One
A Stranger's Confession“Wen Junhui, you’re dead meat once I see you,” Yixing cursed in solid Chinese as he ran as fast as the wind. He could feel his lungs and legs giving up on him when he reached the university’s entrance.
Last night, Yixing was reviewing until past 12 midnight for a quiz. Junhui volunteered that he’ll wake Yixing up but the younger man did not hold unto that promise. Obviously, he was left in deep slumber until the warm sun woke him up.
He looked at his watch and grunted. Three minutes more to go and he’ll be really late for his class and his quiz. Without sparing more time to take a breather, he continued running, still thinking of how to murderJunhui.
Professor Jung’s glare was the first thing that welcomed him when he opened the door of the class. “You’re early today Mr. Zhang,” the middle aged woman sarcastically remarked. Yixing bowed in apology for disturbing the class when they’re about to start the quiz. He quickly sat on his seat and pulled a pen from his bag.
“You know my rules about cheating, right? If you want to cheat, just be sure that I will not catch you,” she continued as she started handing the class the quiz papers. Yixing heard a series of sighs when the papers were already handed to the students. It looks like it’ll not be that easy.
Yixing quickly scanned the paper and internally smirked. He was able to study more than half of what was given so he’s sure he’s gonna pass it without any problem.
With a smile on his face, he put a period on the end of his essay. That was easier than I thought. He internally commented, smirking. He looked around and saw his classmates’ pained expression as if the questions on that paper are torturing them.
He stood after putting his pen back inside his bag. Confidently, he walked towards Professor Jung for pass his paper. When she accepted his paper, she read his answers right away and Yixing could see a satisfied smile on her face.
“You can go. Don’t forget that we’re going to start the next chapter on Friday,” she stated and he nodded before quietly taking his exit.
Now, there’s one thing to do. Look for Junhui and bury him alive.
A smiling Junhui met him inside the cafeteria. He looked too cute to murder so Yixing gave up that idea, instead, he made the younger man pay for his brunch.
“Gege, are you really not joining the dance contest next month? The guys really want you to join the group,” Junhui asked between shoving a burger in his mouth and drinking his mango juice.
Yixing shook his head right away, coughing up his food in the process. Junhui made a face, pulling his drink from him. “Gross,” he mumbled and Yixing glared at him.
“I’m not joining any dance groups. I need to study or my scholarship will be pulled out.”
Junhui rolled his eyes, scoffing. “All you do is study, study, study. Don’t you feel suffocated with what you’re doing? You need to let lose once in a while.”
“Stop nagging like an old man.”
“No wonder you still don’t have a girlfriend,” Junhui remarked and Yixing stopped eating. “And look who’s talking. Do you have a girlfriend?” he asked, taunting. Junhui grinned before fishing his phone from his pocket.
“Look,” Junhui said, showing his phone to Yixing. The latter gasped, reaching for his phone. “This is your girlfriend?” he asked in surprise.
Junhui confidently smiled. “Not yet but I can feel it, she’s going to say yes soon.”
Yixing was left dumbfounded by what Junhui just said. He’s full of air and he needs some major deflating. Giving back the phone, Yixing stood. “Where are you going? You’re already done eating?”
“Library. I need to finish a paper.”
“Again? When are you going to rest?”
Yixing patted Junhui’s shoulder. “When I die,” he said with a wink. And with that, he took his leave.
The library’s full. He sighed deeply when he saw his usual spot taken. He was holding four heavy books and he was looking around for a vacant seat. His feet took him to the end corner of the library and he was able to take a breather when he saw a vacant spot.
A girl was sitting alone with her earphones stuck in her ears. She looked so concentrated that Yixing found it hard to ask her if he could possibly sit there with her. Fortunately, the girl looked up at him when he stood beside her. She quickly took off one earphone.
Yixing flashed him a small smile, nodding. “Can I sit here? The other tables are taken,” he asked. The girl stared at him for some time as if thinking if it’s okay to let him sit there before she nodded. “Thank you,” he muttered, taking his seat opposite of her.
