Everyone laughed at Bobby’s remarks. It was indeed a relief that they wouldn’t be paying money because they lost the bet and instead they would be receiving from Hanbin who just lost the bet – by falling in love with Hayi.

“Really, who would have thought the great Kim Hanbin will be falling in love, right?” Jongup teased.

Hanbin smiled sheepishly and he was brought to his own world when he said, “But, seriously, at first, I was only like, ‘I need to do this like I usually do with other girls before so I would win the bet and collect your money.’ But, if you only knew Hayi, if you spend time with her, if you listen to her voice, her laughter, look at her sweet smile, her deep, brown eyes, if you take just a little of your time to get to know her, you’ll eventually fall for her too,” Hanbin said dreamily.

The room fell silent for a few seconds before it burst with teases and cheers from his friends.

Hanbin laughed at how silly he sounded though. He bowed his head and scratched on his nape. He had this boyish smile on his lips. Oh, Hayi really made a great miracle on this boy. “Okay, now. Let me leave you for a while. Hayi must have been wondering why I haven’t fetched her today. I’m going to check on her,” he said and then added into a whisper. “And maybe confess to her too.”

Hanbin walked towards the door but when he opened it, he took a step back when a frightened-looking student was standing in front of it. He recognized her as Hayi’s friend.

“What—“

“Hayi… she heard about the bet… but she hadn’t heard about the latter parts…” she said frantically. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault.”

“Where is she?!” Hanbin asked, already having a bad feeling about this just when about he was going to confess his feelings for her.

“S-She ran away. I don’t know!”

Hanbin didn’t waste any second anymore as he took off, not sparing another glance at Hayi’s friend and his own friends who had heard about the commotion.

Wind blew past Hanbin as he ran in an unimaginable speed. He was running along the corridors, looking for Hayi, walking past people, even bumping onto them. He reached the outside of the school building but he didn’t see Hayi. Suddenly, he had an idea.

He ran back inside the building with one destination in mind – the library.

As he arrived in the library, it was still empty except for the librarian and her student assistant who was fixing the books by the shelf.

Because it was a library, Hanbin thought that it was wrong to run around so with measured steps, he went on looking through the shelves, looking for her. Every step he took, his heart was beating fast, nervous at what might happen, on what he might find out.

When he reached the last shelf where he claimed his favorite spot, he saw someone curled into a tight ball, sobbing silently.

“Hayi…” he called.

Hayi jolted and looked up. He saw the redness of her eyes, the tears that kept on flowing. After a few seconds, Hayi felt her chest tightening. She gasped for air as her hand frantically searched for her inhaler.

“HAYI!” Hanbin called, sitting beside her, cradling her on his arms. He searched for her pockets but saw nothing. She didn’t have any bag with her so even though Hayi would get mad, he took her sweater off and searched for her inhaler inside her uniform suit.

When Hanbin found it, he positioned it between her lips and let her inhale the medicine. After a while, her breathing got even.

“Are you alright, Hayi?”

Hayi looked up at him. She got her inhaler from his hand and frantically stood up and ran away. Hanbin ran after her until they reached outside. He grabbed her by her wrist.

“Hayi, please let me explain…” he said.

Hayi shook her head, refusing to listen, keeping her head bowed so he wouldn’t see her crying. “You’re a liar. You never liked me right? Your words were just words you never meant.”

“Hayi, that’s not true. I meant them. Let me just explain, please?”

Hayi turned to him, tears in her eyes that she could hardly see his face. "Is it because I'm a fool? I just wanted to learn how to love like everyone else. But after thinking you will be the one to teach me what love is, after thinking that I'm feeling right now was indeed love, you throw me away just like that?!"

“It’s not like that, Hayi.”

“I was a fool, right? Falling in love with you, falling in love with someone I barely know, with someone who just appeared in my life one day. You knew that I never knew love before this but you came. You knew I spend my time with my family and friends before this because I never knew love. You knew how much I want to spend my time with my dying mother instead of going out with people. But you just had to come at the most unexpected time. You just had to change me. You just had to make me into something like this, into someone fool like me.”

