Jiyong’s POV

“Yeah, see you Bom. Bye,” I quickly hanged up before I could act even more like a stuttering fool.

I was actually nervous. I just had my first phone conversation with the very girl I’ve been so curious about. I slightly envied her since she carried out the conversation more calmly than me.

“What is she doing to me?” I said as I was sprawled out on my bed with my phone in my hand.

“Who’s doing what to you?” that voice made me jump. I frantically looked towards the door and saw my older sister leaning against the doorframe.

“Noona, you’re home?”

“Yes, I’m home,” she said and glides in my room to sit on my study chair, “got a problem with that?” she asked while she sat with her legs crossed.

“Nothing. Just surprised to see you.”

“I had no school today. But other than that, who is this ‘she’ you are referring to? And what is she doing to you?” she smirks after asking. 

“Nothing noona. Nothing,” I denied. My older sister is sometimes a pain, especially when she gets into a teasing mode. 

“Really?” she pressed on further as I tried to think of something else.

“Really,” I said and without avoiding her eyes. 

“Fine, but if you have girl problems you can always talk to me,” noona smiled and then left to wherever. 

The next day ….

The skies were clear and it seemed that there was no sign of any rain coming in. 

"Hey Ji…what's with the umbrella? I don't think it's going to rain today," Yongbae checked the sky and gave me a questioning look.

"It's not mine. I borrowed it from someone yesterday."

By the time we got to the school, I stayed behind to wait for Bom by the entrance. And then the car finally appeared. I was somehow nervous and it was ridiculous. 

When the door opened, I clutched on the umbrella tighter and I took a deep breath.

Bom got out of the car and she looked stunning as always. She noticed me after she closed the car door.

"Morning Bom," I said and successfully didn't stutter. She walked closer and I couldn't help but step back a bit.

"Good morning," she replied but I was bit disappointed that she didn't smile.

"Here's your umbrella back," I quickly gave it to her and she took it back, "Thanks again for letting me borrow it."

"It's no problem at all," she looked away from me and looked somewhere else, "we should get to class then," she said before walking past me.

"yeah…sure," I felt idiotic. I didn't know what I expected except for her to at least show me her smile once more. Putting away my selfish thoughts, I followed Bom from behind. While walking close to her, I noticed that she was fairly tall. Not as tall as me but still tall.

Before we went inside the classroom, she turned around. I stepped back a bit.

"OH, yeah. Jiyong, when do you want to work on the project? The music teacher's probably not going to give us a lot of time…so?" she leaned her head a bit to her side and it kind of looked funny. Her eyes were widening as she anticipated me to answer but I could only focus on her doe-like eyes.

"Jiyong?" I snapped out from staring as she called my name again.

"I…um…I," I was once again feeling idiotic. I couldn't form a straight sentence and to be honest I really didn't know what to say. But then the bell rang and inside I felt relieved, "How about we discuss it at lunch time?" I suggested to her who just shrugged and went into the room.

When lunch time started, I was still in the midst of finishing up some in class school work. It's better to get it done than having to bring it for homework. I was working fast so I'd get time to talk to Bom about the project.

"Hey, Ji let's go," Yongbae nudge me as our other friends stood nearby.

"Hold on, I have to finish this," I pointed towards my school work. They immediately caught on and probably went to the roof again. But they disappeared too soon before I just realized to tell them that I'd be spending time with Bom for the project. 

At the mention of Bom, I looked up and saw that her desk was already empty; she disappeared as well. I felt even more disappointed but that's my fault. We never specified the time. I guess I'll have to look for her after I'm done with this.

After a couple more minutes, I finally put away my work, grabbed my lunch and took off. I decided to go to the rooftop first to tell my friends and I'll probably be able to find Bom from above just like last time. After taking steps after steps to the roof, I went straight to my group who were probably laughing at each other's misery. It's not like they're mean or anything but it's like a joking around kind of thing that we all understand.

"Hey Ji!"

"Where have you been?"

The questions were already being thrown before I could even get closer.

"Hey guys. Just wanted to tell you I'll be eating somewhere else," once I told them, some had shock faces while other were blank.

"You ditching us? Did little Jiyong get a girlfriend?" Daesung went into teasing mode just like last time and like a virus, it spread to everyone in the group.

"It's not like that. I have to work on the music project with my partner…better to start now than later," I gave a straight answer with no stuttering or showing signs of embarrassment. I honestly thought I was going to get a fever as soon as I heard the world 'girlfriend.' It made me all red and hot inside for a second. But thanks to being used to being teased like that, I got through it. 

I waved goodbye after I told them. But before going downstairs, I looked down from the side in hopes to spot my partner. There she was eating and reading by a bench in the school garden.

I quickly went downstairs and dodged some students before I could bump into them. I made my way to school garden, which was fairly not so populated. There were some people but most of them were couples. Once I stepped through the garden gate, I kind of blushed for a second at the thought of being mistaken as a couple with Bom.

