“Son Naeun!” someone called her, as she turned to respond, it was Taemin, the representative of the dance club of the school .....and also the boy she was thinking about a lot these days.....

It had been seven months since she was transferred to this school. And not really the type who would make friends, she would have her lunch alone most of the time. She used to go and sit on the bench near the basketball ground during lunch with her lunch box, to avoid coming into the eyes of all the chattery girls, who would ask her reasons for sitting alone during lunch, and the boys running around the corridors who would stare at her with mocking eyes for being alone all the time.

She was an extremely shy newcomer, who neither initiated the talk and rarely had a response even after approaching her.

But even if she had nothing special to talk to other kids in the class, there was someone who had caught her eyes in those 200 days she had spent in this school now.

It was Lee Taemin, the boy who was handsome for his age and quiet as her, however he always had earphones in his ears in his spare time, which was most intruguing for her. 

He was popular in the school unlike her, but unbothered by his fame, he would be always in the multipurpose hall dancing, or sleeping in the class during the lectures.

She had found him dancing in the hall one day, when she was returning from the library.

He was solo on the platform/stage in the center of the hall, while a few girls were whispering compliments watching him from the seats in the other half of the huge hall.

Dancing was her favourite hobby too, but she was too shy to join the club, or let’s say, being in the crowd of so many people together when she wasn’t yet accustomed to the school, made her more nervous.

She watched him dance to song after song that day, standing out of the hall, near its window, as nobody bothered to distract themselves to take a glance at the window till he was on the stage. 

He was quite good for a 15 year old, who knew a wide variety of cool steps, making the kids howl with cheers, time after time.

Since that day, her eyes would often search for him as soon as she was in the school.

Sometimes she would find him playing basketball with the boys after lunch, when she would watch him from the bench then, and sometimes, in the class, sleeping with his head inside his arms folded on the table, and ofcourse the earphones, they were always in his ears like a part of his identity.

One day…..., one of those embarrasing days...

Taemin was sleeping in the class again that day, as Naeun's gaze was stuck on him for a few or more minutes longer, as he had his eyes closed, with his side of head on the folded arms, making him face the direction in which Naeun had her desk.

It was easy and effortless, so she continued to keep her eyes on him without any disturbance, from the noisy classmates busy in enjoying the break time.

He had a chubby face which made him look younger and cuter, like a baby when they were mid-schoolers.

She continued observing his closed eyelids, then his nose, then his lips, they were plump & pink, she noticed a tiny mole on his lips, which made her blink softly in surprise, as she was immersed into the details of his features.

Her eyes moved up to his bangs again, when she noticed that he was awake, looking at her since don’t know when, meeting her eyes that were on him, now round big startled by his attention, and the pen in her hand fell down in the shock, making her evoke completely by the sound then, as she bent down to get it, raising up again to look at the board directly, finally paying attention to their geography teacher walking in the class.

The incident had ended with her not looking in his direction for the entire week after that, terrified that he’ll catch her staring at him again.

Today was the last day of that week.

It was Saturday, and they had the rest of the time after lunch break for the respective club activities, they had chosen for themselves. So Naeun was heading to the library as usual, to join the other nerds like her, who had the least intention of being a threat to her reserve-self, when she was called by this voice in the corridor.

The girl was speechless, gawking at him, with a dead stare, her feet froze on the first step of the staircase she was going to climb to reach the library upstairs.

“You are Son Naeun right?” he asked, walking to her, as she kept staring at him dumbfounded, making him observe her strange response hesitantly.

“Can we talk right now?” He asked the next question, trying to make her speak, but she had her lips locked, making him sigh softly, as he moved closer to stand in front of her, as he had a mysterious shy smile, “I have a favor to ask you!” he was smiling awkwardly embarrassed, to make her blink finally.

Her brows were curled on him, puzzled, hearing his last words, “Favor?” she asked in a soft low voice, making him nod with a pleading look on his face now, as she was again observing him keenly trying to read his motive.

She looked around & behind, looking back at him, as he was blankly watching her, confused by her reaction, “Me?” she pointed at herself, watching him in astonishment.

He ended up biting his lip in a nervous smile, hearing her words taking a deep breath then, as she was just more curious now seeing him nod again gently....

—--------------

The school hours had ended and she was outside the multipurpose hall to lock it as everyday.

It was her regular duty after school, that she had to lock the hall making sure everyone leaves the space and that way the hall would not be misused after school.

