"What took you guys so long?" Onew groaned, swinging his tea spoon in the now empty tea cup.

"He's complaining ‘cause he's finished his tea." Key looked up from his book, shooting a sideways glare at his friend, "Honestly, do you not have any shame in front of our sunbae? Even she's not complaining."

"Ah, youth." Taeyeon smiled, pulling out her chair.

"Sunbae, don't talk like that! It makes you sound old." Jonghyun grinned, trotting over to help the beaming goddess.

"I am old. At least compared to you guys."

"Actually you're just older, not old." Ji Eun muttered the atmosphere hushing.

It took exactly one minute for everyone to understand that Ji Eun was attempting at a joke. Onew cut the air with his cackling laughter, smacking the table with suppressed strength. Key stopped in mid smile to roll his eyes at the boy's antics.

"True." Taeyeon let out a huff of laughter, sending Jonghyun's heart thumping in adoration.

Jonghyun leaned to his left, bringing his book closer to Taeyeon and casually smiled when Taeyeon's eyes slightly widened in slight confusion.

"I know I haven't been paying attention but I'm tired." Jonghyun grinned, "But the theories? I got them down, no sweat."

Taeyeon slowly smiled, Jonghyun swore he could hear angels singing, and let her eyes fall to a different textbook.

Ji Eun noticed how the sunbae's eyes hesitated at Jonghyun's hands and at the Social Work textbook. She almost let herself smile before Onew caught her, cause it was going as exactly as planned and the love consultant didn't need any interruption or unneeded ruckus. In a few moments, her little lesson would come into use for Jonghyun.

"Hey."

Key's demanding voice snapped Ji Eun out of her imagination and realized that the boy was holding a very familiar looking book.

It took her only a blink to analyze and take notice on what happened to be one of her favorite books.

"Where did you get that?" Her voice raised a notch and both Onew and Key were taken slightly aback at Ji Eun's normal tone of voice.

It tempted Jonghyun to look behind his back and participate in the much more casual atmosphere, but right now he had a mission ; seducing his sunbae (as ridiculous as it sounded).

Taeyeon giggled, stepping right into Ji Eun's plan, or really, trap.

If there was one more thing Jonghyun learned from his Love Instructor, it was to be attentive of details. Details that really mattered. He analyzed in a way that was much more subtle than Ji Eun's trademark stare, at his sunbae's posture, gesture, and actions.

When he actually saw what she was doing (not just admiring or falling in love again), he noticed the way her straightened back relaxed and leaned against the wooden brown chair. The way she covered when she laughed more delicately showed him that she was being more conscious of how she appeared. Finally, just the way she turned her body to face him more rather than the desk like a couple minutes ago, told him it was time for: small talk.

It wasn't that hard to wait for Taeyeon to start the conversation since he was a little distracted by the conversation that Ji Ein was so enthusiastically having.

"I just saw it on that shelf so I just picked it up while you were gone. I didn't think it was your favorite." Key mumbled, flipping through the pages. He wasn't exactly sure why he was feeling slightly embarrassed at Ji Eun's attention, even though it was more directed at the book rather than him.

"Still, I didn't think you would like romance stories." Onew looked up from the book, "Is this a romance story? It looks like it."

Key nodded in agreement, turning the soft pink book cover side to side, tracing his finger over the light serif book title that adjourned the top part of the cover.

Ji Eun let out a small gasp in offense which made both boys crack a smile, and shook her head, her braids swooshing from side to side.

"It's not just a simple romance story, so don't make that face. It's one of the most well thought out, deep, developed, and emotionally raving romance mystery stories ever." Ji Eun scooted closer, her fingers daintily unfolding the book to the first page.

"Well, um. What's it about?" Key frowned like he was uninterested, but anyone could obviously tell what he truly felt.

"It's a story about a small girl in love with a boy who she can't see or hear. She just loves him. The whole story is about them two interacting and overcoming difficulties with their-" Ji Eun took a breath, "Their purest, truest, most beautiful love."

She softly shook her fists, sending Onew grinning, and groaned very quietly.

"I wish I could discuss with you the ending of the book. It's just so... so..."

"So?" Onew encouraged, leaning in.

"So...!" Ji Eun squinted, glasses drooping down.

Jonghyun pressed down a smile.

It was almost like watching or hearing, in Jonghyun's case, a little kid get excited over dinosaurs or donuts.

"So... Perfect." Ji Eun decided with a wistful sigh, her back slouching in pity.

"She must really like books." Taeyeon laughed in mid-whisper.

"Yeah, all these books are hers. Can you believe that she's read some of them more than twice?" Jonghyun chuckled along.

His sunbae cocked her head her laugh dying down.

"How do you know that? I thought this was your first time here."

Jonghyun succeeded in not choking on his own spit and not actively proving that he was in fact lying.

"Oh I don't. I'm just assuming." Jonghyun prayed that his casual laugh would be convincing enough to make Taeyeon believe that he was telling the truth.

"Oh, you surprised me." Taeyeon's lips widened into a bright smile and lightly smacked Jonghyun’s arm.

"Well since you're acting like that, you're making me want to read it!" Onew laughed cheerfully, reaching over to take the book from Key.

"You! Read?" Key defensively turned his body away, "Don't make me laugh. You barely have enough time to study, let alone read."

"There he goes trying to be a mom again..." Onew grumbled and snatched the book away.

"Wait, speaking of studying and reading, how do you manage to do both?" Key's eyes relit with rival fire, swerving around towards Ji Eun.

"Sometimes it helps for me to read in between studying. It helps me get my mind off of the studying part and just enjoy the book while still working my mind. Besides, I get better focus."

Key listened closely as Ji Eun explained and talked softly, eyes squinting in inspection. He cocked his head towards the book Onew was holding and began jotting down something after pausing to look at the book.

"Whatcha writing?" Onew leaned over, eyes widening in attempt to zoom in his vision.

"The book title and author." Key lazily answered, "I'll read this. Let's see if this helps me get better grades than you."

Ji Eun's eyes lit up and the most child-like smile spread across her face making Onew and Key unconsciously gape.

"Really?! Okay!" Still smiling,” Tell me when you get to Chapter 10 because by then you'll get to really know the characters and-"

Jonghyun and Taeyeon both turned slightly to see what was making Ji Eun so energetic, both curious as to why the two boys were blinking with astonishment.

Ji Eun also realized her own state and cleared , ears suddenly going hot.

"R-Read it." She mumbled, again to her soft and almost inaudible voice.

Both Jonghyun and Taeyeon realized what they missed and Taeyeon whined softly in disappointment.

"We missed a one in a million event!" She laughed, clasping her hands together.

"We should read it together! Like a book club." Onew chimed, half recovering from Ji Eun's smile.

"Y...yeah." Key agreed, his eyes still popping out of its sockets.

Jonghyun felt the tight squeeze his heart had and stared down at the floor, surprising himself.

"Maybe we could go altogether into the city to go to a bookstore. Buy some of Ji Eun's favorite books." Taeyeon said, her eyes darting down to Jonghyun's slouching figure.

A soft gasp.

"That would be!" Ji Eun stopped and fumbled, "…Great."

Jonghyun frowned.

Why is my heart clenching like this...?

He blinked hard, not like it would help any, but he still did.

He stopped, eyes widening.

Is this..?