I shook my head at the ridiculous thought before I saw her. She was still reading while taking small bites of her food. I went closer and closer until she finally looked up.

"Hey," I spoke as she saw me.

"Hey," she scooted a little to make space and I took it and sat down with our lunches between us. She had put her book down and started to concentrate more on her food. I took that as a chance to start eating as well.

I waited for her to say something but it looked like I had to start this time.

"So any ideas on the project, Bom?" I slightly glanced at her as I took a bite out of my sandwich. She hummed and shook her head, I took that as a sign for no. I glanced down to her lunch and saw quite a variety. It didn't just look delicious but it also looked very well placed. Her mom must have put a lot of effort in it. 

"Maybe we should pick the genre of the song or like the topic of the song?" I suggested but she kept eating. The she paused and turned to me. I felt my heart stopped for a second. The way she looked with her lips slightly in a pout trying to keep closed, her cheeks slightly puffing up as she kept on chewing and her eyes round as a button made me think that she was a bunny for a second. I bit my lip to keep myself from squealing like a little girl getting to see this adorable sight. So I turned away from her and cleared my throat a bit.

"What genre do you think would be easy?" I felt relieved that she finally said something.

"Well…there's a lot that could be easy. There's something about school, life, or…love?" i was unsure about that last one so I left it to be a question.

"Love? That's somehow easy I guess...any idea on the subject of love?"

"Umm. There's a lot of way that you can go with it but frankly, I have no idea," I scratched my neck while trying to brainstorm in my head.

"Have you ever been in love?" her question surprised. I could feel my eyes popping and my mouth opening wide for a moment but I tried to stay back into normal before I faced her.

"N...not...No. I haven't..." I felt shy talking about this. SHe was quite straightforward but the way she asked the question hinted that she may have been more experienced in 'love' than me. I felt quite childish, immature and idiotic talking about love in front of a person who probably already knows the whole system. So I kept looking at the ground or anywhere else but her. She could be secretly making fun of me right now for being too innocent.

"oh..." was her reply. And there, inside me, I felt a bit torn and I just wanted to crawl in a hole. She definitely has more experience than me.

"Yeah...I'm guessing y-you have then?" I asked her and slowly got the courage to face her once more. She looked at me closely as I asked her with one of her eyebrows raised, "Have you ever been in love?" I felt stupid for asking that. The way she asked me before I was already convinced that the answer to this is yes. There's no need to ask her obviously. I was mentally beating myself up.

"No," then her other reply came, which made me unexpectedly for a grin for a second. I couldn't help but laugh out loud at my stupidity. I jumped to conclusions too quickly. There I was being all embarrassed for being unexperienced when the whole time she was too.

"Why are you laughing?" her question ceased my laughter and I tried calming myself down before answering her.

"Nothing. It's just that I thought you would say yes. You asked the question so boldly...so I thought..." I trailed off as soon as she shook her head as if to say that she understood what I meant, "Sorry for laughing. But I'm not laughing at you...I just thought it was funny...sorry," I apologized.

Then my heart stopped. Her lips formed a familiar curve as her cheeks rose up. I saw her smile again. The smile that kept surprising me and it still is. I smiled in return but I felt more shy than what happened earlier. Being happy just to see her smile made me embarrassed. It just felt nice to see her smile, I guess.

"Well...you shouldn't assume too quickly," once she spoke again, I snapped out of my thoughts, "I think I'm too young to fall in love right now."

"Oh...oh yeah...I guess you're right. But who knows. Age doesn't matter when it comes to love."

"Yes, but that depends on the situation," she firmly remarked. I only nodded and tried to think of something else to say. I saw the time on my watch and it seemed that lunch was about to be over. Too soon for my liking.

"Is it time to get back to class now?" I looked up and I guess she saw me looking at my watch. I slowly nodded and then she started packing up her lunch. I felt a bit sad that it was about to be over. It felt nice talking to her. Even if it was for a little while.

"But there's no need to rush. We still have a bit of time to talk more," I quickly said to stall her from packing up.

"Okay...how about for the next time we brainstorm for the song...we know that we may want to write about love so how about some research?" she cocked her head to the side, which made her long hair to fall down to the side as well. It was somehow stunning to look at.

"Research?"

"Yeah, because we're both inexperienced about love...?"

"Oh...yeah sure...but where do you want to meet next time?"

She shrugged.

"How about my house?" it was a bit bold of me to ask her. We don't know each other that much but it's only natural to work together in each other's houses. There's nothing with that right? BUt why do I feel like it was inappropriate. To me it was somehow going passed the lines. 

"I guess..." she slowly answered.

Before we knew it, the school bell rang again for the next class to start. She was already finishing up her packing as I just had to throw away the remains of my lunch.

"I'll text you the address," I told her.

A/N: Here you have it folks. I'm tryin to put more interaction between them and less of Jiyong observing her from afar (like a stalker).

I'm really sorry for the late update. I've been working on this since last week but I was also caught up in my other story:) I'll try to speed things up here because there's a lot more to reveal about our mysterious girl.