Part I
A Sticky Sort of Love
She was running down a dark tunnel, looking frantically at the walls and behind her for a way out. It seemed that she had been stuck there for days. She would like to think that she was a brave sort of person, and that she could find a way out. But she was growing more and more afraid by the second. She panted heavily – out of breath from all her running – and she collapsed to her knees. Closing her eyes, she was almost ready to give up when she felt a hand shaking her shoulder urgently.
“…up…up,” she heard from behind her. Opening her eyes, she turned her head around and saw an outline of a young man with unruly dark brown hair, still shaking her shoulder.
“Wake up!”
Her eyes snapped open and glazed around in confusion. Her arm felt stiff and she realized that she was resting her head on her arm and a table, and she awkwardly got up and stretched. Looking around her, she saw that she was surrounded by books, and she realized that she was in a library.
“Yuna,” a voice from behind her sighed in relief, “you’re finally awake.”
Yuna twisted her body around and saw her classmate, Suho, standing behind her and smiling gently. To his right, his best friend Chen was sitting down on a chair and grinning at her.
“I was sleeping?” Yuna thought out loud. Suho nodded and grabbed the chair next to her and sat down.
“You looked like you were having a bad dream, so I tried to wake you up,” he explained calmly.
“I was, actually,” Yuna replied. “But then someone appeared at the end of the dream to save me or something-“
“It must have been me,” Chen teased, “I’m not called the modern day Superman for nothing!” Suho snorted to himself and rolled his eyes.
“Anyways,” Suho drawled out, proceeding to ignore Chen, “school’s over and the library is closing soon, so you should get home now.”
“Thanks for waking me up Suho,” Yuna thanked him. “Chen here probably would have let me be and laugh to my face the next day.” She glared at Chen, who was laughing.
Suho smiled and he and Chen walked to the library exit. “See you tomorrow Yuna,” Chen called as they strolled out the door.
Yuna just shook her head, her long black hair moving back and forth slightly. She proceeded to pick up her things and put them in her school bag when she noticed something bright and yellow stuck to one of her notebooks.
Curiously, she pulled it out to see that it was a small sticky note, and written on it was: "I hope you have sweet dreams from now on~"
“Yuna, let’s finish our group project at the cafe near the school.”
The three classmates in front of her looked at her expectantly, and Yuna paused for a moment before reaching in her school bag and pulling out her schedule book. “After school?” she asked as she flipped through the pages, noticing her little doodles on the margins and experiencing a sense of déjà vu as she remembered flipping through her schedule book many times.
They nodded. Using her finger to scan through her monthly calendar, she smiled and whipped her head up to face them. “Sure, I’m free today.” Her classmates cheered as the bell rang, signaling that the last class of the day was over. “I’ll meet up with you there,” she called out to them as they left to grab their things.
When Yuna arrived at the cafe, she noticed that there were a lot of students from her school bustling in and out. Scanning the room as she walked past the many people rushing past her, she spotted her classmates and tried to make her way to their table.
Passing by the counter, she saw Suho at a distance and headed his way. “Suho!” she called out. He didn’t seem to notice her, despite pausing before shuffling the opposite direction.
Frowning slightly, Yuna felt a little hurt that Suho didn't notice her; but since the cafe was full of noisy teenagers he probably mustn't have heard her. Yuna decided to just brush it off and made her way to her group. The three had laid out papers across the table and had cups of tea or coffee in their hands, when one looked up and grinned. “Hey Yuna, just in time!”
They called over a waitress and Yuna placed her order – milk bubble tea – and the group began diligently working on their project. After the waitress had given Yuna her tea, the group took a quick break when some other classmates from their school came over to chat, Chen being one of them.
Chen took a seat next to Yuna with his own coffee in his hand. “So, did you dream about me last night?” he asked cheekily as he sipped his drink.
Yuna pouted and slapped Chen’s arm. “Oh shut up, Chen,” she laughed. He was such a tease sometimes.
The visiting group of friends got up and called Chen over, and Chen gave her a salute as he walked off with the group, and Yuna giggled before turning back to her group.
Picking up her cup, Yuna sipped the last of her tea when one of her group members burst out, “Oh!”
