10 year-old Park Chanyeol had just alighted from the school bus when movements and shoutings in his neighbour's house caught his attention. The front lawn of the house was in a mess, with boxes lying everywhere, some were empty and some were still decked with items of all kinds inside. That was when he noticed a little girl with cocoa brown hair tied into two ponytails, decked in boyish clothes and a cap sitting within the boxes. If it wasn't for her ponytails, Chanyeol would have mistaken her for his own kind. He carefully made his way over to the little girl, hoping he didn't scare her.

"Hi!" Chanyeol had his hands grabbed tightly onto the dangling straps of his backpack.

The little girl turned around and tilt her head slightly to the sides as she stared innocently at the boy standing right in front of her. She remember her mother's words, "Don't talk to strangers!" and she tightened her grip of her bunny that was lying on her lap.

"Hi! I'm your neighbour!" Chanyeol tried again, this time he raised his arms out. He was putting to use what he had just learnt in school, that it was polite to shake hands with someone you met after introducing yourself. 

This time, the girl stuck her tongue out, made a funny face and ran off into the house with the bunny still in her arms. 

Did i scare her? Chanyeol thought that maybe something went wrong with his introduction. 

 

 

"Hey wake up!" 16 year-old Chanyeol was right outside Haeyeon's room window. That's right, it was the same little girl that Chanyeol had failed to hold a conversation with when she first moved into the neighbourhood. Chanyeol had took 3 whole months since that incident to manage to get Haeyeon to talk to him and since then, they have been getting really close with each other. 

"Ugh." Haeyeon rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock that sat right next to her bed. "Omg! I'm late!" 

She jumped straight out of bed, went straight to the showers, grabbed her bag and she was out of the house. As usual, Chanyeol was already waiting outside her lawn. "Thanks to you, we're gonna be late," he rolled his eyes and ruffled Haeyeon's hair, "again." 

"You didn't wake me up!" Haeyeon pouted and hopped onto the back seat of the bicycle. 

"Then why do you even have your clock beside your bed if you don't even plan to use it?" Chanyeol paddled hard and they were on their way to school.

Both Chanyeol and Haeyeon studied in the same high school, Korea Main, with Chanyeol being a senior and Haeyeon a freshman. 

Going to school and heading home together had became their daily routine when Haeyeon had enrolled into the same high school as Chanyeol. It was the time of the year again where students hate it the most, End of Semester Exams. Haeyeon fiddled with a bunch of keys and entered the house next to hers. Chanyeol and Haeyeon were so close that their parents were not worried to hand a duplicate of their house keys to their child's childhood friend. Haeyeon headed straight down to the basement where it had become their frequent hangout place. As she dropped her bag down, she could hear heavy footsteps coming her way. 

"Woah." Chanyeol jumped. "Since when did you came in?" 

"When you were singing "I'm faded~"  I was already here." Haeyeon imitated.

Chanyeol took the seat opposite Haeyeon, like they have their own designated seat, his with boyish hip-hop stickers stuck on his chair, with posters of American rappers hung on his side of the room while Haeyeon had posters of Girls Generation, T.O.P and American heart throbs such as Zayn Malik and Zac Effron stuck on her side of the room. "Chanyeol help me with this." Haeyeon passed her book over.

"What subject is this?" 

"Math." 

"Okay. So you just take change sinx and it would be cosx, and lne will be 1/x. Then you add them together. Remember i told you the answer don't have to be numbers?"

"What the did you just say?" Haeyeon said, clearly she didn't understand a single thing Chanyeol had explained.

"You aren't even looking. Come here and focus." Chanyeol threw a pillow over Haeyeon's way.

Haeyeon moved in closer and they had their head on opposite ends of the book. Chanyeol explained once more and just then, the both of them looked up at the same time, with their faces less than 5cm apart from each other. Chanyeol had never noticed Haeyeon's brown eyes with colour that matched his own. Haeyeon had never noticed Chanyeol's eye lashes, long and thick which made him so good looking when matched with his big brown eyes. It was as though the entire universe were left with the two of them when they looked into each other's eyes, with silence so deafening. 

