The morning whizzed by with Hana remaining in a semi-dazed state. Most of the time, she wondered if she was really sitting there in class, and not still in her bedroom having a nightmare about being there. And the few times when she was aware of her surroundings, she spent consciously blocking out the nosy glances thrown her way by her new classmates.

The music majors, she learned, only spent half the time on academic subjects compared to ordinary students, so the teachers came by and went in lightning speed. For instance, she wasn’t even finished balancing a chemical equation yet when she looked up to realize that History class had already started and there was a completely different teacher in front of them. Under any other circumstance, she would have rejoiced at this new discovery, but it only left her feeling off-kilter somehow.

Then again, the tense atmosphere in the classroom may have been more of the reason for that.

Mino was quiet for most of the morning, save for the occasional query of ‘are you okay?’ which  she appreciated at first, but got tired of by the third time he asked. It only made her more self-conscious, and she was already feeling extremely insecure around the music majors. Although, now that she thought about it, it’s entirely possible that she looked constipated the entire time she sat there, so she couldn’t really blame the guy for wanting to know if she was going to pass out anytime soon.

If there was anyone to blame, it should be herself, really. She shouldn’t have lied and answered him every time that she was okay, when she was far from it. Then Mino wouldn’t have asked over and over.

When the lunch time bell rang, Hana had to stop herself from sprinting out of the classroom just to get some much needed air. She remained in her seat – like she usually did back at her old class – and decided to wait for everyone to shuffle out. She looked to her left, expecting Kyungmi to be doing the same thing, but to her surprise, her friend was approaching her with a smile.

Instantly, she felt loads lighter. She would have gotten up, if not for the fact that Kyungmi’s smile disappeared for a second, followed by a confused look, and then another meaningful smile. Hana looked over her shoulder and caught Mino smiling back at Kyungmi. Odd.

“Hey, Hana,” Kyungmi chirped as soon as she was standing next to her desk. “I just remembered I needed to be… uhh… at Mrs. Han’s, helping her do… stuff.”

“Again?” Hana replied, her tone a little more incredulous than she intended. She sneaked a  look behind her in time to see Mino jerk his chin up to the ceiling as though there was something so interesting up there to see. Hana turned back to Kyungmi with suspicious eyes. “You’re not just saying that to ditch me, are you?”

The look of panic on Kyungmi’s face was too endearing. “O--of course not!” She waved her hands and stammered cutely that Hana let out a laugh at her innocence. Clearly, this girl couldn’t lie to save her life.

“Don’t worry about it Kyungmi, I can show Hana around,” piped the boy beside her. Mino was already grinning when Hana shifted in her seat to face him. “That is if it’s okay with you, of course,” he added.

“Oh…” she bit the inside of her cheeks, unsure. She was really looking forward to having a comfortable lunch with Kyungmi, if only to have time to unload everything in her chest to her friend. But the hopeful look on Mino’s face was too difficult to say no to. She found herself wondering if he pulls this trick on girls all the time. Sure, he’s got the swoon-worthy charismatic rapper vibe in spades (that, she could have resisted), but she wasn’t prepared for his puppy dog look.

“…I guess it’s okay.”

Mino’s smile was too infectious that she just had to smile back, albeit with a hint of uncertainty. If she recalled correctly, Mino offered to show her around – which meant they were going to be interacting in public. She cringed. Who knows how that will turn out.

It didn’t even occur to her that Kyungmi had slipped out, giggling in her wake. Hana sighed, knowing fully well what Kyungmi must be thinking now. The last time they talked about Mino, her friend had insinuated that something was brewing between Mino and her other than a forbidden, secret friendship. She only laughed in her face, because 1) she didn’t think a few times bumping into each other and exchanging a few words would qualify as a friendship, let alone a ‘forbidden, secret’ one; and 2) there’s no way in hell someone like Song Mino was going to be interested in her.

“Do you want to have lunch first?” Mino asked brightly, standing up from his seat and leaning on his desk to face her. “I heard the cafeteria’s serving spaghetti today.”

The thought of having to go to the cafeteria – not just as a music major but as someone who has the juice to eat with a WINNER member – was downright frightening. No freaking way. “Uhh, I actually brought lunch,” she pulled out the silver lunchbox urgently from her bag. “My Grandmother made me chicken galbi.”

“Wow.” Mino’s eyes lit up. “I still can’t get her dumplings out of my head.”

“You’re welcome to join me if you like, there’s more than enough. I actually told her that you liked her dumplings, and she told me to give you a bite of this,” she chuckled awkwardly, remembering her eager Grandmother. “I honestly didn’t think I was going to, you know, since you’re you and you usually eat at the Cafeteria, but since you’re here…” she trailed off, realizing that she’d been blabbing mindlessly – something that only happens when she tries to talk her way out of a difficult situation.

Mino flashed her a smile. “I’d love to.”

“Oi. Aren’t you coming?”

