The class was filled with the loud buzzing noises of the students simply chatting and playing with each other. Balls of papers were thrown and some pages were flipped. It was the usual, normal actions of the students whenever the period was free from any teachers. But today, it was a tad bit louder. From every corner of the room, the giggling and gossiping of the other girls won’t stop, every one of them having the same topic conversation; Kim Jongin.

Uninterested in the centre of commotion, Hana sat in the front row desk where the owner of the desk was already joining the other boys playing at the back, leaving her seating beside Sehun. Both of them were sharing earphones - one of the pieces in Sehun’s right ear and the other in Hana’s left ear, while they flipped their history books.

From behind, Jongin stared at them closely, half conscious of what his seatmate was saying. To be quite honest, Jongin did felt a bit hurt by the glare Hana has been giving him the whole day. But looking at how she was happy in Hyeri’s presence, he forgot all about it by seeing the smile on her face.

But seeing her smiling non-stop with Sehun at the front while he had to sit at the back, 'alone', tugged his heart. How dare they laugh and smile together without him, their best friend? And wasn't Hana his servant?

Making up his mind, he stood up from his place, the chair scraping against the floor under him and the chattering to him stopped momentarily. With a smile upon his tanned face, he took small steps towards the pair, hands in his pockets, emerging his head between their heads as he peered over what they were doing.

"What are you doing? Studying?" asked Jongin, placing both his arms over their shoulders.

"No, we're eating," Hana sarcastically remarked as she shoved his head to Sehun's side more, not wanting him to be too close, "Of course we're studying, idiot."

"Oh, I want to study with you guys too," Jongin requested, dragging the chair behind him to sit between the two of them. He placed both his arms on the table on top of one another, his chin resting on his hands while he watched both the pages of the books being flipped as Sehun and Hana got back to their studying.

He glanced at both their ears to see the earpieces plugged into their ear canals. The urge to yank them out was so big that Jongin had to press his chin harder on his hands. Where the urge came from? He had no idea.

Without much realizing it, Jongin tilted his head to his right and leaned onto Hana, the softness of her shoulder cooling down his already red face after realizing what he was doing. It was so comfy on her shoulder and he felt like he could’ve dozed off in that position if it weren’t for the finger poking him to quickly lean the other way.

Not wanting to leave that really undeniable comfortable position on her shoulder, he gently grabbed her poking hand, which was unsurprisingly soft and warm, and placed it above his head, moving it sideward as in a way.

“Don’t do anything. I’m comfortable this way,” he quietly whispered loud enough for her to listen.

When she pulled back her warm hand from the tanned boy’s head, Jongin could already miss the warmness and gentleness of the . But he was at least happy that she let him stay on her shoulder as observed her hands moving around, making small notes and highlighting important facts in the book.

You have really pretty hands, Hana.

~.~

When Jongin suddenly poked his head between her and Sehun’s head, she honestly felt like smacking and beating the heck out of his head. Can he be not annoying for once? And when he asked the question, she just had to push his head away because of the close proximity between them.

When she finally got some peace to study quietly with Sehun, Jongin just had to disturb that peace. She could see Sehun being amused with Jongin’s attitude.

She annoyingly rolled her eyes when she heard a nearby chair being dragged and the irritating Jongin sat between them, restricting the space she originally had. But since he was just sitting there and somehow ‘studying’ too, she decided to let him be. She shifted her eyes to look at Sehun and both of them let out a long sigh and exchanged a chuckle before focusing back on their books.

Furrowing her brows in confusion on the topic of World War 2, she suddenly felt her left shoulder getting heavier, like a boulder was placed there. It was a surprise to see dark brown hair on her shoulder, realizing that Jongin had somehow dipped his head onto her shoulder.

Feeling weird about the situation, Hana poked his head with her index finger in an attempt to get him off her.

Heat rushed to her cheeks as Jongin suddenly but gently grabbed her hand and placed it on his head. What was he doing? Does he want me to his head?

Awkwardly, she moved her hand from one side to the other, creating a action across the boy’s head. What was she even doing? With the whole class suddenly quiet, she knew she had garnered too much attention on her due to Jongin’s closeness. She should stop it but somehow, her hand kept doing the same movement even as she told herself to stop.

After hearing Jongin’s request, she couldn’t prevent the redness spreading across her face, somehow affected by Jongin’s soft, gentle voice. It was a good thing he wasn’t looking at her.

Hana pulled back her hand to continue studying, leaving his head to rest on her shoulder. She didn’t have the heart to push him off now that he said that. It wasn’t that uncomfortable – it was actually really comfy. So, she didn’t bother to shake him off.

