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Jeong Leean did not believe in love at first sight.
She believed in chaos. And snacks. And maybe A-na’s questionable plans.
But then she met Ye-on’s older sister.
Kim Dahyun, Stella.
Eighteen years old. Vice president of the student council. Calm, polite, perfect posture, perfect everything. She also played the guitar like she was personally serenading the universe.
And that, apparently, was Ian’s breaking point.
"Ye-on,” Ian whispered the first time she saw her. “You didn’t tell me your sister looks like she stepped out of a coming-of-age movie.”
Ye-on blinked. “Please don’t be weird.”
“No promises,” A-na said beside them, grinning. “She’s already staring.”
“I’m not staring!” Ian hissed, still staring.
Juun sighed. “She’s doomed.”
Ian, Juun and A-na were known as the “Minor Chaos Department.”
Their hobbies included: making Ye-on sigh, confusing teachers, and finding increasingly creative ways to avoid homework.
So when Yuha the student council secretary and A-na’s girlfriend (bless her patient soul) said Stella needed help for the upcoming festival performance, A-na jumped at the chance.
“Ian will volunteer!” A-na said.
Ian blinked. “Volunteer for what?”
“Stella’s writing a song for the school festival.”
"And?”
“She needs help.”
Ian straightened up, eyes shining. “Juun. Did you hear that?”
“What?”
“The sound of fate.”
Juun facepalmed. “You’re hopeless"
The first songwriting session was in the music room after class.
Stella sat with her guitar, notebook open, expression serious. “The song’s called Butterflies. It’s about the excitement and emotion of reaching a long-awaited dream, kinda related to a romantic connection,.”
Ian nearly fell off her chair. “You- you wrote a love song?”
“It’s for the festival.”
“For me, you mean.”
“For the festival,” Stella said flatly, but her ears were pink.
They spent two hours writing, arguing, laughing, and Ian accidentally breaking two guitar picks
“They looked fragile, like me around you,” she said. Stella ignored that.
A-na and Yuha occasionally peeked in.
“How’s it going?” Yuha asked.
“She flirts more than she sings,” Stella said.
Ian smiled proudly. “Multitasking.”
A-na whispered to Yuha, “We’re witnessing history.”
Yuha smiled. “Or a restraining order"
By the third week, “Butterflies” had become their song.
Stella wrote the melody, Ian helped with lyrics, and between them was a constant buzz of teasing, laughter, and awkward silence whenever their hands brushed.
“You can’t rhyme heart with start again." Stella said.
“But it’s poetic!” Ian protested.
“It’s lazy.”
“Fine. How about ‘Every time you smile, my brain stops working’?”
“That’s not romantic.”
“It’s autobiographical.”
Stella blinked, then laughed, a real, small, soft laugh that made Ian forget what air was.
Because Ian was Ian, she decided to “add atmosphere” to their song by ordering actual butterflies online.
The problem? She didn’t read the fine print.
When she opened the box in the music room, hundreds of live butterflies exploded into the air like a glitter bomb from nature itself.
Stella screamed. “LEEAN, WHAT DID YOU DO?!”
“They’re free spirits!” Ian yelled, trying to catch one. “It’s art!”
“It’s a pest problem!”
A-na went inside the music room and nearly choked on her juice when she saw what was inside “Oh my God, this is the best day of my life!”
Yuha was behind her, torn between laughing and calling pest control.
By the time Jiwoo, the terrifyingly calm student council president had arrived, Stella was sitting on the floor with her guitar, surrounded by butterflies, glaring at Ian.
Jiwoo blinked. “Why is the music room a disney movie?”
Carmen took a photo. “A romantic disney movie.”
The next day, their group chat was chaos.
A-na:
"Anyone seen the butterfly incident footage? 👀"
Juun:
"Yeah, Ian looks like she’s summoning forest spirits."
Ye-on:
"That’s my sister's room, YOU MENACES."
