Taking a seat on the bench, you fished out your notebook and a pen blindly, your eyes glued to the subject in full. You couldn’t help the smile that spread across your lips as you continued your gaze, a small sigh of content leaving you.

Hwang Minhyun.

You were certain there was nothing he did in life that you didn’t find attractive. Even though you weren’t one for sports, especially the likes of Taekwondo, you could watch him all day long. He wasn’t the type you would initially assume would play the sport, he was tall and slender compared to some of the other members of the university team, but you knew he was strong. You had, after all, watched him take down multiple people at competitions and in this practice hall countless times. Just thinking of how strong his arms must be could lead you to giddy fantasies of them being wrapped around you and protecting you from the world.

He was the weakness to your otherwise exemplary student life. You regarded yourself as level-headed, studious and a great member of the campus student council. You were one of the main editors of the newspaper and you were known for keeping your cool in all situations that needed reporting.

But when you had been assigned to a story on the Taekwondo club, that resolute stance you held was diminished the first time he had smiled at you. Minhyun was the captain of the team, so interviewing him for the story was the most tumultuous experience of your journalism career so far. You couldn’t even remember your name by the end of it, and your notes didn’t match the questions you had hoped you asked. It had taken you several more attempts to interview the team to pull together a somewhat mediocre story, one that had been your weakest article to date. You had vowed to yourself you would make the next one back to your usual standards, and there was no better way to do that than to get yourself accustomed to your environment.

So you had started going to his competitions. You realised you shared a class with him and started to sit in proximity close enough to Minhyun that wouldn’t be obvious and you’d still be able to focus on the lesson as best as you could too. You had done everything you could think of in the past two months, and if anything, you were worse off than when you started out. You had found out more about his personality by being this close, and you were certain that Hwang Minhyun was an angel pretending to be a human. There was no other explanation for it; he was perfect in every way.

You cursed yourself for being a writer that was unable to stop the flow of dreamy thoughts whenever they overwhelmed you. It was because of this outlandish crush that you were here today, sneaking into the practice uninvited and hoping they wouldn’t mind. They had never said no to you in the past, but normally you asked first. Today you had just happened to see them in here having an extra session out of the normal schedule and took your chances.

You weren’t unnoticed though. “This is a closed practice today.”

“I’m sorry, is my presence here truly a problem?” you asked the student who sat down beside you, barely giving him so much of a look before your eyes wandered back to where they belonged. You smiled again.

“You know, he’s oblivious to the hearts shooting out of your eyes at him.”

You snapped your head to look at him again and sighed impatiently. He was interrupting you and you didn’t appreciate it. “I am not shooting hearts at anyone.”

“I know you have a crush on our captain. You’ve been really obvious about it,” he smirked as you gaped at him incredulously.

Pulling yourself together you gave him an exasperated look. “Who are you?”

“Ong Seongwoo,” he said proudly and you nodded mindlessly.

“Well, Ong Seongwoo, I am uninterested in talking with you.”

“You might change your mind.”

“I’m certain I won’t,” you retorted and turned your body away from him entirely.

He chuckled. “What if I could help you get on Minhyun’s radar?”

“Bold of you to assume I want to be,” you quipped though he had piqued your interest. Your body instinctively shifted a little.

“Suit yourself then,” he mentioned airily and you groaned at how enticed you were by his words. You looked at him out of your peripheral. You hadn’t really seen him about before, but in his defence, you didn’t really pay attention to many other guys now that Minhyun was your focus. Seongwoo merely sat there staring at the proceedings on the mats below, playing with a small smile on his lips. You heaved a deep breath; even he knew he had your attention.

You wondered if you should hate or like him.

“Alright, how?” you finally caved, scooting back to face him as his lips broke out into a grin. You rolled your eyes and gestured to him for proof. You were a woman of knowledge and he needed to offer you enough to make you rely on him.

“I’m roommates with Minhyun,” he started and you couldn’t help yourself from leaning in closer. “He’s not dating anyone unless you can date a book these days.”

“Very funny. What else?”

“I know that he referred to you as the pretty reporter from the newspaper last time you came to interview us, so he has noticed you but he’s kind of shy.”

