Chapter 2

Next came a bookmark with beautiful white fluffy clouds floating around on a background of a deep blue sky, with words inscribed over top.

You are my other half,
You're the one who can make me laugh,
You're the one who makes me feel good inside,
And you're the one I want to live beside!
There has been so much hurt and so many tears,
But look we are still here;
And stronger than ever.
And I can honestly say that this is forever.

-Unknown

Bong Joon Gu was the one who found it.

"Yah, Ha Ni what is this! Is this for me? I knew my persistence would pay off. Finally my beautiful Ha Ni loves me back." He gushed clutching the tiny piece of paper to his chest.

"Bong Joon Gu, what are you talking about? What is that?" Ha Ni asked taking it out of his hand and examining it carefully. "I don't know what this is. I've never seen it before."

"It was right here in your bag. Didn't you get this for me?"

"No, of course not!" She scowled at him.

"Tell me you didn't buy this to give to that devil, Seung Jo?"

"No. I would never give him something so cheesy. He would totally hate it and make fun of me. Besides, I'm trying to forget my feelings for him, why would I get him any kind of gift!"

"If you didn't get this, then why is it in your bag?" Joon Gu asked. By now Min-Ah and Joo-Ri had crowded in around Ha Ni to see what was going on. "Maybe it's another gift from your secret admirer?" Joo-Ri practically gushed.

"Secret admirer? What secret admirer?" Bong Joon Gu bellowed.

"Someone has been leaving little gifts for Ha Ni over the last few weeks" said Min-Ah. "Yeah, isn't it romantic?" gushed Joo-Ri.

"It wasn't you, was it Joon-Gu?" Ha Ni teased with a suspicious look and a grin. She was only half teasing because she knew Joon-Gu liked her and she wouldn't put something like this past him. It also didn't help that he had turned a very deep shade of red at her query.

Yah! I don't need to be secret. I can admire you right out in the open! Joon-Gu's obvious adoration of Ha Ni made everyone laugh.

"So it wasn't you?" Ha Ni sighed. "Then I wonder who it could be?"

"Hey, what about that guy who transferred here last month. Kim Ki Tae I think his name is." Min-Ah suggested. I've seen him watching you in the cafeteria and I've seen him hanging around the tennis courts. Maybe he's got a thing for you but is too shy to come out and talk to you.

"Or maybe he's a sex maniac stalker, watching our poor Ha Ni for a chance to kidnap her and do unspeakable things to her." Joon-Gu cried, his voice rising steadily. "Oh my God! Our beautiful Oh Ha Ni is being chased by a crazy stalker! Don't worry Ha Ni, I'll protect you – no matter what it takes, I'll keep you safe!" He was practically shouting while crushing Ha Ni to his side.

"Joon-Gu please relax," she said, escaping his firm hold, putting a bit of distance between them and tucking the bookmark back in her bag. "We don't know it's a stalker. There's been nothing weird or threatening – just little gifts. It's probably one of the juniors in the tennis club trying to prank me. You know how funny those guys think they are. Really, it's nothing to worry about."

But Joon-Gu wasn't listening to her words and was already organizing the members of his posse that followed him everywhere into shifts as body guards for Oh Ha Ni. She knew him well enough to know that nothing she said would dissuade him from doing something he had decided on, even if it was ridiculous, so she just tuned him out and headed off to her next class.

Ha Ni spent the next few days being much more careful about where she left her bags and watching who was around, and predictably, nothing else happened. She decided that whoever it was had given up the prank or lost interest in her, but she wasn't sure if she was happy about it.

It was a huge surprise then a week later when she and Seung Jo came home at the same time, a rare occurrence in itself, and she reached into her purse to pull out her house keys only to find something had been added – a large silver heart with sparkling crystals encrusted all over it. Her shocked exclamation was enough to alert Seung Jo that something was amiss. He glanced over her shoulder at what she had in her hands and asked, "What's going on?"

She showed him the key chain and when he responded with only a blank look she said, "This wasn't on my keychain when I left this morning! I don't know how it got there because I've been very careful about where I put my purse. It's been on me or in front of me all day. There's no way I would have missed someone pulling out my keys, adding this to it and putting it back in my purse."

"Maybe your stalker is a ghost." He suggested with a smirk, not at all helpful. "At least open the door already, I don't want to be standing out here all night while you try to figure it out." Once they were inside Guem Hee greeted them with a worried look asking Seung Jo why he was home so late when she expected him home almost an hour ago. "I had something at work that took a bit longer to finish then I had anticipated. I'm sorry, I should have called but I really didn't think it would take as long as it did." He glanced at Ha Ni with a mischievous smile and said, "You should ask Ha Ni about her day. Apparently it was more interesting than mine." Guem Hee turned her curious face to Ha Ni and the girl felt obligated to show her the crystal heart she found and listen to her excited exclamations about how wonderful that Ha Ni's secret admirer was still around and what good taste he had in gifts. Ha Ni blushed a bright red and excusing herself, ran up to her room to hide and think, but mostly hide.

The next day she couldn't if say she was surprised or not when she opened her locker to find a small bouquet of wildflowers stuck onto the inside of the locker door, along with a note. "Do you want to meet me? Come to the bench on the bridge in the park at the bus stop near where you live. Thursday night at seven. I'm shy – don't bring anyone." There was no signature and the handwriting didn't look familiar at all. Ha Ni was a little bit bewildered about what to do. On the one hand she was very curious about who her secret admirer was but on the other hand, both Joon-Gu and Seung Jo mentioned the possibility of it being a stalker so she felt she had to consider that possibility. She decided that she would take the note home and see what her family thought of it.