Hana stiffened at the sound of that familiar voice. She turned around and saw Seungyoon and Taehyun by the door, waiting for Mino. She locked eyes with Seungyoon for a second before his gaze flitted to his friend again.

“I’m having lunch with Hana today. Her Grandmother cooked chicken galbi,” Mino casually replied, and for some reason, Hana wanted to hide under a rock. She shot a look at the two boys and Taehyun seemed to find this amusing because he didn’t even make any effort to hide his smirk. Seungyoon, on the other hand, only had a deadpan expression that could even be mistaken as annoyance.

“Chicken galbi, huh?” Taehyun turned to look at her with an assessing stare that made Hana feel a little too warm inside. The sides of the boy’s lips lifted into a wily smile. “Sounds tempting. Can I eat with you, too? You’ll find I’m much better company than Mino hyung since I actually have table manners.”

“Ya!” Mino yelled, taking a step to cover Hana, like a shield from Taehyun’s advances.

Taehyun let out a chuckle and pushed him aside. “Relax, I was kidding. I know better than to intrude on someone else’s lunch date,” he looked at Hana again and extended a hand. “I’m Nam Taehyun, by the way. I’m glad to see another pretty face around here. Heaven knows I’m tired of seeing dudes all the time.”

Hana let the ‘lunch date’ and ‘pretty face’ comments slip past her without a second thought and shook his hand. Off the bat, she concluded there was something so beguiling about this Nam Taehyun guy, and now she understands why everyone of his fans on the internet were calling him ‘y’.

“I’m Baek Hana.”

“I know, and let me just say, it’s very nice to meet you. Thanks for coming. Things were starting to get boring around here.”

She rounded her eyes, withdrawing her hand from Taehyun’s hold. “Huh?”

“Ignore him, he’s a little strange,” Mino spoke, giving Taehyun a scowl, to which the boy just shrugged.

“And this is Kang Seungyoon,” Taehyun gestured to the completely unmoving Seungyoon beside him. Hana didn’t know what was going through his mind, and it made her nervous somehow. “Although… you already know each other, right?” Taehyun raised a brow and alternated his gaze from her to Seungyoon.

“Eh?” She squeaked. Okay, so she wasn’t exactly being eloquent around these guys, but in her defense, they can be a very intimidating when in droves. She can barely handle them one at a time, but when she’s suddenly surrounded by three, it was admittedly a handful.

Also, she didn’t know why she couldn’t just admit that yes, she knew Kang Seungyoon, although much like Mino, she wasn’t really sure if they could be considered ‘acquaintances’, since more than half the time, they didn’t really want to be around each other. Yesterday was different, though, she noted, remembering their odd yet surprisingly amiable conversation at the music room. She found herself looking at Seungyoon for a little help, but he continued to look at her blankly.

“He told us you work for his Uncle,” Taehyun explained, as though reading the uncomfortable expression on her face and decided to fish her out of misery. “You must have run into him at the Cafe, I presume?”

He told them? She remained tongue-tied, her mind flooded with questions of why and how she came up in any of their conversations in the first place. She didn’t realize that she’d been silent the entire time until the three boys’ expectant stares made her squirm.

“Oh we’ve met,” Seungyoon answered without taking his eyes off hers. Something about the way he said it sounded almost cloying. “A couple of times, actually. I thought she was my stalker.”

This time, it was Mino whose eyes widened. “Stalker?”

Seungyoon gave Mino a crooked smile. “Enjoy lunch,” he added suggestively and left, as though deliberately leaving Mino hanging so Hana would have the burden to explain exactly what he meant. Even Taehyun seemed to be stunned, but only laughed at Mino’s befuddled expression before following his leader out the door.

Mino instantly turned to her, his face painted with curiosity. “What did Seungyoon mean?”

Hana waved him off and let out an awkward chuckle. “Nothing. It’s nothing. Just a little misunderstanding,” she replied. Kang Seungyoon, aish! She shot an angry glare at the door where the guy had been standing just a minute ago. Oddly, she also felt a flutter in her stomach as if they had just exchanged an inside joke only they knew about. She tried to suppress a smile and turned back to Mino. “He’s just too conceited, he thinks every girl within a few meters radius is a stalker.”

“Conceited?” Mino looked at her funny. “Are we talking about the same Kang Seungyoon? If anything, he’s the complete opposite.”

“Oh,” she smiled faintly, realizing Mino thought she was serious. “You know, like I said, we had a misunderstanding.”

“You might have met him at a bad day. He’s been having lots of that, lately,” he explained. “But when you get to know Seungyoon, you’ll realize he’s not too bad. I promise.”

That’s what I’m afraid of, she thought.

“So she’s a music major now?” Hanbin cocked a brow. “The girl who rescued Yoo Princess last week?”

“Well duh, she’s in the music department, babo,” Bobby replied with a chuckle before turning to Seunghoon. “Isn’t that right, hyung?”

“I guess. I mean, she was