“I like you.”

Suzy could feel blood rushing towards her face and she could swear that she was as red as the time he kissed her. She felt like the temperature around them suddenly increased with just three words said. She could also feel the intense gaze Myungsoo was giving her but despite all the exploding emotions, Suzy laughed. She chose to laugh all her heart out, hoping that it would wash her nervousness away.

“Why are you laughing?” he scolded her. “Are you seriously laughing at my feelings now? Do you know how much courage I need to have to say those words?”

Suzy even crouched down and tears formed in the corner of her eyes as she continued laughing. However, when she glanced up and saw that Myungsoo was just watching her with confusion written all over his face, she tried to calm down. She stood up again, and tilted her head in a teasing way as she asked,

“Did you hear the words you just said?”

“I did."

She was slightly taken aback by his quick reply but then she answered, “You’re saying ‘I like you’ to the girl who kicked a can towards your head and spilled cola on your uniform in her orientation. You’re confessing to the one you locked in the locker and threatened to be kicked out of this school. You’re saying that you’re attracted to the girl whom you always regarded as a chicken brain. You--”

“I’m saying ‘I like you’ to the girl who sacrificed her sleep and time just to practice modeling- a job she never had an experience before. I’m confessing to the one who keeps chasing her dreams even if her guardian doesn’t allow it. I’m saying that I’m attracted to a chicken brain,” Myungsoo paused. “I’m attracted to a chicken brain who has great determination and perseverance.”

Suzy stood still. She was not used to hearing compliments especially from Myungsoo. She averted her gaze from his eyes, unable to hold the deep stare he was giving her. She awkwardly coughed and mumbled underneath her breath, “He still calls me chicken brain.”

“Because you really are a chicken brain!” he yelled making Suzy turn to him. He was glaring but then his gaze quickly softened as he mumbled back, “But then, I can’t help it. I’ve already fallen for you.”

Suzy then started noticing that Myungsoo was blushing madly and his ears might even be redder than tomatoes. She found it fascinating to discover another side of the guy who had always regarded himself as mighty.

“I tried to fight it because I was scared,” he whispered. “Just the act of falling in love itself takes great courage. Translating this feeling into words and confessing is a far greater challenge but I took them both.”

“Are you saying that I should be thankful with what you’re doing right now?” Suzy asked, arching an eyebrow.

“No. What I’m saying is that no matter how hard I tried to resist, I just keep falling for you more,” he took a pause before continuing, “My heart started beating for you before I knew it. All of a sudden, I just realize that I love you… and I can’t stop myself from loving you.”

Suzy fought hard against mental breakdown. ‘I love you’ was a far heavier confession than what Myungsoo earlier said. She didn’t know how to reply because after she saw Myungsoo’s sinceity, she knew that she couldn’t laugh it away this time.

“Stop taking my feelings as a joke. I’m serious with what I just said,” Myungsoo stared right into her eyes.

“But I already like someone else,” she said straight-forwardly. “You know how head-over-heels I am for Sungyeol.”

Myungsoo took the time to gulp. He felt a tight clench in his heart because he knew that with those words, Suzy was clearly rejecting him. However, he was well prepared for it.

“I know,” he replied. “But he doesn’t like you.”

“I’ll work hard and make him like me!” Suzy replied.

“Then let me do the same. I’ll work hard and make you like me too,” Myungsoo retorted. “Isn’t it fair?”

Silence took over Suzy for a while before she managed to answer, “You know that I don’t give up easily.”

“Then let’s have a battle of determination,” he taunted her.

Making the word ‘battle’ and the name ‘Myungsoo’ pair up reignites Suzy’s competitive side. So she asked, “What’s the prize?”

“You get the person you like to like you back, isn’t that a great prize already?” Myungsoo said with a smirk.

“Give up,” Suzy suggested. “You have to give up your feelings for me if Sungyeol and I would get together.”

Myungsoo pressed his lips thinly in a straight line. So far, Suzy was falling into his trap of not being able to reject him and let him court her but he was not able to guess that the girl had something up her sleeves. A few seconds passed as hesitation filled him but then he answered,

“Okay.”

A small and unreadable smile came towards Suzy’s lips as she replied, “Call.”

Myungsoo then extended his hand to seal the deal and Suzy took it, shaking them together. But then, grasping her hand, Myungsoo pulled her close and planted a quick peck on her cheek.

“Yah!” she yelled.

But as she turned around, she only found Myungsoo laughing as he ran down the staircase. She was left trailing the part of her cheek that Myungsoo had planted his lips on. The temperature was already so high around her, yet she still felt that the particular place had become warmer. Her hands then travelled towards her chest and she started pumping her heart back to its place; it was thumping so furiously, she thought it would jump out of her ribs.

“Suzy, are you with me?”

“Neh?”

“I was asking you about your uncle. When would you tell him that you’re attending the same school with me?” Woohyun asked.

Suzy’s face stiffened at the mention of her uncle together with the word ‘school’. She was too engrossed with the events in her life in school that she almost forgot that she also has another problem at hand. Her gaze fell on the table as she shook her head, ‘no’.

Woohyun sighed as worry filled him. He replied, “I think its better telling him than getting discovered. Besides, we can’t hide forever.”

Suzy then started poking the cup of ice cream she had. Since her parents’ death, her uncle had blocked all the way possible for her to communicate with her mother’s relatives. Bae Yong Joon had cut off all ties they had with them as he took young Suzy with him to other countries. However, he also knew that she needed a friend and constantly moving to different places deprived her of the opportunity to create one so he let the communication between Suzy and Woohyun slip off but when he noticed that Suzy herself was not making any effort to make new friends, Woohyun also became a taboo.

“What if he pulls me