. So, what are you doing here alone? No practice? I’ve heard from Jiyeon that the competition’s gonna be in a month.”

 

She knew she can’t talk to him that’s why she was once again surprised when she was able to open and even out her breathing before speaking. “That’s true. It’s kind of nerve-wracking because this would be my first time competing in a sports meet. I don’t want to think about it but I’m scared to get injured. I honestly don’t like the sport when I first joined but my sister obliged me to do it and I hate to admit it but it became one of the reasons why I want to go to school.”

 

“We’ll all be there, you shouldn’t worry. Me, Hyoyeon and Junho will be cheering for you...” Wooyoung proudly said but he was puzzled by the expression on IU’s face.

 

“Who’s Junho? I actually heard that name before from Teacher Yoon-hee.” IU said.

 

Wooyoung was startled. How could he let it slip like that? He immediately thought of an answer. “Junho is actually Yoon-hee’s twin brother but the guy left and we don’t know where he is right now.”

 

“Oh! So Teacher Yoon-hee has that kind of problem. Tell her not to feel bad, they’ll meet again soon. Anyways, I still have to train. I’ll be leaving now. Bye!” The girl said as she stood up but before completely leaving, Wooyoung spoke again.

 

“You really are a nice kid. And by the way, it was nice talking to you. I thought you’re mad at me or something because you always stare and never speak to me. I’m actually relieved. Let’s talk again sometime. Good luck with the training.”

 

With one last bow, IU left the cafeteria. As she walked to the field, she still couldn’t believe what has happened and where did she get all the courage and energy to talk to Wooyoung but that should not bother her now as she has to focus on her training. “I’ll save these thoughts for another time.” She thought as she went to greet the coach and her other teammates. 

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Hi guys! Chapter 24 done... And I’m working on another one. Once again, I want to thank all of you for subscribing and patiently waiting for my story updates. I was really excited whenever I see that someone has commented in the story. I was laughing and touched at the same time as I read those comments and if not for these generous and kind comments, I would have stopped writing this already... So thank you again and please continue supporting this story!