Onew came back the library every day without fail and, while Amber could have moved somewhere else so he couldn’t find her she found that she didn’t really want to. She wanted him to find her, to try and make her laugh with his lame jokes and ask random question about the book she was reading. She liked the attention and was thankful that Onew seemed to want to put the effort in to prove himself to her, even if the girl couldn’t see why anyone would want to.

She didn’t speak much during their encounters, instead taking the time to observe him as he talked enthusiastically about his friends, Minho and Kibum Amber remember him saying they were called, and as he shared funny stories he once again tried to make her laugh but he never succeeded. Amber held her laughter back, wanting to see if Onew would just get fed up and leave her but he never did. Instead, if anything, he became more determined and more enthusiastic with his joke telling and stories.

Amber couldn’t help but worry that, after Onew had completed his mission to make her laugh, he would just disappear as soon as he came into her life and Amber found herself not wanting him to leave. She wanted him to stay by her side, be the friend in the school she so desperately needed, and so as Onew’s jokes improved she worked harder and harder to keep her laughter at bay as, secretly, she found the lame jokes and recently added body gags extremely funny, even if she worried about him hurting himself while doing them.

But, she couldn’t hold her laughter back for long, eventually it became one joke too many. It was Friday, Onew’s last chance if he wanted to complete his mission that school week and so he pulled out his secret weapon, a pair of gag glasses with a big plastic nose and bushy moustache attached. He snuck up behind the girl as she read a book, still ‘A Study in Scarlet’ as she hadn’t made much progress that week due to Onew always distracting her, and grabbed onto her shoulders, making her jolt and yelp and he peered around her so the first thing she would see when she tried to find the source of the contact would be Onew in his gag glasses.

Amber looked at him with wide eyes for a moment, obviously having been genuinely scared by the unexpected contact, but after she took in who it was and what he was wearing she burst out into laughter, partly in relief that it was Onew and not anyone else and partly due to how he looked in the fake glasses. He looked ridiculous.

“What are you wearing!?” She exclaimed between laughter, losing the place in her book as she closed it and put it on the table without thinking.

Onew grinned and sat next to her, in the same seat he always did and shrugged innocently as if to pretend he had no idea what she was talking about. Though, really, he was obviously proud of making her laugh, the smug expression on his face was hard to miss.

“God, those glasses” She reached over, in a sudden burst of confidence, and took them off him, still giggling between breaths as she looked at them and missing Onew’s barely noticeable blush when the action of taking them off caused her fingers to brush over his cheeks “You scared the living daylights out of me!”

Onew laughed and rested his elbows on the table so he could rest his chin in his hands and look at the girl. He apologized, though it didn’t seem sincere, it seemed smug and full of happiness over his achieved mission and he smiled softly as he watched her fiddle with the moustache on the glasses and her laughter slowly faded. This was the side of her he wanted to see, the bright eyes and laughter, along with her curiosity and confidence. That was what he wanted to see but instead, now he watched her curiously as her smile faded into a blank expression; he had no idea what would be going through her mind to make her have this sudden change in mood or if he was the cause of it.

“Hey...are you okay? I didn’t mean to scare you” Onew reached out to her but stopped before he could reach her, not wanting to startle her again and make her shrink back into herself now that she had opened up so suddenly but Amber shook her head, putting the glasses down on the table on top of her book.

“I’m just being silly...” She trailed off, as if debating to say what was on her mind. She was worried that if she was wrong and her worries were unjustified that Onew would get offended and then leave her anyway. She didn’t want to offend the person who had been trying so hard to make her laugh all week but, at the same time, Onew didn’t seem that type of person. He didn’t seem like the type of person who would just vanish, he didn’t seem that selfish. She sighed softly, deciding to continue when she looked up and saw Onew’s worried gaze, increased in size behind the lenses of those damn glasses of his, his normal ones, that still bugged her because of their size. “...I’m just worried you might disappear now that you have finished your mission”

Onew frowned slightly, disappointed he hadn’t gained as much of Amber’s trust as he hoped but, at the same time he could understand her worries. She didn’t have any friends in the school and even he had heard of some of the pranks people had played on her. He guessed it made sense why she was worried about letting him close enough to hurt her, even if he knew he had no intentions to hurt her in slightest.

He was quiet for a moment, not really knowing what to say, before deciding what to do. He needed to show her that he deserved her trust, that this wasn’t just something to prank her or hurt her and that he truly wanted to be friends with her. He decided that meeting up a lunch times at school wouldn’t do, he needed to do something more substantial.

“,,,hey Amber?” He could feel butterflies fluttering in his stomach, his brain saying what he was intending to ask could freak her out but he had already decided to do it, no matter how lame he sounded, and it meant he was going to have to go through with it no matter what “I have another joke...”

Amber looked up at him, confused as to why he would want to tell a joke now of all times, but she nodded to show she was listening and that the boy could continue.

“What did one plate say to the other?”

Amber shrugged lightly, not knowing the answer and still looking just as confused. What was he up to?

“Lunch is on me” Amber laughed softly, though it was weak, and as she did she tried to figure out what Onew was up to.

“We’re the plates...”Onew continued, completely aware of how stupid he sounded, though Amber didn’t seem to understand “Lunch is on me...if you want to go out for lunch with me over the weekend that is”

“I...um” Amber looked at Onew for a moment, not really sure about whether she should take his offer or not, but she found herself nodding before she could stop herself “yeah, sure. I’d like that”

Author's notes:

yay~ two updates in one day!

I finished one of my essays so I rewarded myself by writing another chapter haha