“Math again?”

My long sigh was with a hint of irritation, but almost immediately, I smiled brightly.

I stared at the array of numbers laid out in front of me, with Eunha staring at my expression curiously.

Is this algebra? Darn, I hate algebra. And I’m in no mood to teach a topic I hate.

“Ahh, algebra?”

I turned towards Jonghyun sitting lazily beside me and across Eunha and gave him a curt smile.

“Jonghyun’s awesome at algebra, why don’t I let him teach you?”

Great, now I’ve gotten rid of Jonghyun and escaped teaching algebra! Pft. I’m too professional at this.

Jonghyun fiddled with his cellphone. Is he messaging his girlfriend or something? No, of course not. Jonghyun doesn’t have a girlfriend. Obviously. Duh. He’s too pathetic to have one. I bet Eunha’s the only stupid girl in this school to like him.

“Don’t want to.”

What?! I jumped a little and turned towards Jonghyun with an incredulous look on my face.

“Of course you do! You’re here to tutor Eunha, so do your job!” I laughed awkwardly at Eunha, who was frowning slightly, then diverted my gaze towards Jonghyun and shot him a glare.

Pinching his arm, I pulled him close and muttered angrily, “Listen to me or else you’ll get it from me later.”

Jonghyun rolled his eyes. He glanced over at Eunha, then turned to me and gave me a warm smile.

“Of course, anything for my Ji-eun!~”

I almost died choking on my saliva.

WHAT?! ‘MY’ JI-EUN?! WHAT THE HELL DID HE JUST TRY ON ME?!

DAMN IT, THIS GUY IS SURE GOING TO GET IT FROM ME LATER ON. DARN, THE CAFETERIA SHOULD HAVE A CHEESE GRATER RIGHT? GREAT, BECAUSE I REALLY WANT TO GRATE HIS FACE NOW.

On second thought, maybe I should just stab him in the face with a pen. Then he’ll never be able to get a girlfriend! Haha! Or I could stab him in the hand, then he’ll never come up with lame lyrics ever again! Haha! Hahaha! Hahahaha… I should stop laughing like a maniac in my thoughts.

Eunha gave a slight cough, forced a smile, and pulled her assessment book closer to her. “It’s okay if you don’t want to teach me Jonghyun. I won’t force you,” Eunha glanced over at me and I ordered myself to give a slight smile, “I’m probably getting in the way of both of you anyway. What was I thinking? Damn it. I shouldn’t have… ugh. Sorry. I’ve got to go.”

With that, Eunha tucked the book under her arm, slung her bag over her shoulder, and walked away in tiny, quick steps. I stood up quickly, knocking my knee against the table and groaning.

“Wait!” I managed to croak.

Still groaning, I clutched my knee and thought I heard a crack as I whipped my head around and glared at Jonghyun (again).

“What the hell did you do that for?”

Jonghyun smiled slightly, then shrugged without saying a word.

“Damn, you do know that you just made me lose a friend, do you?”

Jonghyun got up from his relaxed posture and tapped his pencil against his chin.

“Ahh, about that. She wasn’t really your friend anyway.”

I slammed my palms against the table and stood up again, careful not to knock my knee or stub my toe or anything else stupid. But ow. My palms hurt.

“What do you mean by that?”

Jonghyun leant forward towards me, his chin now resting on his hand and his head facing the ground. He looked up and stared into my eyes. I felt my face grow hot.

Any girl would feel embarrassed when a guy looks at her like that, so stop judging me. Moving on.

Jonghyun’s next action confused me. He randomly poked my arm with his pencil. I don’t know why, but I was especially annoyed at that. I grabbed his sleeve and shouted, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!”

Jonghyun pushed me away and landed on his seat gracefully. He pointed his pencil at me. “That’s exactly my point.”

“What’s exactly your point?”

“I can see right through you, Ji-eun.”

Shocked, I covered my chest with my arms in horror. Jonghyun laughed.

Eye roll. “Stop sounding like you know everything about me.”

His laughter ceased, and he whispered, “Maybe I do know everything about you,”

He laid a hand on my shoulder and moved so close that his lips were inches away from my ear. I shuddered. Literally.

“Maybe I do.”

…

What the hell?

