STRAWBERRY WITH SPRINKLES,

It had come to Heeseung's realization that he was not doing as good a job keeping his feelings from Juwon than he had imagined. Of course, this knowledge wasn't new, he just felt it needed to be fixed before the world found out ("the world" being Juwon).

"Let me ask you something," Juwon started. She had just finished her second class that day and was on her way to the donut shop down the street when she had run into Heeseung, who had finally decided to go home (he was grocery shopping in order to keep Jay alive). "Do you believe in love at first sight?"

"Depends on the situation," Heeseung responded, opening the door of the donut shop for her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Juwon sighed when she realized there was a line in front of her but continued with the conversation nonetheless. "You either fall in love with someone's appearance, a.k.a love at first sight, or don't. There's nothing more to it."

"I don't like your way of thinking," he said, crossing his arms. "Love at first sight isn't necessarily falling in love with someone's appearance. They could've done something nice to you before you even saw them and fell in love with them because of their kind actions. It's not always about appearances, Juwon."

"In most cases, it is," Juwon argued. "And I'm talking about most cases. Let me be right for once." She scoffed jokingly. The line advanced and Juwon turned back to Heeseung. "What do you want?" she asked, gesturing towards the donuts.

He smiled childishly, "Strawberry with sprinkles, please."

"Of course," Juwon said, turning back to the employee and ordering her dozen box with eleven glazed donuts and one strawberry with sprinkles. (She was the kind of person who hated toppings and Heeseung despised her for that. How could she say no to sprinkles? A shame, really.) They later walked out of the donut shop, Juwon already stuffing a donut down her throat. Heeseung stared at her, shocked.

"You could've waited until we made it inside," he said, judging her as they made their way back to the college campus across the street. "Look at you go."

"Are you embarrassed?" Juwon asked. "I could always just give your donut to Park Sunghoon."

"I can't believe you'd threaten me like this." Heeseung took the box from her and took his donut, holding it protectively. "I also can't believe you're friends with the boy you rejected. How did that even happen?"

"We bonded over corner store banana milk and rip-off Lay's," Juwon said nonchalantly. "We're best friends now."

The boy gasped dramatically. "I thought I was your best friend!" he said, pretending to he offended. "You can't get rid of me so easily!"

Juwon decided to ignore him and made her way back to her literature class, where she had left her belongings. Heeseung followed her, waiting outside of the lecture hall as she carelessly entered with her box of donuts and took her backpack, waving at the professor who watched her confused. "What are you even doing here?" Juwon asked once she was back outside. "You don't have classes on Tuesdays."

"I'm supposed to be grocery shopping," Heeseung said, taking a bite of his donut. "Jay's mom is coming over later and we're currently running on porridge. I don't even like porridge." Juwon chuckled and continuously glanced at Heeseung as they then made their way to the grocery store, listening to him talk.

Sometimes, Juwon found would find herself staring at Heeseung, whether he be talking or staring off into space, Juwon's eyes were always resting on his face. To her, it had always been natural but recently, she'd been starting to question whether it was normal or not. Maybe it was just a habit she that had formed from listening to his rambling since they were kids. (Juwon never had anything interesting to say about herself. Heeseung, on the other hand, would talk about his day as if he had gone on an adventure. She admired him for that.)

You see, Juwon didn't like acknowledging her feelings, which was probably why she rejected so many people and chose to stick with her fantasies. But this boy — this boy that chose strawberry with sprinkles over glazed donuts — he made her question everything all over again.

"I'm such a kind person, aren't I?" Heeseung smiled, "Even though I'm full, I ask for more just so she won't have leftovers the next day. Jay's mom loves me." Juwon nodded, smiling at him.

"Heeseung," she called his name, waiting until he had finished talking.

"Hm?" he hummed, taking a glazed donut from her box. He waited for Juwon to yell at him for doing so but when he received no response from her, he shrugged and bit into it.

"You're kinda pretty."

Heeseung choked on the donut and Juwon laughed at him as he coughed. "You can't say things like that!" Heeseung complained. "I could've died!"

"Those were my intentions, princess," Juwon said. "Now weren't you going grocery shopping? We've been standing out here for five minutes."

It was then Heeseung realized he'd been standing outside the grocery store talking for five minutes.

Heeseung remained dumbfounded, trying to remember when they ended up in front of the store. Juwon watched him once again, smiling. "You're right," he said. "We have been here for five minutes." He paused. "Wait, you can't just change the subject like that. You called me pretty!"

Most of the things Heeseung said were useless and Juwon had learned to block them out every once in a while. But it was because the things he said were so useless that she felt she needed to listen. Sure, maybe his rants over Jay only wasted her time, but if it was coming from Heeseung, Juwon also felt she needed to listen.

(She had never actually blocked out his words. It only seemed that way because she tended to stare blankly at him every time he spoke. This was only because she was listening carefully to everything he said.)

"If I'd known it would only boost your ego, I would have kept it to myself," Juwon said.

"You really are obsessed with me." He smiled teasingly, "You don't even try to hide it." Juwon punched his arm and pushed him away, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Go buy your stupid groceries," she said, rolling her eyes. Heeseung nodded and walked into the store, telling her he'd be out in five minutes. And so the wait began. Juwon sat down against the wall of the grocery store, eating another one of her donuts to kill time, but time only seemed to pass by even slower. She sighed and put the donut back in the box. Everything's so boring when he isn't here.

It seemed Juwon was also starting to have trouble hiding her feelings.

• • •

seung the rat 🐀

juju tf away from me 👽
PLS THIS IS SO RANDOM