His head was bouncing in the air, oblivious with the curious set of eyes watching him for the past few minutes. After a few more seconds of trying to keep his head upright, it became too heavy for his neck and quickly dropped his face flat on the table. The impact disrupted the whole library as the loud thud echoed through the quiet walls, gaining not only the attention of the ones around his table, but from every breathing creature in the room.

Kyungsoo’s sudden smash woke him effectively. He became aware of the people softly laughing around him and felt too embarrassed to lift his head, although he was not going to do that forever, of course. However, unlike the laughing audience he heard, he lifted his head to his friend crossing her arms and condescendingly raising a brow.

“If you want to go home, just go home.” Wendy suggested.

“I wasn’t sleeping.” His denial fell in vain by the big yawn he let out right after. Blinking the sleepiness out of his eyes, he realized that one of the people they came with was not present. “Where’s Junmyeon?”

“He went home. We finished our lab report an hour ago.” She answered.

Delighted by the news, he pushed his chair out and picked up his bag on the floor. “That’s good then. If we go now, we can still catch the Heotteok cart you love so much—“

“I can’t.” She interjected. “I still have to review some pointers in our analysis. I’m still taking notes from the related references I found.”

Kyungsoo groaned as he pulled his chair back in. “Fine. Then I’ll study more too.”

Wendy rolled her eyes. “You’ve been treating this library like a hotel; you didn’t even leave your table to borrow any book the whole time.”

Now it’s his time to cross his arms. “Well excuse me if I don’t study as conventional as you would, but in fact I was studying. Yeah, I’ve been memorizing codes I’ve read in our textbook in my head. I have a photographic memory, just so you know.”

“No you don’t. You can’t even remember the color of the shirt you wore yesterday because I’m pretty sure you’re wearing the same thing today.” She scoffed.

He looked down to his shirt and suddenly remembered he was wearing it yesterday. “Dammit.” He acknowledged her comment.

“Why do you have to stay here anyway? You won’t even go in the library even it was required, but you’re here with me at almost midnight.” She asked.

Kyungsoo didn’t know what to say as much as he couldn’t look at her.

Wendy was growing impatient at his adamancy. “Fine, don’t tell me. You can stay here with me until 4 AM and watch me study, or you can tell and then maybe we can go home.”

“That’s insane, there’s no way—“

“I’ve been here for six hours; I don’t mind staying to a full ten.”

He panicked at the thought of staying at the god forbidden place for four more hours and finally cracked. “If I tell you, you’ll laugh at me.”

“What could be funnier than watching your face fall flat on the table?” She grinned mischievously. He obviously unimpressed by her little snide as he stared at her blankly. Embarrassed by his lack of reaction, she cleared . “This better be good then.”

Kyungsoo didn’t know where to start; he didn’t even actually know why he decided to accompany her to a place he doesn’t even like. However, for the past few weeks, he had done things that were not usually him for Wendy, and he’s sure she’s also aware of his peculiar behavior. He lets her dress him in bright colored clothes rather than his old collection of black shirt and pants, he stocks a box of banana milk (her favorite) whenever she would come over to his apartment, he buys her cute items he thought she would like whenever he passes by the novelty store, and now he just waited for six hours for her just so he could take her home. While he couldn’t pinpoint why exactly he was doing any of those things, he only knew he wanted to do it for Wendy.

Wendy snapped her fingers on his face, bringing him back to earth. “You haven’t said anything for the past two minutes.”

Kyungsoo had to think quick. “Heotteok.”

“What?”

“Heotteok. I wanted to eat Heotteok with you.” He answered in haste. “I’m craving Heotteok but I’m not sure where you bought the ones you gave me last time. I can’t stop thinking about them, and now I want them. They were just so yummy, I want them in my tummy.” Liar. Kyungsoo felt his inside crumble along with the strong desire to kick himself for rambling, especially for his last words.

Wendy looked baffled, but she dismissed his obvious rattling as one of his weird moments. “If you want them that much, you could’ve told me. You didn’t have to wait for me for Heotteok, I could’ve just told you where to buy them.”

“I wanted to come with you. It would be weird for the sellers to see a new face so it’s better if I come with you.” Kyungsoo wished he could just stop spurting nonsense, but he was helpless.

Wendy pursed her lips. “I know we’re best friends, but you have to stop depending on me all the time.” She sighed. He didn’t want to say anything weird again so she just let her think that’s really the case.

Wendy stood up and fixed her things. She neatly stacked the books she used and placed them on the nearby bookshelf. Kyungsoo took this as a signal and prepared himself too. On their way out of the building, he was still feeling awkward after his little flustered attempt to cover up his motives with Wendy. Wendy went on about the Heotteok and how she discovered it, assuming he never heard these stories before and as if he didn’t actually know where she bought them. Nevertheless, he was happy to find an excuse to do something alone with her.

By the time they stepped out of the door, a tall, lanky figure leaning on one of the pillars was waiting for them. He gave them a full, toothy smile as soon as he saw them approach.

“Chanyeol? What are you doing here?” Wendy greeted the new person.

Chanyeol extended to her the paper bag he was holding. Wendy opened it and released a warm whiff of honey and milk into the cold night air. “I was working late and I passed by the Heotteok cart you love. I remember you told me you’d be staying late in the library so I figured I’ll buy you some.”

Wendy blushed at his thoughtfulness. “What would you do if I came home early?”

“Are you kidding me? Lucky for me then, I’d get to eat all of them myself! You’re right; these are the best thing I have ever tasted. I might’ve stolen a few while waiting.” He scratched his head.

“We were actually just going to buy some for ourselves.” Kyungsoo butted in, wanting to emphasize his presence.

“Oh, sorry dude. I just bought the last ones; the cart was already closing when I caught them.” Chanyeol informed him. His tone was apologetic but somehow it irked Kyungsoo to wanting to punch him for ruining his plans.

He turned to Wendy. “Well, guess I have no more reason to stay here. Good night, and good bye.” And then he just walked out, leaving the two in utter confusion.

Kyungsoo knew it was a bit rude, but he just couldn’t stay there and watch them flirt. For the first time, he finally recognized what he was feeling and he didn’t want to show it to her, much less for Chanyeol to see how threatened he was by him.

It was an emotion unfamiliar to him, and so is the reason why he was feeling that in the first place.

He was jealous.