Yuri’s POV

The homeroom class buzzed with the students chatting away excitedly about the coming events. They settled down only when Ms. Goo walked in, holding two boxes.

“Class, do you know what festive is coming up next week?” she asked.

“Valentine’s Day?” Minzy guessed.

Ms. Goo nodded. “That is correct, and this year, your principal has decided to do something a little bit different than just holding the annual Valentine’s Dance,” she said.

The whole class started to make noise again but Ms. Goo quieted them down. “Now, this year, we are going to have Secret Cupids with the class from Year Twelve.”

I perked up. Mir’s in Year Twelve. As if on cue, the class of Year Twelve came inside the room with their class teacher. It took awhile for everyone to quiet down again.

“Now,” Ms. Goo went on, “Boys will draw a name in this box and girls in the other. You will all pick a name of the other genders’ name in this class. Then you will be their Secret Cupid for that person.

“Over the next two weeks, you’ll leave the person a gift every few days. The limit for each gift is about ten dollars. On the Valentine’s Dance, everyone will find out who their Secret Cupid is, with their last present. Oh, and you are not to tell anyone whose name you’ve picked. Understand?”

Everyone nodded, understanding the rules.

“Come on, line up,” their teacher said.

They lined up.

Minzy squealed in delight as she saw whose name she’d picked. That must have meant she picked Chunji.

It was my turn to pick a name. I put my hand in, stirring the few remaining papers with my fingers, closed my eyes, and pulled out a name out of the box. I opened the slip of paper. And written in bold was the name I’d picked. My heart skipped a beat. “Oh.”

I looked up and saw L.Joe beaming when he pulled the paper out of the box and beamed even wider when he read who it was. I walked up to him. “Hey, you.”

He whirled around and saw me. “Hey. Like whose name you’ve picked?”

I nodded. “Oh, yea.” I smiled. “You?”

“It’s easy.”

I smiled. “Cool.” I waved at him before turning around to walk back to where my friends were at. I wonder what to get for the person whose name I’d picked. This is going to be interesting.

The week arrived. Everyone ran to their lockers to see if their Secret Cupid had put anything there. As Mir and I got out of his bike, Minzy came out to us, bursting with energy that she’d nearly knocked Taemin, who arrived just behind us, down to his feet. He stumbled a bit.

“Where’s the fire?” Taemin asked, trying to regain his balance.

Mir laughed and walked off, leaving me with my friends to talk. Minzy  showed Taemin and I a box of home-made cookies, bursting with happiness. “It’s a gift from my Secret Cupid!”

Taemin raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Wow, they seemed to be taking this festive seriously. The week hadn't even started and already you have presents.” He turned to me — but I was already rushing to school.

Minzy grinned and ran to catch up with me.

Taemin rolled his eyes. “Ugh,” he muttered as he followed us behind.

I reached my locker, skidding to a halt. There were lots of pieces of paper in pink and red all over the floor of my locker. I looked down and saw that they were actually cut-out heart-shapes. I opened the locker and a cascade of red, pink, peach, yellow, lilac and white rose petals flooded out, falling to the floor. I took a few steps back in amazement.

Everyone was crowded around my locker by this time.

I gasped when I saw something that was not in my locker before — other than the rose petals.

Minzy and Taemin reached me and gasped when they saw it too. “Wow!”

Just then, Ricky, Changjo, Niel and CAP (who had been hovering nearby) peered behind my locker and wolf-whistled.

Inside my locker was a big but cute teddy bear holding a little heart that said BE MINE. 

I saw a note tape in my locker. Curiously, I took it and read:

Happy Valentine’s Day, Yuri! I thought rose petals would be better than the actual rose. I hope you like the teddy bear. Love from your Secret Cupid.

I hugged the teddy bear. “Are you kidding? Like it? I love it,” I declared.

“Hey, Yuri. Oh, wow, that’s big,” L.Joe commented, coming up to us. Chunji was just behind him.

I beamed. “I know right. It’s the work of my Secret Cupid,” I explained.

“Yeah, it figures, with the rose and the bear,” Chunji laughed, pointing.

I looked at the bear “Whoever gave me this bear sure have good tastes,” I murmured in a low voice. “I’ve always wanted someone to give me something like this for Valentine’s.”

Minzy shrugged. “Well, you like it. And I’m sure whoever your Secret Cupid is, is happy that you like it.”

“Have you guys received anything from your Secret Cupid yet?” Taemin asked Teen Top politely.

L.Joe shook his head. “Ricky received a sweater that’s just right for him. As for me, I’m sure it’ll come soon.”

And he was right. As soon as we entered our homeroom, there was a parcel sitting on his desk. He wandered over. He poked it with a finger. “It’s lumpy,” he stated.

