Haneul stares at the bottle in her hand. "Bottle of lo~ve", coughs Sehun beside her but she chooses to rib him and continue staring. Five minutes ago, she had been complaining of the paucity of water bottles in the canteen, the last one having been bought a while ago before her, when all of a sudden, Kim Jongdae had given her half a tap on her shoulders and handed her his sealed bottled, with a smile that was all cheekbones and crescent eyes, leaving a dumbfounded Haneul and a snickering Sehun. Yes, she stares at the bottle for a full five minute before cracking the seal and drinking from it, hands shaking a bit from her fast heartbeat. Sehun holds his tissue in front of her face. "Wipe the excess blush off before someone thinks it's real— oh wait, it is!" And he laughs at his own joke, ignoring Haneul's death glares. 

The next lunch, Haneul is sure to stand in line a little early buying an extra bottle of water with the nervousness of performing one's first surgery and looking around. 

"I can't watch this," mutters Sehun. "Call me if you make an idiot of yourself, I'll be there to laugh at you. Ciao." She hears him without actually listening, and spots Jongdae finally, sitting at his table with his friends, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun and a girl she doesn't know. Jongdae and Baekhyun eat, each occasionally cracking up with laughter at what the other says. Kyungsoo sits calmly riffling through a notebook as does the girl opposite him, though their half is less full of food and more filled with files a and sheets of paper.

"—should have seen his face! You owe me an ice cream for winning," Jongdae says to Baekhyun as Haneul clears carefully behind Jongdae. Baekhyun is the first to look at her, raising his eyebrows at her before Jongdae takes notice and turns around. "Yes?" He asks and for one horrible moment Haneul wonders if he's forgotten her. 

"Y-your bottle, sunbae. Thank you." Jongdae blinks, and then throws her another blinding grin. 

"Thanks, you didn't have to though," he accepts the bottle, raising her heartbeat when his fingers graze hers. The girl beside Jongdae raises her head, with a sigh and a pout and Jongdae wraps an arm around her shoulders. "Don't make that face here, some people will have a heart attack." Baekhyun cracks up while Kyungsoo shakes his head, muttering under his breath. Haneul suddenly feels a weight settle in the pit of her stomach as she watches Jongdae poke her cheeks causing the girl to break out into a bigger pout. 

"I should get going, you guys look busy..." Finds herself saying. The girl looks up surprised, almost as if she only just realizes Haneul's presence. 

"Kinda," she says, detaching herself from Jongdae. "We're going over bills for Saturday's fundraiser for the drama club." Haneul nods, not really sympathetic. "Hey, you should come if you're free." She smiles brightly at Haneul who returns it with a non-committal hum.  

"You should," Jongdae adds. "We'll all be there." Haneul almost chokes on air as her brain runs loud sirens and "indirect date alert!!!" chimes through her head. 

"Bring your friends," Kyungsoo says, looking at her for the first time, his eyes as intense as they're rumored to be. The girl clicks her tongue and laughs.

"Stop trying to make money!" 

"It's a fundraiser for a reason," he smiles at her lazily. Baekhyun rolls his eyes for some reason that eludes Haneul. 

"So?" Jongdae asks again. Haneul nods automatically, earning another cheekbones-enhanced smile. If only the lab rats were given this kind of positive reinforcement, she thinks, they'd work so much better. "Great! See you Saturday evening." 

As Haneul walks away, she hears the girl and Baekhyun laughing, and Jongdae's loud "yah!!", turning around to notice Jongdae put her in a half-hug and half-headlock and cover . 

"He has a girlfriend," wails Haneul that night as she talks on conference with Sehun and Jongin, who hasn't been to college with his fever. 

"Really," sniffles Jongin, "I think he's single." 

"He wouldn't have asked you if he had one," says Sehun while crunching what sounds like crisps. 

"He was being civil, something you need to learn," mutters Haneul. 

"I'm sorry what was that? Dude you should have seen her today, shaking like a leaf while trying to give him a freaking bottle. God forbid he kisses her." 

