Kyungsoo barely notices Ara on the first day of middle school. With all the new faces and the teachers expecting them all to be suddenly "grown up", Kyungsoo doesn't see the girl in the glasses, with a short bob, hidden behind her book, sitting alone at the back of the class. One week later, he does start to notice her but she's so quiet and wrapped up in her own world that Kyungsoo doesn't know how to break into it. Not that he wants to of course, but she makes him curious nonetheless. 

"Alright class, we're going to learn how to make spaghetti today," the Home Ec. teacher announces one day in late autumn. Kyungsoo bolts up excited. Spaghetti is just about his favorite dish and now he can learn how to make it. "Does anyone know how to make it?" 

"I know how to make it, teacher." 

It's the first time he hears that voice, small and unsure, and turns around to see the girl now raising her hand hesitantly, while looking like she's made the worst mistake of her life. The teacher looks a little impressed, and although he doesn't show it, so does Kyungsoo.

"What's your name child?" 

"Cho... Ara..." 

Kyungsoo notices her hands trembling on the table. The teacher runs them through basic ingredients and precautions to take, but Kyungsoo keeps looking back to Ara, who diligently writes everything down. 

At the end of ninety minutes of class, there's a mixed variety of dishes— some burnt and inedible, while some look alright for their first times. Kyungsoo stares proudly at his own plate but then turns to the excited whispers emerging from the back to the classroom. 

Ara's dish looks experienced, he thinks, as he overhears whispers of mingled amazement and jealousy. 

"That looks pretty cool," he says, making no attempt to hide his awe. She blinks at him. 

"Re-really?" 

"Yeah.... mind if I try it...?" Ara passes him a fork and chews on her bottom lip as the others stare at Kyungsoo, awaiting his response. 

"It's.... really really good," he says, breaking out into a grin. "Where'd you learn it?!" 

"My mum works late so I make it for myself now and then..." Kyungsoo places the fork back on the counter and extends a hand. 

"Do Kyungsoo." She looks at the hand, pausing a beat before placing hers in it. 

"Cho Ara." 

"You have to teach me how to do that!" 

By the time three years of middle school end, Kyungsoo and Ara become inseparable. It is also by then that Kyungsoo's spaghetti far surpasses Ara's in taste but he maintains that the best spaghetti he remembers having is in his first year of Middle School, the day he meets Ara. 

In High School Kyungsoo realizes his best friend has changed. She's still the same she was through the last three years with him, but the girl lost in her own world rarely emerges in public anymore. He doesn't mind that that girl only shows herself when she's alone with him. He likes being a part of her inaccessible world.

She sits with groups of classmates when not with him, flitting from people to people, suddenly a social butterfly so very unlike the girl he'd first known. She isn't always with him any more, but he can't miss the bright eyes and full smile as she waves from across the class to him. He feels a little upset at not having to feel like protecting her anymore, but he's happy she's grown, in fact he's proud. 

In the second year of high school, Kyungsoo asks out his classmate, Lee Eunae. 

"Since when?" Ara asks him as they wait for the bus. 

"Last week..."

"You didn't tell me you were planning to ask her out..." The hurt is evident, heavily colouring her voice. 

"I haven't seen you much, you've been busy with club stuff..." Ara looks away, apologetic and guilty. "No, wait," Kyungsoo shakes his head. "I should have told you... I'm sorry." He doesn't tell her why he hadn't told her, he doesn't know why himself. 

"That's okay," she says, smiling, "maybe we could go eat on Sunday. I heard a new Italian place opened up." Kyungsoo takes a seat next to hers and shakes his head. 

"Sorry... I told Eunae I'd take her out..." 

"That's cool... maybe later..." Kyungsoo doesn't understand the hollow feeling he gets as Ara turns away and rests her head against the window, but he doesn't like it for a moment. 

His relationship lasts five months, until they both decide to break it off and Kyungsoo realizes that it's been too clinical, almost as if they'd been playing parts in a play. Ara doesn't date anyone yet, confiding in Kyungsoo that she has discovered her love for the stage and doesn't want to be held down by commitments just yet. For now acting out Shakespearian romances would be enough for her. 

Towards the end of their final year it's Choi Minhee who asks him out, rather shyly, after school and Kyungsoo thinks she's cute but he doesn't know what he should tell her.

"I think you should say yes," Ara tells him, as she picks out formals for a conference. "Does this look okay?" 

"Black, again?" Ara scoffs at him. 

"You're one to talk mister!" Then she softens and tells him, "if you say yes to her, say it because you want to, okay? She's nice." Kyungsoo nods, thinking about the fact that he doesn't really know Minhee really well except that she plays tennis really well and she's... nice. He doesn't notice when Ara emerges from the changing room in a navy dress, tugging nervously at the hem while looking at herself in the mirror. When he does, he can't help the forming grin as he is reminded of the shy girl who said she could make spaghetti one Autumn afternoon. 

