ROUND 1. 

a three-word prompt

MESSAGE STATUS: UNDELIVERED

nerds, coffee, a first

prompted by Eirya

“What?”

A high-pitched yelp makes a few heads jolt up from over the books and turn to look at the boy sitting alone by the window, right at the very back of the library. Jinwoo’s face grows hot; being the centre of attention isn’t really his thing, but he's done it again - acted before he thought - and now the whole room is looking at him reproachfully.

Well done, he applauds himself.

He waves his hand and smiles apologetically to let the other students know that he is alright and sorry, and then quickly buries his face in his book. By doing so, he lets a small piece of paper fall out from it and land gently by his chair like a leaf on a windless day.

He waits a few heartbeats more before looking up to check if it's okay for him to move. Nobody is staring at him anymore, or at least he doesn't notice anyone. People have gone back to doing what they did before they were disturbed. In most cases, it probably means studying for the upcoming university entrance exams. Jinwoo is safe now.

Careful not to make any noise, he bends down to take the piece of paper from the floor, and analyses it again.

The way you bite your lip while you read makes me wish you would look at me with that thoughtful expression on your face. I wouldn't let you abuse those sweet lips for too long...

The message makes his heart beat faster even though he's not the aimed recipient of it. It's adorable and romantic. No one would ever write such kind of thing for him. He suspects a girl must have received it and put it into the book and that's how Jinwoo found it.

Such a cute way of confessing. He smiles approvingly and hides the note in his pocket, but after a while of consideration takes it out and places it back in the book. Someone might be looking for it.

Preparing for his English exam no longer seems like a dreadful task; he keeps smiling to himself and tries to note down some pretty and useful quotes from the novel very neatly as if he wanted to copy the hand that wrote the sweet confession. His handwriting is nowhere as pretty as the one on the small piece of yellow paper. Slightly frustrated because of that fact, he flips through the pages of the book to find the place where he put the little message. He reads it again and then five times more and forgets about his exam completely.

“How can someone have such a nice handwriting?” Jinwoo mumbles to himself and bites the inside of his cheek. He really wants to keep it, just to stare at it and hope that one day he will be able to write like this, but he has already established it wouldn’t be okay to do that.

Instead, he fishes out his phone from his backpack and takes a picture of the note. Only when he looks at the photo does he discover a dark stain on the yellow paper. It might be just a shadow, he thinks, but then he takes a closer look at the note and there it is, a brownish mark in the corner. It makes him panic a little. What if he stained the note? He examines his wrists and cuffs to check if the chocolate muffin he had for lunch left any marks on his skin or shirt, but he doesn’t notice anything. The inside of his pocket is clean as well; his mother washed his uniform yesterday. Has he overlooked the stain on the note then? It’s probable, but he doesn’t want to think about it in case it was his fault anyway.

Without too much hesitation, Jinwoo hides the note between the pages and closes the book. He collects his things quickly and stands up to put the thick volume on the shelf. He runs away from the library without turning back, hoping nobody has paid attention to his suspicious behaviour. But he thinks wrong.

Two hours later, when they are sitting in a very boring chemistry class, Seunghoon leans in to Jinwoo and asks, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

At first, Jinwoo is sure he misheard the question, so he glances at the other boy in confusion until he repeats it and it turns out nothing is wrong with Jinwoo's hearing.

"A g-girlfriend?" He stutters, flabbergasted.

That was really unexpected. Seunghoon is his close friend and he would be one of the first people to know if Jinwoo did have a girlfriend. But he doesn't, and Seunghoon must be aware of it, unless he thinks Jinwoo hides that fact from him. Which obviously isn't true.

"Yeah, a girlfriend," Seunghoon confirms in a hushed voice. His gaze wanders from Jinwoo's surprised face to the teacher, who is writing down some equations on the blackboard with his back turned to the class. "Who's she? Seems like a good catch."

All Jinwoo can do is blink and shake his head.

"I don't have a girlfriend," he opposes. "Where did you even get that idea from?"

Seunghoon smirks as if he didn't trust a single word that has left Jinwoo's mouth.

"I've found that sweet note in your chemistry book," he tells him with satisfaction and waves the said book in front of Jinwoo's face, making him speechless for a while.

"W-what note?" he asks in the end.

