Minsun erased the whole formula she had written to solve the previous question. It was a mess. She never stopped in the middle of a question because it turned out that she used the wrong formula before. Minsun set her mechanical pencil aside and sighed as she covered the upper half of her face with her palm.




“To give ‘us’ a chance. I really appreciate it.” Taecyeon turned his hand upside down and grabbed her thin fingers in his. His hand felt cold since she had been putting the ice pack on it, so she put her other hand on top of his and gently rubbed his cold hand to make it warmer.

“Oh,” Minsun looked down, feeling shy, thinking  that she was honored more than she deserved. “You shouldn’t be thanking me for that.”

Taecyeon reached for her locks and tucked them neatly behind her ear so he could see her face clearly. His face leaned closer to her so suddenly, she didn’t even have the time to react.

“I love you,” he whispered, and then planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.

He said ‘I love you’. She didn’t know how to react to that. She wasn’t exactly in love with him. Taecyeon already pulled back, and he looked like he was expecting an answer from her, for a second. But there was none, so he looked away a little awkwardly. Minsun on the other hand couldn't look at anywhere else but the floor.

She flinched when her phone rang, so she quickly checked on it.

“My… my mother is calling me. I have to go.”

“Oh, um, okay,” Taecyeon tried to smile casually, like nothing happened before.




She should have realized back then, that it was all a mistake. She should have tell him that they shouldn’t stay together, that she never had feelings for him no matter what he did for her, and that he would only get hurt if they stick together. But then when they met coincidentally in the hallway, he would smile his brightest smile to her and said ‘hi’ and asked her how she had been. When she neared the gym hall, her courage just fell down the drain at the sight of his face. The thought of having to deceive him by acting like a girlfriend became unbearable to her that she resorted to avoiding him altogether. For four days straight, she didn’t show up at the gym during their practice with a lame excuse of she had been slacking on her study because of the fashion show last week, so she wanted to focus on her study and stayed at the library instead.

She was about to take her pencil again and redo the question, when she saw from the tip of her eye the chair next to her being pulled out.

Minsun stayed silent. She didn’t dare to look up and her posture became stiff. She wondered who it was? Khun oppa? Gohee unni? Wooyoung? Or Taecyeon sunbae?

“It’s been a while, huh?” The voice greeted cheerfully, and a little bit too loud for a library. Wooyoung ignored the harsh ‘shush’ and mean stare from the passing librarian as he turned the chair around before he carelessly plopped onto it.

Minsun secretly thanked God that it was Wooyoung. Because when it was him, they never talk about anything serious. Or more like, it never felt serious, burdensome, or tense with him.

Now that Minsun felt less tense, she continued with her business. She tried to keep herself at ease and focused on one thing, her mathemathic practice book.

“Ah, come on, take it easy.” Wooyoung grinned and reached out for Minsun’s pencil, trying to pull it away from her fingers. To his surprise, Minsun took back her pencil and quickly returned her focus on her practice book. Without a single word. 

“Okay,  okay, sorry. No need the silent treatment, okay? Because I need to talk to you,”

Minsun who had been busy writing something in her book paused for a split second when the pencil lead broke all of a sudden, but she quickly continued.

Wooyoung shrugged at Minsun’s lack of response, because there were days when she was really serious and cold, like when she was tutoring him for his reseat exam.

“I’ll take that as a ‘Okay, what is it now?’. By the way,” Wooyoung cleared his throat, and then continued, “I’m pretty sure you realized this, but then, maybe not since you haven’t been around lately, but uh, yeah, Munhwa and I are pretty good these days. I guess it’s all thanks to you.”

Wooyoung cleared his throat again.

“I really did what you told me. I’ve been nicer to Munhwa, and I guess it is not that hard to be a li~ttle nicer,” Wooyoung said with a hint of boasting, he even smirked a bit but quickly wiped it away from his face to appear a bit more serious. Once he finished talking, he waited for Minsun’s response, but she was still busy with her studying. Her head was bent low as her fingers - which were holding onto the pencil - moved expertly about her book. Wooyoung bent his neck a little too to see her facial expression but it was hard to do so since she wore her hair free today and her long, straight locks were blocking her face from exposure.     

