“I just think we need to find this Hayi girl before we complain, you know.”

The last thing Junhoe wanted was to be in the same group with Lee Hayi for the monthly evaluation. It was the worst news, so far, but the good thing about was it was just this one performance. Just for now. It didn’t have to be the same for the subsequent evaluations.

Junhoe groaned, freely expressing his disagreement about being in the same group with Hayi, as he tagged along with Bobby. The two went ahead asking others of Hayi’s respective classroom, and when they finally arrived, there was no sign of her anywhere.

They’ve asked Hayi’s classmates of her whereabouts and some said she was out with her friends to buy some grub in the cafeteria.

“Hyun Suk seonsangnim won’t be too happy if we ask for member changes,” Bobby added, looking from left to right in case Hayi gets back from the cafeteria. Other students who have taken notice of them began to gather around, mostly girls who are inwardly squealing.

Junhoe used to appreciate the attention but this wasn’t a good time. He heaved an exasperated sigh. “I just don’t understand why, of all people in that studio, do I get to end up with her in the same group?”

Bobby shrugged, chuckling. “I’m not sure. Maybe you’re just unlucky.” He fixed his shirt coolly, and it made some girls squeal a little dramatically. “And besides, what did she do to you anyway besides getting pushed into the pool? It was your fault in the first place.”

“Hyung!” Junhoe whined. “You’re supposed to side with me.”

“I would but you’re the one at fault,” Bobby explained, poking Junhoe’s shoulder playfully. “Breaking a girl’s heart is somewhat acceptable in some terms but pushing them?” He clicked his tongue. “That’s beyond the line. Not to mention, you’re pretty strong and a girl’s as fragile as a doll.”

Junhoe opened his mouth to say some more but decided not to when suddenly, Hayi came into view. Beside her were four girls who are pretty familiar too—with one of them having Chanwoo’s attention. Junhoe merely sighed in frustration, still unable to believe he was in the same group with the girl he hates the most.

Bobby noticed them, too. Quickly, he approached them and waved.

“Hey, Hayi.”

Junhoe watched Hayi raise her eyebrows, giving Bobby a quizzical look. Her friends merely stared at him.

“Do I know you?” Hayi asked.

Bobby chuckled. “You should’ve if you were here longer but no. I’m Bobby,” he said, reaching out a hand. Hayi reached out her hand, too, and shook his. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too,” Hayi said with a polite smile. “Is this about the evaluation? We have less than two weeks to practice.”

“Yes, yes,” Bobby answered, nodding his head excitedly. “We don’t have much time in our hands so we need to meet up and talk about what to do real quick so we can get to practice. I’m thinking: everyday? After club activities? We could meet at the studio. How does that sound?”

Hayi nodded nonchalantly. “I’m fine with it.”

“Great! See you around.”

“Okay.”

When it was time to leave, Junhoe’s eyes caught Hayi’s and they shared a hostile eye contact before he decided to leave. He made a mental reminder to keep Hayi away from Hanbin hyung at all times. Because the last thing Hanbin needed was trouble, and Junhoe would be there to make sure Hanbin gets his dream.

As soon as the bell rang, all the students began filing in and out of the classroom for last-minute getaway to the bathroom and some to prepare for the next class ahead. Hayi, Hanna, Jennie, Jisoo and Joy all went to their respective seats along with the others.

“What was that all about?” Joy asked Hayi, leaning slightly to the left to hear Hayi a little better.

Resting her palm on her hand, Hayi answered, “Oh, nothing. It was just about the evaluation thing due in two weeks.”

“I know,” Joy said knowingly. “I wasn’t talking about your meeting. What I meant was Goo Junhoe.”

“Oh, that.” Hayi shuddered at the thought of Goo Junhoe. Not because she was afraid, but because she hated his mere presences. She had done everything to avoid talking about him or even seeing him but somehow, the effort seemed futile. “That rascal thinks he’s a know-it-all.”

“Yeah, I can see you two trying to kill each other with your eyes,” Jennie, who used her toes and lolled her chair back to get in the conversation, piped in. The teacher had not arrived yet but they preferred lowering their voices to prevent other people from listening.

“I can’t believe you’re meeting both of them right after your swimming practice!” Hanna exclaimed.

