I stirred awake from my sleep all because of something soft that was brushing on my face. It kept on tracing the contour of my face that I felt ticklish and giggled softly to myself. Was it a dog me? Or a cat rubbing its fluffy fur on me? But wait—we don't have pets in the house!

Then, what is that?!

My eyes flickered open to the blurry sight of someone crouching down to my level. I rubbed my eyes with my fingers to somehow clear my vision, and recognized who it was that was looking at me.

"Good morning." Jongin smiled sweetly at me as he reached his hand out to ruffle my hair. I smiled at his touch and slowly sat up on my bed, my feet touching the wooden floor.

"Morning." I greeted back with a sleepy voice before stifling a yawn that I muffled with a hand clasped over my mouth.

"Since when have you been in my room?" I asked him as I stood up and he did the same. Jongin pulled me into his arms and I snuggled closer to him to feel his warmth that always calms me.

He caressed my hair as he rested his chin on top of my head, and I smiled as I cherished his touch. "About half an hour now?" He uttered out, sounding so amused.

I slapped his chest in annoyance, knowing that he could have seen me sleep so unusually. "And what did you do that whole time?" I asked as I bit my lower lip in embarrassment.

"What did I do?" He repeated with mishchievousness in his tone, "Well I stared at your sleeping face, traced my finger on your features while admiring your beauty?"

I groaned and pushed myself away from him. "What are you even saying? I don't even look good when I wake up." I uttered out bitterly as I pulled my uniform from the rack in my closet and placed it on my bed.

"Well, except for the dark circles under your eyes and chapped lips, I don't see anything wrong with how you look." He suddenly uttered out as he hugged me from behind.

"You're still pretty to me even if you haven't taken a bath." He whispered the words in my ear, making me feel a little ticklish as his warm breath brushed on my skin. I was blushing like a maniac, that I placed my hands over his that were clasped around me to avoid him from moving and seeing me look so red.

"You're starting to get clingy huh? I see." He teased, as he kissed my temple and hugged me tighter.

I abruptly removed my hand over his and freed myself from his hold. "W-what are you saying. Of course not. I just—" but he stubbornly wrapped his arms around me and swayed our bodies sideways in a slow motion.

"Yeah right." He sighed as he leaned the side of his face at the back of my head, "I'm the clingy boyfriend who always wants to see you and hold you." I giggled at what he said and held one of his hands that was holding me.

"How come I'm the clingy one, when it's supposed to be you?" He asked as he peered at me and I turned my head to see his face. Jongin was furrowing his eyebrows and scrunching his nose when he locked eyes with me.

I smiled seeing him like that. And we remained staring at each other as our lips gradually curved up into smiles. "Maybe, that's because you love me that much?" I told him as I mimicked his expression, and he just laughed.

"Mom! I can't take it anymore! I wanna puke! Jongin and Nana are hugging in her room!" We abruptly pulled away from each other when we heard Mimi shouting in the hallway, her loud footsteps crashing on the wooden floor.

Both Jongin and I turned to the door, and saw how it was left open. I heaved an inquisitive look at Jongin, and he just shrugged his shoulders as he was scratching the back of his head.

"Mimi always has a thing into barging in." I uttered out bitterly as I huffed loudly and went out of my room. Jongin was trudging behind me, he was a little embarrassed because Mimi had just broadcasted to my family what we were doing. Stupid Mimi!

And when we sat down for breakfast, Minhyuk kept snickering and teasing us, that Jongin remained quiet the whole time. I, on the other hand, ate my meal with a lot of bitterness towards my siblings. I forked the pancakes and grinded them with my teeth while thinking that they are Mimi and Minhyuk I was cutting to pieces. My parents were on neutral grounds, so I was thankful for that. At least, they didn't join in my siblings' fun. Or else I will really feel bad that they were disowning me.

I took a quick bath and dressed in my uniform in no time. Jongin was waiting in the living room like the usual. And when I trudged down from the second floor, he was looking at my photo album again just like the first time he barged into the house. I sat down beside him and saw how he was at the page that displayed my photos from the hospital.

"How come that one picture here is gone?" He pointed at the empty space where I remembered getting from the only photo I had with Baek from four years ago.

"Uh that?" I uttered out hesitantly as I placed behind my ear strands of my hair.

"Yeah, that one picture of you and Baekhyun." My eyes widened in shock when he said that. So, he saw it before? How come?!

"Y-you saw it before?" He nodded as he looked at me.

