Chapter Twenty one  -   Maybe? 

"Yeol... I need to study, we better get home quick," I whined as he dragged me to this ramen place, where we were going to meet Myungsoo, although yeah, I was elated to meet him.

"Seriously? Exam is still like two weeks away," he retorted as he opened the door.

"That's the reason why you keep failing," I rolled my eyes.

"You cheat my tests too alright," he said but beamed once he spotted his best friend sitting alone in a table, "Now shut up and enjoy your date," 

"I can't date with you being a third wheeler," I mumbled but was sure that Sungyeol could hear, although he didn't say a word.

Somehow, I have been quite close with Myungsoo these past few days that it felt normal to talk to him. My heart didn't go crazy or kept on going off its tempo like usual. 

"Hello," Myungsoo greeted and I smiled to back while making myself comfortable in the seat across him.

"Here, order," He handed me the menu book but I shook my head.

"No, I'm not hungry," 

"You sure?" Sungyeol cocked one of his eyebrows. 

Damn I was hungry. 

"Yeah, I just had a heavy lunch in school just now," I convinced them.

Sungyeol sighed and shrugged his shoulders before ordering a bowl of spicy ramen.

"How's your preparation for finals?" Myungsoo asked. 

"What date is our finals starting?" Sungyeol retorted with a question.

"See Myung, you know how much I have to suffer in class with this idiot?" I grunted and the male in front of me chuckled, his voice perfectly pleasant in my ears, "He doesn't even know when the finals are," 

"That's why he's called Lee Sungyeol. Right Yeol?" He let out a small laugh and patted his best friend's shoulder.

The 'ramen three people date' went well. I excused myself to go home first since I was feeling like studying, although yeah, I wanted to spend more time with Myungsoo, admiring his deep dimples as it sunk to his cheeks whenever he chewed his ramen or simply smiled. 

Although I insisted on going back home myself, Myungsoo also insisted to bring me home. Sungyeol decided to not tail us, thankfully, by saying that he still wanted to eat. I made a mental note to myself to call him and thank him loads after this.

"You should stop doing this Myungsoo," I said as we waited for the red light to turn green.

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Being good to me," I sighed and gave him a subtle smile, "You should do what you usually do. Giving cold glares and all," I rolled my eyes at my own words.

"Are you telling me to go away?" He asked with a laugh and I joined him. 

"No, it's not that," the lights turned green and the both of us crossed the street, "It's just... You've been really kind to me lately and uh... I know you feel guilty and all but, I've forgiven you so you can drop the act and we can live like how we usually do," I said in a more serious tone.

It wasn't like it didn't hurt. But I didn't want him doing all this considerate acts towards me just because he felt guilty. If he wanted to be kind to me, I want him to do it because he loved me, which was kinda impossible. 

"I'm not doing this as a 'bribe'," he chuckled, "I'm doing this because I find it nice to hang out with you," he shrugged.

I almost, almooooost, scoffed at what he just said. Why would a popular guy like him, who have those skinny girls chasing on him, would want to hang out with someone as lame as me?  That stuff only happens in drama am I right? But it was freaking happening to me right now and I was extremely overwhelmed although I tried my best to not show it. 

"After you graduate, where are you going?" I asked, trying to make the situation less tense- probably less tense only for me since Myungsoo looked cool with it.

"I'm taking photography," he flashed a sweet smile.

"Where?" Was the question I feared. I couldn't 'loose' him like how I would 'loose' Sunggyu.

He chuckled at my question, "Relax, I'll be studying most probably here," 

I sighed in relief, "That's good," 

"Ehm... Sunggyu hyung's announcement was quite..."

"Shocking?" 

Myungsoo nodded quietly, "Don't be too... Sad Nara. I mean, don't fail on your exams because you're too distracted by it, there comes a time when we should let go, you know," he said carefully. 

I smiled, "Yeah I'm sad, but... I guess you're right, I should learn to let go," 

We arrived at my apartment building and he was so determined to ride me up the elevator that I couldn't stop him. 

"I'm not saying this because I hate Sunggyu," he chortled at his own words.

"No. I didn't think about that," I convinced him, "But how's the both of you right now?" 

Myungsoo tilted his head and the elevator door dinged open, "We're just okay, not too good, not too bad," 

"Cool," I said as we walked out. 

When the both of us was already in front of my apartment, the atmosphere somehow became a little weird for me. I didn't know if it was just me or was it because Myungsoo was rubbing his palms repeatedly. Ignoring that, I opened my door and looked back to Myungsoo. 

"Thank you for walking me back home Myung," 

"No problem," he smiled, "Study well okay?" 

I nodded, "You too," 

He stepped back and was about to leave when he looked to my eyes again, "Nara," he called.

"Hm? Is there any problem?" I frowned.

"No," he bit his lips, "But I was just wondering..." He averted his gaze. 

