𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 ↬ jungri

𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆

it was the first day of summer when kim yerim first met her new next door neighbor, jeon jeongguk.

usually, yerim would return home with her favorite cold treat, a strawberry melona bar, after a long day of school from a nearby convenience store just a few blocks away from campus. it was a habit, part of her daily routine. something she had always done ever since she started middle school.

it was the one thing she looked forward to every single day besides going to sleep.

so when yerim dropped her melona bar on the ground after opening the wrapper a bit too excitedly, yerim felt her heart drop with it.

yerim has never experienced heartbreak before, but she has now.

"there goes the last of my allowance," she mumbled bitterly to herself as she crouched down on the ground, staring pitifully at the pink treat melting on the concrete under the rays of the hot, blazing sun.

she sagged her shoulders in disappointment before running her hands through her long hair in frustration, an annoyed whine leaving her lips.

"kim yerim, you really are stupid," she whined to herself as she shot up from the ground, turning her body back towards the convenience store. "maybe ahjumma will give me one for free because i dropped it. she knows how much i love her melona bars!"

oh yes, she definitely can't say no to her number one consumer!

nodding her head in determination, she walked back inside.

but when yerim explained her predicament to the owner of the convenience store with her best puppy eyes only to be turned away without her favorite ice cream, she could only sigh in disappointment.

how could you do this to your best customer?!

"please step aside, yerim. you're holding up the line."

"...yes."

yerim slinked her body to the side near one of the chip displays to let the waiting customer pay for his items. she stared wordlessly as he handed the mean ahjumma money for an ice cream sandwich and a strawberry melona bar, another sad sigh leaving her lips.

it must be nice having enough money to buy two ice creams.

"don't sigh like that. it's pathetic," a smooth voice broke her out of her train of thoughts, causing the high school student to jolt a bit from surprise.

a bandaged hand held out the pink wrapped ice cream towards her chest, urging her to take it while yerim stared bewildered, unable to process the current situation.

is he giving me this?

the stranger clicked his tongue in annoyance. "do you want it or not?," he asked, his tone raising slightly at her from impatience.

"y-yes! oh, thank you so much!" she replied dumbly, taking the ice cream from his hand and bowing in gratitude.

luck was truly on her side today! he was her knight in shining armor!

"please let me treat you as thanks!" yerim smiled excitedly, turning her gaze up to the unknown male after a deep bow.

a black mask covered half of his face and his dark hair was slightly curled and tousled in a messy, yet charming fashion. he had a youthful glow to him. maybe he was the same age as her? and although she couldn't quite see his full facial features, yerim knew a handsome boy when she saw one.

she watched as the stranger raised a quizzical brow at her, amusement evident on his doe eyes.

"with what money? you can't even buy yourself your own ice cream."