That month passed without problem but the second one wasn’t that quiet.

When Woohyun turned the corner, he stopped on his tracks as he eyed the group of boys around his locker. He sighed; his locker was just in the middle where the popular groups decided to chat on the hallway or just to cause troubles.

He saw Haneul walking from the other side of the hallway towards her locker, which was in front of the guys. Woohyun saw the taller one turned his head towards her and smirked. Woohyun frowned and tightened his hold on his backpack, pushing his glasses up with one hand.

“Where’s your doggy?” The guy asked just as Haneul reached her locker. She scoffed and opened the lock, ignoring him.

The guy glanced at his friends before walking towards her, resting his side on the locker next to hers. His eyes roamed all her body and his friends whistled. Haneul frowned and glared at him. Woohyun felt his blood boiling at the way he was eyeing her.

“What do you want, Simon?” She barked.

“Well, isn’t that obvious.” Simon step closer and gazed down at her. “I want you. And now that Hoya isn’t here, why don’t we have some fun, uh?” His hand reached for her cheek but Haneul slammed shut the locker’s door, hitting his hand and turned around. Woohyun nodded slightly, happy that she rejected him.

“Hey!” Simon retracted his hand and checked his fingers for any scratch.

“I don’t have time for your stupid games.”

But before Haneul could walk away, Simon grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards him. She spun around and bumped on his chest. Simon’s hands sneaked around her waist to keep her in place.

“What are you doing?! Let me go!” Haneul struggled but he held her firmly. Woohyun tensed and gritted his teeth. How much he wanted to go there and punched his face for touching the girl he liked. But he was afraid.

“Playing hard to get, uh? Well, the game ends now.” Simon’s hand traveled down her back and cupped her . Haneul gasped, eyes widened. Simon smirked. “Damn, you’re so hot.” His friends laughed and cheered him from the back.

Woohyun’s face darkened with anger and he took a few steps towards them. Fear long forgotten and ready to beat the out of Simon. But Haneul wasn’t going to let him go that easy. She glared at Simon and lifted her knee to kick his guts. Simon moaned in pain and double to cover his noble parts.

“Don’t you ever dare to touch me again.” Haneul barked and punched him on the face.

Simon yelped, hands flying to cover his now broken nose. His friends backed away from her. Haneul was about to kicked him on the floor when a teacher came running to them.

“What’s going on here?! Oh my God, Simon, are you okay?!” She kneeled next to him to check on him. Simon groaned, hands still covering his nose. The teacher frowned and looked up at Haneul.

“What?! He asked for it! He touched me without my consent!” She tried to defend herself but the teacher shook her head. Simon’s friends helped him up.

“Take him to the infirmary. I’ll be there in a minute.” She then turned to Haneul and walked away. “Follow me.”

Haneul groaned and snatched her bag from the floor before following her. Woohyun moved out of Simon’s friends and glanced at Haneul’s back. The teacher wasn’t going to believe her, not when she has caused a lot of troubles in school. But it wasn’t her fault, all that times she was just trying to defend herself. Woohyun was determinate to help her, so he walked behind them to talk some sense on the teacher.

 

The teacher opened the door of the principal’s office and he looked up at them. He sighed and rubbed his temples when he saw Haneul enter behind the teacher.

“What happened this time?” He asked tired and the teacher told him just what she saw on the hallways. Haneul sat silently on the chair in front of the director, hands on her lap, holding her bag with so force that her knuckles turned white.

When the teacher finished she walked away not before giving her a dirty look. Once the door was close the director turned to Haneul, hands folded in front of him.

“Well, aren’t you going to say anything?” He asked calmly and Haneul let out a shaky breath.

“Why for? You’re not going to believe me anyways.” The director sighed.

“Wait here.”

He walked out of his office, closed the door behind him and walked towards a cabinet filled with the student’s records next to the secretary’s desk. Woohyun entered running and the director turned to look at him.

“Oh, Woohyun, why are you still here?” The director glanced briefly at him before continued with his search. Woohyun took deep breaths and brushed his bangs away from his forehead to clean the sweat with his sleeve.

“I saw everything.” He said breathless and the director glanced at him. “What happened on the hallway. I saw everything, sir.”

The director took out a manila folder and turned to him with curious eyes.

