"It's not that I believe it
but that I want to try holding out
Because this is all that I can do
I want to remain
I want to dream more
Even so, what I'm saying is
that it's time to leave" 
~Jin : Awake

"Hana?"

The question was met with dead silence. A couple seconds later, the silence was broken again.

"Hana."

This time it wasn't a question, but a sentence. Someone calling a name. Hana lifted her head slightly in response. A loud sigh followed by the slam of a textbook dropping on to a table broke the silence once more. Hana looked up in annoyance at her friend.

"Can you please stop making noise? I'm at a crucial scene in this book!" she hissed waving the book in her friend's face.

"Hana....we've been at the library for four hours now....it's closing time."

At this, Hana looked up and noticed how dark it was outside the library window. It was at this time that the monster in Hana's stomach decided to throw a temper tantrum. The loud growls of the Hunger Monster soon made an appearance causing Hana's friend to shake her head.

"I don't understand how you can sit here and read for hours. Do you seriously not have a crush on ANYONE?" 

Hana closed her book and set it on the table before leaning forward and looking at her friend in the eye.

"Heejin Unnie, I DO have a crush. Okii? So don't worry about me, I'm not forever alone." Hana gave Heejin an award-winning smile before placing the precious book into her mint-coloured backpack.

The two girls stood up to leave the library when a loud scream startled the two girls.

"H-h-how are you ALIVE?!?! You're not even REAL!!!!"

Heejin and Hana looked at each other before sprinting towards the entrance of the library. Whatever it was, that commotion could NOT have been good news and neither of them wanted to be caught up in any sort of trouble. Especially since they were in their final year of high school. The two girls made it outside and panted on the sidewalk. 

"Wanna go grab tteokbokki at HyunMi's place?" Heejin asked as the two finally caught their breath and began to walk down the sidewalk towards their apartment complex.

"Sure! I'll race ya~" Hana said, an evil glint in her eye as she bent forward in a running position.

"3...2...1!" 

The two girls sprinted off through the dark streets of Seoul towards their final destination. The two girls had grown up together in the same apartment complex along with a couple other schoolmates. Together, they were a group of eight girls who were known for....nothing. They weren't popular. They weren't athletic. They weren't fat. They weren't skinny. They weren't too tall. They weren't *completely* short. To everyone, they were just average girls--nothing special about them at all. However, there were certain unique extreme qualities in each girl.

Hyun Mi was extremely gifted in writing and being cheesy. She was always making cheesy remarks that caused the rest of the girls to cringe and pretend to barf. The fact that she was the oldest out of the bunch was pretty hard to believe, even to the friends themselves.

Seul Yi was an extremely oblivious girl who was slightly dirty minded. In contradiction to her oblivion, she was usually the first to catch things that seemed fishy and mysterious. However, this made her extremely paranoid about anything that seemed even the slightest bit fishy, even if it really didn't have anything to do with her or the other girls.

Maerin was an extremely sweet girl who was always caring about others. However, her caring nature caused her to be taken advantage of and usually ended up with her having to do a week's amount of homework for other students. Of course she would shove most of this to the other girls, but still....it was a BIT extreme.

Ye Rin was the most mature out of the bunch, but was extremely introverted when it came to talking about feelings. She would listen to what everyone had to say and wouldn't let any of her own thoughts or feelings be shared. However, a good amount of annoying aegyo and begging would usually get her to cave in and spill everything.

Bi Ah was an adorable girl who was extremely obsessed with the colour pink. She would pink-ify anything in sight and had the habit of saying "Eung~" whenever she agreed with something. As part of the 'maknae line' in their group of friends, she had a lot of aegyo, but would only let it show when she was with the other girls.

Hae In was an extremely quiet girl. She normally didn't talk much around people but became quite the chatterbox around her childhood friends. She was also deeply interested in to anime and mangas. 

Hee Jin was Hae In's older sister. She was extremely obsessed with anything that was cute and adorable. She went to the extremes when fangirling and was known amongst the girls for being head-over-heels with their sunbae, Xiumin.

And last but not least, Hana. Hana was a unique girl. She was unlike the others who loved talking about cute guys and how so-and-so was hotter than whoever. She wasn't like the other girls...not to say that she was interested in girls though. She was in love with something else...and yes, it had a gender....well, sort of. Hana had an extreme case of obsession over characters in books. Her latest crush was Hong Jisoo, the second-lead role in her new favorite book, The Seventeen Stars.

