You left your parents' house the next morning after eating breakfast and saying goodbye to your grandparents. The ride home was uneventful, and you spent the rest of the day studying Korean. 

For the next few days, you had hung out with Heechul around campus. Some of the students began to return in that time, and the gazebo was no longer as private as it used to be. Since the library was still closed, you would find wherever was quietest to hold your study sessions. On December 30th, Jimin returned from her parents' house, and Donghae and Eunhyuk returned from theirs.

"Maddie!" 

You turned toward the sound the see Jimin standing there.

"You're back!" You scrambled to your feet to hug her.

"You two seem comfortable." She chuckled in your ear. "Did something happen while I was away?"

"Aniyo. We worked on my Korean, but that was about it." You decided to leave out the two fun days and the time you spent with your family. You especially didn't want her to know that you had slept beside him three nights in a row.

"Are you sure?" She seemed skeptical.

"Neh. How did your Christmas go? Did you have fun?" You distracted her.

"Clever girl. Yes, I did have fun..." She rambled about her family, the gifts she got, the decorations that were up, etc.

Some time later, two more people approached your little group.

"Hey! Nice to see you guys again!" Eunhyuk waved at everyone. He walked over to sit beside Jimin. "Hyung, you ignored me the entire break. Why didn't you text me back?"

Donghae snorted. "Does he ever text you back?"

He thought about that for a moment, then turned his attention to his girlfriend.

Everyone discussed their holiday except for Heechul, and you decided that he could tell them that he was with you if he wanted to, but he didn't. Since he kept saying that he was on campus for Christmas, you left him out of your story when you told it. You somehow got the feeling that he didn't want them to know that he was there.

Suddenly, you remembered something. "Jimin! I nearly forgot to tell you that Prince is in Korea. He's going to be coming to the Holiday Party!"

She squealed, excited about finally getting to meet him. "Yay! That's great! How did he get here? I thought he couldn't come."

"It turns out that he lives here now. He accepted an offer to be part of an idol group or something."

"Really? That's amazing! Which one?"

"He didn't say but he did say that it had something to do with Jackie Chan."

She squealed again. "I've heard that they're awesome! Is he really in that group?"

You looked at her, confused. "Neh. That's what he said."

She rambled for a few more minutes on this new 'JJCC', then changed topics to the party, suddenly.

"Do you have a date for the dance?"

"Dance?"

Jimin shook her head like she couldn't believe you. "Yeah. The party is like a school dance. You knew that, right?"

You smiled, slightly embarrassed. "I must have forgotten." Honestly, with everything that had happened over the last several days and the fact that Oppa had told you that he was honestly kind of jealous that you talked about so many guys so often, you had all but forgotten about the party itself.

"You do have a dress, don't you?" She eyed you carefully.

"Neh." You smiled as you remembered your shopping day with Heechul.

She grinned brightly. "Let's see it!" She pulled you to your feet, then toward your room. 

As soon as you were safely inside, she began questioning you.

"You left things out when you told us about how your Christmas went. What was it? Why won't Heechul tell the guys what games he played here? What's going on with you two? You seemed like you couldn't think straight back there."

"Stop." Her quick questions were blurring together in your mind. "One at a time, please."

She took a deep breath. "What's going on with you and Heechul?"

"What do you mean?"

"You seemed distracted when we were talking. I saw you looking at him a lot. What's the deal?"

"Oh." 

She placed her hands on her hips and imitated you. "Oh?"

"It's... He actually helped me pick out my dress for the dance, and he's kept me from being really lonely without you guys here."

She seemed to debate your words for a moment, then answered uncertainly. "Alright... Why did he seem unhappy when you mentioned Prince?"

This time, you hesitated. Did you really want to tell her that Prince showed up and dragged you away from your lesson to have fun?

"I... Well... Prince came over on the 23rd. He kind of interrupted the Korean lesson, and insisted that I spend the day with him to have fun before Christmas. Heechul went along, but I think he felt like a third wheel. Also..." You stopped, thinking back to that day. The two were acting kind of weird. Anytime you would practice Korean with Heechul, Prince would steal your attention away. On the contrary, any time that you were looking at something with Prince, Heechul would comment that looking at pretty things was detracting from your study time. At one point you had even caught the two glaring at each other.

"Also?" She prodded. 

You figured that there was no harm in telling her that part, so you told her.

"Wow. You said that Prince is coming to the party, right?"

"Neh."

She looked at you worriedly. "I think we need to keep them away from each other."

You stare at her, confused. "Why?"

"Dear, what you just described sounds like two men after the same prize. That prize would probably be you, and neither one will stop until the winner is clear."

"Wait... Why would they be after me? Heechul's my mentor and Prince is my best friend. He's like a brother to me."

"Oh, boy. Does he know that?"

"Neh." You answer quickly.

"Then are you sure that he feels the same way toward you?" 

That caused you to stop and think for a moment. 

"I thought he did."

She sighed. "I hope you're ready for this party. I have a feeling that things will be different after tomorrow night."