He rounded a corner into the alley that would spare him 2 minutes in comparison to his usual route home from school. It was after that corner he finally turned around to glare at the shadow of his steps.

“Look,” he lowered his voice and narrowed his eyes menacingly at the brunette before him. “I don’t know the reason for your sudden interest in me. But I can assure you that it’s not mutual” he said before the other boy could utter a word. “Besides, I don’t even know your name. So stop following me already.”

Youngjae shoved his hands in his pockets and threw a last meaningful look at his classmate before he his heels to proceed his way home.

It didn’t take long, however, until his arm was within a warm hold. “That’s a big fat lie. You do know my name; you know everyone’s name, you just pretend you don’t. You’re not the brightest person in our class for nothing.”

“Fine.” Youngjae snapped and tried to wriggle out of the tightening grip round his arm. “So I do recall who you are, Jung Daehyun right? And so what? I just told you to leave me alone,” he snapped and freed himself after an effective forceful pull. “Gosh, get the hint will you?”

He was taken aback to say the least and suddenly he wondered if the boy two seats away from him has always been this thick-skinned and persistent. But then again, he never saw him enough to draw any conclusions regarding Jung Daehyun as a person. And right now, Youngjae silently admitted, somehow not knowing the older boy bothered him.

“You’re lying again.” It was a statement, delivered with a gentle tug of the lips. It was loud and definite, rang by a voice as clear as a ringing bell and it made Youngjae’s gaze harden. “You say to leave you alone, but you know, sometimes it’s easier to simply be honest. You don’t want to be by yourself, it’s perfectly fine to say it.”

He could surely just make a small twirl, run straight home and by that successfully avoid the brunette he had just realized was the glossary definition of ‘weird’. But his eyes grew too large, his mind too bewildered by unexpected replies from his stalker that he somehow stayed on the spot. He almost felt violated.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked dumbfounded. “Seriously, are you on some sort of medication?”

Jung Daehyun made a face, a grimace that twisted his handsome features strangely, “Urgh, don’t get me started on that. No, let’s not talk about me. I want to know more about you. Let’s become close.” A large smile formed on his lips, wide and bright, yet it was surprisingly shy with his cheeks dusted in a faint shade of crimson. “I’d really like that, to become close I mean.”

Youngjae raised a brow questioningly and eyed the other with forced indifference, “And why would I want that?”

‘Yes, why would he?’

He wondered if all eyes could sparkle like the ones before him, could everyone smile so genuinely to the world despite its imperfections… or was it only Jung Daehyun.

“Don’t you like me?” Daehyun tilted his head slightly to the side, completely unfazed by Youngjae’s cool behavior and kept on staring at him unblinkingly. “I think you should.” The older bit his lip pensively and then spoke in soft melodic tones, “I’d really like, no love for you to like me. And if you do, you should tell me that every day.” The twinkling eyes formed into crescents under the sunrays and in an instant almost became overwhelming. “Yes, I think I’d like to hear it every day, please.”

To say that Youngjae was speechless would be an understatement, and worse part of it all was that Youngjae didn’t do speechless. Ever.

He shook his head slightly; he was not to lose his composure due to someone he knew existed but barely seen during his whole high school life.

“You know what?” Youngjae snarled. “I found you annoying before but now I seriously think that I’m starting to ha —“

“Don’t!” The older boy lunged forward to cover Youngjae’s mouth with his hand; successfully silencing the last couple of words on the verge to roll off the younger’s tongue. They were close, too close for comfort. “Don’t say that you hate me. I guarantee you, you really don’t. And then if the last words you ever say to me are ‘I hate you’ you might feel a whole lot of regret. And I don’t want that.” His gaze pierced though Youngaje’s eyes, shifting slowly from sparkling into something less readable, something more subtle and considerably more vulnerable. “I want you to be happy.”

‘Oh’

Youngjae blinked and felt the warm palm of Daehyun’s hand covering half his face and the soft breaths brushing feathery against his cheeks.

Then unbeknownst to him, he started to see it.

The feeling was foreign and the sight unexpected.

Maybe it was something he shouldn’t have noticed.

But he saw it, as clearly as the difference between day and night he saw them drag him to the edge and linger by the thin lines of grey.

Jung Daehyun’s eyes were brown… dark brown and full of life.

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Hello, this is Ivy! ^^

I've been away for quite a while. and to be completely honest I'm have a giant writer's block.

If you happen to follow some of my other stories I'd like to apologize, they are sort of stuck right know, but I'll work on it :)

So instead of waiting for the inspiration for the other on-going stories to come to me, I decided to write down what I had in mind instead. 

It's nothing special and I don't really know what I'm doing. But I hope you will somehow enjoy it anyway.

Thank you for reading this far :D

With lots of love,

Ivy