Six months later:

(In China)

“Ni hao Xiào yuān*!” Hyoyeon’s good friend Mei-Li sat down next to her with books in her hand. There was another girl with her – someone Hyoyeon had never seen before.

Hyoyeon waved at her friend happily and then offered a tentative smile to the stranger.  Mei Li smacked her own forehead lightly, “Right! Introductions. This is Chen Ling. She is a new transfer student from Tian Jin and she will be moving into the dorm with us after you leave.”

“Oh! Ni hao,” Hyoyeon waved at her and made space at the study table for the newcomer’s things. “Nice to meet you!”

It felt strange to Hyoyeon that she had only been in China for six months because in a way it was like she had always lived here. The school, the streets, her friends had quickly become familiar to her and her Chinese had improved by leaps and bounds.

Although she sometimes felt a little overwhelmed living on her own for the first time in her life but life was just too busy for her to wallow in sadness. Moreover, she had Mei Li and FeiFei, her roommates and then there was also Siwon, who looked over her like he was her knight in shining armour – popping up anywhere and everywhere like he had some kind of radar tuned to her whereabouts.

Speaking of the angel, a pair of strong arms hugged her from behind.

Hyoyeon grinned already knowing who it was.

“Hi oppa!” She twisted around in her seat to look at him.

“Hyoyeonnie,” Siwon smiled, “Bap meoggeosseo?” (They usually spoke in Korean to each other because it gave them a feeling of being home.)

Hyoyeon hesitated before shaking her head slowly – already cringing internally because she knew what would come next.

“You haven’t? Do you know what time it is right now? Do you want oppa to go get you something?”

Hyoyeon grabbed his hand before he got up and went on his food hunt. “Don’t worry about it!”

“You’re going to get stomach problems if you don’t eat on time. Health is..”

“Wealth! I remember oppa,” Hyoyeon interjected with a cheeky smile. “And I will eat as soon as I get this assignment done!”

“What’s it for? Can I help?” Siwon, still standing behind her chair, leaned over her shoulder to pull the heavy text book closer and scanned the materials.

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Meanwhile, the new girl was just staring at the pair wide eyed with curiosity. She couldn’t help it – the guy was just so good-looking and although dressed simply in jeans, a hoodie and a hat, looked like someone who had stepped out of a high fashion magazine. And the way he had his arm around her, elbow resting on the table and chin on her shoulder made her feel envious.

They had this effect on almost every girl on campus.

On her own, Hyoyeon already stood out with her confident aura, big beautiful eyes, pretty smile and enviable figure but together with Siwon’s Greek God chiselled features, the two were almost blinding.

‘How lucky!” Cheng Lin thought. “Some people get it all – looks, personality, love.”

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“So this word here means farmer and that word is soil so they are talking about agri –“

“Oppa!”

“Yes Hyoyeonah?”

Hyoyeon turned her face towards Siwon’s neck, “You smell good.”

“Are you wearing the cologne I bought you?” she chuckled.

“Hey I’m teaching you about agriculture, Focus please!” he scolded her in a mock serious tone, turning her chin back to the books.

"Sir Yes Sir!" Hyoyeon read through the exercise again with a pout.

 Away from her line of sight though, Siwon was grinning. Why was she so cute? 

Once he had confirmed that she was on the right track, he straightened up, "I'm going to the gym but I'll come by your place later!"

"Neh," Hyoyeon nodded. 'Thanks for teaching me..it makes so much more sense now." Siwon simply dropped a kiss on the top of her head and bowed goodbye to the other girls before heading towards the exit.

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(Back in Korea)

“Lee Hyukjae Wake up! Come on, it’s your turn to make breakfast!”

“Jeez hyung! Can’t we just eat cereal or something?” Hyukjae mumbled from under the covers. It had been three months since he moved into the dorm with some other trainees. The President had told them that they were planning something big for the group of 17 boys so they had to learn how to live with each other.

“Ya!” Jungsoo, the oldest and therefore leader, sighed. “Weren’t you the one who was always demanding rice for breakfast for the past three months? Now that it’s your turn, you suddenly want cereal?”

“Yeah, Hyukjae ah! Wake up and go cook! We are all hungry.” Junsu whined while jumping on his bed. It was already 11 am and five of the boys along with Junsu had intensive all-day training starting at 12.

“Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!” Hyukjae finally crawled out, his eyes still swollen shut, and grumpily made his way to wash up.

Fifteen minutes later, he was in the kitchen pulling out whatever he could find in their gigantic fridge – he didn’t care what he was making as long as it was going to be quick. He, Lee Hyukjae, was not in a good mood.

“What’s with the sour face?” Donghae commented, walking into the kitchen with Junsu in tow.

“Just tired!”

“Tired? From what? Your lessons ended at 6 yesterday and I heard you were home by 7.” Two things about Donghae – first, he liked to keep track of everyone’s schedule (was darn good at it too) and second, he was persistent. If there was something he wanted to know, he wouldn’t rest until he annoyed it out of you.

“Can we not do this today?” Hyukjae sighed.

“Why? I’m just concerned about your health, Hyukkie! Tell me if something’s troubling you so I can help you!”

“I told you I’m fine, Hae so stop making a big deal where there isn’t one!”

“Wow.. he’s really NOT in a good mood Donghae ya. Must be something serious,” Junsu commented and thought for a while before having a eureka! moment. “Hey yesterday was Wednesday, right?”

Donghae nodded.

“I think..” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “it’s to do with, you know, his other bestie besides the two of us!”

Donghae’s eyes lit up in realization as well. If there was anyone who could have that effect on easy-going Hyukjae, it was her.

“What happened buddy? Was she late to your chat session or something?”

Hyukjae let out a heavy sigh. There was no way, he could escape them. Donghae by himself, maybe… but together with Junsu – not a chance. So he caved, “Well.. it’s just.. she  stood me up.”

“Maybe she was busy… this is her last week of school!”

“Yeah, but we usually just postpone... and last night was the third time we tried this month and she didn’t even show!”

“Err.. she does have a life too, you know,” Donghae tried to be the voice of reason. To be honest, he thought it was strange too. For as long as he’d known the two, they had never gone longer than a week without talking to each other.

“Maybe she’s sick? You should ask Siwonnie!” Junsu suggested.

“I texted him two days ago and he didn’t say anything!” Hyukjae looked distressed and pale. He hadn’t been able to shake this bad feeling in his gut for a while now.

“What if…” Hyukjae spoke in a small voice, “she’s changed..”

A/N I'm sorry for this lame chapter and the long wait. I have written six chapters already but they are what will happen later. I could not think of a good way to get there but i caved today and wrote whatever I could think of so that I can update more quickly. thanks for being patient. HyoHyuk will be in Korea next chapter so maybe exciting/sad/tragic things could happen.