Afraid of coming late, Haeri arrived at around 6:15 am. She directly headed to their classroom. When she entered the room, Jongdae and Chanyeol were already there, cleaning the whiteboard and chalkboard.

“Annyeonghaseyo,” she greeted, slightly bowing.

“Good morning,” the two greeted, smiling.

“Are you the ones on duty for the chores today?”

“Yes.”

“Can I help you with anything? I’m still new here, so I don’t know when I will be assigned.”

“You can just place these flowers in the vase at the back,” Chanyeol said, with a friendly tone.

“Alright.” Haeri immediately arranged the flowers beautifully.

A few minutes afterwards, Kyungsoo arrived with Baekhyun. The boys greeted each other and placed their bags on their seats.

“Oh, you’re here already, Haeri-sshi,” Baekhyun went to sit on his chair, while Kyungsoo talked with Jongdae and Chanyeol.

Haeri smiled, “I was afraid that I’ll be late for Trigonometry today, so I decided to be early.”

“It seems that you slept late last night. You’ve been studying, right?” looking at her, Baekhyun grinned.

“I couldn’t sleep so I reviewed my previous notes and did some reading.”

“I wouldn’t be studying if I couldn’t sleep,” he chuckled, continuing, “...don’t push yourself way too much,” he spoke, concernedly.

She smiled, grateful. “I understand. Thank you, Baekhyun-sshi.”

“Haeri-sshi, I think Baekhyun likes you. He’s friendly normally but he doesn’t talk to other girls the way that he talks to you,” Jongdae blurted all of a sudden, making the aforementioned, gulped nervously.

“Yah, Kim Jongdae!” Baekhyun called out, his eyes widening.

Haeri chuckled. “Don’t worry; I know that he’s kidding.”

“N-Ne,” Baekhyun stuttered.

At around quarter to 7 am, their classmates arrived and chattered about the news reported last night regarding some gang involved in drug dealing and trafficking in the city.

“Heol~ it’s near our area, but I didn’t have an idea. I wasn’t watching the news lately,” Haeri shook her head.

“Then you should be more careful. Are you living alone?”

“I’m not really alone, but for now, due to some circumstances, I’ve been staying alone.”

“It’d be better if you have someone who’ll accompany you home,” Eunkyung uttered, concerned.

“Don’t worry. I learned some basic self-defense from my brother,” she reassured.

“Still, you’re a lady and they’re a gang you know. Also, our world is full of dark and evil forces.”

“Arasseo. It seems to me that you’ve been reading fiction of sorts last night, hearing you say those words,” Haeri grinned.

Eunkyung’s face brightened up, remembering what she read the night before. “You know what; I’ve been reading this fantasy story about Luhan and a fictional girl on one of his fan sites. How I wish I was that girl~” she clasped her hands together, daydreaming.

“Yah, our instructor’s coming,” Haeri snapped out her fingers in front of her friend’s face.

“Ne,” Eunkyung pouted.

Right after Trigonometry class with Miss Ahn, the students from 2-A went to the Audio-Visual Room for their Music, Arts and Theater Class. They had their short orientation before the lecture proper.

“Good morning class,” Mrs. Bae Mari greeted.

“Good morning, ma’am.”

“Chukhahae on your wedding!” the boys from behind, cheered.

“Ah ne,” she slightly bowed shyly. “I would just like to inform you that we, faculty members, have discussed on the presentations for our University Day. The First Years are going to have a contemporary dance, while the Third Years will be responsible for the booths. The one I picked for you to have is a musical play.”

“Eh?” the others blurted in disbelief. “That’s difficult, seonsaengnim.”

“Don’t worry, some third years will also help and join you. I know that you could do it!” Mrs. Bae uttered, positively. “The second year advisers will recommend students to act for the play.”

“What play will we be doing? Romeo and Juliet? Highschool Musical?”

“I think the faculty will decide on that matter.”

“Whoa~ it’s going to be fun,” BaekYeol chorused.

Seemingly excited, Eunkyung grabbed Haeri’s hands.

“It’d be perfect if the leads will be from this section,” she uttered, smiling ear-to-ear.

“Do you want to be the lead?” Haeri asked.

“I wish, but I’m no actress,” she sighed.

“Yah, don’t lose hope. You’ll never know until you try. Besides, you also sing well. I heard you singing yesterday during breaks.”

“Whoa~ you’re such an ambassadress of good will.”

The latter chuckled and continued listening to their instructor.

As soon as their lecture ended, Haeri went with Eunkyung to apply for club organizations. When they were walking along the lobby, two male third year students neared them.

“Hi, I’m Won and I am Jin from the Scholar’s Society’s Quizzer Club. We’ve heard that you’re a scholar from Suwon. We’d like to invite you to our organization. We thought that you may be interested.”

Slightly bowing, Haeri accepted their hand shake. “It’d be my honor to accept your invitation.”

“Wow, that’s great! You can attend our orientation this coming Saturday since it is Club Day,” Won uttered, delighted.

“Yes, sunbaenim.”

The two male students left after. Eunkyung wrapped her arm around Haeri’s shoulder.

“Heol~ you’re quite famous, you know.”

“That’s not true.”

“Aigoo... By the way, if you want, I can recommend you to the Music Club. Although I’m not that great of a singer, I can pitch the chords fairly well. I think you, too, have a great voice.”

Haeri was quite surprised by her compliment. “...But you never heard me singing

Eunkyung pinched her nose slightly. “I learned from our adviser that you were a member of Suwon’s Chorale or Glee Club whatsoever.”

“But that’s different...” the former denied.

“We’ll know when we get there,” Eunkyung grabbed Haeri and ran towards the second floor of the adjacent building, where the campus’ Recording/Music Studio is situated.

The moment that the two of them entered the room, Haeri’s eyes widened by the sight of many student applicants, practicing and vocalizing.

“This doesn’t make sense. I got to go,” Haeri was about to back out when Eunkyung stopped her.

“Yah, you can’t back out. So what if they’re practicing, I believe that adrenaline rush yields better output, right?” Eunkyung encouraged her, slightly sticking her tongue out.

“My voice is not in good condition right now. I’ll just fail,” the former sulked.

“Where’s your optimism gone to? Halsu isseo! Himnae~ (You can do it! Have strength~)”

Closing her eyes and biting her lower lip, Haeri sighed and nodded.

“Aratda~”

When finally Haeri’s turn came, she stood in front of the three panel members—Miss Han Byul, a vocal coach; Mr. Luis Joo, musical director and Mrs. Jeon Sena, a musical and theatre actress.

“Oh my god~ this is no joke. Am I joining a true competition right now?” Haeri was in a state of brain freeze with her lips drying up. She tried to moisten her lips and breathed deeply.

“Are you ready, Song Haeri-sshi?” Miss Byul asked, smiling.

“Ye, seonsaengnim.”

Eunkyung cheered for her friend from the side. Few minutes after, the music began playing—it was the song, “I Love You” by Kim Taeyeon. The moment Haeri started singing, everyone in the room became silent. The panels meticulously listened to the song.

Outside the Recording Studio, Kyungsoo who was busy listening to some music in his phone while wai