All this information made you feel giddy and Seongwoo smirked.

“He’s not going to make a move easily though. So you will need to do a bit more than follow him around.”

“I don’t follow him around!” He gave you a look and you groaned, folding your arms over your chest in a huff. “Okay fine, but what else?”

“Anything else we can discuss when I give over my terms for the deal,” Seongwoo offered, inspecting his fingers. You could see his gaze was avidly darting towards you often, hoping you would accept the bait.

He had you hook, line and sinker. “What do you want in return?”

“Kim Haseul.”

You gasped at the name and then blinked. You didn’t want to make assumptions, but Haseul was the Editor-In-Chief of the campus newspaper and never dated anyone. Especially not Taekwondo athletes. You gave Seongwoo a hard look and he sheepishly shrugged. “She’s cute when she’s focused.”

“I mean, it takes all sorts, right?” you agreed, nodding your head. It wouldn’t be easy, but you were certain since you worked with Haseul daily it couldn’t be that impossible either.

“So, are you in?”

“An alliance of sorts?” you continued, sticking out your hand as if you were making a business agreement. Seongwoo eyed your offering and then slipped his hand into yours, nodding brightly as he shook it.

“I can guarantee you’ll be dating Minhyun within the next month.”

“I’ll hold you to that, Ong Seongwoo.”

He got up then and winked at you before returning to the practice, going over to Minhyun’s side when back on the mats. You watched intently until you felt the taller man’s gaze shift to yours. He smiled warmly and waved up at you, your own hand gingerly waving back before you bit your lip in elation.

Sneaking into their practice today had really paid off.

 

 

Seongwoo was a man of his word and sought you out the very next day. Over an hour you both discussed the person of conquest to each other, gaining valuable information that would help you in your romantic pursuits. It felt natural to converse with Seongwoo, and over the next few days, you messaged one another frequently, sending further tips or campus locations for convenient “bumping into the other” to occur. You had spoken with Minhyun more than once, he had smiled at you and you were certain you would be holding his hand in no time. Everything was going well with Seongwoo, you had managed to get him into conversation with Haseul a couple of times with ease and she had even pointed him out with a small blush on her cheeks one afternoon when you saw him across campus. You felt like your alliance with Seongwoo was the best decision you had made so far this year. You had also gained a new friend out of it, Seongwoo soon becoming someone who you’d chat with about non-dating topics as well. Much like with Minhyun, you were surprised to find him in your journalism class, wondering if you went around with blinkers on normally since you had spent the whole semester in the same class and never noticed him before. But now that you were working together, you naturally sat with each other in each class too. By the third week of your alliance, you couldn’t imagine going a day without talking to him.

“Okay, so I saw Haseul and mentioned the party and she didn’t seem like she wasn’t not going to come to it,” Seongwoo said as you both grabbed lunch from the cafeteria together.

“Just because she didn’t decline, doesn’t mean she’s coming, Seongwoo.”

“I know, so what are you going to do about it?” he asked, giving you an expectant look as you both sat down together at an empty table.

You rolled your eyes as you picked up your utensils. “This was your idea, why can’t you just ask her to go as your date?”

“Because she might say no.” You sighed, he had a point. Haseul had never attended parties, and even the end of the year wrap up for the newspaper had been handed to you to run in her stead. Seongwoo tapped his chopsticks on your tray gently to grab your attention. He smirked. “Plus, I convinced Minhyun to come to it.”

“Yes but he attends parties, he just doesn’t drink at them,” you mentioned, smiling to yourself at having another thing in common with him.

“Just do your part of the deal, please.”

“Fine.” You both ate comfortably in silence, Seongwoo reaching for the part of your meal you didn’t touch and finished that off too as you pulled out your laptop to check on your emails.

“Wahey, what’s this then?!” a voice interrupted and you glanced up to see a shorter man approach you both with a grin on his face. He casually sat down on the spare chair and looked between you both. “Is this a budding romance?”

“Go away, Sungwoon,” Seongwoo instructed, shooting him a dark look. “We’re busy.”

“Oh, so are you going to steal her attention away from the Captain then?”

You eyed the blonde with distaste. “Who are you?”

