Taehyun leaned on the back of his chair as he repeatedly flipped his pencil in his hand. His math homework lay unfinished on his desk as his mind remained astray. They had another dinner with the Cho's, but Eunbi wasn't there. He had to admit: it was quite boring without her. Being stuck in a bunch of business talk wasn't quite the way he wanted to go about his evening, but there wasn't much he could do. Now his thoughts lay focused on the hazel-eyed girl. He was just... intrigued. All these strange occurrences just didn't sit right with him. She goes to the library right after school, in such a hurry she doesn't even look where she's going? How entitled did someone have to be? He sighed.
Taehyun glanced at his wristwatch before he opened the window. He'd done this plenty of times before. Shouldn't be that hard. He exhaled slightly, before promptly jumping out the window.
...
The boy made his way through the calm streets. They were usually extremely crowded, but to his surprise, seemed to be quite literally deserted at the dead of the night. The streetlights illuminated the road in the darkness, leading him to find the town library.
Without thinking, he entered the building, before looking around the shelves of books. It was quite a homey feeling. Especially compared to the pristine white walls of his house. He picked up a random book. He had a peaceful look on his face as he looked for a good seat to read before he stopped in his tracks. His eyes squinted, before quietly making his way towards the girl. The quiet flipping of pages and the occasional scribbling noises filled the empty room as the girl focused on the pages. The boy sneaked up behind her, to see hundreds of math problems on the page. He checked his phone: 12:04.
"You're still here?"
The girl flinched as she shot her head behind her in surprise. She held her chest, before her face went back to her usual scowl.
"What're you doing here?" She grumbled, looking back at her work although there was no point; her focus was broken. She set her pencil down as she leaned her head on her palm.
"I could ask you the same thing," he said cockily, before he took a seat beside her. Taking a look at the problem she was currently stuck on, he picked the pencil up. "You did it wrong," he said, scribbling down the correct method. The girl's eyebrows softly raised, before looking at the paper, and then at the book. Her eyebrows furrowed, before looking at the boy in confusion and in embarrassment.
"I knew that already," she muttered under her breath, before snatching the pencil from his hands, scribbling down the answer for the next question. He stared at her work. Once again, it was wrong. She was forgetting a step. But hey, she knew that already. The boy pursed his lips with a nod, before getting up.
The girl looked up in surprise. "You're leaving?" Her calm voice was laced with a bit of disappointment, which caught the ears of Taehyun. He smiled. Her immense amount of pride was quite comedic the more he saw it. The smug boy shrugged.
"I mean, you already know everything. Why try helping someone who already knows what they're doing?" He smiled, and Eunbi sucked in her cheeks. Her ego was not having it.
"You- I- I wasn't-" She stuttered, as her face grew redder and redder. Although he hated to say it, her embarrassment was pretty cute. The girl heaved a defeated sigh, before giving the pencil to him. "I need help." Eunbi said, avoiding his gaze. He stuffed his hands in his pockets as he leaned down, putting his hand behind his ear.
"Sorry, what'd you say? I couldn't quite catch that." The girl clenched her fists as she shook her legs in anger. She took a deep breath, before swallowing her pride.
"I... I said I need help!" She bit her tongue as she sank down the chair in embarrassment. The boy stood back up straight, before staring at the girl with crinkles around his eyes. This'll be fun.
Taehyun took a seat beside her, taking the pencil from her hand. He pointed to the question, and her method. As he explained clearly what she had done wrong, she nodded and listened intently, fully digesting his words. He smiled internally at her actions. He appreciated her attention. It made him feel worth something.
Needless to say, they spent another 2 hours in the library, before Eunbi kept nodding off to sleep. Finally, Taehyun closed the book.
"Alright I think that's enough for tonight." He said, as the girl slumped behind on the chair. It felt as if he was seeing a new side of her. The uptight, straight faced girl that he saw every day in school was almost completely different from the girl that sat before him right now. She was so much more... childish? Careless? Taehyun couldn't quite pinpoint the word. The girl widened her eyes, before shaking her head.
"No! I'm good! We can keep going!" She held his hands, as her half lidded eyes pleaded him not to leave. Taehyun sighed.
"You look like you're about to fall asleep any moment now. I think it's time we stop." The girl slightly pouted, before retracting her hands from his hands. Even she couldn't help the sleepiness. They both stood up, with the boy growing drowsier by the minute. He didn't even notice his weak grip on the books as he almost dropped them. As they made their way towards Eunbi's house, she stopped. Taehyun quirked a brow.
"Are you not going home?" She asked, rubbing her eye with her finger.
"Well I was hoping I could see you off. It's the middle of the night and you look drunk. Who knows what could happen to you?" Eunbi blinked at his thoughtfulness. She didn't know he could be this considerate. She almost felt guilty for being so rude to him. Almost. She tucked her hands in her pockets as a cool breeze flew by. Their cheeks grew red from the sudden temperature decrease.
"Um.. thank you- for everything." Eunbi bashfully replied. She couldn't tell if her body was being weird, but she started to feel a bit warm. Taehyun smiled slightly before gently ruffling her hair, which flipped in the breeze.
"No problem." He didn't know what came over him. He suddenly felt soft, and once they realized what he had just done, they both turned bright red, before stumbling on their words.
"I- um, I'll go now!" Eunbi stammered, before bowing a bit, and entering her house. Taehyun awkwardly nodded, and waved a bit, before making his way back home. What a night.
