“Tell who?” she repeated.

“Uh, well, uh…you know…the ones outside...”

Sungyeol gestured towards the door and the commotion behind it. The girl naively looked over to the door to observe it, as if she expected to see something new.

There was an awkward pause.

 “You’re running from them?”

Sungyeol nodded.

“And you don’t want to be caught?”

He nodded again.

The girl thought for a second before responding again.

“No one ever comes here. You can stay for as long as you want, I won’t mind.” She said in assurance and Sungyeol watched the strange girl’s figure briskly float behind the bookshelf.

And so Sungyeol was alone again.

Well, he was supposed to be so in the first place when he hid here, but the awkwardness of staying in a tiny room with a stranger without saying a word of conversation was more than Sungyeol's character could bear.

“Wait–” Sungyeol went over to the bookshelf.

Oddly enough she wasn’t there.

“Excuse me…”Sungyeol looked behind the next bookshelf. And the next. And the next. But even in such a small storage room the girl was nowhere to be found.

It was as if she literally vanished.

“What the heck?”

“Is something wrong?” Sungyeol slightly jumped as her soft voice came from right behind him. He turned.

Her face was still covered by a worn English copy of Jane Eyre, held in her white, pretty hands. She was about an arm’s reach away, hiding behind another bookshelf.

 “Ah…well…do you…when is…um…yeah…so…”

Being told all these years that he had the biggest mouth out of all his friends really did not help starting a conversation with this girl. Usually Sungyeol had no problems talking to anyone or anything (yes, he sometimes talked to inanimate objects); but this girl’s sharp gaze seemed to drill through him so hard he felt he was being accused of something.

“Pardon me?” the girl asked again, this time in perfect English. Her eyes shined even brighter with curiosity.

Eyes. Where have I seen them before?

The girl tilted her head, still waiting for a response.

No no no, I’ve seen that look before!

The more Sungyeol looked at her, the harder the twinkle in her dark, slim eyes drove him crazy trying to remember.

Whereas the girl gave up waiting. The stranger had the most confused expression on his face. Maybe he wasn’t even talking to her? She shrugged her shoulders, and left again.

“Wait, I still…!” But as Sungyeol ran over she wasn’t there – again.

Aah! This is driving me nuts! She reminds me of…of…Oh, I remember!

“Francesca!”

“What?!”

Sungyeol spun around to find the girl behind him yet again.

How did she get here so fast?

The girl looked stunned. Her eyes were big behind the book.

“Oh, I just thought you look like Francesca!” Sungyeol happily explained. Then he realized that what he said might have sounded rude, which was probably why she looked so shocked. “I didn’t mean to insult you I–”

With a careless movement of his arm, Sungyeol sent a few nearby books flying to the ground. He rushed to pick them up, embarrassed. But every time he put a book back in its place, it’d fall out again, a few even hitting him on the head.

The girl grew less tense. She giggled at Sungyeol’s clumsiness, finally lowering the book from her face.

“What’s your name?” she asked and crouched down to help him put the books back.

Sungyeol stared in bewilderment.

Waah.

“Pretty.” he blurted out, covering his mouth in horror immediately afterwards.

There was a pause as the two looked at each other.

The girl gave him a confused look “Your name is Pretty?”

“No, no, I meant you’re pretty…” Sungyeol corrected without thinking.

Both of their faces turned bright red as he said it.

This is definitely not my day.

“I meant not you, your face! I mean not the face but you, I mean…”

He pictured himself digging his own grave.

That is, before Yoo Ara dug one for him…

“Ah…thank…you…” ‘Francesca’ looked away, shyly tucking away a strand of her long black hair behind her ear as the two got up.

“…Sungyeol…” He cleared his throat because little sound came out. “My name is Sungyeol.”

The girl smiled, and the light once again invaded the room, blinding Sungyeol’s vision. “It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

Sungyeol couldn’t see much, but he could sense something strange, something magical was happening. How could he not notice what a beautiful day today was? The soft rustle of leaves, the chirping of a songbird, the breeze of a spring day, and the aroma of something wonderfully fresh – they all rushed to overwhelm Sungyeol's mind with unexplainable happiness, and time seemed to catch it's own breath in the moment when he and Francesca exchanged gazes...