1 CHAPTER 1 : HER CRUSH

"Dara! Dara!" The loud and persistent voice of Naeun forced Dara to shift her eyes from the activity book to her friend who called her name like the world is about to end.

"Keep it low Son Naeun." She grumbled and paused her music player then placed the pen on top of her open book. It was to mark where she stopped. "What is it?"

"I've got great news for you." Naeun giddily wiggled her arms to show how excited she was.

Dara shrugged, forcing herself to understand the unusual hyper-activeness of Naeun. "Okay. Just make sure that it's worth my time. You see, my homework is due tomorrow."

"Sunggyu and I can't go on a date today." Naeun said.

"And how is that a good news?"

"There will be a friendly basketball match in the gym. A guest team came and--"

"And how is that related to me? You know I'm not interested in bas--"

"The basketball team of the EHU is here!" Naeun exclaimed, cutting Dara off. "You still don't get it?"

"East High University--" Dara's eyes widened. "What?!" she exclaimed before she gathered all of her belongings and carelessly slid everything inside her backpack, like whoever cares. "Let's go!"

"To the gym? Sure.." Naeun smirked. "But I thought you needed to finish your hom--"

Dara grabbed her hand. "Homework can wait. Let's go!" And she led the way to where the gym is.

At the gym, they both gasped at the volume of audience who came to watch. Whichever direction they looked, it was jam-packed. Fan girls were shouting at the top of their lungs and judging from how excited the crowd was, it was not your-usual-kind-of-match.

"Babe, here!" A woman-like hands waved from the West HU team's direction. It was Sunggyu, motioning the reserved seat behind their bench.

Naeun saw him, but going through the crowd was a struggle. Sunggyu tapped Woohyun's shoulder and pointed towards the ladies who were having a hard time finding their way. Sunggyu and Woohyun came to their rescue by assisting them to their seats.

"Dara, I'm glad you came." Nam Woohyun who is Dara's best friend, flashed his million-dollar-worth smile while fixing his slightly disheveled hair.

"Hello back to you Namu. Well, it's not bad to watch a game once in a while." Dara replied shortly.

"And I feel honored of your presence milady." Woohyun smirked and bowed. "Let's just ignore the fact that you ain't here for me."

He waited for her reaction but she was busy looking at the side of the East's team until a pinch in her nose brought her attention back to Woohyun.

"Yah Nam Woohyun," she crumpled her nose that had turned red, thanks to his savage hand. "I'll kill you if a pimple breaks out from here. Your hand is dirty and sweaty, how dare you."

"You'll still be beautiful in my eyes even if your face is full of pimples." He said between chuckles then headed back to the court to resume warming up for the game.

At some point, Woohyun attempted for a three-pointer and the ball went in, causing an uproar from the West's fans. As a response, he acted like he was throwing invisible hearts to them and Dara couldn't help but smile at his cutesy.

Woohyun sure knows how to take care of his fans. No wonder that a lot of girls were dreaming to be his girlfriend.

And why not?

He belongs to a group of seven elites who call themselves INFINITE. Seven of them are equally good looking and talented in their own ways. When she's with them, most of the time, she would earn death glares from the female population in and out of the school. Who would not be envious if you are with seven of the hottest men in the campus right?

Dara woke up from her wandering thoughts again when she heard loud cheers, this time from the opposite side of the gym. It turned out that one of the players from the opposing team showed an extra act. And that was Kim Ki-Bum. Key for short.

And when for some reasons, Key looked at her direction and smiled, Dara's heartbeat increased to like a thousand times faster. She also felt the rush of blood to her cheeks.

Key. Her crush. Woohyun brought them together. Key was his classmate and friend in the kindergarten. Five years ago, Dara started to harbor special feelings for Key, and never recovered from it eversince.

"Earth to Dara!" Naeun snapped a finger in front of Dara's face.

She flinched. Looking around she asked "Why?"

"Woohyun is calling you."

