DEAR DIARY, BYUL IS DELUSIONAL

xoxo, byul

the last days of november passed in a blur. exam season was in full swing, but students were only excited about one thing— the winter formal. distracted between dazzling dresses to celebrate the cold winter days, focusing on anything serious was nearly impossible

moonbyul had passed two other hours in the library with sunoo. she had given him a lot of time and had put an incredible amount of effort into tutoring him, so you can only imagine how satisfied she was when the principal had informed her that her hard work had paid off, and of course, she was glad she was able to save his academic reputation from hitting rock bottom, and that was no small feat.

finally closing the book, sunoo leans his elbow on the table, turned towards moonbyul with a spark of mischief in his eyes. "so? got a date for the formal?" sunoo asks with a grin, his anticipation deflating slightly when moonbyul shakes her head.

"what? you've turned down so many already, can't you just accept one?" sunoo rolls his eyes, his voice dripping with judgement and moonbyul sighs. "well how about you sunoo do you have a date hmm??" she shots back with an eyebrow raise, her tone plainly challenging and teasing, daring him to answer.

"got me there chief" he raises his hands in mock surrender with a little smile on his face. "though so" moonbyul chuckles in triumph as she gathers her pens and highlighters strewn all over the table. "we could go together" she suggested casually, but sunoo shrugs.

"would be lovely, but i'm honestly waiting for nishimura to ask you" sunoo replied, a teasing glint in his eyes. moonbyul paused, her hand hovering over the scattered stationary. "he won't ask" she says dismissively as she shoved her stuff in her bag.

"oh, so you would go with him if he asked" sunoo states with a smirk and moonbyul's cheeks flare up almost immediately. sunoo laughs slightly, finding her reaction quite endearing. "w-what? no!" she blurted out, cussing herself out for stammering and the lack of confidence in that response.

"aw, got you blushing and stuttering"  he laughs heartily, leaning against moonbyul's shoulder as she turns away, obviously flustered. "admit it byul, it's written all over your face" he nudges ber.

"shut up sunoo" she muttered through her teeth, but sunoo wasn't really planning on shutting his mouth anytime soon, at least not until he gets what he wants out of her. "silly byul, you really think he won't ask the girl he likes to the formal?"

"he doesn't like me okay? he's just. . . riki, he's probably playing around" she argues and sunoo groans dramatically, placing a hand on his forehead as he leans back on his chair. he takes a very deep breath, opening his mouth to speak. "you blind shit" he says calmly, making moonbyul scoff.

"he carries you books to class, knows your favorite stuff, is everywhere you go and looks at you like some kind of lovesick puppy" he listed, as if stating the obvious. "it's like the worst kept secret around here, why are you so stupid?" he rolls his eyes, earning a smack on his shoulder.

"blah blah blah, are we done? can i go sleep?" moonbyul says dismissively and sunoo let out a loud exaggerated scoff, subsequently shaking his head. "mark my words byul"
and with that, sunoo leaves the library.

moonbyul sighs softly, getting up to leave as well, hanging her bag over her shoulder and clutching a few books in her arms as she heads towards her locker.

sunoo was surely quite stubborn, but he was also very much right and moonbyul wasn't exactly ready to accept that. riki had changed a lot and that was no secret. but what she liked to believe was simply that he had misjudged her in the beginning, and now he had figured out that she wasn't even that bad.
but yeah, keyword, it's what moonbyul wanted to believe.

she struggles to put in her locker combination due to all the books she was carrying, but when she manages to open it, the sight rendered her speechless. her jaw hangs open as she stares at the letter, tucked under a pink rose tied with a ribbon.

she hurriedly places the books inside the lockers, reaching from the rose with trembling hands, picking up the letter as well. this happened in the book she read too, right? she hesitantly opens the letter, recognizing the handwriting immediately.

"—i didn't know how to ask you, so i'm doing it
how your book boyfriend did it.
will you come to the formal with me?
a) yes
b) a
c) b
ps: don't ditch me for sunoo :) "

a small smile tugs at her lips as she holds the letter in her hands. until she realizes. why was she smiling? she shakes her head as if to wipe the delighted expression off her own face. she reaches for one of her pink markers, circling the first answer before closing her locked.

unfortunately, moonbyul did not know riki's locker combination, so she ran up to his dormroom quietly, slipping the letter under his door before running away as fast as she could, because he was most probably in his room and moonbyul did not want to face him.

riki, who as expected was on his bed with his phone between his hands was startled by the faint sound of something sliding across the floor. he recognizes the piece of paper immediately.
he hurries off the bed and picks it up, opening it with no hesitation, a pleased expression makes it on his face when he sees the answer and the note at the bottom.

"— don't worry, i won't ditch you for sunoo
xoxo, byul"