Unexpected Love | 박 찬열 [CURRENTLY BEING REVISED]

The Approach

Chanyeol groans inwardly at the sight of Soojung at lunch. His stomach just turns at the thought of being seen asking her out.

'How am I supposed to approach someone like that without my reputation being destroyed?' He thinks, trying to formulate a genius plan to get him success without permanent failure.

"Oh, and you have half a year to make her fall in love with you." Kai's words echoes endlessly  in his self-destroying mind.

 "Ugh, I'll just deal with this later," Irritated, hemurmurs to himself before shuffling his hair, heading to his class.

Chanyeol saunters through the class doorway and already the girls are swooning-- and he knows it too. He continues far towards the back and takes his usual seat, not wanting for Soojung to show up in class, yet she finally walks in a bit earlier than the mass group of students returning. He rolls his gazing eyes as he watches her take a seat in the front row of the classroom-- contrasting his location of seating. This showed how different they both were.

"Ew, look what the rats dragged in," A rude girl comments, judging Soojung up and down with a pure look of disgust.

"What's up with her hair today?" The rude girl's friend replies back with a snicker before pointing at her hair before whispering between themselves. Soojung bites her lip, wanting to stand up for herself but feeling no strength in any muscle of her body to even turn a hair. Sure she had her friends-- but when she was alone again, she couldn't help but be weak like everyone makes her to be.

'In all fairness, Soojung's hair doesn't even look awful or anything.' Chanyeol confidently declares to himself as he takes a better gaze at her. It's true, her hair flows down her back with loose curls, her roots not oily at all to be commented on. Her hair is perfectly silky and the light of the sun coming through the large windows of the classroom hit her hair just right. It became the first time Chanyeol did not see what those girls did-- or liked to think they did.

"Okay class! Today, we will be working on a project about—" Chanyeol's short span of attention briefly pans away to his teacher's instructions until, "-okay, now find your partners!" Chanyeol lifts his head from his hands and stands up slowly before being trampled by a crowd of hungry girls who likely don't plan on doing any work for the project.

"Chanyeol Oppa! Be my partner!" One girl desperately shrieks.

"No I'm prettier, choose me!" Another one fights.

"No I am!"

The cats turn to each other, exchanging in a heated argument as Chanyeol somehow manages to slip away cautiously. He then catches the sight of  Soojung and smirks, finding this the perfect time to begin his given mission. Chanyeol smoothly strolls over to Soojung and slams his hand on her table, startling not only Soojung, but the whole class. Surprised, her head rises up slowly, starting from the veins of his hands that followed all the way up his arm, the chiseled jaw, to his soft eyes, and her's widen, which Chanyeol gazed into intensely.

"Be my partner?" Chanyeol requests, dying inside. To all the girls, he gave off a shining aura and angels sung as he said those words. To Chanyeol, he felt like he was out of place. He genuinely believes she would want to be his partner, feeling so confident already that he predicts she would fall for him by tomorrow.

'What the hell he knows my name?'

"U-Um sure—I guess," She manages to say after being so flustered, but it comes out more as a unsure question. He fakes a charming smile and pats her desk before sauntering back to his seat, where he crosses his arms in what he believes is quick progress. Her eyebrows furrow in confusion as she burns lasers into her desk, 'Why would The Park Chanyeol ask me to be his partner?'  She shakes her head, ridding herself of beginning possible theories and goes back to reading her book.

As the last class ends, Soojung shuffles out of class and makes her way down the halls, ready to go home like she'd planned since she arrived-- which seemed to be a recurring theme in her daily life of high school. But suddenly her day was worsened when--

"Soojung! Want to meet at the library after school?" Chanyeol asks her nonchalantly, popping out of thin air. She feels hint of confusion once again and doesn't know how to properly respond to such a guy with a huge label around the school. Her brain rattles with what to say to him. Soojung wanted to go home and take a long-awaited nap more than anything, but he basically declared her his partner, giving her no choice but to accept for her own benefit.

"Um... Ne, sure." She begrudgingly accepts before trudging away with thoughts that quickly grow like a virus in her now pounding head.

"She's practically already falling." Chanyeol smirks, watching her silhouette fade.

-

Soojung waits patiently at a table in the library while reading her book. She had already told her friends that she was busy and couldn't meet with them today, which the girl's found unusual because Soojung was always free to hangout with them.
Soojung checks her wrist for the seventh time and sighs for the tenth.

 Chanyeol's already an hour late.

"Where could he be?" She murmurs to herself before returning to her book. Knowing him, he likely forgot and was probably on his way to party.

She lightly smiles before shaking her head, "It's okay Soojung. He wouldn't blow you off like that... He's the one that asked you anyways," She stretches, looking around when she hears heavy panting coming closer.

"Mianhae, I'm late." Chanyeol apologizes, completely having forgotten of his schemes with her and curses at himself. Soojung nods to him, and herself for being right.

'Ugh please just kill me now...'

Soojung's lips form into a thin line and she nods "Arraseo, it's alright, let's just get started." 

Chanyeol rolls his eyes as a nod to begin as he slowly slumps down in his seat, sliding down to feel more comfortable in a constricting place he hates visiting most. Her voice fades out in to noises as his eyes scan the large, quiet building. Other students were studying and he was the only one who seemed uninterested in being there. Chanyeol didn't understand.

"Yah, are you even listening to me?" Soojung snaps, her face in a confused and slightly irritated state. He glares at her, clicks his tongue and continues to look away. And to his surprise, Soojung spots that. "Yah, if you're gonna act like that, then I just take my leave." She bravely gets up and marches towards the exit, already muttering curse words to the rude boy. Chanyeol sat there in disbelief, wondering where her sudden back bone came from. He begins to feel threatened to lose, and swiftly sits up to think of a quick plan to execute. He curses before standing up to run after her. 

Soojung takes out her phone, about to invite her friends to ramyeon so she can rant her bad day away. Before pressing send, her free wrist is grabbed by a hand and she takes a look to find Chanyeol there gazing back at her with huffs.

"Please don't leave." He pleads, trying his best to put on a good show for her to believe. Chanyeol knows now, that he needs to work harder on making her swoon over him. Her brave exit showed him that she won't be easy, and he curses Kai for picking a girl that isn't a die-hard fangirl. Yet, unbeknown to both of them, Soojung's heart palpates just fast enough for her to miss it.

Dugeun