Word Count: ~ 5,810 words

Nervous lips trembled, and I couldn’t quite control the simple fluttering in my heart whenever a gaze landed upon my flustered expressions. I wasn’t much of a shy person, nor was I an overbearing person as well. I guess you could say I’m stuck in the middle of that spectrum. And that’s what I’ve always been described as—the middlewoman. The one who didn't bend this way or that other way. My simple ordinance only made this worse, hence the blandness of my features and intricate simplicity of my behavior. I just never knew it would only entice the interest of someone I had known of, yet haven't got to meet yet. Maybe it was because I was always in the middle, and he was just too far.

Until he decided to finally meet half-way.

April was my favorite month. Not that it had anything to do with my birthday being a mere five months away, but more so because it was when the cherry blossoms in our school would start blooming. After the petals fell, it was like an encompassing ocean of pink and white petals scattered across dark asphalt that always brought the brightest joys to my heart. With Spring coming along, it reminded me that the weather were to start warming; and I couldn't wait to stop layering my clothes all the time underneath my uniform. It felt quite uncomfortable most of the time when it came to using the bathroom, and the effort that had to be put into picking the clothes was just too much of a responsibility to put up with. Nonetheless, I’m not going to complain anymore—now that it was the beginning weeks to a season I loved so dearly, and perhaps something unexpected whisked along with it as well.

Our classrooms were too big to begin with. Having 40 students crammed into one room was already too much, but the space was just ridiculous. The window walls were quite intrusive, often times when other students spotted their friends and frantically waved to them as if they hadn’t seen each other in years, which only prompted the teacher to scowl at them and delay anymore of the lesson I could pay attention to. My classmates were too busy snickering amongst each other to take my teacher’s scowl seriously, and it only made me roll my eyes. I’m pretty sure our teachers don't want to be here as much as we do. I give them props to putting up with us, since we can get quite out of hand. And that, there, is the understatement of the year.

I had been busy taking down notes of whatever I could about the 5 important properties of water in Chemistry class to notice that there had been a student sitting under the blossoming flora, and my eyes immediately flickered in curiosity. My peripheral vision betrayed my need of attention, and soon noticed that it was Byun Baekhyun, one of my classmates in the Art class I had just started taking last semester. From what I could make out, he looked as if he was taking a nap under the tree with his backpack lazily slung over one of his shoulders, legs spread out without a care in the world. I couldn’t help but chuckle under my breath lightly, simply because he was one of those quiet students who rarely was seen doing something else than be in the classroom and pay attention as always. He was endearingly charming, simply because he spoke so little and did so little but managed to do well in classes as quietly as possible. His art, however, deserved all the places in the museums that stretched the Earth’s surface.

“Hey, class ended already.” My friend, Jinri who sat next to me reminded. I was in fact to caught up in my own world to notice or even hear the bell ring, but flashed a smile of acknowledgement and packed up my things. “What were you looking at? Is it the cherry blossoms outside that you oh-so have a crush on?” She mocked with an affectionate gesture, clasping her hands together as if she was dreaming or in love.

Scoffing, I looked at her in disgust before picking up the rest of my things. “You’re the one that might’ve had a crush on me if you noticed that I was gazing off.” I said with a victorious grin at her shaken expression, only to burst out laughing at each other.

But if there was one thing certain, she wasn’t wrong in one other aspect.

My next class happened to be Art, and my heart thumped and jumped up and down at the thought of seeing Baekhyun. It wasn’t that I had a crush on him or anything, but it was more so that I saw him doing something most students haven’t seen at all. He was always kept to himself, and that had to be the first time he actually went somewhere he didn’t have to be at. Other than sleeping there, why had he chosen that tree? The library had way more comfy couches to lounge on and catch up on some snoozes, and so did the Study Halls. It was weird, but I finally shut my thoughts out once the bell rung and Baekhyun had walked into the classroom, prompting the teacher to begin the lesson.

He took his seat just a few feet away from me, yet near enough to me to make me uneasy and suddenly insecure about my appearance. I was mostly confident in who I was, most of the time embracing my simple features that outlined the intricacy of such effortless sophistication. And I could surely see why the whole female student body had a crush on him. He was desirable, good-looking with a tinge of mysteriousness that drove even Jinri crazy. The dark, raven hair, sharp, clean eyes that bore holes into any object his gaze laid itself on, polished skin and built just right in all aspects. I totally understood, but it was more so that I probably didn’t have a chance with him. After all, he didn’t seem much of a dating kind of guy, especially talking about how focused he was about his studies and grades. And with a sigh, I glanced up to the board to find an assignment already written down in chalk.

It had read in big letters: “Beauty-Themed” followed by the smaller words I couldn’t make out except for “from your own perspective”.

My ears seemed to have perked up at this sudden proposal, only to glance over to my right that Baekhyun seemed to have an amused smile. And for a slight second, his gaze flickered over to mine, but looked away as if he had been flustered by my poorly-done scheming. If anything, I should’ve been the one who was most taken aback, but instead, the charming yet mysterious pupil just a few feet away from me had his head down, a small nervous smile creeping up on his face all while holding the pencil in his hand. Baekhyun seemed to be in deep thought, as I noticed the pencil flickering through his fingers before ending up in his mouth to take a few bites at. The only thing that took my attention away from this was my teacher, who was now starting to explain the grounds of this assignment.