 

 

Chanyeol looked at the back of Haeyeon, facing away from him as her hands raised to wipe her tears stained face. 18 year-old Haeyeon had just confessed to 20 year-old Chanyeol. It took Haeyeon a lot to muster all the courage existed inside of her to finally tell Chanyeol about her feelings, ever since she first met him 10 years ago when she was sitting in her lawn, looking at that young and handsome face staring at her. 

"Chanyeol ah, meet me at the park in 15mins. I have something to tell you." 

"Okay. Is it important?" 

"Of course it is. Its VERY important. " She her lips, "See you there." and hung up the phone.

Chanyeol was already sitting on the bench waiting for Haeyeon when she arrived, slightly later than the arranged 15mins. She spent a great amount of time thinking what to wear, afterall, she was going to confess to Chanyeol, the boy whom she liked ever since she first met him. She was determined to tell him how she felt and was despite the confidence that Chanyeol felt the same way about her, she couldn't help but feel butterflies inside her stomach. 

"Woah. What's the occassion? " Chanyeol looked at Haeyeon's dressing. Even though she liked girly stuff, she was never one who will wear dresses, but on that very day, she had put on a dress for the very first time. 

"I've got something very important to tell you, so lend me your ears and don't interrupt me even if you have the urge to do so." She cleared . "Here goes." She muttered under her breath. 

"You see, Chanyeol, you always asked me why didn't i replied you when you came to introduce yourself when i first moved in 10 years ago. Even though i have told you that it was my umma telling me not to talk to strangers, the truth was, i liked you ever since. " Haeyeon paused to catch her breath, she had forgotten how to breath and thought she might just collapsed. 

Chanyeol opened his mouth, wanting to say something but closed them back when he remember Haeyeon telling him not to interrupt no matter what. 

"You never understood why i entered Korea Main when my grades could have made sure i got into a better school. I always told you i hate making new friends and hated studying. But the fact was that, i want to study with you, go to the same school as you, see your graduation and when time comes, you'll be there to see mine." She cluchted her hands so tightly together that her knuckles turned white.

"I liked you more and more each day. I wouldn't call it love but this feeling is getting stronger day by day. And it hurts me when you said your ideal type wasn't a boyish girl like me, so i wore a dress today. I like you when you taught me Maths. I like you when you rode the both of us to school. I like you when you climbed into my room and stayed with me till the next morning when i told you i had a nightmare. I like you when you tried to make me laugh when i am angry with you. I like you even when you annoy me most of the times. I like you when ... i am not even sure if you feel the same way back towards me. " 

Haeyeon looked into Chanyeol's eyes and concluded, "I really like you and this is not a sudden obession neither is it liking you as a brother because it has lasted for 10years and i am very sure of my feelings. So ...." She paused, afraid to ask, "do you like me?" 

Haeyeon finally got everything out of her chest, the feelings that she had kept within her for the past 10 years. Chanyeol sighed and lips pressed tightly together, not having a clue how to respond to this sudden confession. He, too, liked Haeyeon, but he never had the courage like she had to confess. He was afraid that if one day when they are a couple and things go wrong, he will lose his best friend. He didn't want to take that chance, hence he had never said anything to Haeyeon. 

"Haeyeon, i want you to know that..." Chanyeol couldn't do it. "I really like you too," Haeyeon's eyes litted up. "But..." She knew things were too good to be true. " that like i have for you is like a little sister." He ruffled his hair. "I never know you felt this way towards me." Before he could continue, he heard sniffling and Haeyeon was backfaced him. 

He took a step forward, unsure what he should do, should he console her, or just let it be. But before he could decide, Haeyeon cleared and said, "I understand. This is all one-sided on my part since 10 years ago. You merely looked at me just like a little sister, and it was foolish of me to hold on to that glimpse of hope that you might ever feel the same way towards me back. " She took off the dress, beneath it was another outfit, something that was more like Haeyeon, jeans with casual t-shirt. "I'm sorry for putting you through all this. " And as soon as she finished, she took off and ran back home before Chanyeol could even hold her back. 

