"Hey."

Ji Eun turned around to see her client, noticing the way Taeyeon in the background watched over him though she pretended not to pay attention.

The love consultant raised her brow at the sunbae's strange behavior, not noticing Jonghyun's awkward manner.

"I think you're not that far off from Taeyeon sunbae liking you."

Jonghyun momentarily forgot all questions he was going to ask and his expression lit up like the fireworks.

"You serious?!"

Ji Eun grabbed Jonghyun before he unconsciously whirled around in excitement, hissing in a warning.

"Don't turn around! What do you think you're doing?" Her whisper small in volume but great in danger, snapped Jonghyun back to reality. He turned slowly, naturally, as if he was examining the books behind him and turned his body to face Ji Eun.

"I'm... I'm not that far off?" Jonghyun ignored the poking urge to ask Ji Eun about before, but the need to know whether he was in Taeyeon's mind or not bothered him much more.

He knew that it was morally better if he was more caring about his love consultant and he didn't need to be told twice that his heart was bothering him about it.

It just didn't seem like her if he even knew who she really was. But for someone that was probably 20 years old, that young, to have that kind of heavy expression...

It didn't seem right.

Jonghyun paused mid-thought.

He didn't even know when Ji Eun's birthday was.

He blinked when he heard the tone of the end of Ji Eun's sentence rise, indicating a question directed to him. When he sheepishly smiled, wordlessly admitting that he wasn't listening, Ji Eun rolled her eyes.

"I said," she started, "she's become very conscious of the things you do, what you do, and when you do it."

"Is she into me now then?" Jonghyun couldn't help the smile that crept on his mouth, despite the thoughts lingering in the back of his mind.

"No. Not yet."

His smile immediately flipped horizontally and disappointment yet again slammed into him.

"She's just interested into you now. She's not infatuated yet." Ji Eun said slowly, her demeanor the complete opposite of Jonghyun's.

"I don't get it, if she's interested then couldn't that mean I can now ask her out, she says yes, I get happy, you finish your job, and then we live happily ever after the end?" Jonghyun pouted, crossing his arms.

"At only this stage?" Ji Eun questioned, raising a brow. "Believe me, if you confess your undying love the way you think it is, it'll go either of four situations."

She held up four fingers in front of her, raised up to Jonghyun's point of view.

"One," She wiggled her pointer, "you confess your love, she says yes, and you live happily ever after."

Jonghyun shook his head with scrunched eyebrows.

"Five percent of it actually coming true." Ji Eun stated, her first finger bending down mercilessly.

Jonghyun softly whimpered at the chance, reaching out for the finger in hopelessness.

"Two," A wiggle of her middle, "you confess your love, she says yes, and you go out."

Jonghyun made questioning face, his eyes wide and skeptical.

"Then she realizes she didn't like you after all and was just caught up in the moment. Breaks up with you in less than a month and you go from close sunbae and hoobae to people that go to the same school."

Ji Eun let her middle finger fall, along with Jonghyun's lips.

"The...percent?" Jonghyun hoped it wasn't a lot.

"Ten percent."

Jonghyun clutched his heart in agony at the increase, but smiled nevertheless when Ji Eun shook her head with a subtle smile.

"Third. You confess, she says no. End of story."

"That was the cruelest one yet."

"It could be worse."

"Oh really?" Jonghyun crossed his arms, "How?"

"Last." Her thumb stool tall and proud, "You confess, she feels sorry for me and she ends up rejecting you. Seventy five percent."

"Oh right." Jonghyun groaned and smacked his forehead with his palm.

He had forgotten about that crucial part.

"It won't even matter whether or not she truly likes you. She's not even at that stage where she feels like she should fight for your attention." Ji Eun gave a small gesture to Taeyeon and Jonghyun peeked behind his back, only to see her now relaxed, laughing at Onew and Key.

She was carefree and even dusting off Key, talking playfully with the two, her mind off of Jonghyun and Ji Eun.

"See?" Ji Eun pulled Jonghyun closer as he grumbled, her voice decreasing in volume.

