Him

“Was it you who asked to see me?”

“Y-Yeah …” She replies in a quivering tone.

This person had wanted to talk in private with me behind the school at the end of the day. Although I knew the consequence of the presuming situation, it would’ve been rude to decline.

“M-my name is K-Kang Y-Yeseul,” She stutters as she played with her two fingers and had her eyes directly on the ground. “A-And … you may not know me but I’ve been … a-a really b-big fan of you and …” She drops her arms to her sides and grips onto the material of her dress tightly. With a deep breath intake, she bows down in a ninety degree angle and blurts out, “I really, really like you!”

It was a first for me.

Not the first confession, but the first time I’ve ever received such a formal confession. I decided to pull her back into a straight posture again and landed my hands on her shoulders to reduce the awkwardness. My eyes were only able to meet with hers for a millisecond as she firmly closed them 

“I’m sorry.”

She then opened her eyes and her face fell into disappointment.

“I can’t return your feelings so—“

“—No!” She squealed and locked her arms around my waist. My arms however were left hanging in the air. “I really like you! If you give me a chance, I’ll show you how much I can cherish you!”

I loosened myself off from her and started to feel the guilt when tears were filling her eyes.

“I … I hate you Lee Eunhyuk!” She cries and runs away, not forgetting to push me as she goes.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I let out a heavy sigh and leaned my body against the cold, brick wall.

I was getting tired of it all. All these girls telling me they like me, and being a ‘fan’ of me but they end up hating me, blaming me and then I become the bad guy all of a sudden.

“Aigoo, what a bad bad monkey-boy.”

I turned my head to the left and out from the corner, a certain blonde haired girl would’ve witnessed the previous scene.

“Not now, not in the mood.” I stated

Her foot steps seemed to be approaching closer to me now and we would have been at approximately a meter away from each other.

“Why? Poor popular boy is suffering so much from rejecting an innocent girl?”

I gritted my teeth together, as I tried to hold in the anger from her annoyance.

“But I guess that still doesn’t give her the right to hate you.”

“Exactly,” I backfired. “Girls like me, then hate me. Then what’s the point in liking me in the first place?”

“What’re you talking about?” She retorts. “Do you know how hard it is for a girl to confess to someone? Those girls had such courage to say those words and they get shot down—“

“—So what?” I intruded, turning my body to the side so that I could look at her. “Are you telling them I have to like them back in the same way?”

“I’m just saying that you should try to understand them—“

“—I can’t. I don’t know how to. I only know how to say ‘I’m sorry.’”

She puffed out a sigh and now rested her head on the same wall I was leaning on. There was a momentary silence that settled in the atmosphere for a while before she began speaking again.

“You really don’t understand girls.”

“Yet I get so many confessions from them.”

“Do you know what girls want to hear after a confession?”

I tilted my head in interest of the answer. Maybe I could use the line next time so that they won’t hold a grudge on me.

“I like you too.”

I greased at her with dissatisfaction now, immediately dropping the hope I had for her help.

“I told you I can’t do that.”

“I know,” She smiles and stares back at me. “That’s the only thing I know on what girls want to hear. Nothing else. Even if they do get rejected, they’ll cry for sure but … they’ll get over it. How long? Don’t know, but girls will get over things like this … except …”

“Except what?”

“This only applies when you ‘like’ someone. ‘Love’ on the other hand, is … unforgettable.”

I couldn’t help but to let out a snicker at the sudden corny line. “You’ve been watching too many dramas.”

I saw her eyebrow twitched in annoyance and felt the edges of my lips curving up.

“What’re you doing here anyway? Don’t you have class?”

“I got lost.” She replies.

“You got lost?”

“What?! I’ve only been here for about a month you know? Plus, this school is so huge. How can I locate classrooms that are miles away from each other?!”

“The school’s not that big,” I remarked. “You’re just too small, shorty.”

I found another twitch on her eyebrow as she now scrunched up her face at me.

“Why girls like you, I’ll never know!” She scoffed, and began walking, but before she could pass me, I stopped in front of her and blocked her pathway.

“Why don’t you like me then?”

Maybe I stood too close, but her sudden beaming face and crescent eyes made me forget the purpose of teasing her. There was a hint of anticipation in the depths of my body in the time that she didn’t answer yet, unknowingly hoping for a positive compliment from her to me or something else … However, I was only given confusion when her face quickly changed to an indifferent look, and she glares at me with displeasure. She stomped on my foot, hard, making me grunt in pain and continued walking off.

“I’m not like those girls idiot,” She speaks as she continues walking with her back towards me. “I wouldn’t fall for a monkey like you.”