Bogum rubs his hands together, trying to ease some warmth into it.

The December chill has settled in, and he knows that any day now, it could snow. His eyes travel to the white expanse of sky that overlooks all of Seoul, and he lets out a shuddery breath.

When he sees the faint cloud in front of him, he stuffs his hands in his pockets, eager to feel the warmth of the heat packs he placed beforehand, and he turns to go back inside the campus.

The whole school is buzzing with excitement, and for once, he thinks, that it’s the quietest the halls have been in a school day.

He is quite certain that a baseball game is ongoing on the diamond field outside. He thinks that the archery competition must be over by now, and he confirms it when he sees students stream out of the gymnasium.

He enters the gymnasium, to see the archery club members keeping the equipment.

He spots a few people carrying the targets and the bows to the back of the gymnasium, to where the sports equipment room is.

It takes him a moment, but then he sees her.

Bogum sees Joohyun chatting with Yongsun.

She looks happy, with the way she laughs freely out loud, and he thinks he knows the source of her happiness when she turns slightly to the side, and he makes out a glint of gold on her chest. A medallion.

“That was great!”

“Joohyun-ssi was really cool.”

“As expected from Joohyun-noona.”

He can hear fragments of conversation from those milling all around him, and he thinks he finally knows what to say when he reaches the duo. He walks closer.

Bogum politely nods to Yongsun then Joohyun, interrupting their conversation. He tries to calm himself when he feels the itch of nervousness grow stronger, but he can’t help but blush when Joohyun smiles up at him.

It is so uncharacteristic, so unlike her, that it takes him by surprise. In a good way.

He is momentarily held speechless, until he sees her quirk up her eyebrows in askance, and he starts talking.

“A-ah, Joohyun-ssi,” he starts off shaky, but years of public speaking and recitals sets him right back in. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you, Bogum-ssi.”

“Bogum-ssi.” Yongsun says to him with wide eyes, and an awed whisper laced in her voice, that he can’t help but chuckle in amusement. “Did you know she scored a ten?”

“Really?”

“Yongsun, really.” Joohyun blushes prettily and Bogum can’t help but stare at her. It is rare to see a flustered Joohyun, and he thinks it is endearing.

“It only happened once.”                                                       

“Yeah, but still!” She mimics shooting an arrow, “You were so cool!

You should have seen Seulgi’s face when she lost!”

They both burst into giggles, and Bogum could only smile at them in politeness, entirely lost to their conversation on the archery competition.

Then he remembers his purpose for going to the gymnasium, and he clears his throat awkwardly, reluctant to break this light atmosphere.

“Yongsun-ssi, it’s your turn to man the ticket booth (‘oh man, out there in the cold?’).” He tries to say it as sternly as possible, and he turns to Joohyun. “Joohyun-ssi, you’re shift starts after Yongsun’s.”

He feels a bit odd relaying this news, cutting their joy short, but he is more than relieved when Joohyun nods in understanding.

          “Alright, but—“

          “Huh?” Yongsun latches onto Joohyun’s arm and turns to Bogum. “Can’t we do it together?”

          He feels his eye twitch. It’s probably just the cold getting to him.

          “It’s in the schedule.” He takes out a piece of paper in his pocket, with the timetable written down, though its only purpose is for solid evidence, given that Bogum (unintentionally) has memorized the schedule.

          He shows it to Yongsun, and taps on the box where her name is. She pouts and reluctantly bids Joohyun good-bye, letting go of her arm. Joohyun laughs at her.

          “You should follow the schedule, Yongsun-ah.”

          “But it’s cold!” Yongsun glares at her.

          Joohyun stays behind to help the archery club clean up, and Yongsun follows Bogum out of the building.

          They near the ticket booth, and Bogum could just make out the outline of Taeyong, a class representative, obediently sitting behind the table, albeit, rather stiffly. Probably from the chill.

          He feels a sting of emotion.

          And he slows down, feeling a pang of guilt.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been such a stickler for rules.

          “Oh. I almost forgot.” Bogum stops in his tracks and stuffs his hands in his pockets, all too aware of the girl beside him peering up at him curiously. He takes out his heat packs, silently soaking up all the warmth gathering in his palms.

          He holds it out.

          “Heat packs,” he says it, like it wasn’t obvious enough already, “for you guys.”

          Bogum places it in Yongsun’s hands.

          He smiles reassuringly.

          “I’ll try to get more, so you won’t be so cold.”

--

The guys convinced him to take a break from helping out in the food stalls, so now he stands right on the grandstand overlooking the track.

Immediately, Bogum misses the warmth and the noise of the kitchens. He curses himself, inaudibly, for letting himself get led on by peer pressure, and he wonders if this really is worth the discomfort.

          But then he thinks it wouldn’t be too bad if he manages to watch at least one game.

