Jonghyun sneaked his way to the back of the school, careful not to be spotted by anyone.

He looked to his left, hunching behind the trees and the bushes for camouflage, wary of the basketball club practicing a few yards away. Jonghyun knocked on the window pane just loudly enough so that it would catch the attention of the person inside.

The window rolled open quietly a few moments later to which Jonghyun hopped up, closing the window almost immediately his feet landed on the familiar wood board floor.

"Feel free to make your own tea while I finish up the last of the club work." Ji Eun said as she sat down on her chair her side of the desk cluttered with a variety of post-it notes and even some loose leaf papers filled to the brim of love problems.

"Looks like you've gotten a lot of requests this time too." Jonghyun said, naturally making his way to the electric brewer as if he had been a member of the club.

Speaking of which, he wasn't even sure what this club was named.

The Love Consultant Club?

Jonghyun shook his head softly, an amused smile playing on lips as he clicked the brewer on, a red light clicking on.

The Love Advice Giving Club?

His head cocked at that one, immediately denying the possibility of it being this club's name.

"By the way," Jonghyun turned, leaning against the shelf, "what's the name of the club's name? I've been wondering for some time but I just keep forgetting to ask you about it."

"Name?" Ji Eun paused before flipping through her completed amount of work, "This club's name is..."

Silence filled the room.

Jonghyun waited for an answer, assuming that Ji Eun was just taking her time to answer like she usually did.

When Ji Eun didn't finish her sentence, which is what she did, Jonghyun squinted closer at her figure.

Her face had an uncomfortable tinge to it, but her hands were kept busy, scribbling love advice onto the post-it notes.

"Don't tell me you haven't made a club name." Jonghyun tilted his head, and raised an eyebrow.

Ji Eun snapped her head up with a short annoyed sigh, and let her head fall down again.

"How about we make one? Like," Jonghyun smiled with mischief, "The Miss LC and Handsome Boy Love Advice Service Club."

"What?" Ji Eun sputtered, with what Jonghyun preferred to interpret as laughter.

"The Miss LC and Handsome Boy Love Advice-"

"I heard you!" Ji Eun lifted her head fully, her brows twisted upwards with absurdity and her lips were tight with tension from trying not to laugh.

"Then why did you say what?" Jonghyun grinned.

"Because it sounds ridiculous. I can understand Miss LC, but I do not understand Handsome Boy." Ji Eun rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her work.

"Oh c'mon. You have to admit, I'm really popular and 99% of that popularity is because I am something." Jonghyun motioned to himself, his smile so wide he looked so cheeky.

"Oh please. It's all a matter of taste and personality." Ji Eun scoffed, and though her head was down, her pen wasn't moving an inch, "It doesn't matter how good you look, if you are rude, dishonest, or disloyal no one would like you."

"I don't know, I've read some of the books you had on the shelves in the far corner." Jonghyun motioned towards the very darkest corner.

Only there, were an adequate amount of books and novels that seemed like they were read only once (usually Ji Eun had read the books near the windows at least two times), and they seemed disregarded.

"Don't read those. Those are garbage love stories."

Jonghyun paused, his smile sinking back, a bit taken back at Ji Eun's tone.

"Why?"

"The characters are stupid."

"It wasn't so stupid."

"I don't mean that kind of stupid." Ji Eun finally clicked her pen, and sorted the notes to the sides, "I mean, it's stupid because they make a love story that could never, ever happen in real life."

"Like...?"

Ji Eun paused, sensing that Jonghyun was probing her.

"Like that manga you read yesterday?" Ji Eun noticed Jonghyun's surprised facial expression and held up a hand before he could say anything, "You left it on the shelf facedown to the page you read. That's how I knew."

"Oh, I thought you had super powers or were stalking me."

The brewer clicked off and the red light slowly diminished.

"The main character in that story is a girl who is timid, shy and quiet. The love interest is a playboy who is mean, sadistic. Yet still, she falls in love with him because in various moments he misleads her and he acts kindly towards her. Of course, the playboy turns kind in the end and they both live happily ever after." Ji Eun walked over to the cupboard, taking out two white teacups and two small plates.

