more than a crush - Lee Juyeon

13.

If you could choose a moment where you could no longer deny that you were hopelessly falling for Lee Juyeon, it was when you showed up to school thirty minutes early to add some finishing touches to your project. Admittedly, coming to school early to do work wasn't something you would've ever done before, but you didn't hesitate to do it because Juyeon had asked you to. He insisted on adding more paint to the model, and you couldn't possibly deny him anything.

Everything was going smoothly until he accidentally squirted paint all over your shirt.
You two stared at each other in shock for a second before you saw the initial surprise in his eyes fade and quickly be replaced with remorse. His expression made
you laugh. Even in moments of distress, he still managed to look unbearably adorable.
"I'm sorry!" He rushed. "I didn't mean to!"

"It's fine." You reassured him through your laughter, but he kept apologizing profusely.
Juyeon watched helplessly as you gently wiped at the front of your shirt. The guilt might've stopped gnawing at him had it not been for the fact that he completely ruined your shirt. Not being able to bear the thought of you walking around in a stained shirt all day, Juyeon suddenly got an idea. So he made you an offer that would hopefully fix his mess.

"I have an extra shirt in my locker!"

The loudness of his statement made you jump slightly.

You looked up from your shirt to find Juyeon staring at you with red cheeks. Immediately, a familiar warmth spread across your chest. How could someone be so cute without knowing it?

You raised a curious eyebrow, a fond smirk on your lips.

"An extra shirt?" You repeated, knowing what he was getting at, but unable to resist the temptation to tease him.

Juyeon swallowed nervously. *Y-Yeah. Well, it's not exactly a shirt. It... it's my football hoodie." He let out a shaky breath. "You can wear it, if you want."

The potential prospect of wearing something that belonged to Juyeon made your heart want to leap out of your chest. You mulled over the offer before deciding that it was better than walking around with a huge paint stain on your shirt all day. Besides, if you kept thinking about the intimacy of his kind gesture, you would end up driving yourself crazy.

"Okay."

At first, you didn't think anything of the stares you were getting as you walked down the hall. It was something that came with the territory of being knows as a delinquent. You never cared about the stares since it didn't matter to you what people thought. It wasn't until you heard whispers of Juyeon's name that you realized why everyone was staring at you. His name and number were scrawled on the front side of the hoodie, and you knew that people were already making their own assumptions about the situation despite it being totally innocent.

Your friends' reactions didn't help. Chanhee's jaw went slack the moment he saw you and what you were wearing. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as you came closer. "Is that-?"

You ignored your friend's loud inquiry, uneasily pulling up the sleeves that kept covering your hands. His reaction didn't help quell the butterflies swarming in your
stomach. "Yes, it's Juyeon's hoodie."

The silence surrounding you was suffocating mostly because you were expecting your friends to straight up clown you. Instead, they exchanged a bemused look, but remained silent. Even as you went into the cafeteria-
where you received more stares-neither of your friends had anything to say. You fixed your suspicious gaze on them. There was no way they didn't have anything to say.

Chanhee did, but it wasn't much.

He looked you up and down with a smirk. "You look good."

That was all he said before he walked over to the lunch line where Younghoon was waiting. You and Sangyeon
walked over to your usual table and sat down.

Naturally, you expected your friend to ignore your attire like he usually would have, but he caught you off guard by doing the exact opposite.

"So, are you and Lee Juyeon a thing now?"

You could've spluttered at his blunt inquiry, but luckily you managed to keep your blank expression intact. "Why would you think that?"

"Don't play with me." Sangyeon said with a roll of his eyes. "There's clearly something going on between you two."

"You're crazy-

"Why are you wearing his hoodie, then?"

The implications of wearing someone else's clothes weren't lost on you, but despite whatever feelings you had for Juyeon, it didn't mean he felt the same way. He was just a naively kind person, and he obviously wasn't
selective of who he was kind to. The way he treated you was proof enough.

"He let me borrow it because he got paint on my shirt. "You said dismissively. "I mean, the only reason he let me borrow it is because I helped him save his grade."

The thought was unconscious, something that you said in order to shut down Sangyeon's crazy theories. But after you spoke those words, you really heard them. It
was true. Juyeon might've been a genuinely kind person, but that didn't change the fact that your friendship was manufactured out of his need to keep playing football. You had known this all along, but for some reason it was like you'd barely realized it.

Your explanation didn't seem to move Sangyeon. The way you and Lee Juyeon looked at each other was enough evidence of what he already knew to be true. There was no other rational explanation for your
increased attendance to school or the fact that you started doing more of your school work. He knew he wasn't the only person who had noticed your actions and decided to make you realize the truth.

Once Chanhee and Younghoon sat down, Sangyeon decided to prove to everyone once and for all that you had a thing for Juyeon.

"Guys," Sangyeon said with an amused smirk. "Lee Juyeon got paint all over Y/N's shirt."

Younghoon's eyes bugged out while Chanhee scoffed. Okay, now it was confirmed. You definitely liked the quarterback.

"Ah, to be Lee Juyeon." Younghoon sighed wistfully.

"You almost killed that girl who spit on your shoes." Chanhee recalled with a raised eyebrow. "How come Juyeon gets a free pass for ruining your shirt?"

"It was an accident, genius." You told him with a roll of your eyes. "That bitch did it on purpose-you saw her do it!"

Sangyeon gave you an unimpressed look. "If there's really nothing going on, then why are you two always together and act like you're a couple?"

Your two other friends snorted. It was true that they also thought you and Juyeon were completely oblivious to each other's feelings despite the fact that literally everyone else could see it. They just hoped Sangyeon could talk some sense into you so you could finally act on your feelings.

"You're out of your fucking mind." You told him with a scowl. "He probably won't even talk to me anymore now that we're done with the project."

Again, you realized you were right only after you voiced your subconscious thoughts. Haknyeon had told you about how determined Juyeon was to keep his grades up for football-it was something you yourself had witnessed firsthand. He would do anything to be eligible for the rest of the season. That included tolerating you.

The realization hurt you a lot more than you thought it would.