one

* * * * *

The first time they ever really talk is on a rainy Thursday afternoon in the school library.

Jaejoong knows Nana (they’ve been in the same classes throughout high school). He hears about her (his friends on the basketball team are always talking about which girls in school are the hot ones, and her name often falls from their lips). And he’s even seen her in a simple t-shirt and sweatpants, her dark brown hair tied up away from her (still pretty) makeup-less face (he’s friends with her oppa, his sunbae, his hyung, and he visits sometimes).  

But throughout the last three years that they’ve known each other, he’s never actually spoken to her. Sure, they exchange pleasantries and everything, but it’s not like they ever really had a real conversation.

When Jaejoong steps foot inside the school’s tall two-story library, he sees Nana, but he tries to find another seat because he doesn’t really want to sit at her table (well, only kind of, actually). But it’s raining outside, and he wanted to wait for Dasum, his girlfriend of one year, to finish her afterschool tutoring session. Besides, he really didn’t want to drive home with all of that rain and the slippery roads and the bad California drivers anyways.

Other students must be thinking the same thing since all of the seats in the library are taken by the time Jaejoong walks in. Other than the one that’s across from her. So he makes his way over. It’s as if she hears him coming or something, but when he’s just a few feet from her, she looks up from her novel before her eyes focus on him.

A smile lights up her face right away at the sight of him. “Hey, Jaejoong,” she greets, slipping a little pink post-it between the pages of her book before closing it.

“Hey Nana,” he smiles, gesturing towards the chair. “Do you mind if I–”

“Oh, of course not,” she says, taking her leather schoolbag off the chair before setting it on the floor beside her. Once he takes a seat, she smiles at him again. “Haven’t seen you in awhile.”

Jaejoong shakes his dark hair out of his eyes and chuckles, “What do you mean? I just saw you in AP Calculus this morning.”

She laughs with him, jokingly rolling her eyes. “I meant, you haven’t visited in a long time.”

Jaejoong shrugs, “Well, Kangin hyung’s been busy at NYU, and he can only come home every once in awhile.”

“You know you’re always welcome to drop by, even if oppa isn’t home. My mom’s cooking and baking all the time, and I can’t finish everything on my own,” Nana says teasingly with a silly grin. Laughing softly, she pushes a strand of hair behind her ear. “And just in case oppa didn’t tell you, he’ll be back in two months for our graduation.”

Jaejoong stares back at Nana with wide eyes, his mouth open in disbelief. “Graduation’s in two months,” he says