Six months through the first term of high school, all students got two days off. As tiring as studying could get, all the students looked forward to the mini break.

Exo had decided a two-day trip to the country side, it would be good and lighten the atmosphere. Kris was going, too. They had also invited Aecha, but since Hana decided she would study for the first day off and rest on the other one, Hana wouldn’t go. This resulted in Aecha not going too, it would be odd to be on the trip with all guys, right? Even if Aecha was tempted to spend some time picnicking with Chanyeol and the guys.

Because the two girls didn’t go, Chanyeol also had another plan in mind.

“Get ready at around 6:00 am tomorrow, we will go a quite long trip so be prepared,” Baekhyun reminded Chanyeol on their last day before the trip.

“Tell them I won’t go,” answered the guy nonchalantly.

“You what?” Baekhyun asked again, surprise was evident in his voice, which was also accompanied by a slightly agape mouth.

Normally, Chanyeol would be incredibly excited for these kind of trips. He'd hoot, pump his fist in the air and do all sorts of things that kids would do. But hey, he was a big kid after all.

“I have other plans. You guys have fun without me.” Chanyeol offered a small but assertive smile to the latter.

“Hana again? You choose her above us? Who will be duo with me then?” Baekhyun feigned that he was hurt by jutting out his lower lip in a form of a pout.

“Don’t be a drama queen, will you? I’ve been with you guys all my life. Let me pursue the love of my life.” Chanyeol rolled his brown orbs in a playful manner.

“Ok, ok, I’m kidding. But Hana sure is different from other girls, right? She is so determined on her aim. Hardly anything can waver her. Aecha is also quite interesting and nice. She is fun to hang out with. If she were a bit prettier, I wouldn’t think twice on choosing her as my girlfriend.” Baekhyun balanced on the balls of his feet, as he mumbled the statement. But it came out as a though, rather than a response - or so it seemed that way.

“Yeah, she is. But still, she can make a wonderful friend. I sometimes got mocked for hanging out with her so much but I don’t mind at all. Don’t know if she would mind though, I’ll have to ask her some day.”

“Yeah, poor her. Too bad, we can’t do anything about it.”

“Uh, yeah, we can’t. Anyway, tell the guys to have fun. I will also enjoy the two precious days off myself.”

As he said that, Chanyeol parted ways with Baekhyun and traipsed around to find Hana. His brain was practically swamped with thoughts and ideas; he just couldn't grasp onto the right one, yet.

After going a long way just to find Hana in the school’s library, Chanyeol scolded himself for not looking in the heaven for book lovers first. Surely it would be where she was. Strolling happily toward Hana, Chanyeol said, excitedly,

“Hey Hana, what are you doing?”

“Ah hi, Chanyeol. I’m just reading some random stuffs. Aecha have headed home first so I’m here alone. Take a seat.” Smiling warmly at Chanyeol, Hana gestured to the seat that was opposite of her own.

Chanyeol looked at the seat adjacent to Hana longingly and sat down. In actual fact, he would have loved to sit beside her.

“Do you have any plan for the two days off?” Chanyeol asked, not wanting to seem like a stalker of the sorts. He asked Aecha already, Hana's plan was to study on one day and rest on the other.

“Yeah, I do. You?” Hana smiled slightly at him. What was with this girl and her smile? Chanyeol thought to himself, she truly looked like an angel that he would never be able to reach.

“Truthfully, I’m about to ask if you were free. If you are, would you like to hang out with me somewhere?”, seeing her frown, Chanyeol added playfully, "Let me take this as payment for my help in your study.”

Hana looked down, avoiding his eyes uncomfortably. Chanyeol sensed her distress, laughed awkwardly and offered,

“It’s ok if you had plan already, I could hang out with the others instead.”

It's not that she wanted to refuse Chanyeol, they had been friends for six months now and she knew he was hitting on her. She just didn’t want to lead him on, she didn’t want a relationship, yet.

And actually, Hana did have her plan. Aecha’s birthday was a week away from then. She intended to take Aecha out to go shopping, asked her what she wanted and secretly bought it for Aecha. But after Chanyeol’s invitation, Hana thought for a while, she didn't want to refuse him too straight forward, he was a great friend to her.

“Actually, I had my plan. But if you don’t mind, I can squeeze some time for you on Friday’s afternoon.”

Chanyeol's face fell, but he managed a smile and said, seemingly not affected at all by her refusal,

“No, it’s ok. You do your things and take all the time you want. But you have to make it up to me some other time, ok? I’ll hang out with Exo.”

Too bad they would also be on their trip, Chanyeol thought to himself pitifully.

“So it’s ok with you? I hope you have fun with Exo.”

“Sure.”

===

Because Chanyeol didn’t want Exo to know about his failure, he decided he would just stay home in the comfort of his room and sleep the hours away.