Dear Hyejoo,

Here are some flowers for you. I passed by a florist and these pretty flowers reminded me of you, so I got them for you. I once heard that daffodils are the symbol of a new beginning. I think it might be true, because the cheerful yellow color is like the sun on a new day. It’s my favorite color. As much as they remind me of the cheerful you in the past, I hope you can set your eyes on what lies ahead, move forward and shine again.

With love,

Your secret admirer ^^

“Oh my, this guy is really romantic. You’re so lucky, Joo.”

Yunhyeong’s comment flew through the chaos in Hyejoo’s mind as she gripped the letter in her right hand, and a small bouquet of fresh yellow daffodils in her left, being surrounded by her curious dear friends – Areum, Yunhyeong, and Donghyuk, and with the addition of Chanwoo and Bobby, since the first class hadn’t started yet. This time the boys had the chance to peek at what was written in the letter, as their small friend was too stunned to even move.

Song Hyejoo totally hadn’t seen it coming – her secret admirer whose identity was no longer a secret, leaving another letter, one that actually managed to touch the remaining soft side in her heart a bit – even with beautiful flowers that had a deep hidden meaning. Instead of this, she had expected him to be hurt enough to not think of trying again after his first letter had ended up in the trash. But he was really something else.

Well, it wasn’t that the cowardly boy had magically turned into a brave, bold one – he did leave that letter and the flowers there himself, but at that moment the so-called secret admirer was nowhere to be seen, busy hiding because he was too scared to see the outcome himself.

“So, what are you gonna do?” Areum asked in anticipation. As a member of Hanbin’s support team, she couldn’t help but feel restless for him.

“We should prepare a grave in case she throws away all that stuff,” Bobby muttered at the back.

“Those flowers are too pretty to be thrown away,” Donghyuk said, “you shouldn’t dump them, Joo. Whoever this guy is, it seems like he really cares about you. He wants you to feel better.”

Yunhyeong glanced at his chairmate in suspicion. “You sound like you could be the secret admirer. It must be you, right? You sit right behind her, so you practically look at her all the time.”

“What? Hey, I know you like to speak nonsense, but don’t you think this one is too much?” Donghyuk complained.

“What do you mean I like to speak nonsense? Everything I say only makes sense!”

While the two chairmates were busy bickering, Areum, Chanwoo, and Bobby passed nervous glances to each other. Hyejoo’s eyebrows were furrowed slightly as her eyes remained on the letter as if she was trying to understand unfamiliar words.

And suddenly she took firm steps towards the door – a familiar scene that silenced everyone in the room – taking both the letter and the flowers with her.

When she returned with empty hands, her group of friends lost all their words, from the moment she walked in until she got busy drawing doodles in her notebook. Even the class who had noticed the little drama had fallen silent as well.

“…You threw them away.” Chanwoo broke the silence.

Hyejoo lifted her empty gaze from her notebook to her old friend’s face, and slowly breathed out a long sigh. “I didn’t want to be so rude, but I had to. Accepting them would give him empty hopes. He should know he has no chance.”

The other five nodded in defeat, knowing well that she was right about it, even though they felt bad for her admirer. It was best to keep him away from the scene after all – the poor boy might have been utterly broken to witness it all himself.

Once the bell rang, Chanwoo and Bobby left to their own homeroom, being silent and feeling lost.

“What do we tell him?” Chanwoo asked.

“Not sure. Oh dang, he’s coming.” Bobby pointed at one skinny boy coming out of the toilet, walking towards them with expectant puppy eyes. “Aish, what’s with that cute face? We can’t hurt that thing, can we?”

Quickly Bobby changed his wince into an innocent grin once Hanbin stopped in front of them. “H-How did it go?” he asked, his eyes wide and his voice shaky.

“Um…” The other two boys scratched their heads, trying to find the right words.

The longer they took, the light in Hanbin’s eyes dimmed down and his head dropped in disappointment.

“I knew it. She threw them away, didn’t she?”

Bobby wrapped his arm around his buddy’s shoulders in a quick embrace, and Chanwoo gave him a comforting pat on the back.

“Stop hurting yourself,” Bobby said.

Chanwoo nodded. “Maybe no means no.”

With a sigh and his head hung low, Hanbin stepped aside and walked past the other two towards his homeroom without looking back.

“If that’s what you’re going to tell me, I don’t need your help.”

Dear Hyejoo,

These are dried flowers. You can find these at shops, but since my mom taught me how to dry flowers, I dried them myself for you. Fresh flowers may wither soon or later, but these dried ones will last long and stay pretty. Just like your beautiful heart.

