The end of this semester was soon. My anxieties were high. If I didn't pass then I couldn't continue with my major.
I shuffled with my bag while I was walking in the halls to the next class. I ran into someone. "Oof." I felt the bump on my head. I looked up to see it was Winwin, with a smile on his face. "Oh, Sorry. I wasn't paying attention." I scratched my head. "That's okay." He smiled. "Would you like to walk to class together?" He asked. He moved beside me so I could continue to walk. "Sure," I said softly. All I could do is look down, with a smile on my face. We arrived at class. It was Arts and Design. We sat in the rows of seats. We got our bags and textbooks outright as the teacher came out. "Good morning." She said as she put her things on the desk area. "Open your textbooks." We preceded to do so as she said: "I want to assign you for a group project. I will assign certain classmates with each other and you will work on a Design for a company you think will make good business. Doesn't matter what subject, just make sure it's an original idea and you get all the right information. I will name the groups at the end of class." What she said really sparked me. I haven't really done group projects or whatnot. But, I had an exciting feeling in my stomach. I looked over at WinWin. "I can't wait." I whispered. He nodded at me then whispered: "hopefully we'll be on the same team."
After the class had ended, I gathered my things in my bag as the Teacher gave out the team members. She went to say team one first. Neither I or Winwin was called out. She then called out team two and three but we weren't on it either. "Team four, Mark, ChungHa, WinWin, Taeil, and.. Y/N." She read. "Yes!" I said under my breath while looking at WinWin. He just made a grin at me. She called out the rest of the teams. "The deadline is July 3rd. so make sure to gather with your group often. I want to see all team members have their own part and PLAY it." She emphasized. "You may dismiss." She gathered her things as everyone stood up and started to leave. "I'm excited," I said to WinWin as I grabbed my bag. "Me too." Mark and two others walked up to us. "So we a team?" Mark tucked his hands in his pockets. "Yeah." WinWin nodded. A girl bowed to us. "She's so pretty." I thought. She had long, straight brown hair, dark eyes, and fair skin. Her jawline seemed perfect. "I'm ChungHa." She smiled. "Hi." I bowed back. "I'm Y/N." The other person next to her looked a bit small. He waved to us. "My name is Taeil." He said softly with a small smile. "Who should be our team leader?" Mark said as we made our way out of the classroom. We all went silent. "I think Y/N should do it." WinWin put his hands in his pockets. I looked over at him. "N-no! I can't." I scratched my head nervously. "I think you should." Mark playfully hit WinWin's shoulder. "No.. I don't think I can. I think you should WinWin, you're a really good leader and know a lot about this school and have a lot of knowledge of art..." I shuffled my feet. WinWin looked at me with a slight smile. "Let's do a vote at lunch!!" Mark raised his hand. We all agreed to it.
Time Skip
It was lunchtime. I was getting my food up at the cafeteria counter. I grabbed my tray and got some food on my plate. Somebody slide their arm around my shoulder. I looked over to see it was Yuna. "Hey!" She said with a big smile. "Hey!!" I said back. "I heard the Arts and Design class is doing a group project!" She never stopped smiling. "Yeah! It's going to be great." I nodded. "Who are your group members? Is WinWin in it?" She wiggled her eyebrows. I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Yes. Also, Mark, Taeil, and ChungHa." "ChungHa? The queen of the school?? Ah." Yuna sighed. "'Queen?'" As I said that someone came up behind me and I turned around. It was ChungHa. "We are meeting at the table if you want to know where it is." She made a soft smile and pointed behind herself. I told Yuna bye as I followed ChungHa. I sat at the table next to Mark, across from WinWin, ChungHa, and Taeil. "So, let's all vote who the team leader should be." Mark leaned his arm on the table. "I vote Y/N! No offense WinWin bro." He shrugged at WinWin. WinWin glared at him. "I vote Y/N too," WinWin said softly. "I vote WinWin," ChungHa said. "I second that!" I immediately said. "Okay, so the tiebreaker is up to...." we all looked at Taeil. "Uhhhh-" he started to get flustered. He kept looking at WinWin and I. right, left, right, left. He slammed his head on the table. "Both." He quietly said. "That's not an answer," Mark said with a serious tone. Taeil didn't say anything. He just face planted on the table and made anxiety moans. "We'll just use an app!" Mark raised his hand and got out his phone. "Is that fair?" WinWin raised his eyebrow. "Of course. This'll decide Taeil's vote." Mark shrugged 'Cooly' he typed in our names on an app. It would randomly pick a name. It was calculating the results. WinWin and I were on the edges of our seats. Just staring at Mark's phone. "The team leader is...." it showed up on the screen. "WinWin!" Mark gasped. "Oh come on. Not fair." Mark whined. I felt a feeling of relief. But WinWin had a tight smile on his face. I suddenly felt bad. "Are you okay with doing it?" I leaned in. "Yeah." WinWin took a bite of his food. As I talked to him, I saw ChungHa glare at us slightly. I shrugged. "Are you sure? I don't want you to be stressed, so I could do it." I scratched my head. "It's really okay. I like being a leader." WinWin looked up and made an eye smile. I smiled back. We finished our food
After lunch, we got to do our other classes. I had felt bad that I made WinWin the leader. I didn't want the pressure to be on him or something.
