Hayong managed to squeeze himself out of his busy schedule to discuss with Hani. He learnt from other classmates that Hani is not someone you want to mess up with, especially about time management. While Hayong put on proper clothes, Manager Lee took the car key and was about to walk off when Hayong stopped him and said, “It’s okay, I can take the subway.” The manager insisted to send him to the university, but being the humble Hayong, he politely refused the offer. He always thought it’s ridiculous to have the manager drove an MPV to send only one person at a time. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Manager Lee asked again, seeking for confirmation. Hayong, who was facing the stand mirror to style his hair, answered, “For sure I am. We’re still rookies, nothing big going to happen.” He then bit his lips and posed, feeling happy to see the handsome face of him in the mirror. He picked up his bag and checked his appearance for the last time before heading to the door.

***

Hani had her ears plugged, enjoying her playlist while walking peacefully towards the gazebo. She hummed along to the rhythm, and at times skipped happily to the sweet songs she listened to. The weather was nice, and her hairstyle was lovely; giving her extremely good vibes that the day’s going to be good. She had enough of bad news for the last 2 days; she didn’t want to suffer in a week of bad luck. In fact, no one did. She hopped happily towards the gazebo, but her smile froze to see Hayong’s already there. She took a look at her wrist watch – it was 1:35pm. She took out her phone for confirmation, and yep, it was 1:35pm. Didn’t want to make the new student to wait any longer, she fasten her pace towards the gazebo. Hayong was listening to music on full blast and really focused on reading a novel so he’s pretty oblivious with Hani’s arrival. “How long have you been here?” Hani asked while settling down to sit. No response. She looked up to look at Hayong, feeling weird of the silence. “Hello? New student? Uhh, hello?” Hani said, her tone was slightly higher.

She finally noticed that he was wearing earphones, so she pulled one out, and whispered, “Can you hear me now?” Little did she know that Hayong was highly sensitive to whispers, and it made him all wiggly and shocked for the sudden sensation. “Ohh, it was you,” Hayong said with a relieved tone after seeing the face of the “attacker”. He paused the playlist and kept his earphone while Hani took out her notebook and several rough sketches. “You’re early,” both Hayong and Hani said at the same time. It made Hayong giggled, and few moments later, they both said, “I treasure time than most people.” Awkward silence was filling the atmosphere. Hayong cleared his throat, not sure what should he do next. Slowly, he took out his notebook, and reached out for a pen. “I—“ again, Hayong and Hani spoke at the same time. Hayong burst into laughter, while Hani whose cheek suddenly blushed, cupped her face.

Hayong then signaled Hani that he wanted to speak first, and Hani replied with a nod. “That was awkward, anyway I came early since I kinda lied to the dance instructor to be here,” he cleared his throat then continued, “Anyway, I came up with a few ideas – not that much, as you know I was busy – so should I read to you my ideas?” Hayong paused, waiting for Hani’s answer. Hani nodded again, and then Hayong flipped few pages through his note before saying his ideas out loud. He drew a rough sketch for one of his ideas that he thought the best out of his other ideas. Hani listened to every detail and took notes on few things that attracted her attention while trying to connect his idea with hers and to come up with a theme overall. “So, what’s your opinion?” Hayong asked after finished explaining his points. “Not bad for an idol,” Hani teased and grinned widely. “I think one of your points is somewhat related to mine so maybe we could combine them? And I tried to come up with a theme and I think I found the best title!” Hani squealed due to the unexplained excitement she felt. “How about ‘Loneliness That Completes Us’ as the theme? Sounds cool, right?” Hani asked. Her round, big eyes were sparkling, and her thin lips curved into a smile.

Her smile didn’t last that long, as Hayong disagreed with the theme. “That’s extremely gloomy! What are we, corpse bride?” He complained. “Seeing the way you dress, you must have grey or monochrome color-scheme in your mind for the interior. Nope, nope, and nope! Happy couples need to be happy, being dandy, looking sweet! That’s the idea of love,” Hayong explained again. “But Mr. Choi said house interior for a couple that never knows each other! They’re not in love, heck they can be anything they want before they met and fell in love!!” Hani stressed her point, feeling that she’s right in this case. “I know that, but there are people who always cheerful and happy despite going on hard times!” Hani began to fold her arms across her chest. “So what’s the difference of your point and my point? There are people that love dull colours and there are people that love the dandy-cheerful colours! And we’re going to design interior for 2 houses so one of them can be in monochrome-scheme while the other one be colourful,” she took a deep breath after elaborating. Phew, that was tiring.

