Editing is always the hardest but most important part about writing a chapter.

I had always thought Woohyun didn’t have any feelings for Haneul. He would joke around with her the same way he did with the rest of us. He asked for her as much as he asked for us. He spoke of her as much as he would speak of us. But the difference was he looked at her much differently than he looked at us. And I was pretty surprised when I noticed it.

But I was even more surprised and a bit upset when I saw how Haneul looked at him.

○●○●○

“Haneul, this is too complicated. I’m going to fail the exam!” I cried as I fell back on my bed.

I could hear her sigh over the phone, “Sehun, it’s really simply. All you have to do is relate rates.”

“For you, maybe,” I said as I stared at the stars. “I’m going to stop for today; it’s almost time for you guys to eat dinner anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Sehun.”

“Bye, sleep well.”

I put my phone away and got up to change out of the clothes I wore home from our soccer practise. Today, soccer practise ended early so I decided to start studying for my math exam. There were two weeks left and it was time for me to do some heavy studying. My soccer coach decided to spare us a bit and cancel practises for the next two weeks.

“Oppa, dinner is ready,” Sun Hi said as she stuck her head through my door.

“Alright, let’s go,” I rubbed my empty stomach.

“Oppa, did you give Princess Sunggyu the flower I picked out from the garden?” She asked.

I shook my head, “No, sorry. They’re allergic to flowers, so I didn’t give it to them.”

“Aw, that’s sad,” Sun Hi pouted.

“How about you go make him a flower out of paper after dinner?”

She nodded her head before running away to the dinner table. I arrived at the table next and stared at the very delicious looking plate of food in front of me. My Mother and Father came out of the kitchen carrying glasses of water.

“Let’s eat!” My Father exclaimed before digging in first.

We followed and began eating our dinner of the day. We would always eat dinner around nine O’clock depending on when my parents got home. If I was going to get home late, I told everybody to eat without me.

“School’s almost done,” My Father said.                      

“Yea,” I nodded my head.

“We should go on a trip,” He continued. “We can go for the full summer if you guys want.”

Sun Hi’s eyes widened in excitement as she nodded her head rapidly. My eyes on the other hand, grew large but not in excitement. If we left for the summer, I would be kicked off the soccer team. I hadn’t told my parents that I joined the soccer team and wasn’t really keen to tell them. I didn’t want my Father and Mother involved with my soccer matters again.

“I don’t want to go,” I said as I looked down at my plate.

“Oppa’s no fun,” Sun Hi pouted.

“You guys can just go without me,” I said.

“Why don’t you want to come, Sehun?” My Mother asked.

I shrugged, “Just because.”

“We’ll discuss this later then. Let’s just eat for now,” My Father interrupted.

I nodded my head and returned back to eating. But I couldn’t help but worry about when I would have to tell my family about the soccer practises. I couldn’t keep this from them forever and I knew that very well.

○●○●○

The next day, I found myself in the hospital surrounded by seven men who stared at me as I tried to study for my exams. Some sat on their beds and some of them—like Woohyun—even came up to my bed and sat there. They watched as I read through the history textbook and I felt like they were memorizing every part of my face.

“Can you guys please stop staring at me?” I asked as I closed the textbook.

“We weren’t staring,” I heard Sungyeol say as he coughed.

I scoffed, “You’re a bad liar.”

“I wasn’t lying.”

“Yes, you were,” Haneul came in. “You guys are not slick at all.”

The guys took opposition to what Haneul said but knew she was right. I made a mental note to never spy on someone with any one of them. If ever such a situation came up, I would definitely take Haneul with me.

“Okay, Haneul, test me,” I said as I handed her the textbook.

Haneul fired questions at me and asked me to explain a lot of topics. One of the guys would answer a question every once in a while only to get scolded by Haneul for disturbing us. Haneul moved on to the next chapter and asked me questions from the review section.

“Oh!” Woohyun exclaimed. “I know this, okay, so—”

“Woohyun, shut up,” Haneul said sternly.

“But I know the answer,” He whined as I moved closer to Haneul.

“Well you don’t have an exam in two weeks,” She said as she turned her attention back to the book.

Woohyun, who couldn’t bear the rejection, put his face in front of the textbook and demanded for her to listen. Haneul sighed and looked down to the grown man with his head on her lap. He smiled when she asked him to give her the answer. Woohyun sat up and whispered something in her ear. She turned bright red and pushed him away while excusing herself.

I wanted to know what Woohyun whispered to her. I was going to ask but thought it may seem odd so I kept to myself. But for some reason, there was an unhappy feeling within me that bothered me a lot. I kept thinking back to how Haneul looked at him and that glint in Woohyun’s eyes. At that moment I was too scared to look in the mirror in fear that you could see the same glint in my eyes.

“Hey, Sehun, what should we wear to your graduation?” Dongwoo asked.

I put my textbooks away and answered while cleaning out the small fridge in the room, “Um anything works. Just jeans and a t-shirt would do, I guess.”

“Good, I was afraid you would make us come in suits,” Myungsoo added.

○●○●○

Without even realizing it, two weeks passed by. Haneul would call me every night and test me on the material for my exam. She would tease me when I got a question wrong and would push Woohyun away when he tried to talk to me.

It scared me a lot when I got happy that Woohyun wasn’t there. I loved it when only Haneul and I spoke. I loved it when she would laugh at my jokes and wanted to make Woohyun disappear when Haneul laughed at his behaviour. It scared me so much when I thought such bad things about Woohyun, someone who has done so much for me. So, I just kept these feelings buried deep within me and ignored everything.

“Your first exam is tomorrow,” Haneul said quietly that night on the phone.

I was lying down on my bed while staring out the window. It was a cool night and I invited the cold air into my room by slightly opening up the window. I had my blanket wrapped around me and relished this feeling I loved so much.

“Yea, history,” I replied.

“Are you nervous? Do you feel the butterflies in your stomach?”

“No,” I said bluntly.

Haneul let out a small laugh, “You’re supposed to say yes.”

“But I’m not nervous.”

“And why is that? Please don’t say that you’re too cool to be nervous.”

It was my turn to let out a small laugh, “Well aside from that, it’s because I have a great tutor.”

Haneul went quiet and all I could hear was her breath. We sat in silence as I thought about what I said. It came out so naturally that I was a bit confused. Nonetheless, it was true, Haneul was a great tutor.

“Your tutor should get a present,” Haneul said after about two minutes.

I waited a while as well before replying, “There’s no present out there that would suffice.”

“Why do you say that?” She questioned.

I wasn’t sure of the answer myself. I had thought about getting Haneul a present many times. Every time I would be at the mall, I found myself near jewelry and shoes, looking for the perfect thing for her. But nothing was good enough.

I once found a pair of boots that I had seen other girls wearing. I assumed they would be a good present considering the fact that lots of people wore them so they had to be in style. But then I thought about how Haneul had never really liked going with the crowd. I walked out of the store right then, no long impressed with the boots.

“You tell me,” I challenged.

“Is it because you don’t know how to shop?” She asked.

“Mm, somewhat.”

“Is it because you don’t have enough money for the present you want to buy?”

“Haneul, my parents are successful lawyers and I live in a giant house, of course I have enough money.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” She laughed. “Then why, Mr. Oh Sehun?”

“Because I’m so grateful to her that a measly little present would do nothing to show my appreciation,” I paused before taking a deep breath and saying, “and love, Ms. Kim Haneul.”