“Close your two eyes, slowly

Feel it, what we’ve shared”

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tick-tock. The clock went. Tick-tock. It continued. Da Young’s head followed every beat of the small hands of the clock. With a pencil resting in between her cheek and her palm, she was growing tired. Tired of thinking, tired of studying, tired of just breathing.

“Yah!” A hand flashed in front of her face, snapping it in lightning speed. It took Da Young’s attention from the clock.

“What?” She frowned, shaking herself awake from her short daydream. She dropped the pencil onto the open book in front of her. It was filled with neat scribbles, written perfectly, line by line. She closed the book quietly and looked at her best friend. “What do you want, Ong?”

Seongwoo said nothing but tilted his head at the book and then at the clock, which she had her eyes laid on a couple of moments ago.

“What were you thinking of?” Seongwoo asked. He prompted his arms on the table in front of her and rested his chin onto his palms.

“Oh… nothing,” She retreated back, straightening her back before she reopened her book again, pretending to study.

Seongwoo watched the girl carefully and shook his head. He stretched across the long dining table and snatched the book away from Da Young’s grasp.

“Yah!” The furious girl whipped her head up. “I was studying!”

“This is not even a textbook,” Seongwoo replied, placing Da Young’s book next to him. He continued to look at his best friend. “You invited me to come over to study with you but you have been daydreaming ever since I’ve arrived at your house. And literally, Da Rim has been the one entertaining me all this time! Is there anything wrong?”

“Huh? Wrong?” Da Young started. “W-what’s wrong? I see nothing… wrong...”

“Nothing? Nothing’s wrong?” Seongwoo raised his eyebrows. “There is something wrong, Im Da Young. I can see it, and you know that. Come on, spill it out.”

“You wouldn’t understand even if I tell you.”

“I don’t even know what you want to say. How could you just assume that I wouldn’t understand?” Seongwoo asked.

“Because you’re not as bright to understand my sense of digesting everything?” Da Young suggested, earning an eye roll from the latter.

“Come on, spill the beans now, Da Young. I don’t want anything to be bothering my best friend,” Seongwoo replied.

Just then, flashes of memories flew past Da Young’s mind, replaying itself repeatedly. Her face immediately reddens as she recalled every part of her embarrassing encounter.

“Why is your face red now? Is it that embarrassing?” Seongwoo observed the ashamed girl and her reddened face.

The girl could only nod her head slightly. Her hands covered her face.

“New. Kid.” Da Young mumbled.

“What? New kid?” Seongwoo looked confused. “What is that suppose to mean?”

“Nothing…” Da Young replied. “I told you, you wouldn’t be able to understa-“

“Ohhh the new kid that got transferred to our school today!” Seongwoo cuts in. He smiled at his accomplishment before frowning again. “But… what is that suppose to mean? You didn’t even have a class with him, or even talk to him except for the time at the office.”

“That’s what I meant… the office,” Da Young continued. Her face was still pressed firmly into her hands. “Now don’t talk to me about it.”

“I don’t even understand anything and I need more details! But now you tell me not to talk to you,” Seongwoo argued.

“Just think about what happened… at the office,” Da Young replied.

“We came into the office and then the boy appeared when he overheard you talking about where he could be and he was curious about the right hand… and you answered- but… what’s wrong with that?” Seongwoo asked. He scratched his head and started to think.

“Continue,” Da Young whispered.

“Then… you answered… But- but what did you… answer?” Seongwoo asked. “Tell me, what on earth was in your right hand that made the entire office laugh till they want to cry?”

“How am I supposed to answer that? That’s for you to figure out!” Da Young looked up from her palms. Her face was now redder than a tomato that people could have mistaken her for being angry instead of embarrassed. “Come on… think! So I wouldn’t get anymore mortify.”

“How am I supposed to know? You’re suppose to tell me since for this round, I don’t understand your language,” Seongwoo frowned.

“I told him that he was already captured in my heart!” Da Young burst out and an awkward silence hung in the air.

Seongwoo just looked at his best friend wordlessly. He kept blinking for a couple of seconds.

“Wow,” Seongwoo said after a while. “I-I never know… that you would answer that… easily…” He chuckled a little.

“What do you mean?” Da Young asked.

“Did this idiot cause trouble again?” Someone responded. The two of them twisted around and found an older boy walking into the dining room where the two of them were sited. The slender boy was holding a big bag that slung from his shoulder. His bangs were dripping wet with sweat.

“Hey there, Youngmin hyung,” Seongwoo greeted the older boy, lifting his hand up to greet.

The older boy smiled and nodded in reply. “So, did Da Young cause any trouble…again?” He asked, walking towards the duo and placed his bag next to Da Young who ungratefully held it before Youngmin took a seat beside her.

“What trouble would I even cause?” Da Young asked rolling her eyes at the latter. She nudged the older boy’s shoulders.

“So you’re admitting you’re an idiot!” Seongwoo clapped his hands in delight.

“No, I’m saying that my name is Da Young,” Da Young replied back.

“Actually, she meant that she was both; Da Young and an idiot!” Youngmin smiled, and high-fived Seungwoo from across the long table.

“Yah! Oppa! Why are you even my older brother? You immature brat!” Da Young burst out and pushed Youngmin off the bench. Youngmin gasped, desperately trying to grab something to hold him but found nothing. He fell straight down onto the cold and hard ground. He groaned. His sister laughed.

“Serve you right!” Da Young clapped in delight and smiled.

“How can you even mistreat your older and good looking brother?” Youngmin rolled his eyes as he stood up from the ground. He rubbed his back slowly before grabbing the big bag that had also fell from Da Young’s grip. “I should by right open my bag and grab my basketball and smash it onto your head and no one would know but I can’t.”

“Because Seongwoo’s here?” Da Young asked.

“No, he’ll keep it a secret. Whom I mean is Da Rim right outside, watching TV,” Youngmin replied, motioning to the bright screen that was dancing with colors and animation. The large couch hid their little sister, blocking their view to find her.

“You can, can’t you? She’s too busy watching her cartoons,” Da Young said.

“I still have to drag your dead body out of this house right? What if she walks in right now and sees me doing the deed?” Youngmin rolled his eyes.

“I doubt she’ll even bother to come here.”

“So you want to try getting smashed in the head by a basketball?”

“Well, if you want to try.”

Youngmin smirked. In a split second, he had already ped his bag, with a basketball standing grand in his hands. He held it high in the air, waiting to smash it on his ungrateful sister. He waited for a couple of seconds, before his both hands went down together with the ball, towards the girl’s head-

“Unnie, oppa!”

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