“You don’t get my point. I agree about people differs in opinion, but what I’m trying to convey is that, playing with the colour palette going to get us extra marks! I know monochrome colours are wonderful, yes, they gave out modern vibes but what I want is for us to experiment with the colour palette!” Hayong stressed his point. Hani pouted. “Are you trying to argue with me on the first time we officially talk to each other because if you did, I’m ready for the war,” Hani said while wiping her lips. He, who was about to argue, laughed at Hani’s cute act. “What’s with the sudden lip wipe?” He asked while still giggling. “Don’t ask me, you idols always do that on stage,” Hani shrugged. Hayong, who was still laughing, replied, “We don’t go ‘Ready for the war!’ and wiped our lips ily.” “Gosh, it was our first meeting and you called me y? Stop flirting with me!” Hani made a funny face, acting as if she’s scared. “Eww whoever thought of flirting with you must be crazy,” Hayong shot his attack, which made her pride scratched. “O-ho, you did not say something that means I’m not pretty,” out of sudden, Hani head-locked Hayong, as if they had known each other too long to do that.

“Don’t kill me, please, don’t kill me,” Hayong panicked for suddenly being head-locked by Hani. “Oh now you’re scared? Ujjujjujju we had a 24-month old baby here who’s about to cry,” Hani , and was about to tighten her grip before 3 girls came towards the gazebo, all who wore face mask that she couldn’t see their faces. “Who are you?” Hani asked the girls in a harsh tone, hands still around Hayong’s neck. The girls totally ignored Hani – their eyes were on Hayong the whole time, one of them was holding her phone. “Hello, I asked you a question so please answer it,” Hani asked again, this time she raised her voice. One of the girls then turned to face Hani, and asked, “Are you our oppa’s girlfriend?” Hani stunned. Oh yeah, Hayong is a celebrity. Oh yeah, Hayong has fans. Oh yeah, she should stop hurting Hayong now. Slowly, she released her grips, and then shook her head. “Nope, we’re just friends.” She clarified, afraid of false news coming out because of what happened just now. The girl then turned to her friends, and squealed, “Ohhh she not our oppa’s girlfriend! I feel so relieved!!” Her friend added, “My heart was about to burst while waiting her to answer,” “I can delete this recording then, pheww really thought she was Hayong oppa’s girlfriend!” The three of them left without even saying good bye or apologizing for disturbing, leaving Hani dumbfounded.

“You’re going to get used to that since we’re going to be together even more for discussion,” Hayong said without being asked. He re-styled his hair and checked his appearance, making sure that he looked fine. He murmured something that made Hani so curious that she’s dying to know but letting it slip as they’re still getting to know each other. “Have you taken your lunch?” Hayong asked and somehow made Hani jumped from her seat. He laughed at her gestures. He found that the girl was cute in fun ways. “Uh, not yet,” Hani replied. “Let’s go and have lunch together,” he invited. “You sure you want to eat with me?” Hani asked. “Why? Because I’m an idol I’m not allowed to eat with my friend?” Not because of that, stupid, Hani monologue. “Oopsie I forgot to bring my purse, I guess it’s a no then,” Hani said while packing her things. “See you in class tomorrow!” She quickly left the place, leaving the confused Hayong who got rejected. I can lend you some money first, stupid, he monologue. He lazily dragged his feet towards the cafeteria. He could hear footsteps following him from behind, but he felt lazy to chase them away.

He knew that the 3 girls were following him since morning, but there’s nothing he can do. Scold? He was extremely mad at them that he threw their “presents” to them on the day they camped in front of their dorm’s apartment. Bringing his manager as his bodyguard? Heck no, he’s in school. Ah, how he wish Hani would join him for lunch. At least, the girls would choose to observe him from afar. At least, the girls won’t be near him. He was halfway to cafeteria before he gave up and decided to head back to their practice room. This time, he called the manager to pick him up. As soon as he arrived at the practice room, he took out his notebook from the bag, only to notice it was Hani’s and not his.  He laughed. How could she take his notebook when they’re not the same type and design? Hayong held his phone, getting ready to call her before he grinned. He got a crazy idea, and he felt excited in doing it. He switched off his phone, and kept the book inside the bag.  “Hyung, what are you doing?” Jun screamed from the other side of the room, who was wet in sweat. “Changing!” Hayong changed his clothes and quickly dashed towards the members and practiced the choreography for their upcoming song. Throughout the practice, he had only one thing in his mind - to prank Hani for a week.