You were feeling conflicted at the moment.

You weren’t sure what to choose and whether or not you should stay or just leave. Deciding the latter was for the best, you slipped by as discreetly as you could. Just as you were about to take a step away, you couldn’t but help look back down the hall you were about to head down before when you had noticed the couple talking to each other. The girl you didn’t know but Ravi’s height and hairstyle couldn’t be ignored.

You hightailed it out of there and thought about alternative ways to get to the library since you didn’t want to interrupt Ravi and that girl. It wasn’t the first time you ran into any of your supposed male friends with girls. The first time was with N and a girl you recognized as a girl in the same year as you two. N had been highly embarrassed as he fumbled his way through introducing you two. You played nice and went along with the sudden introduction but the girl was a bit on the defensive side which you let pass since you didn’t know her. You had a pretty good feeling she didn’t like you though. Call it women’s intuition or whatever.

After leaving the scene, you ambled you way toward a different route to your destination as you had these thoughts. It was a little weird to think about this as you never cared about others’ relationships other than those in your family. After that stint with N and that girl, you realized how you’ve grown to be a little more protective over your new found companions while paying more attention to them. After seeing how N and Ken interacted with the girls in your class, you got a vague grasp on their styles. But with the younger ones, namely Hongbin, Ravi, and Hyuk, you didn’t know what to expect. Not that you were curious. At all.

You frowned at your thoughts as you turned the corner and walked past the front office. There was a line there and you knew it was students who were taking advantage of the rest of the lunch period to sign up for the clubs they had chosen. This sight provided a good distraction away from the weird direction your mind was taking.

You counted seven people in the line as you walked past them. The deadline for the final sign-up was coming up and you still didn’t know what you were going to do. You had a discussion about your choices with your mom and Nunji but that didn’t help you decide anything since they basically left the decision up to you which was a surprise. In Nunji’s case, that is. You had expected her to pressure you into joining outrageous clubs but luckily Mieun and you had a telepathic communication going on then. Your niece had chosen that time to throw a fit which was a nice and efficient distraction for your sister so you mainly talked it over with your mom who gave you free rein to do as you pleased as long as you had time to do your studies.

And to be honest, you were thinking of joining volleyball.

You only had this year and next year before you were off to college and that still surprises you. As cliché as it may sound, time flew past. Everything seems to blend together and you noticed that nothing particularly stands out in the mesh. Joining volleyball will surely add a little color.

You were so lost in your thoughts and your ambitions that you failed to notice the person walking alongside you on the other side of the hallway. You stopped in your tracks when you did recognize him.

He smiled widely at you before scuttling over to your side. Ignoring his smile, you resumed your trek, determined to get away from him.

“Choi Mikyung, it’s been a while since we last met,” Minhyuk, otherwise known as Annoying Boy, put his hands in his pants pocket casually.

You remained silent but upped your pace a little, not that it mattered since he had long legs of his own. You were reminded of Taekwoon’s height right at that moment and compared it with the guy next to you. It was a passing thought that had you frowning at the suddenness of it.

“Aww don’t be like that already, Mikyung-ah,” he slipped in the informal way of saying your name.

That almost got you but you still didn’t respond to him. He walked faster and that mildly surprised you but he started walking backwards so you were facing each other which surprised you a little bit more. He smirked at the way you were looking at him and opened his mouth to speak but you took a left turn and walked right into the girl’s restroom.

“Yah, Choi Mikyung!” you were pleased when you heard his annoyed voice. You walked over to the sink to wash your hands. You looked around the restroom and thought about what you could do in here while you waited until Annoying Boy left. You had a feeling he would wait for you until you came out. You didn’t know what it was about him that made you take such great lengths to ignore him but you found yourself doing so. You looked at yourself in the mirror above the sink and you were frowning, which wasn’t anything new, but you started thinking it was foolish to hide out in the restroom, over a boy nonetheless. You still took your time pulling out paper towels to dry your hands and walking out and past the boy who was leaning against the wall next to the door.