Another Time Skip
After school, I was heading back to the dorms. I gripped my bag as I ran to see if I had any books for research. I looked through my bookshelves but I only had one book on Arts OR Design. "Why don't I own more of these books?" I had thought to myself. Since there was still time in the day I headed to the library. We weren't meeting until tomorrow to discuss who would do what to give WinWin time to debate. But, I still wanted to prepare myself for knowledge for this subject. I made my way to the public library. The building was so large it had multiple floors. I arrived right at the beginning of the door. Looking up and down. "Where should I even start?" I shouted in my mind. My eyes locked on a computer. I passed the reception desk. I turned on the computer to see that it helps me search for particular books or subjects. "Business.... business..." I searched through multiple pages. Then I found a small section of the business. "Level 3 aisle 4!" As I read I made my way to the elevator. There were already many people in it. It took a few minutes but I made it to the third floor. I looked at the signs above the bookshelves. I made my way to Aisle four. I turned to go down the aisle, but then I saw someone looking at a book from the shelves. I immediately hid behind the brim of the bookshelf. I gulped. "Why is Haechan here?" I peaked to see if he was still there. He was reading a page of a book. I then pulled my head back. "Wait... why am I hiding from him?.." I thought. I felt a breath on my shoulder. "Y/N?" I heard Haechan's voice. I looked over my left shoulder. Haechan's face was close so I jumped back. My heart skipped. "H-Haechan?" I nervously scratched my head. "Were you hiding from me?" He leaned his arm on the side of the shelf while lifting his eyebrow. "Uhh.. no? Why do you ask?" I crossed my arms. "Well, I did see you about to walk in the aisle but then you ran away. Then I came over here to see you hiding.. so I'd assume?" Haechan seemed to have a smirk look on his face. "Don't play smart with me." I teased. I made my way down the aisle. He followed slowly behind me. I looked up and down the shelves, for any books, I could read in particular. "What are you looking for?" Haechan asked. "I have a group project in school in business. I want to do some research on it." I started to put books in my arms to carry. "Oh. I'm pretty good at business. It's one of my specialties at school." Haechan pretended to be bragging. "Uh-huh." I nodded as I grabbed more books. My stomach felt this odd way for some reason. I didn't know why but I haven't had this feeling before. I kept taking glimpses from the corner of my eye at Haechan. Who was thinking of what to say, "Does your school let anyone come and help with this project?" He looked up with a slight smile. I looked at him. "I don't know. Probably not. Since they wouldn't actually be students so they wouldn't even be benefiting from it at all." I started to walk out of the aisles towards the tables in the library. I placed my books down. I sat at the table then looked up at Haechan. "I would."
He said quickly while sitting down. "What?" I looked back up.
"Nothing." He shrugged with a chuckle. "Do you want some help?"
I opened a book and started to read. "I haven't actually decided what part I'd be doing. Our first team meeting is tomorrow and our team leader is going to decide what we do. So, this is just preparation." I replied.
He widened his eyes at all my books. "This is just 'preparation'?" I looked up secretly to see his gleaming smile. I smiled softly while hiding my face in the book. "Geez." He shrugged. It was silent for a bit of time. But, Haechan suddenly said: "I'll join the group project with you."
"What do you mean?" I looked up suddenly. "You're not changing my mind. Anyways. I'm very knowledgeable about these things so I could be a good organization help."
He crossed his arms with a slight smirk on his face. I couldn't tell him no for some reason. "Fine." I scuffed. "Meet me after school tomorrow." I continued to research some of the books. I texted WinWin to let him know a friend would be joining us.