“Yah, are you listening?” Wooyoung waited for a while, but still, no response. He cleared his throat again.

“Anyway. What should I do next? I mean, she thinks I’m nice and all… It feels weird if I just suddenly go up to her and confess… or is it not? Should I wait a little longer? What about after Christmas? Now that I think about it… before Christmas sounds good too. Oh yeah, do you remember the Chrismas Projects? After your fashion show last time, the fund really tripled. Now I know why those events are good. Gohee nuna said we’re only short about three hundred thousand wons now but it’s okay. We’re going to make this bead bracelets and sell them to people. I made some too, pretty cool, huh?” Wooyoung showed Minsun the bead bracelet that was bright yellow, but Minsun didn’t even look his way. She began to gather her things and pack up.

“Yah, don’t ignore me!” Wooyoung’s slightly raised his voice, to a level that sounds annoying and whiny more than angry.

Minsun kept her gaze low as she quickly shoved her stuffs into her bagpack and got up to get ready to leave. She just lost her confidence in herself at all. She felt like she couldn’t face any of the basketball team members anymore, not even Gohee. She couldn’t help but feel embarrassed that she had deceived Taecyeon, her friends, and even her very own self all this while. She didn’t know how she could fix this, even if she tell the truth to Taecyeon.

“Yah, Seo Minsun, wait for me!” Wooyoung tailed her from behind, feeling very annoyed that Minsun was giving him the silent treatment without a reason. He had been nice to Munhwa and helped Gohee a lot these days, he couldn’t find anything wrong in his doings towards Minsun. As he followed her from behind, he could see how Minsun anxiously looked at her watch to check the time.

“Yah, why are you not answering me?” Wooyoung asked as he continued to follow her. It seemed like at every question, she just avoided them and looked at the ground.

“Yah, Minsun, answer me! It feels weird talking by myself!”

Minsun continued to ignore him and walked faster towards the bus stop in front of their school. She felt it was better for her to just head home. She couldn’t focus on her study, nor did she felt comfor table around her friends.

“I’m sorry!” A deep voice blurted in alert as Minsun squatted to pick up her books. Honestly, Minsun wasn’t angry at all even though the bump was quite strong. It kind of woke her up and shook some things off her mind. She should be more focused.

Minsun still had her cold exterior on since she ignored his apology and just silently picked up her stuffs on the ground. She didn’t even bother to look up to see who it was who bumped into her.
  
It was like, as if Minsun went back to being the old Minsun who was aloof, distant, and cold. That was exactly what Wooyoung was thinking as he watched her and that guy squatting on the ground together to pick her books. He felt like it was the perfect time for him to not interfere and let them alone.

The guy who was helpng Minsun previously chuckled as they both slowly stood up.

“Aren’t you even going to look at me, Minsun?” He asked.

Minun gasped, because she knew well to whom that deep voice belonged to. She looked up immediately, looking apologetic.

“Sunbae! I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know, oh God,” Minsun buried her face in one of her small hand.

“Minsun,” Taecyeon laughed, “Hey, relax, it was nothing! Besides, I was the one who bumped into you in the first place,”

Minsun didn’t reply, but she seemed to be in deep thought again.

“You’re waiting for the bus, aren’t you? Come on, I’ll wait with you,” Taecyeon said and walked her to the bus stop. 

Wooyoung had a feeling that he had to give them some space. He just had a feeling. And not a good one. Well, Minsun had skipped on their practices the whole week and buried herself under the books in the library, which meant, she and Taecyeon hadn’t seen each other for the week. And then she had been acting weird around himself too. Usually, around Wooyoung, Minsun was a little bit more easy-going and honest.   

So, Wooyoung kept his distance from the bus stop. Instead, he leaned against the wall which surrounded their school, under a big shady tree quite a few distance away from the bus stop, far enough for him not to hear anything between Minsun and Taecyeon, even though he was dying of curiosity of what they might talk about.




“Um, sunbae,” Minsun said, but she couldn’t look up.

“Yes?”

“How are you today?”