“He’s from the team, don’t pay him any attention, he’s the type to start up useless rumours when one of us so much as look at another girl.”

Sungwoon nodded, a lazy grin still gracing his face. “And I had you pegged for liking on our Minhyun, right?”

“It’s none of your business who I like,” you muttered with a blush, giving Seongwoo an exasperated look. He groaned and turned to his team-mate.

“We’re friends, there’s nothing going on here and if you so much as say there is I will-”

“No wait!” you cried, your thoughts rushing ahead of you before you could logically control them. “We’re just getting to know each other.”

“So there could be a budding romance!” Sungwoon got up and clapped his hands together. “Well, I guess if Minhyun didn’t make the move by now, it’s his loss-”

“Don’t Sungwoon! You know I like someone else!” Seongwoo stared at you imploringly for a moment as you panted a little from the outburst, and then turned back to his friend. “There’s nothing going on here.”

“Yet,” the retreating boy said with a wave and Seongwoo smacked his hand down on the table.

“Why the hell did you say that?”

You were still wide-eyed from your statement, unable to comprehend what you had just done.

“Now he’s going to go tell everyone that you and I have something going on and the whole team will…” He trailed off then, his gaze hardening for only a moment. “Minhyun will get jealous. Is that right?”

“Maybe, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You’ll have to clean this up if word makes its way around campus. I like Haseul and that was our deal. I didn’t expect you to play dirty like this, Y/N. Just make sure Haseul comes to the party on Saturday.”

Seongwoo was up and gone before you could say anything further, and you stared after him, wondering why it hurt you so much to see the disappointment he held before he left.

 

 

You immediately refuted any rumours about you and Seongwoo. Sungwoon had worked fast and by the time you went to the party in the weekend, people were murmuring about you liking both athletes. It wasn’t a nice feeling, and you almost turned around to walk out when you bumped into Minhyun. He gave you a weak smile.

“Hey.”

“Oh, uh hi, Minhyun.”

“Are you okay?” he asked, noting the anxiety racing through you. Glancing up into his fennec-fox like eyes, you smiled and nodded your head. “Are you sure?”

You could tell that was his way of addressing the rumour and you faltered for a moment, blinking up at the man you had been staring at from afar for so long now. He was right in front of you and you strangely felt repelled of being near him. You stepped back.

“I’m perfectly fine,” you answered distantly and then gave him another prepared smile. “Whatever you’ve heard-”

“Its fine, you don’t have to explain a rumour to me, as long as you’re okay. It’s nothing to stress over, alright?”

“Of course!” You felt deflated and nodded too much as you continued to back up. “I’ll see you around the party?”

You didn’t let Minhyun answer, darting away from him and looking for a way to escape. Sungwoon was now stationed at the entrance and you didn’t want to deal with him yet so you headed through the house, trying to find another exit. It was then that you spotted Seongwoo talking to Haseul who you had managed to convince to come, your eyes soaking in the flirty encounter for only a moment before you dove into the kitchen looking for the back door. All you found was beer and soju instead and grabbed the closest cup to you, downing the entire cup before wincing at the bitter taste.

“Woah, Y/N I thought you didn’t drink!” someone exclaimed and you smiled weakly at them before grabbing another cup and moving back out into the party. You wondered what came over you to do such a thing and placed down the cup on a side table, shaking your head at it.

Tonight was just really weird.

Turning around, you saw that Seongwoo was closer to Haseul now and she had a hold of his shirt, his lips softly meeting hers. You watched as they kissed for only a moment before you spun around, tears springing to your eyes. You couldn’t understand your reaction but you eyed the cup in front of you again, picking it up and drinking it down again in one go. You began to feel the effects of the alcohol and let out a heavy breath, relaxing into the feeling. You didn’t drink because you had a bad experience as a teen at a party, and had never touched it since. But you liked that you had now. It eased your troubled mind, and you were smiling properly for the first time since the other day with Seongwoo.

Ong Seongwoo.

