That morning, Haeun woke up earlier. She made kimchi pancakes for breakfast. 

Since her siblings haven't woke up yet, she saved the batter in the refrigerator first so that they could cook it with their own preferred sizes and eat it warm. 

She cook two pieces — a big size ones, for herself and wrapped it separatedly. One to eat on her way to school, and another to eat in the class.

While cooking, Haeun heard someone mumbling. “You're up. Good morning, Unnie.”

“Oh? Haeun? Aaa. I forgot, Mom is not here anymore.” Sohyun seemed to not be fully awake yet. 

“I'm leaving earlier today. There's kimchi pancake batter in the fridge. Cook and eat it before you go,” she reminded her.

“Okay, thank you.” Sohyun then leave to the bathroom to shower.

“8 a.m. isn't late, right? The bell rings at 8.30 a.m. so I have 30 minutes.” She mumbled to herself, deciding the time she should get going. “Yup. 30 minutes sure thing are more than enough.”

Stick to the plan, she left her house right at 8 a.m. She decided to go to the bus stop and just took a ride by bus.

As she arrived at the bus stop, she was quite suprised to see the amount of people there. People in their school uniforms and work dress codes were talking to their phones, some were wandering restlessly waiting for bus, some were even fell asleep — in standing position too though. 

So she waited because she knew no other way to get to the school. While waiting, she searched for bus routes information and went through her social medias. 

Even after 20 minutes passed, bus with the certain number she needs to ride still haven't show up. 

Haeun sure thing was in trouble as she late again for the second day. She started to get anxious. 

“Kim Haeun.” Someone held her bag from behind got her let out a little scream.

She punched his chest. Lucky enough it was not that hard. “Yah, Kim Hanbin! You almost got me a heart attack!” 

“I was trying to help and this is what I got for helping?” He nagged at her.

“What? How is that 'helping'? You nearly got me into the hospital.” Haeun rolled her eyes and turned around to focus her eyes on road, looking for that certain numbered bus.

“Whatever. Let's go. We are late.” Hanbin grabbed her wrist, taking her with him.

Haeun was still confused. “Wait, where are we going?” 

“Where the hell do you think we're heading to? School, of course!”

She nodded in silence. “Why are you here? How do you know I was there at the bustop?” That was actually what she questioned about. How do he knew she was there? And why?

He sighed. “I waited for you at your apartment entrance for 10 minutes, but you wasn't there. So I looked for you at the surrounding areas. And yeah, I found you.” He explained while keeping his pace fast.

Haeun got it. “But why?” Well, he still haven't answered that question.

“I know you are too dumb to remember the route I showed you yesterday.” He turned around to send a look at her.

Haeun silently nodded. It's not entirely her fault, it's Mino's. Nobody asked him to show up all sudden.  Plus, the route is too complicated to remember.

“Why are you always late? Did you stay all night long or what? Are Daejeon and Seoul have different time that you still can't adjust to?” He glared at her through his corner eyes and walked even faster.

“I am not late.” She emphasized every words. “I went out early! It's the bus fault! I waited for 20 minutes and it still hasn't shown up.” 

She was literally being dragged by Hanbin as she cannot keep his pace. She pulled her wrist away from his hold because it started to hurt. “Can you please slow down a bit? I need to catch my breath.” She stopped to breathe.

“We're not even sprinting. Come on. Being late in that school is seriously the last you would want to happen in your life.” He gave her a look.

“Shut up.” She was completely annoyed. Why would someone sweats this much in the freaking morning?!

Hanbin kept his distance from her from a few minutes. “Give me your bag.” He took it from her. “Let's go.” Hanbin begun to walk, carrying her bag with him.

Haeun groaned. 

***

“Finally, we're arrived. It feels so far walking with you.” He gave back her bag. “Now let's keep our fingers crossed that our teacher haven't entered the class yet.

“Is it really that bad?” Haeun wondered.

As they about to enter the classroom, the door swung open. Hanbin and Haeun both gasped after making eye contact with the one who opened the door. 

Hanbin nudged her with his elbow. “We're doomed.”

“H—hey...Sir...” Haeun uneasily greeted her teacher. 

“You guys just arrived?” He asked.

“...Yes.”

The teacher sighed. “I already marked the attendance with you two absent. Aigoo, now I need to change it back. You're lucky I haven't key in this yet. Please don't be late again.” He shook his head.

“We're sorry, Sir.” Hanbin apologized.

“Fine. But still, I can't just let it slide...” He turned around to look at the classroom. “Today, you need to stay after school to clean the classroom. That punishment is only for today. If you late again next time, our discipline teacher might charge you to clean the gym store.” He warned. “After you finish the cleaning, report yourselves to me at the office. Both of you.” 

Hanbin sighed out loud. 

The teacher looked up. “Is there anything you want to object, Hanbin?” 

“No, Sir.” Hanbin sent him a pressed smile.

“Okay. I'm leaving. Study well, kids.” 

They bow to the teacher and get to their tables.

“I was trying to be kind and this is what I got. Thanks, God.” Hanbin rolled his eyes.

“If only you informed me before. Things would be much easier for us.” She replied without looking at him.

“Maybe you meant if only you remember the route. We wouldn't have to be late.”

“Excuse me, do I even ask for your help?” 

Yunhyeong awkwardly laughed to shrug the tension on both of his tablemates. “Hey, you're late! Did you guys come together?”

The only answer he got was death glares from the two.

“I mean— uh, did you call me, Donghyuk?” He rushly went to Donghyuk's table.