You stalked quietly behind a figure immersed in playing the guitar on a bench. You accidently stepped on a dry twig and cringed at the sound of it breaking. You sighed quietly, wiping the imaginary sweat from your forehead as Chanyeol continued to sing. “…through a looking glass.”

You started to raise your hands to give him a scare as you neared him. But just as you were about to touch his shoulders, he abruptly turned and surprised you instead.

 He caught you by your waist to prevent you from falling back. “Ugh, for once can’t you just pretend to not notice me?” You groaned, making him laugh.

As silence fell upon the two of you, you realized the position you two were in – his hands holding you close, your hands on his chest. You immediately moved away and cleared your throat. “But we were so close to kissing…” Chanyeol whined. It was supposed to be a joke, but you didn’t catch it in that light. “Yeol…” You sighed. “I told you. I’m not ready.”

He set his guitar down and held your hands. You tried your best to avoid his gaze, but it was pretty much impossible.

Park Chanyeol was one of the most popular boys in your school. Tall, charming, talented, funny, friendly, smart and sweet, he was the total package. That’s why it felt unreal when you guys clicked when you became classmates come your latter second year in high school. Now, it was simply too good to be true to know that this heartthrob likes you. 

“I know, but I told you too. I’m going to wait for you.” He said softly yet with determination. You gushed inwardly. You couldn’t be anymore annoyed with yourself right now. Your feelings were mutual, but you were scared. You have a lot of goals; and if you gave in and got hurt in the end, you don’t know how you’d pick yourself back up. It’s not like you didn’t trust him. Heck, he’s seen you at your worst when your father left you and your mother. But, you couldn’t believe in men that easily after what happened.

You wanted to be independent. You wanted to establish a life for yourself before you could enter anyone else’s. Chanyeol was completely okay with that; he said so himself, but you couldn’t count on his words alone. ‘Neither of us have any idea how long it’ll take till I’m ready to be in a serious relationship. What if he thinks that it’ll only take a year or two while I might put him on hold until we graduate college?’ You bit on your lip as you timidly looked at him.

“I know what you’re thinking. You think I’m just saying all these so you could give in to me right away, right?” You crinkled your nose at this. ‘How does he do that?’

He tightened his hold on your hand, but not to the point where he was hurting you. “I’ve liked you for five years now. Don’t you think you’re not giving my feelings enough credit, thinking that it won’t be long till I give up?” He lost you at his first sentence. “F-five years?”

‘Confidence, Park Chanyeol…’ He mentally cheered himself on as he continued. “Hmm.” He gave you a single nod before flashing you a grin.

“Ever since you refused to lend me your pen and told me straight up to not even try to flirt with you again, I was drawn to you. That was the first time anyone has ever shrugged me off. You were the only one who wanted to change lab partners when you got paired up with me. You were the one who was professional enough to help me when I needed it, not letting your and I quote ‘immense dislike’ towards me get in the way. You were the only one I had a difficult time making friends with, but when we did become such, I learned how loyal and warm-hearted you were. We weren’t even the best of friends yet when I realized that you got me. It only took me a few encounters to know that you were worth the effort. So please, if you can’t wholly trust me because of the memory of your father then at least trust the past five years we’ve spent together.” He pleaded.

The bell rang, making you pull away from him. “I-I’ll see you later.”

He wasn’t hurt at all. He completely understood you, and he was going to make you see that.

_________

You were finally dismissed from your last class, and you forgot about your break time encounter with Chanyeol. You headed for your locker when someone tapped your left shoulder. Instead of turning to the left you immediately looked to your right. “What is it, Minhyuk-ssi?”

“Do you have free time? You se