~EIGHT~

Author’s POV

That night after dinner, Jiyeon and Joon are chilling at the playground in front of Jiyeon’s house together, enjoying the cooling night breeze. They sit on a swing each and have a comfortable conversation. They’re talking about the studies, or Joon is actually brainwashing Jiyeon about her studies because she’s turning very lazy lately. Jiyeon keeps changing the topics, avoiding Joon’s motivational talk about studies. The finally changed but it leads down to a quite personal topic Joon opens up.

“Jiyeonnie, you like him don’t you?” Joon starts out.

“Who? What are you talking about oppa?” Jiyeon tries to act dumb but Joon only smirks.

“You know who. You can’t fool me. I know you for years. I’m certain that you have fall for him.”

“I know you’d ask me about this one day. To be very honest, I do have feelings for him. It’s complicated. But it feels great to have him around. Maybe I really like him. What do you think oppa?” Jiyeon finally opens up and tells Joon how she’s feeling.

“Why do you ask me? Hahaha! It’s your feeling and I don’t wanna mess up with it. But Jiyeon, just focus on your study first and forget him.” Joon suddenly says, making Jiyeon stunned for a few seconds.

“What’re you saying? Oppa usually quite supportive. I know there’s something else. Why oppa? Is there anything I should know?” Jiyeon caught a glimpse of awkwardness in Joon’s voice and she realizes something is wrong.

“I just… don’t think he’s the right person for you.” Joon bites his lips, enduring himself from blurting something he shouldn’t.

“What do you mean? Are you jealous oppa?” Jiyeon grins and playfully nudges Joon, teasing him.

“I HAVE NO REASON TO GET JEALOUS OKAY?!” Joon stands up from the swing and crosses his arms, acting all serious.

“I’m joking! Why so serious? I can’t find any possible reason why I can’t like him. You’re being prejudice oppa. He’s my first love. But what if he doesn’t have mutual feeling to me? It would be awkward if I tell him about my feeling.”

“Don’t tell him!” Joon suddenly barges toward Jiyeon on her swing and tightly hold onto Jiyeon’s shoulders while staring straight into her eyes, telling how serious he is right now.

“Why?” Jiyeon confusedly asks.

“Things will go wrong.” Joon simply answers.

“I know. I should go easy with my own feelings. I’m just afraid that it’ll grow stronger day by day.”

“You have bunch of hot guys liking you, but why do you choose to like him among all? I don’t get it. I know he’s good-looking and adorable, but he’s our friend. I repeat, he’s our FRIEND.” Joon stresses the word ‘friend’, making Jiyeon pouts.

“Love comes unconditionally. Don’t blame me oppa.”

“Whatever then. I’m just hoping that you’ll be happy for your whole life.”

Jiyeon stands up before wrapping her arm around Joon’s neck, forcing Joon to bend down his tall body. Jiyeon pinches Joon’s cheek before dragging him away with her, going back into the house. The conversation stops there, and no one knows who’s Jiyeon’s first love except for Joon, and also Sehun.

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Jiyeon lazily walks into her classroom that morning, quite sleepy. She slams her onto the chair and rests her head on the table, trying to get a short nap before class starts. But before she could shut her eyes off, she saw something written on the table, attracting her. There’s a small handwritten words on her table saying “Look under the table”. Curious, Jiyeon tilts her head and takes a look under her table. Alongside some of her textbooks, she saw something she doesn’t expect, the pink envelope!

“What? This again?” She mumbles while taking out the envelope. She observes the pink envelope for a few seconds. Just like the previous one, there’s no alphabet character attached to it.

“The previous letter clearly stated that it would be the last letter. How come I received another one today? Weird.” She mumbles again and quickly reads it.

Dear Jiyeon,

I decide to reveal myself. Let’s meet today after school in the library.
I’ll be waiting. You’ll be there, you have to be there.
See you Jiyeon.

Jiyeon folds the letter and shoves it back into the envelope. She doesn’t say anything. Her eyes turns unfocused. So many things start appearing in her mind. She bites her lips nervously and plays with her fingers, looking utterly distracted. She keeps taking a deep breath a few times, restraining herself from shivering due to anxiety. Out of the blue, someone hits the table and the loud sound is making Jiyeon totally surprised. She screams loudly like seeing ghost. The person who banged the table just now got shock as well to hear her loud scream.

“Why are you screaming like that?!” Sehun scolds while holding his chest, showing how surprised he was.

“Why are you slamming the table then?! Luckily I didn’t pass out!” Jiyeon retorts.

