For some reason, every force in the universe was determined to keep you away from your history final. You had fallen asleep while studying the night before, so when you woke up your whole body was sore from the unfortunate position you had been lying in. On top of this, your alarm didn’t go off, so instead of waking up 2 hours before the test so you could shower and go over your notes one more time, you woke up exactly 28 minutes before the final was scheduled to start.

 

Panicked, you leapt out of bed and got dressed, fearing you were going to be late. The notes and textbooks that were strewn across your bed were quickly gathered and shoved into a bag, along with any spare pencils and scantrons that were in a 3 foot radius of the bed. Teeth brushed, hair barely combed, and bed unmade, you made it out the door at 10:47.

 

Luckily, you didn’t have too far to go, since you lived on campus. However, the university was quite large and your only means of transportation was walking. On average it took you 15 minutes to traverse the grounds from your dorm to the building that housed your history class. Glancing at your phone, you picked up your pace, knowing that Dr. Kennedy would never let you in to the room for the final if you were late.

 

You had nearly made it all the way to the building with a few minutes to spare when you heard a voice behind you. As you climbed up the first few steps you nearly tripped, concerned about who was talking to who. You glanced around quickly, but there were so many people in the courtyard and no one stood out to you, so you turned around and kept walking.

 

A second later, a panicked “Hey!” came from behind you, and you turned around again to see a young man about your age walking towards your hurriedly. His soft blond hair with dark roots was styled nicely, and his plain jeans and white graphic tee gave him an aura of casualness and comfort. As he approached you, the tension from the final began to melt into confusion over this boy.

 

When he finally got close to you, he was slightly out of breathe, evidently having run far to catch up with you. “Hey…,” he said, leaning over with his hands on his knees. “You dropped something.”

 

Adrenaline immediately coursed through your body, the fear of having lost something important right before a big test making you want to empty the non-existent contents of your stomach. “Oh my god, what?” you asked, immediately searching in your bag to see what had fallen out in your rush to get to class.

 

The young man crouched down on one knee and bent over, appearing to pick something up of the ground. With a cheesy grin, he raised his hand towards you, his fist closed except his finger and thumb, which were crossed to form…. A shape??

 

“It was my heart,” he said, the grin spreading so far across his face that his eyes were a bit scrunched. The genuine cheesiness of the joke and hope in his eyes made your heart melt and your throat chuckle. You wanted to stop, to talk to him, to ask him where he thought of that pickup line.

 

Instead you simply said “Nice”, turned around, and kept walking towards your history final.

 

You walked out of your test firmly convinced you had at least managed to scrape by with a B, despite everything that had happened to you. The stress of finals and the anticipation of having to be out of the dorm in 48 hours had already worn you out, so after eating a cup of ramen you crashed on your bed.

 

When your roommate came back into the dorm, she made no effort to be quiet, so angrily you rolled over onto your back to stare up at the ceiling. Cassie was on the phone, so you waited for her to finish so you could ask her how her day was.

 

Before you could say a word, Cassie threw herself down on your bed, grabbed you by the arm, and said “OMG _____, I can’t believe you did that today. You are cruel!” Her voice indicated that she was partially giving you a hard time, but she appeared to be genuinely concerned over whatever it was that had happened.

 

“Ugh, Cassie, what are you talking about?” you asked through an enormous yawn.

 

“Duh, how you shot Ken down earlier? You are one cruel gal, my dear.”

 

“What, who is Ken? And how did I shoot him down? I’ve been here asleep for most of the day.”

 

Rolling her eyes, Cassie grabbed her phone from beside her. “How do you not remember that? That was the most epic takedown in college history, you brutal babe.” She pulled up a phone and let a video play.

 

On the screen you saw the courtyard, and a young man with dirty blond hair dashing across the way. Something about him seemed familiar, but you couldn’t place him until you saw yourself appear in front of you. The memory from earlier flooded back to you, and you watched in horror as you witnessed yourself accidentally reject the young man.

 

Once you had walked away on screen, you were forced to watch as the camera kept rolling, capturing the slump of his shoulders and the look on his face. Disappointed and shocked, friends near him laughed at first before consoling him. The video ended soon after, the person behind the camera obviously hoping to preserve his friend’s dignity-what was left of it anyways.