Why wouldn’t he leave your mind, even when intoxicated? You thought back to that moment on the bleachers when he approached you for the alliance. You scoffed; he hadn’t needed your help at all. He was perfectly capable at getting Haseul to kiss him just now. He could have courted her without your help and still gotten to the same conclusion, you were certain of it. You wished you hadn’t bothered. Sure, you had been excited to get close to Minhyun, but now that you were, you wondered just how much of your crush was built up on your fantasies. Had you really gotten to know the true Minhyun or just the one you had placed up on a pedestal? Thinking about Minhyun made you confused. But Seongwoo made your heart ache.

“Why?” you asked out loud to no one in particular, gripping onto the back of a chair for support as you wobbled. You looked around the sea of people, everyone was with someone and they were laughing. Why weren’t you with someone? Why weren’t you with Seongwoo?

You gasped and shook your head immediately. You wouldn’t entertain such thoughts. He had been irksome in the beginning. You had refused to pay him any attention. But now, now you liked when he smiled. You adored how his eyes would crinkle up when he laughed and his constellation-like freckles on his cheek made you want to touch them to see if you could really feel that close to stars. You liked when he nudged you as you sat next to each other in class, and his goodnight message he would send you every night. It had only been three weeks of the alliance and you hadn’t expected Seongwoo to become the important person to you out of him and Minhyun.

You hadn’t expected to like him.

Turning quickly to leave the party for good, you lost your balance a little, not realising your focus had become so blurry. You felt like your vision was behind a veil and when you touched your cheeks, you realised you were crying. Cursing inwardly, you wiped your eyes roughly and steadied yourself before you walked off again, bumping right into Haseul and Seongwoo.

“Y/N!” Haseul called happily and you immediately diverted your gaze. You felt pathetic. “I’m so glad you convinced me to come tonight, are you-”

“Excuse me,” you managed to say, darting away from them both and out of the party, into the cool night air. You welcomed the temperature drop, shivering against your emotions as you walked along. You needed distance from tonight and a lot of water too. Your head throbbed and you couldn’t tell if that was from all the thoughts about Seongwoo or the alcohol. The small amount of rationale left in you decided it was both and you groaned.

“Where are you going?” a voice called out and you ignored it, walking along in your misery. You felt a hand reach for your elbow and it spun you around, your balance unsteady as you teetered in your heels. Seongwoo grabbed your other arm and held you upright. He scrutinised you for a moment and then softened his gaze. “You drank?”

“What are you doing here, go back to Haseul,” you urged, pushing his chest a little to break free from his grasp. He loosened his hold but didn’t let go altogether.

“Why are you crying? Did something happen? What about Min-”

“Just go, Seongwoo.”

“But you’re-”

“Go back to Haseul where you belong!” you cried, breathing heavily from your outburst before shoving him away and turning around to walk off again. He didn’t follow you and you were thankful that he left you to your tears.

 

 

Seongwoo had tried to get what happened out of you the next day. You left his messages unanswered and you ignored his calls too. You were exhausted and your heart hurt, there was no way you could put on a front today. And when you arrived on campus on Monday, you still weren’t ready. You kept to yourself, avoiding all usual places you frequented, even working on your current articles in the library as opposed to at your desk in the newsroom. You were thankful you didn’t have your class with Seongwoo today, and sat in the very front of the one with Minhyun. This behaviour continued for the next week, and during journalism, you made a point of sitting with others before Seongwoo arrived, leaving him with no choice but to sit alone. You did what you had to for your fragile heart; though you could see it was upsetting Seongwoo in the process. You decided that he had Haseul, however, and would soon forget all about the alliance. You sure hoped to.

By the second week, you felt a little more in control of who you were. You had given yourself an ultimatum and knew you wouldn’t let your sudden feelings for Seongwoo ruin your semester. You returned back to the office, you attempted your best to be pleasant and converse with Haseul as naturally as you once did. You stopped hiding, and you returned back to yourself.

Well, almost.

Spinning around when you saw Seongwoo heading your way down the hallway, you quickly moved to the exit of the building, cursing inwardly at already being late for a meeting. But you weren’t ready to act normal around him again. The mere idea of saying hello to him made your stomach twist up in knots and you hid behind a tree watching as he surveyed the area for something. Realising it might be you; you pressed yourself against the bark and waited until you felt the coast was clear.

