Two-faced

- their first encounter -

[Daeun pov]

"Isn't he so hot?" I overhear two girls talking in the central courtyard, the best hangout place on school campus.

I look in the direction the girls are staring at, there's a group of boys there but I can assume the boy with wavy hair they're talking about.

However I'm more concerned about the boy behind him. Jacob Bae. His soft blondish brown hair blows in the afternoon wind. The spring weather is perfect to be outside in the courtyard so there's quite a bit of students here with their friends.

Jacob catches my eyes and smiles his usual bright smile. He waves as well and I wave back.

Unfortunately that has been the extent of our interactions, nothing more than a head nod or a wave ever since we were paired together to clean the courtyard after school. It's been around three months since I started noticing him more, the way he's nice to everyone around him, and doesn't feel the need to fill the silence all the time.

But that's part of the issue, not only is he super kind but he's also ranked 6th for academic grades, so he's pretty popular, and he's the wavy haired boy's friend.

I sigh and turn back to my computer, leaning against the tree I'm sitting under, I have more important things to focus on.

I type a few words before I catch sight of a reflection on my screen. I look back and widen my eyes at the sight of Jacob himself, guitar strapped to his back and carrying a book.

"Hello!" he says.

"H-hey," I manage. Jacob leans closer to take a look at my screen.

"Ah, we have that same assignment," He says.

"Oh! You do? What a coincidence." I say, then immediately regret it because- of course we would have the same assignment we go to the same damn school.

Jacob lets out a small laugh, sensing my regret in conversation choice. "Are you here all alone?" He asks, his voice soft and angelic as his face.

"Hm, yeah." I say, I always am. For some reason I'm not very good at making friends, I'm more focused on my school work.

"Well I-" Jacob is cut off by a sharp voice in the crowd he was with earlier.

"Jacob!" the wavy haired boy peaks his head out from their circle of friends. He's the most popular boy in our entire school, some girls in my class peak across the windows at certain points just to see him walking down the hallways.

I mean yeah, he's good looking and all, and he's 1st in the academic scoring, but there's nothing special about his personality. Or maybe I'm just salty about being tied for 1st with him.

"Sorry, I gotta go. I'll see you around Cha Daeun!" Jacob smiles warmly and walks away.

I hate to sound like this but oh my god he remembers my name??

The popular boy group walks off into the distance and I focus back on my seminar prep. That's about the max amount of excitement I get in a week.

[later that evening]

I keep writing and writing until I realize it's dark outside, the lamp posts turn on as well as the fairy lights strung from tree to tree in the courtyard. Only a few other people remain so I press print on my laptop and pack up my tote bag.

A quick stretch and I'm off to the library to pick up my papers. I walk across the pretty campus pathways, our boarding school buildings are slightly gothic, some grey brick and green ivy all around.

I make it to the library, and since it's around 9 pm, there are not many people here. there's something so magic about the library here, maybe it's the old bookshelves and high ceilings, or the chandeliers.

I enter the printer room to a disaster of papers flying out of the 3 printers and the floor covered with previous prints.

"oh my," I say.

"I'm sorry dear," The librarian peeps out from behind the malfunctioning machines. "Some students broke the stopper in the front and now the papers are flying every which way. You're welcome to search for your print but most people don't find it worth it."

Yikes, but I really need this for my seminar tomorrow.

"Thank you," I bow to her as she exits the room and I kneel on the floor, turning over the disorganized papers.

"here, lemme help." A voice says behind me. I see a pair of black high top converse walk over the papers and kneel in front of me.

Hesitantly I look up to see the wavy haired popular boy, up close I will admit to agree with those girls earlier, he is hot. He has a sharp jawline and heart like lips, and there's something charming about his straight dark eyebrows you can see through his black bangs.

"Thanks- er, uh..." I really regret not knowing his name. I figured I would never ever speak to him.

"Kim sunwoo," He laughs a little, a laugh with something hidden in it, as if he's shocked I don't know who he is.

"Right. Of course," I say, sifting through the papers. We spend around five minutes in silence searching for my seminar prep, I take a peak at Sunwoo every once in a while and he seems to be searching for something as well. There's no way the most popular boy cares about some random girl's english project this much.

"Ah," I call out, rounding up a bunch of papers with my writing on it. "Found it." I stand up quickly, smoothening out my skirt and grabbing my tote bag.

"That's great!" Sunwoo smiles, he looks completely different when he smiles, and I kinda see why everyone wants to be friends with him.

"Yeah, thanks for helping me look i guess," I add.

"Any time," Sunwoo sticks his hands in his pockets. "Hey you're friends with jacob aren't you? Any friend of my friend is a friend of mine."

I can't help but laugh at his attempt to keep the conversation going with a boring person as myself. "I sure wish I was," I blurt out. "Oh, sorry, that was too forward."

"Not at all!, I'm grateful for a friend like Jacob too" Sunwoo grins. "Well it was nice meeting  you..."

"Daeun. Cha Daeun," I say and he sticks his hand out to shake politely which I do. Maybe I judged him too quickly.

We exit the printing room and part ways, I look back at the boy with curly hair and he does not look back at me.