"It's not time yet. You need to make sure you have her, not just hook her on your fishing line."

"How long will it take?" Jonghyun mimicked her volume.

"This'll take time, but unless we have some sort of dramatic event, it's going to take at least a month."

"A MONTH?"

Ji Eun smacked Jonghyun's head, the library suddenly shushing at the sudden volume. Taeyeon, Onew, and Key stopped momentarily before exchanging confused glances and returning to bickering quietly amongst themselves.

"You numbskull!" Ji Eun hissed, shaking Jonghyun's arm softly.

"Sorry, sorry."

"Love is all about timing. You must be patient." Ji Eun peered at Jonghyun, "Patient, got it?"

"Got it."

"Patient."

"I got it!" Jonghyun complained, shaking Ji Eun's arm in protest.

Ji Eun nodded and let his arm go, her hand returning to the book she had placed on the shelf when Jonghyun first approached her.

"Just focus on her today. You don't need to pay attention to me." Ji Eun said, returning slowly to her usual self, "We'll get into the crush operation after exams."

"Okay cause honestly everything's hard to keep on track." Jonghyun admitted, peering over Ji Eun's shoulder to take a look at the book.

How to Forget by Michael Verici

Jonghyun leaned back, scrunching his brows together.

"How to Forget?" He asked, voicing the book's title.

Ji Eun turned around, slowly clasping the book shut.

She looked calm, but her eyes shook momentarily as if she was caught in the middle of a crime.

"Why're you reading that?" Jonghyun tilted his head, trying his best to not blurt out any inconsiderate questions.

"No reason. It just seemed interesting."

Ji Eun was lying to him.

It would've been convincing, if Jonghyun wasn't also very experienced in the department of acting.

Well, to put it on bad terms, lying.

He would admit it; he was a very good liar, which let him able to recognize other liars when nothing else was distracting him. Granted, he wasn't very good at controlling what he said. Whenever he was in a hurry or when his emotions overtook him, his words flowed out first. Maybe it was a habit now; lying.

He had only used this skill in situations where a lie might have been necessary, but frankly, he thought that the person he had never told a lie to was Ji Eun.

Of course maybe it was because she knew him too well and she could see right through him that he couldn't lie to her, but Jonghyun firmly believed that he wouldn't and couldn't lie to her.

Maybe that's why he felt it was unfair for Ji Eun to lie to him.

Maybe that's why his words tumbled out again.

"Why are you lying to me?"

Jonghyun could hear his blood rush to a stop and the shock of the bluntness of his words unconsciously made him step back from the blow.

He didn't mean to, but his mouth opened in confusion and his hands felt itchy as though they wanted to reach out, grab his words, and shove them back into his mouth.

But though his body reacted as though he was a criminal, his eyes stayed fixated on Ji Eun.

Was it wrong for him to know her more?

Was it wrong for him to peel her layers off and look at her true self?

He thought yes, but his body told him otherwise.

In the split second the thoughts rushed all throughout his body and back to his brain, echoing one phrase over and over.

I wonder...

The phrase ripped through his fingers, and in the next moment he couldn't control himself.

His hands slowly reached out to Ji Eun and placed themselves on her shoulder. They smoothed down her sleeves, and traveled down to her wrists until eventually her hands. 

I wonder... What she'd look like...

His hands wrapped around hers, engulfing them completely, her still cold fingers giving a small twitch in shock when Jonghyun wrapped his fingers around her palm. He brought them together in front of him and his gaze shifted to her.

His heart was going crazy, probably from embarrassment, probably from shock at his actions, or probably symbolizing a timer to his death. His brain screamed at him for the possibility of Taeyeon, his true crush, seeing him do something so intimate with Ji Eun.

It was strange, but he ignored it all and focused on Ji Eun.

The damn phrase just kept getting louder and louder and his heart kept encouraging it. It was cruel, inconsiderate, selfish and maybe even sadistic. But with this phrase, his heart somehow convinced him to force his hands to stay put and his fingers tightly wrapped around Ji Eun’s delicate hands.

I wonder what she'd look like if I took that cold face off of her.