"You look lovely," he says, tilting his head, keeping the grin. Ara chews on her bottom lip, a nervous tick Kyungsoo finds adorable. 

"You think...?" And to Kyungsoo's subsequent nod, she says, "thanks," with a shy smile and Kyungsoo would be lying if he says his heart doesn't beat faster right then. 

He says yes to Minhee next morning. 

In the month that follows Kyungsoo doesn't see much of Ara, until she comes running into class one day, stopping at his table looking incredibly disheveled and almost in tears. 

"Kyung! You have to be my Romeo!" Almost simultaneously, Kyungsoo and Minhee, who is next to him, tense up for altogether different reasons. 

"What?" 

"Please. Kim Kibum broke his leg, and we don't have an understudy!" Kyungsoo contemplates the scenario. "I know you know your Shakespeare so please! I'm begging here! You have to come in and play Romeo!" 

"I don't know the first thing about acting!" 

"I didn't know until last year either!! Kyung please..." Kyungsoo can't say no, he's never been able to say no to her and to Minhee's evident annoyance, he gets up and follows Ara out the door. 

As it turns out, Kyu loves being on stage as much as Ara and he finally realizes why she spends so much time in rehearsals. 

"I love doing this but Romeo and Juliet were a couple of idiotic teens. Who the hell falls in love like that," grumbles Ara, handing Kyungsoo a can of coke after rehearsals one afternoon. Kyungsoo breaks the seal and waits for the angry hiss to die down before taking a swing. 

"Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?" He says, his lips. 

"Is that you or Shakespeare speaking?" Kyungsoo gives her a lazy half smile. 

"As You Like It, Act III, Scene v." He takes another long drink. "Me? I think... It's something that grows over time under the surface, until you take the time to look closer and you realize that the person you see everyday— maybe even take for granted— that person is the one you love." Kyungsoo exhales deeply as he finishes, staring at the ground between his feet. 

"Cheers to you finding her," Ara says, raising her can. For a while they sit on the stage, silently drinking and lost in their own thoughts, shoulders lightly brushing each other and Kyungsoo knows Ara is about to say something from the way she tilts her head when Minhee walks in through the door, excited smile freezing slowly when she sees the two of them. 

"Oh, I'll see you later then Kyungsoo." The chill in the air is pronounced. It's Ara who jumps down from the stage calling after Minhee who doesn't respond, walking away as fast as she can. Kyungsoo sits frozen as Ara turns to look at him with a bewildered look. 

"Go after her!" She waves wildly. Kyungsoo doesn't. 

They break up a few days later. 

Ara avoids Kyungsoo in the days that follow, and he can see the look in her eyes that tells him she's beating herself up over his breakup. At the end of the week, Kyungsoo has had enough, as he corners her in her seat after class, sitting down beside her and preventing her exit until everyone has left, while Ara tries to occupy herself with a Sociology textbook and acts very busy. 

When the last student exits, Kyungsoo snatches the book out of Ara's hand. 

"It wasn't your fault!" He snaps, a little louder and with more acid than he'd intended to. Ara flinches, but stares back at him impassively. 

"Excuse you," she snaps back, grabbing the book and wrenching it out of his hands. Kyungsoo almost slams his fist down upon the table. This wasn't proceeding the way he'd intended it to. 

"Ara, please," he says gently. "Ara I'm sorry..." 

"You're sorry?!" She slams the book down upon her table. "You don't get to be the big man here Do Kyungsoo! Not to the piece of crap who ruined everything for you!" The b eyes and cracking voice make Kyungsoo clench his fists, restraining himself from pulling her into a hug. 

"What the hell are you talking about," he says through gritted teeth. 

"You looked happy Kyung... I didn't mean to... I don't even know why..."

"I'm not blaming you!" 

"I'm blaming me!!" 

"It wasn't you! I swear!" Kyungsoo lies, she doesn't need to know, not just yet. 

'Are you in love with her?'

'What?'

'You don't even deny it and you sure look it." 

'What on earth—'

'Forget it, I'm sick of playing second fiddle to Cho Ara.'

No, she doesn't need to know... but she already seems to know that as she shakes her head at him.

"Liar," she mutters. "I can see it on your face." Kyungsoo sighs, staring out of the window. 

"I've known you for the last six years of my life, and I can't imagine six days without you. There was never a choice to make," he admits. Ara's eyes widen greatly. "You're important to me Ara.." 

Ara doesn't seem entirely convinced as Kyungsoo finally pulls her into a hug, letting her bury her head into his shoulders. 

"I'm a horrible person..." She mumbles. Kyungsoo pats her back.

"I think I might be worse," and refuses to answer Ara's curious, 

"Hmm?"

