Over the weekend Onew debated going to the park, laying on his bed and staring at his ceiling with glazed over eyes as he thought but he didn’t think for long. In a matter of minutes on Saturday afternoon Onew found himself going to the park on auto pilot and sitting on the same bench he always did, with his notes for the classes of the week just gone resting on his lap.

He looked around himself hopefully, trying to spot Amber and her friends but sighed when he saw no one before shaking his head in disbelief at the disappointment he felt. It didn’t matter if she wasn’t there, in fact it was better if she wasn't. It meant he could concentrate on his studying and that he wouldn’t get distracted by excited shouts, cute laughter or an enchanting smile. He groaned out loud at the words his brain associated with the girl: cute and enchanting, he had no idea where the words came from in his mind. With another shake of the head and forgetting what he had chosen to call a slip up, he looked up at the sky and smiled when he found there wasn’t a single cloud in sight before opening his notepad and tugging the lid of his highlighter, a blue one as he found the brightness of the yellow ones hurt his eyes, before starting to study.

Onew was quick to get absorbed into his work, he always was when there were no distractions whether it was from a particular tomboy who seemed to be unknowingly taking over his life or anything else, so quick in fact that he didn’t even notice when said tomboy and her friends turned up in the park for their weekly game of baseball. He didn’t notice the initial shouts, their games always starting relatively quiet but got louder as they went along, and he didn’t even notice as Amber cheered and celebrated getting a home run as the group of friends played on the field in front of him.

He was only pulled out of his work when he felt something nudge his foot. He pushed his glasses back up his nose from where they had slid down when he worked before looking down, to find out what had nudged him, to see a baseball. He furrowed his eyebrows, confused as to where the baseball came from, before he heard the sound of someone jogging up to him from across the field and saw a hand pick the baseball up. He looked up to see who’s ball it was and yelped, nearly falling backwards off the bench when he unexpectedly found himself face to face with Amber, close enough for their noses to nearly touch.

“Whoa! Careful!” Amber reached out and grabbed onto Onew’s wrists, not even seeming to care when the action caused Onew’s uncapped highlighter to draw a long blue line up her forearm. She gently tugged him so he was sitting safely again, with a small laugh and smile, before letting go and starting to toss the baseball from hand to hand as she stood up straight again.

“Sorry about that” She continued to speak as Onew just looked at her with a slightly slack jaw. When did she turn up? He didn’t realise that he had gotten to into his studies. It was only when the tomboy looked at him expectantly, like she was waiting for an answer, that he stiffly shook his head and replied.

“I-it’s fine” He stuttered out, quickly grabbing his pen as it slid down the pad on his lap “don’t w-worry about it”

Amber nodded and smiled as she stopped throwing the ball back and forth. Onew’s breath caught in his throat when she smiled, he had never seen it from so close before. He groaned internally, he really was starting to sound like a stalker.

“I’ll leave you to your studying then” Amber’s voice was full of confidence here in the park, nothing like in the school where her voice was shaky and nervous, like she was almost scared to speak “I’ll try not to disturb you again”

She turned to head back to her friends and Onew nearly reached out to her, wanting to pull her back and have a proper conversation with her now the that opportunity was handed to him on a plate but, before he could, she turned back to look at him from her place now a few steps away. She tilted her head as she looked at him, as if trying to remember something, before nodding to herself as she remembered.

 “You’re Jinki right?” He nodded mutely in response and Amber’s smile grew, being happy that she remembered. “I thought so. I’ll see you on Monday yeah? See you later”

With a happy wave and having spoke in a cute but innocent tone, much girlier than her appearance would suggest, Amber turned around again and ran back over to her friends to carry on with their game. As she reached them Onew heard her laughter travel over to him as she laughed at a comment one of her friend’s said and he stared after her for a moment, following her with his eyes before snapping himself out of his trance. He didn’t understand how the girl could have such a split personality, being so outgoing and talkative outside of school but acting like she didn’t want to be seen or heard in school. He didn’t understand how one mind could hold such different personalities but he had to admit that he liked this side of her. He liked how lively she was, how innocent but at the same time intelligent she was. She was someone who was instantly likable, who could attract friends without much of an effort. She should be one of the popular kids, with people wishing they could get to know her just like Onew wished he could but instead she was stuck at the bottom, a social outcast and a loner. It didn’t add up in his head.

He always understood why he was stuck at the bottom of the social food chain. He was clumsy, shy, didn’t dress very well and was, to put it bluntly, a nerd. He was at the top of all his classes and he spent most of his time studying, it was only normal for him to be at the bottom. But Amber was social, she was outgoing, at least enough to go out with a large group of friends and play baseball every weekend, and if how her friends acted were anything to go by she was really funny too.

He didn’t understand his school, he couldn’t stand those at the top, the jocks and the cheerleaders. Just because Amber didn’t fit into what was considered “the norm” her personality was being wasted.

