“How do you study?” Hyebin didn’t respond, but instead let out a tiny sigh before narrowing her eyes at her notebook, filled with tiny letters and far too many things she needed to understand. It was almost impossible with Junhoe though.

    “My hurts. How does yours not hurt?” He complained loudly, and she resisted the urge to strangle him. Except that would take too much time to do so. She let out another sigh, this time louder and more noticeable for him. He took notice, but did not bother to make himself less needy of her attention. “Why is this so boring?” That was about the final straw for her.

    “Will you seriously be quiet?” She exclaimed from her seat. They were at the library, and the librarian was shooting a look of annoyance at them. If only she could shoot one back without getting kicked out. He grinned at her words, as if satisfied by her response.

    “And she lives!” He leaned back in his chair, looking as if he sent the first man to Mars. Hyebin was borderline about to snap her pencil in half. She went back to her review in her notebook, reading all the different things that could happen in chemistry equations and the rules for everything. Chemistry was not hard- it was fairly fun actually. She felt silly for thinking it was so impossible in her first year of high school; she found out what it was really like to be struggling when she hit Physics class. Never had she dreaded a subject more than she had with that one class.

    “Hey, I just wanted you to talk to me. I was getting lonely.” Junhoe said innocently. She resisted her urge to smile. Of course he would say something cluelessly without realizing how much it melted her inside. He was always clueless; of her feelings, of her actions, of everything. Even how to study.

    “You should be studying,” she mumbled quietly, and his grin stretched wider, filling the whole of his expression. He looked pleased at the attention, which he had lacked for the past two hours when her willpower to not respond was stronger. It was starting to dwindle now, and she was getting tired of pretending to act as a brick wall- if she was into acting, she could have taken CEO Yang Hyun Suk’s invitation for training.

    “What’s the fun in that?” He mused aloud, earning a scoff from her. He had said something about working hard, but give it two weeks and he was already way over that. Not to say that he had not improved; his grades were taking a tremendous turn for the better, and many teachers had wondered aloud whether he was cheating, or what life trauma he had experienced that scared him into studying. If only they knew.

    “Junhoe, you said you would study.” She reprimanded, and he faked a yawn, as if to suggest she was boring him to sleep with that one sentence. She rolled her eyes, flipping a page to see more chemistry, before a large hand covered it. It was obviously Junhoe’s- there was a smiley face drawn on top of it with the ink of his black pen, which he had done out of boredom, claiming it was better company than Hyebin herself.

    “Let’s go out for some sunlight and come back. No one is here right now anyways, so we can just leave our stuff.” He said seriously, his eyes staring into her own. It was similar to how he acted in school these days- sure he did not cut class, but it did not stop the steady stream of text messages into her phone. There were multiple times when she thought her phone was broken from the constant lighting up on her screen, until she remembered that it was just Junhoe complaining about whatever class he was sitting through. And while everyone knew Hyebin was a good girl, that she could do no wrong or break a single rule, and would absolutely never text in class, or check her phone for that matter, she still did so for him. She replied to him, and it was something that he liked to treasure secretly.

    “No.” She bluntly replied back to him, earning an immature and puppy- like whine; it was similar to the kind that Bomi would do when Youjung or she would refuse her food from the dinner table.

    “Why not? You’re seriously no fun. I’m going to rip this if you don’t come with me,” he childishly threatened, earning a deep frown from Hyebin. Her eyebrows knitted together and they had a staring competition. He did not back down, and only then did Hyebin realize how awkward it was to continue staring into his dark chocolate brown eyes. This was not to say that she minded, as she could do this forever if given the chance. She broke the eye contact, muttering a consent. He let out a loud cheer, earning another glare from the old librarian. He stood up, grabbing her hand and leading her out.

    Once upon a time, she would have blushed a dark shade of crimson from this act, feeling butterflies flutter about wildly in her stomach. But now it was not like that; she turned a dark crimson, felt butterflies, and had a burden on her shoulders lift. She realized that while she was his support pillar when he needed it, he was hers as well. Who else would be willing to ditch a class for her during her free hour to make sure no one messed up her stuff while she napped in the hallways?

    “Where are you kidnapping me?” She asked with light laughter, following his lead. He had a knowing smile on his face, which looked vaguely cocky from the pride that he knew something she didn’t, but it did not bother her. Instead, she was fond of seeing him so relaxed and normal. A part of his happiness seemed to die with him the day he acknowledged that he could no longer pursue music. It made her content to see him become the same unaging type of guy he was.

    “Somewhere only I know,” he sang out, and Hyebin enjoyed the fleeting moment of his voice. It warmed her in a way she could not quite explain.

    “Sing more.” She requested, and he gave her an amused and somewhat baffled look, before conceding to her. He began to sing the drama OST from Secret Garden, “That Man”. Originally, Hyebin was not a huge fan of the song; Hyunbin was a dashing actor, and had talent, but his voice sounded like he was trying so hard. In comparison to the OST queen Baek Jiyoung, it was a little painful. However, with Junhoe’s voice, it was soothing. She loved his voice to no end, and it felt like he was her muse.

    He continued walking along the streets of Gangnam, enjoying the sunlight from the warm air of summer. They were about to enter their summer break, but then there was still a few benchmarks to take, as well as their formal dance for the third years. In America, Hyebin had read stories of something similar. Junior prom, they called it. Youjung had said it sounded weird, but Hyebin countered that if they were American students, it would be their traditional culture. Youjung was already set with a date, as was Soorim. Hyebin herself was curious if someone would ask her to attend the dance. Many guys had hinted at it in random conversations with her in the halls. She had almost laughed at how adorably nervous they were, but she shot them down. It would be hard for her to enjoy the event if she was with someone she did not know, she reasoned.

    They began to near that oh- so- infamous park. The one she saw Junhoe with Jisoo two years back. The one she had Jinhyeong confess to her in. Too many memories were here, and it was weird to come back to such a setting. Still, she obliged towards the same bench she was always at. He was still singing, this time CN Blue’s Yonghwa’s solo song, the “Banmal Song”. She found that song adorable; the way it tied in her personal feelings to some degree for Junhoe. Of course he was unaware of it.

    “Why are we here?” She asked curiously, sitting down onto the bench. He was standing, looking around at the rather secluded area. Large, overgrown flowering hedges were surrounding them, and the wind shook them lightly.

    “Well, you see..” He trailed off as the hedges shook more furiously, before Bobby came out, a small poster in his hands. ‘Will,’ was painted onto it. Then Yunhyeong came out, another poster in his hands, and Donghyuk followed. Soon after were Hanbin, Jinhwan, and even Jinhyeong. They stood in a line, smiling. The posters spelled out, ‘Will you be my date?’, causing her to blush, feeling flustered. In all her days, she had never expected for this to occur; she had watched on with jealousy when Youjung had been proposed to extravagantly by Hanbin, who made the boys dance for her in the halls to Rain’s “Love Song”. Now here she was, dealing with the same thing but in a different position.

    To say she was in shock was an understatement. She felt elated, almost pulled out of this universe. It felt like a dream, and she was tempted to pinch herself. Bobby was grinning to her, his eyes shrinking into crescents as he was amused to see her expression. Donghyuk looked a little tired, no doubt was this event taking out time from his studies, but nonetheless was he pleased to be doing this, and he was probably thinking of why she had not answered yet. Hanbin was sending her a wink, as if Youjung had informed him of her lingering feelings. Jinhyeong’s eyebrow was raised, as if to question her happy daze, and trying to get her to answer faster. Yunhyeong was grinning in his own way, his handsome face peering excitedly at the scene, and Jinhwan was looking at Junhoe in wonder, as if to think of how much the maknae had grown up.

    “Will you?” He asked earnestly. “I know I get on your nerves a lot, and you probably hate me to no end because of how I distract you and make you fail your tests and quizzes, but I really would love to go to the dance with you.” He began to ramble. He was getting nervous, she could tell. He was never a rambler, not unless he was pressured enough. And here he was, not getting an answer. She saw him try to moisten his lips, his hand moving to his hair, which was tucked away in his favorite New Era snapback. It was black with some custom design on it; iKON, it read. He had always said it was his lucky item, and she realized now why he was wearing it.

