“Hyukjae.” She jumped, turning her head a little to her side to show she’s listening. “Can we.. C-can we talk?”, he asked, gulping another imaginary lump in his throat as he fidgeted slightly, afraid that he had scared the girl. Not that his previous actions weren’t enough. To his relief, Hyukjae nodded, walking backwards as the back of her knees hit the bench under that bus stop shed. She sat instantly, and Donghae did the same, an arm length away from the other.   It was painfully awkward. It should be since after that kiss, none of them had the courage to speak. The silence went on until they were in the bus, taking seats which were a little far from the other. Both were trembling and shaken and just jittery and anxious and there were moments Donghae felt like crossing that two row distance but at the last minute he’ll hopelessly slump back to his seat.   It’s when the bus had dropped them off to their stop and Donghae had this inkling feeling they wouldn’t be able to talk more once they reached home, and when he had actually gathered enough courage to talk to Hyukjae, did he call her, loud enough for her to hear albeit the sound of the bus driving away. What Donghae didn’t actually think of, however, were the things to say.   He wiped the prickling sweat on his forehead, subtly glancing over the redhead and noticed her hands on her lap, her fingers clutching her knees. When Hyukjae cleared , Donghae jumped a little and switched his gaze back at the road, taking deep breaths as he tried to find the right words to say.   Hyukjae beat him to it though.   “So .. umm.. how did you know that you, you know.. like me?”, she asked, a little hesitant as her cheeks turned into a shade of pink, eyeing Donghae a little bashfully. “I-I.. I didn’t—“, he actually tried to deny, but when Hyukjae shot him a glare, he gulped and thought it would rather be pointless. “I don’t know..”, he mumbled instead. “It just sort of.. happened.”, he answered, and Hyukjae nodded her head as she fixed her eyes on her fingers, as if they were the most interesting thing in the world as of the moment. “How about you?” “Me?” “How did you know that you.. like me?” “I never said I like you.”, she wasn’t even aware why she’s playing hard to get but she guessed a little teasing would help to ease the tension. She regretted it though, when she heard Donghae’s response. “But.. you kissed back.”, he said, stating facts and Hyukjae felt her ears heating up. “You even asked me to kiss you again, and when I kissed you, you kissed back again and—“ “Alright fine, I get it okay? Fine!”, she answered, pursing her lips as she cupped her face with her own hands, hoping that by doing so it’ll stop the stupid scarlet flush from spreading all over her face. “So?” “I—I don’t know too. It’s just one day, I like being with you and talking to you and even if we bicker more than actually talk I kind of.. like it. And I hate it when you’re with your club because that means you’re with Sunye.” “Sunye? What does she got to do with this?”, Donghae asked, perplexed. “You have a crush on her, don’t you?”, she questioned back, didn’t even bothered hiding how peeved she was and Donghae sort of felt a little happy upon the idea that Hyukjae must be jealous. “I used to.”, he corrected which somehow ceased the frown on the girl’s forehead and he smiled. “It wasn’t that serious anyway. I actually forgot the fact that I had a crush on her until you mentioned it now.” “Really? Even if you’re always with her each and every day?”, Hyukjae probed, her expression telling Donghae she wasn’t buying his statement. “Hey, I am telling the truth! And besides, even if we’re always together during our reviews and stuff, it’s not like I was flirting with her when all I think about is the competition and..”, he hesitated, but the need to erase any misgivings and false assumptions inside Hyukjae’s head overpowered that he ended up telling the truth. “..you.”   Hyukjae blinked. She watched as Donghae chewed on his bottom lip, rubbing his nape a little too coyly until it commenced on her what did he just confessed.   “Oh.”   The sides of her lips quirked upward, teeth and gums were peeking out as she couldn’t stop from grinning more, until a wide smile was on her face. She couldn’t find the right words to explain exactly what she feels, but right now, the happiness turned out to be so hard to contain upon the discovery of the fact that Donghae indeed like her.   “I always think about you. I don’t know when did it start but one day I just realized that the times we spent apart were just really.. annoying, which is absurd because we always annoy each other when we’re together. I know it’s trivial, overused and at some point may not mean anything anymore, but I find it really, really hard to take you out of my head. It actually took me a while, but then somewhere along the times we were not together, I realized that I really miss you and it hurts how much I really want to be with you.”   He wasn’t looking at her, so Hyukjae took it as an opportunity to stare at him, this boy she used to dream of requiting her feelings was now confessing to her. At some point, Hyukjae worried this was all a dream.   “I also hate the fact that you’re always with that boy. You know, Kyuhyun. I kind of hate him. I always end up wondering if you guys are together and what are you doing and it makes me crazy because I badly want to be in his place.”, he was frowning at the mention of his name, and pouted by the end of his statement. “But you’re the one who told me I should give him a chance.”, Hyukjae reminded him and Donghae turned to look at her, taken ab