Jaebum was holding the bouquet flowers -white roses bought from the little flower shop down the street from his house- and a box of pepero sticks, the thick ones with the thicker layer of chocolate with the different colours and flavours of sprinkles on them that were more popular nowadays. He was standing in front of his crush's house after he had mustered up the courage to confess to her.

It didn't strike him as odd or creepy at all that he knew where the girl he was crushing on lived. Okay, maybe just a little, he conceded. His crush's name was Jacquelyn and she was the prettiest girl Jaebum had ever seen. But that wasn't what had caught his attention. No, what he had first noticed about her was that she was a quiet person. The kind of person that drew you in naturally. She seemed to attract attention wherever she went but she didn't seem to notice it at all, often seen with her three best friends. The four were the most popular girls in school but Jaebum didn't really focus on that much.

And then there was her brother. Oh, how to describe Jackson.

The first thing that came to mind was loud. The boy honestly never seemed to shut up every time Jaebum happened to see him, which was a lot because they were in all the same classes. Even his laugh, which was so high pitched that it pierced your eardrums was distinctive enough to identify him by. Jackson was always with his sister when he wasn't in his classes apart from drama which he had with his sister and Jaebum as well thus, was also around her friends which automatically classified him as one of the popular kids. Jaebum always made it a point to stay away from Jackson though but the boy never gave up, often calling him 'b-boy king' or 'Jeff' which he honestly couldn't, for the life of him, understand why. Like, where in Jaebum's name could the other boy have gotten 'Jeff' from? It was utterly infuriating.

Since the beginning of his second year at the University which had only actually been 2 months, Jaebum had not been able to get her off of his mind. They only exchanged brief 'hi's' or 'hello's' if they happened to see each other around campus but that was the extent of their relationship. In fact, sometimes the girl never bothered with that at all and often just walked passed him and Jaebum knew that his chances of being rejected after he confessed were extremely high, like, 97.6% high but he was still going to take his chances. There was still that 3% or 2% if you round it off, chance that she'd accept his advances.

Jaebum was a relatively straightforward kind of guy, if he liked someone he would tell them fearlessly and if he got rejected then he would still pursue them and try to win the person over and if they still rejected him then that was that. He was a firm believer in living life to its fullest because you never know when it would be cut short. He took chances wherever they presented themselves, never holding himself back. His friend, on the other hand, thought it was reckless and Jinyoung always lectured him on his life choices every time he was going to do something the other boy deemed `reckless`.

This time the other had sat him down on their sofa and looked at him with his piercing dark gaze and asked if he was sure that he wanted to pursue a relationship with a popular girl who he didn't even know anything at all about.

Jaebum, of course, hadn't listened and had stated that that was what dating was for and now here he was, standing uninvited in front of Jacquelyne's house. If the incredibly massive structure could even be called a 'house'. The better term would be 'mansion' of which Jaebum was still standing outside the gate. Steeling himself, Jaebum pressed the intercom and waited.

The intercom crackled and a voice filtered through. "Yes, who is it?"

The voice was crackly but he could tell that it was obviously male. Jaebum tried not to feel disappointed because he had wanted Jacquelyn to be the one to answer seeing as she's the only one he was familiar with.

At the thought of Jacquelyn, a new problem presented itself and Jaebum honestly could've kicked himself, or maybe punched himself, he wasn't particularly picky at the moment. The problem was what if she wasn't home? What if he had prepared a speech, bought gifts to make sure his confession was a success, only for the object of his affections to not be around. Because it was a Saturday -he quickly checked his watch- and it was 12.34 pm in the afternoon. This meant that she could've been out with her friends because which type of girl stayed at home on a Saturday at midday. Not a popular one that's for sure. Or maybe he was just being stereotypical because not all girls like to go out on Saturdays and some like to just stay at home instead to relax.

"Hello?" The question brought Jaebum out of his frantic thoughts and he remembered that he had yet to say anything.

He moved closer and spoke. "Hello." He waited for a bit and when there was no reply he spoke again. "Uh, I'm Jaebum. Im Jaebum. I go to the same University as Jacquelyn, she's in my class, is she in?" He spoke all this in one go and nervously wiped his right hand on his denim-clad thigh.

The reply was quick this time. Only a brief "just a moment" and then nothing. He waited for a few minutes and then the gate was buzzed open. It slowly slid to the right and Jaebum stepped through. He felt a bit like he was a man on death row, walking down a path that would be his last the closer he got to the front door. When he finally got there, he in a much-needed breath and then released it before knocking on the solid, dark wood door.

He stood there for what must have been a minute at most but definitely felt like an hour before he finally heard heeled shoes approaching the door. The door is pulled open and his crush is standing in front of him, dressed as impeccably as always. Jaebum forgets how to breathe for a second because Jacquelyn is absolutely beautiful. She's dressed simply, in a light blue, knee length dress which is not too short but not too long either, a cream sweater covers her bare arms and her long dark hair is falling flawlessly down her back. She looks perfect and Jaebum maybe thinks that she might be out of his league, which makes Jinyoung's earlier words float back to the forefront of his mind.

He ignores that though and presents her with his presents.

Jacquelyn looks at what he holds out and an unreadable look slides across her face. She folds her arms over her chest and nods at the flowers and the pepero sweets asking, "What are those?"

