I bit my bottom lip as Lay stood up from his seat and walked up to me. Taemin stared up at him. I looked up and my eyes met with his. I looked at Taemin's paper. *Same color...but different numbers.* "Umm... I guess you're my partner." Lay showed me the number on his paper and smiled awkwardly while rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh.Yeah..." *What do I do? Right..right. I should introduce myself.* "Yerim!” I blurted out. *Great..Good job Yerim. Way to introduce yourself.* Lay looked at me, still smiling.

*Ehheem* I cleared my throat. "I'm Park Yerim." I held my hand out. "Zhang Yixing." Lay took my hand. "But you can call me Lay." Taemin held his hand out too and they shook hands. Another student walked over to us and raised her paper up in front of us. She was quite short, with short curly hair and big round glasses. I smiled to her but she puckered her lips and snatched Taemin’s paper away. We all just stared at her as she looked closely at the paper which covered half of her face. All of a sudden, she slammed the paper down on my desk and looked up at Taemin. Her eyes wandered up and down, scanning him from head to toe. “Sooo...you? You’re my partner?” Taemin looked over to me, then to her. “I guess so.” She clicked her tongue then walked away when she heard the bell ring.

Taemin sighed heavily when he saw her pointing her finger at him, beckoning him to go to her. I chuckled as I watched him walk over to her. The girl he was paired up with got him pretty busy with all her "rules" and expectations. He just kept nodding his head at her, most probably not even understanding a word she said.  I walked out of class with Lay, since Taemin was occupied with his partner.

"We can work on the assignment at my house tomorrow," I suggested. He looked down at me and asked, "Where's your house at?" "Well, we can just meet up here in school and I'll walk with you there." "Okay." He nodded his head and walked me to my locker. Taemin walked by, finally free from his partner. He was heading to the school's garden when he saw me at my locker. "Yerim!"

Lay and I turned our head. "Oh, hey!" He came up to us and looked at Lay. I looked at the two boys staring at each other. I shut my locker in hopes of getting their attention, but it didn’t work.

"Are you guys hungry? Let's go to the lunch area!" Lay and Taemin stopped staring at each other and directed their attention to me. "Let's go!” I called out, as I started walking to the lunch area. They complied and followed behind me. *Why do they have to be so quiet?* I gripped on the straps of my backpack and walked faster. The lunch area was busy with students walking around to get to their seats and the students’ chattering was a cluster of nonsense. We took a tray and got food from the cafeteria. As soon as I finished choosing my food, I looked around to find a table for all of us to sit at. *Hmm...I can't see an empty table...*

I looked at one corner and finally saw people standing up to leave their table. Excitedly, I started walking up to the table until I was pulled back by someone. I was shocked, so I stood still. My eyes grew when I felt someone’s hand on my left shoulder--my back against their chest. I saw a boy in front of me, bowing to apologize. "Sorry. Please let me go just this once. I'll look at where I'm going next time," the boy was bowing to me whilst rubbing his hands together. I was still in shock, but I was also confused. "It’s fine," I sounded out.

The boy continued bowing. I looked to my side, trying to look at the person behind me. Lay was just staring at the guy. After he blinked a few times, he nodded his head and the boy left. I stared up at Lay, then at his hand holding my shoulder. He looked down at me and took his hand away. Taemin came to my side with his tray and gestured me to go to the seat that I’d spotted. I breathed out and walked towards the table again. When I finished eating with the two, I stood up to clean my tray out, but Taemin took it. "I got it!" he smiled to me. "Thanks." I stayed standing and took my backpack.

When Taemin came back, I put my backpack on. "I'll see you both later. I'm just going to the restroom." I waved to them and left without looking back. When I got to the restroom, I ran the faucet. I thought about what happened at the lunch area earlier. Why was that boy apologizing so much? Why did he seem so scared of Lay? What was Lay hiding? I sighed and took some water to splash my face. Other girls washing their hands stared at me as droplets of water flew near them. I looked around and bowed to apologize.
 

-Next Day-
 

"Yerim, get up." I whined a little and turned. "Hey...Yerim darling." I turned my head to face the direction the voice was coming from. I slowly opened my eyes and stretched. I squinted at the figure in front of me. "Mom?” “Yerim, I thought you wanted me to wake you up?" My eyes shot wide open and I sat up. “Mom! What time is it?!" She raised a brow and held her wrist up, revealing her watch. "Hmm...it's 10:48 right now." “Ahh!!”

I got off my bed and ran to my bathroom. I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth. I ran around my room, looking for something to wear. My mom watched as I ran around from room to room. She smiled and laughed when I found something to wear. She just sat down at the corner of my bed, waiting for me to come out of my walk in closet. When I came out, she tried to calm me down when I looked for some shoes. "Hey...What's the hurry? It’s the weekend." "I'm soooo late!" I mumbled while shuffling through my closet full of shoes. When I finally found one, I struggled getting my foot in. "I'll be back. I need to pick someone up." I hugged her quickly before heading out. She chuckled and covered her lips, as if in shock. “Does she have a date?”

