Sungjae entered his classroom and Taehyung immediately approached him, along with another close friend of theirs. Sungjae shrugged with every absurd question Taehyung shot him. Han Sanghyuk, who preferred to be called Hyuk, could only scoff. He was the first one who was reluctant to let Sungjae go and talk to Joy.

"What did you even talk about?" Taehyung asked. Sungjae shook his head before turning his head to Hyuk.

"Aren't you going to ask me anything, Hyuk?" Sungjae asked. Hyuk shrugged.

"Is she as awful as that stalker you had? I've heard she keeps a notebook with her where she writes information about the guys she like."

"What?" Taehyung blinked. "I never heard about that."

"It was back when we were like, in middle school. Long story short, she didn't get to date that certain sunbae," Taehyung explained. "And she stopped keeping a notebook, or maybe stalking all together."

"We wouldn't know though," Hyuk rolled his eyes before putting his hands on Sungjae's shoulders. "So you're going to keep up with this, dude?"

"What harm would it do?" Sungjae showed a small smile. "She seems like a person who has a lot to say. I'm interested in the stories she'll share. After all, isn't she like the database of her section?"

"I'm not going to stop you then," Hyuk decided. "Just make it clear to her whether you're interested in her or not, okay? I don't want to clean up your mess."

Sungjae nodded, his smile grew.

"Thanks for the change of heart, Hyuk."

Joy slapped Seulgi's arm a lot of times but Seulgi just ignored her efforts. She was pretty much used to it since, hello, they've known each other since the start of middle school. It wasn't as long as Joy knew Wendy but Seulgi was the next best bet for Joy. 

"I blew it, big time," Joy said as she made such an ugly face that Seulgi had no choice but to laugh.

"I'm sure you're pretty wrong, Joy," Seulgi reassured her. "Sungjae's not the type of guy who won't tell you he's not interested in your after all."

"Sungjae's too kind, Seulgi," she sobbed. "He might be too kind to reject me."

"Sheesh, your pessimist mind, Joy. You should be called Fear, not Joy," Seulgi said as she poked Joy's forehead. "I'm sure Sungjae at least likes you as a friend and former classmate. Don't worry. We'll get to the romantic love soon as long as you talk to him more."

"Well that might be scientifically true since there are studies that say that if you talk to a person more and you stare at that person eye-to-eye for more than five minutes each day, the other will have attachment or something, also if you compliment that person more," Joy paused to breathe. "But still, my case is very different!"

"Different?" Seulgi laughed. "How is it different?"

"Because it's me, Seulgi!" Joy emphasized. "I am a nervous wreck in front of Sungjae. Can't even do anything about it."

"Everyone's a nervous wreck when they're in front of the person they like," Seulgi chuckled.

"You flirt with yours," Joy flat out told her.

"Well, there are things such as my case," Seulgi avoided Joy's eyes. "But most cases are like yours! Just talk to him. It'll come naturally someday."

"And that someday will never come," Joy whined.

"Aigoo," Seulgi pinched Joy's cheeks before giggling. "Joy's really an adorable girl in love."

When dismissal time arrived, Sungjae couldn't avoid passing by Joy's room. Aside from that, Joy couldn't avoid going out hers so when these two events happened at the same time, it left Sungjae nodding in Joy's direction and Joy being flustered about it.

"So you're going home now?" Joy managed to squeak. Sungjae nodded.

"I still have to cook dinner. You?" 

Joy shook her head with a melancholic look.

"I still have to clean up our room before they let me," Joy said when she immediately changed the look on her face. Sungjae wasn't going to ask why she didn't look too enthusiastic to go home. He wasn't close enough to ask her after all.

"I'll be going now," Sungjae said before bowing.

"Take care," Joy said before going back into her room but she heard Sungjae's last words for her for that day.

"I'm looking forward to talking to you tomorrow!"

The next day, noon, Joy wasn't as nervous as she was the previous day. She was still nervous though but she was confident enough that she decided to fetch Sungjae from his classroom. She had her lunchbox in her hands and she marched out of the room. But as she set foot out of her classroom, her knees weakened. She breathed in deeply before whispering encouraging words to herself.

"Are you talking to yourself, Joy?" 

Joy paused for a moment when she realized who was talking. She lifted her head and met her eyes with Sungjae's. He had an amused expression on her face.

"You look like you're petrified to see me," Sungjae chuckled.

"Um, oh," Joy looked down and went ahead of Sungjae. The boy knew what to do and followed her with a distance of around half a meter between them. Joy was walking so fast but Sungjae noticed she slowed down, and relaxed when they arrived at the spot she liked.

"So," Sungjae looked around. "What did your mom cook for you today?"

"Meat," Joy grinned. "She likes rewarding us with meat since we're good daughters. She says we're good daughters after all."

"We?" Sungjae asked.

"I have a younger sister. She's a freshman here. It's not obvious we're siblings though," Joy told him before feeding herself. "We do look similar but we act like complete opposites and her grades are definitely better than mine. How about you though? Do you have a sibling?"

Sungjae gently smiled at her, sending chills to her spine. Joy never saw him smile like that before.

"I have two younger siblings. I have a younger sister and a younger brother. My sister's going to graduate from middle school soon and my brother's going to graduate from elementary."

"Woah, daebak," Joy clapped. 

"What? Why?" 

"You're all going to graduate soon!" Joy smiled at him. "Isn't that amazing? All of you at the same time! Omo, that's so rare!"

Sungjae could only chuckled on how adorable Joy looked. She looked very excited for them. She acted like she was a child. When Joy realized this, however, she stopped and looked down before gobbling another piece of meat.

"Aw," Sungjae frowned. "Why did you quiet down?" 

"I... uhh," Joy looked at him. "It's not lady-like to talk like that. I'm sorry."

"Just be yourself, Joy. I mean, what's more lady-like than being yourself?" Sungjae told her. Joy felt like there was a sudden energy boost in her.

"Really? I mean, you know who I am. You know how noisy and--"

"I wouldn't care," Sungjae shrugged. "Isn't that better though? Rather than pretending to be someone you're not, it's better if you let it all out. Aren't you here to show the best sides of yourself? What's better than the true side?"