Ian:
"it was for the vibes 😤"
Stella:
"it was for the trauma."
Yuha:
"Should I tell the principal or pretend this didn’t happen?
Carmen:
"Both. do both."
A-na sent fifty butterfly emojis after that.
As the festival neared, rehearsals intensified.
Ian sang while Stella played, and slowly, the teasing turned into something softer.
One afternoon, Stella corrected Ian’s hand on the mic stand. “Like this,” she murmured, her hand brushing Ian’s.
Ian froze. “Oh. So this is how I die.”
“Focus.” Stella said, but she was smiling.
“I am focusing. On you.”
“Leean.”
“Yes, my muse?”
Stella groaned. “You’re impossible.”
“And you’re like a dream.”
“Stop saying things like that.”
“Can’t. It’s in the lyrics.”
“Leean!”
From the hallway, Yuha whispered to A-na, "They're definitely going to end up together.”
A-na smirked. “Obviously. I’m a professional matchmaker.”
“You literally caused this chaos.”
"Exactly
And just when everyone thought things couldn’t get worse, Ian decided to “test the acoustics” of the school rooftop at night, dragging A-na and Juun along.
The goal? Serenade Stella from below her dorm window.
The problem? They picked the wrong window.
Instead of Stella, Jiwoo, the student council president, opened it.
Jiwoo blinked down. “Why are you three outside my dorm at midnight holding a ukulele?”
Ian froze mid-chord. “Music appreciation project?”
A-na nodded violently. “Yeah! Experimental acoustics!”
Juun added, “We’re exploring emotional resonance!”
“You’re exploring detention.” Jiwoo said.
They spent the next morning mopping the hallway floors as punishment, and Ian swore she saw Stella watching from the stairs, covering her mouth to hide her laugh.
Totally worth it.
The night before the festival, Stella found Ian asleep in the music room, scribbled lyrics all around.
On one crumpled sheet, she saw the words:
“You make chaos sound like a song."
Her chest felt oddly warm.
She sat beside Ian, gently fixing her messy hair. “You’re unbelievable,” she whispered.
“Only for you, Stella.” Ian mumbled, half asleep.
Stella froze. “You’re dreaming.”
“Maybe. But it’s a good one.”
Stella smiled despite herself.
The next morning, the campus buzzed like it was the happiest day of the year.
The air smelled of popcorn and excitement, banners waved, couples walked hand in hand.
Ian ran into A-na and Yuha by the stalls, waving a plastic bag. “Guess who just won a butterfly plushy?”
Yuha deadpanned. “Please don’t tell me you’re giving that to Stella.”
Ian gasped. “Of course I am! It’s symbolic!”
A-na whispered, “It’s creepy.”
“It’s cute,” Ian insisted. “Like- romantic symbol of metamorphosis!”
Yuha snorted. “Symbol of you being weird.”
They turned to see Juun juggling sodas nearby. “Are we pretending that she’s not down bad for Stella?”
A-na smirked. “We’re pretending she’s functional.”
And that’s when Stella appeared, hair tied back, guitar strapped, calm as ever.
Ian swore her heart stopped.
“Leean,” Stella said, “ready for soundcheck?”
“Totally!” Ian said, dropping the butterfly plushy, tripping on the mic cable, and almost dying in front of the girl of her dreams.
Stella sighed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Behind them, A-na whispered, “This is going to be legendary.”
Yuha grinned. “Or catastrophic.”
The sun was setting when the festival lights flickered on, painting the campus gold and pink.
The main stage was alive, music, laughter, and the occasional voice crack from nervous freshmen performing their skits.
Backstage, Stella was tuning her guitar for the tenth time. Ian was pacing, chewing on a candy stick like it was a cigarette.
“You nervous?” Ian asked.
“Maybe,” Stella admitted, adjusting her capo. “This song… it’s special.”
Ian smiled softly. “It is. You made it that way.”
“You helped.”
“Yeah, but you’re the melody.”