She went back to what she was doing and they both sat there in silence. Yixing started opening the books in front of him. He’s actually multi-tasking – making a paper, advance reading and reviewing for his quiz tomorrow.
Since he was young, studying has been keeping him busy. Growing up almost half of his life with his grandparents, he was taught about how important education is and that was told from his grandparents’ experience a long time ago.
Coming to Seoul alone was actually not his plan but the scholarship that they offered to him was tempting and he grabbed that opportunity after talking to his family. The hardest thing for him was the language barrier – he couldn’t speak the language at first. His Korean teacher even told him to get a girlfriend to be able to learn the language faster. Of course, he didn’t do that. He never had a girlfriend before. His mind’s only on studying.
After some time of writing, he paused and massaged his hand. He noticed that the girl has been looking around like she’s lost something. He stared at her as she rummaged her bag. That was the only time he noticed how pretty and long her lashes are. Her hair’s chestnut brown in color and it cascaded down her shoulder, covering her peach colored cardigan.
Her cheeks were rosy and her lips were pinkish to red in color.
Yixing internally slapped himself to snap back to reality. That’s the first time he’s been aware of a girl’s appearance and it brought some kind of electrifying feeling down his spine. His eyes went to the small ladybug designed eraser which was lying on the floor, near her left foot.
He quietly reached for it and placed it on top of her book. Her eyes widened as she looked at her eraser then at him. The corner of her lips tugged upwards, smiling at him. “Thank you,” she muttered.
Weird.
Yixing just felt his heart skipping a beat.
Unconsciously, he smiled back at her before shyly looking down at his notes. When he lifted his head for a second look, she was busily erasing something from her paper.
Architecture – that was the book that she was using. Yoon Sohee – the name on the lying paper read.
Yoon Sohee. He repeated.
It’s the first time that he’s feeling such thing.
Junhui stared long at Yixing who was spacing out. He’s been like that for the last ten minutes – ten minutes and 46 seconds to be exact. Junhui’s been looking at his watch, timing how long the older man’s going to stay like that.
“Gege, is there something wrong?” he finally asked and Yixing blankly turned to him.
“What?”
Junhui sat up, hugging his body pillow. “You’ve been spacing out. You look like you’re daydreaming.”
“Me? Daydreaming? I’m studying,” Yixing replied right away.
“Studying with your book upside down? Wow,” Junhui remarked, clapping.
“It’s my new technique of reviewing. I’m challenging myself.”
Junhui didn’t buy that and he lied on his bed once again. He pulled his phone and started playing a game. The sound of the game was too loud but weird enough, Yixing just remained silent. Usually, he would snap at him to lower the volume or get out of the room completely. Something’s really wrong with Yixing. That’s the conclusion that he came up with.
“Junhui,” Yixing called.
“Hmm?” Junhui blankly hummed. “Oh! No! Don’t die!” he grunted before tapping the screen of his phone quickly.
“Do you know a Yoon Sohee in your department?”
“Yoon Sohee? Yoon Sohee,” he mindlessly repeated. “Ah, Sohee sunbae? I know her. She’s in one of my advance classes. Why?”
Yixing cleared his throat. “Nothing.”
Junhui stopped his game and turned to Yixing. “Wait, how did you know her?”
“Oh? I just saw her at the library.”
The younger man’s stare was making Yixing self-conscious. “Something’s fishy,” Junhui commented and Yixing flinched. “It’s the first time that you asked me about a girl. Are you interested on her?”
There was silence but the look on Yixing’s face was an obvious giveaway. Junhui laughed out loud, clapping his hands like a seal. “Gege, I can help you if you want to,” he suggested.
“Get out if you’re going to be this noisy. I need to study,” Yixing said, dodging the topic but Junhui’s not going to give up with the revelation yet.
“Sohee sunbae doesn’t have a boyfriend but there are many guys asking her out. She’s our department’s pride. If you’re going to ask her out too, be sure that you have a pleasing personality. But I know you already pass that criterion. She likes having her own space. Now that I think of it, it’s kind of weird that she let you sit with her,” Junhui mused.
Yixing’s already long gone, drifting again to his new found world – thinking of her.
She was there alone.