“Maybe it’s a half-eaten sandwich,” Niel joked.

Changjo shoved him. “Be nice.”

“What? Oh, hey, there’s a card.”

L.Joe read the card: Happy Valentine’s Day, you handsome person! Have a great time with the present! I hope you like it. =]

He looked up. “Something tells me this is going to be hilarious.”

“Surprise us,” I told him as he began to open the parcel.

It was a white, spray-painted shirt that read: “I’m standing next to Idiot.” L.Joe looked at Chunji, who was standing next to him.

Chunji scowled.

Everyone else laughed.

“Well, hyung,” Ricky observed, smirking. “Whoever your Secret Cupid is, sure know that you’re a crack-up.”

“Niel, you’ve got a present!” Changjo called out.

They went over to Niel’s table, where the girls were crowded around it, giggling madly. There on the table, was a soccer ball soft toy. It was so cute!

Niel was mad about soccer.

I smiled to myself. Everyone sure seemed to be getting really good presents. Whoever is their Secret Cupid must know what they like. I smiled, remembering my bear.

Who could be my Secret Cupid?

The rest of the day went on with people showered with gifts from their Secret Cupid.

During lunch, I was about to pay for my lunch when the lunch lady smiled at me and said, “Oh, there’s no need. Your Secret Cupid paid for you.”

Bewildered, I just walked off to join Teen Top. I noticed that L.Joe had a custard-pie, which was the lunch desert for that day, on his lunch tray, which was surprising as he never had enough money to afford to buy both his lunch and deserts.

He looked up. “My Secret Cupid ordered that for me,” he explained.

I shrugged as I sat down next to him. “My Secret Cupid paid for my lunch.”

Chunji looked enviously at us. “You guys sure have the best Secret Cupids ever. Better than everyone,” he said with a frown.

“Not true,” I argued. “Besides, what about your presents? You’ve gotten new puzzles, baseball cards, plus a book on new snowboarding tricks.”

Chunji shrugged. “I like my presents but your gifts are romantic.”

“Since when did hyung like romantic stuff?” Ricky teased. Chunji dunked him on the head. “Owww.”

“You deserved that,” CAP replied. When Ricky turned to give him the look, he merely shrugged.

The rest of the week, L.Joe and I seemed to be the only ones who kept getting really good gifts.

I received a charm bracelet, earrings, necklaces, a box of caramel corn, a CD of my favorite band, more stuff toys, and a box of chocolates.

L.Joe had gotten a miniature basketball, more deserts, a toy stuff beagle with a sign that said I LOVE YOU, a DVD of a movie that he always wanted, voucher for free smoothies at his favorite ice cream parlor for a week, poems and chocolates.

On Thursday evening, I decided to visit L.Joe. I was just about to ring the doorbell when my phone rang. Wow, speak of the devil.

“Hey, are you free? Wanna hang at the park for a bit?” he asked.

I laughed. “Sure. Could you give me five?”

“Sure.”

After we hung up, I changed directions and headed for the park, nearby Mir’s house. I felt the warmth of the wind breeze by. I saw L.Joe sitting by the bench. I tiptoed over to him and covered his eyes with my hands. “Boo,” I said softly.

He looked up and smiled. “Hey, Yuri.” He took my hands off, stood up and he wrapped his arms around me. “Did I ever tell you what a crazy friend you are?”

I shook my head earnestly. “Nope,” I said with a straight face.

He grabbed me and began tickling me, knowing that I was extremely ticklish. I squealed. I fell to the grassy ground, laughing, my eyes already swimming with tears. Giggling, I tried to get him to let me go — to fight back — but failed.

He was too strong. He held me down with one hand and his legs and tickled with the free hand.

“Stop!” I gasped, out of air.

He let me go and I tried to regain my breathing normality. It was only then I realized that his face was so close to mine. Our lips were an inch apart. My heart pumped wildly. I could feel his breath upon my face. I looked into his eyes.

L.Joe’s deep green brown were more amazing than the sunset, and every other thing and person I’d seen that evening. He looked at me.

I looked away, blushing. When I looked back, he was still looking at me.

There was an awkward silence.

He got off me. “Er, that wasn’t why I called you up here,” he said, giving an embarrassing chuckle as he helped me up back on the seat.

“Then what is it?” I asked, trying to make my heart to stop beating so rapidly.

He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. “Would you like, erm, to go to the dance with me . . . tomorrow?” he blurted out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Who can guess who's Yuri's Secret Cupid? :P hehehe! And oooh, what would she say to L.Joe? Will she say yes? Or will she turn him down?

Sorry, had to add a cliffy (: