GUARDIAN ↻ XIAOJUN

002

Yumi had recently discovered the world of online dating apps thanks to her friend, Kira. This certain friend of hers had recently got into a relationship with someone who she had met online during the summer break. Kira and the guy had talked and dated for more than 3 months before they made it official. And with that, Kira had recommended bumble to Yumi.

At first, Yumi was reluctant if she should download the app or not. She couldn't even reply quickly to her friends, what more to a stranger. She may be a bit shy and scared, but the intrigued part of her had won and decided to do so. With one click, she had downloaded bumble.

For the rest of the Saturday night, she had spent her time exploring the app. And when she received a notification that she had a match, she got all giddy and excited.

A certain boy named Juyeon had caught her attention. It was because he seemed pretty chill and well-mannered as he managed to keep the conversation going, getting to know each other through playing a game of 20 questions. The questions were all light as they were both testing the waters. And so far so good, there were no red flags that have appeared yet.

Yumi was enjoying her time conversing with Juyeon that she hadn't noticed that it was already past 3 am. All she knew was that Juyeon was quite entertaining and that he studies at the same university as her which was quite shocking. Although she remembered that she had set the app on nearby settings, thus the reason they crossed paths.

In her bed, she wondered if they had come across each other on the campus before and with that she unknowingly drifted to her dream world.

The new week had started and the two had planned to meet up on their break times that had coincidentally matched. Quite lucky.

It was only 8 am and Yumi's circle of friends were hanging at the rooftop garden of the university. A very famous place for the students to spend time and just chill as the atmosphere was perfect for calming one's mind. Just you, wind, and the sky. Though technically, there were quite a bunch of students as it was indeed a very spacious one. Nobody minded though.

Yumi's friends had noticed how she kept on checking the time on her wrist watch every few minutes and how she would fish out and check her phone as if she was waiting for something even though the day had only started.

Her unusual action had caused her friends to question her. Yumi had tried to dodge it by making up an excuse that she was waiting for her sister to call. But her friends knew better. They knew that they barely talked nor called each other on the phone. And that they noticed how her expression was more of an excited one. Not that she wasn't that excited when talking to get family, it's just that you know that there's really more to it.

Her friends hadn't received a serious answer from Yumi. In result, through a game of mind reading and eyeing, they had decided to tickle her as they knew how she was pretty sensitive to it. Her friends on both of her side held her arm and Arin who sat across them swiftly stood up and took her chance.

They had tickled her neck and waist which had caused Yumi to erupt a chorus of high toned giggles. She was resisting and struggling to escape their hold on her.

On the table situated across theirs were where Xiaojun and Mark peacefully laid their heads on, while Lucas and Hendery were on their phone playing a game. With the noise, Xiaojun was groggily awoken from his nap and slowly turned his head to the direction where it came from. His eyes had met the view of a group of girls who looked as though they were having the time of their lives as they joyfully laughed together.

And in the center of the group was Yumi, the person who had caught his eyes. Seeing the girl had caused his blood to boil. Her laugh rang in his ears that covering it with his hands wasn't enough. It annoyed him so much how she could laugh like that as though they were the only ones in the venue.

"Hey!" Xiaojun exclaimed to get their attention, however no one heard and turned their head. "Hey!" He repeated much louder and with that Yumi's eyes met his. "Can you guys be more mindful of others that some students are taking a nap here."

With those words, Yumi immediately uttered an apology and bowed her head a bit, feeling sorry and embarrassed that she had caused such ruckus. However, Xiaojun only rolled his eyes and  shook his head in return before he stood up, leaving his friends.

Yumi sat there, not knowing what to do as she watched Xiaojun's retreating figure.