A few weeks passed since I met Hongbin and we got even closer. Besides having English class together, he returned to the photography club and is now co-working with me in making the school papers. Hakyeon hyung was so proud of me after I told him about it, he really cried out of happiness. It was bizarre because even my mom never got that emotional with me when I won contests or get gold medals. But despite all the exaggerations, there are a lot of drastic changes that happened to me.

Nowadays, I was more relaxed around my colleagues that I find myself fooling around with them naturally and not just with the ‘NaVI couple’—refers to N & Ravi—which wasn’t easy for me to do before. I greet people without feeling burdened anymore and only because I know most of them now. I work more effectively now too that I thought would only be possible if I don’t socialize that much and just focus on my own task at hand. I was really wrong about that.   

“Hyuk-ah, the publishing house sent the first copy of the bulletin already. I’ll put it on the front desk, okay?”

         “Thanks Chen hyung,” I replied to a brunette with permed locks from across the room. He’s in charge for external affairs and he’s been in the club for a year but I only recently talked to him. He’s actually really nice and smart too. “Tell Seohyun noona to cancel the meeting today. We’ll do it the tomorrow so we can talk about the school paper too and if there will be changes to it,”

“Sure! Don’t miss your lunch,” he waves a little and leaves.

“Ne hyung!”

It was the first time I felt like I belonged to a much open group; that I wasn’t that control freak, overachiever who wants to work alone. I interact more casually with my club members and it benefitted the club greatly. It seemed like they were so eager to impress me on their own before that it made them lose their touch on writing articles. I was unconsciously giving them pressure. They remarkably had gotten better when I had the courage to finally point out their flaws without my previous fear of getting them hurt verbally. They actually took every word I said positively and dramatically improved with it. They’re also more confident with their work now that they kept teasing me that I’m slacking off already because there’ s not much to edit anymore.  The only thing that kept us busy now was the layout and publishing; plus the extra works from the office, university events and student council newest project; 꽃보다 남자.

꽃보다 남자 (kkotboda namja/boys over flowers) Project is created by the one and only Cha Hakyeon. The objective is simple; to increase the popularity of the school and number of female students because of its alarming decline last year. Since the school is very strict and most of the students are actually above average in academics, they also include online tutoring for entrance exam from the model students chosen for the project. At this point there are five official candidates for it and three of them are already temporarily endorsing now because Hakyeon is unstoppable and they’re in the contract of friendship; forced friendship as I coin it.

The trio is none other than Ken, Hongbin and Taekwoon. Yes them. Ken or Lee Jaehwan (his real name) is the representative for Music and Arts Department, Hongbin the representative for Special Courses, and Taekwoon whom represents the overall Sports Team that usually exempts student from going through entrance examination in exchange for their specified sport audition—sounds easy for them but Taekwoon will be in charge of the screening for the incomings next year. If only they knew what’s in-store for them.  

I went to the cafeteria, after finishing some of the paper works, to meet everyone that now meant Hakyeon, Wonshik, Ken, Hongbin and Taekwoon. Yes, Jung Taekwoon is around us now. Apparently Taekwoon is Ken and Hongbin’s childhood friend which literally shocked me that I revisited my first encounter with the two Lees (same drink on me too). I was the laughing stock of the whole school for a week after it but at least they helped me cover my trails of shamefulness that time. My parents, however, found out about it because they’re the ones who brought me change of clothes under Hakyeon’s brilliant idea; really brilliant without the sarcasm, because even if I got scolded I still felt happy. I was happy, because my dad told me that he was glad that I’m finally loosening up. It seemed like, he was so reluctant to talk to me before only because he felt like he turned me into a cyborg who only wants to do well. He was at a lost on how to approach me properly. While I thought he only cared for my grades, I was actually the one shutting him out of my life without knowing it. Like everyone else before…

          “Oi! EARTH TO HAN SANGHYUKKIE!” Ken yells to my left ear and snapped me back to reality. I looked at them, amazed that I was already there at our usual spot. I didn’t know how I even got there that quickly.

“Sorry…”

“Spacing out so early?” Hongbin smiles, waving a drink at me. I ducked down, a little feeling embarrassed. I only looked up again when he threw me a can of juice that almost slipped off my hand.

“Yes, I’m reminiscing the days when I was—“

“forever alone?” Hakyeon cuts in first.

