Youngjae hung out around the bookstore the next day, wanting to keep you company. He had been the best friend you could ever have during these hard times you were facing and you were thankful for him. You had thought that you weren’t able to feel happiness ever again, but Youngjae turned out to be a great help. He sat behind the counter, eating his donuts messily while he joked around with you. You were bursting into fits of laughter when the bell rung. You were still laughing when you saw Yongguk at the door again.

“Oh annyeong! You’re back again?” you greeted him brightly.

You noticed his eyes went back and forth between you and Youngjae before he proceeded to the shelves. Youngjae continued cracking up jokes till he choked on himself. But the sight of him choking up made you laugh even harder.

“Erm,” you heard Yongguk’s low voice.

“Deh?” you turned to face him, a bright smile still fixed on your face.

He seemed stunned over something as he continued staring at you for a while and then finally said, “Nothing. I’m going off then.”

“Oh? Aren’t you going to buy that?” you asked, pointing at the books he had picked out.

He looked down at his hands as if he just remembered he was holding some books, and placed them onto the counter. “Ah right, please check them out.”

You did as per told, checking what seemed to be mostly children’s books but noticed that Youngjae was staring him down from his seat. You glared at him and poked his ribs to stop him from making Yongguk uncomfortable.

“Stop it,” you hissed as he squirmed in his seat.

You turned back to Yongguk, quickly putting on one of your friendly smile and returned him the books. “Are you reading children’s books now?”

“Deh?” he blurted. “Ani, I’m buying them for some kids that I know.”

“Ah jinjja? How sweet of you!” you exclaimed.

You weren’t sure if your eyes were playing tricks on you, but you noticed his cheeks turned red at your compliment. He lowered his gaze, avoiding your eyes, and stuttered as he next spoke.

“I’ll get going now then.”

“Oh? Okay. Annyeong!” you bid him farewell.

“What was that?” Youngjae asked.

You shrugged, unsure of what he had meant. “He’s a regular customer here.”

“Really? He doesn’t look like the type who would read.”

You shot him a look. “Don’t judge people like that.”

He simply laughed as he gobbled up another donut. “Oh wait, isn’t he a student in our school too?”

“Really? I’ve never seen him before.”

Youngjae, who had suddenly become excited, stood up to be next to you. “Yeah! He’s our senior! A music major! What was his name? Bang Yongguk-sunbaenim!”

“Oh? You really do know about him? How come I’ve never seen him around school then?”

“Because you only had eyes for Daehyun!” he joked. “Wah, he’s a regular here? Is there even such a thing as a regular customer in a bookstore?”

You didn’t understand why it was such a hard concept for him to grasp so you had to ask him.

“How do I say this? Well, Yongguk seems like a rebel to me. He observes people from the corner and writes all these cold hard truth about the world for his music. He’s the icon of bitterness. He’s cool like that though. All the girls want him. And all the guys want to be him.”

“Does that include you as well?” you commented, sticking out your tongue as you said so.

Knowing that Yongguk actually went to the same school as you made you realise even more how oblivious you were to your surroundings when Daehyun was around. But now that you knew that, you wished you would have known earlier. You wondered if Yongguk had noticed you before in school. Just then, a smack in the head made you jump and you stared at Youngjae, who was smirking at you.

"What are you thinking of? Daehyun again?" he asked.

"No! I was thinking that I should have become friends with Yongguk instead of you!" you growled, rubbing your head.

The both of you continued entertaining each other till it was time to close the shop. As you packed up your things, Youngjae waited for you outside. He smiled as soon as you stepped out to lock the door.

“What’s with the smile?” you asked as you’re checking the lock one last time.

“Nothing,” he continued smiling.

You eyed him suspiciously but decided to ignore it if he weren’t going to tell you about it. You walked off first and he followed beside you.

“Hyeri-yah, do you want to go to school together tomorrow?” he suddenly asked.

You raised an eyebrow at him, caught surprise by that request. The both of you lived quite far apart from each other. “What for?”

“Geunyang,” he shrugged as a shy smile appeared on his face.

“What’s up with you?”

“Ani.. never mind. If you don’t want to, it’s fine,” he finally said, pouting slightly.

“Yah, are you upset now?” you pointed out, pulling his arms out of his pockets. “Fine, I’ll go to school with you tomorrow then!”

He immediately lit up at your answer and you noticed him trying to suppress his glee. You weren’t sure of why he was suddenly excited about this since you see him every day in school anyways.

 

A/N:

Hello^^

How is it so far? It's still character-building chapters now, but you'll get some hints from this chapter as to who likes who.

Future chapters have a bit more fluff to it.. cos I love fluff nyehehe.

FYI, very unnecessary information --- If you're wondering why I chose Daehyun to be the 'dead' one.. it's just for the simple reason that I love Yongguk &Daehyun and I can't pick one to be the one that 'you' will get. So I included the both of them, so that I can write fluff with the both of them. Daehyun is my first bias but there's more Daehyun-fics than Yongguk so, Yongguk gets to live. And Youngjae is just happily climbing over my bias list so I had to include him too.

Thank you pretty_rania1 for commenting! <3