My beautiful readers! What a beautiful day it is today! I've just been plagued by old movies so please do not mind my sudden way of writing. I just influence, that's all! Romeo and Juliet 1968 has become my 2nd most favorite movie (the first is The Notebook) and following Romeo and Juliet is Breakfast At Tiffany's! Anyway, read and enjoy!

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Finally, I smile as I look down at my paper. My exams before the winter break are finished! I feel so happy that I think of jumping up and down. I look around and see Hyuna smiles at me; which I return with a bright smile. She mouths ‘I’m up for some fun!’ which is cut off by the teacher in charge, who stands in between our line of sight. I turn back to my paper while biting my lip, feeling like laughing at her, who is scolded by now.

There’re still a few drama things I should do, but it doesn’t really take too much time because in two days, it is our last rehearsal. My lips turn down at the thought of meeting Kai. After that day I got the detention, I have been avoiding him and thankfully, my role in the drama has been cut down by Teacher Im, saying ‘There’s not enough time!’ and I almost bow down at her.

So I barely have to meet him in the eyes. By the time my part’s over, he still has more. So I always go home earlier. I feel bad somehow because I caught him staring at me a few times, but I reminded myself that it would be a mistake to start a conversation. I find myself wanting to talk to him too. But every time I seek that courage, I find none.

So in the end, I sort back to the only thing I know how; avoiding. Hyuna often grumbles about how annoying Kai is because he keeps on pestering her to talk to me, and even though I find myself feeling flattered, I still couldn’t find that one thing to push me to talk to him.

Hyuna also has stated how suspicious she is for my weird behavior, which I pretend not to hear about.

When the bell rings, the students run out from the class. I take my time because I don’t want to squeeze through those people. Hyuna and I walk together to our lockers.

“Woo! Finally I am free of that ty exam!” Hyuna says happily, throwing her arms out, not caring when she has hit somebody with her hands. I look back in shock but I keep walking anyway. Then her beautiful lips frown. “I still have that drama rehearsal, ugh,” She mutters, glancing at me. “Why do you write so many Chorong and Suho parts? I bet you actually think of Chorong as you, that’s why.”

I glare at her, hoping she will shut up. We stop on my locker. I open the locker and take my bag out, throwing my stationery inside. “Shut up,”

“Nah, I’m not gonna shut up,” Then she starts making weird noises, making me to glare at her while walking.

This ended up with me bumping into someone. I don’t fall down like how I usually read in novels; instead I just step backwards a few times until Hyuna takes a hold on me. She looks perplexed but then her lips curl into a wide smile. I look up to see Kai staring down at me with unreadable gaze.

. ! I almost pee on my with the way how he looks at me! His gaze alone, can you imagine that? I clear my throat and wonder what I should do when Hyuna does it for me. “Hey, you know what, I feel really hungry! I think I’m going to stop by at the convenience store outside the school ground. But I know you cannot walk that long so, uh, Kai, would you mind accompanying her to the cafeteria?” With that she leaves.

Great, just great. “Eh… hey,” I awkwardly mutters; a forced smile making its way on my face. “Don’t mind her; she’s just having one of her antics. I’ll see you later, alright?” I turn to leave, but I feel a warm hand grabs mine, and I feel my hair stand.

“Wait.” He turns me around, staring right into my bewildered eyes. “Let’s go together, shall we? After all, we’re going to the same direction,”

I feel like running away, but I know I couldn’t make it this time. In the end I meekly smile at him and nod. “Sure, why not.”

We walk in uncomfortable silence; at least to me. I don’t know what he is thinking but I do aware of mine. Biting my lips, I try to think of topics that we can talk about and hopefully, straying away from anything personal.  I just hope he doesn’t ask ‘how are you?’ because I’m going to reply in a really awkward way.

“Inna—”

“Jongin! I’ve been looking for you!” A brown-haired girl bounces toward us in a lovely way, looking so lovely in her white sundress.

I stare at the girl openly because I’ve apparently been too shocked to come back down on Earth. She’s obviously not a student because she’s wearing no uniform. She looks at Kai with lively eyes that full of adoration. Ugh, I hope my eyes don’t look like that when I’m looking at Kai. ‘Cause that’s just going to be really embarrassing.

“Jongin!” She shouts again, clinging at Kai. Her arm wraps around Kai in a way one will assume as ‘close’.

my lips, my mind comes back to Earth in a way the sea crashes against the shore. “I’m just going first okay?”

“Wait—”

“Jongin!” The girl whines and Kai doesn’t say anything else as I walk away.

Wow, that kind of hurts. Is that what he felt when I avoid him? Because I will not want to feel that kind of pain again.

“You let him be with an unknown girl?” Hyuna asks with narrowed eyes. “Let me get this straight; a strange girl—” “Beautiful stranger,” I mutter as she continues, “—comes out of nowhere and clings at Kai, making whiny voices and Kai doesn’t tell her to off?”

“Ehm, I won’t say ‘ o-f-f’ but yes that kind of sums it up.”

“Holy, are you jealous?” She grins. “Is I-am-too-shy-to-confess-Choi-Inna feel jealous?”

“No, I don’t.” I retort as I shoot her a glare.

She slurps her fruit smoothies as I munch a French fries. She just grins teasingly at me as we stare at one another, thinking of what we should say.

“You know, why don’t you just tell him?” She asks, looking straight at me. “I know you’re scared that he’ll reject you, but I’ll say the possibility of him rejecting you is reasonably low. I bet he will even accept your confession with tears. Sweetpie, I know a guy-in-love when I see one. It’s just so bloody obvious that I can’t find a single reason why you’re scared.”

