Karen's POV

Honestly, who could sleep after what happened?

I took a little bit longer to dress up in the morning, taking extra care to put subtle makeup properly with a little bit of highlighting. After being satisfied with my artwork, I jumped down the stairs saying my goodbyes to my parents.

"Someone's happy," my father commented, taking a sip of his green tea.

"Um, yes, uh," I replied, flustered. I should have tone my excitement down. "Have fun dad. Mom."

Skipping out the front door, I opened the gate and thought about Jiho. How was it going to be today at school?

What would I do when I meet him?

I almost walked into a woman walking in front of me while distracted, but a tight grip in my arm pulled me back.

"Jiho!" I exclaimed, horrified. I was not prepared to meet at that moment.

"Watch out, babe," he said, pulling me beside him.

Babe? I automatically turned away, hiding my reddening face. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think?" he said, as if it was obvious.

"You came here to walk me to school?" I said, flattered and surprised at the same time. "Jiho! You - well, you didn't have to..."

"That grin on your face says otherwise," he pointed out. I couldn't help grin wider and automatically pushed him teasingly. "You seem to really like it."

"No, I don't," I told him but didn't attempt to sound convincing.

"You're in a good mood," he said, amused.

"Aren't you?" I felt a little upset. Was I the only excited by this then?

He abruptly cut off our eye contact and just stared ahead. "I have to act cool," he admitted pathetically.

"Then should I act cool too?" I wondered out loud, putting my finger on my lower lip. "Should I be cold and ruthless and talk less and maybe just pretend--"

"No!" Jiho quickly exclaimed. "No, you just be this cutie pie. Let me the cool one in the relationship."

 "How was your night?"

"Good."

"...Really?"

He glanced at me after hearing my disappointed reply. He slept like a baby while I couldn’t stop thinking about him? "Well," he added slowly, "I - er - it -"

He did not manage to finish his sentence because Kyung started calling him in his phone and disrupted the conversation. “Ugh Kyung, what?”

I heard Kyung ranting in the background but his words were not clear.

“I’m…I’m walking to school.”

“What?!” Kyung shouted. His voice was so clear I thought he was on loudspeaker. “You’re awake already?!”

“Shut up. See you later.”

“He sounded really surprised,” I commented after he tucked his phone back into his pocket.

“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly an early bird,” he admitted, shrugging. “A guy like me should be late to school, you know.”

“Then why are you awake so early today?” I prodded him, waiting for his reply impatiently.

I knew I was stooping pretty low after selling myself so high the past few weeks but he wanted to stop playing so here I was – my heart on my sleeve. All the suppressed love came spilling out after our confession last night.

He stopped walking and faced me. Okay, now it was my turn to feel a bit shy.

“There was this girl,” he started, slow intertwining our fingers. “She wouldn’t leave me alone last night.” He smiled. “She hasn’t left my mind since quite a while ago actually.”

I blushed and he placed his hands on my shoulder, gazing into my eyes.

“She can stay there forever if she wants, honestly.”