You are jolted awake by the song of the mobile phone race.

RRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!

RRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!

"WHO WHAT HUH??" you sit up on your bed.

OWWWW my muscles hurt so much. Dx

You dig through your blanket until you find your phone.

"Hello??" you whisper, exasperated. You glance at Heechul and are relieved to see that he is still fast asleep.

"Sorry, did I wake you from a dream you were having about us together forever?" the voice snickers.

"Over my dead body," you reply. "What time is it??"

"A few minutes past 1:00am."

"Why are you calling me at this time?" o_O

"I'm hungry. Let's go out to eat some post-midnight snacks!"

"It's too late to go out, Joongki... Just sleep it off and you'll be fine." 

"But I'm already at your school's gate," he says innocently.

"WHAT???"

You shoot a quick glance at Heechul.

Whew. Still asleep.

"Come on, let's play~" Joongki nags with a playful voice you just can't say no to.

And of course, you did not say no.

"Hold on, stay right there. I'll be there in a bit."

"Don't take too long or else I'll fetch you from your room," he jokes.

You hang up and swiftly but silently put on your chest wrap, your knee-high shorts and a sweater. You get some money and put it in your zipper pocket. Afterwards, you run out the door.

Due to your hastiness, however, you crash into someone right when you step outside your door.

You tumble on the floor and he lands on top of you.

"Ughh... Ow..." you groan.

"Sorry, man," he starts to say as he lifts his head to look at you.

When he sees that it's you, his pissed expression turns into one of genuine surprise. "H-Haneul, what are you doing at this time?"

"Um, uh..." you feel your face getting really red. Kibum quickly pushes himself back up and helps you stand.

"Sorry," he says. "About... that. I should have been more careful."

"Nah, it's my fault. I was rushing," you apologize. "Sorry, Kibum."

You notice that he is wearing business attire with a black necktie. You eye him curiously. "Where ARE you going at this time?"

"Oh, uh, I just need to get a package from a friend," he says.

"Wearing THAT?" you ask.

"He won't recognize me if I don't wear this," he chuckles as he scratches the back of his neck. "Anyway, I need to rush." He begins to walk ahead.

You shrug and walk behind him. You're both heading towards the school gate. Kibum looks behind him and he realizes that you're going in the same direction. He stops and walks at your pace, "Where are YOU going?"

"Out," you say innocently. "Just gonna get some post-midnight snacks with a friend."

He raises an eyebrow. "A friend? From where?"

"You know what, you ask too many questions," you laugh. "What are you, some detective? Does it matter who I'm going with?"

"Well," he blinks. "Not really. But it's dangerous to be out at night."

"Then why are YOU going out?"

"I can handle myself, Haneul. You probably wouldn't even last one second in a fight," he says, shaking his head. 

"REALLY NOW??" you say, placing your hands on your hips. "I am insulted."

He looks at you and sighs, "If you think that pose is going to make you look more intimidating, you're wrong."

You drop your arms back on your sides. "Hmph, whatever. You're probably just jealous because you're thinking that I have a date with a girl."

"WHAT?? Why would I be jealous?"

"Because you're a bookworm and you've got no friends and you're so indifferent so girls probably don't like you because you're too quiet sometimes," you say.

Although you're still cute so you might have a chance. xD

He laughs in disbelief. "You can't be serious. Well, it's not like I care anyway. I have more important things to take care of."

You both go out of the school gate. You see Joongki leaning on the wall a few meters from the gate.

"Well, I gotta go--" you say.

"Well, I gotta go--" he says at the same time.

You laugh and he chuckles. "See you around, Haneul." Kibum walks the other way. You go the opposite direction and head for Joongki.

"Hey," you smile as you approach him.

"What's up, Haneul?" he grins. "Thanks for answering my call and coming out to meet me. Although I knew from the start that you WERE going to meet me for sure."

You roll your eyes. "Give me a break."

"What are you wearing though? Those are boy's clothes."

"WELL DUH. I study in an all-boys school."

He leans in closer to you so no one would hear. "But you're not a boy."

You feel your heart rate going faster. "Uh... it just follows that I should dress like one all the time so I don't get caught."

"Well, next time I call you out, I'm SO bringing a girly outfit for you. People might think I'm gay, walking around late at night with another boy, holding his hand when we cross the street..."

"I don't need help crossing the street, thank you very much." =_=

He shrugs, "If you say so~ Anyway, come on, I'm hungry." He drags you alongside him by the wrist.

"Ow!" you say.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" he exclaims, startled. "Did I tug at your wrist too hard?"

"Nah, I sprained it a while back. It's supposed to be healed by now but I guess because of all the stress from school and other activities, the healing process became a lot slower." Dx

"Let's get some ice for that," he says. "Is your other wrist broken too?"

"No, it's just this one."

He twirls around and ends up on your other side. You look at him like he's some crazy weirdo. Then he quickly grabs your uninjured hand and intertwines his fingers with yours. It takes you by surprise and you just stare at him wide-eyed. You open your mouth to protest but no words come out. He has his trademark mischievous look in his eyes, and just laughs as he takes you down the street.

STARBUKO COFFEE

You take the cushioned seats near the window and he orders two frappucinos for the both of you. You place your frappe on your sprained wrist. You take a sip when you notice him staring at you intently, his eyes full of motives and amusement.

"What?" you say.

"Nothing, nothing," he smiles, taking a sip of his frappe and looking outside the window. "So... this is what it feels like to date a guy. It's so weird."

"We're NOT dating." =_=

"What do you call this then? It's a DATE, dumbo," he says, proud that he had proved you wrong. 

