"Uh..Hey. Miss Chae told me to sit next to you, u-uh..since we had to work with someone for this project."
I mumbled, "What?" as I looked up. A boy stood before me, and he seemed quite interesting. He wore big round glasses, a red hoodie, and black cargo pants, and his hair was messy. The boy spoke, "You dozed off; the teacher told me to work with you." I quickly took my bag from the desk, and as I sat straight, I realized that Hyunjin could now see me. I muttered, "Shit," under my breath. The new boy sat next to me and opened the book, but I couldn't focus on the class or the task at hand. My attention was elsewhere.
He opened the book and began writing on the paper. I felt a bit uncomfortable, knowing that Hyunjin could see me now. I cleared my throat, catching the new boy's attention.
"Yes?" he asked, giving me a soft smile. "Uh... what's your name?" I asked awkwardly, looking at him. He let the pen go from his hand, directing all his attention to me. I nodded and gave him an awkward smile, questioning my decision to ask.
"Well, you might consider my name weird, but it's actually Chicho," he said, laughing awkwardly. Oh, I thought, now I'm interested. He has a funny name. "Chicho?" I repeated, giggling and chuckling along with him.
"Yes," the boy replied, getting back to the book. "Okay, so let's begin with this? Alright?" he asked me, and I nodded in agreement. Chicho appeared pretty interesting and clever. He took out his computer and began jotting things down, and I followed suit.
Twenty minutes in, and we had already covered a lot. Chicho was genuinely intelligent, to the point where I just sat there, doing nothing while he handled most of the work, as per his preference. As boredom settled in, I felt the urge to grab my pencil case and draw something. However, the pencil case was on his side of the table. Without realizing how close I was to him, I looked up and saw him blushing intensely.
His face was red, and he seemed to be in a mild panic. Recognizing my proximity, I quickly pulled back, feeling embarrassed and shy. "I-I'm sorry!" I mumbled in embarrassment, hiding my face in my arms. I could hear him chuckling.
Peeking up, I saw him chuckling with a red face, clearly a bit shy. "On god, what I did was not on purpose," I mumbled, feeling thoroughly embarrassed. He smiled and met my eyes. "Whatever you say," he chuckled, making my ears turn even redder.
why did i do that? stupid Y/n.
"Wait, I gotta go to the bathroom," Chicho said. I looked up at him and nodded, offering a sweet smile. Chicho stood up, took his phone with him, and walked out of the classroom. I looked down, ensuring I didn't attract Hyunjin's attention. Peeking, I saw Hyunjin rising and walking out of the classroom too. Finally, I didn't have to hide.
Taking advantage of the moment, I pulled out my notebook and started drawing peculiar things—eyes, flowers, and a random boy. I depicted the boy as tall, handsome, with black hair. A satisfied smile crept onto my face as I admired my drawing. It had a certain charm to it.
While sitting with my computer, I decided to check out any new BTS videos. I knew I shouldn't be doing this at school, but who cares? There was a new song posted by BTS, and my face lit up. I decided to save it for when I got home. The title was "For Youth," or something along those lines. Yeah, I think that's it. I sighed contentedly, glancing at my phone.
Why was Chicho taking so much time?
'-* 30 mins later *-'
Yes, Chicho still hadn't returned, and it had been 30 minutes. His prolonged absence was starting to get on my nerves. I wondered if he had skipped class or deliberately left me on my own. Was I being too awkward? I couldn't shake off the feeling that our work wouldn't magically get done, and that's why I needed him – we had to do it together. Sighing, I looked around the classroom. Some girls were whispering, probably gossiping about me and the infamous bet.
Rolling my eyes, I shifted my gaze to the window. Outside, I observed people walking home, a group playing around, and another group in the midst of an argument. There was a girl with blue hair, something unusual but fascinating. I found it cool, but it seemed like some girls were picking on her. It was evident that she was uncomfortable, but who knows, maybe she had done something to provoke them.
"Y/N," my teacher called, bringing my attention back to the classroom. "Yes, miss?" I replied respectfully, bowing my head slightly. She looked around and inquired, "Where's Chicho?" Well, I wished I knew that too, but apparently not. I sighed, but then I realized his backpack was still here, suggesting he might still be in the school.
"I don't know, miss. He told me he went to the bathroom 30 minutes ago," I replied, trying to sound innocent and respectful. She scratched her head in confusion, and I couldn't help but wonder why she cared. "Why do you ask?" I questioned her, and her attention shifted back to me as she scoffed.
"Well, he was supposed to enter a math competition and might be late," Miss Chae explained, looking genuinely concerned. I understood; the math competition could mean a lot to him, especially given how much he cared about his grades.
"I can go find him if you want," I offered, and she gave me a sweet smile. I hadn't realized her smile was so cute until now. I always thought of her as some strict, weird teacher. "Yes, can you do that?" She asked, and I nodded, giving her a little bow again. "Thank you, Y/n," she replied as I grabbed my phone and stood up, heading out of the classroom to find Chicho.
. . .
I had good luck; no one was in the school hall, which meant no weird stares. I felt like people started hating on me after the bet, even though I wasn't the wrong one. I sighed, looking around, but Chicho was nowhere to be seen. I decided to check the library since he liked books a lot.
Entering the library, I saw some people sitting down and reading quietly, and there were three loud girls who laughed as if their due was rent. God, how I hated those attention-seeking vibes. I scanned the library and decided to walk a little further inside.
.
"Hey Y/N!" The library lady called my name as I turned around and looked at her. She was really old, and I sometimes wondered how she still remembered my name. "Hey!" I replied, giving her a respectful bow. She smiled at me and checked me out.
"You're big! I remember when you were a little kid," she chuckled. God, I found this awkward. Long story short, she used to be our old neighbor, and that's pretty much it.
"Aw, thank you, Miss! You look good," I lied. Yes, she did not look good. She looked 78 or something like that. I could hear her sweet chuckle that warmed my heart. She might not look good, but trust me, she's really sweet. "Why are you here? You don't read any books," she said, making me gasp, acting like I got hurt as I touched my chest purposefully, making her laugh. "Wow," I said, acting shocked, and she stood there chuckling.
"I'm actually looking for Chicho," I said, not sure how to pronounce his name. "Chicho?" she repeated, thinking, since she knew a lot of people in our school. "What kind of name is that?" she chuckled, making me laugh—she might be old, but she still got humor. "Uh...he's got big round glasses, messy hair, and..." I couldn't finish before she yelled, "Oh! I know him!"
She sounded like she won the lotto, and to be honest, I got scared—she's weird. "W-what," I replied, still shocked about her yelling. "I saw him—outside the school. He was walking with some brown-haired, handsome boy!" The old lady said.
H-Handsome brown haired boy..?