The next day
The morning classes passed really fast as I was excited for our first meeting after school today. I was rummaging through the halls. People passing by me. I heard a lot of noise hurtling from one corner of the hallway. I stood up on my toes to see over people's heads. I heard lots of chatter. It was ChungHa talking to some of the people gathered around her. Mark stood right beside me and I had just noticed him. "Hey!" I waved. "What's going on?" "Oh, ChungHa just got done her dancing performance in a competition and won. She is the dancing queen after all." He shrugged. "Oh wow.. I didn't know she was THAT popular." I chuckled to myself.
After school, I walked outside to meet Haechan so he could come in with me for the meeting. I was at school porchway. Haechan was nowhere in sight. I looked at my phone to check the time, tapping my foot. "The meeting starts in five minutes where is he?" I frowned to myself. I stood there in the heat for a few minutes. Then I heard a thump behind me. I turned around to see Haechan. He was wearing a gray and black loose collar shirt. He was also wearing black pants and white sneakers. "Why are you dressed so fancy?" I glared at him. "This isn't fancy." He shrugged. "What do you mean? Your hair is combed better than usual." We walked back inside the school and walked down the halls. "Aye." He shrugged.
"Are you sure this is a good idea? If we get in trouble it'll be on ME and our team leader.." I peaked down. Haechan looked TOO good today. "What is he trying to do?" I glimpsed at him as we made it to an empty club room. I slowly opened the door, and I peaked in. Everyone was already sitting down around the table. I bowed. "Sorry, I'm late." As I said that they recognized someone tailing behind me. I looked around and WinWin was looking at his computer. He was typing, and he glimpsed up from his computer to look at me. He then got tense when he noticed Haechan. I got to a seat next to WinWin, and Haechan next to me. "Hello." I waved with a smile to WinWin. He smiled back. Haechan stood up. "I'm Y/N's friend. Haechan." He bowed. "I'm here to help with any research or participation requests."
As he said that WinWin whispered in my ear. "You said you were bringing your friend. I didn't know you meant Haechan." He shrugged. As I glimpsed at WinWin, Haechan had stared at me as he took his seat.
"Are you sure this isn't illegal?" Mark blurted. "I mean, why wouldn't I be able to help? I'm sure as long as I help and just not do any official work, it'll be fine." Haechan smiled a bit. WinWin closed his Laptop. "Okay. Let's start this meeting." Everyone sat up straight. He then stood up and handed everyone a list of papers, except Haechan. Haechan looked a bit disappointed but I wasn't sure exactly what he was thinking. My eyes followed WinWin as he made his way back to his seat. We organized our papers. "Alright. Everyone has a particular role." First, he looked at Taeil, who was across from him. "Taeil, your job is Structure. We need a structure to our business." WinWin made a quick smile. Taeil nodded as he hid his face in his papers. "ChungHa." ChungHa's face moved to WinWin as he called her. "I want you to do the presentation. If that's alright?"
"Yes." She nodded formally. She was so formal. "Mark." "YES SIR." Mark yelled. He blazed our ears off. WinWin coughed as he got his hearing back. "I want you to search online for the networking, logging, and support for the business." WinWin then moved from Mark to me. "I want you to research the particular content as you can. A business can't do anything without structure, presentation, research, and content. So once we come up with the structure we can slowly build the business to help it stay invested." WinWin sounded so smart as he talked so all I did was smile and nod. Haechan coughed. "Do I have a job?" Haechan leaned over and raised his eyebrow at WinWin. WinWin chuckled a bit. "Uh.. you can bring us snacks and drinks!" WinWin clapped. "Seriously?" Haechan shrugged back. I chuckled a bit under my breath. "Why are you laughing?" Haechan said in a sassy voice, then made a pouty face. I giggled at him. "Alright." WinWin shrugged it off. "This concludes our first meeting. We have two weeks to complete this project so everyone works hard and we will have a meeting plan. I will send the schedule out to you all tomorrow." WinWin stood up and gathered his things together. I stood up and faced WinWin. "Thank you for your hard work." I smiled at him. "It's no problem." WinWin made a smile. Haechan glared at us from behind and said. "Are we gonna get going?" He sighed. I turned around to look at him. "Sure I guess." I followed Haechan out. I don't know why he was acting so strange.