"Are you playing with me or there is more than one note and you don't remember which one you put in there?" Seunghoon teases and rolls his eyes.

"The book is not even mine! I've borrowed-" He is not meant to finish because at the exact moment the teacher turns from the blackboard. Seunghoon swiftly tosses Jinwoo the book and his stern look tells the smaller boy to check himself.

And so he does. He opens the book with his shaking fingers and finally believes Seunghoon.

There is a note behind the cover. Made in the same neat handwriting. Written on the same yellow paper.

If I were the reason why you wrinkle your forehead, I would kiss all your worries away.

The note earns a similar reaction from Jinwoo as the first one did. His cheeks start to burn and his mouth goes dry. The loud heartbeat in his ears prevents him from hearing the teacher asking if he is okay. He certainly isn’t, but he doesn’t realise what his flushed face makes him look like until a hand lands on his shoulder in a concerned gesture. He looks up at the worried teacher who says something about a fever and going to see the nurse. Jinwoo can only nod in agreement.

The note that is still between his fingers finds itself in the pocket of his blazer before he stands up from his chair. Seunghoon follows him to the door with his hand placed on the small of Jinwoo’s back, but the moment the classroom door closes behind them, he takes it away and looks at his friend with a frown.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, sensing that it’s been one of Jinwoo’s fits of embarrassment. “Has that note reminded you of something you did with your girlfriend?”

I don’t have a girlfriend, Jinwoo wants to remind him, but he is unable to speak.

He might be imagining things, but that second note got him thinking. Can it be only a coincidence that he has found two notes written by the same person within a few hours? The book he was reading in the library was his favourite edition of Charlotte Brontë's Shirley; a proper place to put a love confession in, if anyone asked him for an opinion. But a chemistry course book? There is nothing romantic in chemistry, unless you see chemical synthesis as a metaphor and it makes you excited. Two molecules collide and react with each other and this kind of stuff. But it certainly isn’t the case when it comes to Jinwoo. The book isn’t even his. It's a copy from the library he has been using since the beginning of the semester and returning every weekend. What was the point of buying it when he could save money for something he would actually enjoy reading?

“Kim Jinwoo?” Seunghoon waves his hand in front of Jinwoo’s face. “You still here?”

“Something strange might be going on,” he chokes out, finally focusing his gaze on the taller boy.

“Well, I’ve noticed. Are you feeling better now? Shall we go to see the nurse?”

“No.” Jinwoo shakes his head. “We should go somewhere else instead.”

Seunghoon’s expression betrays what he is thinking – aliens came, kidnapped his prim and proper friend, and finally told him how to enjoy life more.

“Are we seriously skipping chemistry? Have you feigned that so that we could go to the roof or the school pitch? I’m actually not sure if we should do that.” One minute more and Jinwoo might actually take out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and offer one to Seunghoon. That really would be something. It’s a pity that he is changing his ways in their third year; even Seunghoon knows that skipping classes right before the Suneung exams isn’t the best idea.

“We need to go to the library,” Jinwoo announces firmly, and Seunghoon marvellous scenario can be thrown into the bin. He should have expected that. Library is like Jinwoo’s second home after all.

He grunts in displeasure. “Why so suddenly? You were there during the lunch break, weren’t you?”

Jinwoo’s reasoning and strange desires are hard to understand, but when he tells Seunghoon about the notes on their way to the library, everything turns more interesting. Two instances might still be a coincidence, but finding a third one would mean that Jinwoo has a secret admirer. Discovering who that might be is a game Seunghoon wants to play.    

The moment they arrive in the school library, Jinwoo realises that his plan has a fault. What are they supposed to do? Check every book in the school’s collection just in case someone might have put another note in one of them? That’s silly and Jinwoo is totally aware of it. He tries to think about a pattern or a clue, but a chemistry course book and a nineteenth-century novel have so little in common that his attempts are fruitless.

“What was the last book you borrowed?” Seunghoon asks, and it seems he has come up with something better than Jinwoo, who in fact got completely nothing.

Jinwoo needs a while before he answers, “ia Woolf’s Night and Day.”

“I have no idea what that is, but let’s find it,” Seunghoon suggests, and next thing they do is look for the right catalogue number.