“Well, good, as always,”

Minsun nodded at the information. She suddenly had the urge to tell him the truth right then and there. She should stop avoiding him and handled the situation wisely before everything got too far. Taecyeon might felt disappointed at how she was avoiding him ever since their last date, or so she thought since she aven’t even thank him for his gift.

“Well… it felt lke it had been a while since we talked, and I… I’m sorry for that,”

“Minsun, you know I’m okay if you need a little space, or if you have something important to do. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Taecyeon smiled gently.

Minsun felt sad again. She didn’t deserve his kindness, because she couldn’t return it back. If she’s only participating in the accepting part, then she would just be using him.

“Sunbae, you’re very kind, but, I’m not sure I deserve your kindness.”

Silence. Taecyeon didn’t see that coming from Minsun. He really thought she was worried if she was neglecting him again, but her words, her expression, her tone; something felt disturbing.

“What… do you mean?”

“I gave it a lot of thought these past few days. About us.” Minsun forced herself to look up, into his eyes. He seemed concerned. Minsun thought carefully of which words to use. She wanted to not hurt him as much.

“Sunbae, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can-”

Her words were cut short when her bus arrived about ten minutes earlier than usual. Wooyoung walked calmly towards the bus, but Minsun was still stuck to her spot. Minsun looked down again. Just when she found the gut to be honest with him. She started to feel a thick lump in .

“Minsun, aren’t you getting on?” Taecyeon asked gently, in a very comforting tone.

“But, I need to talk to you.” She quickly looked up.

Taecyeon  gently caressed her cheek with his thumb.

“Maybe you’re not ready yet. We can talk later. And you should tell me everything by then, and we’ll discuss about it, whatever it could be, together. Okay?”

Minsun nodded unwillingly.

“Come on now, you should get going. Go,” Taecyeon smiled and pushed Minsun from her back gently.
With heavy steps, she climbed onto the bus and smiled weakly at him as she waved him goodbye from the bus.






Miryung High School
Sunday, 11.00 a.m.

Another week has passed, the weather had gone colder and winter was coming soon but Minsun couldn’t find the right time or place to talk with Taecyeon yet. Besides, it was harder for her this time, it felt like having to repeat the same, hurtful, bitter things twice. She did met Taecyeon once or twice after practice, but all the words she had carefully arranged in her mind wouldn’t come out. In the end, she was just talking to him as if they were strangers since she had been avoiding from being too close and personal towards him.

“Hey, don’t you think Minsun is a little weird these days?” Wooyoung whispered to Munhwa during the 10 minutes break. It might be cold, but the basketball team was still practicing diligently like usual.

“Weird?” Munhwa gave it a thought, but she couldn’t find anything weird about Minsun.

“I mean, she usually come to the gym and be all lovey-dovey with Taec hyung, but she had been locking herself in library after school these days,”

“Well, she did say that she had been busy and couldn’t study at home,”

Wooyoung pouted, “But she was really cold to me last time I talked to her.”

“Really? I always think that she is cold towards you,”

Wooyoung sighed. “Nevermind.” He said. Then, he downed the water from the bottle Munhwa handed him just now while staring at Taecyeon. In fact, Wooyoung had been doing that since noon, when the practice started. Taecyeon looked normal but Wooyoung couldn’t help but felt suspicious of the conversation between Minsun and Taecyeon last Friday. Of course Wooyoung didn’t get to hear the conversation, but they didn’t seem like they were just having a normal conversation.

Wooyoung just had to put on his detective hat and find the truth.

The practice ended at noon, sharp. Taecyeon said he would be staying at the gym to practice on his own. Jaebum left with Gohee. Munhwa also off to her girls’ outing. The rest of the basketball members also had left. Wooyoung would have stayed and asked Taecyeon about Minsun, but Taecyeon kept saying everything was okay with them, that there was nothing unusual about Minsun

In the end, Wooyoung left the school without any beneficial information.

But then, he saw Nickhun passing by the school square, and Wooyoung quickly ran to his side. Nichkhun seemed surprised to see Wooyoung there all of a sudden but the younger guy just gave him a wide, friendly smile.

