I had a habit of using my class breaks to visit Wonwoo, and usually, there was never a problem.
But today, there seemed to be something different in the air.
When I walked in, I was surprised to find his classmates in an uproar. As I made my way towards Wonwoo and his friends, I couldn't help but notice the way his classmates were all gathered into little groups, each gossiping just as intensely as the other. When I finally reached Wonwoo and his group, I was stunned to find that they were not an exception.
"Hey," I greeted everyone.
"Mingyu!" Wonwoo greeted me cheerily, and immediately, he began to pull out the chair next to him and gestured for me to sit. Wonwoo didn't have a seatmate, rendering me his temporary seatmate whenever I showed up. This allowed me to daydream, that in another life, a life where he and I had been the same age, I would never have to leave his side.
It was a nice dream, all things considered.
Unlike usual, however, was the way Wonwoo's friends were all huddled around his desk. Jihoon-hyung and Soonyoung-hyung both occupied the desks directly behind Wonwoo. Today, however, the pair had taken their chairs and seated themselves right in front of Wonwoo's desk. Junhuin-hyung was nowhere to be found. Aside from sitting at Wonwoo's desk, the pair were also intently looking out the window, but at what, I could not know.
"What are they doing?" I whispered, making sure my lips were close to Wonwoo's ear. I didn't want to interrupt.
Wonwoo chuckled, and he too leaned closer into my ear. I could feel his breath on the side of my neck and goosebumps began to form all over my body. I tried to ignore it.
"I don't know. They said they saw something earlier, but whatever it was, it disappeared. I think they're waiting for it to reappear."
I nodded, but I didn't fully understand. Is this what the entire class was in an uproar about? Had it been an alien? Had it been a ghost? No matter how much I thought about it, there was nothing on this earth that could have been interesting enough to create such a disruption.
Finally, Jihoon-hyung decided to put me out of my misery by acknowledging my existence.
"Hey, Mignyu!" Jihoon suddenly exclaimed, slightly startling both Wonwoo and me. "Did you see her?" Jihoon hyung asked. He said, "her" with such intent, that it was clear he wasn't talking about just anybody. Even still, I had no idea who he was talking about.
His intensity amused me so I let out a chuckle. "Her?" I voiced my confusion, "Who's he talking about?" I asked Wonwoo, turning to face him. I was met with his cat-like eyes and I immediately had to look away. I was afraid he would be able to look into my thoughts, and at the moment, they had been incredibly indecent.
If he noticed anything, he didn't say. Instead, Soonyoung piped up and answered my question, "You don't know?" Soonyoung-hyung asked in disbelief.
"What are you talking about?" I asked again. "I'm being so for real," I added, just in case they thought I was trying to be funny. "Did I miss something?"
"Dude," Jihoon said, looking at me in disbelief. "Where have you been?" He said, shaking his head at me. "She's literally in your grade!" Jihoon suddenly exclaimed, and that was the final straw for me.
"Can you just tell me what the fuck you're talking about?" I said, unable to hide my annoyance. But Jihoon shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. He was probably amused by my obliviousness. I didn't care. I just hoped that all this commotion was worth it and that I hadn't wasted my time paying attention to something incredibly stupid.
"Look out the window," Jihoon instructed. I sighed, but I obeyed.
"Come on," I said to Wonwoo, grabbing a hold of his wrist and pulling him towards me, and guiding him towards the window. "If I have to do it, so do you." For a moment, we both just looked around. The minutes ticked, and the longer I spent looking around, the dumber I was starting to feel. "Find something eye-catching yet?" I asked Wonwoo. He waited for a beat.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Wownoo open his mouth. He was about to answer when suddenly I saw it. And from the way Wonwoo closed his mouth, I knew he had seen it too. Or rather, we saw her.
Naturally, the third-years had their classrooms on the third floor. By looking out this window, we were able to get the best view of the entire school. It was no wonder then, that from this window, we could see into the faculty room on the second floor: and there she was.
She was standing, and her entire side profile was in full view. She had long, straight, brown hair, that was slightly pulled back with a white ribbon. The white seemed to align with her pale skin. Because she was so far away, these were the only details I could really make out. Despite that, it was no secret that she was incredibly beautiful. Even a blurry version of her was better than half of the girls in my school, no contest. At the very least, she was easily the prettiest girl in my year.
And if she was so pretty from afar, imagine how pretty she would be up close?
"I'm guessing you found her?" Jihoon teased from behind me.
His voice had startled me back to reality. I turned away from the window but was surprised to find that Wonwoo had not done the same. He continued to stare.
"Hey, come on," I said to him, once more grabbing hold of his wrist and attempting to pull him away. But he would not budge.
Eventually, I gave up, but I could not help but feel my heart beginning to sink. As I made my way back to Wonwoo's seat, I watched as Wonwoo continued to make no effort to move.
"She's stunning, isn't she?" Soonyoung-hyung asked, not at all bothered that Wonwoo was acting like a fool.
"Is this what you have been talking about all break? Some girl?' I asked, unable to stop the harshness of my words. Jihoon-hyung laughed, but Soonyoung immediately blushed. Still, I felt that my comment was completely justifiable, considering how long they had been going on about it.
"She's not just any girl! Isn't that right, Wonwoo?" Jihoon said, a smile playing on his lips. After being directly addressed, Wonwoo finally turned around to face the rest of us. And if the beautiful girl had been a surprise, nothing could have prepared me for this.