The book is in the section Jinwoo knows best, so when they find the right shelf it takes him just a few seconds to spot the familiar book spine. His hands tremble when he touches it. If there is a note inside, it would mean someone has been tracking the books Jinwoo borrows from the library. That would be both kind of creepy and exciting at the same time. He has never considered the fact that he might be an object of somebody’s interest. His clumsiness, awkwardness, and love for books effectively keep him away from people.

It is not bound to change as his search for the third note ends up with failure.

“Nothing,” Seunghoon voices his thought, but his tone doesn’t express the same emotion. He seems disappointed, but Jinwoo relishes in the heavenly taste of relief on his tongue.

“Nothing,” he repeats with a small smile forming on his lips. “I think I’m just oversensitive.”

Seunghoon shrugs his shoulders. “Might be. Either one person has used the same books as you and turned the love notes they’d got into bookmarks, or someone puts the notes into random books to brighten people’s day.”

“That would actually be a very sweet thing to do,” Jinwoo says. “I wish it had been my idea.”

“No one says you can’t do that yourself. It’s not like they have a copyright or anything.”

He has a point, but there is one obstacle that prevents Jinwoo from looking for a pen and a piece of paper to write an uplifting message and put it into Woolf’s novel for the next student who would read it.

“Have you seen my handwriting? The only way people could cheer up thanks to it is by laughing at how ugly it is.”

“That’s the way to go, I guess?” Seunghoon chuckles. “But it’s not that bad anyway. I’ve seen worse. You know my friend Taehyun from the first grade? He writes like a blind hen.”

That comparison makes Jinwoo laugh as well. He tries to make it as soundless as possible, because he cannot forget where they are, but Seunghoon’s observation makes him feel a bit better. Jinwoo does know Taehyun, the funny, slightly arrogant guy with a middle parting, who also works part-time at the café, where Jinwoo goes often after classes. He hasn’t thought about it earlier, but when he considers it now Taehyun’s handwriting is always slightly inept whenever he is the one to write Jinwoo’s name on his order. Nobody would be expected to be an expert in writing beautifully on a paper cup, but when other staff do it, it looks considerably better than Taehyun’s scrawling.

An opportunity to confirm that comes the very same afternoon, when Jinwoo stops by the café for a cup of coffee to get him going before another marathon of studying for his exams. Taehyun is behind the counter with the usual blasé look on his face, which makes his eyebrows pretend to be the hands of a clock showing twenty past eight. He knows what Jinwoo is going to order even before he opens his mouth.

“Caramel latte, got it,” he says and winks at the older boy, making him blush a little. He really can’t help it, but when attractive people do something like this he melts inside as if he was the whipped cream on top of the latte Taehyun hands him a few minutes later.

“Your order, Hyung. With special greetings from Seungyoon. He told me to say hello to you for him,” the younger boy says with a smirk.

Jinwoo’s teeth sink in his lower lip as he tries to stop himself from grinning like a fool. He casts a glance at the other barista, who is currently busy with another customer, and waves at him shyly the moment he raises his eyes from the cash machine. When Seungyoon’s face breaks into a smile and he nods his head, Jinwoo has to fight against himself not to squeeze his full cup and turn it into a coffee fountain.

He pays for his order and rushes to his favourite spot by the book shelf. Miraculously, he doesn’t trip on his way and that’s already a success. It wouldn’t be the first time it happened after all, but feeling Taehyun’s and Seungyoon’s eyes on him adds to his clumsiness. He knows he might be imagining it, but from time to time when he does look up from his cup, he sees them whispering to each other and looking at him. Jinwoo tries to remind himself that they are classmates and very close friends, so they could talk about anything but him, but whenever that happens, he feels a need to check whether he has anything on his face or his hair looks alright. He usually runs to the bathroom and comes back only when he is sure there is nothing wrong with his appearance. He can’t go too often either because that would make them think that he has problems with his bladder or something. Jinwoo needs to be very conscious of such things. He knows how quickly people can jump to assumptions. Seunghoon and his girlfriend theory serve as a perfect example.

But Jinwoo can’t blame his friend too much. It took two notes two make him believe that someone saw through his geeky shell and actually developed a crush on him. Impossible.