Back to the present, Hana and Heejin had long since arrived at Hyun Mi's home and were dining on the older's homemade tteokbokki, their favorite dish. However, instead of joining the other girls' chatter, Hana's nose was buried in her book, once again. Suddenly, the younger jumped back in horror.

"Nooooooo"

Surprised at the youngest's sudden outburst, the older girls all looked over at Hana with concerned expressions.

"Hana, what's wrong?"

Hana looked up at the girls with large teary eyes.

"Jisoo died in the book!!!"

The girls shared a look knowing that Hana was going through another heartbreak with a fictional character.

"Who's Jisoo again?" Maerin asked patting the younger's back comfortingly.

"He's only my most favorite character in the WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD." Hana wailed as Ye Rin tried to feed her a piece of tteokbokki.

Sadly chewing on the tteok, Hana closed her book and threw it at the couch.

"I don't wanna finish that now. This is the first time that anyone's ever died in a book that I've read." 

"It's okii Hana. Do you wanna sleep over tonight? Maybe we can get your mind off of him!" Seul Yi said soothingly as she the youngest's hair in a calming manner.

"Okii." she said between sniffles.

Bi Ah shared a knowing look with Hee Jin as Hae In went with Hana to get her belongings from her apartment across the hall. The eight girls lived on the same floor in the same building for as long as they could remember. Unannounced sleepovers like this was common enough for their parents to not question them. Once Hana and Hae In had left the room, the remaining girls gathered around the table.

"I've never seen Hana react like this even when her crush-character was taken by the evil lead in that other book." Maerin said shaking her head sadly.

"She must have really loved this Jisoo character." Ye Rin said nodding her head in agreement.

"Okay. Here's the plan. We pig out on junk food, do our nails, watch Running Man, and THEN talk about this Jisoo character once she's calmed down. Sound good?" Hyun Mi said pulling out a box of ChocoPie from behind her refridgerator.

The other girls nodded in agreement and watched as Hyun Mi began pulling out junk food from odd places in the kitchen. 

"Did you always hide your snacks like this?" Hee Jin asked as she helped Hyun Mi carry all the food to her bedroom.

Hyun Mi nodded her head triumphantly as they walked past her brother's bedroom.

"If I don't hide them like this, Dong Woo would eat them all, y'know?" she whispered as they arranged the goodies on a little table in Hyun Mi's room.

The sound of the front door opening and closing alerted the two girls as they quickly covered the table with a blanket and ran out of the room. Standing in the living room was Hyun Mi's brother, Dong Woo, along with the other boys of Floor 17 (a.k.a. the "annoying" siblings).

"Hi Hyun Mi noona!" Jungkook said waving cutely as he sat down on the couch next to Maerin. "Is Hana here too?" 

"Hi Jungkookie! Your sister went back home to get her stuff, she's sleeping over tonight." Hyun Mi said shutting the door to her room tightly before walking towards the seven hungry boys in the living room.

"Did you guys eat?" she asked as she watched Dong Woo poke around in the kitchen. She watched, her heart beating loudly like a drum, as he became dangerously close to the potted plant that was home to her precious fruit jellies.

"No. Can you make us something to eat, Hyun Mi-ah? Or is there something that you already made?" Dong Woo asked as he couldn't find anything outside of the refridgerator.

"Yeah, I made some tteokbokki earlier. You guys can heat it up and eat the left-overs. I made a BIT too much this time...again...." she said blushing as her crush, Woo Hyun looked at her with a smile.

"No way! I love tteokbokki! Thanks Hyun Mi, you're the best!" he said grinning and giving her a quick hug before running over to join Dong Woo in the kitchen.

The girls knew that Hyun Mi was most likely internally screaming at this point when they heard an ear-splitting shriek come from across the hall. Jungkook's face paled as he recognized the owner of the voice. 

"That was Hana. Sorry guys, I have to g--"

Jungkook was cut off as the front door flew open and Hana and Hae In ran inside. Hana's eyes were round in a mixture of terror and confusion. 

"What's wrong, Hana? Tell Oppa. Did someone try to hurt you and Hae In?" Jungkook asked as the younger buried her face in her older brother's chest.

Not knowing whether or not she should tell the truth, she clamped shut and hugged her brother. How could he just appear like that? He wasn't even real, so how did he just APPEAR like that in her house? Her BEDROOM of all places!!! Wasn't he supposed to be dead? Why was he here? HOW WAS HE EVEN REAL?!?! The questions swimming through Hana's head started a headache, and soon everything around her began to darken.

"Hana!!!!"

The last thing she saw before she out was the handsome face of the one she loved, Hong Jisoo.