“Hello, sunbae-nim!”

“Hello, Wooyoung,” Nichkhun laughed that Wooyoung suddenly approached him like that, looking all friendly and cute.

“Why are you here today, on Sunday?” Wooyoung asked.

“I have a meeting with the student body.”

“Oh, I have a practice today,”

“I see. You guys really work hard.”

“Yeah, we’re aiming for champion in the upcoming Christmas Cup. So, have you been talking to Minsun lately?” Wooyoung cut short his little talk and went straight to his main point: Minsun. Khun had seen it coming so he didn’t feel weird at the sudden change of the topic. 

Smiling, Khun replied, “Actually I just talked to her yesterday.”

“Really?” Wooyoung’s eyes widened. “What did you guys talk about?”

“Well, if you really want to know, it was about the launching of a new winter perfume set by my mother. We both will be attending the event tonight.” 

“What? Perfume, winter, whatever. Is she okay?”

Khun rose his eyebrows. “Well, she’s fine. Why? Didn’t she show up at school last week?”

“Well, she did. But did she ever tell you anything… weird?”

Khun tried to think of anything out of norm about Minsun, but couldn’t recall any. He shook his head.

“Why? Did Minsun say something weird to you?”

“No. It’s just she doesn’t speak to me at all.”

“I thought that was normal?”

“No, it’s not!” Wooyoung shouted in exasperation. “It’s not normal when she doesn’t talk to me! I know it sounds ridiculous but she even comes to me for advice.”

“Oh,” That was surprising, Khun thought. But then, Minsun did seem close to Wooyoung. “Maybe, you upset her, somehow?”

Wooyoung sighed. He didn’t think so. They didn’t talk much after they visited that shelter home together so Wooyoung didn’t even have the chance to make her upset. And then suddenly, she didn’t come to the gym anymore. And then when Wooyoung tried to talk to her, she treated him like he didn’t exist.

“She has dance classes on Sunday, isn’t it?” Wooyoung suddenly asked, which caught Khun by surprise.

“Uh, yeah. But it’s about to end right now.”

“Do you know where is it?”

Khun was not sure if it was okay to tell this to him, but he nodded anyway.




Clad in a casual down jacket over a checkered shirt and a pair of jeans, still smelling like sweat, Wooyoung ducked behind a flower box, peeking through the leaves, looking for Minsun. Like a turtle, he pushed his neck in when he saw Minsun coming out of the Miryung Cultural Center building. There were a few girls who seemed a bit older than her walking along by her side, chatting merrily. Minsun just smiled and nodded once in a while. She didn’t talk much, just how she usually was. They walked towards the bus stop by the main road, but the rest of the girls took the bus that arrived right then, leaving Minsun alone at the bus stop, waiting for her bus.

Wooyoung quickly ran behind the building, towards another bus stop located by the junction before the building. The bus that he and Minsun would take would pass by that stop first before it turned at the junction towards the main entrance of the Miryung Cultural Center Building. Wooyoung waited there for about 10 minutes beofre the bus arrived. He quickly hopped onto the bus and sat on his favorite seat. Surprisingly, as the bus neared the bus stop which Minsun was waiting at, Wooyoung’s expectation failed him. Minsun didn’t stop the bus, neither the bus stopped for her. Wooyoung turned his body around when the bus passed the bus stop and saw a big, expensive car stopped by Minsun, and Minsun quickly got into it with her poker face on.

“NGGGGHHH!!” Wooyoung pulled on his hair at each side. He quickly stopped the bus and got off, and then quickly thought of a way to follow her.

Then, he saw a guy unlocking his bicycle nearby, and he dashed towards him and jumped onto his bicycle.

“HEY!”

“Sorry, I’ll return this soon!” Wooyoung yelled as he dashed away from the spot. A pick-up truck passed by so he quickly caught onto its rear. Within seconds, the black luxury car came into his view again.




Minsun stopped by a boutique at the street of Apgujeong, which Wooyoung secretly thanked her for. Wooyoung barely kept up with the car even when he cycled as fast as he could. In ragged breathing, Wooyoung hid behind one of the medium sized trees along the street across the narrow road and watched as Minsun entered the boutique. He could pretty much see everything going on in the boutique because of its transparent façade.

