The next morning I woke up a bit late and rushed to get ready before hurrying off to school. I somehow managed to get through the gates before the bell rang, and I ran up to my class, flinging the door open and stepping through it right as the bell sounded. I sighed with relief and hurried to my seat as the teacher came in. I looked at the seat next to me and saw Hanbin there, sleeping – his head resting on his desk.

Class then started and, before I knew it, it was lunch time. My friends came over to my desk, and as I got up to go with them to the cafeteria, a sudden swarm of girls hurried their way over to Hanbin – who had just now woken up – blocking me from getting out.

“Oppa, the result wasn’t fair! There’s no way you should have lost!”

“Yeah, Oppa, it must have been rigged! I voted for you so many times! And I even got all of my friends and family to vote as much as they could!”

“You guys were so much better than the other team! They didn’t deserve to win!”

That was the last straw.

“Yah!” I yelled, slamming my hand on my desk, startling all of them.

“That’s enough! Do you really think you’re consoling him right now? Don’t forget that the other team is as much his friends as his own team! So why don’t you all shut the hell up and just leave him alone?”

I then shoved my way through the dumbfounded girls and grabbed Hanbin’s arm, pulling him out of his seat. The crowd split as I pulled him out of the classroom, dragging him down the hallway. It wasn’t until we started climbing the stairs that Hanbin spoke up.

“Um, Haewon? Where are we going?”

“Somewhere where you can get away from those annoying brats,” was all I said. We continued to climb until we came to a door. I pushed it open and we stepped out onto the roof. I finally let go of Hanbin, and I turned and closed the door behind us.

I walked over to the fence along the edge and leaned up against it, staring out past the walls of the school. Hanbin joined me, and we stood like that for a minute before I suddenly spoke up.

“I seriously can’t understand how you deal with those vultures. I mean, I get not being able to do much in order to keep up your image for when you debut, but you could at least say something! They just don’t know when to stop! I swear, if I didn’t have to worry about my image when I debut, I would have already taught them a less-”

I was cut off as Hanbin put his hands on my cheeks, turned my face to his, and kissed me. It was a soft kiss – his hands gently holding my face to his. When he pulled away, he looked at me, smiling lightly.

“Haewon, would you go out with me?” he asked, releasing my face. I stared at him in shock – both at his words, and his actions.

“What?”

“Would you go out with me? As in, do you want to be my girlfriend?”

I took a moment to let his request process before I answered.

“But… I thought you didn’t like me… I thought… what?”

He laughed, finding amusement from my confusion.

“I like you. I want to spend more time with you. I want to be your boyfriend. Would that be okay with you?”

“I…” I stared at his face for a moment before finishing what I was going to say. “I would love to be your girlfriend.”