Hana nodded unsurely as Sehun whipped out his A4 notebook and flipped to a fresh page.

“How about an informative piece?” Sehun asked out of politeness and respect of opinion. In fact his mind was already listing various titles that he could write about.

Hana smiled politely and folded her hair behind her ears. “The short story seems easier to do though,” she pointed out. Informative pieces required certain knowledge about things and Hana wasn’t able to express herself well using formal English speech let alone write an essay. Hana just hoped she wouldn’t be asked to move subject because getting kicked out was embarrassing. She was hoping to have Tao teach her what he knew and getting a tutor to help out during the semester break. It would be enough to get her through the class without feeling as lost as she did everyday.

“Hm…” Sehun frowned, the idea of a short story wasn’t as appealing to him. “I’ve never written a short story before, they’re too messy and I find it easier to do something else.” Sehun shrugged and leaned back in his seat. This is why he hated group work. He always wanted to do things his way or he would feel agitated.

Hana avoided his gaze, she felt him stare at her with condescending eyes that made her feel small. “Let’s just go with what you want to do,” Hana muttered not wanting to delve further into her academic woes.

Sehun crossed his arms, she was behaving strangely for someone who was so used to having him around, it was almost like she felt uncomfortable with him which he knew wasn’t the case because they’d spent considerable time together, enough to transcend the ‘awkward’ barrier. This new revelation and Hana’s reaction made him frown in more than one way, “We can write a short story,” Sehun’s mouth suggest whereas his brain asked him what he was thinking. “You won’t be interested in this project if we do something else so…” Sehun trailed off, it seemed like a valid enough excuse for the strange suggestion he’d made.

“I’m not interested in English full stop,” Hana sighed, she could hardly wait for the bell to ring and relive her from the trauma that was the English subject.

“English is a good subject to learn,” Sehun replied, he understood why she was acting strange now but still thought the acting was unnecessary because he deemed English as something worth learning. “Because it’s an international language.”

“Everyone should just learn Korean, it would make life easier,” Hana mumbled quietly to herself. She wanted to complain further but didn’t want an interrogation consisting of,  ‘What did you say?’ or the like. She didn’t have the energy to repeat herself nor did she particularly want to be nagged at to speak louder.

Sehun’s mouth twitched upwards into a smile, which followed a laugh he tried to contain, but despite his efforts the laugh still emitted from him earning a look from the teacher as well as the students. Sehun bowed an apology and scratched the back of his head earnestly because his laugh had been louder than he whispering going on around the room. He was thankful the teacher didn’t try to bite his head off and when everyone’s attention had averted he patted Hana’s head in empathy. “What should we write about?”

Hana pressed her lips together into a thin line, nothing came to mind in terms of a plot line, she felt embarrassed about having to ask him but she decided to avail the help of her partner, “Do you have any ideas?”

Sehun was somewhat taken aback by the question, he’d been expecting some kind of story line that he would have been able to write but instead Hana was looking at him expectantly. Sehun cleared his throat, embarrassedly, his head wasn’t built to contain fiction, he wasn’t a storyteller who could weave tales from the tip of his tongue nor could he recount a tale without it sounding overly factual.

Sehun wished Hana didn’t expect so much from him, she was waiting for him to show his academic colors yet his brain faltered at the prospect instead of welcoming it so Sehun attempted something he’d never done before, he attempted to tell a fictional tale, a tale about a girl who was murdered in a boarding house and mistook an innocent person as her killer, she became a ghost who yearned for revenge and tried to brainwash the person she thought was her killer to kill someone else and thereafter get caught as a murderer. “It’s a horror story, we can end it when the main characters find out who killed the girl,” Sehun explained hurriedly.

Hana nodded, she liked the idea and was impressed by Sehun’s abilities, ‘Oh wow… How can he just tell a whole story by just sitting there? He didn’t even stop to think! If it were me, I’d get lost somewhere in the middle but he just… It’s almost like he had something prepared but that’s not possible. He’s just naturally perfect at everything!’

Sehun relaxed his shoulders, ‘A murder mystery,’  he had to solve the real-life one too, he’d indirectly promised to do so. “Do you want to add anything?” Sehun asked, ‘Yang Jin Sung, why haven’t you appeared since? How am I meant to know where to start investigating? If you don’t show up soon I’m going to have to take another route. You better show up soon or else I’ll be going through your records and searching video footage of you! Yah! You dumb ghost, you better show up soon or else I’ll be using an English project to solve your problem!’

“Will the characters helping the ghost fall in love,” Hana asked.

Sehun flinched in his seat and peered at her, she was blissfully oblivious to the whole situation. ‘Whose falling in love? You and I? I thought we agreed there would be none of that.’  

“No, they won’t.”

“Oh, but why?”

“Because… Characters shouldn’t fall in love in every story, love ruins the story.”

Hana pouted and stared at the notebook where Sehun had made notes, she read the words he’d written in his neat print and her pout grew until her facial muscles gave way, “They should fall in love! The male character is clearly in love,” Hana insisted pointing at the notebook.

Sehun shook his head adamantly, “No, no, they’re not in love, he’s not in love, he just feels guilty because he’s human.”

Hana pursed her lips and turned to look at her partner, she surveyed his eyes to see if he was serious. Hana sighed when his eyes ensured his stance, she was reluctant to let the love line go, ‘They should fall in love because it would make more sense for the characters to become close after an event like that!’

