The next morning, EunMi woke up bright and early, leisurely taking her time to get ready for school. She met YunHo at the school gates, and they talked for a little bit; YunHo started fussing over EunMi when he finally noticed the bright orange cast around her arm. The two continued conversing until the bell rang and YunHo had to leave to his own classroom. It was only then that EunMi noticed ChangMin wasn't sitting at their desk. In fact, he wasn't anywhere at all. A unanimous wave of murmurs rushed though the class when ChangMin didn't say "here" when Mr. Kang called attendance. What was more odd, however, was that none of the students continued murmuring--no rumours, no gossipping, no secret texting under the desks. It was as if they were afraid that the cranky student was hiding somehwere, ready to eat them if they dared say anything about him.

It was odd--for sure--that ChangMin wasn't at school at least an hour before the bell rang, but EunMi decided he would probably show up later in a fancy helicopter on the school rooftop.

It was lunchtime, and ChangMin still wasn't there. She couldn't believe it, but EunMi was a little concerned. ChangMin wouldn't miss a day of school even if that was the day the world ended. Even after searching every aisle of the library twice, EunMi still couldn't find the missing student. When she returned to the classroom, JunSu asked if she found him. EunMi just numbly shook her head in response and silently sat in her seat, stil deep in thought.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, and when EunMi got to the Student Council room, she was greeted with silence. Finding no reason to be there, she turned around and left the classroom.

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ ==== ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ ==== ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

ChangMin rolled over in his bed, wrapping himself in the silky comforter, inhaling the scent of the lavender laundry detergent that the maids used. He buried his face in the pillow, feeling like his head would split open from the current fever he was dealing with. His condition was terrible--he knew that. His mom wouldn't let him go to school, much less outside his own room. With a painful sigh, ChangMin turned over to stare at the ceiling and blinked, taking note that it was--in fact--white. Blank, bare, bleak, empty...

Empty.

ChangMin felt empty, and he wondered briefly how long the ceiling had felt this way. But it wasn't the absence of pop quizzes or the smell of old textbooks that he missed. No, not those things. He missed something else.

He missed EunMi.

Shifting once more, he faceed the wall and continued with his thoughts. He liked EunMi. He figured that out this morning; he had a feeling that was the truth before, but it had never really registered in his mind as a fact. ChangMin wondered when that moment of semi-realization had happened even though it only made his head hurt even more. After around ten minutes of staring at the wall and traversing his memories, ChangMin found it--that moment when he really started to like EunMi.

It was the day Ms. Kim had the class arrange their own song.

It was the minute he stood up to  play the composition.

It was the moment his gaze met EunMi's.

Letting out a shaky sigh, ChangMin pulled a pillow over his head in an attempt to alleviate his pain, but to no avail. At that moment, he heard a knock on the door, which only augmented his suffering, but answered anyway, his voice muffled by the pillow,

"Come in..."

He heard the door open, but that was all; only silence ensued. Short on patience, ChangMin abruptly stood up despite the dizziness that resulted and looked at the doorway.

"What is it? I'm--!"

He suddenly froze in mid-sentence and stared at the figure by the door. For a moment, he wondered if he was dreaming, but after blinking there was no doubt that Choi EunMi was standing there. Absentmindedly, ChangMin noticed that she was wearing a sweater. It must have been cold outside, but he wouldn't know--thanks to his fever. He also noticed EunMi held a large stack of papers in her arms and wondered why she was carrying it around. An awkward silence engulfed the two teenagers, making both of them clueless as to what to do to break it. With a sort of desperation to be freed, EunMi looked at the ground and softly said,

"You didn't come to school today, which was really weird because you don't seem like someone to do that, and so I brought your homework here, which was probably really stupid because you must have gotten it yesterday in advance, and I don't know why I didn't think of that earlier, but it's probably because I was still surprised you didn't show up in class at all today, so anyway, I'm here now, so...do you need these?"

As ChangMin looked at EunMi's face, he realized that was probably the most confused he'd ever seen her. As if for once in her life, she didn't know the answer to the question--as if for the first time ever, she was unsure about something. Looking away, ChangMin mumbled,

"You can just set it on the desk..."

Hesitantly, EunMi stepped inside and slowly made her way ChangMin's desk, as if she were afraid of tripping over her own feet. Without a sound, she set the large pile on the desk and turned to face ChangMin but didn't look at him. Fidgeting with the bracelet on her left wrist, EunMi cleared and said,

"I took notes for you, and I...I also labeled them. Um, I colour-coded them, too. I read somewhere that colors help stimulate the brain, so...so it's easier to learn..."

EunMi trailed off and stopped before she sounded stupid; she shifted slightly, feeling uncomfortable under ChangMin's glare--or what she thought was a glare. ChangMin was just starting at her flustered face, wondering why she was so cute at that moment.

"Your mom told me you've been sick all day. Are you...feeling better?" EunMi quietly inquired, still avoiding the other's gaze.

"Choi EunMi," ChangMin softly called, and EunMi instantly looked at him, meeting his gaze. Nervously, she asked,

"Yes..?"

Without warning, ChangMin took hold of EunMi's wrist and pulled her into a tight embrace. They remained absolutely still for a moment, as if time had completely stopped. Everything suddenly seemed brighter--clearer--to ChangMin. Holding her closer to him, he whispered,

"Choi EunMi...I like you."

"ChangMin-sshi, are you okay..?"

Returning to reality, ChangMin blinked and glared at EunMi instinctively, asking harshly, "What? I'm fine, okay? Quit asking stupid questions."

Taken aback by his sudden outburst, EunMi immediately frowned and crossed her arms, retorting, "I didn't have to take two sets of notes and come all the way here to give them to you, you know. At least be a little grateful that I even worried about you."

With one last spiteful look, EunMi strode out of the room and shut the door behind her, leaving ChangMin in total silence. As soon as the sound of her footsteps faded, ChangMin buried his face in his hands, shaking his head and mumbling,

"What is wrong with me? Why do I always act like such a jerk to her?"

ChangMin sighed and lied back down, putting his head under the pillow. His head was starting to hurt again.

I'm sorry! I know, I know. I was suddenly just dead for over three months, and I'm really sorry. I blame it on school... The seniours at my school were the last ones in the entire state to graduate... UGH. Anyway, I'm back! (I'm singing Infinite's "She's Back" right now, hahaha.)

I'm on summer vacation now, so I'll have a lot of time to write and update! But hey, at least I didn't wait two years to come back (like Big Bang). XD The beautiful poster was made by superseoul11~

AND HAHA. How many of you thought ChangMin really confessed to EunMi? I was going to make that part real, but then I thought, "Nah, I should mess with my readers for a bit." Hahaha.

Super tasty SANKYU cookies to:

jilv89
--fallen_angel--
hanna1806
miraaaaaah
wickedhuby
x_daedreamer
MapleDumplings
mhtc_jae
Princ3ss_BubbLee
emo_bear
musicxlife
risingsunx3
blueroses
mysharona626

Phew~! That was a lot. Hahaha. I look forward to replying to everyone's comments~ ^^