There was a lady in a uniform welcoming her warmly as soon as Minsun stepped into the retail lot. She spent quite a while in there that Wooyoung felt bored. He guessed she was getting ready for that whatever event in the evening. Wooyoung tapped his feet to the ground as he looked at his watch, it was past 20 minutes and he hadn’t seen Minsun yet since she suddenly disappeared, probably to the changing room.

“Do all girls take this long to change?” Wooyoung rolled his eyes. The more he waited, the more he felt eager to see the other side of Minsun’s life. He had seen Minsun as that lonely girl who studied all the time and never left home at night to be with her grandmother, now he wanted to see how was Misnun as the daughter of this elite family who attends perfume launch party. He wanted to know if this was why she acted different lately. 

As his mind started to drift onto irrelevant thoughts such as how much the abnormally tall Taecyeon hyung had to bend just to kiss a girl, he saw Minsun appeared again through the glass of the boutique façade. Her boring bun just now was let down so her straight, long black hair fell freely past her shoulders, parted in 2/3 on her forehead. She had an olive coloured cocktail dress on which was bare on the shoulders and had a wide, deep chocolate bow sash hugging her figure right below her , while the floral patterned skirt fell free to her knees. The lady staff of the boutique came close to Minsun with a wide smile on her face. She said something, probably complimenting Minsun at how beautiful she looked, because Wooyoung thought she looked stunning too.

Suddenly, a guy entered the boutique in his all black suit in very ordered steps. Wooyoung didn’t see when did he arrived since he had been watching Minsun a little bit too intently. The guy walked towards Minsun and stood there, blocking Wooyoung’s view of the rarely sight of Minsun in a dress.

“Aishh, what is he doing standing there?!” Wooyoung whispered through gritted teeth. But then, his expression changed once he helped Minsun into her beige colored Burberry windcoat, and then offered her his hand. Minsun placed her small hand in his, and then they both turned around to leave the boutique.

The guy was none other than the school president, Nichkhun Horvejkul.

Wooyoung’s radical, quick thinking was about to jump into conclusions that Minsun was cheating on Taecyeon, but then he remembered Khun telling him earlier that they were going to the perfume launch event together. Wooyoung realized something and looked at his own clothes.

He should at least had a decent outfit to enter such event, let alone invitation card.

But that was nothing to worry about; he might be able to get those sorted out on the spot.






Grand Hilton Hotel
2.50 p.m.

Wooyoung was stuck at the lobby, wandering around after he followed Nichkhun and Minsun. They had taken the elevator, but Wooyoung had no idea on what floor they took off. There seemed to be quite a number of people at the lobby, probably there for the event since Wooyoung saw similar tags around most of their necks. Trying not to look suspicious, Wooyoung put on a rather snobby act about him as he took a seat on one of the sofa sets and picked up the newspapaers from the coffee table and pretend to read it. 

“Sungjin ah, I need the toilet right now.”

A guy sitting next to Wooyoung said.

“What? But we need to be up there in 10 minutes.”

“I’ll be really quick, I promise! Look after my stuffs, okay?”

“Alright. But be really quick!”

When the guy with the stomach-ache left, Wooyoung lowered the papers from his face to take a peek at the coffee table, and saw an SLR camera along with a black blazer and a tag on it. The guy called Sungjin just now was on a phone conversation, and based from what Wooyoung heard, they were reporters and were waiting for another friend.

Wooyoung cleared his throat and got up. He walked towards a narrow hallway at the far end of the lobby, towards the toilet. When he peeked inside, there was nobody inside but one occupied stall, which was most probably reporter guy he saw previously. Wooyoung looked around the small space and then headed towards the furthest stall, which was the janitor’s stall. He took a mop in his hand and then squatted in front of the only occupied stall. Wooyoung stuck in the tip of the mop stick through the small gap under the door and expertly snatched the pants closer towards him with it. 

“Hey, who’s that?!” The guy tried to pull back his pants but Wooyoung managed to grab it with his hands, and being the more fit, athlethic guy he was, Wooyoung managed to win the little game.

