“Wow, I missed this,” Kyungsoo yawned, put his pen down on my desk and stretched his arms upwards. He swivelled on the computer chair continuously, curious eyes wandering over all four corners of my bedroom. “It’s still so great for study.”

“How long has it been? Two, three years?” I responded and stacked my binders back into my bookshelf. Feeling the exhaustion, I hurled myself onto my bed and sighed heavily.

“Too long,” he huffed, turning his head towards my direction to face me. Kyungsoo smiled, doe-eyes squinting and pink gums showing. For a moment, I had the urge to squeeze his cheeks. But after sharing a kiss with him, I felt like I would breach an invisible boundary line if I didn’t fight it. So we both droned on and on about how our day went – soccer practise, grumpy professors, and revision papers – until somehow “Kim Jongin” popped up out of nowhere.

“So what do you think?” he leaned back on the chair and put both his feet up on the study table.

“About what?” I asked, puzzled.

“About Jongin.”

“Oh. Well, he’s… interesting, I guess. But he keeps calling me ‘noona’ and it’s so annoying,” I rolled my eyes.

“I meant his looks, silly,” he chuckled lightly, tilting his head back so it leaned on the chair’s headrest. “I mean, you must have an inner fangirl in you, right?”

I couldn’t help but snigger at the hilarity of his choice of words. Inner fangirl.

“What?” he shot me a dumbfounded gaze. “You are a girl, aren’t you?”

“Why do you ask?” I puffed, finally catching my breath.

“Have you seen how the girls shriek at school? I just want to know what you weird creatures see in him that’s worth fainting for,” Kyungsoo explained and shrugged his shoulders.

Kim Jongin – judging from a young lady’s unrefined perspective – was the embodiment of charisma and appeal. The bronze skin, perfectly proportioned jawlines, fiery brown eyes and thick lips clarified it all. But for some peculiar reason, I wasn’t entirely drawn to any of it. Initially, I was intimidated, but after a couple of odd encounters with the boy, I was simultaneously intrigued and irritated.

“Well, I think his eyes are intimidating,” I absently spurted out.

Kyungsoo shuffled in his seat, swiftly got on his feet and started walking towards me. He stretched his eyelids and his colossal doe eyes dominated the whole of his visage. It looked as if they were going to pop out of their sockets, eye whites highly visible. I had no clue what he was attempting to show me, but he looked ludicrously adorable. Then, much to my surprise, he came closer and closer and leisurely levelled his face with mine.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The familiar peppermint scent wafted all over me, and it was extremely overwhelming. His nose was only a few centimetres away from mine. I couldn’t put a finger on what he was trying to do – I was feeling nauseated and dazed.

“Are mine?”

“Are mine?”

I wanted to throw my arms around him right then and there, but I knew I had to restrain myself, so instead I burst out laughing and even spat on his face.

“Yah!” he growled, cringing as he wiped the liquid off of his cheeks.

“You just looked like a startled ahjumma!” I cackled while hitting my pillow over and over.

“If you don’t stop laughing at me, I’m going to have to do this.”

Before I knew it, Kyungsoo lunged at me and started mercilessly tickling my sides. I squealed like a madwoman, struggling to escape from the euphoric torture. Elated as I was, the fact that he was propped on top of me suddenly hit my consciousness. So I flailed my four limbs in the air to break free, kicking him away from me. As I gasped, he landed on my bedroom’s wooden floors with a resounding thud.

“Omo! I’m s-sorry!” I rushed to the floor. “Are you okay?”

“Do you really think I’m- OW,” he cried, arduously rubbing his left arm with his right hand.

“Oh no, Kyungsoo, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“I was kidding, babo-yah,” he smirked and snorted to indicate that the joke was on me. “But I do need help getting back up.”

I blew a breath of relief and reached out to help him up. Kyungsoo grabbed my hand and gripped it for momentum before pushing himself up off of the ground.

His hand was frozen.

“Your hand,” I motioned, “it’s cold.”

“Oh. It’s- it’s freezing in here. You should get a heater,” he took his hand away from mine and hurriedly wiped it on his shirt. “I- I should get going.”

He turned his back to me, leaned down and gathered his books. Kyungsoo slung his backpack on one shoulder and hastily made his way to my door. I tilted my head upwards and glanced at my Hello Kitty wall clock. It was approximately quarter to ten.

“Kyungsoo-yah.”

“Yeah?”

I need to know how she looked like me. I need to know why you held my hand that night. I need to know how you’re hurting. I need to know why your hands are cold. Tell me.

Tell me.

“Goodnight.”

“Yeah, goodnight, Hyemi. See you tomorrow.”