“You’re late again,” a high-pitched voice came entering her ears the second she closed the door behind her. “Don’t you realize how difficult it is to be all alone at home while taking care of mom? We also have a younger sister to take care okay? And all you do is go home late from school? Young lady, what are you doing out there?”

Hayi was just about to walk past her sister, Chaerin, when the latter grab hold of her arm to let her face her.

“Hayi, where were you? Why are your eyes red?” the once nagging tone of her older sister turned into a concerned one when she saw the swollen eyes of her sister. “Were you crying?”

Hayi faced her sister and took their little sister from her arms. “Harin-ah, are you hungry?” Hayi baby-talked to their little sister and then turned serious to her older one. “Unnie, I’m alright. Just had some… incidents back in that scary dark street.”

“You forgot to bring your flashlight again, didn’t you?” Chaerin nagged again. “Did your asthma attack?”

Hayi hesitantly nodded. She then gave Harin back to her older sister. “I’ll take care of Mom. I’m sorry I’m late.”

“No, you go upstairs and take a rest. I can still see a glimpse of the asthma by the way you breathe deeply. Rest now. I’ll take care of this.”

Hayi tossed and her bed as she heard her mother’s anguished screams of pain in the next room. She covered her ears as she squeezed her eyes shut until tears came pouring out.

“Make her stop,” she whispered to herself. “Mom, please stop screaming.”

It was to be another sleepless night for her.

She was late again. She skipped breakfast as she was already too late for that. Her stomach was already grumbling but she was already rushing towards the door. Her sister kept on calling for her but she couldn’t even waste a second to turn back and tell her that she was already late. She was sure she got the message anyway.

The moment she opened the door, she jumped on her spot, a shriek escaping .

“Breakfast?” Hanbin asked, raising a plastic bag of food.

Hayi blinked rapidly at the unexpected guest.

“Hayi? Is there a visitor?” Chaerin called.

“No. I’m going to school, unnie. Bye!” she called back. She then stepped out and glared at Hanbin. “What are you doing here?” she half-whispered, half-scolded.

Hanbin pointed at the plastic bag he was holding up. “Breakfast?” he repeated.

Hayi furrowed her brows and pushed the guy out of her way. She then went on running towards her school.

After a while, a scooter was already following her. “Are you sure you don’t want breakfast?”

“YAH! Why are you always giving me a heart attack?” Hayi complained, keeping her distance from the scooter.

“Are you going to run your way to school?” Hanbin asked, keeping the pace of his scooter to match her pace.

“Yes! What’s it to you?”

“Won’t your asthma attack even before you can step inside the school?” Hanbin asked. “Besides, scooter is faster than running.”

Hayi side-eyed him after being thoughtful on his words.

“YAH! Hold on tight!” Hanbin yelled over his shoulder.

Hayi only had his hands gripping a part of Hanbin’s sweater. She was feeling awkward, being all touchy with a stranger she barely knew. However, she was already trembling behind Hanbin because she was scared of falling. Hanbin totally felt this and he wanted to laugh but he stopped himself.

“Hey! You wanna fall or what?” he yelled again, slightly tilting his head back to take a glimpse. Just in time, the scooter tripped on a small rock causing them to lose balance but Hanbin was able to recover.

Hayi was startled and accidentally hugged Hanbin’s waist until her face was practically planted on Hanbin’s back.

Hanbin, also startled at the sudden skinship, turned his head towards her and his eyes widened. Hayi felt this so she looked up and her eyes also widened.

“YA! Look forward!” she complained when they felt them losing balance again.

“Ah, ah, I’m sorry,” Hanbin clumsily said as he looked forward again. He looked down at the arms that were wrapping his waist and a smile drew on his lips. He then shook his head slightly at the sudden fast beating of his heart. You are not going to lose the bet, Hanbin, he reminded himself.

Hayi’s rest of the day went normal except for the occasional appearance of Hanbin everywhere she went.

“Annyeong!” Hanbin greeted when lunch came. He propped himself on the seat across Hayi and her friends.

