Paper Rings - (J.F.)

Bonus: From His Eyes

Despite himself, he would find his gaze occasionally landing on her even while he was trying to stay occupied with his friends. It had been quite a while since she'd been sitting there — he'd been trying to muster up the wits to approach her for well over an hour now — and it didn't seem like she was here with anyone. But what was the reason behind her sad expression? Was she upset about something?

Just before he could think more about this, his friend Marcus walked up to him. "Hey, dude, Sam wants to head home so I'm dropping her off."

"Oh—Cool," Hansel replied as he turned to face him. "Use protection."

"Jesus — it's not like that!" Marcus attempted to explain, his face turning crimson.

"Not yet anyway." Hansel shrugged. "What about Seok-hoon?"

"He left a while ago with some girl. Didn't you notice?"

Hansel raised a brow. "He did?"

"Yeah — they hit it off pretty quick. Like, really quick. I don't know where they went though."

Not even surprised, Hansel thought as he breathed out deeply.

"Okay, I'm off," Marcus said to Hansel before lowering his voice to a whisper. "Why don't you go up to her?"

"Go up to who?"

Marcus gave him a look. "You know who I'm talking about. Don't think I didn't notice you staring at her this whole time. She's pretty . . . and who knows? You two might end up hitting it off with each other."

But before Hansel could feel even a bit embarrassed about the fact that Marcus had noticed his gaze on the girl, he watched as the boy then winked at him playfully before walking off with Samantha. Whoever Samantha was Hansel didn't know nor did he care.

"See you, Marcus."

But the fact that both Marcus and Seok-hoon were gone only meant that he was now at the event alone. He knew nobody here and wasn't keen on doing much socializing or making 'influential' connections tonight. Yeah, yeah, he probably should've considered it given the well-known reputation his family had with the public, but what difference would one night of him just being himself make? Not much, he hoped.

Maybe he should just leave? It wasn't like there was much left to the event now anyway. The food had already been served, the announcements by the hosts made, extra donations were expected to continue to be made well throughout the rest of the night, and now all the guests were simply enjoying themselves. Just as he turned around and decided to head back home for the night, a brilliant idea struck his mind. What if he didn't leave? Not yet, at least. Not until he's finally introduced himself to the mystery girl. He can talk to her and then leave if he wants. Wouldn't be the worst idea he's had. Plus even Marcus had encouraged it.

Making up his mind, Hansel began walking up to the girl, his hands in his pockets. However, he paused midway to check his appearance through his phone screen. Moving his hands through his hair to neaten it up, he then continued on his way. Once he was close enough to her, Hansel cleared his throat in an attempt to gain her attention. But when she didn't so much as glance in his direction, he sighed realizing that she hadn't heard him. And then he noticed her gaze, which was currently turned away from him and staring off into a distance somewhere. He turned his head and followed where she was looking, only for him to realize that she was gazing at a guy he didn't recognize. This guy was acting joyfully with some other girls clinging to his arms, and for a brief moment, Hansel wondered whether she knew him or if she maybe liked him.

Only one way to find out.

"Trouble in paradise?" he started with a playful tone and the girl jumped in her seat, shocked by his presence.