(A/N: can i just say that i absolutely love this gif)
"I think Saerin likes you," Jiwoo noted, tapping her pen against the table in a way that some people would've described as annoying.
"Huh?" Yohan looked up from his textbook. "Who?"
"Saerin." Jiwoo tilted her head in the direction of a fairly pretty girl in front. As if on cue, the girl shyly turned back to look at Yohan, before realizing that he was also looking at her. She blushed beet red and immediately turned back to her book, not once sparing a glance at Yohan's seatmate.
"Told ya." Jiwoo grinned.
A goofy smile spreaded across Yohan's face.
"Stop being so happy." His seatmate rolled her eyes. "You're my boyfriend, remember?" She joked.
It was a joke to her because right now, Yohan was a friend to her and nothing more. There was nothing romantic that happened the past week, really, so she had trouble labeling him as her boyfriend.
"Ah, right!" Yohan cried out, before winking at her. "Can't let my girlfriend get jealous, can I now?"
Jiwoo rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up."
"Why?" Yohan leaned closer, his mouth beside her ear and the only thing separating the two was the curtain of Jiwoo's hair. "Are you jealous?"
"Oh, why yes I am," the girl responded dramatically, placing a hand on her cheek. "I think I need to go cry on Yuvin's shoulder and let all my sorrow out."
Probably finding her dramatics amusing, Yohan gave her a close-eyed smile, and Jiwoo couldn't help but smile along. "I can't believe someone likes me, though."
"Well, there are plenty of girls that find you attractive, but she's the one who likes you."
"Huh?" Yohan was confused. "What do you mean?"
"You couldn't tell?"
"Huh? What are you saying?" A confused Yohan is a cute Yohan.
"I'm saying," Jiwoo said, wisely stroking her non-existent beard, "Physical attraction and liking someone are two different things. Like here, I'll admit that you are handsome, but I don't have a crush on you. Saerin, on the hand, likes you. Like likes you, far more than physical attraction."
"But I've never talked to her! How could she possibly like me?" The tall boy blinked.
Jiwoo shrugged. "Maybe she finds your personality endearing."
The silly smile went back on his face but disappeared as soon as it appeared. "Wait, did you say that you don't like me?"
"Um..." Maybe Jiwoo wasn't supposed to say that. Now, she had no idea how to respond to that question without hurting his feelings. She knew Yohan didn't like her, but it was practically part of his job description to make her attracted to him. She didn't want to lie, either, so she settled for an uncomfortable silence that stretched across the two seat mates that their other classmates are oblivious to.
"Never mind." Yohan looked down at his book, avoiding her eyes. "I'll try harder to become the boyfriend of your dreams."
Somehow, that sentence broke Jiwoo's heart to pieces.
———
Even Yuvin, possibly the most unobservant person in the entire universe, could tell Yohan wasn't himself.
"What happened?" Yuvin whispered-asked his best friend, watching as the boy in front of them lethargically played with his food.
"I might have said that I don't like him." Jiwoo whispered back. "And that probably made him feel like he wasn't good at his job."
Yuvin scrunched up his nose. "To be fair, he isn't that good at his job."
The girl's hand immediately smacked her best friend's head. "And you're not doing a good job as his friend right now."
"Who said I'm his friend?" Yuvin said defensively, even though both of them knew that Yuvin was getting attached to Yohan as well.
Jiwoo sighed as the two best friends looked at the moping Yohan. It seemed like she needed to have a proper conversation with him.