"When your mom first showed me your pictures." My mouth gaped after hearing that. "She even told me how he was your four year long crush and that you asked him to take a picture with him on the very first time you saw him." He was speaking without looking at me, his eyebrows were furrowing furiously as if he was reluctant to even tell me that information.

"Heol." I was having a mental breakdown, knowing that he knew so much and yet pretended he doesn't know anything. "So... you've known that much about me for so long?" He nodded as he flipped to another page, and all I can do was blush and feel embarrassed.

"But you never told me you know." I uttered out softly.

"It wouldn't be relevant then if I told you that I already knew. Maybe you will just hate me even more for meddling with your life so I just kept quiet about it." He uttered out nonchalantly as he finally closed the photo album and placed it back into its shelf.

He turned to me and offered his hand. I reached for it and he pulled me up. "But honestly, all this while I envied him so much because of that. To think that you liked him for such a long time..." He trailed off and sighed as he looked at our hands.

"I'm sorry."

But he shook his head and smiled wryly at me, "No. It wasn't your fault I felt that way. It was me. Just me. Because I fell for you when you didn't even know I did. Besides, that's all in the past now, so why don't we just cherish today? I'm the boy beside you now so how can I feel any bitter?" He chuckled as he finished, and I squeezed his hand as I trusted in his words. He's the boy I am with now, so I shouldn't worry that he'd work himself up over that matter, right?

We left the house after saying goodbye to everyone, and we road the bus going to school like the usual. Sitting at the back part of the ride has always been our habit and it was our luck again that the bus wasn't so packed.

"You used to come to school with your car, so how come you keep riding the bus with me now?" I asked him as I raised a brow at him.

He looked at me incredulously and pouted, "Why? Are you trying to get rid of me already? So what if I don't use my car? As long as I can be with you then the bus or any ride would be better..." He scoffed as he crossed his arms on his chest and pretended kicking something while mumbling some things in a grumpy way.

I giggled heartily at how annoyed he looked and patted his head to ease his mood. "I was just curious. You don't really have to throw a fit like a kid, Jongin." I and he only rolled his eyes at me and scoffed again.

"Sorry about that. Cause you really sounded like you don't want me here." He mocked, still sounding bitter with what I said.

Some girls were giggling and looking at him from their seat in the front rows and I could tell that they were simply crushing over him when he doesn't even notice them. I was feeling a little irritated that some girls just love doing that, that I purposefully pecked Jongin's cheek and faked a smile. Said boy looked so stunned at what I did that he stared at me for so long, but I only smirked at him when I heard the girls groaning in annoyance.

"Mianhe. Mianhe. Mianhe. Please forgive me huh?" I cooed as I pouted at him, and he easily gave in as he grinned and patted my head as if it was a reward. I smiled sheepishly at him as I felt victorious over such a childish play with unknown girls.

"You're really weird sometimes. But I still love that part about you." He told me as he placed an arm around me and pulled me closer to him.

I smiled sheepishly as I saw the girls stomping on their way out of the bus and felt contented that Jongin always makes me feel so special even through his words.

"You kissed me on purpose because of them hm?" I pulled away from him quickly when I felt that my cover already got busted. He was chuckling heartily as he saw my reaction, so I immediately blocked my face from his view with my hands.

"Hey," He called out as he tried to remove my hands from my face, "I was just happy to know how my girlfriend can be a little impulsive and jealous like that. You never were so I'm just glad that you can be. I'm not making fun of you so I'm sorry." He coaxed, sounding very apologetic, that I gave in and let my hands fall to my sides. He gave my forehead a chaste kiss to make his apology look more convincing. But I'm not really mad at him so the kiss was just a bonus I got from half-heartedly acting out. I smiled when he pulled away and enjoyed the good feeling being with him was giving me.

We got down from the bus when it finally reached our stop, and we crossed the pedestrian going to Seoul High hand in hand. Unlike before, I'm more comfortable to walk with Jongin now because he always assures me that I will be fine as long as we are together and keeps on telling me how I shouldn't mind what others would think because that's not important.

Entering the school though was still a challenge, because eyes would always be on us. Mouths would always open and close to create another rumor about me—always turning me into the bad guy. Several students would still pull childish pranks on me—like tripping me in the hallways or purposely bumping onto my shoulder like the usual. But I never told anyone about it, especially Jongin, because I know how mad and bad they can get for that.

"Nana!" I heard a familiar voice call me, and I turned my head to the direction where it came from only to see Seulgi.

As if by instinct, I pulled my hand