“You’re the reason it’s off-key sometimes.”
“Romantic.”
Stella tried not to laugh and failed. “You’re impossible.”
“Hopelessly so,” Ian said, with that grin that could power an entire city’s electricity.
From the side curtain, A-na poked her head in. “You two done flirting or should we delay the performance another ten minutes?”
Yuha bonked her on the head. “Leave them alone, Romeo and Juliet are having a moment.”
When their names were called, the crowd erupted.
Stella stepped onto the stage first, calm and collected. Ian followed, tripped over the monitor cable, and somehow turned it into a bow.
“Showmanship,” she whispered proudly.
Stella sighed. “You’re a walking hazard.”
The lights dimmed.
Stella strummed the opening chords, soft, warm, and gentle, and Ian’s voice came in smooth and steady:
“The gentle wind knocks on my heart…”
The crowd hushed. The phones lit up like constellations.
Even A-na stopped heckling for once, holding Yuha’s hand with a stupid proud smile.
Jiwoo had one arm around Carmen, who was waving like an overexcited mom.
And right beside them, Juun and Ye-on were screaming like fangirls at a K-pop encore.
Juun cupped her hands around her mouth. “GO, IAN! MAKE HER FALL FOR YOU!”
Ye-on whacked her arm. “THAT’S MY SISTER, JUUN!”
“I KNOW! THAT’S WHY IT’S EVEN FUNNIER!”
Ye-on groaned. “She’s going to kill her after this.”
Juun grinned. “Worth it.”
Halfway through the song, Ian risked a glance at Stella.
She was smiling while she played, eyes soft, completely lost in the moment, like the world had melted into strings and sunlight.
Ian’s heart did a cartwheel.
“Hear it, our own song, our song…”
And then, because Ian had zero self-control, she ad-libbed at the end:
“And this song, is about the prettiest girl in the school!”
The crowd screamed.
Stella’s hands froze mid-chord.
“LEEAN!” she hissed.
Ian grinned into the mic. “Starts with an S, ends with -tella!”
Yuha doubled over laughing.
A-na screamed, “SHE FINALLY DID IT!”
Carmen fell off her chair.
Jiwoo facepalmed. “I hate this school.”
Ye-on froze mid-clap. “Did she just confess to my sister? In front of everyone?!
Juun, now on the floor laughing, yelled, “ICONIC BEHAVIOR!”
When the chaos died down, Stella dragged Ian backstage by the collar.
“You can’t just confess to me in front of the whole school!”
“I didn’t say it was you.”
“Everyone knew it was me!”
Ian smiled sheepishly. “Then maybe I should make it official?”
“Don’t you dare-”
Too late. Ian grabbed the mic again, leaned out the curtain, and yelled,
“BY THE WAY, STELLA-”
“LEEAN-”
“WANNA GO OUT SOMETIME?!”
The crowd lost it.
Stella covered her face, half laughing, half dying of embarrassment.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“Unbelievably charming?”
“Unbelievably you.”
Ian grinned. “So is that a yes?”
Stella paused. "Maybe.”
“I’ll take it.”
The festival afterparty was chaos on another level.
The “Minor Chaos Department” (a.k.a. Ian, A-na, Juun) somehow convinced the DJ to play Butterflies again.
Yuha looked exhausted. “I feel like I’m dating a tornado.”
“You are,” A-na said proudly, wrapping an arm around her. “And it’s a privilege.”
Meanwhile, Juun was dancing like she’d just downed six energy drinks, dragging Ye-on into it.
“Come on!” Juun laughed. “Your sister’s love life just peaked, celebrate!”
Ye-on laughed helplessly, hands full of churros. “This is the weirdest night of my life.”
Ian appeared, glitter in her hair, a balloon tied to her wrist. “STELLA! I WON YOU SOMETHING!”
Stella raised an eyebrow. “If it’s another butterfly plushy—”
“It’s three butterfly plushies!”
“Leean.”
