Minju POV

“If you go over the practice problems again, it should all make sense.”

“I did last night.”

“Really? Let me see.” Hyungmoon handed me the piece of paper. I checked his work with the sheet I had done earlier and everything was correct.

“Hyungmoon-ah, I think you’re ready for this exam.” I told him with a bright smile.

“Chincha?” He looked up with wide eyes and ramen spilling from his mouth.

“Chew and swallow.” I laughed as I handed him a napkin.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah, I do. You got this man.” I gave him a soft punch on his right forearm. I’ve been tutoring Hyungmoon for three weeks now; once every day at lunch and three times a week after school. He picks up fast. A lot of what his has trouble with is little things. Once he figures out the little kinks, he’s good to go.

“Thanks, Minju.” I smiled at him.

“Here, have some more kimpab.” I stretched the container his way. “But there are only a few left.”

“Eat it all, you deserve it.” I pushed the container further to him.

“Thanks Min-Ju. Your kimpab is seriously the best. I didn’t know kimbap could be so good.”

“No problem, you deserve it. You also deserve a break after this exam is over.” I told him as he stuffed the kimbap in his mouth.

“Actually-“

“Chew then swallow or you’ll choke.” I laughed.

He smiled as he swallowed. “Actually, my sister’s band has a concert next Friday.”

“Your sister’s in a band! Wow! What kind of music do they play?”

“Indie and a few rock songs.”

“How many people are in the band?

“Four. All girls but sometimes one of the vocalist switches out with another one of her friends.

“Where’s the concert happening?”

“A café venue. Not too big, not too small.” He said as he chewed on the last piece of kimbap. “Would you like to come?”
“Really?”

“”Yea, sure. It’s the least I can do, after all this tutoring your doing for me.”

“Aw, it’s no trouble really.” I thought for a second. This could be interesting. “But I’ll take you up on that invitation; sounds like fun. Next Friday, you said?”

“Yeah, we can head over to the café after school.”

“Umm, I actually have something to finish up then, but it won’t take long I promise.”

“What do you have to do?”

“Finish up inventory in the library, Jae Hee-sshi and I should be done by then.”

“Really? Haven’t you been working on that for weeks? It’s taking this long?”

“Yeah, someone messed up the lists we were working one so we had to start over.”

“Aaaagh, that’s bad.”

“Yea, if I ever find out who did it, I’m going to drop fifty books on top of their head and knock them into Australia.

“Wow. Harsh.”

“I have no sympathy to someone who made us work in overdrive mode to get everything sorted out.”

“I’ll help you.”

“You’ll help me find out who did it?”

“More like, I’ll help you two with whatever you need.”

“Hey, thanks.” I smiled at him

“No problem.”

I glanced down at my watch. “Ooh, hey we’ve gotta go.”

“Got it.” Hyungmoon said as he started putting things away.  By the time I had gotten up he had everything packed away, including the food containers.

“Wow, that was efficient.”

“Thanks.” He said with a smile. “If you think that’s efficient-“ He opened the door for me. I gave him a nod of thanks. Who says chivalry is dead? “You should see how I clean my room. Stuffing everything under the bed is a real time-saver.”

I laughed. “What about when that reaches full capacity?”

“There’s always the closet.” He winked. I burst out laughing. I have to admit, that wink was slightly y. Slightly.  “I’ll just wear all my clothes to free up more room in the closet. It’ll be easier to pick out what I wear for the day too if it’s all in front of me.”

“You’ll look like a walking fashion wreck.” Speaking of fashion wrecks, I could see a bobbing blonde head from the corner of my eye.

“I think it’s called “being in individual.” That got a laugh out of me.

“You could be the next Tom Ford like that.”

“I think I’d like to be the next Ralph Lauren much more.” I was walking close to him to hear him over the shuffling of feet and yells of hooligans in post-lunch party state; our arms were touching and I craned my neck to hear him too. It looked like we were together to the untrained eye.

“Or you could walk around like that in public and brush of onlookers by saying “you’re just jealous that you can’t pull off all these layers” then flip your hair as you walk away.” I flipped my own hair to demonstrate.

He laughed. It sounded carefree and breezy. It amazed me that even with finals so close, he was relaxed.

“Come on, give it a shot.” I said giving my hair another flip, hoping he’d catch on.
“Pew, pew, pew.” He fired two fingers toward a window like a play-gun.

I put my hand on his arm as we both laughed our guts out. I don’t think I’ve laughed this much in my life when I’m with just one person. Hyungmoon has made me laugh like this during every tutoring session AND he gets all his work done. He gives witty one-liners and sees puns so easily.   

            As we crossed the threshold into the classroom, it occurred to me that Eunkwang might have spotted us. I hope he did. I really hope he did.

            Hyungmoon and I both have seats in the back row, but instead of just going to his seat hi lingered at mine.

“Minju, I really appreciate all this time you’re taking to tutor me.”

“Hey, no problem.”

“Let me treat you sometime.”

“Well, you are taking me to that concert.”

“Oh, uh that’s right.” He shut his eyes like someone reminded him of something he forgot to do. “What if I treat you to dinner of ice cream or something before the concert?” I titled me head with an amused smile.

“I think I’d like that.”

“Great.” A huge smile spread across his face. “Pick you up at-

“All right class, where were we with-

“We’ll talk about it later.” I smiled. He nodded, smile unchanged, and walked to his seat.

Did Hyungmoon and I just make a date? Is this date?