"Please open the gate." I called out to the guards. I tapped my foot as the gates slowly opened. When it opened wide enough for me to fit in, I ran out. I kept running, even though my legs began to hurt. I was sweating a lot when I reached the front of the school. I slowed down and a smile crept up my face when I saw Lay leaning on the wall of the school’s main entrance. One of his foot was bent, as if he were stepping on the wall. He was reading a paper in his hand. I slowly approached him, trying to catch my breath.

"Hi!" I breathed out. Lay looked up from the paper and got off the wall. "Hey," he smiled at me. "Sorry I took long. There were a few... complications." I fiddled with my fingers, looking down. "Did you wait long?" I looked up at him. "No. I barely came," he lied. He didn't want to make me feel bad, because, well...he actually waited for about an hour. I sighed in relief, actually believing him. He held out a handkerchief to me. "Your forehead is sweating." "O-oh, thank you," I took the handkerchief and dabbed it on my neck and forehead. I held onto the handkerchief and we began to walk.

My walk with Lay actually seemed faster than when I was running. As the gate of my home opened, I walked in with Lay. "Sit here." I pointed to a couch at the living room. "I'll be right back." After a few minutes, my mom peeked in the living room. She saw Lay reading the same papers from earlier. She looked around and sneaked in the living room, smiling. Lay was mumbling some words, still focused on the papers in front of him.

"Hello," my mom called out. Lay looked up and quickly stood. "Hello," he bowed down. My mom smiled at him and patted his shoulders. "Are you...perhaps-- my daughter's boyfriend?" Lay smiled at her, tilting his head. “No, ma'am." My mom nodded her head with disappointment but gestured him to sit down. "Would you like to see something?" She took an album out from one of the book shelves and sat down next to Lay. She placed the album on the coffee-table and opened it.

As I got closer to the living room, I heard my mom laughing in a high-pitched manner. My eyes grew larger and I rushed to the living room. When I arrived, I found my mom still laughing and Lay smiling. Then, I caught sight of the photo album. *Noo!!!!* I ran to them and stood in front of the table, trying to cover the album. My mom grinned at me. "Mom!" I pouted. "You looked cute darling. No worries." "We're going to work on an assignment. Okay? So no more revealing pictures of me." She shrugged and raised her arms up, surrendering. "Fine."

"Let's go." I pointed at the stairs to Lay. He took his backpack and bowed his head to my mom before walking towards the stairs. I opened the door to my room and my dog jumped off the bed. "Hey Cabbage~" I carried my dog. "Cabbage, meet Lay." I stepped closer to Lay and held him up. “Hi." Lay smiled and shook its paw. I placed Cabbage on my bed and Lay took his backpack off. I organized my table before allowing Lay to work. He took his folder out of his backpack and sat down on the chair next to me.

"Okay, so let's start." he opened his folder and took some papers out. "I already took some notes." he handed me some of the papers. "Wow! Didn't you already finish our assignment?" I laughed while looking through all the notes he took. "You're really smart." He smiled, watching me flip through his notes. "Okay. Well, I'll start writing things down. I don't want you to do all the work." my eyes met with his. His eyes appeared as though they were stars twinkling in the night sky.

I looked away and opened my laptop to start typing. After a few hours passed, I rubbed my eyes and stretched. Lay looked at me and massaged his hands. "Let's take a break. We're halfway done." I stood up and held my hand out. "You hungry?" Lay took my hand and stood up, stretching. I looked over at my bed and called out to Cabbage. "Let's go Cabbage...Time to eat." He hopped off my bed and followed after us. “Mom," I called out. We arrived to the kitchen and my mom clapped her hands together. "I knew you guys were hungry. Don't worry. I’m cooking today~" she sang. Cabbage ran to his eating area. I glanced at the clock in the kitchen. *3:24*

After we ate, it was back to work. I checked the time on my laptop. *Already 5:52* I sighed and looked over at Lay. He was still writing. I yawned and my eyes felt heavy. *H-halfway t-there...* Before I knew it, I knocked out. "There!" Lay blurted out. He looked over at me. A cool breeze came gusting from my balcony. He took the strand of hair on my face away and tucked it behind my ear. The last bit of sunlight was shining on my face. He touched my cheeks slightly, but backed his hand away when he looked at my laptop. He carefully lifted my hand off the keys and placed them down on the table.

"Finally finished." Lay stretched his arms up and stared at me--still sleeping. He smiled, then yawned. He too, felt tired. And soon enough, he was sleeping, face to face with me. My mom came in my room a few minutes after. "I have orange jui-......" She saw us sleeping and giggled, sneakily tip toeing her way over to us. She took her phone out and took a picture, being careful not to wake us up. She stared at the photo and smiled, as if reminiscing her past. She then closed the door, quietly leaving the room.