Another afternoon had passed, and Ji-Eun had agreed to meet up with Wooyoung at the school library. She was already inside, looking for a Biology book for him to study for. She took out a thick textbook, seeing a pair of eyes behind it. She flinched, seeing the sudden figure appear behind the shelves, only to realise it was Wooyoung. She clutched her chest, being scared out of her mind.

“Yah, don’t do that ever again!” she whispered in a nagging tone, punching his arm lightly, just after Wooyoung had came up to her. He only chuckled silently and pinched her cheek. She tapped her fingers onto a thick textbook which the title read ‘Science – Biology Advanced Level.’ His eyes became larger in a matter of seconds.

“That’s a really big book…” he tried to tell her, but she only shook her head.

“There’s bigger ones if you want that.” she laughed quietly enough only for Wooyoung to hear throughout the silence of the library. They both settled down to reading the book slowly as Ji-Eun explained the best she could about every topic there was. Her voice was too adorable to avoid. Wooyoung managed to look up while she was explaining and gaze into her eyes.

*How could she have such a sweet personality, a cute appearance and such a pure heart?* he smiled deeply at her, thinking how on Earth a person like her could be so perfect.

Ji-Eun realised what she was doing and decided to explain a little more as an excuse to ease away the silence but Wooyoung continued to stubbornly look at Ji-Eun admiringly.

“Oppa.” Those words came out so quickly; Wooyoung had reacted to it immediately, breaking the chain of being so hypnotised into her eyes. Hye-Jeun’s arms were crossed, as she angrily looked down at the two.

“I-It’s not what it looks like.” Wooyoung tried to clarify what she could be putting her finger on this time. Ji-Eun and Wooyoung exchanged looks, not knowing what his girlfriend would do. Wooyoung’s conscience played with him. ‘Of course it was what it looked like!’ He felt like he was indeed cheating on his girlfriend.

“Are you sure? Yesterday you hung up on me. Is she that important to you?” she asked, expression full of hurt and disappointment. Her voice tone at the two was insecure and she knew that if they weren’t together, one of them must have liked the other. She swallowed heavily, not able to cope with Wooyoung. But she couldn’t do anything about it, so she walked away, being let down by her very own boyfriend.

After what had just happened, Ji-Eun felt more uneasy than ever. Wooyoung couldn’t see that she had tried to avoid to him in classes. There was one class where they had sat next to each other. Ji-Eun felt uncomfortable but relived knowing that Hye-Jeun wasn’t in this class. Out of nowhere, Wooyoung slid a piece of paper, which had a rose attached to it.

Ji-Eun detached the note, reading it;

She huffed playfully, before showing him that she was mad how he crossed out the word, love. But she thought a lot about how he crossed it out. Did he really see them more as friends? She looked to her right slightly to see the rose, picking it up with her delicate fingers. Smiling at it, she brushed the petals on her cheek slightly, before moving it to her nose to inhale the sweet pure scent. She looked back at Wooyoung, seeing his familiar everyday smile appear.

And for the whole day once again, she couldn’t concentrate. Different feelings had developed onto her. She felt fluttered, and a sense of love attached to her heart. She smiled blissfully, thinking about everything she had done with Wooyoung. Walking along the roads together, listening to his voice, almost falling down but being caught by his arms and mostly looking into his eyes without managing to be awkward at all.

The end of the school day came again without the two realising. Since they were in the same class, they didn’t need to wait or look to find each other. Ji-Eun still felt upset at how Wooyoung was paying more attention to her instead of Hye-Jeun, so she decided to confront him while they were walking home.

“I feel bad.” She finally let out, after enduring a long silence. Even though there was silence, there was no tense awkwardness between the two. It came to show that they could be themselves when it was just the two of them now. Wooyoung’s eyes grew wider slightly, wondering what was wrong. But he answered as if he had read her mind.

“Hye-Jeun?” he asked, plainly and half-interested. “Of course, I love her more because she’s my girlfriend. But it’s almost like she doesn’t want to let me hang out with other girls. Isn’t that a little unfair? I mean, we’re not doing anything are we?”

