Original tumblr post can be found here!

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With a sigh, Eisya slumped down in her seat. Class was boring today. So boring, that it even made her look forward to whatever rude thing Heejun would come up with this time. Or what lame prank he would pull.

Heejun was a fairly popular boy in their class, and he was almost always surrounded by a group of friends.

If people thought Heejun was tall, they obviously hadn’t met his friends yet. One of them was even rumoured to be over 190cm. But Eisya didn’t pay attention to that. Or to them. She only had eye for one boy in the group, and that was Heejun.

Yes, the guy that was rude to her and bullied her. That was the guy she kept her eye on.

She didn’t like the fact that her crush was bullying her, but hey, at least he gave her attention when he behaved this way. It was better than being ignored.

Today was no exception. As the bell rang for lunch time, the teacher left the classroom. Her classmates immediately started chatting, the classroom filling with their voices and the sound of laughter.

A few friends gathered around her table, pulling their lunches out of their bags, chatting away about how excited they were that the next class would be taught by that hot new substitute.

Eisya just smiled as her friends were talking. Her friends didn’t mind her silence. They knew about her huge crush and well, if Eisya wasn’t interested in the hot substitute, it meant more chances for them. He was still pretty young, so age-wise, it would have been possible.

Too bad student-teacher relationships were strictly forbidden.

She had just opened up her lunchbox, as Heejun hovered close to her table. Before she was able to shield her lunchbox, he had already sprayed ketchup all over the contents. When she noticed the red sauce covering her lunch, she looked up. Heejun was casually skipping away, towards his own friends.

Looking at the red sauce dripping off the sides of her lunchbox, she closed it again, wrapping it up in plastic before shoving the box back into her bag. Instead of the box, she now dug an apple out of it, taking a big bite.

Her friends just looked shocked, offering her bits and pieces of their own lunches, muttering things about Heejun being rude n stuff.

“Why are you even accepting all this?”

Looking at the ketchup stains on her desk, Eisya could not help but agree with their worries. Why did she allow him to do all this? Sure, they started out as harmless pranks, but it had blown out to a situation where her friends had made a habit of bringing extra lunch, just in case. They were all worried about her skipping lunches or only eating an apple during the day, because of how often Heejun would pull a prank that left her unable to eat her lunch.

She sighed. “I guess it’s because I like him so much…”

Little did she know that Heejun had been standing around, hearing every word they said. By the time she did realize, all she saw was Heejun standing there, looking very pale, before turning around and walking away.

He did not return for classes the rest of the day.

Nor did he return the rest of the week.

When he did return, he did not seem like himself. He still looked more pale, and it was evident he lost a lot of weight.

Eisya felt bad, feeling it was because he overheard her confession. She wanted to say something to her, but he ignored her as he walked past her, dropping down in his seat.

His friends immediately gathered around him, seemingly worried.

She stared at their backs for a bit, before turning her attention back to her own friends.

There were no more pranks after that.

Heejun gradually went back to normal, though he was still a bit on the skinny side. The only difference was that he still didn’t pull pranks anymore. On anyone for that matter.

Eisya thought she caught him looking at her a few times, only to scold herself for wishful thinking. There was no way he would actually like to look at her after what happened.

He now knew how he felt and it seemed he didn’t want anything to do with her anymore.

Days were quiet and boring now. Eventually, her friends stopped bringing extra lunch, now that her lunches weren’t ruined anymore. They resumed their normal pattern. The one they had followed before Heejun and his pranks came along.

On one side, Eisya was happy the pranks had stopped. She could finally live her life in peace again. On the other side, she was sad, now that her crush had stopped giving her attention all together. Was it because he overheard her confession? She suspected it was.

Her friends tried to convince her it was better this way. It had been weeks since the last prank, and school life had gotten a lot easier now that she didn’t have to watch her back anymore, and they didn’t have to look over her that much anymore. Eisya found herself actually enjoying school life more now. She once again was happy over it, but deep down, she would still feel guilty.

Now that things had calmed down, she had taken to join her friends in watching the soccer team practice after school on tuesdays and thursdays. It was a fun way to pass the time, and the players themselves didn’t look too bad either.

