Waking up the next morning, Soojung was visibly calmer. However, not wanting to deal with any human interaction, she decided against going to class. Hayoon walked Soojung back to her room, despite the latter’s insistence that she would be fine by herself and did not want Hayoon to be late for her class. The shorter girl however would have none of that since she would not stop worrying until she saw Soojung settled in the comforts of her room with her own eyes. Who cares if she was going to be late to class?

In any other scenario, Baekhyun would have declared that the world was ending if he knew that Hayoon was consciously going to be late to class. The girl was after all a stickler for punctuality, infamous for never being late, even when she tries.

Opening the door to Soojung’s room, Hayoon stepped in first just to make sure that Chanyeol was not secretly still hiding in there, even though she had received a text from Baekhyun in the middle of the night stating that he had dragged Chanyeol home.

The scent of spiced apple lingered in the air, the blanket on the bed crumpled, serving as evidence for last night’s events. Soojung froze at the entrance, eyes zoned onto the bed. Hayoon hurriedly straightened out the blanket before opening the window to let some fresh air into the room.

“You should hurry to class now,” Soojung mumbled.

Turning back towards her, Hayoon gave her a worried look.

Soojung responded with a firm smile, eyes cast with the shadow of fatigue. Walking towards Hayoon, she reached for the latter’s hands, giving them a tight squeeze.

“I’ll be fine. I have to be fine.”

Nodding hesitantly, Hayoon padded towards the door, lingering there for a few moments.

“Please don’t say anything to Junmyeon.”

Hayoon frowned, blinking at the girl.

“I don’t want to cause unnecessary drama.” continued Soojung with certainty. “It’s better that way.”

“My door is always open.” Hayoon gave Soojung a lop-sided smile. “If you need someone to talk to. Baek too.”

Soojung fumbled with her bracelet, tugging specifically on the thunder charm before giving Hayoon one final smile.

“I know.”

・・・

Walking into the campus, an unrelenting sense of unease gnawed at Hayoon. Looking at the watch, the girl let out an exasperated sigh.

“Guess I’ll just ditch.”

The girl was in no mood to attend a lecture, so with a tight grip on her bag, she made a turn and headed towards the library instead. Approaching the large stone steps that led towards the library building, Hayoon noticed a figure gliding his way down the stairs. The sun shining behind the figure made it impossible for her to make out his features. Upon closer inspection, Hayoon realised that the figure was dancing, precariously jumping back and forth between the steps, earning glances of annoyance from passing students. As he jumped into the air, Hayoon recognised his glistening silver hair and tanned skin. Mystery Dancer. Landing gracefully like a gazelle and doing a pirouette in the process, Hayoon failed to notice how close she was standing, resulting in him crashing into her. Snapping her eyes shut, the poor girl prepared herself for the inevitable pain that would follow from her harsh contact with the concrete floor. However, that never happened. Instead she felt herself being pulled by a pair of toned arms, an unfamiliar aroma of chocolate and cinnamon invading her nostrils as she landed face first into someone’s chest.

Lifting her head, Hayoon realised that the mystery dancer had cushioned her fall using his body, earning him mental praise from Hayoon