But unlike these flowers, I really hope you won’t feel dry anymore. ^^

With love,

Your secret admirer ^^

Dear Hyejoo,

I’m sorry that I can only give you flowers. Here’s a flower arrangement that I made for you. I put all my heart in it, so I hope you like it. Will you take care of it for me?

With love,

Your secret admirer ^^

Dear Hyejoo,

It’s starting to get depressing to see flowers in the trash can. I know, you can find pretty things even in the worst places, but I don’t think they belong there… I’ve made a new flower arrangement and some dried flowers to replace the ones you threw away, please accept them. If you give them a chance, they will do their best to cheer you up.

With love,

Your secret admirer ^^

“He’s right, it’s depressing. Stop throwing them away.”

The fourth day Hyejoo found flowers in her desk’s storage, Areum snatched them first before her heartless chairmate could once again dump them in the trash. Not only because she felt bad for the flowers, but also because Hanbin was there to witness it all for the first time. The boy finally had the courage to sit there and let his crush’s reaction kill him. He was right in his seat, pretending to read a book with his chin flat on his desk and his restless feet bouncing on the floor.

Strangely, though, Hyejoo’s reaction was something totally the opposite of what everyone had expected.

“I’m not going to throw them away. Let me give them to my mom, she’ll be happy to have more flowers in our garden.”

Hyejoo took the small basket of flower arrangement and the dried flowers from Areum’s hands with a warm smile that got everyone taken aback. At this point, the whole class knew about her getting flowers from a mysterious admirer every day, and this reaction was an interesting little plot twist to the audience.

Meanwhile, Hanbin’s heart rate had escalated to the point that he was breathing heavily behind his book.

She accepted them. Finally. Finally she won’t throw them away anymore. She’s going to take them home. Flowers from me, at her home. Is this a dream…?

Hyejoo stole a quick glance at the upside-down history book on the desk two rows behind her before putting the flowers neatly in her storage. That clumsy kid. She couldn’t help but hold a small smile and roll her eyes at his cowardliness.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she said, without looking at anyone in particular, “it’s not like anything has changed. I just feel bad for the flowers.”

Once the class had started, Hanbin lifted his head slowly and peeked over his book to see his crush. It was always the same sight – her small back, her lush, wavy black hair that was tied up into a ponytail, and her cute side profile when she stared out the window, there was nothing new. But Hanbin only found his heart beating louder each time he looked at her.

Nothing has changed YET. I’m not done yet, little fairy.

A bright smile spread on his lips as a new determination formed in his heart – all of that, just because he didn’t have to see flowers in the trash anymore.

Hanbin decided to move on to the next step.

Realizing that only leaving letters and flowers wouldn’t get him anywhere, the lovestruck teen mustered up all his courage and attempted more interaction – just by hanging out with Hyejoo like normal friends would.

This was the period when everyone – including the rest of the boys who hadn’t found out – finally discovered what was actually going on, because even though Hanbin wanted to be smooth on his attempts, he ended up making them all too obvious – especially with his bad stammering and worsening clumsiness.

At least his support team grew bigger with the addition of Yunhyeong and Donghyuk. As for Junhoe – he was rather neutral about the situation, and in fact a bit too quiet about it.

Since he was the only one actively spending time with Jinhwan, he might know a different point of view that everyone else didn’t.

One week before the dance club’s assessment day, the whole group of friends sat together at a long table, being normally loud as usual. Junhoe had managed to drag Jinhwan there and make him sit between him and Yunhyeong at one end of the table, while everyone else shoved Hanbin to the middle and plopped him down right next to Hyejoo.

“Aish, what’s with you guys!” The embarrassed boy pretended to complain, although he couldn’t even hide his shy smile next to his crush.

Despite trying their best, both Hanbin and Hyejoo couldn’t stop themselves from glancing at one particular boy at the end of the table. Both made eye contact with him at some points, but no words were said between them.

“Don’t rush, everyone, let’s eat slowly and enjoy our time together! Cheers!” Bobby stood up and knocked Donghyuk’s box of juice off the table with his own, getting an annoyed yell and a punch on the arm from the owner.

“Talk,” Bobby whispered and elbowed Hanbin, making him flinch in panic.

“Ah, uh, um… H-Hi, Hyejoo.” Hanbin nodded and grinned awkwardly at the girl next to him, who was already munching on her food. “What are you eating?”

“The same as you,” Hyejoo answered and smiled, while the others laughed at Hanbin’s silly question.

“The food is right there, idiot! It looks exactly the same as yours!” Bobby laughed and shoved his buddy, who was clumsily scratching his head.