“Simon was there with his friends and then Haneul walked to her locker. Simon went to bother her and I don’t know exactly what he told her but she got mad and walked away but Simon took her wrist to stop her.” He took a deep breath. “He hugged her but she told him to leave her alone and then…” He clenched his fist. “And then he touched her bottom. That’s why she hit him; to defend herself.” Woohyun looked up at the director. “It wasn’t her fault.”

The director folded his hands in front of him and gazed softly at him.

“And why are you telling me this, Woohyun?” The boy blinked up at him. “Is she your friend or…”

“No, anything like that.” Woohyun said softly, lowering his head. “I just thought that you needed to know the truth.”

“Thanks, then. I do need to know what happened but I can’t force her to tell me the truth.” Woohyun looked up at him with a confused face.

“She didn’t tell you?” He frowned and the director shook his head.

“She didn’t even try.” He walked to his office and put a hand on the knob. “You should go home, Woohyun.” He nodded and entered.

Woohyun stood there confused for a few seconds, he glanced at the closed door and wonder why she didn’t even try to defend herself. With a loud sigh he walked away.

 

The director sat on his chair and opened the folder. Haneul kept her gaze down while playing with the end of her black hair. The director hummed and closed the folder, putting it on his desk.

“Haneul.” She looked up. “I’m not going to put a record for this.” Her eyes widened.

“Wha-why?”

“Someone told me what happened.” She frowned and the director shrugged. “He touched you and you hit him; he deserved that.” Haneul blinked confused at him. “Now, I just checked your grades and-“

“Wait wait wait.” She leaned forward. “Who told you? Was anyone else there?”

“Yes, he saw everything and told me.”

‘”He”, so it was a boy.’ Haneul thought.

“Haneul, your grades are really low, you’re not even trying anymore.” Haneul lowered her eyes. “I know it’s been difficult for you but you can’t keep doing this. Don’t you want to get to college?” Haneul shrugged and leaned back on the chair. “I’m not going to give you any punishment for today’s event but you will have to go tutoring.” Haneul’s eyes snapped up at him.

“What?”

“I’m not asking you. If you don’t pass this year then I’m afraid I will have to kick you out of the school, and no other school is going to accept you with this grades.” Haneul gaped at him.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this to me.”

“I think I’ve been tolerant enough with you but this can’t keep going on. You need to wake up, Haneul. You’re time is running out,” Haneul snorted. “You can’t keep playing like this.”

Haneul lowered her head and nodded reluctantly. The director smile pleased.

“This is for your own good, Haneul.” He stood up and walked to open the door. “You’re going to start on Monday after school. Don’t be late.”

“Yes, Mr. Park.” Haneul stood up and walked out of the office.

 

The next day, the director and Simon went with Haneul and he apologized to her. Hoya raised an eyebrow at Simon but didn’t ask anything. Later that day he found out about what happened the day before and punched Simon’s face and threatened him to stay away from Haneul.

 

Monday after school, Haneul walked towards the tutoring apartment and entered the room the director assigned for her. She sat in one of the big tables and took out her phone to play. Five minutes later she heard footsteps out there and the door opened a while later, Haneul smirked, eyes never leaving her phone.

“You’re late, ssem.” Haneul didn’t hear anything and looked up. Her eyes widened when she saw Woohyun standing there, his face was just as shocked as hers. They both stared at each other until Haneul raised an eyebrow. “Are you my tutor?” Woohyun blinked and opened and closed his mouth.

“I-I think so..?” It sounded more like a question for him. Haneul scoffed and straightened.

“Well, at least you’re not Ms. Kim so I guess is fine.” She opened her bag and took out a notebook and a case. Haneul looked up and saw Woohyun still on the door. “You’re not going to sit?”

“Y-yes.” He walked to the table and stood in front of her. He kept his gaze lowered as he took out his books and notes. Woohyun sat down but when he was about to straightened himself, his foot which was leaning on the floor for it, slipped and accidentally kicked Haneul’s shin.

“Oh , Woohyun! Watch out!” Haneul squeezed her eyes shut as she reached down to rub her shin.

“Sorry! I didn’t meant to-“ Woohyun trailed as he realized that she just called him by his name. His heart fluttered on his chest. “D-do you know my name?” He asked softly, a goofy smile started to form on his face.

“Of course I know.” She groaned and sat up straight.

“I thought you didn’t.” He smiled to himself, eyes glued on the book in front of him.