Onew sighed, he didn’t understand people.

He put his notepad on the bench next to him and capped his highlighter, knowing that he would get no work done now that he was aware of the baseball game going on in front of him. He instead decided to enjoy the game. The game was fun to watch as always and Onew couldn’t help but smile wide when Amber noticed him watching and waved at him excitedly. He waved back, in the same excited manner, before looking around him. As the day continued the temperature was starting to climb, he could see those playing were starting to get hot in just their shorts and t-shirts. Amber meanwhile was buried under full length sweatpants and a large hoodie with rolled up sleeves, she must have been boiling, Onew was feeling hot just sitting on the bench.

He smiled when he noticed an ice cream van just down the path and got up, knowing the game would be over soon, before going over to the van and getting two ice lollies. He didn’t know what Amber would like so played it safe with a simple choc ice and decided to get one for himself too instead of his intended strawberry split lolly. As he headed back over the bench, looking at the two wrapped choc ices in his hand as he debated whether it was a bad idea to get one for her, the game ended and he saw some of her friends start to leave.

He felt more confident as her friends started to leave, as now he didn’t have to worry about quite as many people watching and maybe laughing as Amber turned down the frozen treat, if she did that is. He picked up speed as he saw Amber put her back on her shoulder, a simple black messenger bag with her baseball bat sticking out of it, so he could catch her before she left and nearly tripped over his mis-sized jeans as he jogged over.

Amber looked up when she saw someone coming towards her out of the corner of her eye. She assumed it was one of her friends wanting to ask her something or maybe suggest going somewhere for dinner as that wasn’t uncommon but, instead, she was surprised to find a slightly out of breath Onew stopping in front of her and holding something out to her. She looked at him in confusion, not knowing what he wanted and feeling slightly worried that he was planning something against her and that whatever he was holding was part of a prank. That had happened before, people from her school acting like they wanted to get to know her only to try and prank her or hurt her instead. It made her uncertain around people from her school but she couldn’t help but think Onew was different to the others, there was something about him that made her worry less.

“What’s up Jinki?” She asked innocently as she shifted her bag on her shoulder though she still looked confused.

“O-oh, um” Amber smiled softly as Onew started to stutter, was he really this shy? He seemed a lot more confident when they first spoke in school the day before “It’s kind of hot and...well, I thought you would be pretty warm after all that exercise, so I got you a choc ice...maybe, yeah”

Amber laughed quietly as his voice trailed off and reached out to accept the choc ice, smiling wider when he handed it to her “thanks, I’ll pay you back”

She started to open the choc ice, though slowly in case something were to happen, but she relaxed when Onew didn’t move an inch and she was able to safely take a bite out of the choc ice without a single incident. She sighed happily as the ice cream cooled her down, thankful for it as she didn’t have enough money on her to buy one herself even though she wanted one.

Onew shook his head as he started to open his own choc ice with a slightly shaky hand as he noticed that the blue line his highlighter had drawn up her arm was still there  “You d-don’t have to pay me back” He put the ripped off wrapper into the pockets of his jeans before starting to eat it “don’t worry about it”

Amber was uncertain about that, about the idea of not paying him back but she nodded deciding that she could just return the favour at some point and get rid of the debt that way. She took another bite out of the choc ice before taking a step forward and around Onew. She turned back to face him, like she did the day before.

“I need to get going though, I have homework to do. So I’ll catch you around yeah Jinki?”

“Y-yeah, sure, catch you around...t-that was a great game by the way”

Amber smiled wide, thankful for the compliment, and Onew bit his ice cream numbed lip at the sight of her.

“Thanks, I’m glad you think so” She paused for a second, to look behind her and make sure she wasn’t going to trip over anything before looking  back at the boy in front of her “and thanks a lot of the choc ice. I really wanted one but was a bit short on cash. Bye Jinki!”

Her farewell was exclaimed happily with another enthusiastic wave before she turned around and she walked off down the path, with a happy skip in her step and her weighed down bag hitting against her side in time with her steps, as Onew helplessly watched her walk off, not fully sure if he had just spoken to her and completed his intended mission two days early or not. He reached up with his spare hand and pinched the arm holding his choc ice to check.

“Ow!” He hissed quietly, having pinched himself a lot rougher than necessary, but the small burst of pain made him grin before happily taking a large bite out of his choc ice. He was feeling extremely proud of himself, even if he stuttered like an idiot the entire time. He headed back over to the bench and picked up his notes and pens before heading down the path himself to go home. But, on the way, he pulled his phone out and dialled a number before putting the phone to his ear.

He just reached the park’s exit when the person on the other end of the line answered with a snappy “what!?”

Onew knew he was interrupting his friend’s ‘me time’ but he wanted to vent out his excited happiness.

“Hey Kibum! Guess what I just did?”

Author's notes:

 I should be doing essays euuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh do not want!

I don't think it took me too long to update did it?