Hyemi opened her eyes rather groggily that morning. She let out a large yawn and lazily stretched her arms above her head.

*A new day. School. New classmates. New seatmate. Annoying guy…* The list somehow went longer and longer in her mind. There were so many things to grumble about and Hyemi surely did not feel like going out of her room at all.

She shut her eyes and crossed her fingers close to her heart. *I strongly wish in my heart, for the world to forget about me for today and no one would knock on my-*

As if on cue, there were three soft knocks on her door. *Speaking of the devil.* Hyemi groaned. She muttered something incoherent under her breath and quickly pulled her blanket over her head. She was badly cursing the person in her mind for she knew who that was.

L.joe.

Another three soft knocks could clearly be heard on the door. Hyemi choose to ignore it and stayed hidden under her blanket. If she stayed quiet long enough, maybe L.joe would think that she was asleep. "Agashi? I’m coming in." L.joe announced.

Hyemi’s eyes shot opened. *Woah woah woooah. Shouldn’t you be asking for my permission first!*
The door opened and Hyemi could faintly see his blonde hair peeking inside before closing her eyes tightly, pretending to still be sleeping.

L.joe heaved a small sigh. He walked towards her and knelt down beside her bed. He chuckled. *Now, now. What should I do to awake the sleeping witch from her ‘sleep’?*

An imaginary bulb lit up in his head and he had to bit his lips to prevent himself from laughing. *Let’s .*  He reached for her and brushed her bang lightly. He broke into a grin when he noticed that her eyebrows were slightly furrowed together. However, Hyemi didn’t open her eyes, and L.joe knew that she was still pretending.

He then brought his hand to her cheeks and poked it lightly. *Poke. Poke. Poke.*

Hyemi grew annoyed and her eyebrows were closely furrowed to each other. She slapped his hand away and abruptly got up. She took a few steps backward and placed her hands on her cheeks. "What the heck are you doing that for!?" She yelled.

*Heh.* L.joe smirked inwardly and stood up. He tilted his head innoncently. "To wake you up?"

Hyemi glared at him. "You could have just called me! I’m a light sleeper!" She exclaimed. L.joe blinked his eyes twice, "I did. I called you. But you didn’t wake up." He replied timidly. Hyemi pointed an accusing finger towards him. "That’s a lie! You didn’t call me!"

"How did you know? Weren’t you sleeping?" He smirked. Hyemi mentally face-palmed herself. *Crap!* "I… Err… Err…" She stuttered nervously.

"Gah! Whatever! Just get out already! I’m late for school!" She pointed towards her alarm clock.

L.joe raised a brow questioningly. "It’s only 6.30 a.m. though…" He chuckled lightly.

Hyemi pinked. "Shut up! I said I’m late, so I’m late, okay!?" She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the door. "Get out! Get out! Get out!" She tried to push him out with all her might but L.joe didn’t even budged an inch. He laughed at her failed attempt.

"You sure didn’t learn." He said, making her face turned a deeper shade of red.

Hyemi coughed and turned away from him. She grabbed her towel and walked around her room to prepare for school. *Ignore. Ignore. I shall ignore you!* She took out her uniform from her closet and threw it on her bed. She also picked out her books from the bookshelf and put it in her bag.

L.joe watched her in interest. *Giving me the cold shoulder now, huh?* He walked towards her and gently took her bag away from her hand. "Just go and get yourself ready. I’ll do these."

Hyemi hmph-ed and look away. "Right. It’s your job anyway." She rolled her eyes at him and head to the bathroom. L.joe watched her go and shook his head with a small smile.

However, Hyemi stopped halfway. She turned back to look at him. Her eyes hardened.

"Which remind me. Don’t talk to me at school. You’re just L.joe, the butler." She walked away and slammed the door shut.

L.joe stood there, somewhat crestfallen. It was like her cold words were made of knives, tearing him apart with no mercy.

"Yeah. Just… A butler."


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Once she stepped passed the gate, Hyemi let out another yawn. It was strangely unusual for her, but Hyemi was actually on time for school that day.

