“I will hold both of your hands tightly now, just like this

Just like the word ‘forever’, let’s stay together”

“Da Young? Why are you here? You’re not in my class for this period,” This was the first thing Seongwoo had said when he realized the small girl behind him. “What are you doing here? Holding my shirt?”

He tried to tug the girl away from him but she refused to, like a small puppy.

“Yah, what’s wrong with you?” Seongwoo asked the quiet girl who had her eyes wandering around the unfamiliar surroundings.

That’s not my classroom; he could hear her mumbles as she continued to glance around.

It has been days… weeks since Da Young was behaving like this… weird, odd and just off- out of her mind.

“Da Young?” Seongwoo glanced at the girl. “Im Da Young?” Still, there was no response from the girl.

Seongwoo pressed his lips together and lifted his hand in front of the lost girl’s face… and snapped his fingers, getting the girl’s attention.

“Huh?” Da Young blinked, and looked at Seongwoo. “Where am I?”

“Great, you’re back… to reality,” Seongwoo smiled warmly at his friend. “What got into you? You’ve been acting weird lately.”

“I don’t remember taking Business….” Da Young went off topic, drifting into her own world.

“That’s because you followed me here… into my business class,” Seongwoo explained and flicked her forehead. “You have Math right now. Go away, to your math class and we’ll talk again later.”

Da Young’s eyes suddenly widen when she found her best friend starting to push her off his arm and tried to grab it back. “Don’t!” She gasped, trying to hold onto his arm.

“What’s wrong, Da Young?” Seongwoo asked, trying to be as quiet as he could when he realized that almost half of the class was staring at him. “Can… can we talk later? After school? You have to get to your class as well.”

“That’s okay, I’ll bring her to her class,” the duo hear someone new entering into their conversation.

Before Da Young had time to look back to see whom it was, the person already had his grip on Da Young’s arm, pulling her away from the tired Seongwoo.

“Thank you Minhyun,” he sighed and stared at the two of them walking out of his classroom.

He took his seat, his eyes still fixed on the door they had exited.

“Why are you acting like this, Young?” He asked himself. “It’s not because of… him, right?”

✩ ✩ ✩

The newcomer continued to drag Da Young further and further away from Seongwoo’s classroom, not giving the girl enough time to protest.

He finally halt when the duo reached Da Young’s assigned classroom. He opened the door pretty loudly and barged into the classroom, drawing a couple of students’ attention but he didn’t mind it at all.

“What are you doing?” Da Young threw her hand down, forcing Minhyun to lose his grip on her arm. She could not see his face since he was facing his back on her… but he sounded familiar, very familiar.

“I was just trying to get you into your class, Da Young. You should be grateful-“

“How do you know I even have class here?” Da Young snapped crossly, crossing her arms.

The boy turned around. “Because, I have the same class as you,” he smiled politely before rolling his eyes and took a seat amongst the back row.

Da Young’s eyes widen when she looked at his face. She recognized him immediately and instantly regretted saying what she had said to him.

T-that’s Hwang Minhyun, she realized it too late now, Hwang Minhyun, the boy who had the most perfect visual in this entire school. Murmurs started to circulate around the room, whisperings, gossips and pointing; all at her. Da Young’s face turned red. I really screwed up badly right?

✩ ✩ ✩

Ji Hoon’s eyes had always been fixated on her; they never left her head at all. He was a little disappointed, after that day when he went to her house; they never talked at all, despite the small talks about their coursework.

He couldn’t focus on the lesson, so he quickly diverged his gaze from the board to his phone that was sitting in the empty basket underneath his table.

JiHoon-ie: It’s almost the last week already; do you want to come over today to do the coursework?

He quickly pressed sent and looked back at Da Young, trying his best not to grab the teacher’s attention. He saw her phone’s screen lit up before it dimmed back, no sounds were heard.

He saw her shifting uncomfortably for a second when she took a glance of her phone and frowned. Why is she acting like this?

He stared at her for a couple of seconds again before diverging his attention to his textbook in front of his face and focused on the lesson.

