Myungsoo bit his lip as the girl whipped around to look at him, debating whether it would be the best if he just ran away now. It would probably be the best (and least embarrassing) way out of the situation, but, somehow, he found himself being drawn to the girl. He pushed off, slowly and hesitantly at first, towards her, gently approaching the girl in the midst of darkness. She had her head turned to look at him. The girl watched as he skated gracefully up to her, her eyes shining in the dark. They stared at each other for a long moment, even though they couldn’t make out each other’s faces in the night.

She moved first. She started to skate circles around him, slow, elegant curves closing into a dance. As he stood watching her, she skated a little farther down, turning to smile and beckon him.

Myungsoo didn’t know what came over him. She drew him in, and he let his legs move of their own accord.  He followed her into the middle of the rink, the moonlight shining down on them both, and skated beside as she started to move over the ice, to twirl and spin, legs swinging out to cut circles into the ice, arms gracefully cutting through the air. He found himself skating faster and faster, until he was with her and matching speed. He gave an experimental spin over the ice, scraping the ground as he landed and arcing around the girl, turning the ice surrounding her to shavings.

And so they skated. Danced, really. Weaving around each other, spinning and jumping; the sound of skates quickly scraping over the ice was the only thing that could be heard. Myungsoo grinned, laughing in joy as he skated faster and faster. He had never met anyone else he could match with, skate with, at such a speed- and for the first time in a long time, he was truly happy on the ice.

He could hear her laughing quietly too, breathing quickly as she brushed by him. So she understood too. It was the most exhilarating feeling, dancing over the ice, the wind rushing past, letting go of the hurt that came from his broken family.

Even as they blew past each other, swirling and twirling as fast as they could skate, the two eventually began to skate closer and closer, slower. They couldn’t see each other in the darkness, but they could make out the person in front of them well enough to sense their presence.

As he skated nearer to her, Myungsoo began to slow down, pushing off the ice gently and gracefully approaching her.

They stood, facing each other, silently. No words were said, but both could hear the unspoken words in the air. Around them, the air was cold, and the moon glowed, littering the ice with fragments of light. It was a beautiful night.

                                                                    . . .

Jung Ah shivered as she stepped onto the school grounds with Joo Young beside her, pulling her jacket closer to her body. It has a horrible day to have gotten out of bed for.

She turned to Joo Young, who was glancing around curiously. “So this is it. Not much, but... yeah. Welcome to your new school,” she offered a smile.

“Wow. It’s huge. And there’s so many people out here. Ah, it’s going to be a great year!” Joo Young stretched her arms out happily.

Jung Ah murmured in agreement, looking up at the cold, cloudless sky and cursing the weather- and running straight into a hard chest.

“Oh my gosh! Sorry…” she stopped, looking up at the person she had bumped into and widening her eyes.

“Watch it,” the guy she remembered as Myungsoo growled quietly, glaring down at her. So he did go to her school. No wonder the girls were always going on about him- he looked like a model. And he really was tall, Jung Ah noticed, not to mention that he had a pretty well-built chest too-

“Huh,” she snorted, turning and mentally hitting herself for thinking such stupid things. “You watch where you’re going. It wasn’t completely my fault,” she retorted quickly to cover, looking at him defiantly. He stared at her for a second, and she stared back, in challenge. Blinking slowly, Myungsoo turned and then kept right on walking, brushing past her.

“What the- That guy has problems. Eh, whatever,” Jung Ah shrugged it off and continued on her way.

“Hmm. That’s one of Dongwoo’s friends, right? He seems to… like you,” Joo Young observed. She watched his retreating back as it disappeared around the corner and turned to face her friend.

“Him? He was a total jerk from the beginning,” Jung Ah scoffed. “Though he does remind me of someone…” she muttered the last part to herself, tilting her head in thought. Right then, the bell rang, and Joo Young grabbed her hand to pull her to class. Jung Ah followed obediently, leaving her thoughts behind with the cold.

. . .

The two girls rushed into class, gasping for breath, just as the last bell rang. Woohyun looked up as they entered, looking away quickly when Jung Ah smiled at Hoya, who was at the desk beside him.

“Good morning girls. Ah, yes, we have a new student with us today. This is...”

“Hello, my name is Joo Young! Please take care of me!” she gave the class a smile and followed Jung Ah to her seat.

“Aish! Finally you guys are here. I thought you were gonna be late,” Min Hee whispered, leaning across the aisle as her friends quietly settled into their desks.

“Sorry, we lost track of the time,” Joo Young apologized. The girls were shushed by the teacher, and turned to face the front.

Across the room, Hoya gave Woohyun a look. “So... she’s been in our class for the whole year. Wow, I never knew...” He studied the girl for a moment. “She is quite pretty. And interesting too, if our conversations are any indication.”

Woohyun sighed, thinking of the kind of guy she must think he was. A coward, in the least. He hadn’t talked to her at all that day; Hoya had been the one to get along with her. He had watched them, almost jealous of the way they talked so easily and how he could make her laugh when all he could do was sit quietly. It wasn’t like him at all.

“I still haven’t talked to her though... She probably doesn’t even know I exist,” Woohyun worried.

Hoya almost laughed at the irony of it. One of the most popular, good-looking guys in the school was afraid that a girl wouldn’t know who he was? He shook his head. “Where’s the confident, flirty Woohyun I know? This isn’t like you at all.”