She elegantly walked into the school with her long, flawless legs. Her blue striped skirt fluttered softly in the wind and her hair swaying with her every step. As usual, her face was drained of any emotions and she was looking straight forward, ignoring the stares and murmurs from every students.

From afar, a pair of black eyes were watching her longingly. 60 seconds was all he need, but he could already memorized her habits.

No one noticed it, but he could see her expression softened everytime the gentle breeze brushed against her cheeks.

He could see her gaze wavered slightly when the girls scoffed at her.

He could see her biting her lips, preventing herself yelling at the boys whenever they were being persistent.

With the way things were right now, it’d feel so impossible for him to change anything. She was so close. So close that it felt like he could touch her whenever he reached out his hand.

But, no.

She was far.

L.joe smiled to himself. The distance. That was something he need to overcome if he wanted to make things right again. For that, he had to make sure that he was strong enough to endure every obstacles that came his way. The yells, the silent treatment, the rejections.

It hurts, but he’d be alright. For he knew, that the pain won’t last forever.


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The last bell of the day chimed loudly throughout the whole school, signaling that school was over for that day. Students from every ages and grades came rushing out of their classes towards the gate.

"School’s over…" L.joe muttered softly under his breath. However, there was no joy in his voice.

While the hyungs were busily fighting over about who was the best dancer in the group, Ricky and Changjo shot each other a look, and stared at L.joe curiously.

"I don’t understand you, hyung. She was obviously ignoring you, but you keep on chasing after her" Ricky scratched his head in puzzlement. He looked at Changjo and made a face.

Changjo shrugged and gave him the same bewildered look. "Yeah. It’s just…. Plain weird. You didn’t even give the girls a chance back in the state." He stated, a fact obviously known by others.

L.joe ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly. He had been trying to talk to Hyemi since this morning. But the latter didn’t even hide the fact that she was ignoring him and didn’t seems to have any problem to glare at him openly.

CAP came over and slung an arm around L.joe. "How about we drop this butler-thingy and go play?" He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows convincingly.

L.joe pushed him away and snorted. "Like I have time for that." He rolled his eyes. "Go and play by yourself, hyung. I’m busy."

Niel and Chunji soon gave up over the fight and decided that they were pretty much equal to each other in dancing. They joined the group and sat around L.joe.

"There are lots of ways, you know? Why much you choose the hard way?" Chunji took out his phone and scrolled down the phonebook boredly. He just arrived in Korea a week ago so he didn’t have that much contacts yet.

L.joe blinked his eyes at the question. Somehow, when his friends were showing their concerns like this, made him feel slightly relief. But mostly, happy.

He let out a small smile. "I just want to be close to her without hurting her. Somehow, I wanna give it my best because looking back and having regrets… are just foolish."

"But she’s so scary! It’s like she was sending daggers in her glares!" Ricky frowned and automatically made a mental note to stay away from Hyemi from now on.

Changjo clutched his tongue and whacked Ricky in the head. "Be considerate!" He gestured towards L.joe, worried that the latter might not like them to be talking about her that way. But L.joe was actually laughing at Ricky, not at all minding on his own view about her.

"She’s not scary though! She’s really kind and pretty~" All eyes were on Niel now. Noticing the attentions, he blushed a little. "I-I mean! I saw her feeding the stray cats during the break. And… and… She also stood up for the girl that was bullied just now!"

Ricky made a ‘O’ shape with his mouth. "No freaking way! I can’t imagine the witch doing that!" He blurted out his thought. Realizing that, he quickly clamped a hand firmly over his mouth.

L.joe shot him a look. "Hey, hey. She’s not a witch." He turned to look at Niel, and smiled. "She’s an angel." He sighed dreamily.

Chunji and Changjo cringed at his sweet tone while CAP shook his head with a grin."Whatever, dude. Just don’t come crying to me later." CAP laughed and raised his knuckle.

L.joe laughed and hit his knuckle with CAP’s. "It’s hard. But, we’ll be alright."



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A/N : I'm so cruel! T.T

p/s : Hints, hints! :D The progress MIGHT start in the next chapter! :D Until then, :)