That was the 3rd time he saw her there.
Yixing smiled as he walked towards her table. Just like before, he asked her if he could sit there and she just nodded. She’s with her earphones again. This time, she was making some notes and Yixing thought that they were reviewers.
Even her penmanship’s cute. He internally said to himself.
One look…two looks…three…four…He’s been stealing glances and he couldn’t tell if he’s being obvious with what he’s doing. Does he look like a creepy person while doing that?
Taking a deep breath, he started telling himself to concentrate on what he’s supposed to do. But he couldn’t help but think of what she’s doing now. When he lifted his head, their eyes met and he quickly looked down. He could feel his cheeks heating up. He cleared his throat and started playing with the pen on his hand.
He bit his lip, trying to charge the courage to talk to her. But everytime he wanted to talk, his courage hits the bottom level.
“Are you always alone here?” Yixing mumbled in Chinese. He was actually trying to ask her that but he just can’t pull himself together to ask that in Korean. “Do you like to be alone?” he continued. He was talking softly as possible for the other people to not be disturbed.
“A friend of mine told me that you like having your own space, is that the reason why you’re always here?” he asked, head down. He was not really expecting any answer because he’s speaking in Chinese. He’s just thinking out loud or more of like asking her in a language that she couldn’t understand to lessen the tension inside of him.
“I hope I’m not intruding your private space,” he mumbled before looking up. She was engrossed with what she was doing and Yixing just smiled to himself. If only he could say those things to her in Korean for her to understand.
Going to library had another objective after that – to see Yoon Sohee.
She was always there. There was no day that she’s not there. Her grandfather always told him that a lady who’s dedicated to learning looks pretty – an educated woman is pretty – and Yixing could see why his grandpa told him that. There’s no denying that he’s smitten by her charms, not just physically but also through her personality.
Yixing’s been noticing how she interacts with her seniors and juniors when he visits the Architecture Department with the excuse of looking for Junhui.
He’s slowly falling for her and there’s no doubt in that.
Sitting on the opposite side of the table has been a thing for them. They never really spoke to each other but Yixing always say random things in Chinese with his head down. Sohee’s always with her earphones on and he’s sure that she couldn’t hear him or understand him at the least.
“Where are you going?” Junhui asked when Yixing quickly got up after eating. “Library,” he replied right away.
“You’ve been going to the library too often these days.”
“That’s because I have a lot to do,” he chimed before leaving Junhui with his half eaten sandwich.
He has a lot of staring to do.
“That hairpin on your hair suits you well,” Yixing muttered in Chinese while stealing glances at Sohee. This time, she was reading a fiction book. She looks like she’s into the story too much. She was not taking her eyes off of it. “So…you also like those kind of stories,” he continued.
As he was about to look back on his book, a guy walked towards them and patted her shoulder lightly. Sohee looked up right away and smiled when she recognized him. Yixing was smitten again with that smile of hers.
“Sunbae, can I borrow your book for Landscape Architecture? I forgot mine and my class is about to start,” the guy pleaded. “Sure. Just return it before 3. I also have a class under Professor Jeon,” she replied, pulling the book which was lying on the table.
“Thank you sunbae. I’ll return it right away,” he chirped and Sohee just flashed him an even brighter smile. Yixing felt bitter for a second there.
When Sohee turned to him, she caught his eyes again and he quickly looked down, quickly writing some gibberish stuff on his notes just to appear like he’s doing something.
“I like it when you smile but I would love it if I’m the reason,” he mumbled.
“Huh?”
Yixing’s head snapped up right away when he heard her ask that. “Nothing. I’m just talking to myself,” he replied. Sohee nodded slowly before continuing what she was doing.
His phone suddenly vibrated and he fished it from his pocket. It was a text from Junhui.
“Gege, that was some sick punch line but you should say it to her in Korean. I’m sure she didn’t understand a word that you said.”
Yixing’s brows narrowed when he read that.
“What are you talking about?”
After some seconds, a text came again.
“Is Sohee sunbae the reason why you always come here at the library. Have you been making those confessions of yours in Chinese?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“At your back.”
