Nibble, crunch, slurp, slurp, slurp...

The shikshin is munching so loudly, that Soojin could feel her eardrums about to burst.

"There is a poll..." Moonbyul says as she was reading some teen mag, before she crunched on those chips once more.

"Pole? Ask Somi, she's good with poles."

Somi quickly looks away from her mirror and gives Soyeon a serious stink eye.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know you're good with poles. North pole, south pole, fishing pole, stripper pole..."

Pffft... Moonbyul almost spit out all her lunch as she laughed (She was about to but it would be such a waste).

"Well anyways," Moonbyul finally spoke again after the joke had died down. "There is this poll in the magazine since Valentines is coming up. They ask what's the most romantic place to spend it with your loved one... or in your case Soo, your girlfriend..."

"Hush." Soojin growls softly before chewing her salad carefully.

"My most romantic place-" Soyeon answers first "Is anywhere as long as my date..."

"Awwww..." Moonbyul wipes a lone tear that fell to her cheek. It was a touching moment to know that Jeon Soyeon has a heart.

"I wasn't done yet..." Soyeon stops before Moonbyul gets too melodramatic. "My most romantic place is anywhere as long as my date is PAYING."

Somi let out a condescending snort. Did they really expect Soyeon to say anything romantic?

"Of course... Why am I not even surprised? Anyways, the most romantic place on Valentines is being on a cruise ship."

"Hey... that could work..." For once Soyeon agrees with Somi "If you get annoyed with your date you just push him off to the ocean."

Sometimes they couldn't figure out if Soyeon is serious or just plain mental.

"How about you, Soojin?"

Soojin taps her fork in an almost melodic rhythm. The sound of the tapping unconsciously helps her think faster. But the truth was, she never gave it too much thought, until now. With how busy she is organizing the school Valentines party, she has no time or the strength to think of anything else.

"I haven't really thought about it."

"So, you and Shuhua haven't decided what to do on Valentines?"

Soojin let out a growl. There is nothing she wants to do now but smack those smug smirks off her friends faces.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?"

Everyone in the cafeteria looks at the two shorties up on the table. Minnie was holding an IPOD dock while Sorn had her hand on a mic.

"Me and my bestie here..." Sorn gives Minnie a light squeeze on the shoulders. "Would like to wish everyone a happy romantic day."

The whole room starts to cheer...

"And to add some more romance in the air. We would like to sing a song dedicated to our school's ice princess."

Somi let out a dramatic gasp. Is this it? The end of her nightmarish ordeal as a failed cupid? Will Minnie finally have the guts to step up and ask Miyeon out for the Valentines dance?

"Hope this song could melt your heart and take me as your date?"

"OMO" Somi shakes her head, this has gotten more complicated now that Sorn is added to the mix. She turns over to Miyeon who just blinks casually, as if nothing mattered to her. Sorn starts singing and Miyeon starts to look a little loopy, like she was seconds away from dropping dead or falling asleep in the cafeteria. Seconds later, she was snoring on the cafeteria table.

Sorn tries to dismiss it, maybe her voice is so melodious that it lullaby Miyeon to sleep. But then, it was Minnie's part and Miyeon seems to rise up from the dead. She looks more awake than people have ever seen her.

"Hey... hey..." Moonbyul starts to nudge Soojin, "Maybe you should serenade Shuhua too."

"And why would I do that?"

"You know... Valentines..." Moonbyul chews thoughtfully "It's the most romantic time of the year."

"I have a lot of things to worry about rather than thinking about Valentines."

Speaking of Valentines, Soojin stood up and excused herself from her friends. Unlike them, she has stuff to take care of.

***

Soojin slouches frustratingly at the amount of Rilakkuma stuff on the web. She has been browsing nonstop for weeks, trying to find a good Valentine's gift for the choding but she's not even sure what to give her. It feels like Shuhua has every rilakkuma thing in the world, that it wouldn't surprise Soojin if Shuhua is even wearing Kkuma undies.

"Hmmm... Maybe that's what I should give her, some underwear."

Soojin then straightens up on her seat when it dawns on her how perverted she sounded. Sure it was rilakkuma but underwear? Geez... She needs help with this gift giving thing.

"Guess who?"