“Hey, give me back my pants, you punk!”

“Heh, try and get it yourself!” Wooyoung shouted as he ran away from the toilet. Smirking, Wooyoung threw the black slack pants in a trash can he found along the hallway. Wooyoung walked back to the sofa he sat on before and approached a guy in glasses there.

“Hey, you’re Sungjin?” Wooyoung asked with an air of arrogance about him. Well, he did plan to play a role of the son of some rich chaebol, so he better do it right.

The Sungjin guy looked up, his facial expression changed when he saw a boy younger than him speaking informal language in rude tone to him.

“Yeah, why?”

“Your friend in the toilet is calling for you. He seems to be in trouble.”

“Aissh… That guy! Can’t he do anything right?” Sungjin whispered to himself. “Um, I’m really sorry but, can you watch for these things for a sec? I’ll be back real soon,”

“Yeah. Sure. Whatever, just make it quick. I have to leave this hotel in 10 minutes.” Wooyoung said without even looking at the Sungjin guy. From the tip of his eye, Wooyoung kind of saw him shaking his head before he rushed towards the toilet.

Confidently, Wooyoung grabbed whatever were left on the coffee table and then entered the elevator with a wide smile on his face. There were two tags. One of it was the tag of the reporter which had his name and the paper he was from; The Metropolitan, while the other was the access tag into the launcing event. He took a detailed look on the latter one and softly murmured to himself as he read:

“Kisaeng Lady, The Winter Perfume Collection Launching Event. Grand Ballroom. 3.00 to 6.00 p.m.”

Jang Wooyoung, you are so smart.




Only with two words; ‘The Metropolitan’, Wooyoung gained access to the exclusive events. He felt a little out of place once he met a lot of celebrities and people from wealthy background, which he could guess just from their appearance, but Wooyoung wasn’t one who understands the term ‘inferior complex’ well. Within seconds, Wooyoung had left the SLR and whatever tags he had on his chair and blend into the crowd, his eyes strictly on Minsun.

It was a little boring in the beginning when people were giving speech and what not, but the high light of the event was when Minsun began to separate herself from the elite crowd. When the VIP’s were led from one exhibit to the other, listening to the explanaton from the representatives of the cosmetic company, Minsun was off wandering on her own. From time to time, Nichkhun would stand by her side, and they would chat lightly before Nichkhun returned to the side of his mother who kept showing him off to her guests.

The scene of Minsun standing alone in front of a perfume exhibit, looking poker as always, as if she was alone in this big world looked very similar with the Seo Minsun who sat quietly at her desk, studying.

It was as if there were not much differences from her daily life with this elegant, glamourous side of her life.

Wooyoung stayed hidden between a tall ice sculpture which resembled the perfume bottle in the middle of the exhibtion area as he watched Minsun and her every little movements. There were some older women and men who talked to her, but not for long since Minsun wasn’t really trying to make conversation. A bored look became more and more visible on her beautiful face. She was probably there on behalf of her parents so she couldn’t really find an excuse to skip the event.

Suddenly, there was a guy, around her age, maybe a year or two older walked closer to her with two glasses of champagne in his hands. He offered one of it, only to receive Minsun’s scrutinizing eyes, head to toe.

“Oh, come on. You have to do more than that to talk to her.” Wooyoung whispered to himself, mocking the guy.

A waiter passed by so the young guy who tried to hit on Minsun just now returned the glasses he was holding onto just now, without emptying one of it right before doing so. He returned his attention at Minsun again with a wide smile on his face. He took a step closer to Minsun, but Minsun stepped back. It didn’t seem like Minsun responded well to him, but he kept talking to her with a smile on his face. A not very pleasant looking smile. In Wooyoung’s view, he even looked a bit erted.

“Oh!” Wooyoung gasped when that guy started playing with Minsun’s hair. Minsun pushed his hand away, but he caught hers, and then brought it to his lips. Minsun seemed angry when he kissed the back of her hand and thus angrily pulled her hand away from his.

