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You turned around when you heard someone calling for you and your eyes met with the boy wearing a mischievous grin. Your eyes twinkled playfully but you pushed away your smile to feign a look of displeasure. You hugged your books tighter to your chest and pursed your lips. “What do you want?”

Your friends gripped onto your arms and squealed as the boy jogged up to the three of you. “You’re so lucky he talks to you.” Jakyung whispered in jealousy.

You bit your lip and elbowed your friend. “Trust me, it’s more of a burden.”

The said boy halted to a stop once he got closer. “Morning Jakyung-ssi, Haerin-ssi.”

The two girls gave him an enthusiastic reply before excusing themselves leaving you alone. “Thanks a lot.” You muttered after your friends.

The latter turned his gaze back to you and stared at you for a little more than necessary then suddenly frowned.

You tilted your head. “So what were you going to say?” You asked expectantly.

The boy sighed. “Dang it,” he snapped his fingers. “You look so pretty you made me forget my pickup line.”

You gave him a shove. “Damnit Chanyeol. Can you not be so disgusting this early in the morning?”

Chanyeol swung his arm over your shoulder and pulled you closer as he laughed happily. “I can’t help it—this is what you do to me.”

You felt the blood creep up to your ears and quickly shrugged his arm off. “We’re going to be late to class,” you mumbled.

For the rest of the day, Chanyeol religiously tossed you notes with his jokes as he made fun of the teachers. You never wrote him back. You just shot him annoyed looks even though you were dying with laughter inside.

You both had lunch together on the rooftop alone as you did every Friday. The two of you have been friends since elementary school.

You still remembered how you became friends with him in the first place. It was the start of an unusual friendship. You were always the quiet one in class who didn’t really speak unless spoken to and always stood on the outside of the circle of girlfriends. You were the student who had your hair in a ponytail tied with a bow and your clothes were always clean, pressed, and neat.

On the other hand, back in the primary school days, Chanyeol was the boy with glasses who had yet to grow out of his baby-fat. His hair was cut into a bowl shape and he normally had his uniform slightly wrinkled from playing outside during recess with a hint of lunch stains here and there. He had this great interest in animals which led him to bring his pet ferret to school one time for show-and-tell.

You laugh every single time you remembered about how one small creature can wreak so much havoc when it got out of its cage and paraded around the school as teachers and students alike screamed in terror. You remembered Chanyeol running around like a madman trying to find his beloved pet before it got stepped on. You remembered how after he had finally found his pet, the teacher scolded him and the headmaster banned him from ever bringing in a live animal to show-and-tell again.

On that same day, you had worked up the courage to tell your crush of your feelings. The 9 year-old you had worked hard to express the feelings of love and admiration. The 9 year-old you had experienced your first humiliation that day when your crush had blatantly rejected you in front of his friends. On that same day, however that boy got bitten by Chanyeol’s pet ferret.

Yo