Kyuhyun tossed his bag onto the chair. “What do you want, noona, coffee or tea?”

Victoria shrugged. “Tea, I guess. No sugar, thank you.”

Kyuhyun prepared the tea for her, then set it down on the table in front of her. “So, how’s life?”

“Shouldn’t that be my question, Kyuhyun? You’re the one who’s just undergone a major change in your life, not me.” Victoria replied, sipping from her tea.

Kyuhyun chuckled. “It’s wild, all right. I don’t think I’ve ever had this much freedom in my entire life!”

Victoria gave a faint smile at his exuberant whoop. “So I take it you’re enjoying yourself?”

“Sure I am. By the way, I met this girl, she’s really interesting, noona. She’s my neighbor, and she’s in the same school as me, too. We share a load of classes. She’s kind of strange. She hardly ever talks, but she’s like some sort of genius, and she’s incredibly polite. Like really, the few times she opens to speak, it’s always in formal language.” Kyuhyun told her excitedly, leaning forward.

“You shouldn’t call her strange just because of that.” Victoria pointed out. “Her parents could just have raised her that way. So, does this mean you’re interested in the girl?”

Kyuhyun almost laughed. Almost. “Course not. Just because she’s interesting doesn’t mean I’m interested in her.” There was a slight pause, then his hand reached out to take hers. “Noona-”

Victoria picked up her teacup, avoiding Kyuhyun’s grasp. His eyes sharpened, but he said nothing, choosing instead to withdraw his hand.

There was a momentary silence. Then the doorbell rang, and Victoria jumped up. “That must be Mi-oppa, I told him to join us for lunch.”

As expected, it was Zhou Mi. He gave them his usual pleasant smile. “Ready to go out for lunch?”

Victoria nodded, almost eagerly. “Where should we go?”

Kyuhyun was about to suggest a place when he saw Joo Hyun appear from behind Zhou Mi, taking out the keys to her apartment. Before he knew what he was thinking, he called, “Seohyun! Why don’t you join us for lunch?”

Victoria and Zhou Mi looked at Joo Hyun in surprise, while she looked like a deer caught in the headlights, staring right back at them with wide eyes.

Zhou Mi recovered himself first. “Yes, why don’t you join us, Seohyun?”

Joo Hyun hesitated, spearing Kyuhyun with a glare as she spoke, “Can I speak to you for a moment, Kyuhyun-sshi?”

Kyuhyun came out of his apartment, letting Zhou Mi enter and closing the door behind him. “Yes?”

“Just because we are classmates and neighbors does not in any way mean that we are friends, and neither does it mean that you get to invite me to lunch. I hope I have made myself clear.” Joo Hyun’s tone was sharp.

“Why can’t I be friendly?” Kyuhyun demanded.

“I do not mind if you are friendly, it is who you are friendly to that affects me. And if you are choosing to be friendly to me, then please do not bother. I am not interested in having friends.” She turned to return to her apartment, when Kyuhyun suddenly blurted out, “Why do you speak so formally all the time?”

Joo Hyun slowly turned around, her gaze slightly disbelieving. “You really do say the oddest things, do you not? First you rename me, now you ask why I use formal language. Do you not have any other better things to do?”

“Maybe I do, but I’m more interested in finding out answers to things I’m curious about.” Kyuhyun retorted.

There was a moment of silence as their gazes met, challenging. Then Joo Hyun turned around, opened the door to her apartment, and slammed the door close behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five Weeks Later

Kyuhyun leaned over to Joo Hyun. “Are you sure you don’t want to join us for lunch?”

Joo Hyun sighed. “No, Kyuhyun-sshi, I do not want to join you for lunch.” She slung her bag over her shoulder and stalked out of the lecture theatre before he could say another word.

For the past five weeks, Kyuhyun simply had not stopped pestering her. Every day, he would ask her to join him for lunch, for dinner, sometimes even for breakfast! It was irritating, especially since Joo Hyun had absolutely no intention of accepting his offer.

Besides, she had other things to worry about. The café she had worked at was closed now, and she had yet to find alternative employment. The end of the November was coming up – which also meant examination. After that, the winners for the scholarships would be announced in late-December. She had to win the scholarship, she simply had to. She refused to think about the alternative.

She walked all the way back home, and as she neared her apartment, she was not surprised to see Kyuhyun standing outside his apartment. He often lay in wait for her there, and she had no doubt that he was about to make another offer of lunch to her.

