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It was an early Monday morning before homeroom. I slumped against my locker, feeling the metal against the back of my blazer jacket, listening to the shoes of the passing students hittingthe tiles that echoed through the school halls. My eyes focused on the art book before me, patiently waiting for ideas to flood my mind as they usually did. Yet there was nothing. "Y/N? You're here early," a familiar voice took me out of my train of thought. It could be for the better, as most of them were worthless. I looked up, and my one and only friend stood in front of me. President of the student council herself, Song Ye-eun. I never knew why she became my friend in the playground during the first day of Kindergarten. She must have liked that I never said much and only focused on my developing passion for art. While Ye-eun had always been the opposite, she was talkative, confident and friendly. I brought my sketch pad to my chest.
"I just woke up early, that's all", I replied. Ye-eun would describe me coming to school 2 hours early as a relatively unique concept, as most days, I don't even make it to homeroom. But there wasn't really anything else for me to do at home. The swarm of students had yet to flood the hallways meaning I could finally talk to my only friend privately without having a trail of boys following us. "Ah, fair enough," she said, sitting beside me. I watched as she leaned back against the locker and closed her eyes. "Wanna see what I'm working on?" I inquired. She didn't open her eyes yet but just simply nodded. I placed the sketch pad in her palms. There were lines of lead pencil across the art paper, forming an outline of someone's head but nothing more. She took a moment to look at it. "lacking inspiration?" She asked, handing back the sketchbook. "Unfortunately, nothing good is coming to mind. I've been trying for days," I responded, pressing my head against the locker like she once did 2 minutes ago. "Why don't you try drawing him?" I followed who Ye-eun was referring to with my eyes. I didn't expect her to be talking about Woonhak.
To fully appreciate why this was a big deal to me is because, well, it's Woonhak, the prettiest boy in 11th grade. He and his close, tight-knit group of friends are the topics of nearly every girl's conversation when they walk through the sliding glass doors. He was just like Ye-eun, the complete opposite of me. Yet regardless of our personalities and interests being so different, I still fell for him from a distance. He had entered alone today. He walked through the halls without many girls following him like lost puppies. His eyes darted around the hallway as he progressed to his locker. I stayed silent as my eyes followed him. Ye-eun patted my shoulder. I looked at her, shock painted across my face. "you must be crazy, he needs to be still, and there is no way on earth that I'd ever get close enough to tell him I wanted to draw him," I said, Ye-eun shook her head, and before I knew it, she was standing up and looking down at me on the tiled floor.
"You've liked him since Kindergarten. Don't you worry. I'll handle this." with that, Ye-eun began walking towards the crowd of girls. Her sweet charms and politeness hypnotised the huddled group into letting her approach Woonhak. I couldn't hear what they were discussing, but I knew she mentioned me as Woonhak approached soon after. "Ye-eun said you could draw me. I'd be interested. I'm free after school if that's fine with you," He spoke softly, then parted his lips in a sweet smile. No words could escape my lips. I could only respond with a simple nod before hurrying down the corridor.
A few hours had passed as the morning had shifted into a quiet afternoon, 1 hour after the bell had signalled that all the students could be free from the gates that trapped them in for 6 hours, 5 days a week. Besides those still used for after-school club activities, all rooms were empty, excluding the art room Woonhak and I occupied. I studied his features closely to have every detail perfect. "You look quite beautiful when you're focusing, did you know?" Woonhak whispered. After minutes of silence, his sudden compliment caught me off guard. I didn't know what to say. Too many thoughts swelled up in my head. "I've always liked you, " he confessed, approaching me slowly. I set the pencil down on the unfinished sketch. He tugged my wrist lightly, encouraging me to stand up. So I did. Butterflies began blooming within the depths of my stomach. He pulled me closer, and the butterflies only swelled up more in my stomach when he pulled me in and kissed me softly. His lips, covered in a strawberry chapstick layer, seamlessly melted into mine. Despite being so different, now no one could deny the liking between Woonhak and me.
