For a moment, all I did was stare at Sehun. I didn't expect to see him here. I thought he already left to attend to that important matter he announced earlier at lunch. 

Slowly, I walked up to him. I noticed that there were no books on his table. It was clear that his purpose to be in the library wasn't to study at all. 

"Sehun," I called in a hushed tone. He must not have heard me since he showed no sign of movement.

“Hey, Sehun. School’s over. Are you still alive?” I shook his shoulder lightly to wake him up.

“I don’t know. Maybe you should perform CPR on me,” I heard him say.

I removed my hand from his shoulder, “Yeah, you’re not dead.” 

“I wasn’t even sleeping. My eyes were just closed,” Sehun straightened his posture on the chair and let out a small yawn.

“What are you still doing here? We didn’t see you outside. I thought you already left,” I told him.

“Actually, I don’t know why I’m still here. If I told you that I stayed just to wait for you, would that be a good enough reason?”

I stared back at him in shock.

“Really? You waited for me for two hours?” I asked incredulously. He nodded in response. 

I wasn’t sure why he didn’t just walk out of the library when I didn’t show up during the first couple of minutes. I can’t believe he waited an extremely long time. Just for me. That was sweet of him.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t have time to reply back because my teacher took my phone away when she caught me,” I looked at him with apologetic eyes.

Sehun nodded again in understanding. I sat on the chair across from him.

“By the way, you said you were going to be busy after school. I can’t believe you lied,” I accused him.

“I didn’t lie. I really have to be somewhere. Just not now,” he replied.

“Oh, really? Where?” I crossed my arms.

“The city.”

“Why?”

“To do something.”

“Like what?”

“Why are you so curious? Stop,” Sehun lifted a hand to tell me to slow down. I waited for him but he just left the question unanswered.

“Sehun, are you okay?” I finally got to ask the question that Exo and I hadn’t had the chance to earlier today.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

He was lying. It was obvious that there was something on his mind.

“You can tell me what’s wrong,” I insisted, my voice softening. 

However, he remained secretive. He didn’t tell me why he was going to the city. I couldn’t think of a reason why it was necessary for him to go there. 

“Actually, I should be heading off now,” Sehun stood up, glancing at the clock. He then eyed the book I was hugging against my chest. “Are you here to borrow books?

“Yeah,” I replied, also standing up.

“Do you need my help finding them?”

“But you said you have to go.”

“Don’t worry, I can spare a few more minutes,” he smiled before disappearing behind a bookshelf.

♦ ♦ ♦

“What are these? I don’t even do these subjects!” I gave most of the books back to Sehun.

“Well, you kept rejecting my other ones so why not get you random ones instead,” he reasoned. 

I mentally slapped myself. 

“You know what? Forget it. I’ll do this some other time,” I irritably returned all of the books back on the shelves in their original spots.

“Great. Thank you for wasting my time,” Sehun bluntly said. 

I glared at him before walking out of the library.

“Hyemi! Wait for me! I need to get my bag out of my locker!” he shouted.

“I’m leaving! I’m late for work!” I didn’t turn around and just continued making my way out of the school.

My pace eventually slowed down until I came to an abrupt stop. I was being selfish. He waited for me for two hours and I couldn’t even wait five minutes for him.

Listening to my conscience, I sat on the bleachers near the school gates to return the favor. I patiently waited for Sehun. After a few minutes, I saw him walk out with his school bag slung over his shoulder. Surprised, he stopped in his tracks and just stared at me.

“What are you doing here?” he approached me with a questioning look.

“You told me to wait. So I did,” I shrugged. A small smile crept on his lips.

We exited the school gates together. I decided to keep him company at the bus stop until his bus arrived.

“Hyemi!” I suddenly heard Baekhyun call my name. “I’m up here!”

I looked up and spotted him on the balcony of my store across the street. He was waving down at us like a princess.

“What are you doing up there without me?! Get down!” I shouted.

“I don't need your permission to be up here!”

From the corner of my eye I could see Sehun staring oddly back and forth at me and Baekhyun.

“I banned him from going up the second floor alone,” I explained to him.

“Really?” he asked with an amused smile.

“Yeah. I had to,” I replied.

“Oh, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?” Baekhyun called in a feminine voice, gazing at the sky. He was attracting attention from bystanders on the street.

“I can see why,” Sehun only laughed.

“Sehun, get up here! You have some explaining to do!” Baekhyun yelled, gesturing him to come. “Leave Hyemi there! I don’t want her up here.”

What?!

“I’m going to kill him. Come on, Sehun,” I nudged him to follow me. I stopped when I noticed that he just stayed rooted to his spot.

“I can’t. I have to wait for the bus to come. I’ve got to be somewhere, remember?” he answered.

“Can’t you come over for just a couple of minutes? Please?” I asked with a cute pout. 

“Don't you dare look at me like that."

“Let’s go,” I tugged on Sehun's sleeve and forced him to cross the street with me. He didn't struggle and just let me lead him inside the store.