When the curtains descend on their final performance, Kyungsoo rises from the floor where he meets Ara's ecstatic smile, still dressed in Juliet's bloodied dress. She doesn't wait, wrapping her arms around him while he's still seated. 

"Best Romeo ever!" She yells over the roar of the backstage crowd, congratulating and exalting all at once. They finally stand, still grinning brightly at each other, Ara's wig looking wild and unkempt, just like the glee in her eyes and Kyungsoo seizes her up in another bone-crushing embrace, unsure of his own feelings but sure that has happy now. Ara seems surprised for a while until she molds herself into his hold, both of them swaying from side to side, unable to stop the smiles on their faces. Kyungsoo wonders if he couldn't perhaps remain like this forever. Then he decides Shakespeare has messed up his mind into a pile of mush. 

"Hey umm.. Ara..?" Ara breaks off gently, smiling politely at the shy boy, who had transformed himself into Tybalt for the stage, rubbing the back of his neck

"Hey, Junho! Great job." He lets out a nervous smile at her words. 

"Thanks. You guys too! So umm... Ara, I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me to prom...? Unless you're already going with someone!" 

Kyungsoo suddenly feels a punch to the gut, stepping back automatically to avoid hearing Ara's answer, but then he's always known that she can never say no. 

Kyungsoo declines every request that comes to him for prom, restraining himself from snapping at anyone and everyone who asks him out. 

"You're not going?" Ara asks running her lips between her teeth and peering out at him from under her bangs. Kyungsoo shakes his head, refusing to look up to meet her eyes. He forces her to keep her date, and reminds her that she has to attend, being a part of the prom committee. 

So it's Kyungsoo's own fault when on Prom day, he's home alone at six, bouncing a rubber ball off his bedroom walls, blasting R&B at the loudest possible volume and trying not to think of anything that might be going on in school. His phone rings a loud symphony and he knows it's Ara. 

"Kyungsoo..." The way she says his name, hesitant on the first syllable, that tells him something is wrong. 

"Should I be there?" He asks, running his hand through his tousled hair. 

"If you're not busy..." 

"Stay there." 

It takes Kyungsoo five minutes to drag out a pressed black shirt and slip it on his black jeans and hopes it looks passably formal before grabbing his jacket and dashing out of his house. 

He spots her standing close to the entrance, chewing her lip and looking around, occasionally smiling at her classmates with a smile that didn't touch her eyes. She looks beautiful, he thinks, dressed in her black dress, in crepe and a fluffed skirt of tulle, and black heels. They look like couple, he realizes. She looks beautiful but so lonely, with her shoulders dropping in dejection and her eyes flitting all over without really looking.

"Ara," he says, lightly placing a hand on his shoulders. She swivels around, beaming in relief and Kyungsoo draws her into a quick hug. He hears a soft sniffle into his shoulders and knows that if they were alone, she'd have been crying. It lasts only a few seconds and when she pulls back, she has her polite social smile on again. Kyungsoo looks around and raises his eyebrow. 

"Where's Junho?" Ara drops her gaze to the floor. 

"He got asked out by the girl he's liked for ages and he hoped I'd understand..." She looks up with a smile. "It's not a big deal, I get it..." Kyungsoo clenches his jaw. 

"Where is he and how can I hurt him?" Ara let's out a small laugh. 

"I didn't call you for that." Kyungsoo looks over her dejected, yet socially smiling face. 

"Do you have anything else to do here?" She shakes her head. "Good," he slips his hand into hers and pulls her towards the door, ignoring the stares thrown their way. 

"What— where are we going?" Ara hisses. 

"Gelato, then movie, then dinner." Kyungsoo replies without looking back. 

"I don't have the money for all of that!" 

"It's a date then," Kyungsoo grins, heartbeat quickening as they finally walk out of the school grounds and Ara falls into step with him. She looks at him incredulously. 

"Very funny Kyung," she huffs. "You don't have to..." 

Kyungsoo doesn't reply, but he disagrees. He may not have to, but he wants to. 

School ends without much else, but then Kyungsoo makes it into the college of his choice first. He opens the letter before Ara and it's only when she enlists the places she's applied to that he realizes that they may not be in the same college after all. He doesn't seem as happy as he should be with the acceptance letter. 

In fact he keeps moping, till a week later, making his hyung call him out on his fears, which he vehemently denies. 

"Do Kyungsoo!!" He hears one afternoon, when he's home with his brother, both watching some show or the other. The doorbell rings furiously and Seungsoo answers it only to have Ara tear past him unceremoniously and launch herself on to a startled Kyungsoo, tackling him with a hug into the couch. 

"Wha—???" 

"I made it in!!" Her eyes look glassy for some reason Kyungsoo can't fathom. "We're going to college together!!" Kyungsoo doesn't need to be told twice, as he hugs her back with equal ferocity, almost toppling off the couch. Seungsoo coughs discreetly. 

