“So, has he asked you out yet?” Jisoo blatantly asks all of a sudden.

“Are you kidding me Jisoo?” Jennie hisses in response. “We’re in the middle of class!”

Jisoo was lazily resting her chin on her elbow

“Well, has he?” 

“No… we’re not like that… I don’t think.”

“So you’re telling me that after crushing on him for sooo long, talking to him, holding his hands, flirting with him, spending all your lunches with him and not me, that you’re only friends?” Jisoo says in a deadpan tone, tired from their reluctance to be outright with each other. 

Jennie tries to cover her best friend’s mouth and eyes her, again reiterating that they were still in the classroom. 

“I’m not flirting with him” she gives Jisoo her best death stare. 

“Why don’t you just confess Jennie? You wear the pants.” Jisoo says in a low tone, understanding that she had to keep things quiet. 

“I don’t want to be like all the other girls that get rejected… what if he just wants to be friends”

“If he wants to only be friends after all that, then he’s a complete jerk. Is Hanbin a jerk Jennie?”

“...No” Jennie replies and shakes her head in response. 

“Well then, the answer is blatantly obvious”

…

“You clearly like her, so why aren’t you doing anything yet?” Yunhyeong nudges his friend in the ribs as they jog around the grassy oval, warming up for their impending physical education lesson. 

Hanbin gives Yunhyeong no attention, ignoring his friend and continues pacing himself around the wide oval. 

“Come on Hanbin, tell me.” Yunhyeong whines. 

“Hanbin”

“Hanbin”

“Hanbinnnnnn”

Yunhyeong continues to whine even after the class ended. 

During their short 15 minute break between classes…

“What if she only sees me as a friend?” Hanbin asks, expressing the exact same concerns as Jennie that very day. 

“Oh… come on now” Yunhyeong shakes his head in disbelief, restraining himself from cursing at his best friend. 

“You like her don’t you?” 

“What if we’re better off as friends? - I don’t want to lose her” Hanbin whispers, as he glances at Jennie from the back corner of the classroom. 

“Look Hanbin, we’re graduating soon. It’s time.” Yunhyeong says in a slightly frustrated tone, pausing for a moment as if he was thinking about something before continuing. “If you don’t ask her out, she might get taken by others. She’s quite a popular model Hanbin. Have you seen her recent shoot?”

“What do you mean?” 

Before Hanbin could question further, Yunhyeong grabs Hanbin’s hand and pulls him towards Jennie and Jisoo’s desk. They both sat on the spare seats in front of girls’ desks.

Jennie and Jisoo whom were fixated on their private conversation are surprised by the boys’ sudden arrival, and look up, appearing very confused.

“Show the goods, Jisoo” Yunhyeong gives Jisoo a knowing look. “The recent photoshoot” he gleams. 

Jisoo’s face lights up and goes through her bag to quickly find the magazine of interest. She rapidly flips to a bookmarked page and turns it around so that the two newcomers could get a better view.

 Hanbin looks at it, and sees Jennie - covered in full make up and dressed in what appeared to be the latest fashion designs. But what captured Hanbin’s attention was that she was wrapped around a fellow model boy.  

“We’ll leave you both to analyse it” Jisoo cheekily says as she grabs Yunhyeong’s arm and drifts off, exiting the classroom.

Hanbin remains silent for the longest time and stares at the magazine spread in front of him as a nervous Jennie rambles on and on about the weather conditions of the day of the photoshoot. 

To her dismay, which she regrets later on, in her incoherent rambling she had unintentionally talked about the model acquaintance of hers and how he was super nice throughout the entire shoot.

“You guys look cute?” Hanbin says in a monotone manner as he glares at the hand of the unknown male model that was wrapped around Jennie’s bare arm. 

“Huh?”

“It’s normal to have that much skin to skin contact during a shoot?” He looks up at Jennie, showing an emotionless yet somewhat fierce gaze. Stunned and slightly amused by the reaction she had never seen Hanbin express before, she holds back a smile. 

“It was strictly work. Only for work” Jennie replies, forcing down her urge to chuckle at the sudden display of ferocity from Hanbin. 

//

Schooling in Korea was not a luxury nor a paradise. And as finals drew near, the seniors were expected to stay behind after classes had officially ended to attend cram sessions which ran late into the night. 

8:00pm the clock read.

Finally Jennie thought, as she sees the instructor praise them for their attention during their first cram session. As soon as the instructor leaves the room, a collective groan of relief fills the room as fellow students shove their belongings into their bags and rush out the classroom door. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow then?” Jisoo says as she nudges Jennie on the side.

“Yeah, go! You’ll be late for your train!” Jennie rushes her, knowing that Jisoo’s hour long commute to and from school was tiring her out already. 

“Stay safe though alright?” Jennie says as she looks out the windows at the already darkened sky. 

“Yeah, I’ve got company don’t worry” Jisoo winks at her and rushes out the classroom door. 

As she slowly packed her belongings into her bag, Jennie couldn’t help but feel anxious about walking home by herself. She lived close to the school so walking never posed a problem, but it was quite dark.