I swear (I know this is the 501th time I’m swearing, but whatever. It’s just very difficult for me to keep to my word because I’m a very busy person), once I lay my hands on Jonghyun I am so going to pour hot coffee down his neck. I hate coffee. It would be a good way to get rid of it.

Coffee should be banned from the face of this earth. It’s bitter, it stains your teeth, and it keeps you awake (I mean seriously, why would anyone want that? Won’t it spoil your sleeping pattern or something? Sheesh. That means dark eye rings, which is ew, really). There’s nothing good about coffee.

“You know, coffee drinkers are less likely to get certain cancers, heart diseases, stokes, and diabetes…”

Jonghyun?

When did he get here?

And why is he talking about coffee?

“How did you know what I was thinking about?”

Oh. My. God. He can totally read my mind, can’t he? Holy . I should think carefully next time.

Jonghyun took another sip from the Styrofoam cup he was clutching. Is that coffee? Ew. No wonder he’s so dull all the time. He shrugged.

“I told you. I know everything about you.”

“…You’re such a creeper, Jonghyun.”

“I know.”

Jonghyun took a long drag from the cup, then wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

Oh man. And when I was about to grab the cup from his grip and pour it down his neck. Hmm. Maybe next time.

“Actually, I just know that you hate coffee. I love coffee. I thought I could convince you otherwise.”

“Weirdo. Have you been stalking me?”

“Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t. You don’t have to know.”

“What is wrong with you Jonghyun?”

Jonghyun stayed silent. He crushed the cup, threw the cup into the bin from a metre away (Amazingly, it got in. Don’t ask me how.), then leant against a pillar and closed his eyes.

“Go away. I like being alone. Your chattering is making it difficult to drink in the serenity of loneliness.”

Pfft. Whatever. I had no time to entertain his mindless chatter either. I held my head high, grabbed my school bag off the cafeteria bench, and headed out of school. I should probably go home now. It’s… GASP. 3PM.

Huh. No time for a nap. I’m depressed.

“Ji-eun!”

As glamorous as possible, I combed my fingers through my hair and wheeled around with a smile flitting across my face.

Oh. It’s Minho!

Why am I so happy to see him?

In two strides, Minho was right in front of me. He held out a second Styrofoam cup. I could barely see steam rising from it.

“Here.”

Trying to look as grateful as possible, I curled my hands around the cup and bowed to Minho slightly.

I took a whiff.

No. No. Don’t tell me…

Coffee?

UGH! Why did he have to give me coffee? And it’s black coffee too. Why is he giving me such a hard time maintaining a good image?

“Wah~” I let my mouth hang open for a good three seconds as I breathed in the ‘aroma’ of the coffee deeply (and almost gagged). My grip around the cup grew tighter and I tipped it slightly towards Minho.

“Thank you! So much! You have no idea how much I love coffee, and just at the right time too! I’m so thirsty, I can almost die…” Now please leave so I can dump this cup into the trash can. Stat.

Minho smiled widely and gestured me to continue walking. “We’re taking the same bus service home!” Smile.

Oh my god. Oh my god. No.

I flash him a smile, and continued walking without much difficulty. But my heart’s palpitating and I can hardly breathe.

. I should probably tell him right now that I don’t drink coffee. But I’ve already told him that coffee was my life! What am I going to do? What the hell am I going to do?

Why am I freaking out over such a small matter?

Just keep walking, Ji-eun. Just keep walking and everything will be OK. Don’t forget to smile Ji-eun. Ji-eun, just drink the damn coffee.

Okay, at the count of three, I’m going to down the coffee in one gulp, while holding my breath.

One, two…

Without thinking, I accidentally-on-purpose tripped over nothing, exaggeratedly flailed my arms in the air, and flung the cup a metre away. The cup smashed into the concrete floor, with the coffee spilling all over.

I stumbled to the ground knees first, and squeezed out a yelp. With my palms on the ground, I hung my head low.

Thank god not a drop splashed on me.

“Oh my god, are you okay Ji-eun?! Don’t worry about the coffee, I’ll just get you…”

Quickly, I grabbed his arm with my eyes wide open.

That was too obvious, wasn’t it?

I paused, then gave a moan.

“I…I don’t think I’m in the condition to drink coffee… My knees… hurt…” I squeezed my knees tight and curled myself over my legs.

Minho pulled me by the sleeve and easily took me on his back. I tried to make myself as ragdoll-like as possible, with my eyes partly closed.