“-ark! Mark-hyung!”

I snapped out of my daze to find Jackson’s face right in front of mine. He blinked. I blinked. He blinked again. And my hand found its way onto his cheek.

“You didn’t need to slap my face away…” He rubbed his perfectly normal cheek while he shot me dirty looks. “What if my handsome face gets dented by you! I demand compensation!”

Pointedly rolling my eyes at the boy, I folded my arms as Jinyoung slid into the chair in front of me with a silly smile on his face.

“Someone stole your frown?” I meant it as a joke but my tone came across as snarky and sarcastic, and the boy demonstrated that his frown wasn’t stolen by anyone.

“Ha-ha. Very funny, Mark-hyung.” He narrowed his eyes but they soon dilated when they darted to the back door behind me and I knew she had arrived.

“Suzy!” He jumped up immediately and from the corner of my eyes, a bed of messy hazel-nut brown hair brushed past me. “Good morning!”

“G-Good morning.” She bowed slightly and Jackson returned the favour with an extremely exaggerated one, igniting laughter from our classmates. The lioness pinked and hurriedly flitted to her own seat. Jinyoung wasn’t amused.

“Jackson, I swear I will murder you one day.” He prodded the boy in the cheek and huffily went over to the girl to probably apologise for his friend’s actions. My eyes narrowed when he placed his hand over hers and my chest prickled.

What th-

But the feeling soon passed when she slipped her hand out of his grasp and a slight burst of delight surged through me as I witnessed their interactions that were mostly initiated by Jinyoung.

What is this… Damn.

The end-of-school bell rang and while I had already packed my bag, the rest haven’t. Waiting, my eyes strayed over to her and I realised that without bidding goodbye to her soon-to-be-boyfriend, she darted out of the classroom, her hazelnut-brown hair whipping behind her.

“Hyung, what are you looking a… Oh. She’s gone.”

The disappointment was apparent in his tone as his eyes landed on the empty seat and he sighed. “I’ve got to confess to her quick, this is driving me nuts!”

Confess… Wait. Confess?!

“A-Are you sure?” I found myself standing up and my tone a pitch higher. “Confessing to that li- Suzy-sshi?”

“Yeah, will she accept?” Jackson chimed in as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. “She’s only been here for less than two weeks and suddenly someone wants to date her.”

Jinyoung rubbed the nape of his neck as a wistful smile formed on his face. “But I’ve gotta give it a shot, right?”

“And you are bound to fail, my dear friend.” Jaebum piped up with a pitiful pat on his same-aged friend’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, you can always come back to me.”

Jackson shot me a pointed look and I bit back a snigger.

Looks like our father is worried that mother will cheat on him. Pft.

Swinging my bag to and fro, I looked down at my shoes as they walked on the same path that I’ve been taking in the evenings.

A orange-red glow was cast on my shoes and a long shadow elongated behind me. The sun dipped behind the jungle of buildings beyond the canal and instinctively, my eyes began to search.

For her.

As I neared the spot where she would always be dancing at, my eyes narrowed to find that it was empty.

She isn’t here today? Impossible! She would always be here!

Frantic, I put out my hand in a bid to see the time on a watch but I realised that I don’t have the habit to wear one. Making a mental note to wear one tomorrow, I whipped out my phone and the moment I pressed the home button, I mentally smacked myself in the head.

The phone isn’t mine.

EXO’s D.O.’s face greeted me and I scowled to see this short boy (Well, I did a check on him; don’t tell Jackson I actually did that) grinning up at me. How did such a boy even became an idol is beyond me. I should be an idol.

I would definitely be more popular than him. Tch.

My eyes registered the time above his head and I hastily chucked in back into my pocket, refusing to see his heart-shaped lips any longer.

“It’s already the time when she would be here, but why isn’t she here!?” Out of irritation, I kicked a pebble down the path and my eyes followed it where it rolled and stopped within distance of a pair of shoes.

Trailing up, a familiar silhouette met my eyes and my suspicion was confirmed the moment they rested on the figure’s hair.

A bed of messy hazelnut-brown hair.

What is she doing here?

I shuffled towards her and at the sound of my shoes scraping the stony path, she looked up. Her eyes widened and with a startled shriek, she fell backwards and sat on her .

“What are you doing here?” I couldn’t help that my tone was cold and ho