“Why wouldn’t I? You’re teacher’s favorite; they called you all the time.” His shoulders deflated. He was expecting that she remembered his name from when he introduced himself to the class not for being some kind of teacher’s pet.

“Anyways, where do we start?”

The next hour Woohyun was teaching her some math’s problems. Haneul kept frowning at the numbers and letters in front of her; whenever she asked for his help, he would leave his own homework behind until she knew how to solve the problem. When the two hours passed, both of them walked out of the school and said their goodbyes. Woohyun saw her walking away and mentally cursed because he lived on the opposite way. But he walked towards his house with a smile on his face for having spent the last two hour with his crush.

 

For the next two weeks, Woohyun found out that Haneul did well on the majority of the subjects but math, physics and chemistry.

One day, they were working on their chemistry homework in silence. Woohyun finished first and was watching her serious face while she kept with her own. Something was bothering him since the day he talked with the director and now that both of them were a bit more comfortable with each other, he decided to ask her, but still he couldn’t just go for it so he tried to approach the subject with other question.

“Why are you here?” Haneul chuckled and glanced at him briefly.

“Because I’m not in my home.” Woohyun sighed.

“No, I mean, why are you getting tutored?” Haneul dropped her pencil and turned to him. She gazed intensely at him and he started to feel nervous.

“Because it was either this or they kicked me out of school.” Woohyun’s eyes widened and he shook his head slightly. Haneul sighed and played with her fingers. “My grades are bad and I need to pass this year if I want to keep studying in this school.” She looked at him and smiled. “That’s when you came in the picture. Now, let me finish this .” Haneul frowned at her homework again. Woohyun blushed at her smile and gazed softly at her.

“And… well, you know…” Haneul glanced at him quickly. “I heard what happened the other day with Simon.” Woohyun looked everywhere but her. Haneul stopped writing and focused on him. “Why didn’t you tell the director the truth?” Haneul arched an eyebrow at him and he lowered his gaze.

“Nobody knew that I didn’t tell the director what happened, I didn’t even tell Hoya about that.” She squinted her eyes at him. “So… you were the one that saw everything that day and you tell the director.”

Woohyun’s hands started to tremble under her judging gaze. He swallowed hard as she leaned forward, her faces was inches away from his face. Woohyun closed his eyes afraid at might what she could actually do. Haneul took the opportunity to study his face.

He has sharp features; sharp eyes, sharp nose, sharp jaw line. He has chubby cheeks and plump lips. He was handsome but everything was hiding under that shaggy hair and thick glasses.

Haneul smiled and pinched his cheek. Woohyun yelped and opened his eyes. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her smiling in front of him, eyes in crescent moons.

“Thank you. If it hadn’t been for you I might as well been expelled by now.” She let go of his cheek and rested her head on his hand. “Actually I think that the only reason why the director gave me this chance was because you made him realized that I didn’t just hit him without a reason.”

Woohyun smiled, showing his dimple.

“Then I’m glad I went to talk to him.” Haneul nodded and continued with her homework.

After a few minutes, Haneul dropped her pencil again and turned to him with squinted eyes. Woohyun felt her gaze and looked up at him, pushing up his glasses on the process.

“If you saw everything then why didn’t you do anything?” Woohyun blinked, mouth opening and closing. “Never mind, it wasn’t your place to do that anyway.” She continued with her homework.

 

A month later they were more comfortable with each other. Woohyun talked more and even opened up to her. Haneul liked his dorky laugh, she found it both annoying and endearing. He told her that he was going to study medicine and she arched an eyebrow at him.

“Really? But you said you like to sing… so I thought that maybe you wanted to be a singer or chorister or something.” Woohyun smiled weakly and played with the pencil between his fingers.

“Actually I do but my parents don’t want me to do it.” Haneul gasped and he looked at her over his glasses.

“What?! And you’re going to let them control your life?!” She gaped at him and shook her head. “You’re so wrong, Woohyun. This is your life we’re talking about; you need to do what you like.”

“But they say-“

“That they’re doing it for your own good; that you need to have a successful life in order to be happy and . Am I right?” Woohyun’s face fell and nodded slightly. Haneul sighed, putting an arm on his shoulder. He looked at her and she felt bad seeing his sad face. “That may be the truth, but you have to do what makes you happy not what it might make you happy.”

Woohyun gazed at her for a moment, digesting her words. Haneul smiled and clapped happy.

