“Alright ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be working in pairs today,”

Excitement buzzed around the room; students loved to work in pairs. It was theatre class now and they had heard from the other class that they would be practicing kiss scenes. The girls popped a few breath strips into their mouths while the guys breathed into their hands for a quick check. A few started to get up and look for a partner but Mrs. Yang told them to stop, “Please sit down. I have arranged partners,”

The students groaned as they sat back down. Choyoung peered over at Chan who was fidgeting with his fingers. The two girls who sat in front of her were whispering to each other how they wanted to be partners with Seunggwan. Then again, who wouldn’t want to be partners with Seunggwan? He was one fine boy indeed. Choyoung crossed her fingers to get either Chan or Seunggwan though it was a highly unlikely chance she would. Mrs. Yang started from the top of the list and went down alphabetically, Seunggwan with the last name ‘Bu’ was first, “Seunggwan and Choyoung, you’ll be team one. Come up and get your script,”

Choyoung stared at her desk stupidly, unable to process what was happening right now. There was no way that she was paired up with Seunggwan. Her heart was beating loudly, and she feared that everyone in the class heard it. Chan poked her arm and told her to go up. She lifted her head to look at her lab partner and he forced a slight smile on his face. Choyoung could see through his smile. Chan was hurting, and it made her feel terrible. She liked him more than Seunggwan and seeing him like that made her want to switch Seunggwan out for Chan. But at the same time, she liked Seunggwan as well.

She slowly walked up to the front of the class and met up with Seunggwan who enthusiastically handed her her paper. All the eyes of the girls in the class were on her. Choyoung hated it. It was bad enough that people though she was dating Soonyoung but now that she was practicing a kissing scene with the most popular boy in her year, more attention was thrown at her. The rest of the class continued to get into their pairs. Chan was paired up with another girl in their class, Kim Kiyoung; he didn’t seem too enthusiastic about it. Hansol and Minji, one of the few couples in the class, were put together and you could tell that they were grateful with their partnership. A few of Minji’s friends giggled, fangirling over the two. Hansol received a few back pats and elbows from his guy friends. Lucky butts.

“Okay so, hi there,” Seunggwan said when they sat down in the back of the classroom.

They had claimed a seat in the last row where the window was slightly ajar. It was warm in the classroom and to sit by the open window balanced it out. This was the first time Seunggwan and Choyoung actually talked. They’d never said hi to each other and he’s never looked her way either. She was kind of like co-existing around him, if you will. She smiled and returned his hi.

“We’ve never really introduced ourselves before,” Seunggwan stated, quite comfortable with this stranger, “I’m Bu Seunggwan,”

“Kwan Choyoung,” she answered, slightly bowing her head.

“Oh hey, you’re the one that got stuck with Soonyoung hyung a few months ago!” Seunggwan recalled, he hadn’t actually seen it happen though, he only heard it flying around.

Choyoung’s face pulled into a blank expression. Of all the things Seunggwan actually knew about her, it was her getting stuck with Soonyoung. Great. Maybe if she was lucky enough, Seunggwan would think that her and Soonyoung are dating too! She nodded, “Yeah, that’s me,”

“Great!” Seunggwan exclaimed, taking her by surprise, “So that means you know how to kiss someone, right?”

“Um, well, I didn’t get stuck to him because I was kissing him,” Choyoung awkwardly explained, “It was a basketball accident. I fell on top of him and…”

“Oh I see, that’s okay,” Seunggwan smiled at her, “You don’t need to explain anymore if you’re not comfortable. I understand what you’re saying,”

This is why she fell head over heels for him in elementary school. He was understanding and he was easy to talk to. She liked that most about him. The best part was that he had a soft voice so you could literally pour out your entire heart to him and just the sound of his voice would put you at ease. It was calm and almost melodious; as if he were singing instead of talking. She could listen to him all day if she could. Her thoughts were cut off by Seunggwan turning the pages of their script.

“When do you think we should practice?” Seunggwan’s eyes scanned the paper, “What time would work for you?”

“After-school or if I finish lunch early, then the remaining lunch time,” Choyoung thought about her schedule, “Some Saturdays too if there’s nothing going on,”

“Great! So we’ll start tomorrow after school?” Seunggwan proposed as he stood up to walk back to his seat before the next class started.

“Oh uh, yeah,” Choyoung responded a bit hesitantly, “Sure!”