Being the girl who was not only sincere but uptight too, Naeun had no clingy friends to lend favors to, teachers had chosen her with lot of trust to take the responsibility for the hall.

And exactly that concerned Taemin’s favor today!!

Everybody had left the hall, after noticing her standing outside the hall as everyday, as Taemin was the last person inside now.

She went in finally, watching everyone disappearing from the corridor one by one, “Only two hours!” she warned, making him notice her, as she saw him sitting on top of one of the desks, gulping down the water from the bottle in his hand.

He was drenched with sweat, as she felt a pinch in her heart, watching his face glowing with the moist skin, making her part her lips to take a breath, lost subconsciously in staring at him for a moment.

He nodded silently, smiling soft then, looking back at her to catch her eyes on him, as she then decided to walk over to the window to watch the gate of their school, as an excuse.

“Thank you” she heard, making her turn back to him, startled by his voice in the silence.

“Are you really going for the dance auditions next week?” she asked watching him as she was walking back to take a seat on one of the benches, as he jumped off the bench to walk in her direction, making her stop on her feet, her heart beating faster for no reason why now,

“How do you know that?” he asked, smiling, walking closer, as he came to stand in front of her, leaning forward on her side to take a glance out of window himself, making her scan his jawline so close to her.

“I-” she was already suffering with the proximity, as he hummed in curiosity, sending tingles down her spine with the breathy voice brushing her small hair near her ear.

She was hardly breathing, “I heard the girls-” her voice cracked in attempt to speak, struggling with her shortened breath.

He was watching over the security guard who was at the gate, when he saw him moving inside the school, “Shhh!” he looked at her side, startling her, running to the door of the hall again.

As she almost had a heart attack, now with her heart jumping out of her chest.

She saw him close the door, locking it from inside, as she ran to him now, watching him sit down near the door, as it had a square transparent window in the upper top part, as he raised himself slightly to look from the corner of the glass, “Won't he come to check inside?” she asked looking out from the glass, standing before him, but he had pulled her hand to make her sit down beside him, holding her wrist in his hand, “Shhhh!” he hushed her, his eyes looking through the corner of the glass again to make sure noone saw them, “He always checks it from the end of the corridor" "Everyone trusts you” he whispered low, smirking to himself.

But Naeun was hardly hearing anything, surprised by how close his face was now to her eyes, she was statued in her startled face when his eyes turned to her, confused by her silence.

They were so close that he could see her pupil growing very clearly as his eyes found hers, before she could blink then to look away, as his heart skipped a beat. She looked cute.

He kept staring at her side of face, not aware of his own actions, but he was hearing his own hearbeat after a while, suddenly out of nowhere.

They heard the school main door closing, snapping taemin out of his short trance, as she turned back to him, panicked, realizing that they were locked inside the school, "They're closing the school door!"

He was calm though, as he rested back on his hips, sitting on the floor, as she continued to stare at him, till the corner of eyes crinkled in wonder, as his lips parted in a nervous smile recognizing her anxious eyes, "There's a window in the teacher's room, we can escape through that" "It's reliable" "I've tried sneaking in few times before" he suggested, making her widened her eyes to scare him more,

"I didn't thought of-" he remembered she was a model student, "I should've told you to leave before locking the door" he confessed, pressing his lips together cutely, making her gulp , as she stood up, looking out through the glass pane.

The corridors were silent, empty and dark now, proving they were the only two in the school.

Her heartbeat was unstable for other reason now, she had never done something like this before, and she was having a cold feet just thinking about 'what ifs' in her head at the moment. 

"I'm sorry" she heard his soft voice behind her again, as she was back to the real reason of her discomfort.

She couldn't believe she ended up in this situation with him of all, when she can't even look in his eyes properly.

She stayed stuck to the door, till she heard him walking away, to turn herself back then seeing him climb up the stage, "You want to go right now?" "I can show you the window" he asked, turning to her, catching her gaze on him, making her blink nervously again, as he smiled back, making her look away, "Uhmm?" she kind of wanted to stay now, feeling better, but saying that would be more awkward after showing him her anxiety.

"Don't worry" "You can stay if you want" he had that constant smile as she looked at him, and she felt like she was riding a rollercoaster, feeling embarrassed and excited at the same time, "I'll make sure to get you back home safely" he added, making her heart flutter on top of all these crazy things going on in her head, she was into a group of strange feelings now.

She didn't realised that she was flushing with all the rush of her adrenaline for various reasons now.

