It was the last week of school, which meant finals all week except for Friday, the last day of school. Each final was two hours long per day. Each day had two finals which meant only a max of four hours in school unless you had extra classes. Today was my history and language arts final. I studied for my history final almost all of the winter vacation and along the year to this day. When I was handed the test, I read every question carefully, making sure my answer was the best one and correct one. 

 

At the end of the testing session my back ached tremendously. Sunhee finished earlier than me and was fast asleep in her seat. When the bell rang, her head came up slowly at the ring. She squinted at the sudden bright light when she woke up and looked around her. 

 

"Class is over dummy. Let's go." I poked her forehead which leaned back slowly onto her bag again. I sighed at her lack of cooperation and pulled the bag from underneath her head causing it to hit the cold surface of the desk table. Her head fell like a rock. I peered over my shoulder and saw another person in the back asleep. With Sunhee's backpack in my hand, the dropped it right next to the person's ear for a startling alarm. 

 

"Uh!" He yelled. He, too, looked around to comprehend where he was; then he finally recognized my face. "Ah, Hyunji-ah," he said with his sleepy eyes looking at me. I gave him a discerning look, acknowledging that we were still in the classroom, which was now empty except for Sunhee, Daehyun, and I. Suddenly his eyes doubled as if he remembered something. "Oh shoot." He said to himself. In a rush, he jammed his writing utensils inside his pencil pouch then threw that in his backpack. Daehyun breezed right by me, down the stairs, and out of the room to who knows where. I furrowed my eyebrows at the scene I had witnessed. 

"Bye then." I said to no one in particular. I stepped back down to Sunhee's seat and helped her with her things as we left for our next final. 

 

 

 

 

Friday. The last day of school

 

"Students," my home room teacher started, "make sure everything in your dorms and lockers are cleaned out by the end of the day tomorrow. We are giving you one day to clean up. Anything left over becomes school property or thrown away." The students in class were chattering, not paying much attention to the teacher. 

 

The late bell rang signaling anyone who came in was marked tardy or whoever failed to show up absent. I turned toward the back of the class and saw Youngjae and all his friends but no Daehyun. 

 

"Youngjae-ah!" I half yelled startling my friend. He flinched at my sudden outburst and faced me.

"Lee Hyunji.." He hissed playfully. I giggled at his sheepishness. 

"Where's Daehyun?" I asked. Youngjae turned in his chair for a more comfortable position. 

"Sleeping." I raised an eyebrow. 

"Sleeping?" 

Youngjae nodded his head deeply. 

"Mhm. He hardly slept at all this week. So, he's finally crashing." 

"Is he okay? Is he sick?" I asked with concern. Daehyun was always in a rush after the tests that I hardly even saw him on campus walking by. Youngjae shook his head.

"Nah. He's fine. Just really tired. He even has bags and dark circles." Youngjae pulled on his eyes to emphasize his description and tease me. I slapped his arm lightly. 

"Stop lying."

"Haha he doesn't have bags. But he is getting dark circles." Youngjae explained.

"Why was he studying so late?" Youngjae shrugged with confusion. 

"Hm. Who knows? He's a weird guy." I hummed to myself feeling a bit worried. This behavior wasn't normal for Daehyun: studying. "If you're so worried, you can visit him after school." Youngjae chimed. I shooed my thoughts away after hearing Youngjae's suggestion and nodded. 

 

 

 

 

After class I left with Youngjae to his dorm. Since it was still the afternoon, visitors were still allowed. 

 

Their room was on the third floor. Youngjae searched his bag for the room keys and soon enough opened the door. At first we entered with caution, making sure not to make much noise. To my surprise, the room wasn't messy, despite it being a boy's room. Only the desk was scattered. Scattered with textbooks and loose leaf papers. I walked toward the desk several feet away from Daehyun's sleeping body. The papers had almost illegible writings which I assumed were notes. 

 

Suddenly Daehyun shuffled in his bed, as he turned toward the light. 

"Youngjae-ah..." He moaned like a sickly ghost, " turn off the light..." 

"Aish. You've been sleeping all day." Youngjae mumbled. Daehyun groaned in annoyance and turned to the other side of the bed, facing the wall. "And Hyunji's here." Youngjae finished. 

"Hm?" Daehyun hummed. 

"She wanted to see if you were still alive." I scoffed at Youngjae's choice of words. 

"Go away..." Daehyun whined. 

