Weeks passed, and the day for the play was approaching until it came to the day before and everyone in the Drama Club felt the stress of it. Sungyeol and Jihyun practiced hard, the other actors and actresses were doing their best to memorize their lines, the behind-the-scenes prop-makers were working hard to get every prop done before the next day, and Sungjong was exhausted from making sure nothing was going wrong, that everything was going smoothly. Hyunyoung was always there to help out along the way, but she played little part in helping Sungyeol and Jihyun as they were a natural.

Sungyeol, on the other hand, was delighted with the time he spent with Jihyun since the two of them were the main leads for the play. They had, and he was very pleased with the progress, gotten a lot closer and they even had gone out together a couple of times. Neither of them had mentioned that they were dates, but it was pretty much a date. Hoya and Inguk wasted no chance in teasing their friend about it every single time.

And now, the next night, everything the Drama Club had worked hard for was going to pay off in a single night. No one was sure if they were more stressed by the thought, or relieved that it was coming to an end. All they felt at the moment was nervousness and excitement.

After school that day, Jihyun and Sungyeol were at Sungyeol’s front porch, going through their lines. They were taking a break while Sungyeol flipped through the script to see what other pages they had not practiced before. His eyes skimmed through a particular page, a page near to the end of the play, and paused. Well, that was a part of the script he had forgotten even existed.

Lifting a finger, he brought it down to a line, tapping on it thoughtfully. “Hey, Jihyun,” he called out, staring at it.

Jihyun didn’t bother to look up from her script. “Yeah?”

“Look at page twenty-two,” he said slowly. Sungyeol lifted his head up to see her turning to the said page. He waited until her eyes had read what he had read before continuing, “There’s a kiss scene. In fact, there are two other kiss scenes.” And they were all on the lips. Um, oh. Well . . .

Jihyun did not even bat an eyelid. “Oh.”

“Hmm, should we try and . . .” he trailed off, flustered, as his face turned a bright crimson red. He averted his gaze and seemed to find his shoes particularly interesting. “Do you think we should practice that part?”

“Um . . .” Jihyun’s cheeks flamed up themselves and she, too, thought the shoes she wore that day had an interesting design. She scuffled her footing before looking up to him and shrugged casually. “I think Sungjong mentioned something about how he didn’t want us to do it until tomorrow because he wanted it to look real and not as if we’ve practiced the part a few times before?”

“O ― oh . . . I see . . .” Sungyeol wrecked his brains to think of something intelligent to respond with but unfortunately he could feel it flactuating. “Then, I guess we’ll have to wait until the real day.” Smack yourself, stupid. He sneaked a peek at Jihyun and his eyes wandered down to her lips. He felt his own going dry from the lack of moisture and mentally smacked himself on the head. Stop it! Just . . . but damn, I’m sure they’d feel soft.

He gulped hard, shaking his head.

“I think . . . we’ve gone through the other lines a hundred of times that we can just act it out without a problem, maybe we can even perform it in our sleep,” Jihyun was saying with a light chuckle, smiling at him, as she closed the script in her hands. “So I think we’re ready for the Big Day.”

Sungyeol nodded in agreement, still flustered about the kiss. “Y ― yeah, I think so too,” he replied lamely. “Then shall we call it a day?”

Jihyun checked her watch and nodded. “Yeah, I have to be somewhere soon,” she told him. She smiled sheepishly at him. “I guess we’ll just have to make sure that all of us remember our lines and that the props are ready in time, huh?”

He chuckled softly and nodded. “Yeah. Anyway, you should go. Wouldn’t want you to be late for your appointment,” he reminded her.

She gave a wave before gathering her stuff. She had quite a couple of things to carry but denied his offer to help and made her way to her car parked at the curb of her house. She smiled at him as she got inside and drove away. He watched her as her car disappeared down the street, before he flopped back down on the swing on his front porch, sighing heavily. He felt like such a loser.

“Oof!”

Thud.

“Are you sure you don’t need help?”

“I’m sure, I’m sure, you should go — you’ve got a lot of things to prepare and you have a family dinner to attend to tonight.”

Sungyeol glanced up and saw Hyunyoung and Sungjong walking past his house. Apparently, Hyunyoung, who had too many books in her hands, dropped them and Sungjong was helping her to pick them up. Chuckling softly, he got up and sauntered over to them, picking the dropped books as well.

“I’ll help,” he offered, taking the books from Sungjong’s hands. “Don’t worry.”

Sungjong shot Hyunyoung an apprehensive look and she nodded reassuringly. “Go,” she laughed softly, pushing him gently. “Sunbae said he’ll help, so it’s fine. Just go. Don’t worry about it.”

The younger lad turned and smiled gratefully at his senior, thanking him. Then they parted; Sungyeol and Hyunyoung walking inside her house and Sungjong going back home to get ready for the family dinner. Sungyeol and Hyunyoung walked up to her room where he placed her books down on her desk. He glanced around and saw that although her room was tidy and neat, her study table was filled with pictures and books.

Hyunyoung shrugged, pushing aside papers and photos to clear a space for her books. “I can’t be bothered to clean my table up,” she explained despite his silence. “But eomma always makes sure my room is kept neat because she can’t stand it being so messy as if a hurricane had swept through.”

“I think the hurricane focused on your table more,” he laughed and she smiled. The two of them may have gotten a little closer, but Hyunyoung was still quiet. But he didn’t mind, he liked it when people were quiet and didn’t talk too much. He still could not believe that she was Jihyun’s sister. They were polar opposite.

Speaking of which . . .

“Hey, um, Hyunyoung,” he spoke up, an idea forming in his mind. “Um, this is going to sound awkward but, um, I was kinda wondering if . . . you know . . .”

Hyunyoung regarded him thoughtfully. “Has this got anything to do with my sister?” she questioned him. His flustered state gave her the answer. “Ah . . .” She nodded and smiled. “You are planning to confess to her, aren’t you?”

He blushed even harder. “Is it that obvious?”

She nodded, leaning against her table with a teasing smile he recognized well from Hoya and Inguk. “Kind of,” she replied, grinning slyly at him. “I mean, you have thoughtful look whenever you look at her instead of the dreamy one you used to have. And you’re blushing really hard now. I can see your red cheeks even though the lights aren’t here.”

His hands flew to his cheeks and indeed they were hot from blushing. He looked down. “Well . . . I was wondering if she ever said anything . . . you know, about me . . .” Sungyeol’s voice dropped to a mumble, casting his eyes downward.

“Hmmm . . . your name might’ve come up once or twice.” Hyunyoung giggled. “She said you’re really funny and really easy to talk to.”“What else did she say about me?” he asked eagerly.

She shrugged. “You can always