          As to constantly immersing himself in his duties and responsibilities.

          He lets his eyes wander down to the competitors.

          That is when he spots Kang Seulgi.

          She looks great for someone who just lost an archery competition, and when she moves a bit to the side, he sees who she is talking to. Joohyun.

          He barely pays attention to his friends talking excitedly about the girls in the upcoming race, too busy staring at Joohyun and Seulgi talking. The younger is jumping around, from nerves or the cold, he doesn’t know. Nevertheless, Joohyun stares at her as seriously as if they are the only two in the grounds, and not as if they aren’t surrounded by noise and tens of milling students in excitement.

          Girls are strange sometimes.

          From far off, an announcer blares out for the contestants to prep by the track.

          The crowd starts to disperse and Bogum watches as Joohyun takes something out from her jacket. An arm shoots out to still a bouncing Seulgi, and the other lifts up to smooth the younger’s hair.

          He watches as Joohyun pins a few escaped strands to the top of her head, a hand smoothing down for good measure. She tucks a lock of hair behind Seulgi’s ear, very much reminding him of a mother taking care of her child.

          When the announcer calls out again, Joohyun bids her farewell, and jogs off to the side.

          Bogum doesn’t know why or how, but he finds himself walking.

          Walking to her.

--

          “Joohyun-ssi.”

          “Ah!” he tries to suppress his smile, but fails, when Joohyun jumps away from him in surprise, her wide eyes turning into that very much reminiscent of a doe’s or a rabbit’s. “Oh, it’s you.”

          “Aren’t you supposed to be staying somewhere?”

          “What do you— oh.”

          Joohyun blushes in embarrassment at having been caught shirking her duties, and Bogum knows he should be stern, but God, she just looks too adorable to reprimand.

          “Joohyun, you’re supposed to be in the ticket booth with,” Bogum pauses, pretending to think for a while, but in truth, it is for effect, “with Seungwan? Or was that Seungyeon?”

          “Seohyun.”

          Joohyun looks away, to the field, where the participants are stretching and warming up. “I was supposed to be with Seohyun.”

          Bogum does not expect Joohyun to readily accept her mistake, so he merely gapes at her, feeling a tad bit awkward. “Yes, so, uh, you should go—“

          “Ah but,” Joohyun bursts out, momentarily surprising Bogum, “I asked Taeyong to take double-shift.”

          Bogum sighs, about to scold Joohyun for letting that poor kid suffer out in the cold even more, and he opens his mouth to do so—

          “Please Bogum-ssi.”

          Joohyun rarely ever asks for favors.

          No.

          Joohyun never asks for favors from him.

          “I promised Seulgi I’d watch her race.”

          Bogum doesn’t go back to his friends.

          He stays by Joohyun’s side to watch the race.

--

          Seulgi does not win the race, and he wonders who is more disappointed, Joohyun, or Seulgi, with the way the girl beside him lets out a groan of frustration.

          “Joohyun!”

          Seulgi catches sight of her, and runs to her, hair flying everywhere, and arms swinging wildly, as if she just won the race.

          “Yah! Why didn’t you win?” she bursts out in frustration once Seulgi reaches her. Seulgi laughs, and gently takes ahold of her arms.

 Immediately, Bogum remembers how Yongsun and Joohyun were talking about how Seulgi lost the archery competition to Joohyun.

He wonders if Joohyun feels a bit bad for winning that one competition. How Seulgi has not won any yet.

“It’s okay Hyun.”

She grins widely at Joohyun.

“There’s still next year.”

“But I won’t be there to see it,” Joohyun pouts.

Oh right.

They were graduating this year.

Bogum wants to shout in happiness, knowing that soon, this godforsaken school would be out of his sight and mind. Responsibilities and headaches, begone!

At the same time, he knows he won’t be able to see Joohyun anymore. Not in their classroom, not in the Student Council Room, not squatting in those halls he’d sometimes pass by in Friday evenings.

He’ll miss her.

And that has him thinking.

---

Author's note (4): THIS IS AN IMPORTANT CHAPTER! HAHA Oh, man.  I suppose, Twice's Knock Knock didn't break the 10m views in 24 hours  TT. I feel kind of upset for that, and then I feel upset with myself for feeling upset (does that make sense?). The girls worked hard, and they broke their TT record :) so yeah, there' s that. THE SONG IS GREAT THOUGH, I RECCOMMEND LISTENING TO IT! 

Idk if I'm being feminist or not, but I sometimes feel like girl groups have something to prove to boy group stans, you know?

(also 100k dislikes already. :( wtf )

Ugh, this isn't even related to the chapter or Red Velvet but, eh. Spare the rants of a ONCE.

UPDATE: TWICE did reach 10M in 24 hours^____^ !!!!!!!!