Hayi’s friends looked at Hayi in wonder. “Do you know him?” one said.

Hayi didn’t answer but just glared at Hanbin. She then took a deep breath and faced her friends. “Soohyun, Chanhyuk, I’ll meet you later in class. I need to talk to him privately.”

Soohyun grinned to herself when Chanhyuk elbowed her. “Is this going to be it, eh?” he asked his sister before standing up and leaving.

“What’s your problem?” Hayi asked.

Hanbin shrugged. “I wanted to see you.”

“You wanted to see me? Why?”

“I want to apologize for last night,” he confessed.

“Apology accepted, now can you stop appearing wherever I am?” Hayi hissed.

Hanbin pretended to think deeply and then he shook his head. “I want to see you.”

Hayi’s lips twitched. “Why?” she asked, gritting her teeth.

“Because I like you,” Hanbin said and grinned goofily.

Hayi shut her eyes and massaged her temples, relaxing herself. She then opened her eyes and lifted them to meet his. “You’re obviously going on through something, weird guy. You don’t even know my name and you’re throwing out words like that as if you really mean them.”

“That’s not true. I know your name. You’re that’s-my-bag. Weird name, it is, but I don’t care because you’re a pretty girl and I think you’re really a nice person. And I mean it when I say I like you.”

Hayi had enough so she slammed her hands on the table causing everyone in the cafeteria to look at them. “You are going to stop following me and sprouting nonsense, okay?”

“Nope,” Hanbin said. “I’m not going to stop.”

Hayi clenched her fists and without another word, she turned around and stomped away.

Hanbin followed her like a puppy. “I would like to get to know you, that’s-my-bag. Aren’t you going to give me a chance?”

“First of all, weird guy, my name isn’t that’s-my-bag. It’s Hayi,” she said turning to him and pointed her finger at him. “Second—“

“Second, my name isn’t weird guy. I told you my name is Hanbin. Third, nice to meet you, Hayi. You have a lovely name,” Hanbin said, grabbing her hand as he shook it gently.

Hayi looked down at their hands. After a few seconds, she pulled it away. “Hanbin, weird guy. It’s the same. I would prefer it if I call you weird guy,” Hayi said continuing her way towards her room.

“Does that mean we’re going to see each other often from now on?” Hanbin asked blocking Hayi’s way so that she was facing him.

Hayi pointed her finger at him. “Friends! Nothing more! And that’s just because you’re too annoying, okay?” she said as she walked past him and mumbling incoherent words under her breath.

As Hayi was already far, she could still hear Hanbin’s celebratory shrieks. She turned the corner and shook her head.

Hanbin stared at the spot where he last saw Hayi. There was a bitter taste he felt as he thought of the coming days with her. He couldn’t understand it but he shrugged and went to meet his friends.

Hayi wondered why her afternoon was silent without a particular weird creature appearing everywhere she went. It was past six when she was fixing the library. Apart from locking the place up, she felt the responsibility of cleaning up and fixing the books on the shelves if ever she had a lot of time in her hands after doing her homework.

When she reached the last shelf, she remembered something. With the books on her arms, she slowly walked towards the shelf, trying to make her footsteps as soundless and light as possible. She poked her head in and a smile crept her lips. She then shook her head and sat down on the floor, putting the books aside.

“You really find this place comfortable eh?” she asked at the sleeping Hanbin, his back leaning on the shelf and his body slightly sprawled on the floor. The more she looked at him, the more she thought this place was an uncomfortable place unlike what he insisted last night.

Hayi slowly reached out her finger, planning to poke him to wake him up because she was locking the place now since it was already late. But an inch from his arm, she stopped and frowned.

“You look like you’re sleeping peacefully. Shall I disturb you?” Hayi asked the sleeping Hanbin whose mouth opened slowly and a snore came out. She giggled then, “I guess not.”

She sat beside him, leaning her back on the shelf. She tried duplicating Hanbin’s pose but the more she did, she realized it wasn’t really a comfortable place. While she was straightening up in a more comfortable position, she felt a heavy weight leaning on her shoulder. Surprised, she tilted her head to see what it was. Apparently, Hanbin’s head just fell on her shoulder. Gently, she pushed him away from her. Although sometimes successful, like a boomerang, Hanbin kept on returning back with his head on her shoulder.

