♡

Perhaps I had thought too much. Too much about life, about myself. I always cared about what other people thought of me. If I had done something to embarrass myself, even if I was just standing normally.

These thoughts...aren't normal, I know. A normal person would never overreact about something as simple as this, as simple as just living. But I'm constantly worried about everything, even I cannot understand why.

"Ming Yue?"

That familiar voice.

"Ming Yue~"

That taunting tone I know too well.

I peer up from my book, placing a bookmark to save my page.

"What is it?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. In my eyes, there is a boy right in front of me. Zixin. That handsome devil, always bothering me. But I can't help but seem not to mind at all, it's as if his annoying behavior and presence is...nice.

"Haha, stuck in your book again? What're you reading this time, little Ming?"

That stupid nickname is just enough to make me want to throw my book. But it's different when he calls me it though. That name is just for him to say and him only.

"It's just a book I found in the library. It's not very interesting, at least for you."

He watches my movements for a moment, before leaning closer to pinch my cheek. A gesture that I'd normally be annoyed by.

"Little Ming, aren't you afraid that if you read so many books, people will think you're a nerd?" His lips move to form these words, yet, I can't really hear any of it. I'm so entranced by the way he speaks, his looks, I completely block out the sound of his voice for a moment.

He flicks my forehead to snap me back into reality. Thank god.

"Little Ming, you're so distracted. How are you able to focus on your books so well but not me?"

He acts offended, but that dumb little smirk says otherwise. He's just teasing again.

"You're disturbing my reading, that's why. Go bother Fenhua." I point over from across the room, another boy who was messing around with our other classmates. The class clown.

"Hah, you're so quick to try and drive me away! Little Ming is far more interesting than Fenhua." He laughs, pulling a chair beside me. He leans even closer and I could feel the side of his body brushing up against me. Too close...yet I don't say anything to try and push him away. I kind of like the closeness. He brings his index finger and puts it on the page of my book, right below a word. 'Adore.'

"Is this a romance? Why is this girl adoring this boy, hmm? I didn't think Little Ming would be so interested in reading the romance of other people." He says, keeping his finger placed beneath that word. Adore, huh. If I wasn't so shy, I would've told him that he was right. That the word 'adore' was something I could say to describe how I felt about his presence. I adored it. At least I think I did.

"Zixin, you're misunderstanding. It's just a story!" I quickly defended myself, pulling the book a little bit away from him, causing his finger to slip down the page. He pointed at another word. 'Kiss.'

"Little Ming, there's kissing in this book. It's already interesting and I haven't even read it." He glanced at me with that smirk of his. "You can admit that you're interested. I won't poke any fun at you."

I rolled my eyes, placing my bookmark and closing the book. "I'm really not, see, tomorrow I'll read a different book." I stood up from my seat to pack up my stuff. The bell would dismiss us soon. "You don't need to be embarrassed." I turned around quickly, huffing. "I am not embarrassed!"

"You totally are, your face is all red, Little Ming! Like a strawberry!" He teased. To compare me to something as dumb as that...it was nice. Strawberries, in a sense, were kind of cute. Was this his way of calling me cute? I couldn't help but think that, even if it's an indirect meaning.

"You're just seeing things, my face is completely normal!" I argued back, as the bell dinged, dismissing the class. Everyone left, except us two. Stuck in our usual bickering. "Haha, it's true! Little Ming, should I call you a little strawberry instead?" He laughed. I shook my head, determined to not let his words get to me. But his laugh, oh his laugh! It was so full of life, I loved hearing that sweet sound. The way he smiled when he did, the creases underneath his eyes, I could tell you every single detail that I found delightful. But that would be creepy.

"Little Ming, why are you so easily embarrassed? You're even making a fuss over a book. Is there something more?" His sudden inquiry caught me by surprise. Was there something more to my embarrassment? I didn't know myself, so I just turned away. "No, you're just...annoying." Another laugh from him, it was hard to not smile. "If I'm so annoying, why don't you just turn me away?" A good question, why didn't I just turn him away each time I found him annoying? Maybe I liked him being annoying.

"Little Ming, you really are something."

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

8:00 PM. The time displayed on my phone. I was finishing up homework, yawning. Those words kept replaying in my head.

 'Little Ming, you really are something.'

What did that mean? Was that a bad thing? My mind was racing, losing my focus. Maybe he was right. I'm very distracted. But only because of him. It annoyed me that he made me lose focus, how he made my face go as red as a strawberry. I'm describing myself like how he'd describe me. It annoyed me. I looked at my phone. 8:10 PM. Did I really take ten minutes just to contemplate the events that happened earlier?

I put my homework in my bag and went to brush my teeth. I looked at my reflection, and placed my hand on my cheek. Did I really look like a strawberry when I got embarrassed? I noticed my eye bags, must've been from the lack of sleep. I sighed. Strawberries were cute, I wasn't. Maybe he wasn't indirectly complimenting me, I was just thinking he was because I thought he was cute. Maybe he's the strawberry here. 

Maybe.