math class came.

i took my usual seat, and he took his, far away from me, sitting next to his teammate, chanwoo, and his best friend, jinhwan. i’ve never really talked to chanwoo, but jinhwan was pretty cool. a , but was nice too. did that make sense? well, it sorta did. he was a , possibly because he was so short. you know what they say, the shorter you are, the closer you are to hell. also, what is up with these younger kids? junhoe and chanwoo are giants next to jinhwan. it was.. hilarious. like, a lion, a tiger, and a domestic kitten.

they always sat in front, and i sat somewhere in the middle, near the window, like the anime kids. i would usually look out, but then i’d still be focused, because math is hard as , and i don’t dare doze off to a blackboard filled with equations. maybe if i had math in the morning, like donghyuk, then it would be understandable to doze off. i mean, the kid’s smart as hell, and even he can’t take math in the morning.

so, there i was, writing down notes. i’m guessing the teacher was in a bad mood, usually she didn’t call out anybody for being noisy, but junhoe’s group was being particularly noisy. she forced junhoe to stand up and answer.

“junhoe, can you please tell me what 64 squared is?”

“uh.”

he looked down to jinhwan, then looked down to chanwoo. it was in our notes, idiot.

i sighed softly and called for chanwoo’s attention, discrete and away from the teacher’s attention. he and jinhwan looked over and i signed the number to them. they then signed it to junhoe, who couldn’t look back, and he said whatever was signed.

“4096?”

“...very good.”

he sat back down and sighed in relief, thanking the two, but the two quickly shook their heads and pointed to my direction, refusing the credit and even grumbling “as if i could answer that -”. he looked back to where they were pointing, saw me, and smirked. before i could see his smirk, i looked away, lips gaped open, as if my attention were on my teacher rather than junhoe. but, i could see the grin, and his appreciation, and when he looked away, that’s the time i looked at him. i smiled softly, shaking my head, then packing up once the bell rang. she had announced homework, and though there were collective groans, i knew i was going to do it tonight. just cause i hate math. and since it was similar to today’s lesson, might as well do it before it gets erased from my memory.

it was the last period, and i got up, got my phone, turning it on, then was ready to walk out the room. but a tall figure stopped me.

“hey,”

, i keep hearing this voice today, and it’s getting on my damn nerves.

“hi.”

“thanks for saving my back there.” he smiled. a toothy smile. a smile that was wider than what i usually would see. a smile that actually reached his eyes. , he was adorable?!

“no problem, but it was literally written on the board just awhile ago.”

“oh.”

there was a silence, before we shared a small laugh, he looked down in embarrassment, and i could only stare at him, amazed at how a human can be so cute yet so dumb at the same time.

“you a math nerd?”

“nah. i only pay attention.”

“i see. so, a math nerd.”

“no! christ, i can barely even recite the multiplication table.”

he laughed even more, and i could literally faint right there. but, i won’t. not in front of him, at least.

“anyways, i forgot to give you my number.”

excuse me? we’re already in that stage? you barely even noticed me, and now we’re already sharing numbers? , maybe tomorrow i can get his . joking.. half joking.

“oh, yeah. sorry, slipped out of my mind.”

he made me input his number, peeking over and leaning against me one again to make sure what i wrote was correct. i texted him so he could receive my number, and his phone lit up to notify him of the message. i wrote his name, and he wrote mine.

“um… what’s your favorite animal?” i asked. i always had a thing on my contacts, where i’d put emojis right next to the name, it would always be their favorite animal or an emoji that reminded me of them.

“mmh.. not sure. i don’t have one, really.”

“hm.. i’ll give you a cat. you remind me of one.”

“a cat? how so?”

because you’re adorable and i love cats.

“because you’re pretty mischievous like one.”

he chuckled and i flashed a grin, putting a cat and musical notes, sneakily placing a heart emoji but turning it off before he could even see that i placed one. he got his phone again and edited my contact name.

“you’ll be a bunny.”

he placed a bunny emoji, and i took a peek, laughing softly at it, clapping and nodding. i didn’t want to point out that I was the only contact with an emoji, and that made me ridiculously soft.

“is that a thing you do?” he asked me, and i tilted my head. "that.. emoji. thing.”

“huh, uh, yeah. it’s a thing i do.”

he nodded in understanding, then smiling. “that’s adorable.” he mumbled, and i tried to ignore what he said, but it seemed to echo in my hollow brain. he kept his phone, and i kept mine, sharing a brief silence, staring at him, and him staring back, what was just a few seconds felt like eternity, until that said silence was chopped by hanbin.

“yah, kim jiwon, where are yo-- ohhh. sorry.”

“oh, sorry for holding him back.”

“no! no. it’s fine.”

junhoe looked over to me, a smile on his face as he stood up straight and began to head for the exit.

“i’ll text you.”

“sure.” i nodded, waving goodbye. he walked out and my eyes followed him, and hanbin smiled at him, then a creepier grin at me.

“yah, what is that smile for?”

then, the face decided to sing “can you feel the love tonight”. i wanted to duct tape his mouth right there, but i only had washi tape, so i just used what was available.