"So does this mean celebrations are in order." Kyungsoo breaks apart at the sound of his brother's voice very reluctantly. "Dinner's on me kids," he says, ruffling Kyungsoo's hair and walking out of the room. Kyungsoo turns back to Ara, who's already flipping through the television channels and realizes her legs are still entangled with his. He leans back on his end of the couch and keeps his eyes trained on the screen, feeling happier than he has in days. Ara is going to college with him. 

After the first month of college, Ara catches him one lunch and lays out her plans. 

"We need to revive the drama club," she says and he can already see the gears of her brain working much too fast and much too forward. But he goes along with her, pinning up posters and flyers at her request, until they have a handful of people to work with, among whom they single out Zhang Yixing, the third year psychology student, Lu Han the final year economics major, Kim Jongdae and Byun Baekhyun from Journalism as the best. It takes a lot of debating and heated arguments but finally Lady Windermere's Fan emerges the victor as the play of choice.

"I thought I had a crush on Jongdae," Ara muses on a lazy afternoon, lying on her stomach on Kyungsoo's bed, writing an essay, while Kyungsoo sits at his desk and jerks up his head sharply. 

"Huh?" 

"He's really cute, nice and all but he's not my style," she rolls over to her back and stares at the ceiling. "Nah... I have a crush on Yixing ge," she says firmly.

"Oh really?" He asks, glaring at the writing on his book, trying to keep the ire out of his voice. Ara carries on blissfully unaware. 

"Yeah, he's nice and almost like one of those Princes in stories?" She laughs. 

The next morning Yixing doesn't understand the sudden tartness with which Kyungsoo treats him. 

"So you'll be playing Lord Darlington." 

"Great." 

"We'll start rehearsals after classes." 

"Fine." 

"Is there anything you want to clarify."

"No." 

So for the next few days Yixing goes to bed wondering if he'll be murdered in his sleep or not. Ara remains blissfully unaware but fortunately for Yixing her crush dies out in a few weeks, and Kyungsoo feels rather idiotic for his behavior, working overtime to cover up for it. 

"He's an idiot," he hears Yixing tell Luhan after practice. "You're an idiot," the pair notice him and Kyungsoo finds himself cornered by both seniors grinning at him. "You're so obvious, it's a wonder she doesn't see it yet," Yixing shakes his head. "You don't even need a psychology degree to see that." Kyungsoo mutters incoherent denial under his breath and walks off. 

The words come back to haunt him in their third year when Kyungsoo decides to give into Ara's demand for more funds and hold a fund raiser, dragging Ara out of her Sunday reading. Kyungsoo looks at the sleeping face beside him and he finally understands that he's gone long beyond just liking her. He can't imagine a life where he doesn't see her everyday and hear his name in her voice and wonders if it makes him worse than the Shakespearean love stories he loves to criticize. He tucks a strand of hair behind her ears and takes their used cups to the kitchen. He comes to a stop before her, his lips nervously, contemplating on her reaction to his future actions— both immediate and long time.

He decides to take a risk anyway, slipping a hand under her neck and the other under her knees, drawing her sleeping forms close to him before standing up. For a moment she shifts, and in that moment Kyungsoo freezes, staring at her with wide eyes wondering if she might hit him. But she only adjusts herself into his arms, sighing softly in her sleep. Kyungsoo breathes again and then softly smiles. She looks so innocent and unlike her vivacious self like this. 

As he places her on her bed and pulls the cover over her, Ara snuggles into his arms refusing to relinquish the warmth. Kyungsoo wonders if he couldn't maybe curl up beside her, close his eyes to her face and open them to hers too... He gently pries her off and tucks her in. Then on an impulse, he presses a soft kiss on her cheek, walking out with an insuppressible grin on his face. He spends the rest of his night wondering what she'd look like being kissed if she was awake and not blissfully unaware but something in Kyungsoo doesn't want to know the answer just yet. 

"Hyung." 

Kyungsoo pushes his way past a crowd of giggling girls and finds Yixing cross-legged on his stool, perched precariously with a look of absolute enlightenment. 

"Aah Kyungsoo," he says with a wise tilt of his head, which creates a loud jangle. "Do you want to have your fortune told?" Kyungsoo purses his lips for a second.

"Yeah why not," he muses, "but I'm not paying you." 

"Very well, since you are our illustrious president... hmmm.... ask someone special to dance and maybe fortune will smile upon you." Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. 

"What?" 

"Don't feign ignorance, Do Kyungsoo," Yixing says with a loud clatter of beads and trinkets. "Ask her." 

There are a million and one ways in which everything might go wrong, but as he walks back home, grinning from his kiss, Kyungsoo is happy with the one way everything does go right. And oh, Zhang Yixing's ability to predict things is rather disturbing.