“As if it’s a privilege,” Jennie uttered sarcastically, giving Hanna a pointed look. “There’s no way Hayi’s going to enjoy the company of those two. Especially Goo Junhoe. He’s such a prick.”

“I don’t think he’s not all that bad,” Hanna interjected, shrugging.

Jisoo chuckled, leaning forward. “Not all that bad? Hanna, he’s an A-class jerk who thinks he’s almighty just because he intimidates people with his bad boy look. Gross.”

Hanna responded by sticking her tongue out at Jisoo and rolling her eyes.

“Stop it, guys,” Joy declared, patting Hanna’s shoulder. Then she turned to face Hayi. “Think you’re going to survive later?”

Hayi inhaled deeply, closed her eyes and hoped that later won’t turn out as bad as she thought it would.

“I don’t know, Joy. I really don’t know.”

After swim practice was over, Hayi headed straight to the locker room to change and grab her duffel bag. Practice was draining as usual but seeing Goo Junhoe in the same room for almost two hours straight was even more tiring. All the anger she had for him was seriously consuming her energy.

The entire time they were in the same pool training for the upcoming swim meet in a few months, Hayi ignored Junhoe and focused on swimming instead. It had been a year since she last swam rigorously like earlier. Coach Jihoon really knew how to bring out the best in his swimmers.

When she was done, Hayi grabbed and placed her duffel bag over her shoulder, slammed her locker door shut and departed the room. At the same time, Junhoe had also exited the men’s locker room, his hair drenched and his varsity jacket crumpled. He looked like he was in a hurry.

But Hayi didn’t care. When their eyes met, Hayi rolled her eyes in disgust and didn’t even bother to see how he’d react about it. Instead she kept walking towards the exit to go to where they’re supposed to meet up for the evaluation.

On the way there, Hayi could feel him just tailing around a few meters behind. She was relieved though because she absolutely didn’t want to be seen walking together with him. Or she didn’t want to walk with him towards the destination in the first place.

Bobby was already at the studio when Hayi arrived, with Junhoe following a minute later. There was an upbeat, hip hop music playing the background and all the lights were . They weren’t the only group using the studio, seeing as the other groups were there as well to practice. Hayi spotted Soohyun with her own group and waved; Soohyun waved back a little too brightly. Sadly, there were no signs of Jennie, Jisoo, Joy and Hanna.

“Come on,” Bobby urged, motioning for the two to come quickly, as they positioned themselves at the corner just near the full-length body mirror and the computer. In the monitor screen was a list of songs that are familiar to Hayi. “So these are the songs that I came up with while you two were gone. I based it on how Junhoe’s voice and mine could go well together so I wasn’t really sure about yours, Hayi-ah.”

“It’s okay,” Hayi said reassuringly, gripping her bag and putting it down at the side to free herself from any weight. Then, she stood next to the other side Bobby so she didn’t have to be right beside Junhoe. “Maybe some of the songs would work well with me.”

“Yeah, I bet they will,” grumbled Junhoe rudely.

Not wanting to cause any disruptions, Hayi decided to ignore him. They had less than two weeks and a fight would seriously delay their practice. Instead she focused on the list of songs Bobby gave her and scanned them.

“I’ve actually chosen two,” Bobby declared, shyly rubbing the back of his neck. “The only thing I wasn’t certain of was how your voice might fit Junhoe’s,” he told Hayi.

“What are those?” Hayi inquired.

“Uh, Say Something and Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” said Bobby, his eyes focused on the monitor. “There’s a huge difference between the two since the first one’s really emotional, sad and slow while the other’s just upbeat—like there’s some sort of happiness mixed into it and at the same… uh, bright?”

“I think Say Something works a little better with me than the other one,” Hayi uttered, scratching her temple.

“Maybe nothing works with you,” Junhoe snapped quietly, snickering to himself. Noticing this, Bobby elbowed Junhoe on his stomach and shot Hayi an apologetic look. “Ow!”

Again, Hayi decided to ignore this. She wasn’t going to let Junhoe get on her nerves. No way.

