When the bell for last period rang the usual clamour of the after-school frenzy ensued, I still felt empty and miserable. My books were already packed and ready to go, and I only had to drag it across the table and sling it over my shoulder before I speed-walked out of the class. I couldn’t look at Baekhyun at all throughout the entire span of the period, feeling the sting in my eyes every time his face flitted through my mind’s eye. I was desperate to leave this claustrophobic room –desperate to leave Baekhyun.

The note Luhan had given me via Sehun was still tucked inside my pocket, a constant reminder of our arranged meeting every time I reached inside it to pull out my wallet. I was actually considering the thought of making a call to Luhan and telling him that I couldn’t make it, but then I realised that I didn’t have the heart to make up a lie to go as an excuse. I decided accept his request, and as of now, I was trudging down the deserted hallways as I made my way towards the east wing.

The dance studios were on the floor above the music rooms, with a fairly pristine looking hallway that was decorated with paintings depicting famous dancers in heavy gilded frames. This part of the wing had tall windows that stretched from floor to ceiling, facing the courtyard and the sloping hill.

I checked the numbers on every door I passed, nervous that I might be interrupting a practice session if I got the wrong one. Luhan’s note was clutched in my hand, and every so often I would reread it again to make sure I was looking for the room with the right number.

The studio number that Luhan had arranged for us to meet was at the very end of the hall, quite secluded from the others. I stared at the heavy wooden door, reading the plaque several times before gingerly placing my hand onto the cold knob and twisting it open.

I had never been to the dance studios before and was pleasantly surprised when I found that the air conditioner here was far cooler than the rest of the school. One of the four walls was made up of a gigantic mirror, and the one to the left had a long metal rod that stretched parallel to it. A stereo was placed in one corner of the room, expensive high tech equipment that could work wirelessly with a music player.

I found Luhan in the middle of the room, a cap carelessly plopped onto his golden locks as he danced to the beat of a fast-paced song that I wasn’t familiar with. I noticed that he had already changed to baggy pants and a simple shirt, and had probably been practicing for quite some time before I decided to make my entrance.

He stopped when he glimpsed me standing behind him from the mirror and quickly reached for the iPod sitting on the floor just a few feet away from him. The music came to a stop, and Luhan turned to flash me that dazzling, but nervous smile.

“Yoora, you came,” he greeted me, panting and out of breath.

I smiled at him and produced the note from my pocket. “You could have just texted me instead of having Sehun go to all that trouble.”

“I thought that it would seem more sincere if I were to give you a written invitation instead of a digital one,” he said.

“Sincere?” I asked with raised brows.

Luhan laughed, sounding shy. “To be honest, I was really hoping that you wouldn’t say no.”

“I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“Yeah. And I’m glad,” Luhan said with a smile. “Why are you just standing there anyway? Come on in.” To my surprise, he strode across the room and grabbed my hand, towing me towards the spot where he danced. His palm were sweaty, probably from all that dancing, but I also noticed that his fingers were trembling.

“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing towards the floor before turning around to grab something from his bag.

I watched him from the mirror as he crossed the room. I noticed how he seemed more jumpy, how his chest seemed to rise and fall rapidly despite that he had long caught his breath. There was a slight tremor to his fingers as he ped his bag, and I noticed how he kept a tight grip on the thick fabric as he shifted through its contents. His fingers closed around something and he paused, taking a deep breath before he pulled it out and whirled around to face me.

I immediately shifted my eyes towards the stereo, afraid that I had been caught studying him.

“As promised,” Luhan said, making me turn to look at him. He smiling as he held up a bag. “Milk and cookies.”

I eyed them amusedly. “Oreos?”

Luhan grinned, plopping down next to me and sliding the bag so that it sat between us. “Of course.”

I reached into the bag and pulled out a black cookie sandwiched with white cream, savouring the smell before popping it into my mouth. “So,” I asked, cocking my head at him, “what is it that you wanted to tell me?”

I turned to look at Luhan and was greatly amused to find him reading something off his palm, lips moving silently as he uttered the words as if he was preparing to go make a speech on stage. His eyes darted towards me and he jumped, as if I was ghost that had suddenly appeared and scared the living daylights out of him.

“Luhan, what are you doing?” I asked with a laugh.

Luhan was blushing ten different shade of red as he gazed at the ground, unable to properly look at me as he mumbled something quietly.

“I’m sorry, what? I couldn’t catch that,” I said as I leaned in closer.

Luhan was face-palming himself, head bent as he collected his composure. After what looked like a very long, and very tense internal debate, he finally took a deep breath, removed his hand from his face, and turned to look at me.

“What do you think of me?” he asked. His voice carried throughout the whole room.

I paused with a cookie halfway into my mouth, blinking in surprise.

“Please tell me,” Luhan said quietly.

I swallowed and averted my eyes from his. “I think you’re a kind and wonderful person. Anyone would be lucky to have you as a friend.”

“Really?” Luhan asked, his voice now almost a quiet whisper, disappointment colouring his tone. “Is that all that you think of me? A friend?”

I grew flustered. “Well, you’re nice to me and you’re always so friendly to everyone else. I thought being friends was what you –”

“You’re wrong,” Luhan said, interrupting me. My head whipped sideways to stare at him. “I don’t want you as friend, at all.”

There was a trembling note to his voice, and underlying rush of emotions that showed clearly not only in his voice but also in his eyes. I stared at him silently as he continued.

“The reason I’ve been nice to you was because...” he paused, choking on his words a little, “I like you,” he finally blurted out. “There, I said it. I really, really like you. I asked you to meet me here because I... I want to ask you to be my girlfriend.”

I stared at this handsome boy before me, the handsome boy who had drawn me in with his eyes and effortless talent when I first met him, the beautiful boy that I used to have a hopeless crush on. I remembered him as someone smooth, eloquent and easy going, and yet here was now, blushing ten shades of red and looking like a nervous wreck as he racked up the nerve to confess to me, to say the very words I had once considered as an impossible and unattainable dream to hear coming out of his lips.

Yesterday’s scene at the river washed through my head and I bit my lip, trying to wrestle it into the deep corners of my mind and back into the box I had created to seal it shut. It kept escaping though, spilling out of the corners like water spilling out a too full container. Tendrils of the memory of the person I wanted to forget kept haunting me by making his face flash before my eyes.

Reality called me back to it again by way of Luhan. I felt him slowly brush my hair out of my eyes, fingers softly grazing my cheek as he uttered the next five words that tore my heart.

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

I looked at him and gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes. “Yes.”

A/N: Tadah! Another chapter up for my lovely readers. I suppose a lot of you have been waiting for this, but heads up... there's another thing coming for Yoora ;)