Running down the corridor, Hani grinned to herself, pleased she'd be seeing Zico again in a matter of seconds. After spending the whole weekend near him, she almost missed him. She hugged her books close to her chest, with her bag bouncing on her back.

“Why are we running?” Jiyeon asked, already out of breath.

“Zico's waiting for me!” Hani replied, almost shouted, and put on an extra spurt of energy, which was a mistake. She pushed open the doors and made to run down the stairs, catching her toe on the edge of a step and sending herself flying. Her books scattered in all directions and she slid right down to the bottom of the stairs.

“Hani! Are you okay?” Jiyeon crouched down next to her after she'd collected all of Hani's books.

“I'm- I'm fine, I just-”

“Hani!”

The two girls looked up as Zico sprinted towards them. The crowd that had gathered and had previously been laughing watched in interest.

“Seriously, I leave you for one day, and you fall down the stairs- what am I supposed to do?”

Zico picked Hani up, books and all, and started to walk away. Jiyeon followed.

“Is that Zico?” she mouthed to Hani. Hani nodded.

“See you tomorrow, Jiyeon!” Hani said as Jiyeon separated from the odd pair.

“You didn't have to do that, you know. I was fine,” Hani muttered.

“I was walking up, anyway. How many other times have you fallen over today?”

“Um... just the once.” She chose not to mention the Junhong incident.

“Hm,” Zico nodded, looking straight ahead. They reached his car and he lowered her into her seat, despite her protests of being 'perfectly okay'.

“Did you have a good day?” Zico asked as he drove them back home.

“Yeah, I guess. Thanks for the drink,” Hani smiled.

“I felt bad, so... yeah. You're welcome.”

The two of them sat in silence for a while until Hani remembered an assignment she'd been given.

“Hey, could you drop me off at the library? I need to take some books out to do some work,” Hani asked.

“Sure,” Zico agreed without thinking about it. He carried on driving as if they were going home.

“Where are we going?” Hani wondered and Zico realised he had no idea where the library was.

“Could you direct me to the library?” Zico asked, embarrassed.

“Sure,” Hani told him, not noticing him blushing. “Take the next right... Now carry on up here for a while... Right again... Left... We're here.”

Zico nodded, feeling accomplished as he drove up to the tidy building.

“I'll be a few minutes, is that okay?” Hani got out of the car.

“I'm coming with you!” Zico jumped out quickly. No way was he letting Hani fall down any more stairs.

“Can I help you?” a librarian popped her head around the edge of a shelf.

“I'm fine, thank you,” Hani replied, laden down with heavy books. Zico was following behind her, bored by the ordeal.

“Does this mean you're going to be upstairs all night?” Zico asked.

“Probably,” Hani nodded. “It's a pretty big part of my grade.”

“Can you work downstairs?”

“Why?”

“I get... I get lonely...” Zico trailed off. “Just for tonight? Please?”

“Okay,” Hani sighed. “Just tonight. I'll be working though, not watching-” She was interrupted by Zico flinging his arms around her.

“Yay Nini! Nini promised she'd spend the night with me!” Zico informed a man passing by, who raised an eyebrow.

“Get her consent,” was all he said. Zico abruptly removed his arms from around Hani and cleared his throat.

“Are you done? We should probably go.”

Hani giggled and nodded, moving towards the exit.

“Where did Nini come from?” Hani laughed as Zico drove home.

“Honestly- I don't know,” Zico replied. He glanced at Hani and grinned.

They arrived back at Zico's house and Hani sat down on the floor by the coffee table. She spread out the books and some paper and immediately started working. Zico watched her write diligently for a while then turned to go to his music room.

“Nini, I'm gonna go work on something... Shout if you need anything.”

Hani turned around and nodded. “Can I go work upstairs?”

Zico shook his head violently. From the music room he could watch her and see exactly what she was doing, so he could make sure she couldn't get hurt again.

“Zico, I'm hungry,” Hani whined from the living room.

“Have you finished your work?” Zico turned to look at her.

“Yes.”

“There's probably something in the fridge,” he told her, turning away again. Hani got up and skipped over to the kitchen. She yanked the fridge door open and her stomach grumbled in disappointment.

“Zico, there's no food,” she complained.

“Nothing at all?” Zico left the music room and came into the kitchen. Hani shook her head. “We'll have to go shopping then.”

“It's half ten,” Hani objected.

“That's what 24-hour places are for!”

“I made a list of things to get,” Hani told Zico as they sat in his car once again.

“Okay, good.” Zico abruptly turned the car into a small back road, where walls rose up on either side of the road and Hani felt oddly claustrophobic. He stopped the car and they clambered out, their breath forming clouds in the cold November air.

“No, you stay,” Zico pushed Hani back into the car. “I just need to talk to a friend, then we'll go shopping, yeah? Just stay here. I'll lock the car.”

Hani couldn't protest, and Zico slammed the door shut, the car clicking as he locked it. He gave her a small wave before pushing open a door Hani hadn't noticed, light spilling onto the road, then the door was shut again.

Curling into the seat, Hani pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. She didn't know how long Zico was going to be... five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen... the time passed slowly but soon enough she'd been waiting for half an hour and her eyelids began to droop. It was well past eleven and she was tired from last night, and she didn't notice as she drifted off to sleep.

“Nini! Ni...ni?” Zico closed the car door behind him quietly and watched Hani for a moment. Her eyes were closed, her breathing was deep... he realised she was asleep. He laughed before pulling a seatbelt over Hani and driving through the night.

Zico went shopping on his own. He pulled the list from Hani's hand and went as quickly as he could, throwing in a few extra things (alcohol, mostly) and ran out to the car, laden down with shopping bags. He smiled at Hani's peaceful face and mentally slapped himself. Getting in the car, the noise made Hani stir, but she didn't wake up. Zico let out a sigh of relief and drove back home.

For the second time that day, Zico carried Hani, though this time it was out of the car and into the house. He held her as he climbed the stairs, watching Hani's peaceful face. Tucking her into bed, he took out his phone and set an alarm for her in the morning. Hoping she was still asleep, he kissed her on the forehead before closing her bedroom door.

It was around one in the morning when Zico finally got to bed, after unpacking all the food. He wasn't tired though; he lay in bed, staring up at his ceiling. He'd never felt this way about anyone before. He felt protective, but he wanted her to be happy. He felt a pain in his chest whenever she had to leave him, and got butterflies when she returned. He had no idea what was going on in his head and that scared him.