“Hey,” he still sounded annoyed but you didn’t get why he would feel that way. You two walked down the hallway and since you didn’t want to take him to your sanctuary, the library, you aimed for the hallway that led to your classroom. Annoying Boy cleared his throat, “So I didn’t know about you and Leo-ya.”

That sentence caught you completely off guard as you froze in your steps on the side of the hallway. Minhyuk took a couple of steps before he turned to face you. His face was completely serious as he stared right at you. “N-ah and I were talking a couple days ago, just the two of us, when I casually and smoothly asked about you.” He chuckled, “And of course N launched into gear about information about you but what caught me off guard,” he paused. “What caught me off guard was the way he kept mentioning Leo-ya and your name together over and over again.” He stopped and you finally looked away from him. The mood was starting to head toward uncharted territory.

You heard a group of students approaching but you didn’t check to see whether they were boys or girls as you looked back at Minhyuk who had been staring at you this whole time. When the group had walked by, he spoke again. “I thought I made myself, I mean, my feelings toward you pretty clear.” You looked past his shoulder when you saw the change in his eyes and expression. “But I guess they weren’t clear enough.” He took a step toward you, closing the distance between you two a little. You automatically took a step back in response. “Or you just didn’t feel the same way or have the same intentions as me.”

The next pause was longer with the silence somehow louder. The seriousness of the situation couldn’t be ignored nor could his previous and persistent advances. You hadn’t thought his interest in you would be this deep which took you for a loop as you just classified him as the boy who annoyed you and called you by your full name.

Then you recalled the time Ken and N had argued about who met you first. Minhyuk had mentioned he met you last year when Eunkwang had been your seatmate. You did remember there were a couple of guys who gathered around Eunkwang’s side and how they were always loud but you couldn’t picture any of their faces. You focused on Minhyuk’s face now but you still couldn’t place him in your memories last year.

His eyes traced yours before he turned away, “This is probably the longest you’ve actually looked at me and it has to be now when I finally confront you about your relationship.” He chuckled again but there was no amusement in it this time. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “It looks like we’re at a standstill Choi Mikyung.”

You didn’t understand what he meant and he must have caught on to your confusion because he started to explain himself, “Feelings don’t just go away, especially the ones I’ve been keeping for over a year. And so…” He tilted his head at you, “I’m saying I don’t want to let these feelings go.”

You sent a sharp glare at him and he smiled at you. “But,” you eyed him suspiciously before he went on, “Since it is Leo-ya we’re talking about, I’m going to try. It’s going to hurt me hell of a lot but you chose him,” he ended it with a pout at you which you pretended you didn’t see by turning your head away. When you turned it back toward him, he was much closer to you and he took the opportunity to lean down to you so close that you could see the pores on his face. “Are you going to miss me Choi Mikyung?”

You answered him with a slap in the face.

“Oh?” your head snapped to the newcomer. “What’s going on here?” Yoohyuk looked between the two of you.

“Nothing my friend,” Really Annoying Boy rubbed his cheek as he looked at you impressed. “You know, just getting rejected by our beautiful classmate.” He sent a look right at Yoohyuk who flinched.

Having enough of this situation, you quickly left both boys behind. You head was whirling with what just happened. You started to get angry with Stupid Annoying Boy’s confession and it made you think about Taekwoon. Things were already progressing at a pace you didn’t even know about with the evidence that N has been putting you and Taekwoon together. Dumb Annoying Boy had caught on and hunted you down to confront you about it. If he, Lack of Respect for Personal Space Annoying Boy, caught on, then that must mean others would also put two and two together.

And you found that you didn’t care about it. You knew your relationship with Taekwoon wasn’t ‘official’ but it already felt like it.

You finally arrived at the entrance of the library and of course, the bell went off signaling the end of the lunch period. You groaned out loud and let out the biggest sigh you’ve ever experienced. Behind you someone snickered and right then you wished you had something to throw at that person.

The person who was the cause of everything.

He walked over to you and when he was standing in front of you he jerked his head in the direction that led to your class. You stared at one another for a couple of seconds as you calmed your heart rate down. It looked like he was waiting for you.

You took the first step and he matched you. He really did tower over you but you