2013

You gasped as the books fell over from the cart. All the heads looked up and eyes were focused on you. You looked at everybody in the bookstore with rounded eyes.

Before you could open your mouth and apologised, a fimiliar male’s voice was heard as if the person was scolding someone.

“YEAH, YOU BETTER RUN!” The male pointed sternly at someone.

The focus was now on that male. You smiled in relieved, looking at the new student that just enrolled a few days ago in your school whom you bumped into on his first day.

[Flashback]

You were in the library, trying to find a book for your assignment that you have to make a speech on. You searched high and low in your school’s library for the reference book.

But no luck.

You stepped out of the library and accidentally bumped into someone which made the books and papers you were holding fell. You sighed and the other student apologetically looked at you.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you.” The male student apologised.

You kneeled down and shook your head, “No, it’s okay.” You gave a deep, loud sigh and the male student was even more worried if he had done anything else that made you upset.

“Did I do something wrong?” He asked as he helped you shuffled your papers back together. You looked up at the male student. He has this puppy-like features with nice eyes, sharp nose and thick lips. He blinked his cute eyes at you.

“No, you didn’t. I’m just stressed out.” You said as you stood back up. He, too stood back up and handed your papers to you. You took them and thanked him. You turned your heels, but he called your name. You turned back around.

“How did you know my name?” You asked. He smiled and pointed at your nametag.

“I guess that’s why they provide us those.” You looked down at your nametag and led out a little giggle. “Right..” He smiled.

"Could you show me the way to the office I’m new here.” He asked as he rubbed the back of his head. You nodded and the two of you made your way to the office.

“Here we are.” You nodded at the big sign on top of a big door.

The new student looked up and looked back at you, “Thank you.”

You showed a small smile and nodded, “Sure. Good luck.”

You turned around and started walking away. “I’m Chae Hyungwon, by the way.” He suddenly said.

You paused and lightly giggled. You turned your head and looked at him with an amused smile.

Hyungwon imitated your smile and shrugged, “I was waiting for you to ask, but I grew tired, so I decided to tell you myself.” You did not say anything and kept the smile on your face. Hyungwon opened the door of the office.

“Don’t be too stressed out. Stress don’t really suit your pretty face, Lee ____. See you around.”

With a wink, he entered the office and you stood there with your mouth slightly parted as you softened at his comment.

Thanks, Chae Hyungwon. I needed that.

[Flashback ends]

Hyungwon walked in the bookstore and looked at everybody. He wiped his invisible sweat and jabbed his thumb over his shoulder.

“Idiots.” He playfully scoffed. He fixed his beanie on his head and clapped with a cute smile on his face.

“Okay, show’s over. Back to your books, people.” The people gave hi

m a look and went back to their books. Hyungwon walked over to you and helped you picked up the books.

“My timing’s good, huh?” He smiled at you.

You chuckled and nodded, “What are you doing here, Chae Hyungwon?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I followed you. You’re irresistable.” Hyungwon winked.

“Seriously?” You gave him a look.

“Hey, be thankful. I don’t just stalk anyone.” Hyungwon said. You rolled your eyes and continued shuffling the books together. Hyungwon did the same and the two of you put back the books on the cart.

“Did you find the book the you were looking for?” Hyungwon asked as he tugged on the strap of his backpack.

You shook your head with a frown, “No. I’ve searched high and low.”

“Did you try asking at the counter?” Hyungwon asked. Your eyes widened and bit your lower lip. Hyungwon peeked at you. He broke into laughters.

“Unbelievable, Lee ____,” he shook his head.

He walked over to the counter and asked for the book that you were looking for. The man behind the desk pointed and said something. Hyungwon smiled and thanked him. Hyungwon walked over to you and took your hand. He lead you the way to the shelves.

“Whoaa….”

+++++

“Thank you for helping me out today. Thanks to you, I’m not gonna screw up my speech.” You said as you placed the cup of ice cream infront of Hyungwon.

Hyungwon smiled as he looked up at you, “And thank you for the Baskin Robbin.” He raised his cup of ice cream. You chuckled.