“Awesome, it’s a date,”

"Right...a date. Gotcha,"

“Soonyoung I need your help,”

Surprised, Soonyoung looked up from his Japanese 3 Honors textbook, looking somewhat taken aback at the voice owners’ request. School had just finished a half hour ago and he still had time before he had to go and change for soccer practice. He was studying in the library for once to see how effective the environment was. Choyoung slid her backpack off her shoulders and kicked it under the table, putting her books next to Soonyoung’s book pile. Soonyoung hadn’t seen Choyoung all day and he was glad he did before he left school. He had skipped lunch to finish up a Korean History essay due the next day. It was weird though for Choyoung to come up to him like that. He figured that it couldn’t have been her period since it was only three days ago when he was with her at E-Mart. Suspicious, he turned in every direction, checking to see if he was being filmed or anything. After reassuring himself that he wasn’t being pranked or anything, he turned his attention back to the section assessment questions he was working on.

“What’s so important that you had to ask me for help and not Lee Chan again?” Soonyoung muttered to himself, loud enough so that only Choyoung could hear. He spotted the two of them together again after school at the library yesterday working on yet another school assignment.

Choyoung’s eyes and mouth went wide open, gawking and trying to comprehend what he just asked her. Scoffing, she got leaned her face closer to the middle of the table, “Hey, are you jealous or something?”

“Me? Jealous?” It was now Soonyoung that scoffed, “Why would I be jealous?”

“Think about it, you’ve been avoiding me all day today and all day yesterday so that definitely means you’re jealous,” Choyoung smirked, “That, or you’re going gay for Lee Chan,”

Soonyoung’s ears turned bright red but he continued on with his work, acting as if what she had just said didn’t bother him at all. He could feel her eyes burning into the top of his head as he kept his head low. He wasn’t jealous. Not one bit. But he wasn’t going to tell her that he had the hots for Lee Chan because he really didn’t. Sighing, Choyoung grew impatient and began gathering her things,

“Alright then, forget I even asked,”

He felt bad. He knew that he shouldn’t be feeling that way but he did. Two days ago, she had told him that he was the only one who understood her and he didn’t want her to change her opinion just because he was being immature. Before Choyoung left the table, Soonyoung called out to her, earning a few irritated glances from the librarian as well as the other students studying. His classmates shot glares in his direction, and he slightly bowed his head in apology. Smile forming on her lips, Choyoung knew she had won again. She sat back down and leaned into the middle of the table, looking at the top of his head as he continued to do his homework, “Can we talk in private?”

Soonyoung blinked at her but didn’t say anything. He figured that if she wanted to talk in private with him, something was going on. Just outside the school building, but still on campus, they were in one of the gardens. Hardly anyone was ever in the gardens unless you were a couple cutting class or something. Once they were a good way into the garden and were hidden by the overgrown bushes, Choyoung turned to Soonyoung,

“I need your help practicing a kissing scene for my theatre class and I need a good grade because it’s fifty percent of our semester grade and I don’t know who else to ask other than you because Jihoon would judge me and the other boys in my class are paired up with other people,” Choyoung recited at lightning speed, her eyes fixed on the ground the entire time.

Soonyoung couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He asked her to repeat it again to make sure he wasn’t just hearing things but Choyoung refused to say it again. The air was awkward, and neither one of them knew what to say next. Choyoung believed that what she had asked him was too weird and that she should have never asked in the first place. Without saying anything, she turned around and almost broke into a sprint.

“Wait, hold on, I’ll do it,” Soonyoung agreed, grabbing her shoulder and turning her to face him, “Even though I don’t owe you anymore, I want to do it out of the goodness of my heart,”

Choyoung’s grinned but then it disappeared within seconds because she was getting anxious. The thought of kissing someone out of practice reasons was stupid. This was her first kiss too and she knew that admitting that too Soonyoung would get her teased. She exhaled, mentally and physically preparing herself. She pulled out her lip balm from her blazer pocket and began applying it. Soonyoung chuckled, receiving her signature death glare, “You really don’t have to prep yourself for this, you know,”

“I’d rather make my first kiss not gross, thank you very much,” Choyoung rolled her eyes, “A girl has to be prepared to do these things so please, calm yourself,”

“You act as if I want to kiss you,” Soonyoung remarked.

“Don’t you?”

Soonyoung felt his face grow warm. Turning his head to look at the bushes and hide his tinted cheeks, he told her to hurry up. To his irritation, Choyoung pulled out a pocket mirror and began fixing her hair. They had a bit of small talk about this being her first kiss, him teasing her mostly. She tried to turn the tables on him by reminding him that he never kissed anyone either but every time it went back to her. By the time she was ready, Soonyoung was pretty much staring into space, half asleep.

“Alright, I’m ready,” Choyoung said, slidding her backpack off her back and onto the cemented path, “Let’s do this,”

Without any word of warning, she reached up and grabbed Soonyoung’s shoulders and dove in. Immediately, he backed away, “Okay, wait, hold up!”