If only he was more like Taehyun or Seungyoon, he would probably get plenty of love confessions. It’s hard not to notice Taehyun’s popularity at school, but Seungyoon has got a group of fans as well, despite seeming rather indrawn and quiet. Jinwoo often sees the same bevy of girls following Seungyoon down the corridors or even to the library, where he likes to spend the breaks with his guitar occupying a chair next to him. Jinwoo feels satisfaction whenever the librarian chases the girls away because of the commotion they make, but deep inside he would prefer to join them and be the president of Seungyoon’s fanclub.

He sighs heavily and takes a big sip of his hot drink. It’s obvious that the little messages he has found were directed to someone like Seungyoon. He wishes he could describe his feelings and talk about them as openly as the anonymous author with the beautiful handwriting. The only method he knows is suppressing them and reading about the love adventures of fictional characters. Everything would be easier if he were one of them - at least he would get a happy ending. But there is no ending without a beginning, and he is perfectly aware of it.

His cup is put aside on the coffee table when Jinwoo reminds himself about the note in the pocket of his blazer. He smiles at it rather sadly and grazes the immaculate letters with his thumb, deciding that he should get rid of it together with his exuberant visions of having an admirer. He doesn’t have a heart to throw it away or tear it into pieces, though, and shakes his head the moment this thought enters his mind. But one look at the bookshelf next to him creates another plan, way better than the previous one.

It’s like love letter recycling, he tells himself. Someone else will find it and it will make their heart beat faster, just like it happened to Jinwoo. It’s the right thing to do. He really wants to believe that but in the end, he chooses the book he reads the most often when he is in the café, subconsciously hoping that the note would still be there next time he comes here.

He turns the pages of Epigrams of Oscar Wilde, trying to find his favourite quotation to put the yellow chit next to it, but when he finds the right page with the folded corner, he almost drops the book.

Another note is already there, right under the quote Jinwoo has underlined with a pencil, despite his main rule not to impair books in any way.

There is no greater temptation than to finally look straight into your eyes, right before kissing each and every of your little coffee grain moles. The one on your nose, the pair on your neck, another one right under your lower lip, and all the rest my eyes have never seen.

It feels like a dream or fate’s cruel joke. One small note and all his earlier assumptions turn out to be meaningless. There is no denying Jinwoo is the right addressee of the messages, no matter how delusional his mind usually is.

Involuntarily, he touches his neck and bites his lip, wondering how the hell someone has noticed the tiny beauty marks in the corner of his lips and on his left nostril. He doesn’t know what to think or do and remains frozen with the book in his hands. He is roused from his stupor only when somebody taps his shoulder gently.

It’s Taehyun.

“Hyung, is everything okay?” he asks, searching for answers in Jinwoo’s dumbfounded expression.

Jinwoo knows he should consider his answer before saying it aloud, but instead he blurts out, “Someone is making fun of me.”

His eyes escape Taehyun’s gaze as he pushes the chemistry book note into the book, closes it and puts it back into its place roughly.

“I- I’d better go now,” he says, and doesn’t let Taehyun stop him. Instead, he grabs his backpack and runs to the door, leaving his unfinished coffee on the table.

Unfortunately for him, he hasn’t noticed that his name on the cup was written in the same neat handwriting that almost makes him cry on his way home.

The first thing Jinwoo does the next morning is run to the library. Everything became clear to him throughout the night when he couldn't sleep, too preoccupied with thinking about the anonymous admirer. The place is deserted because of the early hour, but that is a favourable condition. Jinwoo will be able to look through the list of books he managed to make at dawn without anyone watching him. The one on top of that list is going to determine whether his new theory is correct.

Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods is the book he has read most recently, never taking it out of the library. He knows exactly where to find it - luckily, nobody has borrowed it and it’s still on its place.  

He is surprisingly calm when he leafs through the pages of the novel and smiles in bitter satisfaction at the sight of the yellow paper stuck in the middle. He has promised himself that he wouldn’t even look at the note if he finds it, but the temptation is too strong.

A quick look won't change anything, he tries to convince himself, but when he actually reads the message his heart doesn’t want to obey him and remain unaffected.

I thought it is impossible to see a star on a cloudy night, but whenever I close my eyes, I can see your face glowing bright, and I swear your radiant smile can put Sirius and Canopus to shame.

“W-what is that,” he mumbles and looks away, blushing once again.

