There he is again － in his veranda, playing his guitar. He has his eyes closed as he strummed his guitar with precise movements. I stared at his face. I couldn’t hear the music, but his handsome, sharp features formed a seemingly wistful expression.

I rubbed my eyes gently. I got tired of squinting, so I stepped away from my window to get my eyeglasses downstairs and a bottle of yogurt drink before I resume watching my neighbor play his instrument.

It’s been almost two years since that man moved to the house next door. Our bedrooms stood facing each other, and sometimes I envy him for having a nice veranda.

As much as I know, he lives alone. Some nights, I see him welcome a couple of men into his home when I go out for a short walk to the nearby convenience store.

I don’t know his name. But he would give me a little smile whenever he catches me staring at him while I sat doing my work on my table, and I’ll always smile back. But because I’m shy, I had my curtains closed when I watch him play his guitar, only peeking from behind it. I didn’t want to creep him out, or seem like a stalker.

The first time I caught him outside his house was when we were both waiting for the bus at the waiting shed. I wanted to ask him why he wasn’t using his car, the one I always see in his driveway. I couldn’t stop staring at him. He’s so tall, maybe two heads taller than me. I have to look up at him. That was also the first time that he noticed me, and the first time that he gave me a smile. It was a boyish, tight-lipped smile that made my heart beat a little quicker than the usual.

I’ve started to develop a simple crush on my neighbor when he helped carry my stuff for me while I was walking home one day. I remember going home from a little outing with my high school friends at the beach.

I brought so much stuff that made me scold myself mentally. Until I heard a voice behind me. “Let me help you,” was what he said. He has a deep voice that seemed to enchant me. I felt my ears get hot, and prayed to all the saints I know that it was not a blush forming. I can’t embarrass myself. Not in front of this neighbor.

I brought him a box of cupcakes the same day as an exchange for his help.

I tried asking my father for the name of the man next door, but he doesn’t know too, and my father knows everyone in our neighborhood. He says that our neighbor seems to be closed off, like he wants to have a low profile.

Watching him every night as he played his guitar became a routine for me. He would sit for an hour or two in his veranda, just playing his guitar. Sometimes I feel like he knows that I’m watching him behind my curtains. Sometimes he isn’t there.

I wore my eyeglasses and pierced the cover of my yogurt drink with my front teeth as I go back upstairs.

When I got to my bedroom, I noticed my neighbor starting to get up from his sitting position and walk back further to the room. I almost shouted for him to come back and play some more, but I didn’t.

I sighed, sitting on my bed instead and booting up my laptop to watch a movie.

Watching him became almost a relaxing thing for me. I don’t mind about whatever melody he’s playing on his guitar, I can’t hear it anyway. But his expression, he himself, mesmerizes me to no end.

I wish I knew him personally. Or even just his name.

I entertained myself with a movie, taking my mind off of my neighbor before going to sleep to get ready for tomorrow.

I sat waiting for my friends at the student center early in the morning.

We’re supposed to attend a conference today at the university. If I was still a junior, I’d ditch the event and just sleep all day at home. After all, it’s almost vacation time for us. There’s not much to do. But now that I’m an incoming senior, a fourth year college student, I have to attend as many events as I can. Apparently, a group of graduating students who has the best thesis from every department organized the conference for the younger ones.

As soon as my friends and I sat down inside the auditorium, I noticed a man a few rows ahead who looks just like my neighbor. I immediately dug inside my bag to get my glasses, not wanting to mistake this man for my little crush.

And there he is. As handsome as one man could ever be. He was talking to another man beside him, and was actually laughing. He seems to have a perfect set of teeth, and I suddenly got conscious of mine. I admired his side profile from a far, and sunk down in my seat when he turned his head to scan the crowd.

My friends gave me a weird look, asking me what was wrong. I shrugged them off and told them I saw someone familiar and didn’t want to talk to them in case they see me.

It surprised me to see him here. Is he a student in our university? What was he doing here? The last place I expected to see him is here. I tried to focus on the conference, but I couldn’t help glancing at my neighbor crush from time to time.

I was disappointed when the event ended around 2 o’clock in the afternoon. I didn’t want to go. I wanted to sit longer and watch the pretty man who’s been hogging my mind every now and then. I wanted to see him smile and laugh sincerely as he talks and jokes around with the man beside him.

And it’s hella weird. Because I don’t know him. I don’t even know his name.

My two other friends went home as soon as the conference ended, claiming that they have some stuff to do and left me and another friend of mine alone.

My friend suggested that we eat and kill time in the small convenience store outside the school, and I’m okay with that. Although I lowkey wanted to go home too because I wanted to see if my neighbor’s already in his house, playing his guitar.

We sat enjoying the comfortable silence, munching on our doughnuts and drinking coffee until my friend’s phone rang. She looked at me with a small, almost irritated frown on her face as she took the call.

“Sorry, I can’t stay longer. My editor wants to have a little meeting with us.” She said, sighing. I shooed her off in a playful manner.

“It’s alright, I’ll be okay here. Go on. You don’t want him to get mad. Oh, and don’t forget your coffee.” I said as she grinned, waving me a ‘goodbye’.

I shook my head, thinking about how demanding our campus publication is. I looked around me and noticed that the two remaining tables are empty except for the one I’ve been sitting on. I pulled my phone out to capture the moment of my alone time, planning to post it on my Instagram story and caption it as ‘gloomy’, until the doors opened right when I was about to snap a photo.

The side profile of my beautiful neighbor crush came into the view of my phone’s camera, making me widen my eyes a little. I abruptly put my phone down and opened a random app but not without looking at the people he came with.

They were all men. I decided not to count them and instead focus on slowing down my heartbeat. I took a sip of my coffee in haste, realizing that it won’t really help my problem. I winced when the hot liquid burned my tongue. I played it cool, afraid that my neighbor will come out from nowhere and see me frantically downing water I had with me in my bag.

I scrolled through the Explore page aimlessly.

“Is this seat taken?” An unfamiliar voice made me look up from my phone. I looked behind him and saw that the other two tables are occupied already.

I shook my head, “You can sit.” I said. My heart started to pound when I saw the man beside him. He parted his mouth slightly, his eyes widening a little, as if realizing that it’s me. My neighbor.

There were three of them, the two unfamiliar men sat in front of me and my neighbor took the seat next to mine. I wanted to squeal in joy when he spoke.

“It’s you. Thanks for letting us share your table.” He chuckles softly, and the man from earlier lets out a surprised sound. “Oh, you know each other?”

I studied his face in a subtle manner and realized that he’s the same guy who sat next to my neighbor during the conference. He has sharper features and strong eyes, though he melts into a soft looking man when he smiled.

“Not exactly, but we live next to each other.” My neighbor answered for us. He turned his attention to me. “So you go to that school?” He queries.

“Yes.” I answered shortly, and before he could reply, the one who sat directly in front of me spoke.

“Ah, so you attended the event? What can you say about it?” I recognized him as Minseok, the last one who presented his thesis and is pursuing a PhD. I felt a little intimidated by the three of them, though he gave me a little, expectant smile.

“Well… it’s interesting. Listening to different thesis topics, I mean. I liked the diversity of hearing