As she plays out all the possible scenarios that could happen during her walk home, she rummages through her bag for her untouched pepper spray her parents had gifted her when she began school. 

She relunctantly shoves the pepper spray  into her pocket, praying to god that she would never have to use it. 

Jennie was so pre-occupied and deep in thought that before she knew it, she was the only remaining person left in class. Slightly disappointed that she couldn’t say goodbye to Hanbin that day, as he too was forced to attend the cram sessions despite his grades, Jennie takes a quick glance at Hanbin’s seat before trudging out of class. 

As she silently walks her way towards the school gates, and turns right to exit, Jennie is shocked to her core when she bumps into something or someone. 

It was rather dark and in her fright, Jennie shakily fumbles for the pepper spray in her pocket.

Once she gets ahold of it, she raises it in front of her and begins waving it around with her eyes clenched closed, scared of what would befall her next.

I’m going to get killed, was all that she could think of.

“Hey” Jennie hears a low voice call out to her. “Hey, are you okay?” 

Her ears perk up when she realises she recognised the voice. It was a very familiar voice. She opens her eyes and raises her head to be greeted by the sight of a concerned Hanbin. 

“I’m sorry I scared you. I was waiting for you” he explains.

Jennie thanked the lords that it was dark that day as she felt her entire face burn with embarrassment and hurriedly puts away the pepper spray that was still in her hand.

“It’s dark so I’ll walk you home” 

Amidst the darkness and the not-so-well-lit street lights, Hanbin manages to see Jennie’s bashful nod as they proceed to walk home together. 

“Thank you” Jennie manages to say after a few moments, truly grateful that Hanbin was there with her. The warmth that spread within her as soon as she saw his face just moments before, continually grew as they walked home together.

And Hanbin continues to walk her home every single night after each cram session ended. 

/

They walk beside each other, both matching each other’s pace. On that particular day, Jennie spots an elevated ledge surrounding a small flower patch along the pathway that was quite brightly illuminated as it sat right under a row of street lights.

In the spur of the moment, Jennie hops onto the side ledge and starts walking on it, balancing herself as if it was a tight rope. She spreads her arms out as she begins to sway, her balance seemingly not as great as when she was younger ..

“When I was little, I would always do this whenever I saw a ledge. I would challenge myself into walking the entire way without falling and losing balance once.” Jennie laughs before she finished her train of thought. “As you can see, I never succeeded.”

Hanbin observes her every movement and smiles himself, unconsciously replicating the contagious bright smile that was displayed on Jennie’s face. He slowly raises his hand, baring his palms and offers it to the latter who was still struggling to maintain balance.

Jennie notices his outstretched palm, and slowly but surely takes hold of it, before she proceeds to bashfully continue her way.

As she reaches the final parts of the ledge, Jennie jumps down in joy and pride. And in her excitement, she lands awkwardly on her feet, unintentionally rolling her right ankle in the process. 

“Ow!” Jennie exclaims as she quickly hunches down and presses on her now-throbbing ankle. 

“Let me see” Hanbin immediately squats down and removes her hands as he inspects it, “Try moving it?” He asks in a concerned tone.

Jennie scrunches her face in pain and shakes her head vigorously from side to side. 

“I.. think I must have sprained it” Jennie whispers as she whinces from the pain. Hanbin carefully lifts her up by her arms. 

“Try not to put any weight on it” he says as he carefully seats her on the ledge, before returning his attention to her ankle.

After inspecting it thoroughly once more, he suddenly stands up and says:

“Wait a second” before sprinting off towards the nearest convenience store that was within view, returning moments later with a black plastic bag. 

He empties out the contents to reveal a couple of frozen ice blocks and some medical bandages. 

“This will hurt” Hanbin warns in advance, as he straps the ice blocks to her ankle and securely wraps the ankle with the bandages. 

“How does it feel?”

“Cold” she laughs. 

Hanbin playfully smirks in response, relieved that the girl was able to joke even while she was in pain. 

“Alright then, hop on.” Hanbin says as he rotates himself around and offers his back to her. Jennie freezes…blushing at the thought. 

“Come on, or else we’ll never get you home” Hanbin turns his head around and ushers her to do it. Jennie slowly wraps one hand after another around Hanbin’s shoulders and clings onto him as he securely wraps his arms around her legs.

“Is this okay?” He asks awkwardly, only realising the amount of skin to skin contact that a piggyback actually required, his ears heating up in the process. 

“Yes” Jennie shyly whispers and hides herself behind his broad back, hoping that he wouldn’t feel the beating drum of her accelerating heartbeat. 

They walk in silence, with the slight chilly breeze against them. 

“Are you cold?” Hanbin asks.

“.... No” Hanbin hears her mumble, the side of Jennie’s face now comfortably leaning against the back of Hanbin’s shoulder. 

“Hey Jennie” Hanbin asks after 15 minutes of continuous walking. 

Unbeknownst to Hanbin, Jennie had taken comfort in the warmth of Hanbin’s back and had dozed herself off to sleep, buried comfortably on Hanbin’s back.

Hanbin peers over his shoulder only to realise that Jennie was sleeping. 

“What to do with you…” he chuckles silently, and begins humming to a new tune .... 

//