And then you stepped around the tree and right into the waiting athlete. “What are you doing?”

“Huh?!” you asked in an octave higher than usual and clamped your eyes shut. Shaking your head, you smiled forcibly and then stepped to go around him. Seongwoo moved with you, his eyes watching you. You groaned when he followed you in the opposite direction. “Seongwoo, I have a-”

“You’re avoiding me,” he stated, his gaze now hurt. You blinked and looked away from him quickly. “I want to know why.”

“There’s no reason,” you said, still trying to get around him. He grabbed you then and you flinched. Seongwoo stared at you wide-eyed for a moment and then blinked rapidly at your reaction. You swallowed roughly. “I really need to go.”

“Do you hate me for kissing Haseul when the rumours made Minhyun awkward with you?”

“No!” you cried and then smiled again. “Its fine, I don’t hate you at all.”

“Don’t lie to me, I might have not been a friend for long, but I know when you’re lying, Y/N. I just don’t understand why you’re avoiding me like I’m the plague. I thought, I thought we had something.”

You wished he hadn’t of worded it like that, and your heart thumped in your sore chest loudly. Shaking your head, you patted the hand still on your arm. “I really need to go, can we talk about this another-”

“There won’t be another time, will there? You’ll just keep avoiding me until I give up,” he guessed, his eyes hard as he stared down at you. Your mouth opened and then you closed it, not knowing what to say. It wasn’t as if you could tell him the truth. He was with Haseul now, and you respected that. Plus, you didn’t know how to tell him that you had fallen for him. It would make him run away from you, considering how adamant he had been about not liking anyone but Haseul that time in the cafeteria. Your head hurt the more you thought about it and Seongwoo finally let go.

“Fine, be like that then.”

And just like that, you lost Seongwoo.

 

 

You heard that Haseul and Seongwoo didn’t last much longer after your encounter, and whilst a part of you wanted to approach Seongwoo, whenever you saw him from that day on, he acted as if he didn’t know you, brushing by you like the three weeks where you had been in each other’s lives daily was a mere dream. You grew accustomed to not even looking at him when you saw him now, and life eventually settled for the most part. Two months passed in a blur and the new semester arrived. You treated it as a new start and went to school with more energy than you had in some time. The short break between semesters had revitalised you and you were prepared to make this one where you wrote your best stories and got the best grades. Graduation was looming, and you had no time for anything but achieving greatness.

“Hello everyone!” you called out as you entered the office for the morning, bounding up to Haseul’s desk with a smile. “What would you like me to report on for this week. boss?”

“You seem back to normal,” she noted, not looking up from the stack of papers in front of her. You waited for her instruction and she pointed to a post-it note on her desk. “You’re in charge of that.”

Picking it up, you shook your head immediately. “Why me? This seems like a task anyone-”

“The Taekwondo tournament over the break was a big deal for our university, Y/N. I need someone I know who can do the job effectively. You’re it.”

“Can’t I-”
Haseul looked up at you and sighed heavily. “What, shall I do it then? It won’t be good, we both know that.”

“I wasn’t saying you should, it’s just that I haven’t really got-”

“I want it within the week, Y/N.”

Cursing inwardly over her resolute stance, you nodded once before going over to your desk. You sat there in a stupor for a moment, wondering why on the first day you were presented with such an obstacle to your well-being.

But you had recovered; you had given up on liking Seongwoo. You could do this, and with a small encouraging nod to yourself, you picked up your phone and sent Minhyun a text to organise a time to meet with the team.

Later that day you entered the place you hadn’t in a very long time. You stared at the mats where the members of the Taekwondo team were practising on and took a seat up on the bench, smiling lightly to yourself at the last time you had sat here. You looked at the empty spot at your side and then sighed, reining in any further thoughts.

The interview went well, you got all the information you needed except for one – Seongwoo wasn’t present. You didn’t ask why and wrapped up your notes, thanking the team for their time before you packed your things to leave.

“I’m pretty sure he misses you, you know.”

Turning, you saw Minhyun had remained behind, shooting you another smile. You didn’t know what to say and just nodded lightly. “He chose not to be here.”

“I see.”