Yixing turned around quickly and there he found Junhui grinning at him like a Cheshire cat while holding his phone up. “I heard you,” he mouthed before making some cute gestures, pointing at Sohee.
Busted.
“So you’ve been muttering things in Chinese whenever you sit there?” Junhui asked excitedly like a kid. There’s no use of denying now. Yixing’s been busted and Junhui’s teasing him for it. If the younger man’s not too cute for his own good, Yixing would’ve buried him alive a long time ago.
Yixing didn’t dare to open his mouth as they walked down the road. “Why don’t you try talking to her? She’s not going to bite you,” Junhui pushed and Yixing grunted.
“If only I have the courage to do so, I have than that sooner,” he sighed.
“Do you want me to help you?”
“No thanks. It’ll turn into a disaster if you do so.”
Junhui hummed a tune cheerfully. “You know, I heard that Sohee sunbae likes a guy who dances.”
“Really?” Yixing asked in surprise, turning to Junhui. “Forget it. I’m sure that’s one of your ruse to let me join your dance group.”
“It’s not a ruse. I’m really telling the truth. Gege, I heard the seniors that-” he paused when he saw Yixing stopping. He was looking somewhere with such concentration. Junhui looked at that direction and saw Sohee and another guy walking together.
“Oh? Isn’t that Jeongmin sunbae?” Junhui mumbled. “Gege, you need to-”
“Let’s go.”
“Huh?”
Yixing continued walking, not looking back because if he does, he knew that his heart will be squeezed again. That’s the reason why he always keeps his head down, just looking at his books. He heard a lot of love problems from his friends and even his other family members. Not wanting to experience such things, he just concentrated on what will not hurt him.
He lowered his guard and he let a girl named Yoon Sohee to take over for the first time.
For straight three days, he never visited the library. He found a quiet satisfactory spot near the school’s basketball court. He just decided to keep his head on acing his subjects than collecting broken pieces of his heart because of Yoon Sohee. She’s just a mere crush after all.
Who is he joking with that kind of thinking?
She’s been all over his mind after seeing her with that Jeongmin guy. Having a crush is like having a diarrhea – you can’t stay still. You can’t hold it in.
Yixng grunted and covered his face with the book that he’s reading. Even with his eyes shut, he could see her smiling face.
“This is really driving me nuts,” he muttered before standing. He packed his things and stomped towards the library.
There, he saw her again.
Taking a deep breath, he was so determined to talk to her.
With a confident strut, he walked towards her and she looked up right away. A faint smile came to her face when she recognized him and Yixing’s legs felt like they were melting. He smiled back, taking his seat in front of her.
He couldn’t open his mouth.
She’s so concentrated on what she’s reading as usual.
Speak. He told himself.
“I-”
He paused, taking another deep breath.
“I have a secret crush on you. And I think you really have pretty eyes.”
Yixing internally grunted, burying his head on his folded arms.
He did say those words but he said them in freaking Chinese. Nice job. He sarcastically commented, still wallowing in despair because of his epic fail confession.
He stayed like that for some minutes, not really sure if he wanted to see her face again.
Lifting his head, Sohee was already gone. He looked around and saw her walking towards the door. Maybe she got irritated by his constant mutterings.
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. When he lowered his eyes, to the table, he noticed a paper left just beside his book. He reached for it and opened it.
It was a letter written in Chinese and when he saw the name below, his eyes widened in surprise.
Yoon Sohee.
To answer your questions:
- I don’t like being alone. I like people’s company but I also like having my own private time when I’m reading. That’s the reason why I’m always here at the library. And no, you’re not intruding my personal space.
- Thank you for appreciating my hairpin. It was actually a gift from a friend of mine.
- Yes, I like fiction stories. I often read them when I don’t have anything to do. I like mystery themed stories, how about you?
- I don’t know what to say but thank you anyway for saying that you like it when I smile. *^^*
Yixing’s cheeks felt like burning.
A smile crept on his cheeks before he stood, storming out of the library.
◙ from 00kaiholic00
Damn, those lines from Yixing's killing me. Feeling like a high schooler falling in love at first sight *^^*
Comments