“It’s because I love you, Jiwoo.”

As he spoke, Tae-hyung saw Jiwoo’s eyes grow wide.

Then her lips slowly parted and she stared up at him with appealing wonder.

The look on her face was simply beautiful, the effect on him staggering. Making matters worse, she smelled amazing and he ached to kiss her. But he couldn’t, knowing they had to clear up this unspoken and overdue issue between them.

Tae-hyung also noticed she wasn’t breathing.

Therefore, he bent his head towards her and whispered, “Breathe, Jiwoo.”

Her breath left her in a soft whoosh.

And Tae-hyung found it so cute.

Barely moving her lips, Jiwoo whispered, “What did you say?”

His eyes shifted their attention from to hers. “God, if only you were good at real life like you are at work,” Tae-hyung muttered unhappily.

She continued to stare at him with wonder, waiting for him to repeat his words.

He smiled.

“I love you, Jiwoo. For the past five years, I was desperately and hopelessly in love with you.“

Tae-hyung massaged the back of his neck with his fingers and let out a tired sigh.

He lifted his gaze from the page of his Science book and looked around the town’s library. There were fewer people in today and he stood up to ease the ache of sitting down for a long time. Still massaging his neck, he moved into the library to find a good fiction book to read when he went home.  

Then he stopped.

Because three rows in the aisle, he saw her.

The girl he was secretly in love with.

Jiwoo, he heard the librarian call her.

She was standing beside a bookshelf. Her head was bent, her eyes trained to a book.

He’d been in love with her since he entered senior year and found there was in fact a small library in town. He liked the peace and quiet in the library, and liked the place even more when he learned no one from his school ventured into the old and almost abandoned public place. But what he liked the most was her being in it. One look at her, reading in a corner, her pretty face smiling at the page, it was all it took for him to fall in love.

Insane, he’d thought when he realized he had feelings for her. Love at first sight was a fairytale.

But it happened. No matter how hard he denied that he had fallen for her, it actually happened.

So Tae-hyung set it upon himself to talk to her and get to know her. He tried to approach her, to befriend her but dang if he didn’t always lose his guts at the last second. It was the first time he’d ever felt this way and although he had experience with the opposite , it was always them who approached him first, never the other way around.

And she didn’t seem to even see him. She only came to read her books and then leave. It was like she had built an invisible protective shield around her and until now, he’d been a mess thinking about all the ways he could get to make her notice him. He tried to talk to her about books but she seemed uninterested. He helped her get a book from the top shelf but her agitated expression made him feel like what he did was just a bother. He even saved her from delinquents but it seemed to only make her afraid of him. 

Cautiously and quietly, Tae-hyung moved towards her. Today was the day, he decided. Today was the day he’d introduce himself to her, maybe ask her out for coffee or to the movies then eventually marry her.

Almost there, he thought. Jiwoo flipped the page of the book she was holding and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. His heart started to pound and his hands grew clammy.

He was almost there.

Then his newfound bravery died a quick death and he walked past her. Cursing himself for being a spineless moron, he rounded the shelves and slumped down against them for a few minutes. Hiding his body, he then peeked just his head around the side to check if she was still there. Jiwoo was still reading her book where she stood and his lips twitched to see how much she was enjoying it.

Then his eyes honed on to the title. And his brows lifted.

Wasn’t that the book he borrowed yesterday and returned just today?  

“You’re teasing me,” Jiwoo whispered in disbelief.

The smile left his face and Tae-hyung narrowed his eyes.

How could she doubt his feelings for her? He was already baring his heart out to her but she was too determined to toss it down and trample upon it.

“Why the hell would I tease you about something like this?” he growled.

“Because… Because I know it’s not true.”

He wanted to shake her. “Please. Enlighten me why you think so.”

“You laughed,” she accused, coolness washing through her features. No, not cold. Distant.

He blinked. “I what?”

To his shock, her face crumpled then her tears started to fall. “You laughed at me when I confessed.”

Tae-hyung cringed.

Damn.

Damn, he should have known this was going to be about that.

.A/N:

Nobody said this was easy~~♫

Sorry for the late update. I was playing dota well into the night and when I was done, I was very sleepy so I went to bed right away. (/ε＼<)

And we're almost there, guys! We're nearing the end of this fic! I'm thinking of doing another but I also want to do something too. I'll put it into voting which one I should do after you read the epilogue. I believe I know what the results are going to be after you read it so it's something to look forward to. 

Thank you for reading and for the kind words! (*^▽^*)

Ps. I really love Jiwoo with pink hair. She's so adorable, I swear!