Brrrr!

He felt his phone vibrating for a short second before it went still. He quickly looked at his phone and brightens up immediately.

Da Young-ie: Yeah, sure

He grinned and continued to stare at his phone for a longer period than he expected that he didn’t even know when the teacher called him, until Woo Jin pushed him off his chair.

“Yah!” He glared at the boy who had put on an innocent face. “What did you do tha-“

“Mr Park Ji Hoon, are you awake now? I’ve been calling you for the past few minutes,” the teacher in front was saying. “And Mr Park Woo Jin, thank you for helping me wake your friend up from I-don’t-even-know-what’s-wrong-with-him.”

Woo Jin just gave a small smile at the teacher as Ji Hoon scrambled back to his place.

“So, Mr Park, would you be kind enough to explain to us what did we just learn?”

Ji Hoon just stared at the teacher speechless. From his left eye, he could see Da Young trying to hide a laugh and that made him grin.

✩ ✩ ✩

“My sister has to join us,” Da Young blurted out as soon as the two of them were on the street, just out of their school.

“Huh?” Ji Hoon raised his eyebrow at Da Young.

“I forgot that my parents left her to me and I have to fetch her now… so it’s either I bring her along to your house, but if it’s too uncomfortable for you, I’ll go back home and we can meet up some other day,” Da Young explained, feeling a little disappointed herself.

“Well, she can come along! You know I don’t mind! Da Rim and Ji Woon can hang out together,” Ji Hoon replied.

“Great!” Da Young replied with a smile before the two of them continued their way to fetch their little siblings.

✩ ✩ ✩

“Unnie… why are we here?” That was the first thing Da Rim said when they reached Ji Hoon’s house.

Da Young could not answer her little sister because she was staring at Ji Hoon’s house in awe.

“Let’s get in, shall we?” Ji Hoon asked, chuckling at the girl’s expression.

“Oh, definitely,” that, Da Young could reply back before the foursome walked into the house.

“Da Rim! I have to show you all my toys!” Ji Woon squeaked, rushing off into a room on the ground floor of their house. Da Rim shouted in joy before following the boy like a little duck, disappearing into a room, leaving the two older ones awkwardly standing next to one another, a little stiff by the other’s presence.

“So… shall we get started with the presentation now?” Ji Hoon broke the silence once again. Da Young looked at him for a couple of seconds before nodding.

Da Young parted her lips. “Of co-“

“Ji Hoon? Are you back?”

The duo heard the rattling of the keys from the entrance and twisted their body to the door, just as the doors opened, revealing two adults.

“Hi mom… hi dad,” Ji Hoon’s eyes widen as he realized who they were. He scratched his head. “You guys… are back… earlier… than I… expected.”

“Well, things change sometimes and- Oh! Who’s this girl over here?” The woman asked, leaning to the left to get a properly look at Da Young.

“He-hello, Mr and Mrs Park,” Da Young greeted. “I’m Ji Hoon’s friend and I’m here to do our bio coursework…”

“Oh, I see,” Mr Park replied, nodding his head. “I hope we did not disturb you or so-“

“Appa! Omma!” A small voice shrieked across the living room before a small figure darted straight past Ji Hoon and Da Young, and ended up with Mr Park, wrapping his arms around the little boy’s dad’s legs.

“Oh hey there little kid!” Mr Park chuckled and ruffled his younger son’s head.

“I brought a friend home!” Ji Woon chattered in excitement. He turned his head back at the ajar door that he had come out from and motioned his hand at the door. “Da Rim! Where are you?”

Shyly, Da Young’s sister trotted towards his parents, with her hands closed together. She bowed quickly at his parents before Ji Woon came by her side and held her hand. The two of them quickly ran out of the living room into the playroom.

Ji Hoon chuckled at the silliness of the two kids and Da Young smiled at Ji Hoon’s carefree laugh. She glanced at Ji Hoon’s face and felt as if her heart was beating faster.

She realized that immediately and glanced away, looking at his parents who suddenly had a change of expression. Their smiley and c