Sentience

10

The next day on the campus, Changmin seemed more relaxed than the day before, knowing best that he had sorted out all of his feelings and concerns.

The only thing which made him nervous right now was waiting for Belle.

They both had packed schedules for the first half of the day, which meant they could only meet during the lunch break. He sent her a message before his class started, asking her to meet him later and she replied with a short Okay!

Right now, his heart was too jumpy as he and Chanhee sat in the cafeteria for lunch; Changmin kept glancing over the entrance to catch the sight of the girl.

A lot of students came in, mostly those who he had no idea of the identity. His eyes seemed to have evolved as a scanner as he diligently scanned the figures passed by one by one. Luckily, he was Ji Changmin. Otherwise, there might be people who would report him as a stalker or a creep.

At one point, Changmin shut his eyes tight, grimacing with a yelp as he caught the sight of something unpleasant. The view had messed up with his eyesight; he swore he couldn't see better now. It was all blurry.

"Sheesh..." He rubbed his eyes; Chanhee, who was busy taking selfies, was distracted by the curse.

"What happened to you?" The latter questioned, genuinely concerned.

Changmin pointed towards the entrance, covering his eyes from looking with one palm. "It hurts my eyes."

Swiftly, Chanhee glanced over, and a small snort came out from between his lips. Neither did he know what had made him feel so in disbelief right now. Whether Changmin, who he could say was overreacting, or the glimpse of his friends, Kevin and Juyeon, who suddenly acted up at the entrance, waving and blowing kisses at girls who were melting at their respective tables, swooning over them.

"Did they take an acting class?" Chanhee questioned, lazily waving at those two dorks. But, then, he noticed that not only two of them were there, another figure had joined. "Isn't that... Eric?"

"Huh?" Changmin then took a better look, he even squinted his eyes. Indeed, there was another shorter figure trailing behind Juyeon, the one who he rarely got the chance to see. "Has the tournament ended already?"

"Seems so. Otherwise, he will not be here."

Eric was 2 years their junior; another notable and famous student. He was representing their university for baseball and most of his time was in the field or at the tournament. His starting point in joining this circle was because he was close to Juyeon.

"Dude!"

Not to forget the fact that he was loud. The loudest so far.

Eric excitedly greeted the two at the table; brostyled. He was so energetic that nobody could tell whether he was truly excited to see them or it was only his nature. But, the wide smile might be representing the first.

"Why no food yet?" Kevin questioned upon seeing the empty table, weirdly eyeing the two. "Did you two fight again?"

"No..." Chanhee and Changmin answered in unison which had given a wave of relief to the newcomers.

Then, Chanhee took the spotlight, "I was waiting for you guys to eat together. Changmin was waiting for Belle, he might as well leave shortly."

Faint oh was heard from each demeanour, only the tone differed.

Then, Kevin threw a question to Changmin, which made the latter cocked his eyebrows, "Then, where is Isabella?"

"Who is Isabella?" Changmin's frown made everything turn complicated, Kevin flinched, looking for SOS.

"Isn't Belle's name... Isabella?" At the question raised by the latter, Chanhee had the best of his life as he heartily laughed while hitting the wooden table while  Changmin chuckled bitterly. It left Kevin gasped, looking at Juyeon who was just smiling. "Am I wrong?"

Juyeon hated to disclose it to him, but he knew he should. So, he draped his long arm around Kevin's shoulder and slightly patted at the end. Which, he hoped, Kevin would get the clue: that he was truly wrong.

Changmin, on the other side, crossed his arms, ready to announce.

"It's..." He paused, holding back the twitch on the corner of his lips to laugh as he accidentally met Kevin's funny face. "Arabelle."

"Dude!" It was Eric who seemed too startled at the new finding, he almost jumped onto the table to confront. "I thought Changmin likes her because her name is Anabelle! Even her social's username is A.Belle. So... I was wrong as well..."

"Eric, you..." Changmin shot daggers at the younger, pointing scarily at his face. "Shut up..."

The younger's hair on the neck stood up, obeying Changmin felt like a must. I'm too young to be dead, he would say every time he messed up with the older.

However, little did he know, he managed to escape the critical time thanks to the subject who just arrived at the perfect time. Belle walked up to the table and Changmin returned to his normal self almost immediately, sending her a warm smile.

"Hey..." Changmin rose, swinging his backpack over his shoulder before he took the book Belle was holding. "Let's go."

Belle then shyly waved her hand, bidding goodbye to all the boys left at the table before the two started walking.

"I saw how you tensed so much earlier," she laughed, recalling the exact face she saw on his face as soon as she walked into the cafeteria. He looked distressed, nonetheless, the stressed Ji Changmin was funny. "Did they test your patience?"

"So much!" Changmin gritted his teeth, punching the air ever so vigorously while imagining Eric's face. "I swear Belle... If you were late juuuuuuusssstttt a little bit more, Eric would not be able to go to the next tournament."

She laughed even harder. "That's a crime."

Changmin then shrugged all the thought off - his friends or whatever they talked about earlier. Because right now, it would be his and Belle's time. Right now, it was only about them.

"You know, yesterday I met Mother," he started, they once again halted in their track in the hallway, looking into each other's eyes. "She showed me Anne's photos."

"Oh... Did she say anything about the photos?" Belle took a step closer, anticipating the story.

"She did tell some but she has a concern as well."

"Concern?"

Changmin nodded. "Do you remember that I was stressed about my photography project?"

It was now Belle's turn to nod.

"So, I was thinking of helping Mother and doing my project together. But, I need your help. Will you help?"

Belle chuckled, tucking her baby hair next with cockiness. Well, she was not going to show off, but she should at least feel proud that someone was needing her help.

"Shoot it, then," she beckoned him to continue, with a wriggle of her brow.

But, it made Changmin nervous for no reason. He knew that it would be just the slightest that she would refuse to help because Arabelle was a kindhearted girl who would never question why if someone was asking for her help. But, still, the fear was engulfing him tight.

Make it worth trying, he planted it in his head and boldly dived into her eyes deeper.

"Belle..." He breathed in. "I need you to be my model."