"We'll keep medics on a standby," laughs Jongin, over Haneul's loud protests. 

"He isn't kissing me!! He's probably cuddling with his girlfriend!" 

"Okay," starts Jongin with what begins as a sigh and ends up as a sneeze. "Sorry, anyway, who is this girl?" 

"I don't know her name..." admits Haneul. "I think she's on the drama club board...? Short bob.... pouts a stupid lot..." 

"Cho Ara," drawls Sehun. "If she looks like she should still be in middle school, then it's Cho Ara." Jongin laughs amidst his sneezes and wheezing coughs. 

"There's no way she'd date Kim Jongdae," he says.

"But but but!! He was cuddling!!!" 

"You're exaggerating," states Sehun and she can see he accusing eyes in her mind. 

"No!!! Okay a little... but they looked close!" 

"Does that mean Sehun and I should be dating?" 

"No! I mean if you guys want it that way then..." 

"EWWW! Gross!" 

"That was a poor example on my part... sorry dude. You're already taken by that TA... what's his name.... Luhan?" 

Sehun chokes on a chip and for ten seconds Haneul hears dying wheezes before hearing Sehun's loud swears. 

"Shut up," he says finally. 

"Best comeback of the century," says Jongin dryly. Haneul sighs.

"Can we get back to my crisis?" 

"Just go," says Jongin. 

"Sehun come with me...?"

"Can't. Got plans," Sehun goes back to his crisp eating. 

"Plans?" 

"Plans," and he refuses to say another word, in spite of Jongin's threats to disown him and turn over his "S♥L" doodles to Luhan. 

"Forget it, I'm not going then...." Haneul sighs for the umpteenth time that night, rolling over on her back, and staring at the ceiling, seeing a smile and kind eyes in her mind while her best friends continue to bicker.

Even though she's all alone, Haneul finds herself at the gates of her college, rubbing her arms for warmth, while debating on entering them. Maybe coming alone was a bad idea, she starts to think as she sees other couples and friends walking in together. 

"Haneul...?" She spins around, knowing fully well who the owner of the voice is. "I knew it was you," Jongdae grins and then pulls off his jacket and wraps it over her shoulders. Haneul blushes a deep maroon as he steps into her space, and all she can see are his arms over her shoulders and smell the faint cologne. He steps back just as soon and she sends her thank you to the ground. 

"Going in?" He asks. She nods. She has his jacket after all. Though it would be a lie if she tells anyone that's the only reason. 

Jongdae leads her through the half open gates, placing a hand between her shoulders for a moment to direct her. 

"Girlfriend, girlfriend, a goddamn annoying girlfriend...." Haneul chants in her mind, demanding her mental processes not shut down because of the touch. 

"Ara!!" She hears Jongdae yell, and a short distance away the bob haired girl waves at him, running over. Haneul uses all the curses she's picked up from Sehun in her mind.

"Haneul-ssi, right? I'm glad you came!" She flashes Haneul a big smile which Haneul barely returns, stewing away in anger silently. "Your friends?" 

"Had plans." 

"Oh. Shame... Don't run into Kyungsoo, he'll demand you drag them back here," she laughs, then pauses, eyeing Jongdae and the jacket on Haneul's shoulders. 

'That's right, be jealous,' Haneul mentally high fives herself. But Ara doesn't say a word about it. 

"Well I'd take you around but I'm busy, so will you take her? You know where everything is." She looks at Jongdae who nods, while Haneul's stomach does flips. "Okay! See you then." 

'Yes! Take me sunbae!!!' She thinks, just about ready to perform somersaults of happiness. Jongdae walks ahead with Haneul for a bit, before pausing and telling Haneul to wait a moment. He runs back to Ara, and says something that Haneul doesn't catch but she sees the happy grin on Ara's face and the tongue sticking out as Jongdae runs back to her. There is a little green monster boiling inside Haneul as she watches the exchange, but it's gone the second Jongdae runs over to her, smiling, and asks if she's ready to go. 

