"Now we can't go to the mall after school." she pouted. "We just window shop anyway." I said laughing softly. "Arraseo, since I'm making money, I'll buy you something with my first paycheck." I said and she held out her pinky and I mirrored her. She laughed. "Wait a second…you were whining on purpose weren't you?!" I said staring at her and she giggled. "I really wanted those heels." she said. "Yah Park Eunji!" I got up and she grabbed her lunchbox and ran out of the classroom. I ran after her but I bumped into someone hard. "Ah mianhae." I said looking up at the boy. I recognized him. He was Cha Hakyeon, a senior like me. I had the same classes with him sometimes.

 

"Ah its okay." he gave me a reassuring smile. "I don't think you should run though." he gave me another smile. "Yeah.." I watched Eunji's ponytail disappear around the corner. "That girl." I sighed and straightened getting out of his way. "Hyung. Jaehwan hyung ate all my dduboki." another boy came through the door looking unhappy. "I told you to hide your food." Hakyeon chuckled and the new boy smiled at me and I felt my heart skip a beat. I'd seen him many times before around school because he couldn't seem to stay in one place for long. I knew he was in the younger class. A freshman. His name was..

 

"Hyuk-ah!" Jae hwan came running down the hall. Hyuk laughed and dodged behind Hakyeon. "You little…" Jae hwan said panting. "What happened?" Hakyeon asked. "He took my tie! He hid it somewhere and I can't find it. They were doing uniforms checks today I think." he said pointing a finger at the younger. I almost laughed aloud at the comical scene in front of me. 

 

"Ahem." I cleared my throat. We were blocking the doorway now. Now the guys seem to take note of me and Hyuk smiled. "You're senior class president right?" he asked. "That bad hyung was picking on me." he pointed to Jaehwan and I shook my head with a small smile. "I think you guys can work it out." and I nodded my head slightly and slipped past Jaehwan to go find Eunji. 

 

"Do you want me to wait for you?" Eunji asked after school ended. "No." I said putting my bag on my shoulder. "I don't know how long it will take and you get restless when you are bored." She made a face. "You're right and I heard that dance club is meeting. I wanna see if I can bump into Hakyeon." she smiled. "You are still crushing on him?" I asked nudging her. "Pfft, it's not a crush. It is an admiration for the way he can move his body." I laughed. "Uh huh." and we parted ways after she threw me an indignant look. I walked into the tutoring room. "Mrs. Choi, I'm here." I said putting my things aside. "I'm relieved you are helping out Maeri. Is it okay if I assign you with two boys for now?" she asked me.

 

"Two? Isn't it better to work one on one for better results?" I asked and she sighed. "We're still short on tutors and I really don't want to see these boys fail." she said. "Well which ones are you assigning me?" and she pulled out two pieces of paper. "Lee Jae Hwan and Han San Hyuk." I tried to hide my surprise at Hyuk's name. I didn't know he would be needing help.

 

"Okay, are you they going to be here soon?" and before Mrs.Choi could respond the two males walked in the door. "We're here Mrs. Choi! Please stop calling our moms." They chimed. 

 

"My mom is scary." Hyuk said and then he looked at me and stiffened slightly. "Hi." he smiled. Jae Hwan knocked him lightly in the back of the head. "Be more respectful, she's your sunbae." he said. 

 

"Well let's find a nice spot and I can go over the notes with you two for the quiz later this week."

 

"Arraseo." they both chimed and we found seats at the coffee shop near school.

 

After two hours I stretched and finished my second caramel machiatto. "Okay, I think we're good for today." I said and Jae hwan packed in a blink of an eye. "I need to run to the video game store before it closes or Hakyeon hyung will kill me if I don't get the game." Then he looked at Hyuk. "Take care of him Maeri, he constantly gets into trouble." he ruffled the younger's hair and left. 

 

Hyuk threw a withering look at his back and turned back to me looking slightly embarrassed. "Thank you for the tutoring." he smiled. "No problem." I said packing up. "Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked. "I..uh…" I blinked. 

 

"Oh your boyfriend is coming to pick you up?" he asked looking slightly sad. "Aniyo. I'm not dating anyone." I replied before I could stop the words from coming out of my mouth. At that I felt like his mood lightened. 

 

Geez Maeri, why are you noticing everything about him.

 

"Then I have to be manly and be the one to walk you home." he stood up. I laughed softly trying to diffuse my own awkwardness and nodded.

 

"You seem close with the others even though they are older." I said after a few minutes of silence. "They really take care of me well. They said that if were an idol group or something I would be the maknae they love and love to pick on." he said scratching the back of his head.

 

I giggled. "I can see that." and pointed to my apartment complex. "I'm here." I said and he looked up and then at me. "Awh okay. If you don't mind…even if its not for tutoring I hope we can get coffee some time. Minus Jae Hwan hyung." and before he heard my reply he grabbed the strap of his bag and ran.

