▬ Final Chapter: From Confusion To Confession ▬

The skies were painted with a lush gradient of orange and yellow. Barely any students or teachers were left since after school activities were dismissed by the very last bell for the day merely a few moments ago.

One particular student, however, just finished her cleaning duties and was getting ready to leave the club room. Shoving the dangling keys back into her pockets, she let out a sigh as she started to walk towards her locker before heading home.

“Oh, Yeonseo!” a familiar voice called out to the tired female student as she entered the main building. She looked up to see a fellow art club member jogging towards her. “Did you already lock up the club room?”

“Hey, Jooheon. Yeah, I already did. Why?”

The ash brown-haired man gave a shy, toothy grin which made his eyes curve up into cute little slits. “I forgot my lyrics notebook inside and I need it for my music class homework. Can I have the keys? I can return them directly to Mr. Lee tomorrow so you don’t have to come with me.”

Yeonseo was about to easily hand over the keys when she stopped midway to look at the smiling student. She glared at him skeptically. “You almost lost the keys during your cleanup turn last time. How can I trust you?”

“Hey! That was only one time!” he whined. 

“Fine.” She plopped the jingling keys into his pleading hand. “If you lose this, I’m blaming you.”

After he muttered a soft ‘thanks’ with a relieved sigh, Jooheon resumed his jogging to fetch his notebook while Yeonseo continued her way towards her locker. 

Just as she turned the corner, she noticed a student scurrying around where her locker would be. Upon closer inspection, she easily noticed the familiar nicely combed, light brown hair that she’s used to seeing every day. The suspicious student was her classmate, Son Hyunwoo. His muscular frame and tall stature looked prominent to her under the now darkened evening. She was surprised to see him unusually jittery though since he was known to be expressionless and rather calm. 

Yeonseo’s breath hitched as she continued to eye the suspicious student. She became quite drawn to him for some strange reason after he innocently asked to borrow a pen one day in class. She only expected that he would return the pen as any borrower would, but when he did, she found her pen on her table with a little chocolate-flavored candy beside it. 

Yeonseo tried to calm herself so that she could muster up the courage to advance to her locker, get her belongings, and finally head home. A smile was still unconsciously stuck on her face upon seeing her classmate and once she was about to start walking, Hyunwoo awkwardly turned around and left. 

“What the heck was he doing?” Yeonseo mumbled on the way to her locker, still confused as to what just happened. The moment she opened her locker, she noticed a folded piece of paper stuck in a weird position. She took it out and read the contents. Her eyebrows skeptically furrowed for a moment until they eased into a confused look.

“A love letter? Wait, this handwriting… isn’t it Hyungwon’s?”

Hyungwon was her seatmate and he was known to be Hyunwoo’s friend. Both of them had awkward tendencies and were silent in nature. Therefore, it was no coincidence that they got along pretty well. No one really knows what they both do and talk about as friends yet they seemed close in everyone’s eyes.

Now Yeonseo was even more confused. Hyungwon never really looked like he was even remotely interested in her. They barely talk to each other and most of their conversations either revolve around simple greetings or schoolwork. 

Yeonseo found herself pouting and immediately shook her head. She gave a huff as she slammed her locker door shut then started walking home. 

“What was I expecting anyway? As if that Hyunwoo guy would even like me.”

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The next day, Yeonseo stopped Hyungwon before he left for his club activities. She led him towards the exit stairs where they wouldn’t be too bothered by random passersby. Luckily, he seemed willing to comply with her demand since he wasn’t declining nor ignoring her request. He simply — and quietly — followed her, sipping from his Starbucks cup from time to time. 

“Um, I need to talk to you.” 

Raising an eyebrow with a smirk playing on his thin lips, Hyungwon gave her a slight nod to signal her to continue. 

“About that love letter you put inside my locker, I—”

“Hold up,” he finally spoke. “Let me stop you there.”

“What?”

“I knew this wouldn’t work.”

Flustered at his response, she stuttered. “T-Then what’s up with the love letter?” 

“That wasn’t from me,” he simply stated. “I just wrote it.”

Getting more confused and perhaps growing even slightly irritated at his contradictory statement, Yeonseo was about to retaliate when Hyungwon chuckled. 

“You think this is funny? Chae Hyungwon, you—”

“I already gave you a hint, my goodness.” Then he repeated his last sentence but this time, said them more slowly to emphasize the words. “I just wrote it.”

Hyungwon patiently stood there, taking another sip of his coffee. He was having fun seeing the changes in Yeonseo’s expression. It took her a few moments to finally get his meaning and when she did, her face went from confusion to astonishment followed by embarrassment. And lastly, she ended with a defeated sigh all in under two minutes.

“Something wrong?”

“If it’s not you who wrote it, then I’m back to square one.” Yeonseo sat down on the nearest steps. “How am I supposed to find out who sent this and reject them?”

“You don’t even know who it’s from and you’re already thinking of rejecting them? Wow, I didn’t know you were brutal.”

“It’s not that.” Yeonseo’s voice was barely audible as she lowered her head into her arms so that Hyungwon wouldn’t see her now red cheeks. “I have someone that I already like.”

“Well then, why don’t you just go and find out?”

“Find what out?”

“Did you not see the location at the back of the letter?” 

For a moment, Yeonseo didn’t move. She didn’t think about the back of the letter at all since she was so focused on the note itself. There was no arrow pointing to the back or a P.S. to refer to the backside of the letter. She lifelessly took out the letter from her pocket and flipped it to the back, expecting Hyungwon’s writing. But to her surprise, the scribbles were different.

“That’s his handwriting, not mine.”