“What is it now?”

He fixed his hair, a bit surprised that she had gone in without any hesitation, “If you’re doing this for theatre, you have to build up the moment, you know? You have to act like you’re totally into me or the other way around. You can’t just kiss me like that! Here, let me show you,”

Soonyoung took a moment to get into character before he looked back at Choyoung, expression dead serious that it sent chills down her spine. He began walking towards her. Choyoung wasn’t sure what he was doing but she was getting a bit creeped out. She took a few steps backward and found herself caught up against one of the stone columns. Butterflies began to arise in her stomach and she started to feel a bit a bit light headed. Different scenarios began popping up in her head, predicting what was going to happen next. She didn’t believe any of these illusions knowing that Soonyoung wasn’t an easy person to predict. Soonyoung coolly placed his hands on the column above her head so he was looking down at her and her up at him. The afternoon sun was slowly descending, readying itself for a rejuvenating sleep. The orange rays shone on his face, allowing Choyoung to actually take in what was in front of her.

Those silly light blue and pink braces she had chosen just last weekend. It was the beginning of everything, really. And those 10:10 eyes of his. They were dark brown, and warm. B with happiness like he always did. Choyoung could make out a hint of his mischievous side through them. His lips were partly open, due to adjusting the size of the braces, and she could feel his breath on her face. His breathing was quick, and sharp. Anyone would be able to tell that he was nervous. His breath stung the tip of her nose. She had to give those breath strips he had eaten prior some credit. The minty scent made her dizzier and her heart began to beat faster. Alongside his cool breath, she could also make out his natural scent. He smelled clean and crisp, with a hint of regular soap. It wasn’t overwhelming and it actually, she enjoyed it. He smelled like home; like newly laundried blankets you’d love to wrap yourself in.

Soonyoung could probably say the same for Choyoung, except, instead of her usual bossy self, he had a weaker, less dominant Choyoung under his control. He never noticed how small she was until now. He never noticed a lot of things about her. Her lashes were long, without any aid of mascara, making her seem a lot more feminine in his eyes. Soonyoung never thought of her that way – feminine. She always seemed so headstrong and annoying to even be considered as the ‘pretty girl’ type. He matched his breathing to hers, slow and steady, to calm his nerves. Powder. That’s what she smelled like. Her scent reminded him of a little baby; soft and delicate. His palms were beginning to sweat and his heart threatened to jump out of his chest. It was only Jihoon who knew that he had never kissed anyone and now he was finally getting one from his rival schoolmate.

“You know, I’ve always hated you,” he said with a smirk playing on his lips, easing the tension between them.

“I could say the same,”

“But seeing you here right now,” he leaned in closer, chuckling when she winced, “I could easily say that you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever laid eyes on,”

“You’re only saying that because –“

Choyoung was cut of mid-sentence as Soonyoung pressed his lips to hers. It was gentle, like he was afraid that at any given moment, she would break. Her heart rose to her chest and stopped; beating faster the longer they held the kiss. Slowly, their eyes closed and they got into rhythm with each other. Neither one of them was more dominant than the other. Gentle and captivating, the rest of the world began to disappear. It was as if their braces weren’t there at all. They tried their best to keep their mouths closed to prevent any wires from latching onto each other again. Soonyoung’s hand slid down from the column and held the side of her face; his long, slender fingers supporting the back of her head. His other s around her waist and pulled her in close, resting on her lower back. Choyoung had both her palms pressed against his chest, feeling it rise up and down each time he breathed. They never wanted to separate.

As their lips pulled apart, they slowly opened their eyes and found themselves mesmerized in each other’s gaze. Their breathing came in short, abrupt gasps. The intensity washed away and the world slowly began to come back into focus. Their hands retreated from one another and Choyoung leaned back against the column, fanning herself. She slid her hand under her fringe while the other fanned her flushed face. Soonyoung was busy trying to regain consciousness. Once they got themselves back together, Choyoung held a hand to her still beating heart,

“Wow,”

author’s note: wow, i updated within a few hours; this is a first! i got sick today so i stayed home and while i was resting, i decided to write for a bit. i didn’t realize that i would complete an entire chapter in three hours though! if you guys think i update way too often, tell me because i really don't want to make it harder for you if you didn't read a chapter and i come out with another one in like two days. i can always space out my updating time.

anyways, i'll be watching 17's livestream. does anyone know when it will actually start? i'm so excited! who else will be there? also, thank you all for your lovely comments; they really do keep me motivated.

hopefully you all enjoyed the chapter~