Soojin was glad that she was facing her laptop rather than the younger girl, or else her wide smile would be too obvious.

"I don't know... ummm Yuqi? Is that you?"

The teasing smile in Soojin's lips grew even wider as she heard the frustrated groan.

"Nope... guess again."

"Hmmm... You got big bear paws, Byul?" She bites her lip to keep herself from laughing when the choding starts stomping angrily.

"Noooo... it's me... Your baobei."

"My baobei?" Soojin says teasingly, taking away Shuhua's hands from her eyes.

Shuhua quickly gives Soojin a backhug. It was her way of saying how much she misses her especially since Soojin is always so busy nowadays. Soojin just stayed like that, it was her way of saying I miss you too.

"Hey..." Shuhua frowns before holding Soojin again

The raven haired girl could only look at Shuhua in surprise. The puppy eyed choding has a look of deep thought in her face, before deciding to just hug Soojin again.

"What's wrong with you?" Soojin finally asks

"You've gotten skinny." Shuhua frowns "You haven't been eating, aren't you?"

Soojin couldn't help but be in awe at how someone can determine someone's size just by hugging. But she should have known Shuhua had always worked on a different wavelength from everyone else.

"I've been.... I just have been busy with the Valentine's dance, that's all."

"That's not right. You should enjoy the valentine's dance, especially since it's our first valentine's day as a couple." Shuhua was smiling so happily. But then she saw how quiet Soojin was after hearing the word couple, and it made her smile disappear slowly.

"Anyways... you shouldn't be all stressed about it." Shuhua shakes her head, trying to shake the thing that bothers her off. "Can I stay here?"

Soojin wonders why Shuhua even bothered to ask. She looks perfectly at home in the school council office, spinning around in her swivel chair.

"Do I have a choice?"

"Nope..." Shuhua replied, continuing to spin faster and faster like she was on a ride in an amusement park. But suddenly she stops and starts to clench her mouth.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm getting dizzy."

This time Soojin didn't even bother to hide her laughter at how cute the other girl was.

"You need to slow yourself down." Soojin reprimanded, but this time she didn't sound so cold, instead she was loving and caring.

Shuhua sees Soojin's gentle nature as a sign to get closer. She starts to scoot beside the girl before nuzzling herself on Soojin's neck.

"Hey... hey!" Soojin gently shoves the other girl away. "You're so touchy."

Shuhua sat up straight for a little bit, before she decided to go back and nuzzle on Soojin's neck some more.

"Sometimes I can't believe that we're together, that's why I have to touch you to make sure I'm not dreaming."

A shy smile spread on Soojin's lips before she ended up playfully smacking Shuhua on the forehead.

"So cheesy."

"But you like it!" Shuhua frowns, rubbing her sore forehead.

Soojin clicks her tongue teasingly before answering, "Maybe..."

She returns her attention back in front of her laptop. It seems like Shuhua isn't the only one who got a dizzying spell. Soojin took a heavy sigh as she saw half of her checklist is still not done. It's supposed to be the most romantic time of the year, but here she is too stressed to even enjoy it.

But then she smiles again, when out of nowhere she feels somebody giving her a good shoulder rub.

"You feel better?" Shuhua whispers cutely and Soojin nods her head thankfully.

Her heart finally convinced her mind that being with Shuhua never fails to make her feel better. Maybe this time it was her who needed to do something to sweep this girl off her feet.

"Yes unnieee..."

"Where are you?"

"I'm here with Soojin in the student council office."

From the other line, Minnie couldn't help but scrunch her almost non existent brow. Before she has to drag her sister out of bed to go to school, now the girl is staying longer than she's supposed to.

"You're not staying there anymore."

"WHY NOT?!" Shuhua couldn't help but whine like a little child.

"It's a school night, and your grades are not really pretty. You think Soojin would like a dumb girlfriend?"

"Ummm no..." Shuhua mutters embarrassingly, hoping Soojin wouldn't hear.

"Then, come home now and start studying! Don't you have a quiz tomorrow?"

"I doooo..." Shuhua continues to whine, "I'll just study for it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow is the quiz... that's not how it works..."

"ARGH fine..."

Shuhua wanted to have slammed her phone, but since she doesn't want to break her IPHONE she just ends up pressing the end button over and over again.