 

I blinked watching his retreating figure and felt my cheeks heat up. Was that a suggestion for a date?

 

After a few more tutoring sessions I became more comfortable with Hyuk and even the others. They invited me a few times to grab food with them or watch them fight over the game controllers at their house. And Hyuk actually was serious about our mini coffee dates even though we only talked about really random things. He seemed to have the ability to make me laugh over the most ridiculous things. 

 

"Maeri, are we going shopping for the dance next week?" Eunji said to me when we were eating lunch. "Dance?" I said with my mouth full of turkey sandwich.

 

She rolled her eyes. "Yes the dance you helped plan." she said. I swallowed and took a gulp of water. "Oh, the dance." and she sighed at me. "What am I going to do with you?"

 

"Well its a guy's choice dance. No one asked me. So obviously I'm not going to go." I shrugged. "You know you want Hyuk to ask. You've been talking about him a lot." she winked at me. 

 

"Well missy, Hakyeon definitely asked you." I smiled knowingly and she blushed. "Oh I actually rendered Eunji speechless, someone give me an award."

She pushed me lightly. 

 

"Yeah he did. During dance class when I was all sweaty and unattractive and blehhhhh." she whined.

 

"He obviously thought you were." I laughed. "He's a keeper."

She blushed even darker.

 

"Wait a minute!" she said. "We were talking about you." I stuck my tongue out at her and left the classroom. I was walking to the bathroom when I saw Hyuk with a girl from the Junior class in front of the lockers. "Pleaseeeeee, Eun hyeee, pleaseeee." he said swinging her arm like a little kid. "Hyuk-ah." she said sighing but smiling. "Oh okay. I'll do it." I overheard and I felt a pang of jealousy hit me.

 

What was he asking her. 

 

"I love you!" he hugged her and she laughed. "Okay okay." and hugged him back.

 

I ducked into the bathroom before either of them could see me. I grabbed the edges of the sink. "Come on Maeri. It wasn't anything. He probably doesn't even like you. Maybe he just wanted to be able to say he went out with a senior."

 

I took a few deep breaths and went back to class.

"What's wrong?" Eunji mouthed. I shook my head and tried to give her a reassuring smile.

 

After school Hyuk walked up to me smiling his bright smile that seem to hurt me more today.

 

"Hey." I said. "Are you feeling okay?" he asked. "Yeah. I just want to go home." I said. "But we were going to split ice cream." he said. "I'm not feeling up for it." I shrugged. "Okay, I'll walk you home." he said. "I want to walk home alone." I said started to walk. He matched my steps in no time. "Maeri."

"I said I want to go home alone!" I said voice rising. And realized i yelled at him. "Bye." and left.

 

 

------------------------------

I avoided Hyuk for days. If I even heard him laughing or saw any of the guys, I just went the other way.

 

Eunji knew something was wrong but didn't press me.

 

A day before the school dance Hyuk cornered me after school. "Maeri."

"I'm busy." I said irritated. "I need you to come with me." he said. "No." I answered flatly and he grabbed my wrist.

"Let go!" I struggled but he just sighed and kept his grip on me pulling me towards the school greenhouse.

 

"Han San Hyuk!" I said trying to shake him off and he finally let go of me when we were inside. I slapped him. He blinked, stunned. I was stunned.

"Just leave me alone, okay." I said my eyes tearing up. "Guys!" He suddenly called and the lights dimmed and a banned dropped from the ceiling. "Will you go to the dance with me?" I read stuttering, shocked.

 

"Yes. Would you go to the dance with me Maeri?" he smiled taking my hand. I blinked still speechless.

 

"I was going to ask you sooner but you kept avoiding me and like you seemed to angry at me. I had no idea why." he said sounding really sad. "I know I'm a freshman and you're a senior but I really really like you. I want you to be my girlfriend but to take it slow I just wanted to ask you to the dance…." he sighed. "I saw you with her." I managed to get out.

 

"Her? Ohhhhh Eunhye? She's a close family friend and she's interested in fashion so I begged her to help me put together the perfect outfit for you and I for the dance." he explained and I was silent. Not because I was still angry but because I was shocked at how stupid I was and how much I overreacted. 

 

He chuckled. "Well here goes everything." and he leaned in to kiss me. My hands came up to land on his chest but he held my hand and put his other hand around my waist and pulled me to him.

 

He deepened the kiss and suddenly we heard wolf whistles and cheering. We broke apart, my face flushed now.

 

The guys had their arms around each others shoulder. Eunji laughed and clapped.

 

I stared at them in shock. "You all !" I said and Hyuk back hugged me. "Well to me, they are everything I needed to it up and ask you out." he chuckled near my ear and it sent shivers down my spine. "For the record. I can't wait to see you in that dress." he said just for me to hear.

 

"Or out of that dress." He added slyly with a small smirk and I gaped at him. "You're not going to see anything!" and I hit his chest lightly. He pulled me closer. "I'm a persuasive one." he kissed the top of my head.