Haneul has always guessed that Jongdae was the skinship types having seen him with his friends — and Her— but she doesn't foresee the naturalness with which it comes to him. It hasn't been over twenty minutes with Jongdae and he's put his hand on her shoulder or arm at least fifteen times— not that she's been counting, but yes fifteen times and each of those times her ears turn red hot, and her chest thumps so hard she might pass out until she can't take it anymore.

"Hey! They've finally opened the scary house again! Finally," claps an excited Jongdae as he grabs Haneul's hand and drags her over to the entrance lines. "I have to see who they nabbed for it!" 

"Sunbae!" Haneul exclaims as she feels herself jerked forward. Jongdae halts abruptly, and Haneul stops short of crashing into his back. "Don't — don't you want to go there with your girlfriend?" 

"Girlfriend?" Jongdae looks genuinely surprised. 

"Cho... Ara....?" 

Jongdae's eyes grow dangerously wide as he jumps to cover Haneul's mouth with his hand, looking wildly over his shoulders. 

"Girlfriend—!??! Don't say things like that in public!!" 

In spite of the proximity, Haneul has to mentally roll her eyes as a voice in her head, that sounds strangely like Sehun, says, 

'Are you going to deny it then? It's only just about obvious from the moon.' 

"Don't. Say. Things like that!!!" Jongdae steps away and Haneul breathes again. "Kyungsoo would have me guillotined, minced and then fed to the pigeons!" 

"Wait what?" Haneul frowns. "Ara is dating Kyungsoo sunbae?" 

"Dating....?" Jongdae taps his chin. "Not dating but they're.... something... definitely something, though I doubt they know what that is themselves. In any case, don't say sacrilegious things like that where Kyungsoo can hear!" Haneul just stands there blinking at him, processing the information. "Uhh... Haneul...?" 

"So you're not dating her?" Jongdae shakes his head with a laugh. 

"No way. Do you want me to?"

"No!" Haneul exclaims a beat too fast and Jongdae raises an eyebrow. "I— I mean you should do what you want," she stares at the floor again.

"Well I really want to go to that haunted house, more like room, so shall we?" 

Haneul happily skips behind Jongdae to the entrance of the second floor classrooms. The boys at the door let him, the vice-president, pass without waiting. It's only once the door shuts behind her and she's left in near-darkness that she remembers— she hates scary houses. Sh hates the darkness and the random people who dash out and grab you. 

"Let's go!" Says Jongdae next to her, a little too gleefully, causing her to jump. She takes cautious steps behind him, shooting glances over her shoulders every minute. 

The entire classroom is divided into islands of fallen furniture, draped with white cloth, bathed in a dim green glow that comes from the covered lights in distant corners, while there is a constant soft white noise in the background accompanied by a loud, steady, periodical dripping sound. Drip. Haneul thinks some of the furniture is shifting. Drip. The noise is definitely unnerving. Drip. 

"This is neat, right?" Jongdae whispers beside her, and she manages to transform a squeak into a cough, and swift nod. "The concept designs were Ara and Kyungsoo's master plan for the raiser. They pulled it off." That girl, Haneul could not be feeling any less kindly towards her. Jongdae's whisper gives her goosebumps now, and not the good kind. She almost forgets that they're supposed to be looking for hidden chocolate amongst the furniture. Jongdae on the other hand seems to be enjoying himself to boot. Haneul looks over at the door, wondering if it would be wise to escape that way.

Suddenly, her vision is blocked by a hand dangling something before her eyes. Haneul screams loudly, wildly beating the arm with her own until she hears Jongdae's calm voice and feels his arms around her shoulders. 

"Haneul, Haneul-ah, I'm sorry, it's me. It's me. It's okay." Haneul stops mid shriek, frozen from Jongdae's backhug and gentle side to side rocking. "Are you okay?" She nods in jerks. Jongdae exhales audibly. "I'm sorry," he says again, and then slowly steps back. Haneul lets out a breath, afraid to turn to him. Jongdae walks before her instead, face etched with worry and concern. "I didn't realize you were that scared.... I'm sorry.... I found chocolate," he says with a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. Even in the dim light, Jongdae's smile seems just as warm and comforting. Haneul shakes her head. 

