SpartAce I: School Love Affair

Perplexed. Confused. Puzzled.

Ji Hyo is sitting in her study table, trying but failing to get her mind in the notes she has in front of her.

For the first time in her history, she can't get herself to concentrate. She can't get her mind to understand whatever words are written in the notebook. And she's panicking because exams are on monday, and if she doesn't get her head straight, her grades will surely go down.

But her mind doesn't seem to register that either. For hours now, it has been drifting to one particular scene of her day and it irritates her.

She has never been this distratced in studying before. But now all she can think about was that.

Her mind keeps going again and again around the littlest of things earlier that makes her heart flutter, like how Jong Kook's hand felt so warm as it cupped her cheeks, or how soft his lips were as it kissed her ever so gently that it feels like she could go crazy any second. And not to mention that clean soapy smell that makes her brain go fuzzy and blurry.

She feels a little chill tug her heart as she remembers that scene again, and she burries her face into her arms to somehow get the thought away.

"Uuuugghh! ", she grunts over the table, hating the fact that she liked it.

Even on that second, she can feel her cheeks grow hot.

How can she face Kim Jong Kook after that?

And not to mention the embarassing act she did the moment she realized what was happening.

She somehow panicked and suddenly did a little running away scene like some guilty little nerd.

She grunts in frustration again, and hit her head with her hands. She's getting embarassed the more she recalls her stupidity.

Why did she run away? It made things a lot more awkward between them!

Or could she have stayed? But then what could she have done if she did?

Who knows what she could've done if she stayed?! Her mind was so fuzzy that she couldn't think straight, maybe she could've done something even more stupid!

Like confessing... Or even worse, kissing Jong Kook again...

"Uuuuuggghhhh! ", she grunts again, shutting her eyes tight as if the gesture can erase the memory off her head.

But no! Everytime she close her eyes, she remembers that determined yet gentle look of Jong Kook as he leaned closer to kiss her.

"Ji Hyo-ah... "

She jumps in her seat, startled at the sudden arrival of her mother, who is now looking at her strangely because of her reaction.

"Y-yes, mom? "

"Are you alright? I can hear you making noises even from the room, you know? "

"O-oh. ", she answers. "I'm alright, Mom. I'm just... ", she pauses, thinking of a convincing reason. "...excercising my brain. Yeah, I'm excercising my brain! "

The frown in her mother's face grows even deeper, and she mentally hits herself.

Excercising brain? Seriously?!

"Y'know, exams are coming and I have to stock all of these, " she raises her notes from the table. "..into my brain.", she says, faster than normal with a chuckle that surely sounds fake.

Her mother's expression turns to worry and guilt as she paced towards her daughter.

"You know you don't have to force yourself into this, Ji Hyo-ah... ", her mother says, wrapping her arms around her, who immediately feels the calming warmth of her mother's embrace. "Why don't you rest for the night? "