“Hey,”

A devastatingly familiar scent of black cherries and sandalwood drifted in the air as the She Devil pranced her way ahead of me. Her waist-length, midnight black mane swayed with every bounce she took, heralding a positive vibe. She turned around and tiptoed, trying in vain to level her eyes with mine, and placed her tiny hands on my shoulders to aid her balance. I fought the urge to grab her tiny waist because I’m sure our homeroom teacher won’t like it more than I will. Our faces a ruler away from each other and I swore I breathed in the scent of her cherry Chapstik.

This position is rather compromising to the oblivious, especially when you’re along the hallway. But she’s Jung Soojung. Ambiguous, daring, and bold.

“Mom’s birthday later, ok?”

My eyes followed every move of her pink, thin lips that almost rendered me speechless. Thankfully, I found my bearings just in time and saved myself from looking like a dried-out ert. A smirk ghosted her lips as she saw me looking at her like that. She might have seen the effect she has on me so I tried to level up with her. I grabbed the small of her back and tried to blend her body with mine as I pull her to me. My other hand played with the ends of her hair, idly twirling it along her back so she’d feel my finger as I formed loops.  Out of reflex, her hands flew from my shoulders to her face in vain attempt to cover her raging blush. Silly girl, you think you can outdo me, do you?

“Uh, no?” I teased and smirked because I know of her secret-but-not-so-secret admiration for my lips. I pulled her even closer that I could almost feel her erratic heartbeat. I smiled as she fidgets under me. She squirmed like a snail on salt, much to my delight.

“B-but K-kris sunbaenim will be there!” her muffled voice came out like a squeak. It looks so ing cute I almost lost it. Then I remembered we’re on a game of physical ehem ual ehem innuendos. Thank god no teacher passed our way yet or I’d be sent to the principal for third degree act of lasciviousness.

“So?” I feigned ignorance.

“So!?”

“…”

“I—just come you idiot!” she broke free of my and ran her way inside our homeroom, trailing a rainbow of profanities on her wake.

After her accidental discovery of my teensy bit crush on her some three years ago, The Game officially begun. It started out as flirty winks and smirks, then sultry his and hellos with all the batting of the eyelashes. It wasn’t until senior year that things started to get physical like breathy whispers and chaste touches—on the wholesome level, of course. Even though I badly wanna teach her the basics of Flirting and just show her like a man, I just let it go or I’d be accused of ual abuse. At first, I didn’t really understand why and what she does, but then I figured it out and started duelling as competitive as her. Like hell I’m gonna lose to this 5’5 moody minx.

The Game wouldn’t be as fun as it is now if not also for my fair share of mischief. I know from childhood that Soojung can be very possessive and territorial. Like when I received my first blow in the gut, courtesy of a raging eight-year old Soojung, when I tried climbing the mango tree in front of their summer house. So I tried flirting with other girls. Her grim response(which boosted my confidence tenfold) is almost automatic, much to my surprise and demise. She started flirting with other guys too, which I found really unnerving.

Okay, I’m gonna cut straight to the chase: I like Soojung, and I know she likes me too. Not in the platonic way I used to. Maybe she doesn’t but I still wanna give myself the benefit of the doubt. Because of this, this whatever flirty thing we do, we grew closer again. Not like best of friends like we used to, but something more than that. It’s a complicated connection. It’s like we’re together, but we’re not. I