**

Namjoo felt like the heavens were testing her.

Her best friend, Hayoung, had started dating her older brother, Jinwoo after much help from her and his friends. Her longtime crush, Seungyoon, had finally started dating his best friend and her close eonni, Eunji after years of obliviousness of the songstress’ feelings. Her princess eonni, Naeun, had started dating the soccer team’s vice-captain, Seunghoon not too long ago. Her noisy cheerleader eonni, Bomi, had finally started dating her object-of-affection, Taehyun, after years of clinging onto the male. And her tough eonni, Chorong, had finally captured the joker soccer captain’s, Mino’s heart.

Everyone around her was practically dating each other!

She thought it was unfair and tremendously cruel. Her friends and her brother’s friends, who were basically her brothers too, were dating each other – what kind of fate had befallen upon her?

Whenever the group would go out, she’s the only one without a partner. Everyone had someone to lean on, to hold hands with, to hug, to be all lovely-dovey with – except for her. Everyone was coupled together – except for her. Everyone had someone – except for her.

Namjoo definitely felt the gods were being extremely biased towards her.

Her eonnis were nice to her though. Also were here oppas. They never left her all by herself. She was always accompanied by a couple or two whenever they hangout. But Namjoo always hated that.

She felt a little peeved about it to be honest. It felt like they pitied her, even though she knew they were not. But Namjoo definitely felt uncomfortable being with them.

She started to avoid spending time with her friends. Even though it was summer vacation, she tried to busy herself.

Namjoo had volunteered in a charity organization. They visited hospitals and entertained children with cancer. She interacted with a lot of children. She played with them, danced for them, and sung for them. She loved spending time with them.

They were the little ball of sunshine to her lonely and dark days. They brought hope in her heart. She honestly felt less alone because of them. Her days were slowly yet surely getting better.

But as per usual, the gods loved challenging Namjoo.

Their organization was planning a surprise event in one of their adopted hospitals and Namjoo was tasked to perform. The event was only a week away and Namjoo still has no idea what to do.

At first, she thought of simply singing a song for the kids but regrettably she had a sore throat. She couldn’t sing with a sore throat, right? So Namjoo decided to dance instead.

And this was how Namjoo found herself on a late Friday afternoon – alone in the school’s dance studio and sweating like she had ran a marathon. She had been practicing a routine she had come up with but sadly, she wasn’t really liking or feeling it.

A mixture of a resigned sigh and a exasperated groan escaped her lips. Namjoo was lying on the floor at the middle of the studio, arms and legs spread widely apart. Her chest rose up and down as she tried to catch her breath. She was starting to feel irritated with herself.

“This is getting hopeless,” Namjoo huffed in frustration. She was close to giving up really.

Images of the children’s happy faces then flashed in her mind. Their jolly laughter ringing in her ears, Namjoo felt a prick to her heart.

She wanted to do her best for the children. She wanted them to smile like the way they made her smile. She wanted to give back the happiness they had given her by performing a good dance but she was stuck.

Namjoo was inexperienced when it came to performances. Yes, she could sing and dance perfectly well. But she was not an expert with creating a presentation at all. Her performance during the music festival was all her Seungyoon’s oppa’s idea. All she ever did was perform it. So coming up with a dance all by herself was stressing the hell out of the girl.

Another frustrated groan escaped her lips. She was close on doing tantrums like a child to be honest. Oh how she wanted to hit something right about now.

“Hello? Anyone here?” a voice suddenly interrupted her inner ramblings. It was a male’s voice.

Namjoo quickly sat up on the floor and snapped her head towards the door. A familiar face greeted her. The corners of instantly tugged upwards.

“Hanbin-ah!” she smiled at the guy casually leaning on the door. He had a small smile playing on his lips as he stared at the female.

“What are you doing here? It’s getting late you know,” the male chided as he continued to stare at her from the door.

She awkwardly chuckled. It’s not like they’re strangers. They’re classmates and he was a dongsaeng of her oppas. (Hanbin’s a member of the soccer team by the way.) But they’re not exactly close. They were mere classmates – that’s all.

“Well~” she uneasily drawled out. Hanbin was curiously staring at her and Namjoo suddenly felt a little self-conscious to be honest. She’s sure her appearance was a mess. Heck, she’s sure she looked like hell at the moment. She definitely felt embarrassed under the soccer player’s gaze.

“It’s ugh. I was just practicing something,” she awkwardly muttered.

Namjoo then looked away from the male’s gaze and slightly pouted. She felt her cheeks starting to flush.

Hanbin softly chuckled. He sensed her awkwardness and found it cute. It wasn’t usual for the lively girl to feel embarrassed and it somehow pleased him he made her feel that way.

Actually, Kim Namjoo was well-known in their high school. She was the famous boy wonder – Kim Jinwoo’s little sister. She was also the precious baby of WINNER, the name of his group of friends. (The group name’s a little egotistical but it rang true about the group. They’re practically champions in their fields.) And she’s also part of A-Pink, the name of her group of friends. (They were the female equivalent of WINNER in their school.)

But Namjoo was more recognized for her feisty attitude. She was like a ball of sunshine – warm and very passionate. Everyone truly liked her, even Hanbin.

“Oh? Is it for a performance or something?” the male interestedly asked.

He had seen her dancing earlier this afternoon. He was on his way back to soccer practice when he heard music coming from the studio. When he curiously checked what it was, he saw the petite girl passionately dancing. To say his interests were piqued would be an understatement.

Namjoo looked back at him and stared curiously at him. She suddenly had an idea but she’s not sure if the soccer player would be up for it. She pursed her lips, feeling a little hesitant to ask.

A resigned sigh then escaped from her lips. There’s no choice but to ask so she could at least be productive for her performance.

“Hanbin-ah, you know how to dance right?” she inquired. She hasn’t seen the male dance since they became classmates after all. That’s the first thing she needed to know.

The male warily nodded his head. “Yeah, I know how…” he answered. He suddenly felt like he was being interviewed. “Why?” he thoughtfully added.

“Have you performed in front of people before?” she then asked, ignoring his question.

Hanbin’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He was at a loss as to where their conversation was going. He was getting confused. Nevertheless, he nodded his head again.

Namjoo then beamed at him. “Perform with me then!” she told him as she stood up from the floor and walked towards him.

The young soccer player gaped at the female in front of him. He was frozen, speechless and stunned as he stared at the girl’s extremely deadly pleading look.

She was looking up at him; her eyes were big and begging, her lips were slightly jutted into a cute pout and she was doing aegyo on him.

“Hanbin-ah! Perform with me! Please! Please! Please Hanbinnie~” she pleaded in a cute voice.

How can someone resist that, right?

Hanbin raised his hands up in surrender and sighed in resignation. “Okay, okay. I’ll dance with you! Stop with the puppy dog eyes Namjoo-yah! Please!” he awkwardly laughed.

Namjoo squealed in delight and excitedly jumped in victory. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” she smiled at the soccer player as