“It’s probably not because of what you’re thinking,” he added on, giving you his hand to help you up. You took it and Minhyun then rubbed at the back of hair awkwardly. “I uh, I’m sorry if you liked me. I did a really bad job at dealing with it back then.”

“Honestly, it was nothing. You don’t need to get into it.”

Minhyun nodded. “I have a long distance girlfriend and Seongwoo didn’t know about it. When I told him, he thought I was just using it as an excuse and-”

“Minhyun,” you started, giving him a genuine smile. “You don’t need to. I’m honestly fine. I admit, I liked you, but I think I liked what I saw from afar. I didn’t really know enough about you to really like you, and when I got to know you, well, I realised I liked someone else.”

“You did? Is that why you shut off from me?” You turned to see Seongwoo enter the room, and Minhyun gave you both a farewell nod before he disappeared out the door. You stared up at Seongwoo and wondered how you had managed to kid yourself into thinking you were over him. Just one look and you realised your heart still went crazy over him.

He folded his arms over his chest. “If you liked someone, why didn’t you just tell me instead of-”

“It was you.”

“What?”

You took a deep breath and then shrugged. “Typically cliché right? We made our alliance to get with other people but I started to like you instead. Unlike in the movies though, things didn’t work out.”

“So, I mean… and you?” He stared at you for a moment, his eyes soon showing the connections he was making. “You drank at the party because…”

“I saw you and Haseul and at the time I didn’t understand how I felt, but I was jealous, yes.”

“And then you ignored me because you thought I was with Haseul?” You nodded and he swore. “Y/N if you had just let me talk to you just once, this wouldn’t have been such a big deal!”

“I needed to for my own sanity, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but I didn’t know how to approach you when you were dating Ha-”

“Y/N, we never dated.”

“What?” you asked and Seongwoo ran a hand over his face. You frowned. “Yes, you did.”

“That night, Haseul also had been drinking. She was talking a lot about how she had never kissed someone before and wanted to know what it would be like. I offered, because at that stage… anyway, she said that she felt nothing when she kissed me. We became friends, but then when you started ignoring me, I got upset and turned to her. She didn’t like me dragging her into the middle of it, and decided if I wasn’t manly enough to approach you, then I should just leave her out of it entirely.”

“Approach me about what?” you asked, and Seongwoo shifted closer to you, letting out a bitter laugh. You groaned. “Seongwoo, what is it?!”

“You idiot, I liked you too!”

You didn’t respond immediately and then shook your head to refute it. “No, you didn’t, you liked Haseul and-”

“I liked you too. I realised it when you shut me out. That I didn’t like not being around you and figured it was because I liked you. Then when I finally managed to corner you, well, I thought you hated me because you didn’t get with Minhyun or worse, you had figured me out.”

“I hadn’t,” you breathed and Seongwoo chuckled.

“That much is clear now,” he told you, reaching to rub your upper arms gently. You glanced up at him then and he smiled. “I like you, Y/N.”

“Still?”

He pouted. “Should I not? Do you not like-”

“No, I do,” you interjected and he grinned. You swallowed again. “I thought I was going to be over you this semester, but I still like you.”

“Can we make a new alliance?” he asked and you waited for him to continue. “One where it’s just involving us?”

“What, like dating?” you asked and he nodded. You rolled your eyes. “Why didn’t you just ask me out instead of saying that?!”

“Because that’s what you said to me on the first day I spoke to you, remember?” Your heart swooned at him sharing that detail. It didn’t go unnoticed by him and Seongwoo smiled, brushing your hair away from your face before cupping your jaw. “I don’t regret that day, even if we messed up. If I didn’t speak to you that day, well, I don’t think I’d be able to do this now.”

“Do what?”

His lips met yours, softly at first but then as you wrapped your arms around his neck, the kiss deepened, making up for all the weeks apart. Unlike what he described with Haseul, you felt everything. You were certain fireworks were going off above you as the flutters in your stomach erupted. You heard and felt his breath on you as he in air before kissing you again, and you smelt his cologne more strongly. Every sense felt heightened and you knew that you couldn’t get used to this right away. And when you pulled back enough to smile at each other, you decided this new alliance was going to much better than your last one.