Hana was seated at the bench in the garden on campus. Jongdae sat diagonally across, listening to music while doing his own work. Her eyes had earlier, flickered towards him trying to check his reaction but he had seemed nonchalant. Thus, she directed her focus on the paper, notes and book in front of her as she listened to Sehun’s explanation.

Despite the shaky start last Saturday morning, the breakfast had been good. They had easy conversation on several things, with some teasing and jokes thrown in. By the end of breakfast, Hana was no longer annoyed with Sehun nor uncomfortable.

It was also during breakfast that Sehun asked about her marketing psychology course. Knowing that Sehun probably saw that horrible C grade, Hana admitted that she is struggling with the course. After listening to her groans and whines on the course, Sehun offered his help. Inspite of her misgivings, Hana accepted the offer to run through the test paper, especially when Sehun highlighted that it was an important topic for the course.

She didn’t regret it. Sehun was able to simplify and explain the topic clearly and concisely, highlighting the salient points. While going through the questions, he pointed out the critical points or how to structure the answers to deliver what the professor was looking for. Hana felt like it was a light bulb moment when he explained each concept clearly. Well, there were several of such moments. Redoing the answer, Hana was more confident on handling them.

“That’s good. I believe you got it,” Sehun complimented after reading her most recent rewritten answer. He then glanced at his watch. “I have class in 5 minutes. Why don’t you re-do the last three questions and I’ll look at it later?”

“But.. I’ve already took too much of your time.” she responded guiltily. Sehun had spent the last hour going through her paper.

“I’ve already agreed to help you with the course. I have training later. Could you stay after class and I’ll find you after?”

It sounded good. She wanted to grab this free tutoring offer, but she was hesitant. This is Oh Sehun, the guy that drugged and her. Maybe he is doing this to atone for his action, but Hana didn’t want to feel obligated. Any forgiveness will take time. Hence, she couldn’t accept the offer.

“I have something on later. Thank you though. I think I should be able to handle the rest. I’m not as clueless anymore,” she smiled gratefully.

Sehun raised his eyebrows at her comment while he pondered on their schedules which they have shared on Saturday while trying to find the timing for this session. This was the only available slot for today. Unless he wants to do it during lunch. But this is not super urgent, so he abandon the idea.

“Ok, I look for you tomorrow to go through the last 3 questions. I really need to go now. Bye,” he waved at her and Jongdae that had finally raised his head.

The moment Sehun was no longer in sight, Jongdae turned to Hana and smirked. “So, you got Mr Oh Sehun as your private tutor. Well done!”

She shushed him up by waving her hands away in front of him. “He is just helping me this time because I took care of him last week.”

“And I’m sure you did a heck of a job taking care of him. He is super happy,” he teased.

“Jongdae! He is just a normal human being showing his gratitude.”

“I thought he covered that by buying you breakfast?” he winked.

Not knowing how to respond, Hana just huffed and ignored the grinning Jongdae. She gave up trying to convince the mischievous guy.

Not five minutes later, Wendy appeared calling out her name from a far. Hands on her hips, her face was flushed, and her hair was a bit mussed up when she arrived, panting slightly. She had run to the garden.

“What was Oh Sehun doing tutoring you? First, he brought you to a fancy breakfast, and now he is tutoring you privately? What is going on?”

Shushing her bestfriend, Hana quickly grabbed her hand and pulled to the seat that was just occupied by Sehun. “Can you not raise your voice?” she whispered harshly. Sehun sitting at the table earlier was already attracting unwanted attention. She does not need to feed even more fodder to the gossipy campus. “Who told you?” And then she noticed the glance Wendy thrown at Jongdae.

Turning to Jongdae, she glared. “Why are you carrying tales?”

Jongdae shrugged. “I am not carrying tales. Wasn’t he tutoring you earlier? I just inform Wendy, well the group actually. Only Wendy over-reacted. Look at Kyungsoo and Junmyeon,” he pointed to the two guys walking casually towards their direction.

Hana rubbed her face, sighing at the situation. After several nudges from Wendy, she finally removed her hands from her face and reassured them that there was nothing. She explained that he offered to help when he saw her test paper.

“That’s it. There is nothing else..”

“Are you saying you won’t have to bring him out for a meal?” Wendy asked.

“Oh that, I guess I still have to.”

“Aren’t you seeing him too much?”

“No.. well.. it is just these few days. After he looked at the remaining questions and that meal, we are done,” Hana offered weakly.

Wendy cocked her head to the side, her face creased with worry. “Another tutoring session? How many more sessions?”

“Just one more. We couldn’t finish it earlier as he had to go to class. Ok?”

“I don’t see why you have to stop then. He offers free tutoring. You should take it up. He is a straight A student. Honors student. Etc etc. Why are you rejecting it?” Jongdae interrupted. Hana closed her eyes.

“So it’s more than one,” Wendy calmly pointed out.

“No, I am only accepting another session to complete the paper, that’s all,” glancing at Jongdae and shooting a stinky eye at him.

Wendy clasped her best friend’s hand. “You need to be careful.”

Nodding, she glanced at Junmyeon that had opened his laptop before shifting to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo was gazing at her but his eyes were unreadable. After a few moments, he gave her a slight smile and similarly took out his laptop, not adding anything further to the discussion.

Exhausted by the questions, Hana sighed deeply.

The next morning, Hana was passing by the carpark towards campus when Sehun step in beside her.

“Good morning,” he greeted.

“Good morning.” Although she knew that he was going to look for her, Hana never expected it to be first thing in the morning.

“Did you finish the questions?”

Hana nodded slightly. She is becoming conscious that others have started to stop, point and/or stare. Obviously Sehun was oblivious to it.

Sehun steered her towards the bench near the entrance to the campus. She sat down and pass the papers to Sehun who read it quietly. At this quiet moment between them, Hana watched surreptitiously from under her lashes. Although part of his head was covered by his fringe when he lowered his head, his featured were still apparent; a somewhat long face with chiseled jaw and high cheekbones; and aquiline nose between dark eyes that are framed by long lash. It is a striking face, a strikingly handsome face.

Caught in her scrutiny when Sehun raised his eyes, Hana felt heat rushing up her neck. She swiftly averted her eyes. After the longest minute of her life, Sehun finally cleared his throat.

“You got it. Good job.”

“Thanks,” she answered giddily, happy to receive the compliment. Grinning at him, she took her papers, putting it in her bag and quickly stood up. “Thank you again.”

Acknowledging her gratitude, Sehun stood up too. “I’ll walk you to class. We can discuss when is the best timing to work on the other topics.”

Hana almost stumbled when she heard that. He really meant to help her with the whole coursework. Although she do need the help, she was reminded of Wendy’s advice. However, it felt almost ungrateful to reject him immediately. Looking around for something, she was glad when she saw his friends.

“Hey, your friends are here. They are probably looking for you. I see you around,” and she immediately dashed off.

Sehun stared at the disappearing girl, wondering what happened. He thought that after the shaky start to the breakfast, it had ended well. He enjoyed the easy conversation they had, the jokes and teases. He thought she did too. And what about the relaxed atmosphere when he was helping her the day before. He could not understand why she was being skittish