The girl pointed at the bottom of Yuna’s cup, and Yuna turned it over to see a small sticky note on the bottom, slightly wet from the dampness of the cup. “Was that there before?” one of them asked.
“I think so,” said another. “I remember noticing something bright under the cup when it was on the waitress' serving platter, but I dismissed it, thinking it was part of the platter.
Yuna scanned her eyes across the note and smiled. “Your smile is so sweet, just like this tea.”
Running through the school hallways as fast as she possibly could, her black hair flowing behind her and swishing back and forth, Yuna silently scolded herself for waking up late. Risking a glance at her watch, she gasped when she saw how little time she had until class started. She sped so fast that students from other classrooms would glance out the door, silently rooting for her.
She finally reached her classroom, but the second she put her hand on the doorknob the bell rang, and she groaned. Opening the door cautiously, she saw her classmates chattering away and the teacher writing the lesson on the board. Yuna creeped to her desk slowly when she heard, "Song Yuna, you're late."
Rubbing the back of her head, she spun around to see that the teacher, although still writing on the board, had a hand with a slip of paper handed out to her.
Yuna grimaced and took the piece of paper before shuffling to her desk. She spared a glance and saw the dreaded words: Detention. She turned her head and saw Suho, who was a few desks to her right, giving her a reassuring smile. She managed a smile back when the class suddenly got up noisily. The teacher had left to run a quick errand and the students used this excuse to happily wander off to their friends for the time being.
Since she slept late the night before, Yuna decided to rest her eyes for a bit until the teacher came back in. Her thoughts wandered but they landed on a certain piece of paper - and not her detention slip.
The sticky notes that had been left for her were sweet and she couldn't stop thinking about them. She didn't want to get her hopes up that it might be from a certain person that she likes, since they could be from virtually anyone, male or female. Whoever left them had to be really sweet and considerate, and she had a hunch it might be-
"Everybody! The teacher's coming back!" Yuna felt her classmates rush back to their seats as she grudgingly lifted her head up from her desk and opened her eyes.
"Okay everyone, take out your textbooks and turn to page 394," the teacher instructed. As Yuna reached to the right of her desk to retrieve her textbook out of her school bag she noticed something next to her shoe.
It was another sticky note, and Yuna realized it must have been placed on her desk, but had fallen when she moved around to lift her head up. Yuna was excited to see what it said, but she first grabbed her textbook and placed it on her lap, facing her.
Yuna took a quick glance around the room to make sure no one was watching her, and she flipped the sticky note over. Reading it over, she fought to suppress a grin, but she couldn't help but form a wide smile. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Suho watching her curiously, and she blushed in embarrassment and tried to keep a straight face as she stuck the note in her bag.
"Detention isn't the end of the world, so cheer up buttercup~"
"You're still here?"
Yuna slightly jumped from her seat and automatically faced the direction the voice came from. There was a figure standing just outside the classroom, peeking inside the door. Although the halls were dark, Yuna could tell it was Suho; she could have recognized him anywhere.
"Yeah, I wanted to finish my homework before I went home," Yuna explained as Suho made his way over to her. He nodded in understanding and sat in the seat in front of her, turning backwards to face her.
"Why are you still here?" Yuna mimicked as she bent her head down to work on her last math problem. Suho made a low chuckle, and shook his head.
"Because of something I shouldn't have done but did anyway," he smiled mysteriously in response. This took Yuna aback; for as long as she had known Suho, although he was silent, he had never deliberately with a secret. This was mostly because he knew Yuna was quite the curious person, and that it was in her nature to either interrogate him endlessly for a secret or explode from curiosity.
Because of this, Yuna's curiosity piqued, and her eyes widened slightly. "What did you do?" she tried to keep her voice light.
Suho merely grinned in response and began watching Yuna quietly. Pouting, she turned her concentration back to her assignment. Soon, her pencil stopped moving and she was staring at the paper in full concentration, trying to think of the solution to the last problem.
"Oh..." she murmured to herself, unaware of Suho watching her. She giggled silently. "So that's how you solve it."
Yuna raised her head up and froze when she saw that Suho was leaning forward, and that they were dangerously close to each other. In a flustered motion, she duck her head down to face her desk again and, without looking up, pretended to dig into her school bag, which was at her side.