"I guess you have to go home?" Soojin asks, hoping the sound of disappointment wasn't too obvious in her voice.

"Ummm... yeah... Can you believe my history teacher? It's Valentine's and she wants to give us a quiz?

"Well... if you like I could tutor you for it."

Shuhua's pout turns into the happiest grin, Of course she would like it, she would like it very much.

"Do I get a prize if I get the correct answer?"

"Yes."

Oh how those puppy eyes just sparkle brightly at the thoughts of her prize.

"Yes... the satisfaction of knowing that you're ready for your exam."

And how quickly the sparkle poof away.

"That's not a good prize..." She mumbles softly, but loud enough that Soojin could hear.

"Why? What would you like?"

"A million kisses from you."

"Then you would need to answer a million questions."

Soojin expected Shuhua to back away, but instead she surprised her when she opened her book and started reading.

"Bring it on." Shuhua says with a determined frown on her face. She was ready to answer the million questions to have her million kisses. "Shuhua Fighting!" She preps herself up.

She just read a couple of sentences and couldn't help but groan.

"This is torture! All these pages in one chapter! The writer of this book is sadistic! Sad! Is! tic!!!"

"Stop with your excuses and start studying. Start highlighting the important things."

Shuhua scratches her head in confusion. The font was ridiculously squished together and there were blocks and blocks of paragraphs. There was no way she was going to read all of it. So, to make sure she doesn't miss anything important the genius decided to highlight every word.

"Shuhua!" Soojin couldn't help but shriek as she saw what Shuhua was doing with the highlighter. "You're supposed to highlight the important parts! You're missing the point!"

"Well..." Shuhua scratches her head and almost gets temporarily blinded by her highlighted book. "I'm not sure which one is important so I highlight everything to make sure I don't miss anything."

"No... be serious."

"Fine... I'm serious... Serious for my kiss."

"No... serious for your grade."

Soojin points to Shuhua's book, and the puppy eyed girl just lets out a sigh before she reads again. But one paragraph later and Shuhua's head was lolling all around and her eyes were starting to droop.

"Hey..."

Shuhua abruptly sits up at the sound of Soojin's husky voice. The sexiness of Soojin's voice definitely woke her up.

"Heeeeyyyy..." Shuhua tries to match Soojin's sexy voice with her own imitation.

It was a fail, but at least she sounded cute saying it. Shuhua sneakily scoots closer, slowly laying her head on Soojin's shoulder. But Soojin was quick to move away, leaving poor Shuhua pouting.

"You're not done... keep on it."

"You should be a teacher."

"We'll see. I want to be something else."

Actually Soojin wants to be a lot of things. She wants to be an artist, a writer, a politician, a leader, be whatever she's destined to be. She wants to push herself and see what fits her the most.

"Like what?"

"I want to be a lot of things."

"I'm sure you can do it."

No matter how many plans Soojin had for her future, she was never really comfortable talking about it with somebody else. It's like she feared that her future plans were like wishes. That once you heard them out loud, there is a huge possibility that it might not come true. But Shuhua gazes at her with such admiration and love that it somehow magically made the fear in Soojin disappear.

"How about you? What would you like to be?"

"Be your wife." Shuhua didn't even wait for a millisecond to answer.

"No... be serious."

"Be your wife." Shuhua answers again. "Or your seobang?"

"Really?" Soojin raised her brow... "I mean is that what you see yourself doing in the future?"

"Uh-huh... uh-huh" Shuhua nods so hard, Soojin was scared Shuhua's head would pop out.

"Well... I want you to do something for you... Like a career for yourself."

"Ahhh... well... I haven't thought of that."

Soojin didn't know how many times she facepalm herself. But she seems to do that every time she's talking to the doe eyed kid.

"You need to be serious or should I say... you need to be focused."

"I am focused."

"Not focused enough. You know Shuhua, if you pay attention in class, you might learn that there are quite some interesting things that they can teach you."

"I don't think so." Shuhua shakes her head.

"You're doing it without even giving it a chance."

Shuhua paused for a little bit. She wasn't really into classes and learning but if Soojin says it's something interesting then maybe she needs to give it a try.

"Okay... I'm going to start focusing."