He is fighting against himself as he reaches for the second book on the list because the excitement overtakes him too easily. He was supposed to be angry after all. Someone is observing him closely, so closely that they know the details of Jinwoo’s face and the books that he reads in the library. That’s the pattern he finally discovered. Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell To Arms, and Neil Gaiman's American Gods confirm that it is not the books he borrows to take home and returns directly to the desk, but those he takes from the shelves and reads during his breaks. It is so obvious. The person wouldn’t have access to his library card to check which books he borrows, unless they are the librarian, but she is an elderly lady who wouldn’t write any cute messages to any of the students. Or at least Jinwoo hopes she wouldn’t.

There are eleven new notes in total, some about his habits, other referring to his appearance. The one about his pouts makes him want to die from embarrassment, but there is also one saying that his clumsy handwriting is adorable and sweet like icing on a cake. He shouldn’t have left his marked essay in one of the books. But instead of thinking that the perfect Jinwoo they see has a flaw, the secret admirer said something so precious. How lovely is that?

Jinwoo wishes he could keep looking for other hidden messages, but the bell announces the start of his first lesson and he needs to run if he doesn’t want to be late. He dashes down the corridors miraculously avoiding any collision with other students, but he is unable to wait before telling Seunghoon about everything. A few hours ago he prayed that the person would stop stalking him and making his life so confusing, but now he is motivated to find out he they are.

It’s a pity he hasn’t checked the book he was reading yesterday. His new objective would be easier to achieve, but the freshly written message is meant to remain undelivered. For now.

Seunghoon is extremely excited on Jinwoo’s behalf when they rush back to the library during their morning break. The smaller boy, however, is so anxious it nearly gives him nausea. Their unveiling strategy appears to be simple and potentially very successful, and Jinwoo realises there is no going back.

They separate at the door and walk in as if they didn’t know each other. According the plan, Seunghoon takes a seat by one of the tables, from where he can watch Jinwoo and the foreign literature section, in which his friend chooses a novel to read. It’s hard not to look nervous, but Jinwoo does his best. His favourite spot is unoccupied, so he sits by the window and opens the book.

As usual, he gets so immersed with reading that he quickly forgets about everything else. He counts the time with pages and when he reaches page 56, the bell rings again. He looks across the room and sees Seunghoon telling him to go with his stern gaze. It’s time for P.E. and the taller boy is going to stay in the library for the next two hours until the lunch break because of his back problems. That’s a perfect opportunity for him to check who will come and take Jinwoo’s book, which he has put back on the shelf before running to the sports hall.

An aching shoulder and a bleeding knee later, Jinwoo is back in the library. It took him ten minutes to get changed and go to the nurse to get a plaster for his minor injury earned during the football game. He doesn’t even care about the stinging pain - the results of Seunghoon’s observation are far more important than that. Besides, he is used to numerous injuries, especially after P.E.

Seunghoon meets him by the door, but he doesn’t have any good news.

“No one has come,” he announces with a disappointed sigh.

“Do you think they saw you?” Jinwoo asks in response and suddenly, his knee starts to ache.

“No idea.” Seunghoon shrugs. “But I’m so hungry my growling stomach started attracting attention, so I’d rather we went to the cafeteria now, if you don’t mind.”

Jinwoo doesn’t mind because there is nothing else he can do now. Their perfect plan hasn’t worked out so he may well borrow that novel from the library and take it with him to read while Seunghoon will be eating. He doesn’t feel like having lunch today. He does as he has thought and a short while later they are on their way to the cafeteria. However, they can't go farther than to the main hallway because of the crowd that has gathered there for some reason.

"Is someone having a fight again?" Seunghoon asks, seeming rather annoyed. Whoever that is, they are keeping him away from food.

They push through this unexpected assembly of students and as Jinwoo’s thoughts focus on what is going on around him in order not to trip or fall into anyone, he realises it is not a fight that has stopped the school traffic. Someone is playing a guitar. Seunghoon discovers that at the exact moment and sends Jinwoo a jaded glance, which seems to say “Those artists again!” But Jinwoo knows how much his friend would like to do something like this as well. His back problems are what stops him from dancing in front of the whole school.