“Water color, oil pastels, anything of your desires and techniques that we have learned throughout the course can be used! I’ll be lenient with the grading but a bit tougher on what techniques you’ll all be using, since we’ve been together for quite some time now. Like the board says, draw ideas from your own perspective of beauty. Each one of you have different insights, and I’d definitely love to see them all.” Mr. Kang, the lanky teacher who always seemed to wear too loose fitting and large rimmed glasses, spoke with a gleeful smile. He was always jovial and brought the ambiance to a amiable level, most of the time making the lecture quite fun yet informative. And despite the demands of this class, I could quite most likely say the reason why I even survived this course was just how much I loved the idea of expressing myself through this.

And this project made me jittery than ever and itching to grab my pencils and sketch out the cherry blossoms awaiting my presence outside.

School got out just about an hour ago, and I was busy sitting under the pink and white blossoming flora, observing its intricate details all-while tapping my pencil against my sketchpad. I had my pencil case beside me, which I should mention was a huge plush toy most commonly known as Korilakkuma, and my backpack laying on the asphalt below my legs. I looked down at the zipper of my pencil case, noticing that a single cherry blossom flower had landed upon it. Smiling, I gently picked it up and examined its features all while sketching out the finest of details to the micrometer. It was only then, that I noticed footsteps growing louder and louder towards my direction, making my head look up from my unconscious drawing. It was Baekhyun, and I quickly sat up so that my skirt hadn't been flaunting in a way that seemed all-too provocative.

Breathing a sigh of relief that he hadn’t noticed this, I continued on with whatever I was doing but noticed in my peripheral vision that he had sat down beneath the same tree I saw him under earlier today. I tried my best to look unaffected, or snap my head even at the slightest to gaze over, but I guess I had to rely on my sneakiness to pass on by. But with the little leverage I had, there I noticed that Baekhyun began to take out his water color set that I knew for sure was of highest quality at the local art store. He had his brush already resting on top of his earlobe, water from his bottle at hand and as if he was prepared before he had come here. It was quite amusing to watch, but I continued on with whatever I had been sketching all while gazing down at the cherry blossom flower within my gentle hands.

“Hm, you look a little more of a pigmented one aren’t you..” I spoke to the blossom, giving it an endearing smile while taking in its vibrant hues of a beautiful pastel pink I wanted to recreate to the best of my abilities.

All the while, Baekhyun had been diligently sketching out whatever it was on his pad, dabbing a bit of his brush in the water and paint here and there for what it seemed to look like whenever I had the chance to glance over. He seemed quite immersed in whatever he was doing, and I found it quite fascinating that he looked so focused and hard-working; especially when it came to something like expressing himself through this. If only I hadn’t looked like a complete idiot when he called out my name, because he felt the need to approach me when I hadn’t heard him through my thoughtless daydreaming.

“Hey, you alright?” He asked, waving his hand before my face with a shy expression laced in his facial features that screamed of utter beauty. I snapped out of whatever trance I was held in, and looked up at him in surprise to see him actually talking to someone. Or more importantly, talking to me. “Sorry to ask, but um.. Do you perhaps have an eraser I could.. um.. borrow? I seem to have misplaced mine..” Baekhyun said quietly under his breath, his voice sounding small that a precious melody played in my mind at the sound of it. I couldn't help but smile and nod my head, taking out my ridiculous pencil case beside me and ping its stomach to reveal its stationary contents.

“Here, you can keep it for the day if you’d like. I have more at home anyways.” I said with a kind smile, noticing how confident and stable my voice came out to be when my heart was thumping crazily out of my chest. He accepted it with a bright smile, eyes forming into crinkling crescents that made the light around him somehow appear brighter; perhaps more brilliant beyond the beautiful pink and white blossoms around us.

“Thank you so much..” He said with a grateful smile, and took a glance of my rough sketch of the blossom I still had in my hand. “You’re doing the cherry blossoms as well? Ah, it’s definitely the perfect time to draw them isn't it.. Why hadn’t I thought of that sooner..” Baekhyun said with a sheepish chuckle, scratching the back of his neck all while my cheeks flared in a small glint of pink and rosy hues at his comment. My hands embarrassingly and instinctively hid the poor drawing, all while laughing at each other.

“Well, what did you decide to paint? I saw the water color set you had there,” I began, pointing over at the one on the ground just across from me. “Definitely one of the better quality sets you got there.” I dawned on him, sharing a minuscule chuckle with him again and looked up at his glistening eyes. And with his words, they swept me off my feet and into a delusional trip.

Staring sharply at me with those very same eyes, as if affection and warmth swelled up in those twinkling irises, he finally opened his mouth to speak. “Something beautiful.”

And with his words, they swept me off my feet and into a delusional trip.

The next day had passed by quickly, leaving the leaves to carry away itself on the whims of the wind to follow down the path of the sunset dawning in the horizon. But if there was anything rememberable, it was definitely the time I had spent with Baekhyun after school. Despite him being just across the asphalt r