"I think I like you a lot better when you're not aggressively flirting with me," you say.

"Really? :P But it's such fun to annoy you~"

"Am I your only source of entertainment right now? Aren't there other celebrity girls that you can play around with?" 

"Nah, they're all so eager to please. No matter what I do, they're like 'Ahaha~ yes you're right, oppa!' 'Oppa is so smart~' But you're the only girl right now who thinks I'm some annoying idiot, even if my academic standing is higher than yours."

You open your mouth to express your disagreement.

"Objection?" he asks.

You realize that what he says actually IS true anyway. You close your mouth and slouch back onto your cushioned seat. "Whatever."

He beams at you with satisfaction. "So what clubs did you join?"

"How did you know that it's club recruitment week at our school??"

"I have ears everywhere, cupcake," he replies.

"Hm. Well, I joined the dance club," you share. "I'm supposed to practice this piece of choreography for Friday and add my own personal style to it."

"You sure you can dance like a boy?"

"Well... yeah? All I have to do is not do anything cute, right?" xD

"One more thing, you have a broken wrist. What about that?"

"Oh, we had dance practice earlier and it was just fine. My wrist didn't hurt or anything. Well, my whole body hurts right now so I dunno."

"Okay, just be careful."

You nod, "I will."

"Good," he says. "You should take care of yourself more. Hey, isn't that guy your friend?" he points to someone through the window.

You peer across the street and sure enough, you see Jungsu walking alone. "Hey yeah... Where the heck is he going alone at this time of the night?"

"Maybe he's got a date too," he jokes.

"Maybe," you say.

There's that bad feeling again. But I need to trust in Jungsu hyung. It's probably just me and my female hormonal imbalances acting up. 

Then you remember Donghae. You think about sharing it with Joongki.

Maybe he might understand what's wrong with him.

"Hey, Joongki," you say.

"Joongki OPPA," he replies.

"What the hell-- Oh, who cares. Joongki OPPA," you say.

"Yeees?" he turns to you and smiles. "You have my FULL attention."

=_= Anyway...

"I have this friend from Seoul High. He's been a good friend of mine since the first day of school. He never gets angry and he's always cheerful and he'd always tell me about this girl from Ehwa that he just ADORES--"

"Are you in love with him?" Joongki asks.

You almost spit frappucino at his face. "NO! Um, I mean... well, no. We're just good friends."

"Whatever you say~" he sings. "Anyway, continue." 

"So it gets annoying sometimes whenever he swoons about that girl. He got her number and asked her out on a date, but she wanted me and her other friend to come too so it turned into a group date. And I think the girl keeps on rejecting him. Although right now he's being all weird with me, not talking to me and not even looking at me. I have no idea what I did wrong."

He leans forward and folds his hands together, interested. "Could you go into detail please? What happened during the date?"

"We watched a horror movie--"

"Seating arrangement?"

"Our other friend, me, the girl, then the guy I'm talking about."

"Did she hold his hand when during the shocking scary parts?"

"Uhh... she held my hand, and he held her hand."

"Okay, now let's move to other things. Does she talk to him a lot?"

"I dunno. But she doesn't seem interested in him most of the time..."

"Does she talk to you?"

"Yeah every now and then, she says hi. But she doesn't say hi to my friend who likes her." 

"How does she speak to you? Is she very friendly and outgoing?"

"Uhh, no... her tone of voice with me is shy."

"Hair twirling?"

"Hmm, now that you mention it, yeah."

"And is she like that to him?"

"Nope. Not at all."

"Damn, Kim Haneul," he says. "No wonder your friend is pissed at you." 

"Why?? What did I do? I don't fully understand boys..." you say, helplessly.

"Are you really that dense, Haneul??" he says. He knocks on the top of your head. "Hello? Is there a brain in there? Your friend knows that she doesn't like him." 

"I guess so but why take it out on me??"

"Because she likes YOU."

...

...

...

.__________.

"Wow, that's weird."

"I'll say," he laughs. "You are one hell of a dude/dudette, Haneul. Even chicks dig you?? What the hell!" 

Crap, so THAT'S why Donghae isn't talking to me.

"What do I do?!" you beg him for an advice.

"You could do the manly thing and talk to him about it, or you could just stop talking to him for the rest of your Seoul High life," he says, stretching.

"But he doesn't want to talk to me..." you say looking downcast.

"So? Make him talk to you then."

"Alright..." you sigh. "I'll just wing it, I guess."

"That guy you were talking about, that's not the guy who walked with you out of your school right?"

"Oh, no it's not. That guy is... someone else," you say. "He's a member of the student council."

"Interesting," he says.

RRRRIIIIIIIINNNNGGGG!!!

He calmly takes his phone from his pocket. "Hello? Now? I thought it was going to be the day after tomorrow. What? Ugh, how unprofessional. Alright, anyway, I'm gonna go there now. See ya."

He turns to you and has a look of regret. "Sorry, I gotta go, Haneul. My manager called me up and said that one of my projects was rescheduled earlier. Like in," he looks at his watch. "3 hours. Come on, I'll walk you back."

"No, no it's okay, I'm fine."

"I have enough time," he says taking your uninjured hand again. "Come on."

You blush and look down at your feet. "O-okay..."

You reach the school gate and he says goodbye. He ruffles your hair, and has a bittersweet smile on his face as he walks up the road to the subway station. You watch as he goes and he turns around and gives you one last wave. You wave back before going into the school once again.

So...

I need to talk to Donghae. But I also need to practice my choreography for Friday. *yawn*

You think up some dance moves until you fall asleep.