attention | lee felix

03 | personality

after a few meetings of math club, a new student joined.

his name was seo changbin, and he was a sophmore known to be very smart.

"volunteer to solve this problem please!" the leader said.

as soon as he asked for a volunteer, changbin's hand was raised high into the air.

he would always solve the problems in unnecessarily complicated ways.

like, we get it, you're smart.

there was always that one kid in class that already knew how to solve problems in ways that were too advanced for everyone else, and seo changbin was exactly that kid.

i was particularly annoyed by his behavior one day, and i told soojin about it during break time.

"okay, but you're smart too," was soojin's reply.

"i don't brag though," i pouted. "wait, i just realized you have the same last name as him."

"do i?"

"yeah, seo soojin, seo changbin. are you two secretly related?" i joked.

"what? why would i want to be related to someone like him?" soojin raised her voice, with obvious disgust on her face.

"i was just joking..." my voice became quieter.

what if changbin heard that?

as i got to know soojin better, i observed that she was used to speaking whatever was on her mind, even if it might hurt someone's feelings.

i just figured that it was just part of her personality.

"ko hanna!"

i turned towards whoever shouted my name, and saw that it was one of the chatty group of girls.

"can you come over here?" yuqi, i think her name was, said.

i looked at soojin, who nodded, and i walked to the group of girls.

shuhua was also with them, since she always hung out with them during break.

i looked at the girls, who seemed hesitant about something.

"do you need help on something?" i broke the silence.

"choi jisu, you say it," yuqi said.

"...you know lee felix, right?" jisu asked.

i glanced at felix, who was taking to jisung.

"well... kind of. why?"

"can you... um..."

"can i...?"

"okay, i'll just say it," another girl, yeji, spoke instead of jisu. "jisu thinks felix is cute, so she wants you to help her."

"help?"

"yeah, ask him what he thinks of jisu," yeji nodded. "try not to be so obvious though."

"ah..."

"you'll help her, right?" yeji grinned.

"i'll try..."

"see? i told you it won't be too hard," yeji turned to jisu. "say thanks."

"thanks hanna, i'm counting on you!" jisu smiled.

"haha, yeah, you're welcome..." i turned to return to my seat.

these girls were suddenly acting like they're close to me...

why are they asking me for help, i have nothing to do with jisu's love life.

i mean, i guess they're nice people since shuhua hangs out with them, and it wouldn't hurt to ask felix about jisu.

i wondered if jisu was only interested in felix because of his looks.

the lee felix i remembered was the annoying kid in middle school who was always searching for ways to piss people off.

☆☆☆

"our first project of the year! please choose your partners and start working," the club leader dismissed us to work on our projects.

i was thinking of working with shuhua since we sat next to each other, but soojin thought otherwise.

"ko hanna! let's be partners," soojin grabbed my arm as soon as we were dismissed.

i looked at shuhua, who motioned towards the chatty groups of girls.

"okay," i agreed, and soojin stood up with her supplies.

"hey, can you move over there?" soojin said to shuhua, who quickly nodded and moved out of her seat.

i knew soojin said that without much thought, but i worried it might have hurt shuhua's feelings.

there were times when i wanted to tell soojin that her blunt personality could sometimes affect others negatively, but i couldn't bring myself to.

i just may be a bit... afraid of soojin? she could be quite scary sometimes.

soojin and i worked on our project, which wasn't that big of an assignment.

i did do most of the work, but soojin kept me entertained with funny stories of her life.

"we're done!" i announced after a while.

"yes!" soojin high-fived me. "good work."

"are we the first to finish?"

"are we?" soojin looked around the room. "i think so. hey, han jisung! we're done, and you're not."

jisung turned around to look at our project. his eyes widened in surprise.

"we're not even close to finishing," jisung said. "that's not fair, your partner is ko hanna."

i was proud that he acknowledged me, but his words made me wonder if soojin only chose to be my partner since i would do most of the work.

nah, soojin wouldn't.