Sehun sighed too at Hana’s lack of understanding, “If you want, you can write the romance bit yourself.”

“Wait, all of it?” Hana asked surprised, her literary skills only rendered her to read and comprehend, writing was difficult for her and writing at Sehun’s level was something she knew she would be unable to do. “My English isn’t that good… If you want a good mark, you should probably find another partner or think about working solo...” Hana clenched her fists under the table wondering why she was giving him ideas of leaving when she’d been graced with Sehun’s presence in hope of not failing. “I don’t understand, why you came back just for a project when you don’t even like group work.”

Sehun shrugged and flicked his pen between his fingers, “It’s tiring being in the library by myself and fighting with my sister too. I guess I’m just sick of everything and in dire need of change? I have no idea how things turned out this way and… I’m sorry, I made your life difficult too.”

Hana smiled shyly and looked away, she felt her cheeks tint a rosy shade of pink, her life was tough already not in a 3^rd world country sense but it did tire her too, she understood what Sehun meant about feeling tired. Hana wondered if it was like that for everyone else too, did other people get exhausted from living because they were human but didn’t share her speculation.

“If we loosely base our boarding house on this school, where and how would the murder take place?” Sehun speculated more to himself than to Hana. ‘It would be hard to murder someone inside the school building, there would be witnesses because the school was almost never empty until at least nine o clock. Yang Jin Sung wouldn’t have gone for a walk around the school, she was piling things into the basement… The basement? Seems too obvious for a crime though… There should be a handbook on ghosts!’

Hana tilted her head to look at Sehun who was thinking intensely. She chuckled. ‘He’s taking this way to seriously when it’s just a story!’

Sehun blinked, his train of thought dissipated as fast as Yang Jin Sung had when Sehun had last met her, “Any ideas?” He asked hoping she would have some because his assumption of the basement seemed too unlikely because it was too overdone in films and dramas.

“Let me ask Tao, this is his forte,” Hana replied pulling her phone out of her skirt pocket. Sehun furrowed his brows at involving Tao into his investigation but didn’t say anything.

Hana texted Tao letting him know about the horror story she and Sehun were planning to write, “It’s going to be based on the school. Where do you think would be the ideal place for a crime? – Hana”

“A horror story? Why are you writing such things? Lol. I don’t know much about the school’s layout, I spied a garden but it would be too picturesque to bury a body out there. If you want gory, an abandoned room or something might be a good place to dispose a body. Attics and basements are usually popular in horror stories but if you want to go with something flashy how about a locker? – Tao”

Sehun scoffed as Hana giggled at the response she received, he peered at the text message and shook his head at the suggestion of a locker because it seemed too far-fetched. Sehun tapped his chin, ‘A locker isn’t exactly inconspicuous. Hmm…’ Sehun decided to send a message of his own to someone who could actually see ghosts, he waited for a reply but it never came. Sehun scrunched his nose, Seryung was refusing to reply to him. Sehun glanced at Hana whose eyes were twinkling with mirth and his expression turned sour. Hana blinked as her phone was taken from her, she stared at her empty hand and then turned to Sehun for an explanation.

“I’m confiscating it because you’re not paying attention,” Sehun stated matter-of-factly as he pocketed the phone. He felt it vibrate multiple times and clenched his jaw, ‘Just how close are they?’

Hana blew her hair away from her face and outstretched her hand, “Give it back.” Sehun smirked in response and shook his head, “Back to work, we’re going with the basement because carrying dead weight all the way to the attic is an unnecessary action.”

Hana shuddered, she didn’t like how scary the story was starting to become, “Don’t make it very scary, I don’t was to start getting nightmares as we write it.” She took the notebook that was filled with spider diagrams, arrows, question marks and suggestions. Hana’s eyes scanned the words, “What if we kill off the female character?”

Sehun winced, his reverie broken, he stared at Hana in disbelief, “No!” Sehun stated adamantly, he didn’t particularly like the idea that had spurted from reality and adding to that Hana had just suggested her own death and was frowning at him for disagreeing with her again. “Didn’t you just say you’d have nightmares if the story was scary? Now you want to kill off one of the characters?!”

Hana groaned and placed the notebook back onto the table, she was starting to think he would become a control freak as the project progressed, “But the vengeful ghost will want to kill so someone needs to die and that person, will probably be the person who can’t see the ghost because the ghost wouldn’t want to kill the person who can help her,” Hana explained, she thought she’d just pointed out the obvious but Sehun’s eyes flashed with annoyance.

“The person who can see her would refuse to help the ghost if the ghost went and killed someone.”

“That can’t be possible, if he’s trying to protect her it means that he has feelings for the other character!”

“No, okay!” Sehun declared, he examined her carefully before he turned away from her, ‘Do I have feelings for Hana or am I reading too much into this?’ Sehun picked up his pen and flicked it around his fingers, a habit he’d acquired when he wanted to reflect upon a puzzling topic, he thought for a long time, questions arose in his head, some he found answers to, some remained as questions but the conclusion came to him, ‘No, you don’t love her, she’s a good kid but she’s not someone who you have feelings for. There’s nothing about Hana that attracts you in a way that a woman attracts a man - romantically.'