She fumbled with the keys as her hands were shaking, with tears running down her cheeks uncontrollably. As soon as she was in, she ran to her room and hugged the bear that was sitting on her bed, tightly and cried. The bear was a present from Chanyeol on her 13th Birthday, as he said to replace the one she had when she was 8 years old. She took the papers that were lying on her desk, and had another look at them, 

Dear Ms Haeyeon, 

Congratulations! We're very pleased to let you know that you have been accepted at London International University of Mass Communications. Here are some details that you should take note of upon your registration and acceptance.

You are to log on to our website : http://LIUMC.edu.com by 23 October 2015  to confirm your acceptance into the University. A failure to confirm the offer by the given deadine will result in a cancellation of the offer given by London International University of Mass Communications. Do notes that it will take approximately 1 month  for the school to do the necessary arrangements for all our students, hence we do urge you to complete registration as soon as possible or by the given date. 

London International University of Mass Communications will offer our hostel to all our students for the whole duration of their studies with the school. Hostel's terms and conditions applies and you can read on how to apply for it at http://LIUMC.edu.com/hostel-terms-and-conditions  

We look forward to seeing you in the new school year.

Yours Sincerely,

Mdm Brittany Graham

Director of London University of Mass Communications

 

Haeyeon had a backup plan. She have decided that if her confession succeeded, she will reject the offer to study in London and stay in Korea; and if it fails, she will move to London and start anew there, leaving everything in Korea, which is unfortunately the case now. Haeyeon had already bought the air ticket to London, with accommodation settled as she will be living with her cousins, who have migrated to London, first until her school term starts and by then, she'll move to the school's hostel. She opened her suitcase, packed whatever she needed, and the rest will be air flown over when she have settled down. She looked at the teddy bear, she knew it was useless to bring it over to London, it will only remind her of her failed confession. She grabbed her passport, lugged her luggage, and went to the garage. She started the engine, and left for the airport. 

 

Chanyeol thought about what had just happened. He had lost his best friend anyway. After today, he knew that it would be hard for Haeyeon to talk to him ever again. He didn't know what to do. " this." He stood up and raced all the way to Haeyeon's house. He rang  the doorbell, knocked on the door and still no-one came to the door. "Haeyeon ah!" Chaneyeol screamed. He climbed the tree that stood right next to her room's window, the one he always used to climb into her room. No one. Haeyeon was not there. He jumped off the tree and ran straight to the nearby cafe, a place that he remembers Haeyeon telling that she frequently visits because she loved the rustic interior. He burst through the door, frantically looking for any sight of Haeyeon, but failed. 

"Come on, where are you..." He muttered as he dialed for Haeyeon's mobile.

"The number you just called..." 

"." He locked his phone and ran out of the door. He was clueless about where Haeyeon would be at. 

 

Haeyeon stoopped right in her tracks before entering the departure gates. She turned to look over her shoulders, wondering what she was hoping for after her failure. "Stop being stupid and hoping for the impossible." She felt tears about to form up and she quickly wipe them away and headed straight through the departure gates. She switched on her phone, wanting to send a message to her parents when a notification that she had 10 miss calls from Chanyeol coming through. 

Where are you. Please reply me. 

                                       -Chanyeol

She looked at the message puzzled, why would Chanyeol even want to talk to her. She couldn't understand. 

Chanyeol ah, don't worry i'm going to be fine. But please allow me to 

have some time off before being able to meet you again. I'm sorry that i 

am leaving. 

                                     -Haeyeon

Chanyeol's phone buzzed and he stared at the message in disbelieve. From Haeyeon. 

He quickly opened the message but didn't quite understand what he just read. Leave? What did she meant by leave? Oh ...

He started the engine and headed straight for the airport with a hand on the phone, with hopes that Haeyeon's phone was still on, and she would answer his call. He went straight to the departure hall when he reached, but was a step too late. He didn't know where was Haeyeon headed to, he had no clues on where to start finding her. He could only blame himself on his stupidity, that why didn't he try to hold her back and tell her his true feelings and now it was too late. 

"Haeyeon, please, let me find you, please, i swear i will tell you my feelings."