“Okay then,” Bobby concluded with a smile, bending over to level his eyes to the monitor screen and clicking a few buttons here and there. Immediately the sound of the printer was heard and three papers were suddenly in Bobby’s hand. “Figured we’d choose this song so I’ve decided to just modify it myself. We don’t have so much time left.”

“Okay,” Hayi said, receiving the paper and scanning the entire thing for her lines.

“That’s cool, hyung,” Junhoe commented, skimming over the lyrics.

“So I thought about the concept—it’s about giving up, right?” Bobby began, leading his group to stand a little farther away from the computer. Both Hayi and Junhoe followed him diligently. “It doesn’t have to be about love. You can think of anything that pertains to giving up.”

“Like giving up on someone…” Hayi spoke up but soon trailed off when she remembered she didn’t know any of these guys very well, and talking about her Dad would make it really uncomfortable. “Giving up on someone who’s gone for too long.”

Bobby stared at her. “Yes, that.”

“And knowing that he’ll never come back,” Hayi continued, looking down. The timing was extremely bad, seeing as she didn’t really want to get emotional thinking about her father.

Junhoe snorted. “Thought you were just a pretty voice. Turns out you’re pretty smart, too. However, I’d like to see things from your point of view but I can’t seem to get my head that far up my .”

“Junhoe!” Bobby called sternly.

This was it. This was the final straw. She wasn’t just going to let him insult her like that.

Irritated, Hayi darted Junhoe the most scornful look she could muster. “Your family tree must be a cactus because everybody on it is a prick.”

“Wait guys, I—”

Junhoe scoffed, smirking. “I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup and out a smarter statement than that.”

Hayi crossed her arms on her chest. “Exactly how many times did your mother get drunk and drop you on the head as a child again? Must have been a lot, I'll tell you that.”

“I've had many cases of love that were just infatuation, but this hate I feel for you is the real thing.”

Bobby groaned. “Oh, my—”

Hayi shot him a crooked smile. If this was the game he wanted to play, then so be it. “Before I met you I thought God didn't make mistakes, but I guess I was wrong.”

“How long did it take you to come up with that one?”

“If you're gonna be a smartass, first you have to be smart. Otherwise you're just an .”

Junhoe laughed sarcastically. “You’re—”

“Both of you, stop it!” Bobby yelled, standing in between Hayi and Junho in hopes to stop the petty argument. The scene had already caught the attention of others. Hayi noticed a lot of curious onlookers right after Bobby broke them up.

The dispute was pretty stupid. In fact, it was pretty stupid of her to let herself get into this in the first place. Stupid of her to let Junhoe get on her nerves. Why did she have to end up in the same group with the rascal?

“Look, I don’t know what the deal is between you two,” Bobby said in clenched teeth, looking totally displeased, as he lowered his voice, “but you’ve got to work it out. The monthly evaluation is in less than two weeks and with you two arguing nonstop, our future looks grim. So it up and be mature about this.”

“Hyung, she’s—”

“Junhoe, stop,” Bobby interrupted harshly, looking daggers at him. “You started this mess. Stop being so immature. Don’t bring your personal feelings into this because this is purely business.”

Woah. Personal feelings? Hayi used to think this wasn’t anything serious, that maybe this was a passing event, but perhaps Junhoe really hated her so much. She couldn’t think of any reason why nor does she ever recall an encounter where she’d done him something wrong. So the question was, why?

“Whatever, hyung,” Junhoe snapped, turning to Hayi with a menacing glare. “This girl will bring trouble if we even associate ourselves with her. I’m just trying to stop history from repeating itself. I’m just trying to protect you.”

Protect them? From what? And what did he mean ‘history from repeating itself’? Hayi pondered curiously as she watched Bobby and Junhoe exchange heated glances before Junhoe walked out of the studio, leaving Bobby sighing in an exasperated manner.

The other students, who had been watching the conversation since the beginning, have begun to disperse and go back to their practices. With Junhoe storming off, only Hayi and Bobby were left alone, unable to continue practicing.

“I’m sorry,” Hayi spoke quietly, clasping her hands together.

Inhaling deeply, Bobby dropped glumly on the floor and rested his forehead on his hand as he propped his elbow up against his knee for support. He grabbed the paper and stared it for a couple of seconds before he spoke.

