"heyyy sexy-" his voice was mercilessly cut off by haerim's humdrum tone.

"thank you very much,next-"

seongwoo pouted as daniel laughed his lungs out as expected.daniel and seongwoo were friends since high school;though haerim was recognized by her coldness,seongwoo managed to get close to her by always sticking to daniel,which ended up as a serendipity. the contrast of her made him immersed in a swamp named curiosity.

the three of them walked toward their lockers,"so have you gotten a date yet?" daniel asked nonchalantly.

"I'm afraid,not." she rubbed her nape,"but I sorta find it meaningless if I really don't have a special someone I want to go with,so-"

"maybe I'll just stay at home and wait for the girls to sleepover."

haerim shrugged and peeked at the pair,who were shooting her incredulous stares.

"I can't believe no one asked you out,you're literally everything a boy wants." seongwoo scoffed in disbelief.

"that's way too much but thanks though."

as daniel was to say something,seongwoo spotted a familiar silhouette approaching,he tensed up immediately,"holy sh-emergency!daniel you better get going,3 o'clock,mr.lee."

"huh?" daniel lifted his head and cursed mentally before dashing away,"bye guys."

"what's going on?"haerim was left dumbfounded.

"daniel didn't want to go to mr.lee's class today since he got caught using his phone last time,you know mr.lee's sarcasm is the worst to bare with,so he lied that he was sick and skipped it." seongwoo sighed at his inconceivable best friend.

"must've been playing games again,that game maniac." she laughed,running a hand through her brunette hair.

he couldn't help but admire how lovely she is.

they continued their chat for awhile,until seongwoo gulped in nervousness as they almost reached the school gate,he inhaled deeply.

"wh-what do you think about me?"

║▌║█║▌│║▌║▌█

waiting beside the fountain in the middle of the mall,haerim scrolled down her instagram thoughtlessly until she didn't want to do anything with her phone,the figure she was expecting never showed up.

on the other hand, someone really out of her surprise came.

"...woojin?"

"haerim," the boy revealed his snaggletooth slightly but turned into a concerned smile,"eunbi said she's having a family dinner tonight so..."

"...oh,now i get it,she didn't text me because of-"

"her dad."
"her dad."

they uttered in one voice before exchanging glances and chuckled along.

"everytime eunbi disappears,it's always her dad."
"seems like it happened a lot."
"yeah,tell me about it,her dad is the scariest person I've ever seen."

"i remembered you said you have a date with her today so i came instead." woojin said,fishing tickets out from his pocket,"what about a movie date?"

"yeah sure." haerim nodded,suddenly feeling better with the cheerful soul beside.

woojin was throwing petals and screaming internally.

the ambiance flowing between as a matter of fact,wasn't awkward as they imagined,things were in full swing since both of them opened up gradually and kinda matched.

"this sunglass looks really good on you!",the saleswoman acclaimed haerim while nudging woojin on his shoulder "they're couple designs,if you're picking presents for your girlfriend,consider that."

they were currently wandering around in the mall after the movie,and it was perhaps the fourth time hearing a clerk assuming them as couples.

haerim's eyes met his immediately before turning away,woojin couldn't help but be affected by the ecstasy,spotting her ears conspicuously red-tinted.

slightly bowing to the clerk as a 'thank you',she led woojin out of the store without knowing why she couldn't look him in the eyes "...d-do you want some ice cream?let me treat you back because you bought the tickets."

woojin lowered his head only to see her hand tugging on his sleeve,he smirked,replacing the former position by leading in the front instead,grabbing her wrist gently,"sure."

his throbbing heart was all he perceived,and not even surprised,woojin is definitely positive of craving more by the following days.