Chapter 8
It's Okay, It's Love
Without even realising it, Valentine's day came. The Student Council's room had never been this pretty. Buckets or roses, a handful of pink balloons and a few trays of chocolates and cupcakes were everywhere. I had difficulty walking through those gifts. I was a little scared that I would knock things over.
"Joonmyeon, I need five more roses. And two balloons, please." I shouted across the room. The guys were busy cleaning up the the roses while the girls were dealing with which gift goes where. It was a little exhausting, to be honest. We had to make sure everything was correctly delivered or else we would be doomed — or Joonmyeon, to be precise (but let's us gave him a helping hand).
"Here." Joonmyeon handed me five roses and a bouquet of beautiful red roses.
"Joonmyeon, I asked for five roses and two balloons, not thirty roses!" I gave him a disapproving glare.
"There are twenty nine roses in my hands right now, Jung Haneul. Get your maths checked, please." He joked.
"What?"
"Here are the five roses you requested, and this bouquet of 24 red roses here is special delivery."
"Special delivery? We have such thing?"
"Well, yeah." He rubbed his neck hesitantly.
"Did you remember writing a letter from J or something like that?"
"Yeah. Why?"
How could I forget? I asked sarcastically to myself.
"I'm not supposed to tell you this but my good friend asked for my favour. He wanted to surprise his girl."
"I see, but does it really have to be 24?" I tried to ask jokingly, hoping that I didn't sound threatened.
"Well, that girl's birthday is on the 24th so a special number, I guess. I don't know." He shrugged.
It was as if my heart weighed ten kg more. I couldn't move momentarily. If the past few days I thought I couldn't win against Krystal, now I definitely was out of the competition.
From how thoughtful Jongin was towards all these Valentine's Day thingy, I could guess that their relationship was pretty serious. There was no way I would fit in the picture.
"Are you okay, Haneul?" Joonmyeon suddenly asked, bringing me back to earth.
"Ah, yes. I'm fine. Just a little tired." I shrugged, feigning a yawn.
I had to control my feelings somehow, and I had to do it fast.
— ✿ —
"Are you alright, Joonmyeon? Do you need help?"
Being a gentleman that he was, Joonmyeon volunteered to carry all the roses; leaving me with the balloons and cards which were no big deal.
We were walking to our second last class, and I couldn't be happier to finally end all this cupid thingy.
"Hi, I'm Haneul and this is Joonmyeon. We're from the Student Council and we'd like to deliver a few roses to some of you as per requested." I formally introduced myself to the class while Joonmyeon just stood there with his perfect smile.
They responded pretty well. A few of the guys cheered while the girls squealed.
"Okay. Lee Taemin?" I asked after reading the name on the letters on my hand.
A guy stood up and high-fived his group of friends before walking to me.
"I didn't know I'd get one." The guy shyly whispered to himself.
"You actually got a few. Happy Valentine's Day, Lee Taemin!" I said as I passed him his gifts.
After a couple more students, the person I feared the most came into my sight.
"Krystal?" I gulped, suddenly feeling scared, insecure and everything in between.
The black-haired girl stood up and headed for me in all her perfection. She was so beautiful, I felt intimidated just by standing a few metres away from her.
Joonmyeon passed her a few stalks or roses and her special bouquet while I gave her her letters.
"Hi, Joonmyeon." Krystal gave a nod towards my partner before finally looking at me.
"And thank you, Jung Haneul." She said and flashed me her best smile.
She knew me?
"You know her?" Joonmyeon asked.
Krystal looked at me for a second too long. And I began shifting uncomfortably under her gaze.
"She introduced herself at the beginning, didn't she?" She answered calmly with her eyes still on me.
"Ah, I see." Joonmyeon nodded. He bought the idea but I felt strange. The way Krystal looked at me was a little unusual, like there was more to it than what she said but before things got even weirder, I just gave her a nod and smiled awkwardly.
"Okay then, that was it for this class. Happy Valentine's Day, everybody." Joonmyeon gave his final say and waved to the class. I bowed and headed for the door.
"Hope you have a great Valentine's Day, Haneul." Krystal said to me while I was halfway out of her class.
"Ah, yes, thank you. You, too." I was a little flabbergasted but managed to squeak out a reply.
"Oh, I surely will." She gave me that victorious smile that I didn't have any idea what it meant, but it gave me chills down my spine.
That was strange, very strange.
