I waited for Dong Hae until the bell rang for my first class. But still, there was no sign of him. And though I would usually feel happy when things like these happened, right now, I was actually worried. After all, even if he could be a little insensitive sometimes, I still felt guilty about hurting his feelings.

As the lunch bell rang, I took out my temporary cell phone and was about to call Dog Hae when someone suddenly approached me. “Hey, someone asked me to give this to you.” a girl who didn’t belong to our class spoke, handing me a folded note.

“Who is it?” I asked, contemplating on whether it was Dong Hae or not. If this was one of his ‘your present’s coming soon’ letters, I was ready to attack him with complaints the moment I saw him.

She smiled. “Sorry, but he said not to tell you who he was. Maybe he wants you to be surprised.” She remarked.

I took the letter from her and said ‘thank you’. When she was gone, I slowly opened the note, ready (just in case) for another prank from Dong Hae. But instead, what was written was, “Hey, I prepared something for you. Meet me inside the room where we last talked.”

Did I just read the note right? Lee Dong Hae, the most immature person I knew, actually prepared something for me? How unbelievable. But then, he stood me up earlier today, so that must be the reason why. He was probably too busy preparing that he lost track of time.

Excited about my first ever present from Dong Hae, I quickly shoved the note in my pocket and started packing my things. Na Mi, seeing my hastiness, looked at me with a raised brow. “Why are you in a hurry? Do you have some plans today that you haven’t told me?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m meeting Dong Hae right now. He said he prepared something for me.” I replied as I finished fixing my bag.

Her face expression changed into a happy one. “You’re excited about something Dong Hae-related? Now that’s something new. I won’t tease you today since it’s your birthday. Don’t forget to give me an update though, okay?” she remarked.

I nodded as I started walking towards the door. “I always do, anyway.” I replied as I did.

Once I was out of the room, I rushed to the room where Dong Hae, Se Ri and I stayed at when we conversed about Dong Hae and my almost break-up. But when I reached it, I hesitated before I held the doorknob and entered. What if he was planning to lock me inside the room again, like he did last valentine? But then again, if that was the case, he wouldn’t have taken so long to prepare, would he?

Turning the knob and walking inside the room, the sound of a guitar suddenly filled my ears and was followed by the angelic voice I once heard when I met up with Sung Min about meeting Meyka. Kyu Hyun was singing the song ‘Miwodo Dashi Han Bon Man’ (Even Though You Don’t Like Me, Give Me A Chance).

For a moment, I just stood there, mesmerized by his voice. But even though I was truly feeling amazed by his song, I wasn’t getting the message he was giving me through his song. Somehow, my heart wasn’t racing even though it should be doing so. Did this mean I didn’t like him the way I thought I did?

As his song ended, he extended a hand, holding out a small box wrapped in a fancy way. “Happy birthday, Ji Na.” he said, his face glowing, unlike the other day when he gave me the lunchbox.

Knowing that if I took his present, it would mean I was giving him a chance, and knowing now that I wasn’t in love with him at all, I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Kyu Hyun.” I said, now realizing that it wasn’t that I couldn’t forgive him these past few weeks. It was that I couldn’t accept him.

“Why? You aren’t doing anything wrong. Please take this.” He replied, pretending not to understand what I meant when I apologized. But his hurtful eyes showed that he did understand.

“Kyu Hyun ah, I really can’t accept it.”