Smitten

It was the 21st of March, the day that the school allows affection to be shown to people you care for, well, at least not the excessive showy type. Yoo-jin roams around the campus not knowing what to do exactly. She’s hugged her friends all over and over again, she’s getting bored with it already. She walks in the Arrow Building, the only place she knows she won’t get tired of. She walks, looking at artworks that her seniors made, all out of love for the same thing: love. They say Arrow Building is named that way because they believe Cupid sometimes drops by for a rest and an overnight stay. Theory says and proves that if you allow two people to accompany each other, even in silence, they’ll eventually fall in love. But then she doesn’t believe that, and that Cupid only belongs in mythology. It is Yoo-jin’s last year in this institution and this place just leaves her nostalgic. She walks and stops every now and then, and looks to her left and then her right.

“Jeez. It’s the first time that this place is giving me the creeps,” she says, trying to tuck out her short sleeves to cover the chills she’s been feeling for a few minutes now. She walks again, faster this time. She runs to the rooftop of the Arrow Building and she concludes no one can creep at her there. She waits for minutes, no feeling of discomfort present. I guess I’m alright now, she thought. She sets her hand on the railings, looks afar and allows the wind to make her hair a mess.

“My last year, yet still scared. What am I going to do with my life? Argh, I’m going crazy!” She lets out a heavy sigh and takes a step back and almost trip when her legs got sort of twisted and when someone grabs her by the arm.

“Aah…” she squeaks as she falls into his arms. Her eyes were closed, afraid to open them. Afraid of what she’ll see.

“Yoo-jin, hey, Yoo-jin. Open your eyes,” Kai says, too shocked how overly she reacted.

She opens her eyes and just froze.

“Kai,” that’s all she can whisper. She blinks her eyes and it only registered in her head that he’s still holding her. She pushes Kai away and she falls to the ground, feeling melting in front of him and actually forgetting she has no support.

“Yoo-jin, what the?” He suppresses a laugh and walks to her and offers his hand. She shoves it away and stands up on her own, brushing off particles of dirt that may be on her skirt.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, appearing snob.

“Me? Finding you,” he says, too honestly.

“Finding me? Okay,” she takes a quick glance back at him, “You’re trying to find me?”

“Well, yeah,” he says coolly. Every butterfly in her flatters their wings too fast that she just wants to scream, even if in front of him. Stop yourself Yoo-jin, stop it. Oh my God, I just can’t, she thought to herself.

“Why?”

“Well, the school allows this for only a day, so I’m taking chances to show people that I care about them. Well, even if it’s not obvious.”

“Uhm, am I one of them?” she asks, her eyes aglow with anticipation and wanting.

“Yes. So, yeah, thank you for existing,” he says, smiling. She froze again, even held her breath back. Her eyes were big, too shocked from what she heard. Heart failure.

He walks to her and she’s still scatterbrained, standing still, staring into space. He embraces her; her peripheral vision is a shadow of him, standing too close and then his chin is above her shoulder. He rubs her back as if comforting. Yoo-jin hesitates to hug him back, her hand slowly going up to hug his body and then doubting if she should, when he just slips away and break free. He smiles at her, waves his hand in a way she can’t put through if it’s a hello or a goodbye. He walks away and disappears to the stairs.