I take another fry. “Maybe because of there still is a possibility of him rejecting me,” I mutter. “Besides the girl I tell you about is really beautiful. Like a goddess,”

“Owh, if you’re not clear enough I’ll think you’re talking about me,” Hyuna jokes.

I laugh and hit her leg under the table. She slaps my shoulder lightly as a response.

“Oh God, it’s time. Let’s go,” She says when her alarm rings.

I look down on my watch; sighing. “Let’s go do the last rehearsal.”

“No! Not like that! What is wrong with you, Choi Inna?!” Teacher Im shouts for the nth time for my continual mistakes. “Look at him in the eyes! THE EYES! Don’t you get it?! How many times should I tell you to look at him in the eyes?!” She grumbles. “You’ve doing fine for the past rehearsals. What’s wrong with you today!?”

“I’m sorry, Ma’am. It won’t happen again,” I mutter as I bow repeatedly.

“Let’s take a break,” Kai says. “Maybe we need a little break.”

Teacher Im just glares at me before stalking away, grumbling about my horrible stage performance. I feel bad about that even though I’m more nervous about something else now that Teacher Im has left us alone.

“Is everything okay?” He asks.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” I reply, my dry lips.

He stares at what I assume is my lips. Blushing, I look away.

“Hey, look at me.” He naturally lifts my chin up to look at him.

My eyes meet his immediately and as if into a black hole, I can’t escape from his dark, enchanting eyes. He has the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen in my life. And staring at them is like hoping to fall into a nice, timeless dream. It’s like hoping for time to stop just to stare into his eyes.

“I want you to think that you’re my girlfriend,” He says and even though I can barely listen for I have been bewitched by his wicked eyes, I still hear him. “Like a real girlfriend. Only then you can be Kwon Yuri.”

“Oh? Uh…” I must have looked so beguiled that I feel so embarrassed. “Uh, okay. Kwon Yuri, right.”

His lips turn into a teasing grin. When he’s about to say something, a voice interrupts.

“Jongin!” There, I once again see the girl who has been spending time with Kai. Today she wears a crop tee that says ‘I’m famous so what’ with high-waist jeans paired with red sneakers. Ouch, she looks so amazing. I feel like a peasant in my big t-shirt and ¾ jeans, and worn sneakers compares to her oh-so-majestic fashion. Scratching the back of my neck because I don’t know what else to do when I feel extremely awkward, I slowly step back.

Kai obviously notices my sudden withdrawal and grabs my wrist. “Hey, I want to introduce you to someone,” He smiles.

Ouch, not the girlfriend, please! I can already imagine my stupid crush crashing down, and I force a tight smile to curl on my face. I must look so in pain that he suddenly loosen his grip and says, “I’m sorry, do I hurt you?” I shake my stupid head, and he nods with the look of concern.

“Anyway,” He smiles again, “I want to introduce you to this girl,” He waves the beautiful girl over, who comes bouncing again lively with a wide, bright smile.

My tight smile feels so tight right now.

“This is Kim Yoona, my cousin, and this Choi Inna, my friend,” He smiles at me then at Yoona, the beautiful girl, who looks at Kai in a teasing way.

“Oh, so this is the famous Choi Inna,” Yoona says, a wide beaming grin appears on her face.

I am still in a confused state that Kai grabs my hand to shake Yoona’s. When I’m back on Earth, I gape. “I’m sorry; you’re his cousin?”

“Yes,” The girl beams. “What, you think I’m his girlfriend or something?” She chuckles. “Ew, no.”

“Oh thank you for that, sister.” Kai pretends to be offended.

“That’s the hurtful truth, brother.” She laughs. “Anyway, I’ve come to tell you about tomorrow’s dinner. Your parents ask me to tell you about it and don’t forget again!”

Kai’s face turns to a sour look. “I don’t think I’ll be going.”

“Oh you have to,” Yoona shows a pitying look. “You have to be home before seven, do you understand?”

She gets no reply. She sighs.

“Jongin, one dinner. That’s all. I’m leaving the day after tomorrow.”

“So soon?” Kai asks; his face sad.

“Yes.” She replies. “I have an arranged marriage back in Jeju. I need to go home soon anyway.”

“Arranged marriage?” Kai asks again; his face turns dark.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve known the guy since I’m a kid. I’m practically head-over-heels to him.”

“Does he know about your feeling?”

“Well, not yet.” She smiles. “But I’m planning to tell him soon.”

“Alright then. But if he ever hurts you, I’m just a phone call away.”

“I’ll remember that, Jonginnie.” She pinches his cheek.

My eyes wide as I bite my lower lip to prevent a laugh.

Yoona turns to me. “It’s nice to finally see you. Jongin talks about you all the time.”

I choke not very prettily as the girl laughs.

“Thank you for that, sister,” Kai says sarcastically. “Don’t mind her.”

Yoona shrugs, “Whatever, brother. I’m leaving. Bye, and don’t forget the dinner!”

When she has left, there’s an awkward silence hanging over us but not an uncomfortable one. It’s just the type of awkwardness that you don’t know how to solve because of an obvious thing hanging over but you just don’t want to admit. Letting out a breathe, I glance over Kai and see that he’s staring at me.

It’s like it’s been an infinity when he breaks off the stare; instead he swallows hard. “You know, maybe we should practice our interactions more. What do you say about dinner?”

Oh my God, this is going to be my biggest decision ever in my life and before I know it, I have said, “Okay.”