The next day in school wasn’t a particularly special one. There weren’t any events or competitions or pep rallies, and neither was there a free period where we could hang out at the courtyard or below the trees. In fact, there wasn’t even some kind of announcement that would get us out of class.

I had librarian duties during lunch and wasn’t able to spend it with Baekhyun. Instead, I had to spend it inside a hidden archive behind the last row of shelves that only the librarians knew about. It was practically a sanctuary for old books, with rows upon rows of high shelves that displayed outdated yearbooks and classics that looked centuries old. The pages were all worn and yellow, crisp to the touch and stamped with the school emblem at the back. Most had hardback covers, and though the stories sometimes piqued my interest enough to actually open them, the stench of old paper had me close the book before I could even finish the first page.

There was a plastic table with about four chairs set up in one corner, practically the only thing from this century in this ancient archive. We librarians would sit there for our lunches, and sometimes, to hide and gossip in peace.

When the lunch bell rang and it was time to get back to class, I finished up the last of the books I was stacking and left the keys to the head librarian. I sauntered down the hallway, my hands in my pockets while I greeted the few people I know from my year. Since everybody tended to stretch the lunch period for as long as possible, I was the first one to reach class –at least, that was what I thought before I opened the door.

My brows furrowed when I saw Baekhyun standing by the window, hands planted on the sill as he gazed out. There was something to his face, a kind of gentle fondness and also dreaminess that I had never seen before. His eyes were soft, and his figure was outlined in gold by the light that streamed in from the window.

I tiptoed in, curious as to what had captured my best friend’s attention to the point that he didn’t even hear me come in. I poked my head over his shoulder, my eyes narrowing as I tried to distinguish the direction of his gaze. The window that we stood in front of showed the courtyard, and right now there were too many people to determine what he was staring at.

“Baek, what are you doing?”

He jumped, pretty high might I add. The crimson shade that had coloured his face the day before coloured it now, and the tips of his ears looked like someone had twisted it hard. He staggered back, bumping against the desk behind him as his chest heaved up and down.

“What the –you scared me!”

“How can you not hear me come in?” I said as I raised my eyebrows.

Baekhyun didn’t answer but turned his face away. Detaching his tightly clutched fingers from the table, he coughed and rubbed the back of his head.

“I wasn’t –uh, I didn’t –”

“What were you staring at?” I said with a smirk. “Or better question, who were you staring at?”

“No one,” he answered, a little too quickly.

“Okay, obviously it’s not a no one,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Baekhyun, come on, tell me.”

It was then that the rest of the class chose to file in. As the voices rose to a crescendo, Baekhyun took the opportunity to slink away from me, quickly taking his seat at the back of the class that was right behind mine. I stared at him with a small smile. There was obviously someone he was staring at. It was only a matter of time before he told me who that person was.

“Yoo, can you promise me that you won’t judge?”

I smiled a little before I turned my head to look at him. I cocked my head. “Alright, I won’t.”

Baekhyun nodded and grabbed my hand, pulling me behind one of the stone pillars. I squeaked in surprise because Baekhyun was rarely that rough. I was about to yell at him in protest when he clamped a hand on my mouth, shushing me softly. Involuntarily, I inched my head back until it bumped against the hard pillar; his face was so close to mine.

Once he was sure that I wasn’t about to yell or throw any form of outburst that might reveal our location, he pulled his hand away from my mouth. I glared at him with a frown.

“Please Yoora, just listen,” Baekhyun said pleadingly.

I sighed in frustration and tossed my hair back. This was an awful lot to pay for the simple question –or maybe questions –that I had asked in class. “Alright, fine. What is it?”

Baekhyun peered out from behind the pillar, checking if the coast was clear. He then reached back and grabbed me by the arm, pulling me gently with him. As my head popped out below his, he pointed towards the courtyard, where a stream of students were heading out of the open gates and off to their homes. There were still a few that lingered back to talk to friends, some individually while others in groups.

“See her?”

I squinted my eyes. “Baekhyun, there’re a lot of ‘hers’ in this school.”

Baekhyun huffed in annoyance. “She’s the one standing on the school steps, the one with light brown hair.”

I finally spotted her, the girl that Baekhyun was staring at. To be specific, her hair looked chestnut, turning almost gold in the sun. It made her stand out, but not too much, just enough for you to see her if you were looking for her. It hung down her back in artful half-curls, reaching almost to her waist. I couldn’t see her face clearly but I could vaguely recognise her features, the position of her eyes and her nose along with the smooth forehead she revealed by brushing stray strands of her hair out of her eyes.

I cocked my head. So this was the girl that Baekhyun was interested in. Pretty.

“Do you know her?” he asked, seeing that I had identified the girl.

“Yeah, Jung Soojin. She’s the same year as us, but in another class.”

“Soojin,” Baekhyun repeated, as if testing the sound of her name coming from his lips. He smiled to himself, his eyes crinkling in suppressed delight, before he realised what he was doing and cleared his throat.

“You so like her, don’t you?”

“I said don’t judge.”

I wasn’t going to give that easily. “Don’t you?” I repeated again.

“...Fine. Yes. She was the girl I mistook for you at the movie theatre.”