 

All you could do after witnessing the humiliation you had inflicted upon him was sit on your bead with your face in your hands. Cassie rubbed your back gently, still amused over the whole affair but sympathetic to your plight.

 

“How did you find out about that?” you finally asked, cringing in anticipation of her answer.

 

“The kid who took the video, Hongbin? He’s in my chemistry class. While we were waiting for the final to start he showed me the video. He felt bad but he thought it was funny, especially when he found out that you’re my roommate.”

 

Cassie flipped through some apps to get to a photo she wanted. The group photo consisted of six handsome men, Cassie, and two of her girlfriends. “This one is Hongbin,” she said pointing to the one on the left, a guy about her age with big brown eyes and a smile that sat uneasily on the border of “I’ll make you breakfast in bed” and “Slam me against a wall please”.

 

“And this tragic er over here is Ken, the one whose heart you ‘dropped’ and shattered into a million pieces,” she said circling the blond with the cheesy grin in the center of the picture.

 

You carefully took the phone from her hands and examined his picture. What struck you the most about the photo was how you could feel every bit of his genuine good nature and light-heartedness through the screen. From what was in front of you to your memories from earlier, you knew that Ken was a good guy, and your heart sank at the thought of what you did to the poor kid.

 

“Dude, that was so harsh. Apparently from what Hongbin said he crossed paths with you every time you were on your way to your history class. He thinks you’re super pretty but was too nervous to come up to you and introduce yourself. His other friends-the five boys in that pic-finally got him to work up the courage and then…” Cassie made a sound like a plane plummeting out of the sky before crashing, using her hands to illustrate how big the explosion was. None of this made you feel better at all.

 

“Geez, Cassie. God, I didn’t mean to do that. I was just so worried that I was going to miss my history final that it didn’t even register in my brain. I even forgot about it until I saw the video!” you said, keeping your hands over your face in a vain attempt to hide your shame.

 

“Relax, _____. He’s a little crushed, but what are you going to do? It’s not like you broke up with him. It will all pass in a few months and you’ll feel better about it. Hell, he should be laughing about it himself by that point.”

 

“I dunno, Cassie…” you said, trying to sink into your pillows and hide from the world. Everything about you felt mean now; it was as if you couldn’t say or think anything without second guessing whether it was too harsh.

 

“Okay, no more of this. Come on.” Cassie grabbed your arm and pulled you off of the bed. Hesitantly you allowed her to drag you out of your room and into the hallway.

 

“Where are we going now Cassie? I really don’t feel like doing anything at this moment.

 

“I know, I know,” Cassie said, continuing to drag you along behind her down the long hallway. “I’m just taking you for coffee. You’ll feel better when you get your blood flowing and the adrenaline pumping.

 

 

By the time you got to the coffee shop, the weight from the day’s actions had started to lighten. Thankfully Cassie was an excellent friend, and had not only dropped the topic but had also distracted you with a long list of skeleton puns which you mildly appreciated. Your mind was off of Ken for now, and that was all that mattered at that moment.

 

However, to your shock, when you stood in line at the coffee shop you felt a sharp nudge to your ribcage before you were pointed toward a young man with blond hair studying for a final that looked complicated. Ken appeared to be by himself, sitting at a small table, books spread in front of him. He sipped occasionally from a large cup, and you couldn’t tell if the look on his face was overcast from your rejection or if he was simply intent on studying. The sight of him in front of you made your heart sink and you turned to Cassie, disappointed in life entirely.

 

Cassie grabbed you by the shoulders and looked you dead in the eye. “_____, here’s a chance to fix everything. Go to him, patch things up. Show him that you aren’t the heartless that everyone at Greendale University thinks you are after today.”

 

Frantically you shook your head, anxiety welling up inside of you. “Nooo, Cassie, I can’t. He hates me now. I can’t look him in the eyes! I just… No no no….”

 

Her grip on your shoulders tightened and her mischievous glare met your uncertain eyes. “Hon, this is your chance to redeem yourself. You accidentally crushed this boy’s soul. Fate has set him in front of you in order to correct your course! This is a sign!! The worst he can do is reject you the way you rejected him. So you better get over there and take charge of your destiny.”

