Like she predicted, meeting the guys at the common room was a nightmare.

Granted it was a short time before the bell rung – but you have to understand that she had to endure ten minutes of the boys just watching her squirm, sporting either their grins (which in the case of Bobby was a little too creepy) or their curious looks, assessing her without the slightest subtlety. Mino tried his best to make it comfortable, but it really couldn’t be helped. Especially when she was lost on all the inside jokes, not to mention being conscious of all the other trainees and music majors who came in and out of the common room, their faces etched with incredulity as to why the new girl was hanging out with the most popular boys in school.

She didn’t know either, and it wasn’t like she wanted to be there.

The most awful part about the whole thing was sitting right across Kang Seungyoon who didn’t speak a word to anyone. And yet she could feel this strange tension between the two of them, as though the rest of the boys were just chatting away in the background, and there they were: the only two silent ones – engaging in an unspoken conversation.  She was quite certain he wasn’t even looking at her, and was busy tinkering with his phone and listening to music. But she was almost sure that he was as aware of her presence as she was of his. She looked everywhere except his way, but she could sense his small movements, mirroring her own. She’d shift in her seat, and she could detect out of the corner of her eye, Seungyoon shifting in his seat, too.

Of course she considered that it may all be in her head if not for the few times when she sneaked a glance his way, and oddly, those were the moments he’d raise his eyelids a little to match her eyes as well.

And every single time, she felt a tiny jolt through her body.

She could barely comprehend (or willfully reject the nagging idea behind)  what was going on with her or between the two of them, when the bell rung and she sprang up from her seat, surprising all the boys. She hastily said her goodbyes and without looking at him, bolted out of there.

Her first dance class wasn’t nearly as bad as anything else that happened that day. Her instructor who insisted on being called Miss Flo, gave her time to watch the other students and the routine they’ve been practicing for the past few weeks. There was a nice girl named Soohyun who called her ‘unni’ and was sweet enough to ask her about her first day, but their conversation never went beyond exchanging pleasantries.

It was at that class when she realized that the music majors – whenever they were in their zone – didn’t pay anything else much attention. She was relieved that her dance classmates weren’t as nosy as her classmates that morning, and she hoped it would stay that way all throughout her next classes.

She was a nervous wreck when Miss Flo instructed her to start learning the moves though. In her opinion, she wasn’t such a bad dancer. She had rhythm (thanks to loving music since she was a kid), and she’d admittedly danced by herself in her room whenever the music prompted her. But she never had lessons, so learning dance steps was a bit difficult or a first-timer like her. But at least she wasn’t embarrassing and was fairly tolerable, despite practicing side by side with music majors. Even Miss Flo told her that she was better than she expected.

When dance class finally ended, Hana was covered with sweat from head to toe, her muscles aching in certain areas, but she was feeling accomplished at having memorized half the choreography down. Her body gravitated towards the bench at the corner where her  water bottle was and clambered her way to it, paying no mind to the droplets of sweat that were stinging her eyes.

“Unni, what’s your next class?”

She turned around after having downed almost half of her bottle and came face-to-face with a smiling Soohyun. “Oh, uhm. I only have advanced guitar for the rest of the afternoon,” Hana mentioned, remembering her schedule.

“Advanced guitar?” Soohyun chirped. “You’ll be meeting my brother then! His name is Chanhyuk. He’s quite shy, so I apologize in advance if he becomes a bumbling idiot when talking to you. That’s if he talks to you at all. You probably have to greet him first.”

Hana chuckled, finding this girl so cute. At least not everyone around here is so bad. “I’ll be sure to greet him, then.”

The girl gave her an okay sign and skipped away. Hana was still smiling when she grabbed her things to head to the shower rooms. After a quick bath and changing back into her uniform, she agonized over the fact that she had to take a trip to her locker if she wanted to get rid of her sweaty clothes. I hope I don’t run into Jennie or her set of minions. God this is like Rude Hyomin all over again. Except scarier.

With a sigh, she began making her way down to the second floor.

And that’s when it happened again.

She felt someone grab a hold of her hand, and before she could even turn around, she already knew who it was.

She gave Kang Seungyoon a bewildered look, but he was already pulling her away from the direction of the lockers. She couldn’t gloss over the fact that he wasn’t clutching her wrist like the previous two times they were in this situation, but was actually holding her hand. His hand was cold, but it shot warmth up her arm, which she tried her very best not to think too much into. When they passed by the corner (the same embarrassing corner from yesterday), she was expecting they’d turn right to go to WINNER’s music room, but she was surprised when instead, he pulled her towards the fire exit stairs.

