"Morning Hyorae!" Sehun passed by my desk. I was a little confused by his greeting, but responded anyway.

 

"Hey Sehun."

 

"So how's your plan going?"

 

I started feel a little flustered. "Shh! Not so loud!" Although it was still early in the morning and not a lot of people were in the class yet (including Lay), I would prefer that no one heard my conversation.

 

He chuckled. "So you're going after a guy in our class. Who is it?"

 

"Why would I tell you? So  you'd tease me or something?" I snapped.

 

"Nah I wouldn't do that, would I? I'm you're friend!" He happily announced. I didn't recall us officially becoming friends at all. We only had that one conversation that didn't even last that long.

 

"Since when did I become your friend?" I squinted my eyes at him, but he seemed to have ignored my question. At the corner of my eye I noticed Lay coming in so I pushed Sehun away, hoping that he would get the message.

 

Lay doesn't look like his usual self. He appeared to be tired by his slightly panda-looking eyes. The shoulders were slightly slumped and his face looked down. There were only two reasons for his appearance: either the girl had rejected him already, or she has yet to answer and he is anxiously waiting for her answer. I approached him as he sat down at his desk.

 

"Hey Lay, sorry I missed our little meeting yesterday." I started off.

 

He glanced at me and smiled. "It's alright. You must have had something busy to do. Do you want to talk about it now?"

 

It felt like a video game at this moment. I imagined two options that sprung up: "Say yes and confess right now!" and "Maybe later."

 

If I chose option one, it probably wouldn't make a big impact to him. Plus I don't think I'm ready to accept whatever his answer is. Since he just confessed to someone, he would probably say no to me since his interest for her hasn't died down yet. Therefore, I would be better off with option two and slowly build it up.

 

"Maybe some other time, but do you want to have lunch together today?"

"Sure I don't mind. I'll meet you inside the cafeteria?"

 

"Sounds good to me."

 

Alright, that was a pretty good start. Perhaps this will be the very first time that we would have a good solid conversation going on. He'll get to know me better and vice versa.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

If you wanted the best selection from the lunch menu, you always had to rush for the cafeteria line. Today was no different from any other day. Although bulgogi was a frequent menu item, it tasted way better than other items like the stir fried chicken. You also had the option to choose sandwiches on the other side of the kitchen if you wanted something smaller or were in a hurry. I still preferred to line up and wait for the hot lunches though.

 

I found a smaller table by the window-side so that I could talk to Lay privately. My heart was pounding and cold sweat was all over my hands. I considered this to be sort of like a date. Of course I wasn't completely sure what a date would be since I never had one before, but I'm sure I wasn't too far from the idea. I brushed my hair with my bare hands to make sure I would look my best in front of Lay.

 

As I noticed him coming towards me, I pretended to not see him and stare deeply into my plate.  

 

"Hi Hyorae." He politely said as he sat down.

 

"Hi hi Lay!" I squeaked out awkwardly. Okay, the first thing I should do is quickly start a conversation. "Oh, did you choose the bulgogi too?"

 

"Yeah, it's one of the best dishes here." He looked at it.

 

Awkward, awkward, awkward. I kept saying to myself in my mind. What else can I say? What type of question would flow smoothly? "Uh, how has your day been?"

 

"It's been...okay." He answered with a lower tone.

 

"You sure? You didn't seem to be as energetic this morning."

 

He placed his spoon down. "To be honest, I confessed to someone yesterday."

 

This was NOT what I was expecting this conversation to go towards. My chest was pulled inwards again. Be strong Hyorae.  "And did she reject you?"

 

"No not yet. I gave her some time to think about it, but I can't help but imagining that she'd reject me. Maybe I should do something to show her that I really do like her."

 

It felt like cold needles started to poke at my back. "What have you thought about doing?"

 

"I know she enjoys listening to music. I was considering composing a song for her. Would a girl like that?"

 

Keep those tears in Hyorae! I repeated in my mind. "If it were me, I would definitely fall in love with the guy that sung it to me."

 

Lay's face lit up a little. "I think I'll start on that. Oh! I remember seeing you in the music room before, you like music too right? Do you think you could help me with the song? If a girl were to beta-listen to the song first, it might capture her heart more."

 

More needles poked at me, but an opportunity to hang out with Lay? "Definitely! I would love to help!"

 

"That's great!" He smiled a little. "You play the guitar? We could jam a little and maybe that'll help me come up with something."

 

"Yeah sure!" No I actually don't know how to play the guitar, but it can't possibly be hard to learn a few notes in a day?

 

"Great. We can meet up tomorrow after school in the music room then?" He started to eat his food more willingly.

 

"After school? It's good with me." I nodded.

 

"Thanks for all your help Hyorae."

 

I didn't know what had gone through my mind for me to agree to helping Lay pursue the girl of his dreams. I wanted him to pursue me, not Suhye! At that moment though, all I wanted to was to see him smile again.

 

But first thing is first: where am I going to get a guitar?!