          “Gloomy as hell?” Wonshik seconds, holding onto his boyfriend’s waist and successfully doing their PDA without a care in the world.

“No—“

       “Lonely without KEN?!” Ken grins widely with that pitchy noise he picked up from Njumma (other nickname of Hakyeon). He puts his palms under his chin acting like a flower boy—that he already is.

       “Look here Kennie~” Njumma jumps off his seat, taking picture of Ken with his awkward photographer stunt; his left leg is stretched to the side while the other bent as he leans on it. “Kongie (Hongbin), you take a picture of that in HQ~”

Hongbin sighs but kept smiling as he flashed a shot to Ken’s rear. “Is this good? Look at it,”

“Kendeongie(Ken'sbutt) is perfect~”

“I’m reminiscing the time when my life is normal,” I muster up before seating next to Hongbin. “How can this happen to me?”

“I don’t know, you brought us here remember?” Hongbin grins, offering me a clubhouse sandwich.

“And he loves us!” Ken hyung hugs us both from behind, his head on the small gap between his cousin’s head and mine.

“Hold that pose! Smile!” N hyung flashes another photo before hugging Ravi. “We should have kids as beautiful as they are, okay?”

“Want to make one now?” Ravi smirks, pecking the president’s lips. This shameless couple really…

The 'Dreamy Lees’—as the whole student body nicknamed them after they officially transferred in the university—grumbled at the sight as well while I just rested my head down with too much secondhand embarrassment from the two. Even my usual clique increased, some things just don’t change. Including Taekwoon who took his leave in silence; probably fed up with all the ruckus he’s not generally used too. He still holds a grudge against me apparently. He even stopped for a moment to glare at me before he left. I’m used to it though. Plus this time, he’s not just mad at me. He’s also mad or in some sort of argument with Ken but unlike Taekwoon hyung’s one-sided hatred towards me; him and Ken are mutual in terms of that. They’re even competing on the music festival for the end of the year celebration before Christmas break—Ken challenging him actually. Unexpectedly, Taekwoon hyung sings too. It made his soft voice more acceptable to me after that. But going back to those two, they’re simply the exact opposite of N and Ravi. We asked Hongbin about it but we didn’t hear a thing. He did however mentioned that Taekwoon smiles more before. At this point the only time we caught him smiling is after winning last year’s interschool soccer competition with him earning the MVP of the year award as well. It was brief though and the photography club got a lot of scolding from the one and only president of the school because of it. He wanted a proof of that smile.

“Hey aren’t you going to meet with Taeyeon noonim for the music scores you need for the competition?” I hear Hongbin’s playful voice close to my ear but I knew he was talking to Ken.

“Oh damn, yeah… almost forgot about that,” I felt Ken’s chin on my head angled to the side. These two were literally talking on top of my head like little chicks. “I’ll see you guys later! Adieu~”

 “Jaehwan, don’t forget your template sample later for the class!” Ravi reminded him.

“Submitted 1 & 2 already!” he smirks before disappearing when he turns to a corner.

“For real?”

“Ken passed all his projects for this week up to next week in advance since—“

“He took a permitted leave, for next week because of family agendas,” Hakyeon finishes for Hongbin who nods his head before sliding over my shoulders. It’s one of the changes I liked… the most.

“What for ?” Ravi asked, clueless. I rolled my eyes as the other two gave him a look.

       “Ken hyung’s family had opened a museum in Ilsan and the Lees are going to celebrate its grand opening, including Hongbin hyung,” I enlightened him, looking up his way. I was actually upset because there will be no Hongbin hyung around then and this prick is reluctantly rubbing it on me again. He has to pay.

 “You’re really getting old,”

“Why you insolent brats—“

         “Ssh, calm down babe. We don’t want wrinkles on your forehead~” Hakyeon says playfully while truly straightening the lines on Ravi’s forehead. Hongbin and I instantly laughed our off, bumping our heads in the process and eliciting more laughter from us.

“You guys better run!”  

TBC

A/N: Thanks for the upvotes and subscribes. I hope to hear from you guys too. ^^

Meanwhile, the boys had a great SBS Gayo Daejeon performance, right? I loved that they

did On & On in the remix w/ voodoo doll. Their Heirs scenes too

main image: taekwoonies