Dara looked at Woohyun's direction and realized that he was saying something but her mind was somewhere off so Dara had to apologize to him.

"Come again? Sorry.."

Woohyun chuckled and placed something in her hands. "Here.. Someone wanted me to hand it to you."

"What's this?" she asked.

"Just read it." And Woohyun turned his back to get a bottle of mineral water.

The envelop says 'To Dara. From K.'

Don't tell me..? The first hunch made her heartbeat go crazy again.

Looking at the direction of the person whom she wished would have sent her that letter, she blushed when their eyes met, and died three times when he gave her a wink.

'It's really him? Hush heart, hush.'

Palms turning cold, Dara started to open the envelop but Woohyun suddenly grabbed it from her. With questioning eyes, she looked up at his lofty figure.

"Read it later. You are here to watch a basketball game anyway," he said then turned away again, reaching for his gym bag to hide the letter.

"Hey Nam Woohyun," Dara stood up to reach for his gym bag but to no avail. She then faced the frowning Woohyun and raised her eyebrows, sending a what's-wrong-with-you-dude kind of glare to him.

"I said later didn't I?" With an expressionless face, Woohyun moved to a seat which was about 6 persons away from her.

'Goodness! This man has got some serious problem with his mood swings,' she thought.

This time, Dara heard a girl saying "Woohyun Oppa, let's take a selca."

"Sure babe," Woohyun replied which earned a muffled scream from the girl who almost glued herself to him.

'What was that? Babe? Babe my butt!' she thought again.

Naeun tapped her hand, seeking for her attention. When she looked at her, Naeun motioned to the other side of the gym. She was pointing towards Key who was being mobbed by about 5 sexy girls. They were giggling to each other and Dara couldn't help but feel jealous. She felt Naeun pat her shoulder this time to console her.

"Are you okay?" Naeun asked.

"Of course!" She faked a smile, silently praying that Naeun would believe her and that her jealousy didn't show.

'For goodness sake, I should have been used to seeing girls hanging around Key. He is Key after all. The captain of EHU's basketball team.'

While composing herself, she felt something cold came in contact with her face. It turned out that Woohyun stuck a bottle of water in it. He sat beside her in the bench while wrapping his arm in her shoulders.

"Hey, can you help me kick this woman's butt off me?" he whispered in her ears.

Dara looked at him and he gestured his pointer towards the glue girl who was still holding Woohyun's other arm. She could feel his irritation and she couldn't help but smile.

Leaning to him, she whispered back in his ears. "Serves you right. You gave her the wrong impression. She thought a while ago that you like her back since you called her babe."

"Damn high hopes. She's not my type." - Woohyun

"Then, who is your type?" - Dara

Woohyun just shrugged and smiled with the meaning that Dara couldn't decipher, but she did what she's best at nonetheless-- shooing away Woohyun's fan girls.

She looked at the other side of Woohyun and gave the girl who was clinging unto him a death glare. "Hey, could you please take your filthy hands off my Oppa?"

The girl's mouth hung open in shock. "Oppa? Your Oppa??"

"You heard me. He is my Oppa." She replied with an eyebrow raised, emphasizing every word she said.

The girl disbelievingly looked at Woohyun and asked again. "Is that true Oppa?"

Woohyun nodded. "Look I'm sorry.. I--" he tried to explain but the girl already walked out, stomping her feet as she walked away.

Woohyun turned to Dara and squeezed her shoulders, pulling her close to him. "Thank you," he said, paying her off with a cutesy.

"Yeah.. Yeah.." She said before biting his hand that was outstretched across her shoulders.

"Awww.. That hurts!" Woohyun yelped.

Dara just stuck her tongue out to him. "Serves you right."

Woohyun chuckled. "Ahhh so cute. That's why I love you." He said pinching her nose again.

"Eyyy.. Stop. My nose already hurts from earlier." Dara complained, covering her nose with her hand but Woohyun just chuckled again and pulled her even closer.

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