“How are you liking the school?” You asked as you took a bite of your ice cream.

“Oh, I’m sure loving it. I’ve discovered a lot in three days,” Hyungwon sarcastically said. You pursed your lower lip out. You scraped some of your ice cream with your pinky and wiped it on Hyungwon’s nose.

“Heyyy!” He quickly wiped the ice cream off.

“That’s for being sarcastic.” You pointed. Hyungwon smirked and did the same. He wiped it on your cheek.

“Now, we’re even,” he winked.

“You’re unbelievable.” You shook your head as you wiped the ice cream with the back of your hand.

“Well…” He shrugged.

“Oh.. And, Hyungwon…” You softly called. Hyungwon looked up, not detaching his spoon from .

“I’m sorry for the unpleasant first meeting. Now that I thought back, I was being so rude. And for that, I’m really sorry.” You apologised.

Hyungwon softened, “Don’t worry about it. I totally understand. Chill, girl.” He playfully winked. The corners of your mouth naturally curved upwards.

The two of you did not plan the meeting at the mall that day but ending up, you spent the whole day with Hyungwon and ever since that day, the two of you had become close.

+++++

2015

It was going to be the end of December already and the SAT was coming up. You sighed as arrived at school. You dragged your body as you walked in.

Suddenly, a pair of hands covered your eyes. “Ommaya,” you froze.

“Guess who?” The person asked with a failed high-pitch voice.

“Seriously, Hyungwonnie?” You put a hand on your hip.

Two years passed now and the two of you grew closer than ever. Not to mention, Hyungwon changed a lot as well. From that immature, kid and cute Chae Hyungwon to the now more good looking but still cute and funny Chae Hyungwon.

“How did you…?” Hyungwon turned to you.

“I’m your bestfriend, Won-ah!” You pinched his nose.

“Owwieee..” Hyungwon rubbed his nose.

“Ugh~ Baby!” You rolled your eyes and walked forward.

“Yah, wait for me!” Laughing, Hyungwon caught up with you.

“You look awful, by the way.” He added. You rolled your eyes.

“Thanks. I know I could always depend on you for a self-confidence booster.” You gave a sarcastic smile to him. Hyungwon smiled and slung his arm around your shoulder.

He pulled you closer, “Studied late last night?” You nodded and whimpered like a puppy.

“Aigoo, our ____. Come on. Let me go send you to class.”

+++++

The bell rung and students went into their classes.

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright?” Hyungwon asked. You nodded with half closed eyes and waved. Hyungwon ruffled your hair and turned you around. You walked in your classroom and Hyungwon watcched you until you sat down.

Without a care to your surroundings, you crossed your arms and buried your face in your arms. Hyungwon chuckled and shook his head. He turned his heels and made his way to his class.

Reccess finally came and Hyungwon waited in the cafeteria. You later came in with your girlfriends. You grabbed your tray of food. You and your girlfriends joined Hyungwon with his friends.

But as always, Hyungwon and you sat across each other.

“You okay?” Hyungwon asked.

You nodded with soft smile, “Better. Rina gave me some of her vitamin drink.” Hyungwon nodded. You smiled and turned to talk to your friends.

That night, as always, after dinner, you ran up to your room to study.

About ten o'clock, there was a knock on your sliding door. You pulled the drapes and found Hyungwon outside waving a peace sign at you on your balcony. You chuckled and unlocked the sliding door. You opened it and Hyungwon stepped inside with a basket in his hand. He put down the basket beside your bed and placed his backpack on your bed that was full of books and your laptop.

“How long have you been studying for?” Hyungwon asked.

“Two hours,” you answered.

You added, “Did you study yet?” Hyungwon turned and gave a look at you.

You chuckled and nodded in understanding, “I know, I know. Stupid question.”

Hyungwon smirked and took a seat next to your bed, resting his back on your bed.

“What are you doing?” You asked.

“I’ve brought snacks for the night.” Hyungwon said.

You jumped and cheered, “Woo! This is why you’re my bestfriend!”