“It’s okay,” Bobby said silently, his eyes still on the paper. “It wasn’t your fault anyway. Junhoe started it.”

“Maybe he started it but I let him get to me. If I didn’t, maybe we would have—”

“Nah, it’ll still happen.” Bobby sighed. “Junhoe’s a stubborn person but he’s really loyal and nice once you get to know him. He just acts like that because… well, something happened before. And he was just really worried about us.”

Hayi quietly sat right next to Bobby.

“You don’t have to take whatever he said seriously,” Bobby added, scratching his temple lightly. “I don’t think he means it.”

“I know. I just hope he doesn’t take what I said seriously, too.”

“Those were good, by the way.” Bobby chuckled shortly, shaking his head in amusement. “I didn’t know where you got those pretty cool insults. Hit hard right in the gut.”

Hayi laughed casually. “Internet. That’s where the good stuff is.”

Now that made Bobby laugh, startled. “Didn’t see that coming.”

When silence ensued, Hayi noticed out of the corner of her eye that Bobby was staring. Maybe he wasn’t, maybe he was. She wasn’t too sure but it seemed like it. He took a deep breath.

“You know, you’re actually pretty funny,” Bobby uttered gently, smiling. “Now I see why Hanbin likes to hang out with you. Junhoe’s missing out all the humor because he’s too focused on pushing you away.”

Hayi shrugged. ”I wouldn’t be surprised. After all, Hanbin and I are supposed to be enemies, right? People keep saying our parents aren’t exactly friendly with each other.”

Bobby looked away. “Has he ever mentioned us to you?” he asked, ignoring what Hayi just said. Weird.

Hayi shook her head. “Not really. We talk about different things.”

“Wow. That idiot.”

“But I think he pretty much cares about you guys.”

Bobby gave Hayi a lopsided grin. “Of course, he does. That brat cares too much that he’s willing to get in trouble for us. He’s stupid but it’s who he was.” Then he gazed at her. “I’m pretty sure he cares for you a lot, too.”

Hayi blew a raspberry. “Please. All he cares about is getting someone to eat with him during lunch so he doesn’t look lonely.”

“So, it’s true? He eats lunch now?”

She raised her eyebrows. “He doesn’t?”

“Not always,” he answered, sighing. “Wow. This is a lot more serious than I thought it would be. Well, if I was Hanbin, I think I would’ve been confused, too. You’re funny and fun to talk to, to be quite honest. And plus, you’re gorgeous. How could he even try to ignore you?”

Hayi laughed, clapping her hands. “Wow, okay. Not only are you good at picking songs but you’re good in bluffing, too.”

Bobby winked. “Can’t help it when you’re talking to someone really pretty.”

Hayi faked vomit, rolling her eyes but she was still smiling in amusement. “Okay, you can shut up now. I’m going to throw up all the cheeseburger and bacon fries I ate earlier. And it won’t be a pretty sight.”

“I still think you’re beautiful”—a teasing smile slowly creeping on Bobby’s face—“that you made me forget my pick up line.”

“Stop it. Seriously.” But she was still laughing, and sometimes, cringing at how incredibly lame it was.

It wasn’t until twenty minutes later did Bobby stop with Hayi having hysterics and clutching her stomach as she gasped for air. The dispute earlier had been completely forgotten along the evaluation as the two spent most of the time talking about the worst pick-up lines and their most embarrassing moments. When the two have calmed down, Hayi was the first to speak up.

“Okay.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I think we’re supposed to discuss something about the evaluation.”

Bobby was still laughing, his eyes forming crescents. “Y-yeah.” Laugh. “I guess.” Laugh. “Damn it.”

“Stop already.”

He inhaled deeply, trying to hold back a laugh. “Okay. I might have calmed down a little bit.”

Hayi grinned at him.

“I haven’t had a good laugh for years now. This was great.”

Hayi patted him on the shoulder, grinning. “As much as I hate to end good moments like this, we have to discuss our plans concerning the evaluation if we want to ace it. Sometimes, good things must come to an end.”

“Let’s start practicing tomorrow,” Bobby suggested, folding the paper in his hand and inserting it in his pocket. “We have to include the weekends if it’s okay with you. We really need to practice because we already have like three days down.”