"And what else?"

"I'm going to start learning?"

"You don't know how much your potential is, if you don't try... You could be a dean's lister. Won't that be cool?"

"If you think it's cool. Then it's cool..."

"I think it's cool."

Shuhua pulls out her kkuma notebook and starts to jot down with her kkuma pen.

"I always see you write in that. What do you write there?"

"Ummm stuff?"

Soojin cranes her neck to get a better angle but Shuhua scoots away before she could even see anything.

"No.. you can't look..."

"Why not?"

"Because all my secrets are here..."

As soon as Shuhua stuffs her notebook back in her kkuma backpack, Soojin jumps to get a hold of it.

"Heyyyy!!!" Shuhua whines trying to get it back. She realizes that all the time Soojin goes to the gym must pay off because she's like the hulk. (not in looks, but in how strong she is) "Give it back!"

It was Shuhua this time who tried to jump and reach over at it, but Soojin has an amazing reflex as she turns away.

"GIVE IT BACK!"

Soojin stopped giggling the second she saw how red Shuhua's face was. Those poor puppy eyes look like they were about to start crying any second now.

"Wow... you really are serious about it... Here..."

Shuhua yanks the notebook away and hurriedly stuffs it back in her bag.

"I'mgoinghome..." Shuhua mumbles angrily as she starts fixing her stuff. She puts her backpack on before getting up. Soojin couldn't understand what the hell just happened. She was just playing around, she didn't know that Shuhua would be serious about it.

"Shuhua... it's just a joke..."

"I said okay..." Shuhua replies but doesn't even bother to look at Soojin. "I'm leaving..."

"I don't understand why you're so upset. It's just some stupid bear notebook."

Shuhua halted and finally turned to Soojin. It might look like just a stupid notebook for Soojin, but it meant the world to Shuhua. It was the notebook she bought when she realized she likes Soojin and it's the only thing in the world who knows everything that she feels about Soojin. And to hear that Soojin just think it's stupid, for once in her life it upset her.

"Fine... it's stupid for you. Good night."

Soojin wasn't used to begging and she wasn't going to start now. Shuhua was just being her childish self just like always. She's not going to baby her to make the younger girl feel better.

"You are so immature."

Soojin just thought she said it to herself, unfortunately Shuhua heard every word of it. She turns to Soojin and Soojin doesn't even look bothered, her whole focus is on the laptop again. Shuhua for once didn't try to sneak in a kiss or a hug or steal a touch. For once she just walked to the door and left...

The second Shuhua closes the door, Soojin turns to it. She was counting down in her head before Shuhua would come knocking like crazy and beg for everything to be okay. But she didn't. And it's weird how seeing Shuhua leave gave Soojin this pained feeling. But unlike the rest, this kind of pain is something that feels much worse. Because it wasn't her muscles or her brain that was feeling the hurt, it was something else.

And when Soojin felt her heart just starting to ache, she realized why she never wanted to be in a relationship or try to be close to anybody. Because that heartache is something Soojin could never handle.

But Shuhua will be back right? She would be... Yes... she will...

*

"She's not here."

Those were the first words Soojin thought out loud as she walked out her home that morning and found no bouncy, skipping choding waiting out for her. It felt strange for Soojin. She was missing the girl she has been trying to avoid almost the entire year. That day, on the day of the valentines dance, just when she thought she would spend it with someone, turns out she would be alone again, just like always.

*

"Oh noooo..." Shuhua mutters softly as she watches Soojin being surrounded by her usual crowd of admirers.

They almost look like a group of zombies and Soojin was the only human flesh around to devour... (that was really unromantic) Shuhua thought.

She was gazing at her sexy bear from behind the lockers. Shuhua knew that she looked like crap today, especially since she didn't get any sleep from last night. The moment she got up, she quickly ran to the store and got an I'm sorry teddy bear and I'm sorry bouquet for Soojin. She knew she overreact, but she felt like Soojin push her berserk button after calling her notebook stupid. And to hear that Soojin just thinks she's nothing more but an immature kid.

Would Soojin still want to be her valentine?

***

"Oh my Gosh... These crazy netizens," Somi points out as she reads the "news" from her pink phone. "Saying that Krystal Jung has a boyfriend"