I was well aware that I was acting strange the following days. Mostly because Jongin’s face kept on flashing inside my mind, like every little detail of his face and his movement was practically etched in my mind’s eye and it won’t leave me alone. The moment we had in our homeroom, in particular, kept tugging at me. The thing is, I knew he’s been hovering inside my head for quite a long time now and I’m just ignoring it—

“Hana!”                                                              

I jumped on my seat and looked up at Min Jee who’s looking disgruntled. “What?” I asked her, vaguely.

Min Jee let out a frustrated sigh. “I’ve been talking here for five minutes and you’re not listening to me!” she whined, some students on a nearby table looked at her but she ignored them. “This essay is really important to me and I have, like, less than 24 hours to submit it. You promised me you’d help me—”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” I said ruefully, scratching the side of my head when I realized that I’ve been staring outside the window. Min Jee and I were hanging out by the library. She asked me to help her with her essay on one of her subjects but, clearly, my mind was not into it right now. “I was just a little…distracted.”

Min Jee knitted her brows. Then, she craned her neck and peered outside the library window. “I don’t see anything or anyone distracting outside.”

“It’s not… outside.” I said, weakly. “It’s in my head.”

“Enlighten me.” she said, regarding me with a careful look.

“I like Jongin.” I sputtered.

“I know. You said that already.” Min Jee said, “Well, not directly—”

“No, I like him.” I stated more firmly. “I like him…like a lot. Like he’s-in-my-head-for-twenty-four-seven kind of way. It’s been nagging me.”

“You tell him that.” Min Jee said casually.

“I can’t.” I argued. Min Jee rolled her eyes impatiently, so I supplied, “He already confessed to me and I declined him…”

“So, what?!” Min Jee said edgily, “There’s no police for that!”

I leaned back against my chair and sighed awfully. “It’s just…it doesn’t seem right.”

“Hana, look,” Min Jee said as she bent towards the table. “There are no rules in this thing…or whatever people call it.” she said, peering at me intently. “If you like him, tell him. Otherwise, those girls might win him over.”

“Another point.” I said. “He might like someone new already.”

“We don’t know that.” Min Jee said, shrugging a little. “Okay, fine. Maybe he likes someone new, or maybe he doesn’t, either way, I think it’s good for you to just spill it.”

“Why would that be good?” I said, feeling doubtful. “I think I’d die of embarrassment.”

“You said it’s been nagging you, the only way for it to stop is for you to let it out.” Min Jee said and then she sighed when I put on a confused look. “Once you get it out of your chest, it’ll stop. Just tell him you like him and that you don’t expect anything or something, that you just wanted him to know.” she winked at me.

But instead of feeling enlightened, I felt more confused.

I didn’t ask her another question because I knew I’d be more puzzled. Min Jee and I parted after we finished her essay. As I sat on my next period, my classmates were looking all worked up about something. They were murmuring and giggling at the same time.

“What’s going on?” I asked my seatmate, nudging her slightly on her side.

My classmate looked up from reading her notes and glanced at our classmates who were still buzzing breathlessly. “Oh.” she said, looking back at me. “After lunch, some boys got caught in a fight along the corridor on the second floor.” she whispered to me rather eagerly.

“Do you know who they were?”

My classmate leaned a little closer to me, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “I only know one of them because some people said it happened so fast.” she said, “Plus, a teacher suddenly walked by so they disappeared right after. It was Jongin, by the way.”

“Jongin?” I croaked worriedly. “Is he okay?”

“I’m not really sure.” she said and then she frowned. “Oh, and Jongin’s not a trainee anymore! I mean, can you believe that?!”

I put on an appalled expression and said, “Oh, wow. That’s very shocking.” It was a fail, really, but my classmate didn’t seem to notice because she continued to talk.

“They said Jongin looked really hot when they were fighting.” she giggled. “Oh, can I borrow your pen?” she asked me with a broad smile.

I reflexively handed her the pen on my hand and then she started scribbling on her notes. Meanwhile, her story about Jongin brawling with someone was still in my head. I stood up from my seat, thinking of checking on how Jongin was doing but our teacher already arrived. I tried fishing out my cell phone during class but it was no use because our teacher kept a close watch on me. She narrowed her eyes on me suspiciously thrice already so I just gave it up.

Unfortunately, I became busy the entire day. I received revisions for my articles so I ended up working on them after school for an hour or so. I tried calling Jongin but it went straight to his voicemail. I tried reaching Min Jee as well but she wasn’t picking up so I figured she’s on her club meeting again.

When I left the office, it was already dark outside and as I was about to take the stairs, I bumped into Sehun.

“Hey, I heard what happened with Jongin.” I said, anxiously.

For a moment, Sehun looked hesitant. “Yeah. He got caught in a fight.” he said, nodding his head.

“Do you know who’s the guy he had a brawl with?”

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