Without hesitation, you went to wash your hands and joined Hyungwon on the floor. Hyungwon brought over two mini pizzas. And for desserts, he bought strawberries and marshmallows with melted chocolate.

The two of you ate while discussing about the ancient history of Korea.

Hyungwon is the type to focus in class, so he does not have to study afterwards. If he were to study outside of classroom, only when he is studying with you. Apart from that, don’t even bet on it that he’ll touch his book outside of classes. You even have to scold him just to get him to do his homeworks.

“Here, have the last one.” Hyungwon held out the chocolate covered marshmallow.

With a word, you opened your mouth and he fed you.

After the two of you finished all the food, Hyungwon started cleaning up. You offered to help, but he opposed. You knew it was not worth fighting, you just obeyed him.

After he cleaned up, the two of you studied for a hour and a half more. Finally, you gave up and closed your books.

Hyungwon looked up, “Done?” You nodded.

“Yeah, my head can’t go no more.” Hyungwon nodded and closed his books as well. You climbed off your bed and kept away your books.

“Are you going home already?” You asked as you turned to Hyungwon, who was busy keeping his books in his backpack. He knew too well that you would not ask that question unless you wanted him to stay. He chuckled and shook his head.

Hyungwon took out his cute, koala pendrive that you gave to him, “Nope. But I’ve downloaded the new horror movie you wanted to see. Wanna watch it now?"

You smiled and nodded. Hyungwon grabbed your laptop and put the pendrive in. Hyungwon sat down on the left side of your bed while you took the place next to him. Bundled in your blanket, the two of you started watching the horror film.

Before the film could come to an end, you fell asleep on Hyungwon’s shoulder. Hyungwon carefully closed the closed the movie and put your laptop on your night stand. He gently moved away so that he would not wake you up. He set down you down gently on the pillow and covered you with the blanket.

"Good night.” Hyungwon leaned in and kissed your temple. With a satisfied smile, Hyungwon stepped out of your room and climbed down from your balcony.

+++++

The SAT exams ended and the school got busy with another event; PROM.

Hyungwon was determined to ask you to prom alongside to propose to you. He figured it was time that he stopped being just best friends with you and start going for something more.

Since Hyungwon and you were quite popular in your batch, to be known as the best-bestfriends, the boys are well aware of Hyungwon’s crush on you and don’t dare to touch you. The whole batch knows about the crush except you.

A week before prom, Hyungwon had prepared everything to prompose to you. You were the head of the prom committee, so you did not really have time to think about anything else but the preparations.

It was a good thing you had already bought your prom dress and you had nothing else to worry about. A day before prom, it was the last day to check on everything but things were not going so smoothly. You were getting more and more stress by the second.

What you did not know was, Hyungwon purposely asked everyone in the prom committee to slack off their work just to make you stress, so that he would surprise you with his promposal. It was lunchtime and you have not ate since seven o'clock. So, basically you were hungry, tired and stress.

Not really a good combination, right?

Just as you were about to go call your members, one of your junior abruptly came in with panicking eyes.

“Noona, noona, noona!” He called.

“What is it, Taeyong?” You asked.

“Hyungwon hyung is fighting with Wonho hyung!” Taeyong informed.

Your eyes widened, “Wait.. WHAT!?”

“Hurry!” Taeyong waved and stepped out of the room. You followed behind him.

Taeyong and you ran. He lead you to the assembly hall. It was pitch dark and suddenly you felt as if you were alone as there were no other sounds except for your panting.

“Lee Taeyong? Where are you?” You called for Taeyong.

“Hello?” You hollered.

You sighed, “Come on, guys. This isn’t the time to mess around with me. Chae Hyungwon! Im Changkyun! Lee Minhyuk! Shin Hoseok!”

You listed out the name of pranksters you could think of in your batch.

Just then, you could hear the sound of piano. You turned around and saw someone on the stage sitting infront of a piano. The student looked fimiliar. You squinted your eyes and tried to focus better on the student. You could not make it out of the student’s face but you knew right away who he was when he started playing a fimiliar song on the piano.