“Symbolism!”
A few days later, the confession had spread across campus like wildfire.
People replayed the performance video on loop.
Even the principal was heard saying, “At least it was school-appropriate.”
Ian and Stella couldn’t walk down the hallway without someone whispering, “That’s them! The Butterflies couple!”
A-na milked it for all it was worth.
“Autographs are five bucks each,” she told the freshmen.
Yuha dragged her away. “We’re going to detention again if you keep doing that.”
Juun joined in too, selling fake Butterflies lyric sheets.
Ye-on smacked her with a notebook. “Stop monetizing my sister’s love life!”
“Can’t stop, won’t stop,” Juun sang.
Their first date was… predictably disastrous.
Ian tried to impress Stella by taking her to a “quiet café.”
What she didn’t realize was that the café was A-na’s cousin’s karaoke bar.
The “quiet” lasted all of two minutes before A-na showed up with a mic.
“WELCOME TO YOUR FIRST DATE!” she shouted, as confetti exploded.
Yuha threw a napkin at her. “You’re banned from the kitchen for this.”
Stella was mortified. Ian, however, was thriving.
“Since we’re here,” Ian said, grabbing a mic, “how about a duet?”
“No,” Stella said immediately.
“Please?”
“No.”
Five minutes later, they were singing Butterflies again, this time while Juun and Ye-on waved glowsticks in the back like it was a concert.
Afterward, they escaped the chaos and sat on the park bench outside, laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe.
“I can’t believe that was our date,” Stella said.
“I can,” Ian said proudly. “A perfect blend of romance and disaster.”
Stella smirked. “So… chaos and snacks?”
Ian gasped. “You listen when I talk about my philosophies!”
“I regret it already.”
They both laughed, that kind of laugh that’s easy, real, and new all at once.
Ian leaned back, looking up at the night sky. “Hey, you know what’s funny?”
“What?”
“I used to think butterflies were overrated. Just bugs with PR.”
Stella giggled. “And now?”
“Now I think they’re miracles.”
“That’s corny.”
“And accurate.”
Weeks passed, and life went back to their usual rhythm, or at least, their version of it.
A-na and Yuha were still disgustingly sweet.
Jiwoo and Carmen were still unreasonably perfect.
Juun and Ye-on just rolled their eyes.
And Ian? She was sitting under a tree with Stella, eating snacks, while Stella strummed her guitar.
The air was soft, the kind that makes everything feel slower and kinder.
“Hey,” Ian said, watching the petals drift. “Do you think butterflies ever get tired of flying?”
Stella smiled. “Probably not. It’s what they’re made to do.”
“Then I guess I’ll never get tired of chasing you.”
“That was corny.”
“And you liked it.”
“Unfortunately.”
Ian laughed, leaning closer until their shoulders touched. “So, what now?”
Stella played a lazy chord. “Now we write another song.”
“About what?”
“About a very annoying girl who won’t stop making me smile.”
Ian grinned. “Sounds like a hit.”
And as the last note faded, a real butterfly, an actual one this time, fluttered down and landed on Stella’s guitar.
“See?” Ian whispered. “Even nature ships us.”
Stella rolled her eyes, but her smile gave her away. “You’re impossible.”
“Yeah,” Ian said softly. “But you love me anyway.”
Stella didn’t deny it.
The world felt small, the moment endles, just music, laughter, and the faint flutter of wings.
Later, the school printed Butterflies in the festival yearbook.
Next to the lyrics, someone had scribbled:
“Composed by Stella Kim and Jeong Leean, proof that chaos can sound beautiful.”
Ian doodled a heart beside it.
A-na added devil horns to it.
Juun signed it “witness to history.”
Ye-on tried to erase it all.
And Stella? She left it as it was, smiling quietly whenever she flipped to that page.
Because sometimes, love didn’t arrive like lightning.
Sometimes, it arrived like laughter, off-key harmonies, and a box full of butterflies.