The way your smiles looked so bright fascinated me… yet it worries me at the same time. Didn’t they say that people with the brightest smiles were actually the ones hurting the most? I wondered if that applied to you.

Because you’ve always smiled, you’ve always laughed, and you’ve always worked hard to brighten up everybody else’s day.

 Are you that kind to yourself? Or are you like that because you couldn’t?

Day by day, I kept on thinking. Each day I kept on checking. Don’t you know that the obligatory ‘how are you?’s weren’t obligated at all? I meant them.

I meant them all.

I honestly, sincerely, wanted to know if you were fine.

Because I wanted to care for you.

No.

I’m like this because I already cared.

“Is it strange to never see a person frown or cry or get mad?”

It was a sudden question and it caught Wendy off-guard, especially since it seemingly came out of the blue. “Hm?” She hummed in reply, obviously startled as she started categorizing the papers that needed sorting out. Usually, it was the president’s job but their SC leader was out of town due to a national debate competition leaving her to fill in the position.

When he didn’t reply, she looked around, unsure if he was addressing the question to her or talking to himself. There was a possibility that he had been meaning to tell that to the other SC members but she was the one nearest to him. And they were all busy doing their respective tasks, they wouldn’t have noticed unless he screamed, but his voice were merely 2 tones above a whisper.

Come to think of it, he was the only one idling around.

Her expression turned sour and was about to scold him when he looked over his shoulder with a somber look. “Is it normal to be happy all the time?”

She stopped, unsure how to reply because she hadn’t experienced being bombarded by these kind of peculiar questions, therefore, leaving her clueless on how to react, but her mind reeled nonetheless, now curious as to what could’ve brought this on.

Standing up from her seat, she walked near him and copied what he did moments before. She leaned on the window pane and looked out, trying to see what he had seen for him to ask that.

She pursed her lips, nothing seemed off. “I don’t know.” She admitted honestly, looking at him as he stared out at a general direction.

It seemed like he was looking at something yet nothing at the same time and he put on a face that was hard to read. It surprised her because it was rare of him to have that kind of expression. This must’ve really bothered him then, she concluded, he was usually happy-go-lucky and did the role of ‘annoying little brother’ best. “I don’t think that’s possible.” She followed his line of sight and was surprised to see her dear friend, Park Sooyoung, playing some sort of a game with her female classmates.

Her friend seemed to have felt her stare because she looked up with a big, bright smile, and waved before she pressed her fingers together to form a heart shape and pointed at her.

Wendy rolled her eyes but waved back nonetheless. Looking back at Sungjae, she wondered if he was looking at the same person she was staring at moments before if the slight flush on his ears meant something.

But there were other female students so she couldn’t be too sure, still, it doesn’t hurt to try.

“She’s cute, isn’t she?” She smiled cryptically, eyes twinkling with mirth as she scrutinized his expression.

He looked at her questioningly, wearing the look of pure ignorance as he raised one brow in inquiry.

“My friend, Park Sooyoung.” She pressed on, staring at the younger girl as she chatted eagerly, her hands flailing around rapidly, her face shifting from one exaggerated expression to another, “The one that sent me a heart.” She peeked at him from the corner of her eye and nearly missed the way he flinched. Nearly.

He continued to appear nonchalant though, “Yeah.” He agreed, “She is pretty.”

“What do you think of her?”

He furrowed his brows as he stared at her, “Pardon?” He said, obviously taken aback by the sudden question. “Why are you asking me that?”

She shrugged, “Just curious.” She smiled.

“She seems nice.” He answered guardedly, though something seemed to work in his head as she saw him visibly relax, his eyes looking like he’s scheming something, “She looked like someone who had never been sad her whole life.”

Her lips twitched at his seemingly innocent statment as her smile slacked, “I know, right?” She bent down a little and supported her cheek with one hand while the other drew idle patterns on the wooden pane, looking mildly disturbed. “She looked like she doesn’t have a problem. But she can be sad too.” She halted her actions and let out a sigh, “I hate how some people forget that she’s capable of feeling something other than happiness.”

“What do you mean?”

She looked at him and felt comforted by the sincere look of concern on his face, even if his expression looked like it didn’t change much, she could feel that he was…concerned. Or at least, he looked interested in what she was going to say. “Sometimes, people surrounding her do things and say things that are out of the line without knowing that they’re hurting her.”

“Is she bullied?”

Wendy snorted as she leaned back, missing how he sounded alarmed, “She’s strong.” She responded, standing straight and crossing her arms over her chest after flipping her hair. Then she stared mischievously at him, “Why are you interested? Do you like my friend?” She teased.

He smiled back, though it looked more like a smirk than a smile, “Why are you pressing her towards me? Is it because she’s crushing on me?” Then he sighed dramatically, stuffing his fists in his pockets as he leaned on the wall, concealing his figure from the window, “I wouldn’t blame her. I’m just that handsome after all.” He peered down at Wendy, wearing a look of both triumph and conceit.

“…” She stared at him with an unfathomable expression on her face, “…heol.” She finally stated after finding her tongue, “You’re really conceited.”

He shook his head, “This isn’t conceit.” He stated matter-of-factly, “I’m just acknowledging my god-given genes.”

Her face turned sour as she hit his arm and clicked her tongue, “Aish.” She exclaimed, “Why am I even talking to you?"

“Because I’m handsome.” He wittily replied, stifling a chuckle in an effort to look serious.

She wrinkled her nose as she grabbed the nearest object her hand could reach, which fortunately turned out to be a metal ruler, and flung it at him.

He dodged, the ruler hitting the wall and landing on the floor with a metallic thud, and barked out a laugh.

Because of that, it made me think, I want to make you happy—I want to see you happy. I wanted to become the reason behind your smiles.

Though happy at the relative success of getting some information out of Wendy, he was left mildly disgruntled at the fact that it barely revealed anything. As a matter of fact, he belatedly realized that his prying was ac