“You know, if I knew you were going to spend your time going to the library, I would have taken your offer of going to the convenience store that Saturday, or even yesterday on Sunday. I mean, you were injured but you didn’t take the day off,” Lay whined as he walked beside Yoon Haera.

Haera just smiled and took out something from her school bag. She held out the item to Lay. “Why didn’t you say that the limited-edition Strawberry Choco Pie that you wanted so much was on sale only until yesterday? If I didn’t search for the information about the Choco Pie, I wouldn’t have known.”

Lay reached out for the limited-edition food item in Haera’s hand. His hand was trembling, and his eyes blinked a few times before he took the food from her outstretched hand. He stared at the red box with pink flower motifs decorating the background of the package. “I thought I wouldn’t be able to eat it…”

“You could have just asked me out. I wouldn’t have minded it.” Haera looked at Lay, a smile still on her face.

“I didn’t want to disturb you when you have finally started studying, you know? You were busy, and I couldn’t possibly distract you by asking you to go out with me just to buy a snack. Wouldn’t that be bothersome?” Lay rubbed the back of his neck.

Bothersome? If anybody was to be bothersome, that would be her. If anybody was to be selfish, that would be her. The Lay that stayed by her side until the end, never losing his faith in her, why would she ever think of him as a nuisance?

Haera stopped walking, prompting Lay to halt his footsteps as well. She stared at Lay, and her face was no longer adorned with a smile. Lay tilted his head in confusion. “Haera? Why did you stop?”

“Lay. I would never think of you as a bother.” The feeling of guilt that was always present when she looked at the younger version of Zhang Yixing, grew by the second. She swallowed the lump that formed inside of . “So, don’t think of yourself as an inconvenience to me.” Her next words were said with a smile, “We are friends, are we not?”

He was a precious friend she could not afford to lose. Everything she took for granted in the past, she will treasure every single one of them in the present.

“Oh…yeah,” Lay answered before his eyes flitted towards the box of Strawberry Choco Pie. He put the box inside of his bag before giving a small smile to Haera. “Yeah, we are friends.”

“Come on. We should hurry to class.” Haera nudged at Lay and they walked into the school building.

Arriving inside the first floor of the building, Haera was greeted with the sight of students walking, chatting, and loitering around the halls, spending their time socializing before the lessons start.

Although she attracted attention because the crowd of students stayed clear of her path, it was convenient for her and Lay as they could freely walk to the stairs leading to the second floor of the building. The same thing happened when they reached the second floor. Everybody was throwing glances in her direction, and given her past behavior, she understood why they were acting that way, but it seemed like the reactions towards her was somehow different today.

There were more eyes on her, and more whispers were thrown about. She had not caused a ruckus that Friday, hence, what was it with all this fuss?

Ignoring the second graders, she and Lay climbed up the stairs that led up to the floor where the third graders’ classrooms were located at. Haera asked as they made their way to her class, “Is there some kind of event that I’m not privy to, Lay?” She took a discrete glance around her, the whispering game still going on; some even had the audacity to whistle at her.

Lay just stared blankly ahead as they walked towards Haera’s class. Haera looked at his impassive face. She called out, “Lay?”

Was Lay catching a fever? He was spaced out for quite a while, and Haera could not help but furrow her eyebrows. Should she take him to the infirmary?

Lay turned his head towards Haera as he blinked. “H-Huh? What did you say just now, Haera?”

“You were spacing out. Are you catching a cold?” Standing at a height of 170 cm, Haera reached out with her hand to touch Lay’s forehead. She paid no heed to the whistling going on the background as she felt Lay’s tem