Hyungwonnie?

The spotlight shone on him and everything else was pitch dark. You walked closer to the stage and basically was standing infront of the stage, looking up at him. He started singing.. He was wearing just his school shirt but he folded his sleeves and ed some of the top buttons and was wearing his hair down.

Because you were so busy, you did not get a chance to see him for almost a week. You did not realise how much you’ve missed your bestfriend.

Hyungwon ended his singing and shifted his gaze at you. He stood up and waved for you to up on the stage. You did as told. Hyungwon looked at you with intense eyes with no hint of playfullness at all. He’s done that to you, but only for jokes or to tease you.

Never was he serious before this. Hyungwon took the clipboard from you and placed it on the piano.

“What’s going on, Hyungwon-ah?” You asked.

Hyungwon put his pretty index finger on his lips, “Shh.”

He took a step closer to you. And the two of you were just inches away from kissing. You felt your cheeks heating up.

“Hy..hyung..Won..-ah” You stammered. Hyungwon looked at you.

“I’ve missed you.” He said in a sincere voice.

You sighed, “I know. I missed you too. The prom has been so much of a hectic for the past week.”

“~~~~-ah.. I need to ask your opinion on something.” He said.

You nodded, “Sure.”

“I’m in dilemma.” He frowned.

“Dilemma? About?” You blinked.

“I promised to go to prom with you, right? Since we both agreed that we will never have dates for prom, right?” Hyungwon looked deeply into your eyes.

“Uh… huh…”

“Well, I have this girl that I like. I want to ask her to prom. But, I don’t want to see you going alone.” Hyungwon said, looking down.

You broke into small laughters, “Oh gosh, Chae Hyungwon. Is that what you’ve been worrying about? Just go with her. Why use me as an excuse? It’s your life. Plus, you should really with someone you want to go with. I’m just your bestfriend. We see each other everyday.” You said.

That’s the thing. I don’t want you to be just my bestfriend.

“So, you’re saying I should ask that girl to prom?” Hyungwon looked up at you. You smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, you should. I bet she’ll be thrilled.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine. I still have my girlfriends with me.” You waved. Hyungwon bit his lower lip. He nodded with a sigh.

“Okay.”

With that one word, he turned around and dissapeared in the dark. You watched him walk away.

You softly smiled, “I guess I’ll never get to confess to you.” You sighed.

Truth was, the reason why you wanted to go with Hyungwon was that you were planning to confess to him during a slow dance. But that could not happen with him wanting to go with another girl now. You took your clipboard from the piano and climbed down from the stairs. You made your way to the exit and stepped out of the assembly hall. You made your way back to the gym. You pushed the gym’s door and your mouth fell opened at the prepared sight.

You looked at the ready made gym with all the preparations you asked for done and well prepared. You were dumbfounded at what was happening. The trash on the floor, gone. The pieces were in places. The gym looked just like you wanted it to be.

“Who did this?” You asked out loud.

Just then, the gym’s door behind you opened and you turned around. Shownu came in and smiled at you.

“Dude, you better come check this out!” He grabbed your hand and the two of you stepped out of the gym. Shownu brought you over to your classroom.

“Go on in!” He encouraged and ran off.

With the dissapointment regarding Hyungwon in your heart after seeing Shownu; one of Hyungwon’s friend, you entered the classroom with a heavy heart. Just as you entered, you found Hyungwon sitting on top of your desk.

“Hyungwonnie?” You called. Hyungwon turned around and flashed a smile at you. Your heart skipped a beat.

“What are you doing here?” You asked.

“I’m gonna confess to that girl here.” Hyungwon said as he stood up. You did not realise that he was holding a bouquet of red roses until he turned to face you.

“O-o-ohh.. T-then, I must be interupting. I better leave.” You nervously chuckled and turned around.

“Wait!” Hyungwon called.

You stopped and turned around, “What?”

“How do I look?” Hyungwon asked.

You gave a small smile, “Great. Don’t worry, Wonnie-yah. She’ll go with you, definitely.” Hyungwon chuckled.