“The hell?! Taecyeon hyung will sooo make you run for 50, no, 100 laps at the track field if he ever saw that!” Wooyoung whispered to himself. And then suddenly, somebody tapped his shoulder from the back, so he turned around.

“You thief!”




“Why, hello there. Would you like something to drink?”

Minsun looked up from the perfume bottle on the glowing boxy display to the guy who greeted her just now. He seemed familiar, but she didn’t really bother to put her mind on who he was. Probably one of the heirs to her mother’s rich friends. He was handsome, but for some reason she hated him. Maybe it was the way he smiled.

Minsun stared at the champagne glass offered to her and then looked at his eyes again, “I’m underage.” She said.

He laughed at her reply, “Oh, yeah, of course.” He laughed again. Minsun rolled her eyes. What was so funny about it?

A waiter passed by them, and the guy stopped him. He put one glass on the tray, and another one after he emptird it in a quick one-shot.

“If I’m not mistaken, you’re the daughter of Jung Jihee arent you? Her only daughter,” he said as he took a step closer to her. Minsun took a step back immediately, or it woud be too uncomfortably close between them.

“Yes I am.”

He chuckled again. “Usually girls would reply ‘And you are?’”

“I’m not interested.”

“What interests you then?” The guy started to caress her hair, fondling a few locks between his fingers and brushed it downwards until his skin touched her cold, bare shoulder. Minsun slapped his hand away from her hair but he quickly grabbed her small wrist and brought it close to his mouth.

As he chuckled, he kissed the back of Minsun’s hand.

“Nothing that has anything to do with you!” Minsun forcefully pulled back her hand and held it on her chest. 

“Oh, fierce. I like that.”

“I’m sorry but please leave me alone.” Minsun stared at him angrily.

“Aww, come on. You wouldn’t want that. If you don’t like being seen in the public, we can find a quiet place to talk, hm?”

“No, thanks.” Minsun turned around, ready to click her heels away from him when suddenly a loud crash came from the middle of the room. Everybody looked at the ice statue which had been broken to pieces, all over the floor and the boy hiding behind it from a furious reporter across him.

“Wooyoung?” Minsun paused when she clearly saw Wooyoung ducking and running away from a man in his glasses who was trying to catch Wooyoung with his hands.

“What are you talking about?! I don’t have those things with me!” Wooyoung shouted as he ran across the room and hid behind other fragile exhibits so the guy who was chasing him wouldn’t do anything reckless around him.

“LIAR!” The man shouted back.

“Come on, I’ll show you a cool place around here,” whispered the guy who was with Minsun just now. He came from behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist. He was so close to her that she could feel his breath in her ear, and she hated every second of it.

“I said I’m not interested!” Minsun pushed him off her and slapped him across his face. He looked back at her angrily and held his hand high, ready to return the favor.

“YOU-”

“In case you’re a little slow in the mental departmnet, she’s just telling you to off in a nice way!” Wooyoung sudenly appeared behind the guy and stopped him right in time before his hand hit Minsun.

“The -?!”

The guy threw a punch towards Wooyoung, but the latter barely missed the attack as he ducked, and the punch successully landed on the wrong target, which was square on the jaw of the reporter who was chasing Wooyoung just now. The reporter fell to the ground, in pain. The guy with Minsun just now looked flustered that things turned awkward and messy. While he was stunned with the result of his own action, Wooyong took the chance to go to Minsun and instinctively, grabbed her hand.

“Wooyooung, what are-”

“Come on, we have to get out of here!” Wooyoung pulled her hand, ready to escape from the mess he started.

“But-”

“You don’t even want to be here, don’t you?” Wooyoung pulled her hand again, and this time, Minsun ran along with him, even though she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to.

Minsun looked back and saw Nichkhun and his mother making their way towards the commotion, the expression on their faces wasn’t good at all, especially Khun’s mother. She looked furious. When Khun’s eyes made contact with hers, she saw his lips spelling out her name, but Minsun could no longer hear his voice as she broke her way through the crowd, led by that troublesome boy, Jang Wooyoung.






Minsun stood there, still like a lamp post as she stared at the bicycle Wooyoung showed her in front of the hotel building.

“What?”

