The next day, you resumed your lessons with Heechul. Everything seemed normal to you, so you decided to just ignore what you thought you felt the night before. You worked on your Korean peacefully until your phone began to ring. You checked the caller id, then answered it.

"Yeoboseyo?"

Hey, Madbug! What are you doing?

"I'm working on my Korean at the school. What's up?"

I missed you, and I wanted to talk to you. 

"I miss you, too." Your words trailed off as you glanced over at Heechul, whose face was like stone. 

Madbug, you still there?

"Yes, I'm here."

Have you enjoyed your break so far?

"I have. It's been a lot of fun. I even went shopping yesterday."

Did you get any presents for me?  He sounded excited.

"No." You joked. "Only for me."

Suddenly, you heard laughter. It sounded like Prince, but from the location, it had to have been someone who was close by. You glanced around, noticing Heechul doing the same, but seeing no one in the garden.  Odd.

Is everything alright?

"Yeah... what are you doing right now?"

Looking at the beautiful scenery.

"That's helpful." You said sarcastically. Heechul looked back at you, slightly surprised. He had never heard you use sarcasm before.

I love you, too.

You laughed at his random statement. Heechul shifted beside you, clearly uncomfortable.

"What's going on, Prince? You're giving me vague answers again."

Well... You hear movement to the right and turn to see him. Merry Christmas, Maddie.

He grinned at you, clearly satisfied by the shocked look on your face.

After only a moment's hesitation, you threw your books onto the gazebo bench and ran out to hug him.

"I can't believe you're here. You told me you couldn't make it!"

He looked at you sheepishly. "Actually, I accepted the offer to move here a few months ago. I didn't tell you because I was afraid I wouldn't have time to see you."

You hugged him for a second time. "I'm just so glad to see you! I missed you so much!"

Before he could respond, you heard footsteps in the snow behind you.

"Who's this?" His voice sounded... almost cold, but polite at the same time, as he turned to you.

"Ah, Heechul, this is Prince. He's my friend from Australia."

The two men greeted each other tensely. 

Prince turned back to you. "Why don't we do something fun?"

"Uh... Is it ok if Heechul joins us? I promised him that we would work on my Korean all day since we kinda skipped yesterday and I'm going to visit my parents for the next two days." You rambled.

He seemed to debate that for a moment. "Alright."

You squealed in delight as you ran back to gather up your books. When you turned back toward the guys, they seemed to be glaring at each other.

"What's going on?" You asked cautiously.

They immediately looked away from each other, Heechul looked at the bushes, and Prince grinned at you. 

"What should we do today?"

The two of you decided what to do as Heechul gathered his things from the gazebo.

For the remainder of the day, Heechul followed the two of you into various shops, cafes, and parks around the city. You kept working on your Korean when Prince wasn't pulling you away from him. By the time you arrived back on campus, the sun had already set.

"I had a lot of fun today. Thank you!" You beamed. 

"I did, too. Thanks for coming along! Oh, and you can tell Jimin that I'll be able to meet her at the party!"

"You're coming?!?" You squeaked.

His answering grin told you yes. "I'll see you then!" He waved, then ran off in the opposite direction.

You turned to see Heechul staring at you blankly. "Your Korean is falling behind. We'll have to have another lesson. Today was too distracting for you." He began to walk toward the dorms. 

"When? After Christmas?"

He paused. "No. Tonight. We won't have time to make it up when everyone comes back."

"Tonight? It's late already, though."

"Then you'll have to work harder to cut down the time of it." He taunted you.

Giving up, you followed him to the dorms. 

"Wait. Where are we going?" You freeze as he begins to lead you past the female dorm.

"To my room. I have some books I want you to practice with."

You're stunned at his proclamation. "I'm supposed to go into the male dorms? I can't do that!"

Heechul stares at you. "Girls do it all the time besides, there's no one there but me. Come on." He grabbed your arm, pulling you toward his room. You followed him blindly, absorbed in shock until you realized that you were standing outside of his door.

"Don't just stand there." He drug you into the room and headed to his closet to retrieve the books. 

You both sat down on the bed to begin the lesson. Before long, you both were so busy with your learning that you didn't realize the time that had flown by. 

"Pabo. That's not how you say that." He corrected for what felt like the millionth time that night. He went on to explain to you why it was so important that you pronounce the words in a certain way.

"Aish!" You cried in frustration as you fell backwards onto his bed. "I don't know if I'll ever learn this. I did perfectly fine with the other languages I learned. Why is this so confusing to me?"

Heechul chuckled at your words. "Perhaps you were focusing on something else instead of learning what I was teaching you."

You stared at the ceiling for a moment, contemplating what he said. "No. I'm pretty sure I was focused on becoming fluent in Korean."

"Then why are you still so bad at it?" He nudged your head gently.

"Maybe it's the teacher." 

"Maybe it's just the student."

"Huh... Nope. Pretty sure it's the teacher." You giggled. 

"Ugh." Heechul laid back beside you, giving up the naive argument. A few moments of silence followed, finally bringing exhaustion to the both of you. 

"What time... is... it?" Your words faded as you quickly fell asleep. 

Heechul fell asleep just before you had. He lay across the bed facing the ceiling, and you were laying with your back to him until a sudden shiver caused you to roll over onto something warm. You remained there, not once waking up from your slumber.