"It's okay sunbae, I was surprised..." 

"No it's not, I'm being selfish. Never mind, I'll come back with Baekhyun and watch him scream and destroy everything," he laughs. "Come on, let's get out." He steers Haneul with a hand between her shoulders, like he has done a countless number of times (Haneul has counted though), allowing her to walk a little ahead. This time though, he doesn't remove the hand. Even though her heart rate is dangerously high, Haneul feels a little better knowing he is right behind her. 

The "haunted rooms" are built over two of the language classrooms which are connected to one another. The dripping sound really unnerves Haneul as she reaches the connecting door. Just as she is about to open the door, someone lunges at her from beneath the draped furniture. Haneul utters a pronounced shriek, saved from falling backwards only by Jongdae's arm around her shoulders, as the lumbering giant looms over her with a deep, "where is my bride."

"Yeol?" Jongdae asks. "What the hell are you supposed to be?" 

"Jongdae?" The giant blinks. "I thought it might be you. Frankenstein's monster," he grins drawing himself to his full height. 

"Cool, this is Haneul. Haneul, this is my friend Chanyeol." Haneul manages a weak smile and Chanyeol shakes her hand vigorously, flashing his teeth at her behind his grey-painted lips. Had it not been for Jongdae she probably would have hit Chanyeol with the nearest object. "We're trying to leave as soon as possible..." Jongdae says discreetly. Chanyeol frowns in confusion and ventures,

"Should I tell the guys....?" Jongdae nods. Chanyeol opens the door and bellows, making Haneul flinch at his deep baritone.

"GUYS STAND DOWN, JUST JONGDAE PASSING THROUGH, OKAY? HEAR ME?" 

For a few seconds there's just the dripping sound and then a few voices muttering variations of 'yes' and 'okay' float in. Haneul peers into the other room, unable to see anything in the pitch darkness,just hearing the swishing of curtains. 

"See you around Haneul," waves Chanyeol disappearing beneath the furniture again. Haneul gulps, receiving a gentle push forward from Jongdae. The second room is much too dark for her to brave through. Jongdae fishes out his phone and turns on its flashlight. In a very casual motion, he slips his hands into Haneul's and pulls her along into the darkness. 

Haneul doesn't have time to be afraid anymore. She can't get over the feeling of Jongdae's hands in hers and the constant chatter of his voice as he tells her how Baekhyun destroyed the haunted house that they had been to once before and how Ara and Kyungsoo had kept this one a secret from him so he would be scared again. The light that hits her eyes when they open the door is a little too bright but so is Jongdae's smile.

"Here," he says handing her the chocolate he'd found earlier. "For suffering through that." Haneul blushes, ducking her head and muttering thanks. "Oh! I heard they managed to get a cotton candy guy! My treat." Haneul can't possibly say no. 

While Haneul turns her lips pink with cotton candy, Jongdae tells her to wait while he talks to a few of his friends— he seems to be friends with everyone. She walks along the rows of food stalls and spots a sign that says "MISTER ZHANG— great fortunes at affordable prices!" and the post graduate student Zhang Yixing smiling serenely at everyone who passes by next to it. 

"Yixing sunbae?" Haneul can't believe her eyes, as she sees the otherwise prim and propere Yixing, sitting cross legged on a stool with a scarf fashioned into a turban over his head. "What are you doing....?" Yixing points to the sign and then to the cardboard money box, with a crystal ball drawn on it. Haneul decides to humor him, dropping the amount into the box and crossing her arms before her skeptically. 

"You're in love," he says, peering closely at her face. "And you're wondering if he likes you too." Haneul chokes on air, staring wide eyed at him. 

"How'd you—?!" 

"I'll tell you what he feels, but for a small amount," the smile he shoots at her is so innocent that Haneul finds herself paying again and looking expectantly at him. "Yes.... he does, he's probably liked you for a long time, whoever he is..." 

"And how do you know that?" 