As Wonwoo had turned to face us, I was stunned to find that he was blushing. At the very sight of the pink flush on his cheeks, my own began to heat up. And yet, at the same time, my heart had started to tighten. A sharp pain spread across my body, and for a moment, I wondered if I was dying.
"Wait-" I started, and then I forcibly cut myself off. My tone had been off; I was coming off urgent and needy, and I didn't know why. I couldn't understand what it was I was trying to confirm, but I knew that it was wrong. I tried again, "Do you idolize her too?" I asked, and even I internally flinched at the judgemental tone I had used.
At my tone, Wonwoo backed his head up a little; he was clearly taken aback. Quick to his defense, Soonyoung stepped up and said, "I'd say it's more than that." He laughed and continued, "Wonwoo was the one who stared the longest!"
"Do you have a crush on her or something?" I asked, shifting my gaze to Wonwoo once more. I couldn't help the way my heart had started to race at the thought of his answer. I didn't understand why I was bracing myself for impact, but before I knew it, my first had balled up. It didn't help that as I continued to stare Wonwoo turned redder by the second. My fingernails were starting to press against the skin on my palm, and it was really starting to hurt. But I couldn't stop. "Well do you?"
"Why do you care so much, Mingyu?" Jihoon asked teasingly.
"Right! Unless..." Soonyoung drifted off.
"You like her too," Jihoon completed, and then the two knuckleheads burst out laughing. While they laughed, I chose to ignore them, and I continued to simply stare at Wonwoo. To make matters worse, he wouldn't look away either, even as his face became increasingly flustered.
As we stared at one another, I could feel that my left palm was starting to burn, and I could only imagine that I had actually managed to tear through flesh. Yet I could not stop. There was a pent-up frustration within me, and I couldn't pinpoint what it was. By the second, I was growing more and more pissed off.
Eventually, it was the school bell that ended up saving me. When it rang, I simply got up and said, "I'll take that as yes," and left.
Upon my return to my classroom, I was quick to find out that word had reached my classmates as well. Thanks to Seokmin, I was quickly filled in on everything that there was to be known about this new girl.
Her name was Lim Nayoung, and she was a transfer student. Her classroom was the one right across the hall from mine. But what really had everyone buzzing, was how beautiful she was rumored to be.
By the time Seokmin was talking about it, I was tired of the topic. Thankfully, Myungho was more than willing to indulge Seokmin and listen. By the time the topic was tired out, it was already time for our second break. When the bell rang, I suppressed the urge to leave, and I simply sat at my desk. I enjoyed that for about two seconds, and I was quickly interrupted when I realized Seokmin and Myungho were both looking at me expectantly.
I forced a smile and said, "Ah right. Sorry, I zoned out a bit. I'm going to go see Wonwoo now." I had over-explained myself, and that had been a mistake. I could tell that I had made things a bit awkward, but both of them were kind enough to just nod.
As I made my way towards Wonwoo's classroom, I couldn't help but feel nervous. I knew why Seokmin and Myungho had reacted that way; I always spent my breaks with Wonwoo, no exception. But in my defense, I had never gone through something like this with Wonwoo before, and I didn't know how to react.
When I finally did get there, I relaxed when I realized that all the hype surrounding Lim Nayoung had died out. Wonwoo's classroom was back to normal, and it felt like I could breathe again. As I continued to make my way through the classroom, I felt my smile blossoming.
"Sup guys," I greeted everyone once more. I felt an instant wave of relief across my entire body when I realized that even the way they were sitting was the usual arrangement. Giddily, I pulled up a chair next to Wonwoo's desk and sat. "What's new?"
"Hey," Wonwoo was the first to reply, and he set out his hand for a fist bump. Excited at the opportunity, I eagerly pressed my fist to his. "We were just talking about you," he said with a cocky smile.
"Ah, all good things I hope?" I replied, a little apprehensively.
Jihoon-hyung physically waved my concerns away. "Of course! We're planning on calling tonight for some games of Smash, but as always, Soonyoung wants to do tag teams," Jihoon rolled his eyes, "and Jun doesn't want to play, so someone needs to be Wonwoo's partner." At the mention of his name, I glanced at Wonwoo, to which he smiled in return and nudged me lightly with his elbow.
I smiled back, a weird, warm sensation spreading across my chest. I turned away and faced Jihoon-hyung once more. "You're going to partner with Soonyoung-hyung?" I asked, confused. The two were always bickering; it was hard to imagine them being a functional team.
I thought this was obvious, but Jihoon had seemed genuinely surprised when I asked. "Of course we're a team," Soonyoung answered for the both of them. He continued, "Young Link and Captain Falcon make a monster team."
Wonwoo, of course, argued otherwise, but instead of listening, I began to zone out. I couldn't help this overwhelming joy that was starting to overtake me. Something was satisfying about Nayoung being long forgotten. Not only had we moved past her, but we had finally gone back to the real stuff: vibing.
Of course, I couldn't forget the fact that a couple of classes ago, Wonwoo had seemingly admitted to having a crush on some girl. On the other hand, that seemed to be in the past now, as no one was even talking about her anymore.
It was clear to me now that Nayoung had never really mattered at all.
A/N:
If you made it this far, thanks so much! I hope you enjoyed it. This chapter is dedicated to @sayomiharu. Your comment made my day (:
All the best,
jay xx