So when one of the players approached them, asking Eisya to go on a date with him, they pushed her to accept the offer.

And she did. She couldn’t dwell on Heejun forever.

The day of her date approached quicker than she had anticipated and she was standing in front of the mirror, inspecting her look.

Her friends were enthousiastic, but she still had doubts herself.

After a lot of encouragement from her friends, she decided to just go with the outfit she was wearing. It seemed to be getting the best reactions from her friends. Besides, after looking at it herself again, it wasn’t as bad as she initially thought.

This was the day she was going to get over Heejun!

Or so she thought. Gripping her bag a little tighter, she neared the coffee shop. This was the place they had agreed to meet. The soccer player was already standing in front of it, holding a single rose as he adjusted the cufflinks on his blazer. He looked even more handsome now that he was styled properly and he wasnt all sweaty. The boy looked insecure as he presented her the rose.

They smiled nervously at each other and just as the soccer player held the door for her, she felt someone grabbing her wrist.

“No.”

She turned around, only to be faced with Heejun. Confusion registered on her face as he took the rose from her, handing it back to the soccer player.

“I’m sorry, but she’s mine.”

Before either Eisya or the soccer player could say anything, Heejun had already left. Eisya had not choice but to follow him, as he pulled her along. It took a while before the situation got through to her, and she stopped in her tracks, pulling her arm from his grasp.

Heejun turned around, to see a red faced Eisya.

“What’s wrong?”

Eisya’s eyes widened. “What’s wrong? Why did you pull me away from there?”

She looked close to crying as Heejun tried to take her arm again.

“Let’s go somewhere else. I’ll explain everything later.”

But she didn’t want him to take her arm. She wanted an explanation, and she wanted it now. Why did he pull her away from there. Why had he ignored her for weeks. Why had he even started bullying her in the first place?

Those were the questions burning in her mind, but she could only manage to bring out one word as she pulled back her arm again.

“Why?”

The question seemed to throw Heejun off guard. Around them, people passed by on the sidewalk as they stood in the center, staring at each other.

Heejuns silence was frustrating, and with effort, she manage to mutter the word again.

“Why?”

Heejun fumbled with a loose thread on his sleeve.

“Why pull me away? Why did you suddenly ignore me? Why were you even bullying-”

She didn’t know where she had gotten the courage, but suddenly she was firing all these questions at him. But she never got to finish her sentence.

“Because I like you.”

Heejun had blurted out an answer, effectively ending Eisya’s stream of questions. She turned bright red, now regretting not following him. Her blushing face was now for the world to see.

“I like you Eisya. I’ve done for a long time. I started bullying you because it was the only way I could think of to get your attention. I had hoped that you’d confront me on it, and then I could confess, but instead you just suffered through it. It frustrated me endlessly, that’s when the pranks got meaner. I was desperate for your attention.”

Eisya stood there, struggling to get a grasp on the situation. Was this real? Was Heejun really confessing to her?

“But that day? You ignored me after?”

She struggled to form coherent sentences, but the words she uttered were enough for Heejun to understand. An especially rude pedestrian shoved her out of the way, and she threathened to fall, were it not for Heejun catching her.

As much as she wanted to deny it, she felt incredibly safe in his arms. Not to mention, whole. Like he had been the missing piece to her puzzle.

“I got sick. Took weeks to recover. I wasn’t allowed to talk, except when absolutely necessary. I wasn’t allowed to strain myself. You might have noticed my absence from gym class.”

Thinking back on it, she did recall him not showing up to PE. Another mystery solved.

“Why now?”

“Because I finally mastered the courage to ask you out, but that guy there beat me to the punch. I realized it was now or never.”

Before she could ask any more questions, she was surprised by Heejun leaning in close. Her eyes fluttered close as surprisingly soft lips brushed hers.

The contact alone was enough to make her weak in the knees, but luckily, she had Heejun to hold her up.

The kiss was short, but sweet. By now, both of them were blushing madly as they pulled apart. Eisya was at a loss for words as Heejun extended a hand to her, sending her a dazzling smile.

“Wanna get out of here?”

She nodded, taking his hand.

 

Who said dreams didn’t come true?