"I have the gift," beams Yixing. Haneul resists the urge to hit herself on the head. She thanks him and decides to look for Jongdae again. "And oh," Yixing calls out after her. "I've heard that the last dance is a good place to tell him what you feel," he send her one more dimpled smile.

"Last dance...?" Wonders Haneul. "What last dance....?" But some other girls crowd before Yixing squealing at him while he just points to the money box. Mystified by it all Haneul turns to look for Jongdae but realizes that he isn't talking by the benches anymore, in fact she can't see him at all.

Haneul looks around carefully trying to spot the familiar mop messy brown hair but fails to. She wonders if he's found someone else he'd rather spend time with or if he he's got a date, after all he was only supposed to be showing her around... 

"There you are!" Jongdae stops to catch a breath, holding out two slips of paper. "I had to go get these from Ara." 

"What...?" 

"They organized a bonfire dance in the soccer field. Tickets.... that is only if you want to come..." Haneul gasps silently at the message Yixing had given her an takes the small slips from Jongdae. 

"I'd be happy to," she says, smiling shyly at her feet. Jongdae grins at her, seamlessly fitting his hands into her and pulling her along the cark park. 

The students at the entrance take their tickets and let them through and Haneul watches in fascination as the groundskeepers make preparation for the bonfire, dousing the logs with oil and slowly starting the fire. The fore crackles ablaze and the  waiting students cheer. Jongdae smiles at her softly. 

"Thanks for spending time with me," he says, staring at the burning logs, as the music starts and people slowly drag each other off to dance. Haneul shakes her head rapidly.

"It was nothing sunbae, in fact I'm grateful that you showed me around." 

"Haneul-ah... you're cute, you know that?" Haneul snaps her head towards him, unable to speak. 

"Wh-what??!" Jongdae laughs, and momentarily dormant butterflies rise again in her stomach. She reckons the warmth around her collar is not from the fire. 

"Yes you are, and I've been waiting ages to say that," he admits. Haneul blinks. "Wanna dance?" He asks, not really giving her time to answer, as he pulls her along and places an arm around her waist, holding her hand in the other. Haneul has difficulty in thinking as Jongdae smiles down at her, making her stomach flip several times over. As they gently sway to the music, Haneul opens to reply to his earlier comment, 

"I..." And as Yixing's words replay in her head, she blurts out, "I like you sunbae!" For a moment Jongdae freezes in his spot, staring down at her, mouth formed into an 'o'. 

"You...?" He gulps. "Umm... It's not too late, let's go get something to eat?" Jongdae rubs the back of his neck, his ears turning red. Haneul resorts to nodding to the ground and Jongdae's fingers slip in through hers and he leads her through the crowd of people in the field. Haneul spots Kyungsoo and Ara sitting in the bleechers, laughing about something, wondering if this was what Kyungsoo was like with people he knew, less of the assassin types and more of the huggable type? Ara catches her eye and gives her a quick wave. For the first time, Haneul beams at her. 

Jongdae doesn't leave her hand till they get to the café, down the road from college— not that she could complain. Dinner, apart from being a club sandwich and hot chocolate, is full of shy looks and blushes when their hands accidentally touch. Haneul can barely get the food past while she and Jongdae talk about their own friends, blushing when they meet eyes. She nods happily when he offers to drop her home. 

Haneul doesn't want to let go of his hands when she arrives at her front door. Neither does Jongdae seem to want to as he stalls, asking her about her classes on Monday and if he could meet her during lunch. When the conversation finally dies out to awkward feet shuffling and quick glances, Jongin clears his throat. 

"So umm... I guess I'll see you around on Monday?" Haneul nods. "Okay then.... night..." He unclasps his hand around hers and steps away, only to step back in and press his lips on her cheeks. A breath hitches in Haneul's throat as she feels the soft peck and she turns a deep red under the porch light. 

"I like you a lot too," Jongdae flashes her a cheeky grin before running down the driveway and waving to her once more.

It takes a while of standing and staring into space for Haneul to resume normal mental functions. As she whips out her phone, and speed dials Sehun, she wonders, does Zhan Yixing really have the gift?