Waiting
Once Bitten, Twice Shy
Yoona spent her time at school with Hoya. They acted as normally as they could, him pestering her as usual and she trying not to smile too much at him. But, in moments of quiet, she could feel him watching her. He was waiting for her response to his confession.
"Yah," he joked. "Are you cuddling every night with that bear I gave you?"
"Ani!" she said defensively. "I tucked it away somewhere where I don't have to look at it." She stuck his tongue out at him, but she wondered how he knew.
In her heart, she thanked him for not pushing her to talk about it yet. There was still something she needed to find out. Hold on, Hoya, she wished.
After school, she would go to her and Woohyun's crosswalk and wait. And every day, he wouldn't come.
At first, she thought that maybe he had tennis practice or something. After waiting for a while, she'd walk the school grounds, checking the tennis courts and the club rooms.
No sign of him.
She was dying to tell him what was on her heart. But, she grew exasperated after a few days went by and she didn't see him. Did something happen to him? She wondered if he remembered that they were supposed to do something this weekend. She wished she had his number or something to contact him.
Then, one day, during a transition between classes, she was walking down the hallway, steering clear of everyone's way like usual. By chance, she looked up, and she stopped dead in her tracks. Through the crowd, she spotted him walking toward her, flanked by two friends that chattered around him. He didn't seem to be paying attention to them. Suddenly, he looked up too, and their eyes locked. Her heart leaped, and she forgot all those hours that she waited for him by the crosswalk. She wanted nothing more than to talk to him and confess to him.
She smiled, but then... he looked away with a frown. He and his friends walked right passed her.
She was stunned. As he passed, she eyed his face, hoping for any clue into his thoughts. But, he didn't meet her eye. She watched, speechless, as he continued down the hallway, his back shrinking in the distance. He didn't look back once.
Yoona felt the familiar pain of abandonment in her heart, and she hurried into the bathroom so that no one would see her cry.
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What's worse: getting passed up for someone else, or getting chosen because you were the available second choice?
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