But then she realized that something was different. This time, his back was to her; he was staring straight ahead, and even from where she was, she could hear his harsh breathing.

She approached, until she was right behind him. And then stopped, stock still.

Zhou Mi and Victoria, locked in a tight embrace.

She turned to look at Kyuhyun, who was frozen on the spot, his expression stricken. An errant thought ran through her head.

I knew it. I just knew he was in love with Victoria.

They stood in that position for several moments, him looking at them, and she looking at him. His fists clenched, but before he could do anything, she grabbed onto him and pulled him into her apartment.

Kyuhyun’s body seemed to go limp the moment they entered the apartment, and he crashed into the ground, his expression listless. “They…”

Joo Hyun looked at him pityingly. He looked so lost, so utterly alone that she could not help but feel sorry for him. She helped him onto her sofa, then knelt down before him. “Are you feeling all right?”

He turned to look at her, his expression anguished. “They…I…how could they…”

Joo Hyn didn’t know what to say. After nearly ten minutes of silence, she finally spoke up, awkwardly, “Do you remember that question you asked me? About my use of formal language?”

Kyuhyun looked at her, and for the first time since they had seen Zhou Mi and Victoria, she recognized a spark of interest in his eyes.

“…I use it so that people don’t think they are close to me. I use it so that people know I don’t consider them as close to me.” Joo Hyun explained, for the first time in her life.

Something changed in Kyuhyun’s eyes. “But you’re using informal language now…”

Joo Hyun could only shrug. “Things change, I guess.”

“Are you trying to comfort me?” Kyuhyun gave a faint smile. “It’s kind of weak.”

Joo Hyun frowned. “I’m not used to this emotional exchange thing, all right?”

“But it’s a good effort nonetheless.” Kyuhyun added, and he leaned forward and kissed her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epilogue

Zhou Mi took the letter out of the envelope. He read it silently for a moment, then read it out loud, “Congratulations to Cho Kyuhyun and Seo Joo Hyun…winners of the Humanities Scholarship.”

Silence.

Then Joo Hyun and Kyuhyun both whooped, hugging each other tightly. “We made it!” Kyuhyun yelled in delight, “Yes!”

Joo Hyun was too happy for words; she roped Victoria in for a hug too, and Kyuhyun grabbed hold of Zhou Mi, yelling , “Group hug!”

They were all laughing, all cheering, all delighted for the successes of Kyuhyun and Joo Hyun. And as Zhou Mi and Victoria pulled away, the two winners looked at each other.

“Not too bad, Kyuhyun. You didn’t let me down.” Joo Hyun smiled.

“Please, like that would have happened. And oh, by the way, I’m making you change your name.” Kyuhyun told her matter-of-factly.

Joo Hyun stared at him. “What?”

“No, really. From now on you’re only allowed to write or sign your name as Seohyun. Or we’re breaking up.” Kyuhyun replied.

There was a pause as Joo Hyun stared at him, and for a moment, all the other three wondered if she was going to refuse.

Then she gave a smile, a smile brighter than any of them had seen before. “Then I think I should reintroduce myself.” She held her hand out. “My name is Seohyun, and it’s Cho Kyuhyun who’s changed my life.”

---------------------------------------------------------------

And it's done! Phew, I really rushed this out within two days...

Seohyun's character was actually my favourite - I enjoyed writing the differences in her speech, how she speak to everyone so formally at first (she never uses don't, won't, and uses do not, cannot, will not and so on) but when she's trying to comfort Kyuhyun, that's the first thing she thinks of to try and reach through to him. And that last sentence: it's very true. Kyuhyun drew her out of her shell and changed her life, changed who she is inside by letting her realise that not everyone dislikes her, that there are people who care for her. And in a way that's the most important point in the story - we must always be able to love, because people who don't have love, whether or not it's love from others or love for others, are very sad people indeed.

Kyuhyun's a determined guy, no doubt about that. It takes him five weeks to break through Seohyun's shell and make her realise that he actually cares for her, which is something no one else has done - and it paid off. It might seem that Kyuhyun's heart changes very easily, but that's not the case. Although he liked Vic, his attraction to Seo was growing steadily stronger - his grief at seeing Mi and Vic together was broken through so easily by Seo when she just mentioned her use of language. 

This story turned out more fluffy than I intended it to be >< Nevertheless I hope you guys enjoyed it, and remember, comment and subscribe!