“I haven’t heard you sing. Let’s made a bet.” Woohyun frowned. “If a finish this chemistry homework in…” She glanced at her phone. “Twenty minutes and get it right, you will sing for me.” Woohyun eyes widened.

“And if you don´t?”

“Well, I will do anything you want.” Haneul smiled, extending her hand. “Deal?” Woohyun grinned.

“Deal.”

Haneul put an alarm and quickly started her homework. Woohyun was sure that she wouldn’t finish the homework in time. They’ve been working on that for the past week and she always got trouble with those problems. Woohyun thought of what he could ask for her. Maybe a kiss. He shook his head. That was too much and the only thing he could get from her would be a hard slap. Woohyun tapped the pen on his bottom lip in thought. Maybe he could ask her for a date. Yes! That would be perfect! But he frowned. Why would she go on a date with him? He wasn’t handsome or charming in any way. Plus he was sure that something was going on between Haneul and Hoya. How could he compete against him? Woohyun sighed and looked at her. He should ask her for her number instead. That sounded like a very good idea.

Twenty minutes later Woohyun was checking Haneul’s homework, she was chewing her thumb nail while gazing at him expectantly. Woohyun’s eyes scanned every one of the problems without missing anything. He sighed, took out his glasses, put them on the table and rubbed his face.

“Woaah, this is like 4-D or something.”

Woohyun dropped his hands and turned to Haneul who has his glasses on, arms stretched as if trying to reach for something.

“Hey! Give them to me!” He reached for her but she stood up and tried to walk. “Stop it, you’re going to fall.” Haneul laughed and removed his glasses.

“I’m kidding. You’re not that blind.” She rubbed her eyes and looked at him.

Haneul let out a tiny gasp as she could see perfectly his face. She felt her cheeks blushed and her ears getting hotter by the second. She knew he was good looking but without glasses he looked so damn handsome. Haneul smiled and walked to him. Woohyun squinted his eyes and backed away when he saw her getting closer.

“W-what are you doing?” He asked nervous. Haneul chuckled.

“Relax, I’m not going to do anything.” She said softly and lifted her hands.

Woohyun blinked at her, trying to focus on her face. Haneul put the glasses on his face, careful to put them over his ears, brushing the hair over them slightly. Woohyun shivered at her touch and his eyes widened.

“There.” Haneul backed away and smiled. Woohyun blushed and looked down. Haneul chuckled and sat again. “I think you look good both with and without glasses. You should try to use lenses instead.” Woohyun cleared his throat and sat next to her. “How was my homework, ssem?” Woohyun sighed again.

“Perfect.” He muttered. Haneul laughed and clapped excited.

“Really?! Woow! And I did it alone!” She sat up and did a happy dance. Woohyun laughed at her silliness. Haneul sat down again and looked at him with shining eyes.

“What song are you going to sing me?” Woohyun’s smile fell from his face and he paled a bit.

“W-what?”

“I win, now you have to sing to me.” She rested her arm on the table, head on her hand, gazing at him. “Whatever song is okay.”

“Well…” Woohyun cleared his throat and took deep breaths to calm his steady heart.

Did time stop again?
Is it going to fall asleep like this again?
While staring blankly outside
I’m thinking about you with my two eyes closed

Woohyun sang softly with his eyes closed. Haneul felt goose bumps on her skin at his low voice.

Even though time is passing by again
I’m going back to that time again
Although I try hard to find everything in your memories

Woohyun gain more confidence by the second verse and now his voice flow out of his mouth with so much ease. Haneul closed her eyes to enjoy more his voice.

I’m crying by myself there but
As my tears stopped I’m laughing but
I’m waiting again
Until I can breathe again

When he sang the last part, he opened his eyes and saw Haneul with her eyes closed too. She opened them and Woohyun saw her eyes filled with tears. Haneul smiled and clapped.

“That was amazing, Woohyun.” He felt his heart beating rapidly at her compliment. “That song… I haven’t heard it before. Did you… write it?” She asked softly. Woohyun lowered his head and nodded.

“It was cheesy, right?”

“No.” She whined and whipped the tears away. “It was romantic. Damn, Woohyun, if you don’t do this for the rest of your life, I swear I’m going to chase you and kick your really hard for it.”

Woohyun laughed and she smiled hearing his dorky laugh.

“Don’t laugh, I’m being serious!” She threw her eraser at him, laughing too.