Jaebum knows she's not stupid and in fact one of the smartest people in his class so he knows she's probably asking what they are for. Jaebum doesn't feel as confident as he did last night when he told Jinyoung that he was going to confess to Jacqueline today no matter what. He feels chocked when he manages to get the words out. "I like you, will you date me?"

Jacquelyn looks at him and when they connect eyes, Jaebum already knows that she's going to reject him because what he glimpses in those eyes is not a reciprocation of his feelings but pity. Pity for him. He lowers his hands, still holding their respective items and waits for her to utter the words he knows she will.

And she does. "I'm sorry but... I don't... um.. don't share your feelings." Even if Jaebum had known what she was going to say, he had still had a small sliver of hope that he was wrong, you know. "It's just that I'm already seeing someone." Which is another way of saying that she has a boyfriend and Jaebum feels absolutely humiliated and stupid because of course, she would have a boyfriend. There's no way a girl like Jacquelyn would be single.

Jaebum nods in acceptance. He feels completely embarrassed as he mutters a quick apology before turning and briskly walking back down the path to the gate, which had been closed. He hears the door closing and flinches involuntarily. As he waits for the gate to open, he hears the door opening again. He quickly turns around to see if it's Jacquelyn, hope blooming anew in his chest before it's ruthlessly crushed when he sees it's Jackson instead.

The brunette haired boy quickly rushes up to him and Jaebum briefly wonders what it is he wants. He's always been careful to avoid the other and they never crossed paths unless they were in class together, in which Jaebum always sat with Mark or Jinyoung.

Jackson had witnessed the whole thing that went down and as much as he felt sorry for Jaebum, he couldn't help the absolute elation that blossomed in his heart. Because Jaebum getting rejected meant that Jackson now had a chance with him. As soon as Jacquelyne had gone back inside, Jackson had rushed past her and down to where Jaebum was waiting for the gate to open because he wanted to get to him before he left.

When he reached the taller boy, he noticed the pepero sticks and white roses in his hands. Jackson loves roses, especially white roses, they're his favourite. He looked back up at Jaebum and making a split decision, he told him. "Hold your hands out, please."

Jaebum who looked shocked, mechanically did as Jackson asked and the brunette was happy because it made things easier. He took the roses from the shocked boy and brought them up to his nose, inhaling the sweet refreshing fragrance. He hugged them to his chest and giggled. "Thank you. These are my favourite."

That seemed to snap the other out of his shocked state. "What.. um.. Jackson?"

Honestly, Jaebum was stunned. He hadn't known what Jackson had wanted and then the other had asked him to hold his hands out and Jaebum couldn't do anything but comply, he couldn't really refuse, not with Jackson's big brown eyes staring at him looking like they might gloss over with tears if he said no. And Jaebum will be the first to admit that he is the kind of person who cries when he's deeply touched by something that happens to him but when it's others, he absolutely can't deal with tears.

So he held his hands out. What he didn't expect Jackson to do though, was to grab the flowers out of his right hand. Even more so unexpected, was Jackson thanking him and telling him that white rose were his favourite type of flower as if it had been he that had given them to the other. His attempts to ask Jackson what he was doing were a disaster ending with him calling out the other's name questioningly.

Jackson merely snatched the box of pepero that were in Jaebum's still half out-stretched left hand, his right one having been lowered as the flowers were taken out of it.

"Ah... these are my favourite type of pepero sticks, do you know why, because they have more chocolate on them and I love chocolate. Especially Bueno. You should buy me some after our date tomorrow."

Now that had Jaebum straightening up because since when had he asked Jackson out. He voiced this. "Since when do we have a date planned, I don't remember asking you out."

Jackson ignored him and tucked the flowers under his arm to open the box of pepero. He took one out and leisurely ate it.

Jaebum clenched his jaw and ground his teeth. If there was one thing Jaebum hated in the world, it was to be ignored, he just felt that it was completely disrespectful.

The brunette didn't seem to care and completely disregarded his question, saying instead, "you gave me the flowers and pepero. I'm pretty sure that means you're confessing to me, doesn't it?"

It seemed today was definitely not Jaebum's day, from the shocks he'd already received today, he didn't need anymore and yet, they kept coming anyway. Before he could even say anything, Jackson spoke again.

"Right, pick me up at 7 pm sharp tomorrow for our date, which you will obviously plan since it was you who confessed to me." Jaebum is dumbfounded, absolutely, completely utterly shocked into silence. He can't even form coherent thoughts to protest at the moment, never mind the fact that he hadn't originally confessed to Jackson.

Jackson happily takes out another pepero stick and bites into it, smiling disarmingly at Jaebum afterwords, his big brown eyes seeming literally sparkle. And with a bright and chipper "bye now!" Jackson skips back up to the house. He stops by the opened front door and turns back to him. "Don't forget to come with flowers, Jaebummie!" and with that, the door is slammed shut, the brunette disappearing into the large house.

Jaebum turns and heads home, still in a daze. When he gets back to his flat, Jinyoung, his best friend and roommate is lounging on the couch with his laptop, probably writing up a paper or doing some other equally studious thing. Jaebum takes this all in without really registering anything and flops down on the couch beside his best friend after taking off his shoes and placing them on the shoe rack by the door.

Finally, after a long silence, in which Jinyoung stays silent, knowing to wait for the other to speak when he is ready, he turns to face his best friend, eyes wide and mutters, "I think I'm in trouble Jinyoungie."

He already knows that Jackson is going to be one of those high maintenance boyfriends.