Minsun didn’t reply, but her icy cold stare was direected at Wooyoung now.

“You can keep staring at me like that, or you can get on the bike and I’ll send you home.”

Minsun shook her head and turned around, leaving Wooyoung on his stolen bicycle.

“Hey, are you going to walk?!”

There was no response coming form her. He swore he heard her talking just fine to that erted guy just now, but now she’s ignoring him again.

“Yah, Seo Minsun!” Wooyoung started to pedal the bicycle slowly so he could keep up with her slow pace along the sidewalk.

“I don’t steal this bicycle, okay? I’m just borrowing it! I’ll return it tomorrow, I promise!”

Minsun sighed. “Why are you following me?”

Busted.

“Well, I, uh, I didn’t exactly follow you… Just, just I saw you on the street and I wanted to say hi but you didn’t see me so-” Wooyoung scratched the back of his neck, “Are you that mad that I stole this bicycle? Or because I messed up the event?”

Honestly, it didn’t really matter to Minsun. She was slightly grateful that Wooyoung was there to be honest.

“Great. She’s ignoring me again.” Wooyoung rolled his eyes. “Why are you doing this to me? What have I done to you? Or are you hiding something from me?” Wooyoung asked out of annoyance.

Minsun stared at the ground. She seemed as if she felt bad that she wasn’t talking to Wooyoung, and it felt as if his questions just now had offended her. Now Wooyoung felt bad for making her feel bad.

“Okay I’m sorry. I stole this jacket too. And the reporter tag. And messed up the event pretty bad. And maybe I’m still not nice enough to Munhwa.”

Minsun couldn’t help but chuckle at Wooyoung’s honest confession.

“Oh, so you can laugh at me but not talk to me?”

Minsun looked down again, this time looking a litle sad.

“I just can’t find anything necessary to talk about anymore.” She finally said.

“What, am I that useless that you find it is not worth your time anymore just to reply to my questions? I thought we were friends.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what?”

“…” There was only a light sigh coming out from .

“Okay, if you don’t want to talk, I’ll do the talking. Maybe you don’t like hanging out with a guy who is bad at Math, or any academic subjects in general,” Wooyoung cleared his throat before he continued, “or maybe you have a crush on me and you’re jealous of Munhwa, or maybe you want to stop hanging out with guys like us ever since your parents come back and go back to this high end lifestyle, or you’re cheating on Taecyeon hyung with this rich guy and you don’t want me to find out-”

“Wooyoung, you talk too much.”

Wooyoung couldn’t help but be annoyed that Minsun kept leaving him in the dark at her sudden change of behavior. With his bicycle, he blocked Minsun’s path.

“Fine, I’ll stop talking, but you have to hop on this bicycle, and I’ll send you home. And take this jacket because you look cold.”

For once, Minsun obeyed him. She took the jacket away from his hand, put it over her shoulders and silently climbed onto the bike, and held onto his waist as he started cycling.

It took more than an hour for Wooyoung to cycle from the Grand Hilton Hotel all the way back to their humble neighborhood at southern Seoul. Just like how he got there, there were times when Wooyoung grabbed onto the back of a lorry on a less busy road so that saved a lot of time and energy for him.

They were finally back at the warm neighborhood when the sky was tinted with some orange streaks. The playground they passed by now void of kids as the mothers started to call them back home. It was calm, warm, and even romantic. If Wooyoung was annoyed, or even angry from their previous conversation, he felt much calmer now under such warm sky. It had been a long day for them both, and he had a feeling that Minsun was going through a difficult time especially when her demanding mother refused to acknowledge her preferences in life.

“Hey,” Wooyoung suddenly said. 

“Hm?” Minsun responded, sounding somewhat sleepy.

“I don’t know what you’re going through right now that you aren’t acting yourself, but get it sorted out quick. I can’t stand you not talking or smiling around me.”

All of a sudden, Wooyoung braked the bicycle. Minsun had to hold onto him tight or she might lose her balance from the sudden force and fell off the bicycle. She was about to ask him what was wrong when she looked ahead and saw another surprise waiting for her.

“Wooyoung?” Taecyeon asked.