When We're Together [양정완]

03.

"Excuse me," he said in a hushed voice. "Can I sit here?" The boy motioned to the seat diagonal from the girl's and she nodded.

Of all people, it had to be him. Chae Aera thought to herself as she hid her embarrassed face from the boy, remembering how the two had first met.

The male took out his books and began scribbling in his notebook.

Aera rested her chin on her hands and watched as he highlighted and jotted down little notes on the margins of the textbook.

If she was there, she might as well do something productive, right? The girl thought to herself as she sat up and began removing books from her bag. It had only been 10 minutes before she placed her forehead on the pages of her math book and let out a frustrated sigh.

It was as if the numbers were characters of a foreign language that she had never seen before in her life.

"Do you need help?" The girl turned to find the same cat-eyed boy staring at her laying her head on the desk. She reluctantly nodded.

The boy quietly got up and moved to the seat across from where he had been sitting, so the two were now sitting besides each other. As he began explaining the problem, the girl nodded, following along.

"Wait- so all you have to do is is that? It's that easy?" she whisper-gasped as she stared at the boy's neat handwriting with a hand over her mouth.

Jungwon felt a chuckle escape his lips as he watched the girl purse her lips as she studied his work. Her vibe was so different when she wasn't sobbing her eyes out, he thought to himself.

"Hey," Aera awkwardly scratched a spot behind her ear as she turned to the boy. "Could you maybe tutor me? This math unit is killing my grade." The girl clapped her hands together and looked at the boy with a hopeful smile.

The male bit his bottom lip and rubbed the back of his neck. "Alright, fine."

"Really? Thank-!" she paused noticing the dirty glares the other students were giving her. "Thank you," she whispered quietly.

Just then, the bell rang, indicating that it was time for the next period. The girl began packing up her things, including the helpful notes the boy had just written for her, and slung her bag over her shoulder. To her surprise, the male was standing beside the table with his hands in his pockets, waiting.

"You coming?" he asked as he smiled and tilted his head at the girl. Oh, he has dimples, Aera thought to herself as she smiled back.

"Oh, sure."

As the two made their way to the outdoor walk way just outside the library, the boy turned to her. "What class do you have next?"

"Art," the girl replied happily. Art was one of her favorite classes. "What about you?"

"English," the boy said as they continued towards their classes.

"Oh? Then are classes must be near each other." Aera suggested, as the Literature and Arts were usually all in the same branch of the school.

A few minutes later, the pair stopped in front of the girl's classroom which happened to only be two classes away from the boy's. For some reason, Aera felt happy. Maybe the most genuinely happy she had been since getting rejected by Yuhan.

"See you later!" She smiled cheerfully as she slid into her art class room.

Jungwon smiled and waved as he watched her enter the room. He stood in the hall for a second before realizing he was still smiling. He quickly bit his lip to stop himself and made his way to his classroom just down the hall.

"You know Yang Jungwon?" Aera's friend, Seo Sujin, asked as she sat down beside her.

Aera nodded. "I guess I do. Why do you ask?"

"He's in my homeroom. It's just that he's kind of known for only being close to his group of friends. Not that he's like anti-social or something, he's actually pretty popular." Sujin tucked a hair behind her ear. "But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. After all, everybody at this school seems to be friends with you." she laughed.

Aera smiled and laughed with her friend, but she thought about what Sujin had said. Jungwon had seemed pretty open to her when they first met. Maybe he had just been thrown off by the situation?

~~~

A few classes later, the bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. Yang Jungwon began packing up his things quietly as he listened to two of his third year friends, Park Sunghoon and Park Jongsung (better known as Jay), bickering about two was going to buy who snacks after school.

"Fine. Rock Paper Scissors?" Sunghoon suggested, raising an eyebrow at Jay.

"Ok, ok." Jay replied, stretching his hands as if he were about to compete in an olympic sport.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors, SHOOT!" the boys chanted in unison.

Jungwon laughed as Jay dramatically crumbled to the ground in disappointment and Sunghoon began cheering as if he had won a gold medal.

"HAH, SO MUCH FOR BEING GOOD AT THIS GAME," Sunghoon snorted as he began telling Jay his drink order.