“Eat well.” Hanbin chuckled, and the noise at their table died down as everyone stuffed their faces with their food while anticipating the rest of the dance club president’s action.

“Ah, the assessment day is next week. Have you practiced well?” Hanbin initiated a new topic.

“Of course.” Hyejoo swallowed down her food and nodded absentmindedly as her worries came back flooding her mind. “Everyone in the class seems to be improving so fast, so I’ve been working hard. Getting praised during practices doesn’t guarantee anything.”

“You’re right, don’t get satisfied with your result easily.” Hanbin smiled at his food. “But don’t underestimate yourself either. You really have that talent, Hyejoo. I wouldn’t pick bad dancers for my team because it will drag everyone down.”

“Whoa, this is our president speaking,” Donghyuk commented with full cheeks, “he doesn’t even stammer anymore.”

“Joo, trust him. He knows who are naturally talented dancers and who are not,” Yunhyeong said with a bitter smile, making the other boys laugh.

“Don’t say that,” Hanbin cracked a somewhat guilty grin, “you’re also talented. I’m sorry if I ever said anything I didn’t mean.”

“He’s acting nice now, let’s see what happens in the practice room,” Chanwoo muttered with a smile, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Oooooh! The new member has finally spoken up!” The boys laughed. “Welcome to the president roasting club, man!”

“Ahem!” Areum cleared loudly between her laugh. “Ah, I’ve finished my food. I need to hurry to the toilet. Something’s coming, you know, something urgent. See you all later!”

Bobby stopped laughing abruptly and slapped his own forehead. “Oh damn, I forgot I had to submit my late homework this break. I gotta go.”

“You told us not to rush!” Hanbin whined seeing his best friend flee away in a blink of an eye.

“Oh, late homework…? I think I haven’t done any homework.” Junhoe blinked dumbly. “I should ask him what homework it is.”

And there he went away, automatically followed by the quiet, expressionless Jinhwan.

Hyejoo looked around the table and her gaze stopped at Chanwoo, who was scratching his head.

“Uh, I think I should ask him too. Since we’re in the same class. Sorry for leaving early, see you later.” Chanwoo flashed an apologetic smile before leaving the table.

“Why is everyone suddenly leaving?” Hyejoo rolled her eyes. Then, there were only Hanbin, Yunhyeong, and Donghyuk left. She had started to figure out what it could be.

Yunhyeong and Donghyuk looked at each other.

“And what are your reasons?” Hyejoo asked the two boys with an exaggerated smile.

“I… left my lipbalm in the classroom. It’s an emergency.” Suddenly Yunhyeong stood up, grabbed Donghyuk by the back of his collar, and ran away dragging the poor boy. “See you!”

Hyejoo’s face dropped flat as she let out a long sigh. Somehow, she had seen it coming – everyone leaving her alone with Kim Hanbin. What else could it be? “Might as well leave too.”

“Y-You haven’t finished your food,” Hanbin said quickly, “I haven’t either. Let’s… not rush. There are still ten minutes left.”

Hyejoo scooted aside to make more space between her and the boy next to her, realizing there were only two of them at that long table. “Okay then,” she shrugged.

“Hyejoo…” Hanbin poked his food, sorting out his words in his head. “I saw– I mean, do you… still care about him?”

Hyejoo stopped munching and glanced at the other. “Him?”

“You know. Him.” Hanbin motioned his chin towards the end of the table, where a certain boy had sat earlier.

The petite girl gulped down her food and shook her head. “No, and don’t mention him, please.”

“You’re still mad,” Hanbin stated carefully.

“That’s not it. I might lose my appetite.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. It’s just that… I kinda saw you both look at each other.” Hanbin’s voice faltered at the end of his sentence as he lowered his head. “Right. It’s not my business. Enjoy your food, please.”

“Why are you like this?” Hyejoo rolled her eyes once again. “Look, he’s really out of my concern now and let’s just talk about anything else, okay? So, do you really like flowers that much?”

Suddenly getting attacked by the direct question, Hanbin choked and began to cough nonstop until Hyejoo had to help him drink his juice and calm him down, looking like a little girl with her dying grandpa.

“Oh my God, you.” Hyejoo shook her head, patting Hanbin’s back. “What do I do with you?”

Hanbin buried his red face in his palms and mentally groaned because of his unbearable embarrassment.

“You don’t have to keep hiding your identity in those letters, you know.”

Let me dieee! The poor embarrassed boy had somehow believed that she would never speak of it, but indeed, things never went as he expected.

“Do I… write my name then?”

“Oh, no need. Actually… maybe no need to write those letters anymore?”

A few days left until the assessment