While reading all the long facts printed on the book, she glanced to her left. Maybe it was just reflex, but she reached out her hand to fix the boy’s dark brown bangs. Realizing what she was doing, immediately, she stopped her hand and pulled out the one earpiece she was sharing with Sehun, putting it into Jongin’s left ear gently. She figured since he didn’t have his own book to read, he should have the other earpiece to listen to.

Not being fully aware of it, her hand seemed to linger above his earlobe after plugging the earpiece in, staring at his calm, yet child-like figure. Noticing what she was doing again, she shifted her attention back to the book in front of her. But before she could continue reading, the school bell rung, indicating lunch time has come.

The ringing of the bell seemed to have brought her back to reality and what she was actually doing. Why would she give the boy a chance to lean onto her shoulder again?

Wasn’t I mad at him? And this is not... right, thought Hana as she looked at the stirring head of the boy beside her.

Almost immediately, she stood up from her seat, causing the poor tanned boy to flop down onto the black chair she was originally sitting on. Ignoring the sound of him making as he rubbed his head, she took the shocked Sehun’s hand in hers and hurried out of the class, trying her best to not look back and decide to help him.

“Jongin’s in the class,” muttered Sehun, catching up with her fast pacing through the hallway, still surprised that Hana was behaving so coldly to Jongin.

“Let him be,” were the only words she said as she entered the cafeteria.

He knows it’s wrong and he should go help his best friend, but he couldn’t help but feel relieved to hear her cold response about Jongin after seeing him getting way too comfortable with her in class. They’re normal friends, so why would he feel jealous when they’re together? And he already confessed to Jongin about his crush on Hana. He shouldn’t worry about that, right?

After getting their lunches which consisted of mixed rice, chicken soup, and some lettuce in the rectangular black trays, the two of them headed towards their usual spot; right beside the window that faced the football field of the school.

Hana turned her head to the left and right, searching for the girl with the ponytail. She had told Hyeri that this was their usual sitting place. Amongst the sea of students eating and chatting, she finally spotted the said girl. A smile spread across her face when she saw Hyeri enjoying her lunch with her fellow peers.

“She already made that much friends?” she chuckled in amusement, a hint of sadness in her tone. Seeing Hyeri laughing and making jokes, getting along with Hyeri’s classmates so easily seem to have sparked some jealousy in her heart. But she couldn’t help but feel a little sad too.

Since she was little, making friends was never her forte. Before she met Sehun when she was five, she would always find it hard to play along with the other kids whenever she went out to the park. Her older sister by 4 years, Park Sunyoung, would always be assigned to bring her to play with the kids, when all she did was sit on one of the swings and sway forward and backward, the small breeze created kissing her soft face as she observed the playing kids around her.

And one year after her mother left, she was lucky enough to have met Sehun, the new shy boy she met on her way to the shops to buy all the things listed in the grocery list. At first, she was only helping him find his uncle back when he stated he was lost. But as time passed by, she met the same boy more often at the shops.

As they grew up together, Sehun was always there by her side, trying to persuade her to make some friends. Through elementary school and middle school, Sehun was the one who introduced her to some kids so that she could make other friends. But one incident during middle school caused her to treat the people as they are assigned as; if they’re her classmates, she’d treat her as classmates; project partners as project partners, nothing more than that.

 “Hana,” she heard Sehun calling her softly, obviously noticing the sudden glum expression she subtly projected. She didn’t notice how many minutes she was just standing there and staring at the group of friends, “Come and sit.” He called out, patting the seat beside him.

“What’s bothering you?” quietly he asked, concerned as he scooped up a whole spoon of rice and ate it.

The corners of her lips tugged upwards, forming a small smile. And this was why she was grateful for having Sehun as her best friend.

“Nothing,” she said as she began eating. Hana would’ve enjoyed their peaceful lunch if it wasn’t for the boy who appeared in front of them.

“I think my head is going to form a bruise after this,” Jongin stated, rubbing his sore head as he placed his tray quietly on the table, “And no, I won’t go away if that is what you’re going to say, Park Hana.” said Jongin, noticing the annoyed stare she was giving him.

Seeing that he wasn’t going to cause that much of noise and trouble for her, Hana decided to let him be.

Author's Note:
Hi guys ^^ Updated again :) Hope you guys give some feedback on this. I originally wanted to double update, but I didn't finish the 17th chap yet. So yeah. Hope you like it ^^ I added an OST list for this story at the foreword :)