Constance could only stare back at the boy with wide eyes, agape. Yixing continued to face the girl with an optimistic grin, dragging his chair even closer towards her desk. The young girl felt her face turn pink under his bright gaze.

“You’re Constance, right?” He asked, while also thoughtfully cocking his head to the side.

Constance chewed on the bottom inside of her lip, trying desperately to push herself to say something that wasn’t going to end up embarrassing. She could feel his coffee-coloured eyes lingering on her face; waiting for a response.

“Yup, who else would I be?” She managed to choke out with a completely frail laugh in the middle; straight after the words left she regretted them almost instantly. Why couldn’t I just have said ‘yup’?

She didn’t have to have a mirror in front of her, to know that she was absolutely crimson in the face. It was so easy for people to know whenever she was flustered. Constance hated the fact that she was so easy to read, like an open book with large elementary words on the pages.

Thankfully, Yixing didn’t seem to mind or notice her terrible attempt at a joke, because he laughed wholeheartedly as if it was the funniest thing he had heard all day. Constance felt her erratic heartbeat quiet down a little, after hearing the breezy sound of his laughter.

“Funny, we’ve been in so many classes together in the past, and it isn’t until after all these year that we finally get partnered up!”

Constance could only nod as the seemingly ecstatic boy moved EVEN closer; resting his arm on her desk. She slid her sketchbook closer towards herself, afraid of his elbow bumping into it.

“And that’s it for partners! Please don’t come up and ask to be switched, these are the final choices!” Mrs.Barkley announced while extending her arm behind her to grab a stack of papers.

Constance scanned the class and noticed how the pairings were made up of the opposite genders. Marybeth who had a thing for overlining her lips was paired up with Minseok who was the human equivalent of a hamster.Then there was Sona who was with Sehun, who by far had the most unapproachable face that Constance ever had the pleasure of witnessing.

“Before you begin discussing with your new partner, be sure to pick up your assignment package for guidelines and the rubric!”

Constance started to get up, with her fingers pressed against the desk, but Yixing promptly shot out a hand. She glanced up at the boy, confused with his sudden action.

“I’ll get it, sit here!”

“Uh..okay,” she replied back, barely above a whisper.

He shot her a quick smile before racing up to get the paper package, his black slip on shoes making a quick pattering sound against the linoleum flooring.

Constance sat back down at a leisurely pace, her eyes glued to Yixing’s moving figure. How is he always so eager to do everything? Wasn’t it tiring to smile all the time?

Okay, maybe Constance did understand just a little bit of why people took him in with such high regards. To say that Yixing was merely just a nice and happy boy was an understatement. Every single day, for as long as Constance remembered, Yixing had never once showed up to class in a foul mood. There was a particular memory that stood out to her the most, and it was back in fourth grade when everyone had a weird obsession with this one animated TV show (Constance didn’t watch much TV back then, so the title itself was easily forgotten with age). She recalled how she was furiously trying to colour in a picture of a tabby cat, having forgotten to do the assignment the night before, she was racing against the clock to finish. Just when she was about to make the final touches on her artwork, her teacher ha