Hayi once again gently pushed him away and to be sure, she held her position, her hands on his head. Hanbin, snoring on his sleep, was kept on an awkward position. Slowly, Hayi removed her hands. However, before she could even settle on her spot, Hanbin swayed towards the other side and was going to fall.

Instinctively and thanks to Hayi’s reflexes, she immediately grabbed hold of Hanbin to keep him from falling. Hayi smiled when she realized she just saved Hanbin from falling to the floor. “Phew, that was close,” she whispered.

However, Hanbin’s eyes fluttered open. Hayi wasn’t able to react at once when Hanbin had his eyes fully opened. He widened his eyes, making Hayi blink rapidly. Their faces were inches close. Hanbin felt Hayi’s hands on his arm and back as if she was hugging him and he was in between her legs, as if she was sitting on his lap while facing him. It was indeed an awkward position.

“KYAA!” Hayi shrieked as she quickly stood up and pushed Hanbin away, throwing him to the ground.

“What’s up with you?!” Hanbin asked, looking up at her.

“Omo, I’m sorry,” Hayi said immediately but refused to bend down to check up on him. “Are you hurt?”

“You’re quite strong eh? Pushing me like that until I almost kissed the floor,” Hanbin said, standing up and dusting himself off. “But you have the nerve to do that even though you almost kissed me.”

“I wasn’t planning to kiss you, okay?!” Hayi exclaimed, frowning and angry but her cheeks gave away that she was embarrassed as she was flushing red. “You almost fell and I was trying to save you.”

Hanbin pursed his lips and resisted the urge to laugh aloud. “Did that really happen or is that just an excuse?”

“It’s not an excuse, okay?!”

“Then why are you blushing?” Hanbin asked, poking her cheek.

Hayi swiftly turned around and stomped her way towards her bag, grabbed it and slung it on her shoulder. Hanbin was following her all throughout, teasing her about her blushing cheeks and their awkward position just a while and how much she seemed to have liked it as she was smiling when he opened his eyes.

“You’re still blushing. Omo, look at those cheeks!” Hanbin continued to tease while Hayi only had her eyes straight to where she was going, ignoring the blabber which came from her right. Hanbin laughed aloud again. “Okay, I’m going to stop laughing. Stop ignoring me now, eh? Hayi, eh?”

Hayi kept on walking until she tripped on her shoelace. She covered her face with embarrassment. She was expecting another round of laughter from Hanbin but she heard nothing. When she opened her eyes, there was no one beside him or in front of him. As she looked down, she was surprised to see Hanbin bended down in front of her, tying her shoelaces for her.

“You’ve been really clumsy today, eh?” Hanbin said as she finished tying her shoelaces. “Being late this morning, tripping on your shoelaces…” he trailed off and stood up to face her. “…and being caught red-handed that you wanted to kiss me.”

Hayi was almost moved with Hanbin tying her shoelaces for her and not laughing for her tripping but then hearing him talking and teasing her again, she saw red. Her hands clenched into tight fists and jaws also clenched. Seeing this, Hanbin tried to run for his life.

“YA! WEIRD GUY! COME HERE!” Hayi screamed but Hanbin was already far, laughing his off. She took off and chase after him.

Hanbin saw this so he stopped in his tracks.

Hayi reached him and bended down to pant. She felt his hand rubbing her back. “Don’t run. Your asthma might attack.”

Hayi looked up at him while she still caught her breath. There was a genuine concern on his face as he said:

“I’m not going to run anymore. So don’t chase after me, arasso?”

Hayi looked down again, refusing to lock gazes with the weird guy. The weird guy who just gave her weird emotions building up inside of her with every act he had ever done ever since he showed up in front of her, ever since day one. And it was just day two. She wondered how many days more she had to feel these strange surges of emotions welling inside her.

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thank you daragonlover110 for the awesome poster <3