Eunkwang POV

WHAT IS THIS? She it’s like I could hear her giggling all the way from her desk for the rest of the day. Also, WHAT WAS THAT IN THE HALL? She was touching his arm and laughing like she had found the most hilarious comedian on the face of the earth! They were so close together that all they needed to do was hold hands to make it look like they’re officially dating!

 It’s been three weeks since Minju first said she was going to tutor Hyungmoon. They’re always together at lunch. If she’s not tutoring him after school, she’s helping in the library. We haven’t even walked to school or home together. We’ve barely even talked.  She's hardly even taking my call. She only replies to texts in less than five syllables. I even asked her if she wanted to walk home together today and she said she has to work in the library and to go on without me. I understand that she wants to help, but what is she doing that requires her to stay after school so much?

Also, I get that she wants to help Hyungmoon but does it really have to be him? Out of all the people in school she HAS to tutor HIM? I don’t trust him. I feel like he’s just going to end up hurting someone. 

Why can’t she help me instead? I still struggle with history. Granted, I don’t have to take the exam because my grades were barely high enough to exempt me from all exams, but I still need help! My existence partly hinges on my understanding of history! I can’t repeat mistakes of the past, but how will I know what those mistakes if I don’t understand what happened in historical context? I need Minju to teach me the historical context so I don’t repeat fatal mistakes of the past!

Actually I can do that on my own. What I really need Minju to do is spend some time with me. What if she starts spending more time with Hyungmoon and dumps me for him? What do I do then? WHAT IF SHE’S DELIBERATLEDY AVOIDING ME TO SPEND TIME WITH HYUNGMOON????? I knew it! I knew he was nothing but trouble! He’s trying to take Minju away from me!

Well, I won’t let him.

Minju POV

“MinJu-ah!”

That’s one voice I don’t want to hear. I looked up from my desk anyway. And smiled.

“Hi Eunkwang.”

“Minju-ah, we need to do something together, we haven’t spent any time together.” He stuck out his bottom lip. How old is this boy? Why is he acting like he’s five? I present to you the future of South Korea! A bunch of pouty children. “How about we go on a date tonight?”

“Ahh minhae, I can’t tonight.”

“Wae?”

“I have plans.”

“What plans do you-“

“Eunkwang-ah, mianhae but I can’t talk right now, I promised Lee Jae-sshi that I’d help her in the library right after school.” I told him hurriedly while putting the strap of my bag over my shoulder.

“Wait.”

“Wae?”

“Kachi ga.”

I smiled. “All right, you can walk me down there.”

“Let me hold your bag.”

“Anya, I can hold it. We’re not walking far. Chabgi.” I smiled.

“I miss you calling me that.”

“I don’t even use it all that often.”

“That’s why I miss it.”

I shook my head. “It’s a stupid nickname.”

“You gave me that nickname, so it’s not stupid.”

 “Aigoo.” I brushed his hair away from his eyes. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Love me.” Not even in your dreams you dirty, lying, immature schoolboy.

“Yea, love you like a lost puppy.”

“You know, I’ve heard that you should hold a puppy to make it feel loved.”

“Oh really?”

“Really.”

“Next time I care for a lost puppy, I’ll hold it as much as it wants.”

 “I think you should hold this one too.” He held out his hand. I looked at his hand then looked at him. I put my hand in his telling myself that we’re not far from the library. Our hands hung between us and Eukwang started swinging his hand; back and forth at a slow steady pace.

            It took everything in me not to squirm or gag. Holding hands is supposed to be something sweet. You’re supposed to hold hands with someone you love, not with someone who’s pretending to love you to look good in front of his idiot friends. It’s okay Minju, just a few more steps of hold this dirty, cowardly lying-

“I’m thinking about taking writing more seriously.”

“What?”

“I’m thinking about doing more with my writing?”

“How?”

“Entering competitions and considering employment that involves a lot of writing.”

“Employment in marketing or research?”

“Something along those lines.” He looked at my eyes.

“Would you ever do freelance?”

“That depends. I wanna get my feet wet than decide if I really want to fully commit to writing. What do you think?”

“I think you’re going about this logically, it’s refreshing.”

“How?” I looked at him as my feet kept moving forward.

“Most people try to dive head first when they try to follow their passions. I’m glad that you’re going about this with some regard to financial stability.”

 "I'm happy for you. Happy that you've decided to do something you like." 
"I wouldn't even consider doing it, if you weren't around."
How come?
You're the only one who even knows that I write.” That got my attention and made my eyes widen a bit.
“When you said that my writing is good, it made me wonder other people will think so too.”
I nodded. "Logically, there will be more people that like your writing if I do.”

“That’s why I want to enter competitions. I wanna see what other people think of my writing. Plus you might only be saying that it’s good because you like me.” He smiled so wide that you couldn’t see his eyes. In that moment I wanted to make both of those eyes go black.
"Minju!" 
"Nae Lee Jae Hi-sshi?"
I completely forgot that i had a doctor's appointment after school. Come tomorrow and we’ll continue. 
“Nae!”
“Mianhae!”
"Gwenchanayo! Hurry!" I watched her go as her heels made hurried clicking sounds against the tile
“Can I walk you home today then?” I turned and saw a check smile on his face. I smiled back. You can walk your own pitiful self home, bub.

“Actually, I can’t. I want to get some cram sessions in with Hyungmoon.” Eungkwans smile fell as soon as he heard Hyungmoon’s name. “Mianhae.”

I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I’ll make it up to you!” I called as I speed-walked down the hall.

I will definitely make it up to you Seo Eunkwang. I’ll pay you back for everything you’ve done.