"Do you need help?" Yuna released a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding when Suho backed away to grab her school bag from her hands. His hands brushed hers in the process and she flinched slightly from the contact. He placed the bag on top of her desk and started to gather up her things.
"Ah, thanks Suho," Yuna stuttered in embarrassment. "You don't have to." She grabbed her notebooks and placed them in her bag,
Catching a glance at Suho's watch, Yuna gasped slightly and hurriedly closed her bag. "I have to be home soon," she explained in a rush. Suho nodded and proceeded to pack the last of her things in her bag before closing it for her.
The two stood up and made their way to the door when Suho suddenly said, "Oh." He reached into his own bag and pulled out a pocket sized novel with a gray cover. "I forgot to give you back the book you let me borrow."
"I almost forgot," Yuna smiled.
"I would have returned it earlier," Suho rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "but Chen wanted to read it as well and barely gave it back to me a few hours ago."
Yuna protested that it was no big deal, and promptly placed it into her bag. Teasingly, Suho held out his arm like a gentleman. Yuna fought to hide a smile and slid her arm into his.
"Shall we go, princess?"
"Yuna--"
Yuna turned her head to the direction of the voice, and was surprised to see Chen sprinting up to her side. Together they walked down the street, and Chen, out of breath, didn't stop panting until they reached a stoplight.
"G-good morning!" Chen breathed as he bent down and rested his hands on his knees.
"Good morning," Yuna laughed. "Looks like you're out of shape."
"For your information," Chen stood up and put his hands on his hips, "I was called 'Chen the running machine' back in middle school."
Yuna rolled her eyes and laughed. Yuna noticed Chen struggling to stand on his two feet and he caught her glance. "Maybe I'm just a little out of shape," Chen drawled. "Can I lean on you for now while we walk to school?"
Yuna nodded and Chen swung his arm around her shoulders, and when the green light flashed they crossed the street together. In that position, Yuna realized that they must look like a couple at that moment. Feeling flustered, Yuna tried to keep a straight face as they walked down the street.
Trying to break the silence, Yuna started, "So what happened to you, exactly?"
"Well, I overslept because I accidentally made my mom angry yesterday," Chen admitted.
"What did you do this time?"
Chen started laughing, and Yuna saw that she probably didn't want to know what Chen did what was so funny; as they reached the school gates, his laughing finally subdued, and he took his arm off her shoulders and jumped in front of her. Walking backwards, he explained, "Long story short, I was in class yesterday when suddenly, for some reason, a song popped into my head so I sang it out loud. The teacher got mad at me and my mom got mad when she found out."
"What was it you were learning that could have possibly made you burst into song?"
Chen laughed again, and hopped back to Yuna's side. "We were reading poetry in English class. One of the poems had the line 'burst into song'. The teacher asked why I was singing, and I responded that the poem said to burst into song, so I did."
"You're a little too snarky sometimes," Yuna shook her head. "Why was your mom mad at you though?"
"Well," Chen grinned, "I was given detention." Yuna snorted in disbelief.
"You're impossible." Yuna shook her head when a realization came upon her. "Wait, you have detention too?"
"Yep," he gave her a thumbs up and smirked. "Looks like I'll see you in detention."
Wanting to change the subject - since she was still feeling a little upset over having gotten detention - she asked promptly, "Suho told me he lent you the book. Did you like it?"
He nodded. "There was this one part around the ending that was really funny, so I borrowed it to show some of my friends and then gave it back to Suho," he said. "Do you have the book with you? I'll show it to you."
Yuna still had it in her bag since she forgot to take it out the day before. Just as she was about to open it, the school bell rang and Chen looked at his watch urgently.
"We still have a few more minutes until we have to get to class, but I'll leave first because I have to do some errands for my teacher," Chen explained. "See you later!" He ran off to the other direction.
With the book still in her hands, Yuna curiously started to look for the part that was supposedly so hilarious. As she flipped through the pages, a paper fell out that caught Yuna in surprise. Barely catching it before it fell to the ground, Yuna read it over and was surprised to see it was another sticky note. Her eyes widened in shock and her heart sped up.
"Looks like I'll see you in detention~ I'll try to follow my own advice though; detention isn't so bad...especially when you're there♡"
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