As soon as she got home, Sunhwa ran to the bathroom and yanked off her dress. Then she re-brushed her hair into a ponytail, and, feeling far more comfortable in her sweats, plopped onto her bed and prepared to cuddle with her laptop.

…What? That kind of activity is perfectly normal for someone like Sunhwa…

Don’t judge.

Anyway, as Sunhwa was browsing videos on YouTube of Luna and Sulli dancing with Super Junior, a knock sounded on her door.

“Come in,” she said, not taking her eyes off of the screen.

Sunhwa felt a weight settle on the side of her bed. She looked over in surprise at Jung Hee, who was sitting there with an unreadable expression on his face. He was normally a chatterbox and would be talking her ear off by now.

“Is something wrong?” she asked him softly.

Jung Hee rubbed his neck nervously. “Aniyo…I mean, nothing’s wrong, exactly…”

His noona felt a grin rising to the surface and fought to keep it down. “It’s a girl, isn’t it?”

His head snapped up. “How did you know?”

“Jung Hee, I’m your sister. I’m supposed to know about these things,” she said, grinning. “So anyway,” she said, setting the laptop aside and resting her head on her hands, “Is she pretty?”

He nodded in reply, getting a dreamy faraway look in his eyes.

“So you want to know how to talk to her,” she stated.

Jung Hee nodded again.

“Well, the first thing is to have confidence. She probably has a crush on you already, seeing as you’re the most popular person at your school.”

Jung Hee’s mouth quirked up into a half-smile. Their mother, Park Kiyomi, had rather good genes, and both siblings had inherited a very decent amount of her good looks (even though Sunhwa didn’t feel it). It didn’t detract from it that Jung Hee was an excellent student and a friendly person, so people naturally gravitated toward him.

“The first thing to do is talk to her,” Sunhwa continued. “Just sit next to her at lunch or something and start talking to her. She’ll like that you show interest, and then just take it from there.”

Jung Hee nodded excitedly. “Arraso. Are you sure she’ll like me?”

Sunhwa rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m sure. Any girl your age would be crazy not to like you.”

He grinned in response. “Thanks, noona! By the way, how was practice today?”

Sunhwa smiled. “It was good. I’m glad I’m dancing again.”
 

“Did you meet SHINee?” Jung Hee asked enthusiastically. He was proud that his noona would be dancing with idols on TV.

“Deh.”

“Were they hot?” he said slyly.

“Yah!” Sunhwa punched him. “It’s not my business to say if they were or not.”

“…So they were,” Jung Hee said, that infernal grin still on his face.

“Just go to your room!” Sunhwa said, playfully pushing him off the bed. He landed on his feet and skipped out the door, singing, “SUNHWA LIKES SHINEE, SUNHWA LIKE SHINEE…”

“Aish, that boy,” Sunhwa muttered, going back to her computer. “I would never have a crush on any of them.”

-

A few days passed like that. Sunhwa was getting better at rehearsal, and Oh seongsang-nim complimented her, saying she was very quick at learning the dances. Sulli, Luna, Hyun Jin, her, and SHINee joked around during break times, and she could tell they were getting closer. Victoria made occasional appearances to bat her eyelashes at Key, which he rejected. After practice, Sunhwa would go to Paradise to work until 8:30, and then she would go home. Her bank account was growing steadily, and soon she would have enough money to rent an apartment of her own.

Annyeong! Sorry about the late update, everyone, but I had a bunch of stuff going on this week. And I'm pretty sure I failed my math test today...*sigh*. Oh well. It's the weekend!

Hope you liked the chapter. :)

- tigress