"Wondering about what?" Now that was weird.

"If you would like to go on dinner with me again some other time," 

"Oh, cool. Who else is coming?" 

"It's just the both of us Nara," 

I widened my eyes. Was I dreaming? Just the both of us? Me and Kim Myungsoo?!

"I mean, if you don't want I'm totally fine, no pressure," he blurted out when I wasn't able to say anything. 

"Oh... No, no, no, it'll be really cool. I mean, yeah sure, we can have dinner wherever you want," I spoke.

He nodded, "Great, I'll text you the details and stuff later," 

"Okay," 

"Uhm, can I have your number?"

-***-

"Isn't one competition enough Raina?" Woohyun groaned as he took the brochure from the said female.

"Come on! It'll be fun! You guys should come and cheer for me," She whined. 

We, minus Sunggyu and Myungsoo (I didn't know why they were unavailable, but I'm thinking that Sunggyu was probably studying for his huge final exam while Myungsoo was mysteriously unavailable as usual, that was a shame though) were having a movie marathon at Raina's house. It was the first time I went there and her colossal home theatre made startled me. 

I took a look at the brochure and nodded. It was cool how Raina could participate in almost all kinds of sports competition, despite having an all-boys team members. 

"Are you playing single or double?" I asked. 

"Double, but I haven't find a partner yet, they restricted it should be a girl," she made a face and I laughed.

"You could join her Nara," Sungyeol nudged my elbow and I glared at him. 

"Oh! Yeah, I just remembered you can play badminton-"

"No, no, no! I at sports and you guys all know that," I cut Raina.

"Come on, you're good in badminton. It's fun cheering for you anyway," Sungyeol wiggled his eyebrows.

I blinked and blinked. The offer wasn't so bad, but in the midst of arts festival, exams and other bunch of high school dramas, I didn't think it was the right choice. 

"You can increase your curriculum points," Ailee said with a grin.

Ah... Curriculum points. Right. It's something I didn't really care about. The school used it to encourage the students to join non-academical activities, which in my view wasn't successful.

"Should I join?" I asked uncertainly.

"Yes! Yes! You should!" Raina exclaimed.

Somehow, since Minjae went out of my life, I became closer to Raina. I saw new things from her, like for example, she had a fear on lizards, or what I found surprising, she had dated 2 guys on middle school before. By being closer to Raina, I also got the privilege to be closer to Hoya, and I found out that he wasn't as... Scary, I guess, as I thought.

I finally decided to give the badminton tournament a shot which resulted in the whole room being chaotic. "But be prepared to loose Raina," I warned.

"No, it's okay. Even if I loose, I won't feel the slightest disappointment because you're playing with me," she beamed.

I stretched my body and took a glance at the wall clock that had its short arms pointing to number five. 

"I should go back now," I said and stood up, "I need to study," 

"Me too," Sungjong followed.

"Oh... Alright, see you guys tomorrow at school!" Raina, with Hoya following behind her, opened the door for the both of us and waved goodbye. 

Once me and Sungjong stepped out of her place, the air suddenly became extremely quiet. It felt as if Sungjong was emitting his peacefulness. 

"So..." I started, "Where do you live?"

He smiled, "You might not know this, but I actually live in the same apartment as you," 

My eyes zeroed, "W-what? You never told me!" 

"You never asked," he shrugged as we walked down.

I laughed quietly, "Wow," 

"I live on the sixth floor," he said.

"I live on the fourth,"

"I know," 

"Sunggyu's is right across mine," 

"I know," 

"Okay," 

I decided to zip my mouth since somehow, I felt it was the best thing to do.

"Sungjong," I called, "Tell me more about yourself," 

"About me?" He pointed his index finger to his nose.

I nodded and shoved my hands into my uniform pocket. Autumn's coming and it was breezy.

"I'm Lee Sungjong, 16, the only son in my family," he spoke.

"And where does your parents live?" I questioned.

"With me, in the apartment," 

"What do they do for a living?" 

"They run a restaurant," he answered.

The both of us went quiet again until we turned left and he called me.

"Hm?" 

"Are you sad about Sunggyu?" 

I froze at the question for a moment before answering, "Yeah, of course I am, but," I sighed, I should let go shouldn't I?" 

"But you seem to not be able to," 

"Really?" I frowned, "Are you able to read my mind?" Sometimes, it was hard to believe that Sungjong couldn't read minds.

"I don't read. I feel," he gave a subtle smile.

"And how do you always do that?" 

"Because what you're feeling right now, the dilemma, the confusion, the insecurities, the sadness," he sighed, "I've been through it so many times." 

Lee Sungjong.

Just who are you?

Hello people :) I'm missing all of you. Exams are torturing me TT I'll be having my english orals two days ahead and I'm not freaking out, and it's freaking me out that I'm not freaking out. Okay. I'm not in my right mind. Bye.

Thanks for reading! ^^