"Fine. Let's go Hyunji." Youngjae motioned for me to come over before Daehyun interrupted again.

"No. Hyunji stay." The two of us stopped at Daehyun's request. 

"Ah I see how it is-"

"Go!" Daehyun yelled. Youngjae scoffed loudly at his friend before leaving the room.

"No ice cream for you." He said before closing the door. Daehyun shuffled in his bed ignoring his noisy roommate. 

 

"You slept all day?" I asked Daehyun. He didn't respond. I thought he fell asleep again and approached him. "Hey," I poked his shoulder. "Are you sleeping?" Daehyun shuffled again in his spot but didn't say a word. 

 

It was already 2 p.m. I sat by Daehyun's side and started bouncing up and down. Daehyun yelled something like telling me to stop, but I hardly heard him behind the sound of the bed's springs. 

 

"Yah!" A pair of arms wrapped around my shoulders. There was nothing but darkness in my vision, but I knew I was conscious and my eyes were open. The light slowly started to come back when Daehyun pulled me away from his chest. 

"I said stop." He said. My eyes were wide as I looked into his. They were a dark brown. Daehyun's eyes shrunk in size as they slowly started to close again. A smile crept on his face and he hummed. He snuggled closer to me, letting me inhale his scent. My heart started beating rapidly at our close distance. I was sure he could hear it. I tried to wiggle my way out of his grasp but he tightened his grip as soon as I started moving. "Stay here." He cooed. I froze when he spoke. I was so nervous. This situation was completely uncomfortable for me. 

 

Daehyun then opened his eyes slowly. His expression was blank as he stared at me. I stared at him back. I noticed my heart rate had calmed as we kept our silent gaze. His arm that was wrapped around my shoulder pulled me closer to him. I felt his fingers twirling my hair. He smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back, and I could feel my face start to heat up.  

 

"Why were you studying so hard you couldn't sleep?" I asked him. Daehyun remained silent. His eyes looked into mine with such stillness and his fingers were still playing with my hair. "Dae, that's not good for your health. You have to sleep." 

"And I did. All day today." He finally spoke. I pushed him playfully for his smart answer. He chuckled at my actions, his laugh making my heart flutter. "I studied so much for you Hyunji." Now I gave Daehyun a look of bewilderment. 

"What are you talking about? That doesn't even make sense." I said. 

"It does." He laughed. I sighed at his continuously vague answers. "It makes complete sense Hyunji." 

"No! Tell me!" I whined. 

"Stop yelling." Daehyun shushed me. I don't know when he got so close to me all of a sudden, because now his face was only a few centimeters away. 

"Then tell me." I insisted.

"You're brother," he started. 

"Minhyuk oppa made you do that?" I said in disbelief. 

"If you're going to keep interrupting I'll just go back to sleep." Daehyun threatened. I pressed my lips in a firm line to refrain from talking again. 

 

Daehyun's eyes glanced at my lips for a quick second then smiled with satisfaction.  

 

"That day I went to your house, during the winter vacation, I talked to Minhyuk." He paused and laughed a little. "He was really scary at first. He started telling me how he knew about us and such. Then he told me he didn't like me." Daehyun's eyes curled up into a smile. I gave him a weird look because I didn't understand how he could smile. Nevertheless, I remained silent. 

"But he went easy on me. He said if I proved myself, he'll accept me." I shook my head as I took in the information. 

"So you studied all day and night because of an agreement with my brother?" Daehyun closed his eyes and nodded. I rolled my eyes incredulously. My life seriously had too many agreements and settlements. 

 

"Do I get a reward?" Daehyun chimed. I scoffed. 

"For being a puppet to my brother?" It was silent. I thought he had fallen asleep again. I stared at his face. Daehyun was handsome even while he was asleep. His hair was ruffled around, creating a cute bed head. His bangs were scattered weirdly around his forehead, parting in certain places. A part of his hair was sticking out making it look like a horn. I stifled a small giggle upon looking at his hairstyle. Daehyun cracked open an eye and caught me staring. My eyes widened in surprise for a moment then he smiled. Daehyun leaned his forehead against mine and sealed the gap between us with a chaste kiss. I closed my eyes for that brief moment and snuggled in closer to him when it was over. 

 

In a way, I was glad Daehyun did make that agreement with my brother and proved him wrong. Now I could stay like this with Daehyun with a calm mind.

 

 

 

 

 

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Last chapter next time! :O