[Zelo POV]

“You promised me this a week ago that you would answer me at the end of this week. It’s Friday today, so I’ll ask you again. Will you go out with me __________-ah?” I asked, staring at those beautiful eyes of hers.

She didn’t look away or seemed to reject me in anyway. In fact, her smile seemed to grow even bigger if that was possible. I blinked trying to see if I was hallucinating but no, she really was smiling. Did she think I was funny? Or is she truly accepting me? Is she? My thoughts went wild at the possibilities of what she might say.

She leaned forward until her lips were at my ear and breathed air down my neck. I shivered and wondered what she was doing. “You remembered my promise, so I’ll tell you my answer-” she whispered, her breath tickling the back of my neck. “-tomorrow.” She sat back down to my horrified expression and laughed.

“Are you trying to be funny? ‘Cause that’s not!” I pouted and crossed my arms. “Tell me now; I’ve waited too long for this!”

“Jinja? Since when?” she teased.

I’ve liked her ever since she came to our school but I never really had the courage until last week. I am NOT going to tell her that I’ve liked her for so long. Nu-uh. NEVER! I thought furiously. Out loud I said simply, “Not telling.”

She laughed again and reached over patting my head. I brushed her off and fixed my hair, giving her an icy glare. “Well, are you going to tell me your answers?” I said, giving her my best puppy face and hoping it might melt her heart a bit more. She shook her head and winked at me, picking up our lunch and standing up to brush off the dust.

“I said tomorrow.”

“Fine. You better not back out or I will keep following you. Why else did I stick with you for the whole week? Peppering you with questions?”

She shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I can’t read your mind but it’d be nice to…”

“Ani. You will never read my mind but I wanted to be with you, hoping you’d like me and get to know each other better,” I muttered sullenly. I saw her shadow fall over me but I didn’t look up. I felt her hand on my cheek but I still didn’t look up.

“Look at me Zelo,” I turned my head slightly so that I saw her out of the corner of my eyes. “I pinky-promise that I will tell you tomorrow. If you keep badgering me then I might change my mind for good or for worse. Trust me.” She held out her pinky so I did and we locked them together in a silent promise.

I stood up and pulled her with me. I brushed the dust of my own clothes then held one of the boxes before holding her hand in the other and going downstairs again. I checked that the hallway was clear before we stepped out of the stairwell and walked to her classroom.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll call you.”

“Bye, __________-ah.” I waved and watched her go inside before heading to my own classroom.

---Next day/Saturday---

I left the house with my skateboard in hand and walked to the local skate park. When I arrived I saw that it was already filled with people mingling around or skating on the ramps, so I put my own one down and stepped on it, gliding between people and smacking high fives with people that I knew. At the edge of my favourite ramp, I looked up and saw that my hyungs were standing at the top, so I shouted up to them.

“GUYS! What’re you doing up there?”

I caught Youngjae’s attention and he looked down, waving for me to go up. So I did, climbing the stairs with my skateboard in hand and holding my other hand up to shield my eyes from the sun. It was only 11:30am. “Urgh, so bright. Damn,” I muttered.

I stepped onto the platfo