“I don’t think I can practice on the 22^nd and the 23^rd,” Hayi said, bending down to grab her duffel bag and draping it over her shoulder. She then turned around to face Bobby who looked hopeful. “I have to go home and visit my Dad.”

Bobby nodded thoughtfully. “Okay then, I guess I’ll have to practice with Junhoe first. But the next days, we’ll have to take longer hours, alright?”

“That’s cool with me.”

“Cool.”

Both Bobby and Hayi strolled towards the door, greeting and waving at anyone on their way. They spent the last thirty minutes bonding over irrelevant things but it was surely fun and relaxing. Maybe not all Hanbin’s friends were bad after all. With his hand on the door, Bobby wheeled around and faced Hayi.

“I really had a great time, Hayi.” Bobby smiled sincerely.

Hayi chuckled, remembering the jokes, the laughter and the trip down to memory lane from earlier. “I had a great time, too.”

“Thank you.”

[bonus]

Soohyun was nervous. No, scratch that. She was anxious, panicky and tense. There was no way this day would actually come. She presumed that what’s in the past would always remain in the past, and that it would never truly haunt her back.

She had long forgotten about it—the feelings, the pain, and the embarrassing memories—and had hoped it would never come back. Of course, it took a long time for Soohyun to move on, and even if she did, there was still a small part somewhere in her that could never forget. But to be in the same place, to be able to see him every single day, it was the most difficult challenge she ever had to go through.

However, when she distracted herself by joining two clubs at the same time and doing homework and projects, her progress of forgetting was getting better by then. Whenever she’d see him in the hallway, it was getting easy to look away and pretend she never saw him. It was getting easy to just walk away.

But now, being in the same group with Kim Jinhwan was miserable and ironic and amusing. It felt like fate was playing with her.

Once the group was confirmed, Soohyun considered changing groups with someone else but she knew their music coach would throw a fit and the chance of acing their evaluation would decrease. But then if she wouldn’t do anything about it, she’d have to see Jinhwan every single day for two hours or more.

For example, the pain she felt right now was hard to bear as she was extremely close to Jinhwan. He was appointed as the leader unanimously, and the other member, Junhong, didn’t really care about titiles just as long as they could perform already. It had only been an hour since practice started and they have their songs ready, only the performance was left to rehearse.

They were going to do Bruno Mars’ Treasure just like what Jinhwan had suggested and they all went along, knowing that Jinhwan could be trusted because of his experience in performances like this. But some of the moves for the performances included Jinhwan putting his arm around Soohyun or anything with him close to her.

“So, basically what you’re talking about is,” Junhong said, waving his hand, “we’re both vying for the girl’s approval, right? Like… may the best man wins?”

Jinhwan nodded nonchalantly, as if the past really didn’t actually matter. “Yes. And we need to have props like roses or… any flower. We need to portray the song very well. Like if you’re really in love with her and you want her to choose you, you’ve got to be expressive.”

“Cool,” Junhong commented with an impressed smile, nodding his head in acknowledgement. “You really sound cool talking like that, hyung.”

Jinhwan chuckled shortly before turning to face Soohyun. Soohyun, on the other hand, immediately went stiff when their eyes met. Her first reflex was to look away.

“And Soohyun-ssi, I think you need to be coy and act as if you’re confused on who to choose, too,” Jinhwan nonchalantly suggested. “Like you like the attention we’re giving you but you don’t know who you want to end up with.”

“Okay,” she answered briskly, her eyes looking anywhere but him.

There was a moment of silence that followed between them, and Soohyun felt Jinhwan’s eyes staring at her as if he had something to say, but it was soon broken when Junhong came up and asked Jinhwan regarding the song. Relieved, Soohyun let out a huge sigh.

This certainly wasn’t going to be easy.

hey guys sorry the next chapter took so long to come out! apparently, i couldn't juggle academic life and aff life equally because academics just take 99% of my time, leaving me no choice but to stop writing for a while. sadly, the lack of comments kind of discouraged me to write more to this story so i'm having doubts agaaaaaain and i'm sorry if i seem demanding but the lack of comments make me think that the story wasn't really all that to me and the inspiration [for this story] is barely there anymore so i don't knowwww. 

thanks for reading!!!!