“Hyemi, where have you been?” my mom asked me the second I walked through the door. Her eyes immediately landed on Sehun when she noticed me dragging him along.

“Upstairs,” I hurriedly climbed the staircase with Sehun trailing right behind me. 

When we reached the second floor, Baekhyun was still on the balcony eyeing the streets below and was wearing a stupid grin on his face. I let go of Sehun and went up to Baekhyun.

“What are you doing?!” I hit the back of Baekhyun's head.

"Ow! It's fun!" he reasoned.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair!” someone shouted from below us. Rubbing his head, the grin that Baekhyun was wearing before returned.

“I got a stranger to say that line,” he giggled. “Thank you, random citizen!”

This is exactly why I refused to let him stay up here by himself. 

“I have to do something downstairs. Don't do anything silly,” I told them before going down.

“Hyemi,” my mom called me again.

“Hi. Sorry, I was in the school library,” I said as I grabbed a fresh fruit from the counter.

“That’s fine, sweetheart. But who was that boy?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, that was my friend, Sehun.”

“Really? I see him come here a lot. Like every day,” she observed.

“Yeah, I know. He’s so annoying,” I chuckled.

“He’s always here because of you, isn’t he?” 

“W-What?” my eyes widened at what she said. “N-No, that’s not true.”

“He stares at you a lot. Don’t you notice?” she continued.

“Mom, stop. He’s here because he loves bubble tea. Trust me,” I explained, walking up to the sink to get a glass of water.

“If you say so. I hear he’s popular. The female students in here talk about him a lot,” mom mentioned.

“Yeah, all the girls love him,” I shrugged before gulping down some water.

“Do you love him too?” 

I suddenly choked on my drink.

I wiped my mouth, “What?! No! We’re just friends."

“For now?”

“N-No! Forever!”

“I see, but the both of you are--”

“Just friends,” I cut her off.

“You’re such a stubborn child. You’re ignorant too,” she shook her head.

“What do you mean?” I asked in confusion.

“He likes you, Hyemi,” mom straightforwardly said.

I froze at that moment. It amazed me how she said it so confidently. 

“W-What? N-No way. He doesn't,” I argued.

"He makes it so obvious," she continued. "I realize now he went to Jeju Island too. He was the one always with you. You guys looked so cute together!"

I felt my cheeks heat up. My heart started beating faster. I was feeling nervous all of a sudden. 

Not once did I feel this way when I heard similar things from Baekhyun. He would always tell me that Sehun liked me, but it never affected me. Heck, I didn’t even believe Sehun himself when he directly told me how much he liked me. Hearing my mother say it was completely different. Maybe because she had genuine thoughts and wouldn’t joke about this sort of matter.

“Sweetheart, your face is turning red. Did I say something wrong?” she asked with a cheeky smile.

Her teasing is much worse than Sehun’s!

"W-We're done talking about this, mom," I said before quickly turning around to hide my embarrassment. 

I took my time going back up, climbing one step slowly as I fanned my flushed face. 

Somehow, my mind wouldn’t accept the fact that Sehun had feelings for me. But at the same time it made sense that he did. It was confusing. It was the first time that I didn’t have a solution to a simple problem. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel about it.

"Hyemi," Sehun called me. I lifted my head and saw him standing at the top of the stairs. He walked down to me, meeting me half way. "I really have to go now."

"O-Oh okay. I'll walk you out."

When we arrived at the bottom, my mom caught us. She managed to keep a straight face and act normally again. Thank god.

"I'm going to send Sehun off," I told her. 

"You're leaving already? But you usually stay much longer," she said to Sehun, slightly disappointed. 

"I wish I could, but I have to be somewhere important," Sehun answered, adjusting the bag on his shoulder. 

"That's too bad. I bet Hyemi's not going to enjoy her shift without you around," she joked.

Oh my god, mom, no. Stop talking. Please. 

Sehun lightly chuckled, watching my reaction. I could feel my face heat up some more.

"Bye, Sehun!" mom said.

I pushed him forward, rushing us to get out of the store. We crossed the street and went to the bus stop, standing on the spot where we were originally.

"I didn't know your mom knew me," Sehun stated. 

"She got curious when she saw me pulling you inside earlier. She recognized you as the guy who showed up every day," I replied. 

"Oh. What did she say about me?”

I cleared my throat awkwardly, “Just...you know...your interest in me...”

“What?” he furrowed his brows in confusion.

"I-I mean the bubble tea store, because she sees you there all the time,” I managed to finish off.

“Right...” he nodded slowly as he eyed me suspiciously. “Hyemi, I can’t help but notice this. Why are you blushing?”

My eyes widened.

Am I really?! Again?!

"The bus is coming," he suddenly pointed behind me, making me glance over my shoulder.

"Where exactly are you going?" I asked for the last time. He paused.

“You really want to know, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

Just then, the bus pulled up in front of us. The door opened, however Sehun didn’t walk over to the entrance.

“There’s only one way for you to find out,” he said.

“How?”

“Come with me.”