"...? I know the story." Jonghyun stated, slightly confused.

"I know you know." Ji Eun stepped quietly, her footsteps barely creaking the floorboards, bringing the cups and plates with her.

Jonghyun turned to the brewer and took out the tea leaves from under the shelf in the cabinet.

"Lavender or wheat or lily or-"

"Rose."

"Why do you only ever drink rose tea?"

"No reason."

Jonghyun poured the brewer carefully over the two cups, trying not to spill any of the droplets.

"So? What makes you irk? Isn't it a good thing that the playboy turns good and they end up happy?" Jonghyun sneaked the question, avoiding Ji Eun's line of sight.

He didn't know why, but he knew something personal, something emotional was mixed in Ji Eun's nonchalant actions.

"Oh please." Ji Eun crossed her arms as Jonghyun kept himself busy with preparing the tea.

Jonghyun remained silent, spinning the tea bags quietly in the piping hot cups.

"Do you really think that a person, who had been living their whole life in a certain way, would all of a sudden change for another person? Much less for love?" Ji Eun's voice shrunk, and once again she became a stranger to Jonghyun.

"Hey, what's with that tone? Aren't you the Love Consultant?" Jonghyun let out a dry laugh and picked up the plates, passing by Ji Eun to walk to the mahogany table.

"I only help considerable candidates." Ji Eun whispered.

"Oh? So I'm good enough?" Jonghyun smiled softly, awkwardly turning to face Ji Eun.

She lifted her head and rolled her eyes, and with her usual snarky self she answered, "Get off your high horse."

 

"I'm finished." Jonghyun closed the door quietly behind him, finally done with the work assigned to him.

"You posted them in an orderly fashion?" Ji Eun looked up doubtingly, her pen hovering over Jonghyun's session notebook.

"Believe it or not." Jonghyun scoffed; a bit offended that Ji Eun didn't trust him to post the love advice notes onto the door considerably.

"Ok then, we can move on." Ji Eun sipped the last of her tea, turning a page as the latest one was full of messy notes.

Jonghyun sat down in his chair across Ji Eun, the basketball club seemed to be having a rush ball session, their shouts and laughs more vigorous than ever.

"This afternoon, after a few minutes of lunch, I saw you talking with Taeyeon sunbae." Ji Eun had her face down but her lips were curled into a smirk.

Jonghyun blushed at the sound of his crush's name and rolled his eyes.

"She didn't look like her usual self, so I thought it was okay to talk to her. I did what you said." Jonghyun grumbled, propping his chin up with his right hand.

"Which is fine, I never said you did not." Ji Eun shrugged, her pen tapping the notebook.

"Then why did you interrupt us while we were talking?"

"First of all, she was going to be very late if you kept her any longer." Ji Eun cocked one of her brows, "Second of all, you should always have the girl wanting for more."

The subtle smile Ji Eun had whenever she was satisfied had Jonghyun a bit lost.

"Did I do something right?" Jonghyun asked, his body scooting closer.

"Surprisingly, yes." Ji Eun let out a quiet chortle at Jonghyun's brightened expression, "You did considerably well for one without guidance."

"Really?!" Jonghyun grinned, "Then she kind of likes me now?"

"Now hold up. You are going at a efficiently fast pace, but that's still hard to say. We shouldn't assume so quickly she'll definitely fall in love with you yet."

"Then how will she?"

"I think it'll be okay doing what you did today. As you continue through the stages of falling in love, you can get more direct and your actions can be much more elevated." Ji Eun looked up, to see Jonghyun's face, but was taken aback when Jonghyun had his face scrunched up.

"Why are you doing that with your face." Ji Eun's own face scrunched slightly (with disgust) subtly mirroring Jonghyun's.

"I don't... I don't remember what I did." Jonghyun's eyes squinted in the struggle to remember how and what actions satisfied Ji Eun.

"..." Ji Eun's face fell in annoyance before she sighed and turned back a few pages in her notebook.

"I have it here. Not all, but some of the better actions." Ji Eun scanned the page with her half closed eyes.

"You. Are. A genius!" Jonghyun rushed towards the tea shelf, turning on the brewer and taking out a fresh pack of rose tea leaves.

"I can acknowledge that."

 

"Okay, so you got that?" Ji Eun repeated the same question she had been saying for the last hour, annoyance sitting on her face, ready to burst.

"I got it, I got it!"

"Then what is it? I'm not letting you leave until you perfectly understand." Ji Eun huffed, the session notebook closed.

"Okay, so." Jonghyun cleared his throat, stretching his arms, "First, I should smile or laugh quietly at and with Taeyeon sunbae casually in order to show that I'm comfortable around her and to show off my handsome, perfect, wonderful, amazing-"

"Stop adding in words."

"-smile." Jonghyun threw a pout before continuing, "Second, keeping my words vague with suggestive meaning should only happen once in a while-"

"And exactly why is that." Ji Eun tested, her eyes glinting with threat.

"Becauseeeee," Jonghyun dragged, "if I do it too often, she'll think I'm just flirting with her or it's just loose words with no meaning and I should always keep Taeyeon sunbae wondering if I meant it or not."

"Which is good because?"

"Because she'll be thinking of me often, and there's a high chance she'll start to notice me and we have the safety of not being rejected immediately."

"Good. Continue." Ji Eun nodded with approval.

"And third, I should always keep the conversation short if I approach her and longer if she approaches me."

"What about in the cases where you start the conversation but she keeps it going?"

"As long as Taeyeon sunbae continues the conversation, then I should follow." Jonghyun looked up, remembering Ji Eun's words exactly, "But, I should never talk for too long when it's just me and her talking."

Ji Eun silently nodded, finally satisfied with Jonghyun's recitation.

"Okay, you're free to go. Session is over. Just keep that in mind." Ji Eun clapped her other notebooks shut, at last signaling the true end.

"Whew." Jonghyun stretched, letting the tession be released from his body, "If this keeps going the way it is, she'll be sure to like me right?"

Ji Eun scoffed.

"Not surely. Maybe. At least for now." Ji Eun commented after seeing Jonghyun's irritated squint.

"Though, I didn't expect this to be this... Easy. Or this boring." Jonghyun shrugged, "No offense."

"Oh don't worry. It'll get more hectic soon." Ji Eun smiled softly, but it sent chills down Jonghyun's back.

"Yeah okay, I'm getting out of here."

Jonghyun rushed to the window pane and jumped out, landing softly on the green grass that brushed the sides of his shoes.

"See you tomorrow."

"Wait, you're not coming?" Jonghyun hesitated, his feet propped on the ground.

"I'm leaving later."

"Aren't we done though?"

"Yes." Ji Eun placed her hand on the window's glass, pushing it closed, "I'm just going to stay here and read a bit or study."

"Er. Okay." Jonghyun waved with two flicks of his hand and turned.

With a sharp click he heard the window pane close behind him and the muffled sound of curtains being drawn back made their way into his ears.

Jonghyun took a peek back, and the lights inside went off making it seem like no one was there. Ji Eun's figure, stepped into the orange sunlight, and her straight back faced him as she began to (assumingly) study.

 

"Do you really think that a person, who had been living their whole life in a certain way, would all of a sudden change for another person? Much less for love?"

 

Jonghyun shook his head, trying to drag his attention from his love consultant.

I should just focus on my own problems.

Even though he had acted like a goof during his and Ji Eun's session, he couldn't shake off that sticky feeling he had ever since Ji Eun had said those words. Something was wrong with her, but it wasn't Jonghyun's business to pry.

They were only consultant and client after all.

Jonghyun deliberately kicked up some dirt and grass, making his way out of the school yard, out of sight.

 

---

 

Hello readers again!

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