"Oh how exciting!" gushed Geum Hee.

"I think it's a crazy stalker out to get you!" laughed Eun Jo.

"But it's so romantic" sighed both Joo-Ri and Min-Ah, who had come over to study.

"You should wear something nice when you go." Added Geum Hee.

"I don't think you should go alone" said her father.

"I don't think you should go at all" said Seung Jo's father.

"Whatever." Was Seung Jo's response.

Ha Ni rubbed her temples – she could feel the headache coming on.

The next few days flew by and Ha Ni woke up extra early on Thursday morning trying not to stress about her meeting tonight as she got herself dressed and ready for school. She went downstairs to the kitchen looking forward to actually having breakfast since she was usually running late in the mornings and missed it. When she got there she was surprised to see Seung Jo already there, making fried eggs and toast. He looked up at her and added another egg to the pan without a word and slipped another piece of bread into the toaster. Ha Ni busied herself with making coffee, the one thing she could actually do well in the kitchen and by the time the eggs and toast were ready, she had two steaming mugs of Brazilian blend coffee, one with cream and sugar and one with only a bit of milk, just the way Seung Jo liked it sitting on the table next to their plates. They ate in silence and when they were done, Ha Ni grabbed the empty plates and brought them to the sink.

"So will you go to meet your secret admirer tonight?" Seung Jo asked as he came up behind her with the empty mugs. Ha Ni took in a deep breath before answering him and got a nose full of the scent of pine and wood smoke from his shampoo and body wash, along with a spicy tang that was his alone. Her mind went blank for a second and she couldn't remember what she was about to say. Inwardly she cursed her weakness for him that she couldn't seem to get rid of. Try as she might to forget about Seung Jo and move on, her traitorous body wouldn't let her, making her heart beat faster and causing a blush to bloom across her cheeks whenever he was near, and his scent caused a ridiculous warmth to spread throughout her body and her legs to go weak.

It took a moment, but Ha Ni ruthlessly pushed those feeling to the side and took another deep breath through her mouth to try and calm her heart. "I haven't decided yet." She finally answered.

"I don't think you should" he said, still standing very close behind her, "It might be some crazy, love starved, sex maniac who just wants to get you alone." Was it her imagination or did Seung Jo just say that last part in a throaty whisper against her ear? Ha Ni turned to look at him and he backed away from her a little bit. "What does it matter to you?"

"Yah, Ha Ni! You know very well that if something were to happen to you eomoni would be devastated. You're being selfish going to meet some strange person just because they give you a few trinkets and ask you to come!"

"Thanks for your opinion Seung Jo", Ha Ni scowled up at him, anger giving her eyes a distinct sparkle. "Your mom is actually ok with it, she even helped me pick out an outfit to wear tonight so I don't think I need to worry about upsetting her. And honestly it's none of your business where I go or who I go with. You've got He Ra, remember." Having said that, Ha Ni spun around, grabbed her bag and left for school, leaving a stunned Seung Jo standing there staring after her.

After that, the day took on a bit of a surreal feel for Ha Ni. Her classes seemed to drag on and on. Her friends stuck to her side like glue all day long as if they were afraid they'd never see her again. Joon-Gu even sat down to eat lunch with her, which she scolded him for, after all he was supposed to be serving it, not just slacking off with her while the line just got backed up further and further.

By the time her final class was over and she went to tennis practice Ha Ni felt like everybody in the entire school was watching her and whispering behind her back. She kept thinking she heard the words 'stalker' and 'sex maniac' being whispered around her and by the time she was ready to go home she had a thumping headache and her nerves were frazzled.

Once she got home Ha Ni's head hurt so much she thought she might actually throw up. Seeing her pale and pinched face Guem Hee immediately ordered Ha Ni to take some medicine and go lie down for a bit while she made soup to help her feel better. Taking the motherly advice, Ha Ni took two headache pills and quietly lay down in her bed, thinking that in about half an hour the medicine will have taken care of her headache and she would be good to go. At least that was the plan. When Ha Ni finally awoke from her healing nap it was almost eight o'clock. She had missed her meeting with her 'secret admirer'.

Getting out of bed quickly, she ran down the stairs and out the door without bothering to change into the outfit her adopted mother picked out for her. She ran all the way to the park, not stopping until she got to the bench on the bridge. No one was in sight. Of course he's not going to be here, she thought. I'm an hour late! Who wait for an hour?

Ha Ni sat down on the bench to catch her breath and think. Who could her secret admirer be? Who could like her enough and who could be playful enough to think of this kind of game? She knew who she wanted it to be, but that just wasn't possible. Seung Jo would never think of this kind of thing and besides, he didn't like Ha Ni, he was dating Yoon He Ra wasn't he? No it had to be Bong Joon-Gu, or Kim Ki Tae or someone Ha Ni didn't know yet. Joon-Gu had a really big heart, but not enough brain power or stealth to be able to plan or execute anything this complicated. Ki Tae, who had finally introduced himself to her, had the brains and seemed like he might be capable of being stealthy, but was he motivated enough, did he really like her that much?

Ha Ni noticed a small patch of flowers near the bench where she sat. There were small patches all over the park in strategic places, and this one had purple hyacinth flowers in it. She picked one stem and placed it carefully on the bench in silent apology to the unknown stalker before turning around and returning home. (Purple Hyacinth = I'm sorry in flower language).