Days turned to weeks and Yongsun and I only grew closer. We spent almost all of our time together inside and outside of school- whether it was at her place, at mine, or sometimes in the park just to kick back and relax. Soon enough I found myself falling for her charms: I really like the way she talks so easily about her day, I really like the way her cheeks turn a shade of pink when I tell her she looks nice, I really like the way her eyes light up when I surprise her, I like the childish excitement she shows when she passes her test, I like the enthusiasm she has to show me her new mind tricks, I like that she plays with her hands when she gets nervous, I like the way she’ll put Hyejin, Whee In and I before herself, I like the way she cuddles into me when she starts to get tired, I like the way that this yeba is able to blow my mind every day in class, I like the way she’ll answer my phone call and talk me to sleep at 1am, I like the fact that despite being popular she chooses the maknaes and I as her true friends. Her smile, that’s probably my favourite part of her, the smile that carresses her whole face, reaches up to her eyes and lingers there. I like everything about her- I really like everything about her (almost enough to throw the L word in there, but I dunno). It took some time to get my head around it, but I think maybe I’m starting to develop a crush on her. I can’t risk our friendship though, I’ve only just found her and it feels like I’ve known her my whole life. I’ve never found someone who made me feel this complete, not even Krystal sunbaenim. What do I do? I can’t throw her away, she’s only just become a part of my life and I, stupid Moon Byuli, had to mess it up. Why could I not just settle for her being my friend? Why does my stupid heart have to want her as more than a friend?

“Uggh” This inner conflict had me spaced out. I came back to reality with a tinge of red climbing up my face as my entire class turned round to stare at me. I realised that I must have physically groaned in the middle of silence which put me in this awkward situation now. Yongsun was trying so hard to contain her laughter.

“Moon Byuli, I understand that this is a difficult concept, but if you could please remain quiet for a few more minutes. Once I’ve finished the next slide it will make sense, I promise” Mrs Park sighed. I felt my blush turn several shades darker and I mumbled a quick apology. Yongsun, beside me, cracked. She could barely contain her laughter anymore but managed to cover it up as a coughing fit. She was excused for a minute to get a drink of water. I re-focused myself and tuned back in to the lesson. It wasn’t really that difficult a concept to get my head around, in fact, this made perfect sense to me- the two molecules are exactly the same but they’re just arranged differently, it’s not rocket science. It was just stupid Zico and his friends in the corner who didn’t get it. I made the notes as Mrs Park continued talking her way through the slides. It was then that I noticed I’d scribbled down the entire margin of my page, mindless doodles and some pathetic attempt at romanised letters ‘S O R (Is that an R?), and another scribble Y’ was I writing apologies in my notebook? I scowled at the mess and continued writing. Yongsun returned and nudged me as she sat back down.

“I was doing so well at concentrating until I realised your pen scribbling at 100 miles an hour and that goofy smile across your face that I got completely distracted. And then when you” she giggled quietly “I just couldn’t. It’s almost like you wanted me to lose my , Byuli. Do you mind talking me through this later? I really have no idea what’s been going on for the last 10 minutes or so, because of you and your daydreaming.” She smiled at me, the smile that I’d been daydreaming of only a few minutes before. I nodded.

At the end of the lesson Mrs Park asked if she could talk to me. Was I in trouble for my outburst? She laughed at what must have been a look of worry on my face and told me I wasn’t in trouble. “Byul, do you want to tell me what that was about today? It’s not like you to disrupt the class, and it certainly isn’t like you to sit there scribbling through most of my lesson.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs Park, I just- it’s just. It’s nothing, I’m sorry I was distracted and then disruptive” I tried to give her my most apologetic look. She smiled kindly at me.

“It’s okay, Byul. You’re a good kid, and an even better chemist so I’m not mad, I only want to know if there’s anything bothering you. I want you to know that if you ever find anything difficult even if it has nothing to do with my lesson, you can come and talk to me about it.”

“I know, thank you. There’s nothing wrong, I’m just a bit under the weather. Again, I’m really sorry for today, I’ll try to keep my focus next time. I’ll see you tomorrow, Miss” I turned to leave the room when she called me back

“Byul, whatever it is, try not to let it bother you too much. And next time, try not to distract Miss Kim also. Hopefully tomorrow you’ll be feeling more like yourself.” I nodded, thanked her and apologised again, and then left. On my way out of the corridor I bumped into Yongsun.

“Oooof. Sorry. What are you doing here?”

“Sorry, Byul-ah, I was waiting for you. What did she want? Are you in trouble?”

“No. She just wanted to make sure I’m okay. And she told me to tell you to be less obviously enthralled by my distraction next time” she giggled, and playfully hit me, before linking our arms as we walked outside to enjoy the remainder of our breaktime. I sighed with relief, hoping Yongsun wouldn’t hear my heart racing.

Author's note: Hey everyone. Just a shorter update this week (well, it's late, but you know). I was struggling with writer's block for this chapter so don't think it's very good. I hope you can follow where my train of thought was going with this chapter, as it's a bit all over the place.

As usual, thanks for reading and subscribing, feel free to leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section. I hope you guys are taking care of yourselves. Have a great week, keep smiling, stay healthy, take care, be safe, and make sure you take time to relax and do the things you enjoy. I'll see you next week (which really means at the end of this week, but I like to convince myself I was on time XD ). Much love :)  <3