DAE IN

Good job, Moon Dae In. How many times can you embarrass yourself in one day? At least school is over and tomorrow’s Saturday. That’s two days of hoping that Kyungsoo will forget that I made a fool of myself.

Why is the bus not yet leaving? If it were any other day, I would be sad to leave school, where my friends are. But today… I don’t know what came over me to do what I did, but—

Oh well, who am I kidding. I like Do Kyungsoo. That’s why I did it.

I sigh, my chin resting on my hand as I stare out of the window of my school bus. What I would give to erase what happened during last period.

Finally the bus is pulling out. I have to stop daydreaming, if I want to forget what happened. Hopefully, Kyungsoo won’t find out—

“Hi.”

“Kyungsoo.” I didn’t even notice him getting on the bus. How can he be this quiet?

His large eyes slant as he mouth forms a small smile, and I can feel my throat drying up. “Is it okay if I sit beside you?”

“I…it’s okay.” Focus Dae In. “You go home this way too? I didn’t notice you before in this bus.”

“Oh. Not really…” His cheeks start to redden, and I can’t shake off how adorable he looks. “…I wanted to talk to you.”

Talk? To me? Oh. No. “Wha—what is it?” It was then that I notice the red paper peeking through his right hand. Oh no.

“I like to thank you for giving me your heart even if I said you didn’t have to.”

Oh no. “How…how did you even know it was me?” I squeak. Oh dear, I was hoping he would see it in his bag at home, not still in class. Why did I even do it?

“It’s three hearts, Dae In.”

Oh yeah. How can I forget? I stare down as he opens his hand, showing the three hearts I stapled together with just Do-Kyung-Soo written per heart. Ugh, how cheesy can I get? “Um…yeah. About that…”

“Yes?”

“Were you able to thank Luna?” I need to distract him before I dig a deeper hole for myself.

He blinks in surprise with the sudden change of topic before saying, “Yes I did. I…want to thank you too.”

I can feel my lips trembling. Please, Dae In, don’t cry in front of him. He’s being polite, okay? That’s how he is. I should understand if he doesn’t feel the same way like I do. “It’s nothing, Kyungsoo. I mean, it’s just an activity.” I try to sound unaffected as possible but I feel like it didn’t work.

He looks in my eyes, and I blink as fast as I can to stop any tears from forming. “Yeah, I guess so.” He mumbles, taking out his notebook from his bag. He opens a page, and there it is—his own heart. “But even if it’s just an activity, I also put a lot of effort in it too.”

“But…” My mind cannot process anymore. Not when my name is written in neat, bold handwriting on his heart. A small "hi" is written under my name with a happy face beside it. Is that what I think it means? “…I thought you’re not going to write my name.” Somehow I don't want myself hope...in case I get disappointed and hurt even more.

His eyebrows meet in confusion. “I only said that it’s okay if you don’t write my name. I didn’t say that I won’t write yours.” He was hesitating for a moment, I can feel it, until he asks, “why did you write my name? It’s really okay if you didn’t. You like a lot of people in our class.”

“It’s not okay if I don’t.” I blurt out, and from then on I couldn’t pretend any longer. “I…I like you, Kyungsoo. And not like my other friends.” I mumble. Can anyone hear us in this bus? Somehow all I can see now is just him. “But it’s okay if you didn’t write my name either. I’m not the only friendly and talkative girl in school.”

“But I like you too. A lot. And not like the other girls.”

So Kyungsoo likes me? In the way I like him? “But…why?”

He carefully places my hearts on the notebook page before closing it,. But not without taking out his own heart before that. “I liked you since the start of the year, you were so cool and friendly and open and...” He blushes, “…pretty. I just don’t know how to get close to you. I…” He nervously clears his throat, “…I was hoping that I can talk to you once I offered my heart during first period, so that I can help you in some way. And be closer to you. And then it just turned out like this.” His fingers tighten over the heart-shaped paper. “Will you take it?”

I stare open-mouthed at him. “I will.”

He finally grins, as if in relief, and I can feel myself smiling as well, before he slowly places the heart on my open palm. I can’t inspect the heart up close because his hand is still there, holding mine, with his heart between our hands. I know for sure that I don’t want to forget how warm his hand feels in mine. And I won’t forget how he held my hand the entire time, even if he has already given me his heart.

I wish this day could go on forever.

***

A/N: Happy White Day everyone! I had a lot of fun (and intense overthinking) while writing this, and I'm glad that I got to finish after one freaking year of letting it stew in my laptop. It's my first time to write a story with such young characters, I hope I didn't botch it up. So hard to imagine how a gradeschool student would think or act up on a first love. It took a lot of channeling some Card Captor Sakura realness to get it done, bwahaha.

Thanks for reading, subscribing, voting, and commenting!!! I hope this brings back that touch of whimsy and innocence that usually accompanies one's first love ^^