Dasom stared at the journal resting on top of her desk. Whatever happened today would determine the last of her journal entry. If anything, today had to be interested. If it wasn't interesting, then she wouldn't be able to go back into the journal and recall any unique memories.

Today has to be interesting, Dasom told herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before putting the journal in her bag.

The second she slipped the journal in her bag, she spotted a shadowy figure behind her curtains. Her heart skipped a beat and she almost screamed until she realized that it was Baekhyun entering her room through her windows.

"Damn it, Baekhyun! You gave me a heart attack!" Dasom exclaimed. "What if I was changing?"

"But you weren't," Baekhyun said, smiling, "and that's all that matters."

Dasom rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to walk you to school in place of Myungsoo," Baekhyun told her.

Her heart dropped a little. "Where's Myungsoo?"

"He went school early. He needs to talk to his teachers about his college decisions and all that other great stuff," Baekhyun shortly explained.

"Did he choose?"

"Duh." Baekhyun looked at her. "It's only reasonable that he'd pick Seoul National University."

Dasom froze. "O-Oh…"

Baekhyun tilted his head a little. "What's the big deal? It's not like you're romantically interested in him or anything."

"E-Ew! Who said that I liked him?" As she turned red, she began to push him out of her room. "Also, get out! I need to get ready!"

"What are you talking about? You're all dressed and ready to go," Baekhyun pointed.

"Out!" Dasom declared. She kicked him out of her room and slammed the door behind her, leaving him completely speechless. However, a small smirk appeared on Baekhyun's lips as he amusingly rubbed his chin.

It looks like she's really bothered about this, Baekhyun realized. He turned a whistle and turned around, making his way out of the house. Oh boy, Myungsoo would be so happy to hear about this!

Myungsoo didn’t really go to school early just because he had to discuss with his teachers about his future. No, that was done a while ago. The only reason why he decided to leave his house early and avoid meeting Dasom on the way was purely because he felt ashamed over his second confession.

He knew that he was going to be rejected for the second time. Why did he even try to confess again? Just thinking about his repeated confession made him feel queasy inside.

I’m such an idiot, he thought, covering his face with his hands while sighing loudly. Plus, she’s avoiding me. She probably really hates me now. I’m just being annoying.

“I’m so stupid,” he murmured while letting out another sigh.

“Hey, Myungsoo!” a familiar voice shouted. Myungsoo froze and turned around, noticing that Baekhyun and Dasom were out of breath as if they had been running the entire time. It took him seconds to realize that Baekhyun was up to.

“I thought you guys were going to come later,” Myungsoo murmured, gritting his teeth.

Baekhyun scoffed. “As if I would. Anyway, I thought you two should talk.”

I really don’t want to, Myungsoo and Dasom both thought in unison.

“Good luck, buddy!” Baekhyun exclaimed. He gave Myungsoo one last cheesy grin before running away.

Myungsoo and Dasom both sighed, but became conscious of their actions. Both started blushing when they realized how in sync they were today. 

“W-Well, let’s go,” Myungsoo stuttered.

“Y-Yeah,” Dasom muttered back, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

The two walked side by side in silence. Even if they wanted to start a conversation, neither knew what to say without dragging the topic back to Myungsoo’s second confession. It wasn’t like they were trying to ignore his confession. No, they were both fully aware that his confession had to be brought back to light at some point, but…

It’s awkward, they thought in unison.

“Hey, um—“ 

At the corner of his eyes, he saw Dasom flinch. He closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. You know what? Forget this!

“My second confession,” he started. 

Now, Dasom bit her bottom lip. As he was about to continue, Dasom suddenly faked a laugh while putting her hands on her hips. Myungsoo stared at her with wide, confused eyes as she raised her chin in the air.

“W-W-Well, since you’re so pitiful, I’ll make an exception with you. I’ll let you date me,” Dasom said. Her whole face was bright red, conflicting with the way she crossed her arms and proudly raised her nose in the air.

Myungsoo felt his heart stop. An opportunity! This was the chance for him to accept Dasom’s “pity” and start an official relationship. This was the moment where he would finally date Dasom and be happy!

But… A small appeared on his lips as he weakly looked down at the ground. Realistically, a relationship didn’t seem reasonable anymore. He would be off to college while Dasom wouldn’t. In fact, he’d be attending one of the top colleges in the entire country. He had competition, and he couldn’t afford any distractions.

