* * * * * *

“Hello?” A soft voice reached her eardrums. She looked up from her note, looking all confused.

There was a person, a guy to be exact, watching her with big smile.

“Yes?” She asked him, curious of what does this boy wants from her.

“Is this seat taken? May I sit here, if you don’t mind?” he questioned her.

Before she could answered, the guy had already sit there and smiled at her widely.

“Err yeah, sure.” Her mind was blanking. Why would he want to sit here when there were other places. It was only 8 am, there were only few people here in this library. Nevertheless, she told herself, it doesn’t matter, it was none of her business. She continued focusing on her notes till he spoke up.

“Biology?”

“Huh?” her face looks completely blank.

“You are studying biology? She nodded a little.

“I like biology. It’s my favourite subject.” He told her.

“Really? Me too but it was the hardest subject to score. Too much readings.” She chuckled a little.

“I second that, but still, it is an interesting subject. Anyway, my name is Jaejin. What’s yours?”

“I’m Hyemi, but you can always called me Mimi, it was what everybody called me.” She introduced herself. Even though this was their first meeting, there was no awkwardness between them. She felt comfortable and it makes her happy because she was usually not really good with strangers.

“Mimi? Nah, I like Hyemi better. Can I called you that, Hyemi?”

“Well sure, but I wont  promise that I will respond for that name. It’s been so long since people called me by my name, it feels unfamiliar. It will be better if you called me Mimi.”

“It’s okay, I will make sure you will feel more familiar with the name Hyemi in the future.”

“Huh?” She was confused.

“Nothing, I got to go. Bye Hyemi.”

“Y-yeah bye.”  She watched him silently retreated before heading to the front door.

‘Well, that was random.’ She thought and chuckled silently before focusing back on her biology notes.

****************

Since that day, it seems like she always bumped with Jaejin - on the way to class, at the cafeteria, at the bus stop. It’s kinda funny because she never actually saw him before. Or maybe she never pay attention to her surroundings, she thought. Every time, he will be the first to greet her, and he never forget to call her by the name Hyemi. It seems awkward at the very first time, but nowadays, she feels the sense of familiarity every time he called her. She thought he made her name feels so special and she liked it way better than her nickname.

“Hi Hyemi.” It was one of the days they encountered in the hallway.

“Hi.” She smiled and nodded a little before continuing her way to class. She was always this kind of girl – she is shy and can never talk much. However, she felt a tinge of regret, she hoped she can talk much, she wants to have a nice conversation with him. She feel disappointed, ‘why I always have no topic to talk?’ she complained. Turning back once, she watched his figure walking away.

           ****************  

It was late evening, her Biology class had just ended. She hurriedly packed her things. She walked out quickly but her steps become slower when she noticed it was raining outside. ‘Oh , I don’t bring an umbrella today.’ She did think to just go through the rain, but it was raining quite heavily and she didn’t really want to be drenched. However her worries didn’t last very long because hand with an umbrella suddenly appeared in front of her eyes. She looked to the owner and her heart skipped a beat. It was him. Jaejin.

“Why don’t we share this umbrella, Hyemi?” he asked

“No no, it’s okay, Jaejin. You can go first. I’m going to wait till rain stops.”

“How can you be sure that it will stop? What you gonna do if it rains till next morning? Come with me. Let’s walk together to subway.”  Before she could refuse, he took her hands and they started to walk together under one umbrella. The tint of red appeared on her cheeks. It was her first time being too close with a guy.

“You are going to drench yourself, Hyemi. Come nearer.” He put his hand around her shoulder and pulled her closer. She thanked to God it was raining heavily or else he would hear her heart beating frantically. They walked in silence. The journey to subway seems so long than usual for Hyemi. Once in a while, she would steal a look at him at the corner of her eyes. He had this wide smile plastered on his face and it was beautiful. She was mesmerized by his sweet smile. ‘ what a nice lips he has,’ she thought.

“Thanks.” His voice suddenly broke her inner thought.

“Huh?” She was confused.

“You just complimented my lips, aren’t you?”

“H-how did you know? Did I say it out loud?” She was surprised.

“I am very sure I heard you.” He smirked. “So, you think I have nice lips.” He stared at her, grinning widely. “You want me to kiss you?”

“W-WHAT?” she jerked away from him, feeling her heart beats like there’s no tomorrow.

He laughed softly. “I’m just joking, Hyemi. Come here. See, you are getting wet.” Once again, he pulled the blushing Hyemi closer. They walked in silence and the journey seems forever for Hyemi. Finally, after some times, they reached the subway.

“ Thanks, Jaejin. See you tomorrow,” she said without looking at his eyes.

“Yeah, no problem.” He assured her. They said their goodbyes and he walked away.

Suddenly, she sneezed out loud. She cursed silently at the rain. ‘Cold is the least I needed now.’ She sighed.

Before she could walk towards the ticket counter, she was wrapped with the coat. Feeling confused, she looked up and saw Jaejin was looking at her with concerned look. “Wear this, I don’t want you to be sick.” Before she could say anything, he smiled and walked away, left her standing there-  dumbfounded.

Once everything registered in her brain, she smiled and muttered thank you silently.

****************

She waited for a sign of him in the hallway. She intended to return his coat. However, after waited there for nearly an hour he was still not in sight. ‘Where did he go? He always here at this time.’ When she walked away, she heard someone talked about him. She stopped her track and tried to listen to them.

“So, Kibum, why Jaejin is not coming today?” the first person asked.

“He caught a cold. Too weak to come, he said. Why are you asking for him, Dongwoon?”

“I need to give this CD back to him.”

“That’s good. You are coming with me. I need to go to his house and give these notes to him.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

Without much thought, her feet followed those two to his house. She kept a distance from them so they wont noticed her. She kept followed them for a little while until they stopped at a white house. ‘So, this is his house.’ She thought. She waited outside, waiting for both of them to come out. While waiting, she kept thinking how this was her fault and she felt a pang of guilty. ‘I shouldn’t take his coat yesterday.’ She sighed.

After 10 minutes of waiting, she saw them coming out from the house. She walked towards the house and rung the bell.

“Did you guys left something?” his voice is heard from the inside. The door was opened, and there he was, stood in front of the door, covered with warm blanket. When he saw her standing outside, his eyes went wide open.

“Hyemi-yah, w-w-what you doing here?”

“I heard you are sick.” She gave him a worried look.

“I’m okay, it’s not that bad.” He assured her.

“It was all my fault. I shouldn’t take your coat yesterday.” She sighed.

“No No. It’s not your fault, don’t blame yourself, please. I’m really okay. See?” he jumped  to prove that he was okay. It ended with him coughed pretty badly.

“You are not okay.” She cried.

He chuckled while scratching his neck. “HAHAH. Hmm… would you like to come in, Hyemi-yah?”

She nodded and followed him inside.

“You live alone?” she sat at the sofa and asked.

“Yeah. My parents live at our hometown.” He answered.

“So… what do you want… to drink? He asked her awkwardly.

“Nah, it’s okay, Jin. I’m fine. You should sit. You are not feeling well.”

He sat beside her and there was a silence moment. None of them said anything.

Hyemi broke the silence first. “This is your coat. I want to return it. Thanks and sorry.” She looked down, feeling guilty