“Ah, then, I don’t have to worry about anything since I already have the answer.” You blinked.

“What…?” “You said that you’ll defnitely go with me.” Hyungwon said as he slowly walked towards you. You were confused at his comment.

“Chae Hyungwon, what is going on here?” You asked.

He shrugged, “I dont know. I think you better look outside the window. I think someone just called you.”

You sighed, “Won-ah, I’m not in the mood to be pranked right now.”

Hyungwon shook his head, “It’s not a prank. Someone did call you. Go look!” He pointed.

You sighed once again and put the clipboard on the table. You walked over to the window and looked down. There were the whole student body forming a heart shape. Both girls and boys.

“How do you feel being promposed?” Hyungwon suddenly asked.

“Wait.. I’m being promposed? By who?” You asked. Hyungwon held out the bouquet at you and took a step closer to you.

“By me.” He softly smiled down at you.

You looked up in his eyes, “Hyungwon-ah..”

“Don’t you get it? You’re the girl I’m bailing out my bestfried for.” Hyungwon finally told you. You blinked.

“Wait.. But.. But..”

“Remember what I told you when we celebrated our last paper of SAT…? I would want to take my girlfriend to prom instead of just another stranger for a one night date thing. And because I don’t have a girlfriend, I had to take my bestfriend. But I don’t want her to be that one night date girl. So, I figured, cause I love her too much and respect her, I decided to make her my girlfriend instead.” Hyungwon cutely confessed. Tears started form in your eyes and your vision got blurry.

“Chae Hyungwon,” your voice cracked. Hyungwon gave you a sweet smile.

“Yeah?” “I have something to tell you too..” You said.

“Hmm?” “I was actually going to confess to you at prom.” You confessed.

He chuckled, “I know. I heard you on the way out at the assembly hall just now.”

He peered down at your eyes, “What is it that you want to confess?”

A tear fell on your right cheek and you flash him a gentle smile, “That you’d make the most horrible boyfriend ever cause you make my heart skip a beat everytime you look at me with those amazing eyes and smile that adorable smile.” Hyungwon broke into laughters and s his arm around your waist.

He pulled you closer, “So, is that a yes to prom?”

You tilted your head, “Are you sure your bestfriend won’t mind us going together?” Hyungwon smiled,

“She’ll be fine. I heard she got herself boyfriend too. I’m sure she’ll have a good time with him at the prom.” You giggled and Hyungwon slowly leaned in and pressed his lips on yours.

Then, you pulled back. “Wow.”

“What?” Hyungwon asked.

“I never thought your lips would feel so good on mine.” You commented. Hyungwon chuckled and interwined his fingers behind you and you did the same around his neck.

“Really?” You giggled and nodded.

Hyungwon placed his forehead on yours, “So, how does it feel being out of the friendzone?”

You shrugged, “There’s not much difference except we’ll be more touchy after this.”

“Touchy, eh?” Hyungwon smirked at you. You norrowed your eyes at him.

“Don’t even, Chae Hyungwon.”

He smirked even more, “What? I like touchy.” He gently pressed his lips on yours.

“Why are you so different from the Hyungwon I’ve met two years ago?” You asked. Hyungwon smiled,

“That was bestfriend Hyungwon. Now, it’s boyfriend Hyungwon.” You chuckled. “I need to get use to this.”

“Heck yeah, you do.” Hyungwon said. You squirmed as his lips made contact with your jawline.

“Okay. Now, I have your first duty as my boyfriend.” You said as you took a step back and made him let go of his embrace around you.

“What is it?” He asked. You pursed your lower lip out and rubbed your tummy, “Feed me.”

You whimpered like a puppy. Hyungwon broke into little laughter and gave a peck on your lips, “Gosh, you’re adorable.”

“Alright, let’s go. I wouldn’t want to starve my girlfriend on the first day.” He slung his arm around your neck and you hugged his waist.

The two of you made your way towards the cafeteria.

On the way, students cheered and congratulated you two for finally being official. Hyungwon and you exchanged shy smiles and thanked them.