She watched him secretly, he was practicing his moves on the stage, while she was pretending to read the book in her hand.

He took a few glances in between at her figure settled comfortably on one of the benches for the span of two hours.

They left together through the window in the teacher's room after that at 7pm.

She was climbing the gate of school for the very first time, and it had turned out to be fun, as they both were giggling when he walked her home, the day had turned into a sweet memory for her.

She was smiling more every morning excited to go to school, noticing her hair and dress more before leaving the mirror these days, and finding the lyrics of love songs on the radio more worth-smiling, with the one person on her mind in all these moments.

------------------

Naeun was specially happy today, it was her birthday, and she liked her birthday, it was the day her parents would buy her gifts, and she felt especially excited every year on that day, so even though she had to wear the same old school uniform, she wanted to look notably pretty today, as she was eventually gonna see Taemin as well at school. Though she doubted if he knew about her birthday at all. Nobody in the class knew, how can he.

Naeun had a friend now by the end of the term, but even she wasn't aware of Naeun's birthday, so there was no place for any expectations.

But she was happy anyway. It was her birthday after all.

She had reached school, as she noticed Bomi walking ahead of her, as she hastened to walk beside her, "Hii"

"Hii" Bomi answered back, giving a bright smile back, "You sure you don't wanna join dance club in next term?" Bomi was a member of the dance club and she was insisting Naeun to join too after learning it was her hobby too, but now more than other students, Naeun was shy because of that one person, she would die of embarrassment, dancing in front of Taemin was a big no.

She shook her head, looking down, smiling shy again, making Bomi watch her with a frown, "I don't understand why you keep saying no, when you told me you like dancing?" she was confused after asking her so many times, getting no definite answer, every time.

"I want to focus on reading more" "I'm more comfortable in reading club" she gave Bomi a cheeky smile, making her roll her eyes, giving up trying again, as they walked to the class then.

Naeun went to her locker directly, to get her books for the first class, as she got a glance of Taemin's seat in the meanwhile, watching him leaned on his desk as usual.

As she opened the locker, and was surprised by a pink box inside.

She looked around and everyone was busy in their work, as she wondered now if someone was playing a prank on her.

She hesistantly got the ribbon tied on the top, releasing the knot, scared if something weird would pop out, as she opened it carefully, shocked to find a cute hairclip inside, and a note saying 'Happy birthday' 

She looked around flustered now, to find Bomi chilling with her other classmates, and everyone else was as normal as everyday, confusing her more, as her eyes fell on the one person quiet in the whole scene in front of her, with his head dug in his arms as usual. 

There's no way he would know.

But she needed to confirm still, as she took out the clip, placing the box in again, tucking one side of her partitioned hair with it above the ear, fixing her long, straight hair in place again, as she turned around to witness his slight movement, making her observe him now out of strong suspicion.

She moved to her desk to take the seat, keeping her eye on him, as he had his head turned the other side.

He was smiling with his eyes closed, with his side of head resting on his arms.

He had noticed her turning back when he was taking a glance at her while she was wearing the clip. 

He wasn't sleeping today, waiting for her the whole time, to see her reaction.

He had got to know about her birthday, when he was checking his own information in the student register, to confirm for his application for the auditions.

He bought the gift not sure what she likes, but noticing that she loves pretty hair clips, as she had a different one everyday on her hair, he was happy to see her wear the gift right away, as it looked so more pretty on her, fulfilling his satisfaction.

He was unsure to hand it himself, she was a shy person, and after that day in the hall, they had not talk to each other again, other than giving silent smiles while passing by, it was convenient to give it secretly like this, than embarrassing himself & being awkward in front of her.

The smile was still on his face as his eyes opened to find her watching him, making him sit up, startled, as she blinked flustered, watching his astonished face, smiling then, as blush painted her cheeks naturally, making him feel more embarrassed, "Thank you" she added, careful of not taking unnecessary attention, as he heard her low voice in the middle of loud talks in the class, watching her turn around, walking to her seat again, before he could respond.

He was feeling his cheeks heat up, as he stayed on that side of his desk, trying to hide his face inside his arms again, with butterflies rising in his stomach, as his feet were softly tapping the floor in ecstasy, trying to get control of his escaping heart.

A/N:

Happy birthday to Naeunnie!! I had planned this special story for Naeun's birthday so here it is!!

Hope you liked the cute school romance!!

'Attracted to U' brings all these cute vibes for me, I had this chapter saved for a special occasion like this, so hope you enjoyed it!!