It’s too late for me, he realized. At least, for now it is.

“I can’t date you, Dasom,” Myungsoo murmured. Dasom widened her eyes, completely shocked that she was being rejected. He gave her a small pat on her shoulder. “Sorry.”

He walked away, leaving her completely dumbfounded and puzzled with his unexpected response.

“…What’s up with Dasom?” Taemin asked as he walked into Dasom’s classroom with Eunji. By the time the two arrived for lunch, the rest of the four were already in Dasom’s class, surrounding her desk. Dasom only crossed her arms and scoffed in completely annoyance.

“Uh, something happened this morning,” Junhee said. “Jieun and I just got here, too. We’re hearing the details from Byunghun.”

“Honestly, I couldn’t understand half the things she told me,” Byunghun said honestly as he rubbed his ear. “She—“

“When a boy says that he loves you and gives you time to think about it, but later says that he doesn’t want to be in a relationship, what does that mean?” Dasom blurted.

“Is that what happened to you?” Taemin asked.

“Just answer the question!”

“It means that he doesn’t want to date you anymore?” Byunghun guessed.

“But why?”

“Maybe he found someone else he likes or someone else confessed to him and he decided to accept that person’s confession,” Byunghun suggested.

Dasom had open, but she didn’t say anything else. Slowly, she sealed her lips and nodded carefully, processing the new information. She continued to cross her arm and displayed a sour, grudging expression. However, the group noticed that she had somewhat of a pained look as if something had torn her heart.

“Look what you did, Byunghun. You made Dasom said,” Junhee said.

“Way to go, Byunghun,” Taemin added.

Byunghun looked at them with pure disbelief. “Are you serious? It’s not my fault that someone decided to do that to her!”

“Speaking of that person, if we think about it carefully, isn’t it Myungsoo?” Jieun asked. “I mean, he did confess to her in public.”

“Doesn’t that mean Dasom was willing to date him?” asked Eunji asked.

For a minute, the group stared at each other. Then, they looked at Dasom, who had been overhearing their conversation. Dasom’s face turned bright red, but she avoided looking at her friends.

A second later, all her friends started to laugh. The idea of Dasom returning Myungsoo was hilarious, especially since Dasom always talked about how she had hated Myungsoo. Eunji giggled and looked at Dasom, who turned even more red. When she realized that Dasom was serious, she stopped laughing.

“Wait, do you really like Myungsoo?” Eunji asked. The rest stopped laughing.

“S-S-So what?” Dasom asked, trying to act all high-and-mighty.

“Since when?” Byunghun inquired. “I mean, it’s weird for you to like someone you hate.”

“I-I don’t know,” Dasom murmured. She tried to cover her face with her hair. “Ah, forget he! If he likes someone, then let him date that person! I don’t care!”

“I don’t think it’s a good time for him to date, though,” Taemin said. “If I was in his case, I’d reject you, too.”

“What? Why?”

“Once he goes into college, he won’t have time for relationships. At least, not when he’s trying to get used to a new lifestyle. Getting into a relationship with you might just hinder his abilities to adjust with his new future,” Taemin pointed out.

“Okay, but Myungsoo is crazy about Dasom,” Jieun said.

“Not as crazy as you are about Hyunwoo,” Junhee pointed out.

“True, but Myungsoo really likes Dasom. I see that in the way he looks at her. I doubt he’d reject her after confessing to her in public.”

“It’s not like he has much of a choice,” Eunji said. “He might’ve wanted to date Dasom, but it might be that he thought it was better of him not to date.”

“Level-headed. That sounds like Myungsoo,” Taemin remarked.

“Exactly, and if you think about how Dasom is, I think he made a really good choice,” Eunji added.

“Why’s that?” Jieun asked.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with me?” Dasom chirped in.

“It’s not like there’s anything wrong with you. It’s more like you can’t really last in a relationship unless you’re given full attention,” Junhee said. “You need a guy who can treasure you and who can take care of you. Myungsoo has those characteristics, but that was in high school. In college, he’s going to be busy figuring out what he’s going to do and how he’s going to get there. If he can’t care for you in a way you expect him to care, then I think he’ll feel more guilty rather than pleased with the fact that he’s finally dating you.”

