Lee Chan was in his junior year of high school and he had yet to confess to the girl of his dreams. She was nice, sweet pretty, and had the most beautiful smile. She had always striked a conversation with him outside of class, but they had never really done anything besides that. And it was all because of his insecurities. He was too scared to approach her or even try to talk to her.

Today was Valentine’s Day, and he was determined to give her the note he had been holding on to the whole year. Over the summer, he had attempted to Kakao message her, and she had answered, but he was too scared to text her back. That was a already a bad sign and he had already been scolded by his older friends for the mistake. Chan smoothed the pink stationary with his hands and gripped on to it, making a determined face. He looked up and she was with her friends, chatting away, eating their small lunches near her desk by the window.

He loved seeing her by the window. It gave her an angelic glow, and it only made him fall more for her. His phone suddenly rang and he picked it up, holding it close to his ear so that he could hear among the noise of the students, but instantly regretted it. All he heard was the scolding of Kwon Soonyoung, his favorite older friend, but the most brother-like.

“Yah! Lee Chan! You better be confessing to her right now! If you do, I’ll treat you for some shaved ice after school, sound good?”

Chan sighed and groaned, “Ah... Hyung... I’m trying...”

“I’ll be waiting! Bye!” The call instantly ended and he was left feeling worse than before. Now, he was obligated to confess to her. Chan looked back at her and smiled at as she laughed loudly at a joke her friend had made. He was stuck in a daydream; the white beaming light from the windows shined on her and for a moment, just for a moment, he felt as if she were looking into his eyes. He grinned and whispered under his breath, “She has such a cute—

“—smile. I wish he would’ve answered back to my message, at least. It made me feel kind of bummed out...” Yerim sighed and stuffed another kimbap into , chewing on it sadly. Her friends gave each other looks and smiled to themselves. One of her friends patted her arm and smiled.

“At least he talked to you first! That means he showed some sort of interest!” They made cute eye smiles and she frowned a little, not believing even one word. Today was Valentine’s Day, and she had not even seen him once. She had been crushing on him the whole year, but was too scared to even approach him. He was too cool; he always invited people to his dance performances and was always talking to other people. She was nothing compared to him. Her friend giggled at her frown and looked at the other, “Should I tell her?”

Yerim instantly noticed the awkward air around them and sat up straight, “Tell me what?”

“No... maybe you shouldn’t tell her. We promised Chan that—“

“What?! You talked to Chan? What? Tell me what?”

Her friends giggled and the older one told her to come closer. The mention of Chan made Yerim too eager to find out. She cupped her hands around her ear and whispered, “He wanted to invite you to his dance performance. Just you... no one else...”

Yerim leaned back and gasped, staring at both of her friends in astonishment. Then, she realized the craziness of the statement and started laughing really loudly. The whole class gave her some glances before going back to what they were doing. She set down her chopsticks and gave them weird looks while laughing, “You must be kidding! You’re so funny. Don’t try to make me feel better... That would never happen. Chan is too talented... and smart, and cute, and he’s the most handsome—“

“Yerim!” One of her friends nudged her and she realized that she was falling into her own thoughts. She looked up at her friend’s urgent tone and realized that Chan was close, and he had heard some of the things she had said. His cheeks turned pink and he half-smiled, walking closer to where the three were gathered. Yerim had open in shock and she could feel her cheeks getting warm.

Chan rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and smiled, “I was wondering if you were busy after school? I wanted to talk with you about something... you know... like homework... I was um—confused about problem #23 and um... Just to make sure... I’m sorry... Can you meet near the soccer field today after school? To talk about... homework?”

Her eyes lit up and she could feel her cheeks getting warmer. Yerim smiled and nodded, “Yeah, sure! I’ll be there.”

“Okay. Thanks a lot for the help, Yerim.”

“No problem!” She gave him her signature eyesmile and he nodded, quickly running out of the classroom as if he had some other, more important, matters to attend to.  Yerim closed her lunch box in a hurry and lost her appetite. Butterflies were flying around in her stomach, and her heart began to race. As Chan left the room, they came up closer to her and squealed.

“He totally is going to confess to you! I can feel it!” Yerim shook her head and immediately put her stuff away, trying to get him out of her mind. But, it was mentally impossible. His smiled and the way he stuttered showed some sort of feelings, but she didn’t want to assume. There was no way! Chan was too cool... and never would’ve liked a girl like her. Her friends high-fived and moved back to their seats just as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

As Chan sat in his class, all he could feel was regret. He thought back to his constant stuttering, and he could feel that his cheeks were bright red. He was making it more obvious. And the words she had said kept ringing in the back of his head. She had said ‘and he’s the most handsome’ right in front of him. It was about another guy, he was sure of it. There were so many other guys, and he was totally out of her league. Chan sighed to himself and scribbled harshly at the notebook paper in front of him.

How could he have the courage to confess?