“That…” Sehun’s eyes caught the pink envelope on the table, changing his focus from Jiyeon.

“I found this… in my table.” Jiyeon answers while taking the envelope away and throwing it in into her bag.

“You still receiving the letter? Hahaha. He must be a hardcore fan of yours.” Sehun say before fixing his seat next to Jiyeon.

“Don’t bother. So Sehun, have you found that one girl your heart belongs to? Or you still can’t skip your habit of flirting with any pretty girls you find on your way?” Jiyeon changes the topic.

“Still in process. Don’t bother.” Sehun stuck out his tongue, teasing Jiyeon.

“Fine then. I won’t bother.” Jiyeon says before turning his body away from Sehun.

“Chingu~ Are you sulking? Look at me you cutie pie. Imma pinch your squishy cheeks if you don’t look at me now.” Sehun places his hand onto Jiyeon’s shoulder but Jiyeon swiftly shrugs, showing her protest towards Sehun.

“Oh Sehun! Park Jiyeon! What are you guys doing? Shooting some dramas or what? Can’t you see I’m in front here?”

Jiyeon and Sehun got startled to hear their Mathematics teacher’s voice. Both quickly fix their position and stiffly staring at their teacher, speechless. They didn’t realize the teacher has entered the classroom just now, causing them to humiliate themselves for playing around, sulking, and persuading.

School finally ends. Once the bell rings, Jiyeon starts throwing all her stuffs into her school bag. She checks on Sehun and Chunji who are still busy stuffing their bags. Full of anxiety, Jiyeon then swiftly runs toward the door, trying to leave without her two friends. But Chunji is quick to catch her glimpse so he quickly calls her out, making Jiyeon’s steps stop right before she managed to leave.

“Jiyeon-ah! Where are you going?”

“Sorry guys I got something to do and I’ll be late. You guys leave first. Bye!”

Not wasting her time, Jiyeon runs away in less than a second, leaving Sehun and Chunji flustered together. After leaving the classroom, Jiyeon walks pass by other students that are on their way to leave the building. She looks like the weird one because she’s going to the opposite way. She arrives in front of the library. Full of anxiety, Jiyeon stops there and asks herself one more time, whether she really wanna go in or just cancel the whole thing now. After considering her decision for a few seconds, Jiyeon finally make up and slowly walks into the library. She saw a librarian alone in there, not even a single student left. After taking a deep breath, Jiyeon takes a seat where she usually stay during self-study with her friends, the one at the corner. She awkwardly sits and looks around anxiously, waiting for the guy to appear.

After about a minute sitting, finally she hears something from behind the book shelves. She looks up, trying to find out where is the sound coming from. In between the books, she catches a glimpse of someone walking behind a book shelf near her place. She can’t take her eyes off the book shelf, do not wanna miss a second of the moment where the sender of ‘Dear Jiyeon,’ letter appears. She fixed her eyes, waiting for the guy to appear from behind the book shelf. A loud breathing sounds is heard, looks like the guy is as nervous as Jiyeon herself. After a while, the guy slowly sneaks out his head from behind the book shelf and peeks at Jiyeon who’s staring at him. Jiyeon’s eyes widen as she notices that familiar face even though he barely shows his face and keeps hiding behind there.

“Sunbae?” She calls out.

The guy slowly comes out from his hide-out while awkwardly scratching his head. He beams at Jiyeon before starts talking, “Hye, Jiyeonnie.”

“Baekhyun sunbae, it’s you?” Jiyeon confirms.

“Well, uh… yes. I’m the one that sent you all those letters.” While stuttering, Baekhyun answers Jiyeon.

Jiyeon stands up and faces Baekhyun, “N, U, O… your name doesn’t have letter O.” She suspiciously asks.

“The letters got nothing to do with my name. It’s just to confuse you.” He says and he’s basically trembling.

“Really?” Jiyeon asks, full of suspicion.

“Yeah… I have a huge crush on you since the first time I saw during the Taekwondo match. You’re completely my type. And I’ve always been jealous seeing how close you are with your friends. I really wish I’m involved in your circle of friends.”

“I’m sorry sunbae but—”

“Just call me oppa. That sounds more comfortable to hear.” Baekhyun cuts her in the middle.

“Okay, Baekhyun oppa. I’m honored to have someone nice like you having crush on me. But I can’t—”

Once again, the trembling Baekhyun butts in in the midst of Jiyeon talking, “Let’s stop here Jiyeon. I think I’m gonna throw up if we stay here any longer.