Dasom remained oddly quiet as the group continued to discuss Myungsoo’s true intentions. There was no doubt that Myungsoo was thinking of Dasom when he had rejected her. Even Dasom could see why he’d reject her.

Yet here I am, acting like a child when I’ve been the one who had always pushed him away, she realized. She looked down at her hands before looking at the close. I still have time.

She got up from her seat, catching the group’s attention. She made a small fist and clenched it near her heart.

“Where are you going?” Byunghun asked.

“I’m going to confess!” Dasom blurted. Before anyone else had the chance to say anything, Dasom dashed out of the room, heading straight to Myungsoo’s classroom. In matters of minutes, she could hear her friends chase after her, confused and excited to see her confess.

The moment Dasom stood in front of the doors to Myungsoo’s classroom, she stopped herself. She hitched her breath and stared at the door. The thought of actually confessing to him finally came across her mind clearly and vividly. Her cheeks warmed up while she felt her heart pound against her chest. She took a deep breath and reached over to the door with her shaky hands.

Something cold touched her shoulders. She shivered and turned around, noticing that Baekhyun was giving her a gentle pat on her shoulder. He smirked at her.

“I heard what happened from Myungsoo,” he said. “Seeing that you’re here, I’m thinking that you aren’t going to take ‘no’ as an answer, right?”

“Do I look like someone who would?” she asked with a nervous smile.

“Go get ‘im, tiger,” he said. Without waiting for her to prepare her thoughts and feelings, he swung the door open loudly, catching everyone’s attention.

Myungsoo, in particular, stared at her with wide eyes. He was quite surprised to see her at his classroom. Her visits were often rare and precious to him, but today, there seemed to be a different aura around her.

The two looked eyes, gazing upon each other’s brown orbs. Without thinking twice, Dasom marched towards him.

“Dasom, I—“

He was cut off when she grabbed his collars and pulled him closer to her. Myungsoo’s eyes grew incredibly wide as his ears began to turn crimson. He blinked his eyes, confused with Dasom’s irrational behavior. Despite her odd conduct, he could still feel his heart pounding against his chest.

“Lee Myungsoo!” Dasom shouted. By now, Dasom’s five friends caught up to the scene, watching the two potential couple that had everyone’s eyes. “I really like you! Please date me!”

Myungsoo felt his lips tremble with joy and his heart skip a beat with glee. Those were the words he had been dying to hear since forever, and they sounded like blissful bells chiming throughout the school.

But I can’t, Myungsoo reminded himself. With a difficult, crumbled expression, he gently reached for Dasom’s fingers and pried them off his shirt. Just before she could back away properly, he stood up and pulled her arm, pulling her away from the public’s eyes.

He dragged her away until they arrived at a secluded area nearby. He released his grip from her wrist and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. Dasom stared at the ground with completely embarrassment as she realized that she could’ve just asked him to talk in private.

I’m an idiot, Dasom thought.

“I’m sorry,” Myungsoo whispered.

Cross that. I’m a huge idiot.

He gave her an unexpected hug. Dasom widened her eyes and was about to push him away out of fear that she would like him even more, but he squeezed her close to his chest.

“I’m sorry, Dasom. I can’t date you, at least not right now. I have a future to think of, and I don’t think I can make you happy when we go to separate schools. I’m the one who kept saying that I love you, but in the end I’m the one who can’t pursue the relationship. I’m sorry.”

"I-I'll wait!" she declared.

“I can’t do that to you—“

“It’s not you who’s doing that to me!” she declared. She pulled away before giving him a serious look. “It’s me who’s doing it to myself. If I say that I’m going to wait, then I’m going to wait!” When he started to look skeptical of her, she cleared . ”B-But while I’m waiting, I might go and flirt with other guys, okay?"

Myungsoo stopped giving her a strange look before breaking into a warm smile. He chuckled and came closer to her, embracing her small body in his arms

“You do you,” he said softly.

Dasom frowned at him. ”You're not bothered by that?"

"Well, we're not dating yet, so I'll accept it if you flirt with someone else," he said.

She kept quiet before saying, “Yeah, I can definitely wait for you.”

The two secretly smiled and hugged each other, not letting go until the bell for class rang across the campus.