We walked out of the school. I felt that WinWin had watched us leave. I felt in an odd position and I am not sure why. "Do you have work today?" Haechan turned his head back at me as we walked. "No. But I work tomorrow." He nodded with a smile. "Want to go to the library to study?" Haechan insisted. I nodded in agreement. We made it to the library and gathered a bunch of books on the topic. We sat at a table as Haechan got out my laptop for me. "I'll help you since I can't do any official work." Haechan scratched his head. My phone lit up with a text from WinWin: "do you want to study together?"
I replied back with. "I'm free later tonight. If that's okay?"
"Yes. At my dorm." WinWin texted back. Haechan leaned in to look at my phone right as I turned it off. "Who are you texting?" Haechan asked. "It's nothing." I flipped through the books. I started to read as Haechan went to the computer and started looking for articles for me. "Well, we don't know much of the structure, this is kind of hard to do." I sighed. "Should we wait until tomorrow?" I slowly looked up at Haechan. He shrugged. "If you say so." We decided to leave the library. I didn't want to fry my brain too much. "Do you want to have dinner with me?" Haechan asked as I grabbed hold of my bag. I almost fell over. My heart kind of dropped for some reason. "U-uh sure." I nodded with a smile on my face.
We ended up going to a Korean bbq place to eat. We sat at a table, ordered drinks, then got our chicken, rice, vegetables, and many other sides to eat with it. We sat next to each other with this huge table in front of us. I grabbed chopsticks and dug in. Haechan just smiled as he watched me stuff my face. I slowly lifted my head to look at him. "W-what?" I said with a full mouth. "I guess you were hungry." He had a slight chuckle as he grabbed a bite of rice. It was already late. I got a text from WinWin again. "Will you be over soon? Should I meet you?" Haechan watched me as I texted back. "I'll be there soon."
"Who are you meeting?" Haechan sounded a bit concerned. "Oh... just my friend. We are going to study for a bit." I shrugged as I took another bite. "Hmm. This late? Make sure to be careful. Wait..." he clicked his tongue. "Is it a boy?" He squinted at me. "Why does that matter?" I said with a sassy voice.
"Boys can take advantage of you."
"You sound like my dad." I chuckled.
He gasped. "Uh. No." He pouted. "I just don't want you going to boys' rooms this late." Haechan sounded really concerned, but I knew he was just looking out for me. "I'll be careful don't worry." I made a slight smile at him. It was silent for a bit until Haechan said: "who is the boy though? Someone in your class?"
"Why?"
"Well, I just want to make sure you're safe y'know." He scratched his head then shrugged.
"If you want to know. It's WinWin. So, you can trust him." I took another bite. "WinWin?? I don't like that guy." Haechan shrugged and crossed his arms. "Well, he's a good friend and really nice do you don't have to worry." I stood up and got my bags. Haechan muffled something under his breath. "Thank you for worrying about me though." I smiled while I looked down. "Yeah. That's what I do." Haechan nodded as he started to clean up. "Text me when you get back to your dorm do I know you're safe." Haechan made a quick smile at me. I nodded.
I made my way to WinWin's room. I knocked on the door. He answered. I saw him in casual clothes. "Hey!" I raised my bag in the air. "I brought some books!" WinWin smiled as he let me in. "Have you eaten?" He asked as he led me to the study desk in his room. "Yes. Thank you for asking." I smiled. He nodded. "Sure." His small smile was so cute. I couldn't stop thinking: "ahhh he's so cute!"
"Some exams are coming up since the semester is ending soon, so I thought we could study to save time together." WinWin smiled as he got out his books. He sat at his desk as I sat on his bed. "Yeah! Of course." I started writing in my notebook. After a bit of reading WinWin suddenly asked. "How close are you with Haechan?"
I was embarrassed by his question. "Uh. We are pretty close. We are childhood friends after all." I smiled as I turned a few pages. "Oh. I see." WinWin shrugged as he looked through some textbooks. "He won't be here for long though. He's heading back to school in September." I added.
"Oh, I see." I felt like WinWin was doing way more thinking than talking. He seemed to have a one-track mind. "Is e everything okay?" I asked. He turned his head back at me. "Yes! Of course." He made an eye smile. We studied, read, talked. A few hours had already passed.
By the time I knew it, it was past midnight. "You should head back soon." He said. I didn't reply since I was so sleepy. My head was falling into the book I had in my hand. "After I finish this page.." slowly and slowly my eyes started to get even more closed. Second by second my eyes became droopier, and heavier. Just like that. I fell asleep. My head was leaning in the wall. WinWin looked at me and muttered. "Crap." WinWin rubbed his eyes and ended up falling asleep too.