Jinwoo isn’t sure whom he has been expecting to see, but when he notices Taehyun at the bottom of the stairs he has a feeling something is going on. Taehyun is not the one playing the guitar, though. Yet, when he spots Jinwoo his gaze turns away as if it was a sign for the real show to start.

It probably is, because right then the calm melody becomes a song. It doesn’t take long for Jinwoo to recognise Seungyoon’s voice and when he steps forward, he can finally see him standing on the stairs and looking as charming as always. The guitar adds to his attractiveness. Seeing him wearing a school uniform instead of the café apron pushes a grin on Jinwoo’s lips. He doesn’t often notice Seungyoon at school.

He listens to Seungyoon’s beautiful voice, but the more he concentrates on the lyrics the smaller his smile becomes, until it vanishes completely. He remembers these lines, remembers them all to well. It is not a cover of a popular song you can hear on the radio. Jinwoo is certain Seungyoon wrote the lyrics himself, just because they consist of the short messages he has been finding in books.

Frozen, he stares at the younger boy whose gaze wanders across the hallway. The moment it stops on Jinwoo is when he sings the line from Oscar Wilde’s epigrams.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

This is too much for Jinwoo to take at once.

The book he’s holding falls to the floor as he spins around swiftly and runs back to where they came from, no longer caring about people he pushes or slams into. He slows down only when he reenters the library for the fourth time today, plainly because he doesn’t want to be scolded by the elderly librarian. There is one place where he can hide and not be found - the journal archive at the very back of the library. No one ever adventures that far.

It is a perfect hideout to gather his thoughts and try to calm down. It is hard, but he pressures himself to do it, just because he is aware that the lunch period won’t last forever and soon he will have to return to the classroom.

He cannot believe it has been Seungyoon all along, the boy whom Jinwoo idolised together with the school fangirls. How could he take an interest in Jinwoo, who blushed and blabbered nonsense whenever they talked in the café? After all his spilled coffees and near-falls, Seungyoon still managed to write such beautiful words about him. He clearly has no idea who he is dealing with. Jinwoo is nowhere close to the idealised person the messages described.

When he thinks about it now, he recalls that it has always been Seungyoon who paid for him whenever he would forget his wallet. And probably he and Taehyun did talk about Jinwoo every time he caught them staring. And the first note… The brownish stain on it? It must have been coffee. Did Seungyoon write that message behind the counter?

Jinwoo feels a sudden need to reread the note, but that means he has to leave the archive. He has foolishly deleted the photo of it from his phone last night in the moment of anger. His inability to cite it word after word forces him to move and find the book quickly.

Before he steps out of the journal section, another person comes in, holding Jinwoo’s book in his hand.

“Kang Seungyoon,” Jinwoo squeals faintly and immediately clasps a hand over his mouth to stop himself from making any other embarrassing sounds.

The boy stares at him sadly and without a word spoken, approaches Jinwoo, who instinctively takes a few steps back until the bookshelf doesn’t let him go any farther. Cold sweat covers his nape as he curls his fingers into tight fists. But he can’t make himself push Seungyoon away.

“Jinwoo hyung,” Seungyoon says in a low voice, inducing a shiver running down Jinwoo’s spine. He has never reacted this way to anyone saying his name.

Jinwoo bites his lip, but refuses to raise his eyes.

“Can we talk?”

Seungyoon’s tone is so heartbroken that Jinwoo knows he will start crying if the younger boy keeps talking. Only then does he grasp how that situation might have affected Seungyoon. It’s clear he feels guilty and most surely has assumed that he put Jinwoo in such an uncomfortable position he won’t speak to him again. However ashamed the older boy is, he would never want that. Seungyoon shouldn’t be hurting because of him.

“Hyung, look at me please.”

He is about to shake his head, but he doesn’t expect Seungyoon’s hand to cup his cheek. Accidentally, Jinwoo leans into his touch and freezes, not moving away.

His heart attempts to jump out of his chest, because Seungyoon’s hand is so soft and warm; Jinwoo feels how calloused the tips of his fingers are, the cost of his love for playing the guitar. Helplessly, he closes his eyes and for a few seconds enjoys the warmth radiating from Seungyoon’s palm, which is so strangely comforting that Jinwoo wishes he could touch his face like this all the time, taking his worries away.

“Hyung,” Seungyoon whispers for the third time.