Ji-Eun only nodded to his sympathetic explanation. “But you know, girls are really insecure. They don’t know whether a guy really loves them or not…” her voice trailed off slightly. Even though she was talking about Hye-Jeun, the same had applied to her. She didn’t know whether Wooyoung thought her as more than just a friend or if he was just using her to get into the academy.

Out of the moment, a raindrop felt onto Ji-Eun’s nose, making her blink in the sudden surprise from the sky. Not so long after the light pitter patter of rain, the raindrops were starting to fall to the ground violently, hitting the ground with its tears. Wooyoung grabbed her small hand and ran down the streets with her. She entwined it, hands perfectly locked together. There was laughter between the two before they quickly headed into the house quickly. They were both dripping full of rain water, but they still held hands while walking through the doors to Wooyoung’s house once again. He let go of Ji-Eun’s hand, breaking the hearts linking together to grab something for her. A soft, fabric material was placed around her small figure as she chuckled nervously. Yesterday they had entwined arms; today they became closer by entwining hands.

“Thanks.” she let out quietly before setting down her bag onto the floor.

“Wait here.” Wooyoung told her, running upstairs at turbo speed. While at it, Ji-Eun looked into her bag, seeing that the note that Wooyoung was in perfect condition. She softly took out the rose, seeing Wooyoung running back downstairs with a jumper. “Here, wear this.” he said, showing a blue jumper, with a small distinctive logo in the corner.

“Are you sure?” she asked, taking off the towel that he had given her. He nodded, telling her that she should change in the bathroom. After doing so, she noticed that the flower looked like it was slowly losing health. She grabbed it into her grasp, running to Wooyoung who was leaving their shoes to dry out. “Do you have a thin vase for this rose? It looks like its dying.” she pouted, looking at the worn out petals. He only chuckled and walked to the kitchen to grab a thin vase, big enough to fit the rose stalk in. She beamed at the rose, leaving it on the window sill, hoping the sun would come out.

With that, they both headed upstairs to continue studying, along with Wooyoung’s idea to bring snacks to munch on during the tuition. Ji-Eun noticed on his table, pages full of notes, looking in the format of poems and quotes. One in particular stood out;

“If I look out for you, promise you’ll look after me. The glances and hints of admiration you give me every time I pass your petite figure gives me the urge to protect you…~”

She grabbed a pen quickly, scribbling a childish answer onto his piece of paper. Hearing Wooyoung’s footsteps, she grabbed out her textbook and immediately started bookmarking pages for him to read. She handed him practice papers for a quick run-through of what would really happen when he would sit the three hour exam. Being the tutor, Ji-Eun had marked his answers and only grinned at his score. Nervously, Wooyoung looked at her expression, hoping it was a good outcome. She flipped over the book that revealed the marks result, showing an ‘91/100’.

“You’re going to pass.” she smiled at him, knowing that the teachings she had taught him for the past two nights had paid off. He pulled her into his arms, full of joy. She only giggled, realising he wouldn’t let go. She didn’t fight back, only resting her chin on his broad shoulder.

But then she suddenly pushed him away. Every time they interacted, Hye-Jeun would cross her mind. “Come on, you have a lot more to study on.” she explained, settling down into their seats again.

She laid her folded arms on the table, resting her head upon it. She smiled, admiring the way his concentrated eyes focused on the words of Biology terms. She was so tired after teaching him so much that ached to even speak. Her world became black, from being so tired and worn out. Wooyoung saw this immediately and only stood up to place a blanket around her. He stared at her admiringly, trailing from her eyes, nose and her chubby cheeks, down to her lips. The temptation of meeting with his lips was right in front of him, but instead he placed a peck on her forehead.

He saw in front of Ji-Eun’s arms, the note he was trying to write to her. He took a glance at it carefully, seeing that someone had scribbled a reply at the bottom which read;

‘Alright I promise! Now stop being so lovey dovey and man up! Hehehe ^___^’

“Tell me Ji-Eun ah.. Do you like me more than just a friend?” he asked to the sleeping but smiling figure, looking out at the drips of rain slowly trickling its way down against the window.