 

Shaken by your friend’s speech and nervous at the thought of confronting Ken, you nodded your head and let Cassie push you in his direction. Time slowed down and a million thoughts ran through your head as you approached the small table where the blond was sitting.

 

Right before you reached the table you realized what you had to do. You dropped to the round and said “Excuse me.”

 

Ken looked up, not having seen you approaching as he was so buried in his textbooks. It took a moment for his eyes to land on you, but when they did, you saw something flash across his face. A lump formed in your throat and you regretted everything that had transpired in the last 24 hours, but you had already committed yourself to this, so you plunged forward.

 

“You dropped something,” you said, echoing his words from earlier. Every second that you talked felt like an eternity, his reaction uncertain. As you stood up, your hands formed the heart shape that he had that morning. “My heart,” you said, finishing the line. Your actual heart pounded in your chest as you waited for him to respond.

 

Slowly, Ken processed the scenario. As you stood there, heart in your hand, apologizing with every ounce of your being, his face slowly spread into a smile. “Wow, where did you hear such a cheesy pickup line at?” he said, grinning up at you.

 

A giggle of relief escaped your mouth and you smiled hesitantly at him. Ken nodded at you and you sank into the seat across the table. His smile was comforting; despite all that had happened between the two of you, you found yourself relaxing.

 

For the first time since you had come into contact with him, you looked Ken directly in the eyes and had to catch your breathe. His dark eyes held a light-heartedness to them that captivated you. Every inch of his soul was there for the taking, open, inviting, trusting. Behind the obvious clown persona you could tell that Ken was someone who wasn’t afraid to take things seriously when needed. He would love unconditionally and protect his own, unafraid to claim those that he loved.

 

After an eternity of seconds, your brain regained the ability to speak and you apologized for what had occurred in the morning. “I was late for my final this morning because I overslept, so not only was I anxious about missing the test, I hadn’t even been awake for half an hour yet. I didn’t mean for any of that to turn out the way it did, my brain just wasn’t processing anything correctly. I hope you can forgive me.” You felt the heat rising in your cheeks as you apologized to Ken, afraid you might have ruined your shot with him.

 

Yours eyes drifted away, but as you heard him chuckle you looked back up. “To be fair, I did spring it on you at an unfair time,” Ken said. “I’ve just been…. I see you every day on your way to your class. Every day for the past 3 months I’ve noticed you, and I always think about how beautiful you are. But I was too scared to tell you.

 

“My friends finally encouraged me to talk to you, but I couldn’t figure out how to approach you. When I saw you today I decided to just go for it. Bad timing I suppose.”

 

He reached across the table and laid his hand on yours, sending a chill racing down your spine and your heart racing in your chest. His face went from comical to sincere and his soul stared into yours. “But I really do think you’re beautiful, and I would love the chance to get to know you better. Would you like to go on a date with me? After finals are over of course.”

 

Something inside of you lifted and a grin exploded onto your face. Your enthusiastic nod was enough for Ken, and he smiled back at you while rubbing his thumb gently over your hand. “Really though, I should be the one asking you,” you said.

 

“Hmm, true. Well, why don’t you buy me another coffee and stay with me while I study? Then we’ll call it even.”

 

You quickly glanced across the store at your forgotten roommate, who had been staring at you and Ken intently the entire time. When your eyes met, she gave you an enthusiastic thumbs up. Seeing you nod, she collected her coffee and vacated the store, clapping to you on her way out.

 

“Sure,” you said, glad that she had pushed you to come out tonight. As you started to make your way over to the counter to order the two of you drinks, you heard him clear his throat.

 

“Wait,” he said. “If we’re going to start this over, we should start it right.” You cocked an eyebrow, curious as to what he was going to say next.

 

“Miss, I was wondering if you had an extra heart,” he said, winking at you. “Mine seems to have been stolen.” His hand reached up to form the same little heart symbol it had this morning when he had attempted to woo you.

 

Without missing a beat, you responded “Do you work at Starbucks? Because I like you a latte.”

 

Something in Ken’s eyes lit up and he burst into laughter. The exchange of pickup lines had truly broken the ice between the two of you, and as you stood waiting for your drinks, you couldn’t help but steal glances at the young man sitting at the table who truly had walked away with your heart.