optical ↠ the boyz

nine

She began to walk, but the boy only followed her like a lost puppy. "I was joking, calm down."

"It was much easier avoiding you," she says as she looks over her shoulder at him. "I don't know what you're following me for, I'm going home."

"Can't I come with you?" He genuinely asks. "On a serious note, I'd much rather get started on things so we can focus on our exams."

Nari turns to the boy, examining his face and expression one more time. He was serious, his eyebrows would furrow and his plump lips would stay situated in place - no trace of smugness lay upon his features.

"Fine," she huffs. "But don't expect me to make you dinner, we're not friends."

The boy follows her into the house, after a painless walk her home. They chatted, but nothing overstepped the line. However, Sunwoo felt himself wanting to know more about her.

"I'll check if my brothers home," she says as the boy takes off his shoes and jacket, and his eyes widen.

"I forgot about Sangyeon," he shakes his head, almost scolding himself.

"Why are you so worried?" Nari tilts her head.

"Your brother is a big guy," he nods. "And I bet he's overprotective."

"Barely," she shrugs. "Why would he need to be overprotective? It's an assessment we're working on."

The boy stays still, as she gives him a confused look before shouting for her brother, who didn't appear to be home.

"Are you coming?" She asks, as Sunwoo lifts his back from the wall and walks up the stairs with her.

Her room wasn't what he expected. For a girl with a particular attitude and confidence, he expected something more fierce. Instead he was greeted with pale green walls and a bunch of white furniture. Plain.

"Is green your favourite colour?" He asked, as the girl took out her laptop and placed it on the bed.

"No, I don't have one," she shrugs. "My parents chose it for me. Now, we have to sit on the bed because I never bothered to buy a desk, I don't use one, is that alright?"

The boy gulps, the natural association with a girl and a bed kicked in, but Sunwoo pushed those thoughts aside, he needed to get this work done.

But he had a feeling with Nari by his side, and the memories of the last time they spent together still fresh in his mind, that would be difficult.

"Do you plan on staring at me, or actually getting this project done?" Nari mocks the boys words, looking over to see Sunwoo somewhat distracted.

"I wasn't staring," he mocks her back, sticking his tongue out. "So, how far have you gotten?"

"You should be helping," she scoffs. "You're usually more helpful than this."

"You have no idea," he boy mutters under his breath, leaning over to examine the laptop which she held in her lap. "You know, holding your laptop in your lap is bad for the mechanisms."

"Why don't you buy me a desk then?" The girl rolls her eyes, to which he shrugs.

"Okay then," he says casually, making Nari look at him in confusion. "If it means we can do projects on somewhere other than the bed, then I would."

"This is our only project together," she argues. "So there's no need. Besides, what's so bad about my bed?"

The truth was, a weird part of Sunwoo wanted the girl to be happier and more content with her living space. When the words left his mouth, he realised how weird it would sound for a random boy to buy her a desk - but strangely, he didn't feel like much of a stranger to her anymore.

"Nothing, it's pretty comfortable," the boy throws himself back, watching Nari. "Can we take a break?"

"We? You've barely done a thing," the girl laughs, shutting over her laptop and sitting in the same position as Sunwoo just looked at her. "What?"

"I'm sorry for ignoring you in school," he says randomly, although they both knew it was true.

He had avoided her since the last time, but it didn't make that much of a difference to either of their lives. They barely ever spoke to start with.

"It's fine, I understand," the girl says awkwardly. "Given..."

Sunwoo chuckles, leaning his back against the wall as she sat before him. "You don't need to be so awkward about it."

"I kind of do," she shrugs, unable to fully look at him, although he looked at her in amazement, almost a slight tint of amusement.

"You've never done that kind of thing before?" He asks gently, and when she nods her head, he feels a sense of boyish pride that he was her first experience, but he also felt warm inside - for he was her first experience. "It's okay, you don't need to be embarrassed."

"I'm not," she nods, as though convincing herself. "I'm embarrassed for letting myself go like that, in front of you, not the actual things we done."

"You don't need to be embarrassed around me," he says softly, looking at the girl with genuine eyes. "I know you don't have much reason to believe that, but I'm not as bad as you think I am."

"Yeah right," the girl laughs, looking at the boy with furrowed eyebrows. "I think you're worse."

"Really?" He clutches his heart dramatically, making Nari chuckle. "I've got to prove myself, then."

"You don't have to prove anything," she shakes her head. "We're just doing a project, and then we can go back to avoiding each other."

"What if I don't want that?" He suddenly asks, almost surprising himself as much as her. He looked between her eyes, confusion was buried beneath them and written all over her face.

"Why wouldn't you?" She tilts her head.

"I guess I have more to teach you," he shrugs at an attempt to save himself. "More fun to have with you, that's what you wanted, right?"

"I guess," she laughed. "But not quite to that extent."

"Fine by me," he shrugs, giving the girl a smile. "Do you want to cuddle?"

The girls mouth drops, looking at the boy who sat before her with his red hair and conch piercings. "You, want to cuddle?"

"Forget it then," he throws a pillow at the girl, staring at her for a moment before pulling her arm down to lay with her. "It isn't so bad, huh?"

"Actually, no," she lets out a sigh, snugging her head in to his chest.

She hadn't experienced something like this before, and it baffled her that Kim Sunwoo would be the first.

But, he was in fact, the first of many experiences for Nari.