— ✿ —
"Okay. Last class for today will be none other than my very own. Let's go!" Joonmyeon suddenly bolted for the door.
He didn't even wait for me. That guy! Wait, if it was his class, that would mean... Jongin would be there, too.
"No. No. No. This can't be happening. What should I do?" I paced around the hallway outside Joonmyeon's class. To say I was nervous was an understatement.
"Come on, Haneul!" Joonmyeon shouted at me from inside his class.
Way to go, Mr. President! I glared at him. So much for a quiet entrance. I didn't want Jongin to notice I was there. Too bad Joonmyeon just had to shout for my name.
When I entered the class, it was in a ruckus. Everybody was everywhere. Apparently, when Joonmyeon entered the class with so many roses in his hands, everybody got a little too excited and jumped out of their seats to get a better view. A better view of what you asked me? I had no idea. His class was a strange one, albeit the top of the cohort.
I stood next to Joonmyeon, trying very hard not to make myself too obvious. So far, I couldn't spot Jongin so things were okay. I pretended to make myself look busy by arranging the already perfect roses. My plan not to be noticed was going smoothly until Joonmyeon nudged me on my ribs.
"Ow! What do you want?" I asked, keeping my head down.
"Introduction?" He asked with that 'Obviously!' look.
"What? You didn't introduce us just now?"
"No."
"But this is your class anyway. They should know." I shrugged. Anything for not being noticed by Jongin.
"That can't do, Haneul. Come on!"
Joonmyeon dragged me right to the centre of the class.
If looks could kill, Joonmyeon would have been dead by now.
"Ehm. Okay. Hi. I'm Haneul and that's Joonmyeon. We're from the Student Council a-and there are a few roses for some of you here. Happy Valentine's Day!" I quickly bowed and went straight next to Joonmyeon.
"Park Chanyeol?" I called out a name hesitantly.
"Woohoo!" A very tall guy greeted me. His teeth-rice smile was very contagious that I couldn't help but to giggle.
"Glad you liked it. Happy Valentine's Day!" I passed him his letters and bowed.
"Thank you. Now my roses?" Chanyeol grinned.
Joonmyeon laughed, seeing how silly his friend was, and smacked the roses on Chanyeol's face lightly.
"Ow, what was that for?" The tall guy whined and rubbed his nose.
"Nothing." Joonmyeon shrugged and tried his best not to laugh.
I, too, was smiling, looking at the two childish boys in front of me. I didn't know Joonmyeon had this side in him.
"Kim Jongdae?" I called out the second name.
"Here!" A petite guy emerged not far from Chanyeol. He was so cute and it was as if his smile was stitched permanently on his handsome face because he just wouldn't stop smiling.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Jongdae." I bowed and handed him his letters.
A couple of names later, I arrived at the very person I wasn't looking forward to seeing.
"K-Kim Jongin?"
I heard footsteps approaching me, but I didn't dare to look up.
When I knew he was close enough, I stretched my hand out to pass him his letters — still not meeting his eyes.
"You've got quite a handful of roses, Jongin. Carrying yours is always the heaviest." Joonmyeon sighed.
Jongin just chuckled. Oh, even his chuckle was handsome. Wait, what?
"Oh, Haneul, you forgot the balloons!" Joonmyeon reminded me.
Oh right! I face-palmed myself, mentally.
Still not looking at him, I gave him his balloons. Thankfully, the balloons were big enough to block his face so I could safely handed him the strings which the balloons were tied to. What I didn't expect was Jongin's next move. He grabbed my right hand, the one I used to hand him the balloons, and used it to pull me closer to him.
He then whispered, "Where's my 'Happy Valentine's Day!'?"
His voice alone could send me to another planet and I did a grave mistake by looking straight into his eyes. I was trapped immediately and my flustered face must had given him satisfaction because he smirked oh-so-victoriously.
I didn't know why but after seeing that godly smirk of his, I found the courage to talk back.
"I don't think you need one from me. I'm pretty sure you've heard plenty from other girls." I said, attempting to get my hand out of his grip.
He must have not expected that kind of reaction from me because he looked a little taken aback for a split second. But still he held on to me until...
"I believe there are some roses for me, too, Jung Haneul."
Another tall guy with deep voice approached me and took my hand out of Jongin's grip.
If Jongin was surprised, I was beyond shocked.
"Sehun?" Both Jongin and I asked.
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