Woohyun bit his lip. Hoya was right. He needed to man up and talk to her. Yep, he was going to do that. He was the handsome, charismatic Woohyun after all, and he had hoards of girls after him; there was no reason to be nervous. “Fighting, Woohyun,” he muttered to himself, newly determined.

Watching his friend with slight amusement, Hoya smiled. He was definitely a man in love. (A/N: ^^) Even the almighty Woohyun got nervous talking to the girl he liked, it seemed. It was kind of cute.

. . .

“Dongwoo wants us to come sit with him,” Joo Young said, slipping her phone back into her pocket and glancing up at her two friends. They were standing in line at the cafeteria. Min Hee’s eyes widened while Jung Ah simply shrugged, answering,“Okay, then. Let’s go.”

“How can you be so chill? We’re going to sit with the hottest guys in school! You’re so lucky to have Dongwoo as your boyfriend, Joo Young,” Min Hee gushed, shaking her head. Joo Young giggled in response.

Jung Ah rolled her eyes. As long as there was food, she didn’t mind who she sat with. With that, she heard a voice call her name.

“Jung Ah! Joo Young! Min Hee! Over here!” Dongwoo’s loud voice carried across the room. He waved happily, and Joo Young smiled at him, making her way to the table. The two girls followed, one bouncing with excitement and the other glancing at her food hungrily, both oblivious to the glares and surprised looks on the faces of the students they walked by.

“Hi honey!” Joo Young smiled sweetly, seating herself beside her boyfriend. The rest of the table turned away in mild disgust as sickeningly lovey-dovey moments ensued.

Meanwhile, Min Hee plunked herself down beside Sungyeol and Sunggyu, immediately starting to chatter animatedly, and leaving Jung Ah with no choice but to sit beside Myungsoo and Woohyun. Well, at least Hoya was across from her, so it wouldn’t be totally awkward. She placed her tray on the table, sliding herself between the two and promptly picking up her spoon to dig in.

“Hey, you got the spicy beef?!” A voice from her left surprised her, and she almost dropped her spoon, she was so startled. She turned to the speaker; he was the guy called... Woohyun? Yep, that was probably his name. She had nearly forgotten he could speak, he was so quiet the last time.

“Uh. Yeah?” Jung Ah glanced at him suspiciously, expecting him to on her (deadly, in her friends’ opinions) choice of meat. Instead, he gestured to his own tray.

“I love that beef. Who knew that there was actually another person who eats it in this school. I had thought I was the only one.” Woohyun raised his eyebrows.

Sungyeol snorted. “That’s because that beef is deadly. Last time I was forced to have it, my throat was on fire for a week afterwards. You two are insane, that’s for sure.”

“Oh my gosh, that’s what I told Jung Ah too! That beef kills people, I swear. I don’t know what’s wrong with those two.” Min Hee shook her head, high fiving Sungyeol.

Jung Ah rolled her eyes, turning back to Woohyun. “I know, right? But it’s so good, I don’t know why no one eats it! I swear, the lunch ladies must make it especially for us.”

“Well, more for us, I guess. Hey, have some of mine. I’m actually kind of full, this is my second serving. Here,” Woohyun heaped beef onto Jung Ah’s tray, giving her a smile.

Myungsoo rolled his eyes, shaking his head at his best friend who was flirting yet again. Why did it have to be that annoying girl?

“Ah- wait- really? Are you sure you’re full?” Jung Ah stared at him, wide eyed.

“Yep, go ahead! Such delicious food shouldn’t go to waste.” he beckoned to the plate encouragingly.

“Well. If you say so. Mmm! So good!” Jung Ah smiled at him, causing butterflies to flutter in his stomach. She was so pretty when she smiled. And she was talking to him. Woohyun was happy, alright.

“Ah- hey, you’re in my math class, right? Don’t you think Mr. Kim was a little touchy today?”

“I know, right? What’s up with him today? Must have had a bad day. Oh, I’m so lost in the unit we’re doing right now. I’m dead when we have to do our final...”

Hoya smiled knowingly as the two chatted animatedly, Jung Ah laughing at something Woohyun said. His friend had gotten his magic touch back, it seemed; he was back to his usual charming self. Bonding over spicy beef, indeed. He shook his head in awe. Whatever worked for him.

“Yah. Park Jung Ah. What are you doing here?” A loud, snide voice cut through the conversation at the table.

Jung Ah rolled her eyes and sighed when she turned to see a tall, pretty girl with long black hair standing behind her. She and Ga In hadn’t gotten along all that well since way back in elementary school. They had clashed all throughout elementary, middle school, and now high school- and it didn’t help that they were rivals on the rink as well.

“What do you want?” Jung Ah glared at the girl.

“You sure don’t know your place, do you? What are you to be sitting with these handsome guys? You better not be thinking that you actually had a chance. She’s the same on the ice, too, you know,” Ga In turned to her friend beside her, shaking her head dramatically and tutting. “No chance of winning anything.”

Jung Ah stood up abruptly, turning and standing to face her rival angrily. “Huh? What did you say? No chance? Are you trying to start a fight with me, or what? Come on, let’s fight.” A concerned Joo Young attempted to pull Jung Ah back down to her seat, but she was shaken off and gave up, exasperated.

“Hohoho no need to be so violent, honey. I just wanted to keep you in line,” Ga In examined her nails, then looked straight at Jung Ah with challenge in her eyes. “But if you really insist we fight, why don’t we do it, then? On the ice.”