    “Of course I will, babo.” She mumbled, and he grinned, his confidence coming back to him. The boys grinned from behind, before scrambling away again, to where she did not know. Somehow, she was able to just assume Junhoe had ordered them beforehand to not disturb them after this event, and she just shook her head in amazement. She was still in a daze, but she almost laughed at their quick movements. She was jolted by surprise yet again as Junhoe yanked her up for a hug. He never hugged people. It was rare for him to, unless the person was forcing him into it, or it was Jisoo previously. The only times they had hugged were when she had cried over some failure in school, or when he needed comfort from his father’s previously strict rules in Junhoe’s life. Yet here he was, hugging her. She felt as if the butterflies in her stomach were more like hummingbirds, tearing through the tissue.

    “I knew you would say yes,” he said cockily as he pulled away. She missed his warmth almost instantly, but instead of saying something, she punched his bicep. He let out a yelp of surprise at her motion, no matter how many times she had done this previously. It was normal, it was comfortable, and it was something she did with Junhoe. It made her feel like she was with someone she grew up with. And maybe she did grow up with him; she was able to rebuild the lack of a childhood she had with him around. She was able to understand the joys of the innocent things children did with her own 11:11 PM wishes, something she still did on a daily basis.

    “You should watch your mouth a little,” she replied, trying to cover up for her jumbled up mess of emotions at the moment. Her mind was in a weird haze, as if everything were surreal. Never in a thousand years would she had imagined this to happen- she would rather believe she was somehow related to some royalty of Shilla time period than getting proposed to a dance by Junhoe.

    “Well I mean, you expected it, didn’t you? What other girl would I have to ask?” There was a pause, and Hyebin felt almost guilty for a moment. He no longer had Jisoo to turn to for this stuff; she was in Japan, and he was single now as well. Of course it was out of friendly obligation to turn to his best girl friend for this kind of stuff. “Besides, no other guy can take you away from me. Even your husband better get my permission for stuff,” he warned, tugging her along once again. They were heading out of the park, and towards the cafe. She tried to not giggle at his nonsense, knowing fully well that there were moments when he even joked about marrying her out of protectiveness. Of course the other boys of iKON said it was him being a player, and advised her highly against it. She had never once given a straightforward answer against it.

    “Hello my little dears. Would you like your regular?” Granny asked warmly. While she was no longer working behind the counter, she still stayed in the cafe all day, ensuring the satisfaction of her customers. She was always there with her smile, and it brightened their day even more to see her.

    “Of course, we would love it,” Hyebin said with a smile, and the employee behind the counter got to work to make Junhoe’s vanilla ice cream cone, and her green tea latte. Granny turned to Junhoe, a twinkle in her gaze.

    “Did she agree?” Junhoe nodded cheerfully, and Hyebin’s eyes widened in realization. He had told Granny of his plans to ask her to the dance? She was shocked to say the least; she had always assumed that he was polite to Granny out of obligation from Hyebin’s friendliness, but he proved her wrong big time.

    “Of course. She could never resist my charisma,” Junhoe said with a flirtatious wink, earning a soft laughter from Granny, and a sharp glare from Hyebin. It was weird, but oddly pulling her to like him more for this. He was able to connect with those she was close to; he was a fit into her personal life.

    “I could too.” She countered, earning a fond pat on the head from Junhoe. It were as if she were a cute five- year old girl that misused a word in a sentence, and he was an older person finding it amusing. He looked truly happy in that moment, and for that, Hyebin lightened up and smiled as well. Maybe she was happy in this moment too, and her wishes were starting to come true.

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HELLO MY LOVELIES!!

I'm sorry for being so busy. I hope this chapter made you happy though! I really wanted to show some joy on their relationship, and I read your comments. I'm so grateful for your support on how you guys think I should get more recognition, but I must say, I'm rather content at this level. I'd rather have iKON get more recognition through this story than myself. Anyways, back to the story: I wanted Junhoe to show some personal side of himself to Hyebin, and this resulted in something like a promposal. It shows his efforts for her, and how he tries and even gets nervous over her reaction. He cares on her thoughts, as seen by his rambling (LOL it would be so cute if he did this in real life). He even reaches out to our favorite Granny for her opinions on what Hyebin would and wouldn't like.

Please do leave your amazing comments, subscribe, and upvote to support our favorite boys of iKON! :)