Donghae walked up to his locker with his friends, and again today, he saw the pink post-it stuck to his locker. Good afternoon, I hope you had a good day today :) read the note. Donghae smiled to himself and opened his locker, putting the post-it inside the locker.

“I can’t believe we haven’t found out who this admirer or stalker of yours is!” exclaimed Eunhyuk, one of Donghae’s closest friends as they stood by Donghae’s locker, waiting for him to put back his books from the previous lesson.

Beside Donghae’s locker, Jessica pretended to look through her locker while listening to their conversation. She had seen Donghae putting her little pink post-it into his locker, and she was happy. At least he didn’t throw it away, she thought.

“Shall we go now?” Eunhyuk asked. “The others are waiting for us at the court already!” With that, Donghae closed his locker and left for the basketball court with Eunhyuk.

Jessica quietly followed Eunhyuk and Donghae, with her backpack slung over her shoulders. She sat at her usual spot, beneath the shade of a tree when she reached the patch of green beside the basketball court. From her direction, she was able to see everything that was happening on the basketball court. She took out a sketchbook, with a pencil on her hand, and started drawing.

“Hey, it’s dumbsica again!” one of the guys in the basketball court said, loud enough for Jessica to hear. She furrowed her eyebrows, and shook her head. It’s okay Jessica, you’re used to it already.

“Maybe she’s Donghae’s secret admirer! You know, the one that always leaves girly pink post-its on his locker?” another boy teased. Jessica tried hard not to look up and meet their gaze as she felt her cheeks turning red.

“Can we just carry on with the game?” Donghae questioned his friends. His friends gave Jessica another teasing look before turning their backs against her. Jessica lifted her head and shifted her gaze to Donghae, who was extremely focused on the game.

“Oppa!” a girl’s voice came from behind Jessica. Jessica turned her head and saw Hara heading towards the basketball court. Hara was the school’s queenka, and she was everything Jessica wasn’t. Jessica looked on as Hara walked towards Donghae and started whispering in his ear. It wasn’t long before Hara and Donghae burst into fits of laughter. I’ll never be as good as her, I’ll never make him smile this way, Jessica thought.

“Hey lover boy! Catch this!” Eunhyuk shouted, throwing the basketball at Donghae. However, Donghae missed the basketball and it went flying at Jessica. Jessica had been so engrossed in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed the basketball coming her way. The basketball hit her face hard, and her spectacles dropped onto the grass patch beside. Instead of helping her, the guys only laughed.

“Dumbsica is dumbsica! How can you be so dumb to not dodge when the basketball flew towards you?” Kyuhyun teased.

Jessica could feel the heat creeping up her face. She tried looking for her spectacles, but her vision was blurry. Suddenly, she felt someone putting her glasses back on for her. She rubbed her eyes, and saw Donghae right in front of her.

“Thank you” was all Jessica manage to mumble.

“Sorry about the basketball. I hope your cheek doesn’t hurt.” Donghae said, while smiling at her.

All Jessica could do was shake her head. Donghae smiled at her again, before leaving her to join his friends. Jessica’s face was red from embarrassment, as she saw Donghae’s friends looking at her teasingly. She decided to leave before she could embarrass herself even more, and hurriedly gathered her things before running away.

Donghae and his friends then decided to leave the basketball court minutes later, after Jessica left. Donghae turned around to where Jessica was sitting before, and noticed her pink notebook under the tree. He went over and picked the notebook, but a little pink note slipped out of the notebook. He recognised the handwriting and immediately knew that Jessica was the one sticking the post-its on his locker all along. Seeing that Jessica just left a few minutes ago, Donghae ran with the notebook in his hand, ignoring the calls from his friends. He had to catch up with her.

“Jessica-ssi!” a voice called out. Jessica turned her head and saw Donghae running towards her.

“You forgot your notebook.” Donghae said, still smiling. Jessica took her notebook from his hands, their fingers briefly touching. Jessica smiled and said a simple thank you. Silence fell between them as they continued to stand opposite each other, neither moving nor speaking anything. Donghae looked at Jessica as she pouted and looked at the ground, shuffling her feet. Donghae knew Jessica was pretty all along, but seeing her up close, she was beyond pretty, she was beautiful.

Just as Jessica was contemplating on what to say next, Donghae’s words surprised her.

“I’ll walk you home.” Donghae said, smiling at her when he did. Jessica loved the way Donghae smiled at her. She smiled back and started to walk when Donghae held her hand and intertwined their fingers together. Their gazes met, and she didn’t pull her hand away.