Something stirs in Jinwoo’s stomach. He looks up slowly, at first peeking at Seungyoon from under his eyelashes. He hasn’t realised how close they are and how tall the younger boy is; Seungyoon face is just a few inches away from his as he towers over him..

Seungyoon looks as if he was about to say something, but he holds his breath instead. The question in Jinwoo’s gaze makes him smile gently. The sadness in his eyes vanishes as if Jinwoo took it all away with a single glance.

“I’m sorry, Hyung. I have made you embarrassed, haven’t I?” he says softly. Every cell in Jinwoo’s body seems to be responding to his voice as all the negative feelings within him diminish and disappear.

“I’m not who you think I am.” He chooses to say the first thing that comes to his mind, even if that doesn't answer Seungyoon's question.

The younger boy is surprised, but affection quickly replaces the disbelief in his expression.

“Oh yes, you are,” he objects with a gentle smile. “You are even more than that, but I’m unable to put it into words.”

“You don’t know me that well, Seungyoon…” Jinwoo tells him. “I wish I could be more like the person you see.”

“I know enough to tell you how beautiful and enchanting you are,” he states stubbornly. “I’ve been observing you for so long like a stalker, both in the library and at the café, and I need to ask for your forgiveness. I was too shy to tell you how much I want to get to know you better. But then I realised that you’re going to graduate soon and I couldn’t agree with the thought that you would stop coming to the café and I would probably never see you again. I was sure that telling you about my feelings through the notes was a good idea, but I was wrong. I’m sorry, Hyung. You must have been so confused. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t.” It’s all Jinwoo can say before he climbs on his tiptoes and presses a light kiss on Seungyoon’s lips.

Both of them blush in an instant and draw back, but it isn’t long until Seungyoon leans down and cups Jinwoo’s cheek more firmly to kiss him properly. The kiss is timid, but sweet. None of them knows how far they can go not to scare the other away, but when Seungyoon closes his eyes, Jinwoo does the same. It feels so good and electrifying as if Seungyoon’s plump lips were made to kiss Jinwoo with all their delicacy.

Seungyoon pulls back reluctantly, not wanting to steal all of Jinwoo's breath. His thumb caresses Jinwoo’s cheek in a loving gesture as he looks deep into his eyes.

“Hyung,” he says and that single word carries so much gratitude and admiration that Jinwoo's eyes well up with tears. “Oh, no. Please, don’t cry because of me…”

For a short moment his insecurity returns, but Jinwoo chases it away with a sweet smile.

“I'm... I'm just so happy. And so relieved,” he confesses. “I’m so glad it’s you. I would have never asked for it, even in my wildest dreams, but here you are… And I just feel like crying out of happiness.”

“Don’t,” Seungyoon echoes him from a while ago and wipes away the tears from his face.

They chuckle and Jinwoo loves the sound their laughters combine into.

“I’m happy as well. And relived. And glad, too,” Seungyoon says. All those feelings are visible on his face. “I have one more thing to give you. Or two, actually.”

He shows Jinwoo the books he’s been holding all this time. Brontë and Matthew Quick. Jinwoo’s heart flutters.

“Do you still have messages for me?” he asks with a smile.

Seungyoon confirms with a nod. “One of them is outdated, but I figured out you hadn’t seen it.”

He takes the piece of yellow paper out of Shirley and presents it to Jinwoo. On the backside of the first note he received, there is a new message.

Meet me in the main hallway at the lunch break. - KSY

“Oh.” That’s all Jinwoo has to say. “That would have been handy.”

“Indeed,” Seungyoon agrees and hands him the other book, The Silver Linings Playbook, which Jinwoo was reading during the morning break.

“Should I check myself?” the older boy asks and gets an encouraging smile in response.

He flips through the pages and finally finds the chit, right under an underlined piece of dialogue.

I believe in happy endings, the line says, but there is nothing written on the yellow paper.

“Why is it blank?” Jinwoo questions, at the same time wondering whether Seungyoon is able to read his mind. Hasn’t he been wondering why happy endings are not destined for him?

“We should write something on it together. This time no ‘would’s but ‘will’s. What do you think, Hyung?” Seungyoon suggests.

Jinwoo doesn’t need to think for too long before giving him an answer, “I’m in.”

And although Seunghoon advised him not to, Jinwoo skips the next class.