In contrast to her first class, Dahee is focused on her last. She is attentive this time and fills four pages of her notebook with a lot of good insight. Her hand is starting to cramp, but that doesn't stop her from jotting down her professor's words that stand out to her. She doesn't even realize the class is over until she sees someone stand up in the corner of her eye, which prompts her to gather her stuff and leave too.
She skips out into the hallway happily, excited to finally go home. But before she does, she decides to pass by the soccer field behind the school building with the intention to see the team practice only for a bit (that is a total lie; she always ends up staying longer than intended). When she gets there, the players are running towards the water dispenser near the bleachers to quench their thirst, all panting and sweaty.
"Dahee!" Jeno, being the first to notice the girl's presence, smiles at her. She steps closer to the group and greets him back.
"Here to drool over us play again?" Her best friend smirks teasingly, having just downed a bottle of water.
"You're delusional, Hyuckie," she says to him jokingly before an unfamiliar figure in her peripheral vision catches her attention. "Who's the new kid?"
"That new kid is the same age as you," he says and turns to the other. "Introduce yourself, Ji."
"Park Jisung," his voice is suprisingly deep and a bit gravelly. "Xu Dahee, right?"
"Wait, hold on─Park Jisung from middle school?" She exclaims, not expecting the new face to be the kid she knew a few years back. She used to be taller than him, but now it is the total opposite. "Damn, puberty hit you like a truck."
Donghyuck snorts, "You were probably asleep when said truck drove by."
"Shut up, Dongfuck," she retorts. "You didn't even get your glow up until first year college."
"At least I got my glow up," he counters. "You're still waiting for yours."
Before she can even open her mouth to continue their banter, the coach blows the whistle, which makes the team jolt up and run back to the field. Donghyuck sticks his tongue out at her before following the others and she laughs at his childishness. The want to go home is long gone as she sits down on the bleachers beside Jisung.
"You and Donghyuck hyung seem close." He says, gaining her attention.
"We are," she smiles. "He's like a brother to me."
Building a friendship with Donghyuck was the easiest thing ever. She didn't have a problem getting along with him when they met three years ago on the very day she arrived in Seoul. He was eighteen and she was sixteen at the time, but despite the age gap, they became friends as soon as he stroke up a conversation with her while helping her with her luggage. Though she was initially hesitant, she decided there would be no harm in making a new best friend that she can only hope won't leave like her first.
"Hey, what happened to you though?" She asks, propping up her elbows on the surface behind her. "You disappeared after seventh grade."
"Had to go back here 'cause of my dad's business," he tells her. "Our stay was only temporary anyway. But what happened after I left?"
She shrugs, "Nothing much really."
The small talk comes to a halt as they don't have anything to converse about anymore, and they resort to sit in silence instead and watch the soccer team practice like she initially intended. Jeno makes the most goals, she observes, as expected from the team captain. Too immersed into the game, she doesn't notice a couple of flyers from the bulletin board next to the bleachers float along with the strong breeze that gushes by until one lands right on her lap.
Love is in the air!
It is like the universe is taunting her with the old Valentine's Day flyer (the people in charge of the announcements probably forgot to take it down). She tries to bury the thought of her essay like she's been doing since being told about it in the back of her mind and crumples the paper and tosses it in the nearby trashcan. The idea of getting inspiration from a romance film and writing it as her own experience crosses her mind, but she knows her conscience will eat her alive for creating a lie just to avoid facing what she is running away from.
"Hey Jisung," she starts and turns to him. "Have you fallen in love before?"
He looks taken aback by the unexpected question but answers nonetheless, "Uh, yeah, I have."
"What was it like?" She inquires, a glint of curiosity in her eyes.
A reminiscent smile paints his lips as he describes the feeling to be wonderful. He was fifteen when he fell in love for the first time, and he claims that he knew the moment he looked into her eyes that it was love. But, he was a kid, what did he know about love? Nonetheless, he was enamored with the girl who captured his heart in an instant.
He says he can vividly remember how he exactly felt whenever she was around: a million sparks igniting inside him that gave him a burst of euphoria. And when he describes kissing her for the first time, he says it felt like magic. The same sparks were there but stronger, so strong that he felt like his heart was gonna burst like a balloon.
"Love was exactly like it was supposed to be," he tells Dahee. "All warm and fuzzy with butterflies swarming my stomach and a heart that skipped a beat whenever she looked my way."
"Huh," she mutters under her breath. "Must be nice."
Seeing this lovesick look in his eyes, she feels a sinking feeling in her stomach─a twinge of envy. She will never admit it, but she wants to know what love feels like, wants to experience the butterflies and heart-fluttering herself. Yet her doubts and fears of falling in love hinders her from doing so.
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the school aspect of this is probably not accurate sorry i'm just guessing and making it up as i write since i'm not yet in college