He couldn't do anything. He wanted to speak, wanted to explain himself, but he just realized she was right. So he kept mum. He took a step towards her, trying to reach her, to hold her hand, to keep her beside him.

"No," Hayi flinched away, her head bowed down. "No, I won't be fooled anymore. I won’t be listening to any of your empty words. Not anymore.”

As Hayi’s wrist slipped away from his hand, she turned around and ran again, leaving Hanbin on his spot, not able to do anything but just regret every action he did in the past.

Chaerin entered her younger sister’s room, a tray of foods in her hands. Her heart broke as she saw Hayi on her bed, hugging a SpongeBob stuffed toy while crying on it. Her room was filled with only her cries and sniffs.

“Hayi-ya, here’s your dinner. You skipped lunch a while ago. Your tummy is empty and you need to eat before sleeping,” Chaerin advised but it was in vain as Hayi seemed to not have heard her at all. “Hayi, Hanbin hadn’t left his post since this morning. I told him to leave already but he remained persistent. I think you need to talk to him.”

Hayi turned to her, her eyes b with tears which were threatening to fall anytime. “Unnie, I don’t want to see his face. I don’t want to talk to him ever again.”

Chaerin sighed, realizing that her sister’s stubbornness had attacked once again. “It’s snowing outside, are you sure about that?”

Hayi was silent for a while and Chaerin thought she had hit the spot. “I don’t care. Let him die in the cold.”

Hayi didn’t notice that she fell asleep. She realized that the SpongeBob toy she was hugging was already wet from her tears. As she got up, she also realized that she was still in her uniform. She walked towards her bathroom to wash her face. As she did, her tummy grumbled, realizing that she had skipped two meals for today.

She walked out of the bathroom. It was already one in the morning, she realized. She had slept for a few hours but her head and eyes were aching. As she remembered what she was crying for, her tears once again threatened to fall.

“Stop crying, Hayi,” she warned herself as she shut her eyes tight.

Even though she wanted to sleep more, she couldn’t anymore. There was a nagging feeling inside her mind that kept on telling her she forgot something else. As her eyes flew towards the window, she knew.

She shook her head. “No, that can’t be possible,” she convinced herself.

However, she found herself frantically searching for her scarf. She wrapped it around her neck and wrapped herself more with a thick sweater. She found herself running downstairs. When she opened the front door, she was surprised at how thick the snow on their lawn was and how much snow still kept on falling. It was close to being a blizzard.

Even through the thick clothing, she could still feel the coldness. She hugged herself before she took a step under the falling snow.

She huffed and puffed as she made her way outside. When she was already out onto their narrow street, she saw someone curled into a ball, hugging himself, by the wall. He was trembling under the snow, a bunch of them collecting on his shoulders. Although he was using a sweater, she guessed that the layers of his clothing weren’t of much help to keep him warm.

She ran towards him and sat in front of him.

“Hanbin…” she called.

Hanbin lifted his head. His teeth were clattering. His eyes and nose were red. He was trembling. Despite the coldness though, he managed to speak. “Ha…yi… I’m… sorry.”

Hayi’s tears fell once again. Under the snow, she cupped his face, hoping that the little warmth would help in one way or another. It was true as Hanbin leaned closer to her hands, feeling the warmth she brought him.

Seeing this, Hayi removed her scarf from her neck and wrapped it around him. She also removed one layer of her sweater and wrapped him with it.

“I forgive you,” she said as she hugged him tight.

Hayi leaned away and she kissed him briefly. The little warmth they shared had Hanbin’s heart burst in joy and he immediately forgot the pain brought by the winter cold. They stared at each other’s eyes, at each other’s faces. Hayi smiled at him and planted another brief kiss before hugging him tighter.

Hayi, once a fool for love, but now had learned the meaning of love being in the arms of the man who just gave her a reason to know what love is.