Seungyoon fumbled for the doorknob and pushed it open. He gave Hana a brief inquiring look, as though asking her if she was alright with all of this. Of course Hana knew she should have resisted, and she couldn’t even make the excuse of being too surprised to react when she already knew from the get go that it was Seungyoon. But, for reasons she couldn’t even fathom, herself, she took a step inside.

Seungyoon closed the door after quickly following her in. He turned to look at her, and they were standing way too close yet again – the fire escape stairs didn’t nearly have as much space as she would have wanted. She waited for him to say something, seeing as he was the one who brought her there, but he didn’t.

Hana was getting too suffocated by the silence. “We should really stop meeting like this,” she said, attempting to sound light but failing miserably. She sounded nervous because she was nervous.

“Sorry,” Seungyoon bit his lower lip. “It’s becoming a habit, isn’t it?”

“A strange one.” She craned her neck to scan the space. “And at a strange place.”

“The members are in the music room.”

“Embarrassed to be seen with me?”

Of course she was only kidding, the reason for which was to lighten the atmosphere and perhaps mask the growing tension in her face that always surfaced whenever Seungyoon was around. But he didn’t seem like he got the playful undertone because he kept a straight face when he responded.

“I wanted to get you alone,” he said before his eyes widened slightly. “I—I mean talk to you alone. Talk to you alone without people staring, judging. You know. To talk.”

That Seungyoon seemed a little flustered, too, certainly did nothing to reduce the tension. She cleared and took a tiny step back. “You’re surprised I transferred.”

“Among other things.”

Hana sighed and leaned back on the stairs’ railing. She had yet to talk to someone about her transfer and as much as she was hoping it would be Kyungmi, it didn’t feel too farfetched to tell Seungyoon, too. After all, he’d already heard her sing and he saw YG was at the Cafe last Saturday. He practically knew half of the story so she didn’t need to go into details, whereas she can imagine Kyungmi, being the chatterbox that she is around Hana, asking about her whole musical history before they can get to the point.

She looked down at her wristwatch before meeting Seungyoon’s inquiring eyes. “I have time for one question. Next class is in five minutes. Can’t be late on my first day.”

“Just one?” Seungyoon lifted a brow.

Hana nodded and folded her arms in anticipation. She already knew the questions that he probably had. Did YG really ask you to transfer? Did you audition to be here? Was this your plan all along? Are you still stalking me? She almost scoffed at that last thought. She was prepared to be snarky if need be.

Seungyoon pressed his lips together, his eyes steady on hers. He seemed to be really thinking this question through since she could tell the hesitation in the way he opened his mouth slightly then closed it again.

“Well?”

“Are you dating Mino?”

Okay, that question she didn’t expect. Her arms limply fell to her sides. “What?!”

Seungyoon ignored the shocked look on her face and shrugged. “As the leader of WINNER, I ought to know my members’…  uhh… affairs. Mino will never admit to it even if he was dating you so I thought I should ask you.”

Hana’s jaw slacked. “That’s what you dragged me in here for?”

“You told me I only had one question and this one concerns me – the team – the most.”

Her disbelief evolved into annoyance quickly. How was it possible to feel a range of things whenever this guy was around?

“You said Mino would never admit to dating me, so if I were dating him, what makes you think I’d tell you the truth despite my boyfriend not wanting me to?”

Seungyoon’s expression hardened. “So you are dating him.”

“Unbelievable,” she rolled her eyeballs and pushed Seungyoon aside to let herself out.

“Hey!”

She turned around and put a hand up to stop him from following her, but Seungyoon had already taken a step so her palm landed straight on his chest. She withdrew instantly and looked up at Seungyoon with wide eyes. The guy, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care – about her touching him, about standing too close, about everything else that bothered her when it came to him.

He did, however, look wound up.

“Why can’t you just answer without making this so difficult?”

“Because you’re asking me an absurd question!”

“So you’re not dating Mino.”

“Well duh, how in the world is that possible when I’ve only talked to him all of four times?! Five, if you count that time he almost gave me a bump on the forehead by literally running into me.”

She didn’t know what to make of Seungyoon’s expression after her answer but he exhaled like he’d just been told he wasn’t suffering from a life-threatening illness. It made her wonder what his reaction would have been if she pretended she was dating Mino. And it intrigued her more than she’d care to admit.

“Come on, let’s head to class,” he was the first to speak after another awkward silence. She felt a chill when Seungyoon’s hand slithered into hers as he reached for the doorknob. This time, Hana reacted fast enough and pulled her hand away, flashing him a disapproving frown. What the hell?

Seungyoon stopped midway out and looked at back her. She could swear his lips twitched in an attempt to hide a smile, his eyes glazed with a mischievous glint. “I thought you casually held hands with guys you’re not dating,” he piped and slipped out of the door bef