Hongbin’s voice was dangerous. You found that out the very first time you laid eyes on him, the very first time you witnessed how his sly smile crept up on his face and his chuckle slithered out. Even from across the room, with a handful of bodies, over the flirting voices, you managed to hear him, to conclude that that man’s voice was poisonous.

It lured women in the way those strange, monstrous fishes from the deepest, darkest trenches of the ocean lured their prey with bright lights before devouring them. The manner in which his chuckle had made gooseflesh spread like wildfire on your arms, the chill that shook your spine, alerted you of the danger.

You decided then and there that you wanted nothing to do with a man like that. Pushing your glasses up, you your heel, convinced that you’d never cross paths with him again.

How wrong you were.

What were the chances, really, that in an orientation/workshop with countless of new-coming students, you and he would end in the same team? Slim to none. Yet life, fate, destiny, or whatever, had always enjoyed complicating your existence.

After showing up late, Hongbin had sauntered over, apologized to the organizers, his gloriously deceiving smile getting him out of a loud, vicious scolding by the Student Senate president. He’d merely been waved aside, ordered to take the spot in the nearest group: yours.

Two hours into the activities, you had become comfortable with the members of your team. Ravi was a fun, laid back guy with a deep bass-like voice. He had a tendency of showcasing his faulty leadership skills in an endearing way. He’d guide the activity and halfway through he’d stop talking, and look up, a slight upward tilt to his head as if he were deep in thought. After a few moments of silence, he would declare that he’d forgotten or that he no longer knew what to do. Hakyeon would laugh, a wonderful, honest crystal laugh, and continue with the activity.

Hakyeon had announced that he would rather be addressed as N in gentle, reassuring tones. You knew he was the student advisor in charge of the group’s activities by the relaxed manner in which he lounged on the soft, green grass while retaining an aura of responsibility. You liked N for his gentleness.

There was Bora, a bubbly girl that overflowed with flowery words, girly laughs, and tender smiles. She’d taken a sisterly liking to you, it seemed, because she declared she would love to braid your glistening long hair if you would allow her to. Bora, in your opinion, was the prettiest girl you had ever seen. Her eyes smiled with friendliness that allowed you to ease into your place in this strange quartet.

So when Hongbin, the young man with the dangerous voice, settled between Ravi and N, you quickly receded into your shell.

Noticing the manner in which your shoulders tensed, your bottom lip trapped between your teeth, and the deliberate action of pushing your glasses to the bridge of your nose, Bora smiled reassuringly, drawing the newcomer’s attention away from you by asking his name.

“Hongbin, Lee Hongbin.”

A whimper caught in your throat from the sound of his voice. It was deep, soft, and dark. Hongbin possessed what you knew to be a siren voice: gentle tones dancing alongside sensual notes, coexisting in a bright blackness. It was dangerous, oh, so dangerous!

You wanted to run away, far, far away. Nothing good ever came from associating with men with siren voices.

*

“Hey, let me help you with that.”

You jumped at the sudden offer coming high from your left. Taking a step back, you bumped into the strong chest of your personal undesirable number one.

“Whoa, careful,” Hongbin said as he took the large crate from your hands while stabilizing you.

Giving him a curt nod, you ducked out from underneath his arms, escaping. The first two days of this orientation/workshop thing had drained your energy beyond measure. Avoiding the devil in your group was impossible! He always seemed to be nearby.

“Specs! We’re over here!” Ravi waved his arm in the air, emphasizing his length. You smiled at the pet name he’d given you on the first day.

Not many girl’s enjoyed wearing glasses nowadays, he’d said, and yours made him think of you as this wise woman whom he could consult for advice. N had chastised him, claiming that you had not transferred from a community college to a state level university to be his personal advisor.

“Where’s Bean?” Bora asked, looking over your shoulder.

“S-stacking up the crates.”

“Specs, are you still running away from him?”

“This won’t do,” N shook his head, his hands on his hips. “You need to stop being so scared of Hongbin.”

“I’m not scared of him!”

Your three friends looked at you with thinning patience. Heat crawled up your neck, across your cheeks, settling on your ears. A powerful hiccup made you cough, leaving a familiar, lingering pain on your chest.

“Do you need some water?”

The siren’s voice made you squeal. Without thinking you ran, hiding behind N, clutching his white shirt in your fists. He peeked at you over his shoulder, his eyebrows raised.

Hongbin stood confused, his hand outstretched in you direction offering a water bottle. Bora sighed, shaking her head. Ravi took the bottle from him and drank its cool contents.

“Thanks, bro!”

Hongbin smiled, a smile you were sure originated from the center of Hell. “No problem. Would you like some water, Bora? N? Specs?”

You wanted to shout at him that he had no right to call you Specs, that that right was reserved only for your three friends, the ones you trusted, not for the likes of him.

N moved aside suddenly. Falling forward, you put your hands out to break your fall, yelping as your momentum abruptly halted with the help of Ravi and Hongbin’s hands.

Too close! Hongbin was too close! Hiccups ripped through your chest, leaving only pain behind.

“That was dangerous, N!” Hongbin shouted.

N smiled, shrugging his shoulders. “Let’s get ready for tonight’s scavenger hunt.”

“T-there’s a scavenger hunt?” you managed to ask through vicious hiccups.

“Yup,” N said cheerfully. “In the dark.”

“In the dark?”

“And in the woods behind campus.”

A scavenger hunt in the dark woods behind campus. You felt your glasses slide down as your eyes widened.

*

The world hated you. You just knew the world hated you. There was no other explanation as to why you’d been paired up with Hongbin besides that one.

 The dark path was too narrow for you to put enough distance between you and Hongbin. There was only one flashlight, and if you strayed too far, Hongbin would be left in complete darkness. You couldn’t leave him in the dark despite how much you disliked him.

The hoot of a nearby owl resonated through the air. Undesirable number one moved closer to you, his hand finding your arm, securing it tightly.

“Ow. Hongbin, that hurts.”

“Sorry!” He relaxed his grip, remaining almost unbearably close.

That was the last word you heard him say for the next thirty minutes of the hunt. You were so busy holding the flashlight, map, deciphering the clues, leading him through the woods that you failed to noticed the absence of his poisonous song.

Without his continuous melody, you slowly lowered your guard, wondering what had made you so nervous around the boy to begin with. In the woods, your confidence soared. You’d grown up in a town small enough to be in a first-name basis with everyone, yet big enough to house acres and acres of woodland.

Your earliest memories were of spending time in the woods with your mother, learning to hone in on the delicate sounds of nature. You could hear the soft shuffle of a bear’s trek fifty feet away, recognize the