WORDS. |Kim Seungmin

Eight.

Aria was walking back home from where Changbin dropped her. He was a little occupied so he didn't drive her all the way home but dropped her somewhere near the neighborhood. She was skimming her way home while humming to herself. It was summer, her favorite season except for the sudden rains. That day too was one of her favorites, simply it was her day off from her part-time job.

Remembering what the literature professor assigned them to earlier, made her sigh. They had a new project that they have to do in pairs. Surely, she was doing it with Changbin as usual. That wasn't a bad thing actually, but she knew that pairing in a literature project with Changbin meant that they both were going to fail. They know nothing about the subject. Maybe they would have to ask for Han Jisung's help, the nerd in their class, or maybe Lee Minho, the top student who doesn't look like one.

Sighing one more time, she lifted her head up to face a scene that she didn't notice it existed. She didn't notice the one who was walking ahead of her all the way to the neighborhood. He was walking with his head hanging low, hands stuffed in his shorts' pockets, and feet kicking the tiny stones.

Did he take the bus back? For how long has he been walking ahead? Did he have no more classes? Why didn't he show up at the café the day before? Is he going to go there today?

Aria questioned while staring at his back, keeping her pace just like his own.

Before she could question herself more, he took a sharp turn to the left and opened the front gate to the house next to Aria's.

Yes, he was her neighbor.

Aria didn't only recognize him as her classmate from literature, but also as the neighbor who showed up more than a year ago.

She could remember that day clearly. She woke up to irritating noises coming from outside. She cursed as she wanted to sleep more. Stuffing her head under her pillows didn't help at all. She got up grunting and walked to her window, ready to curse and yell at whoever disturbed her sleep. Once she opened the window, her eyes fell on the truck and workers carrying luggage, boxes, and furniture.

Someone is moving next door, she thought.

Aria has always been a curious person. That's why she forgot about her sleep and positioned herself by the window to watch the moving-in process, hoping that she would be able to have a glimpse of the new neighbors.

And that was granted.

He stepped out of the house, wearing wide-legged jeans, a long-sleeved white shirt tucked into his jeans, and a pair of rounded glasses resting gracefully to his nose bridge. He was smiling widely, cutely, while having a big box that she figured out later it contained bakery, cause she watched him giving them out to all the workers while bowing down.

He was her neighbor. He was her classmate. He was a regular customer. He was everywhere around her for a year but she never had a chance to talk to him. Or more precisely, she never had a chance to hear him talk in general. That started clicking her curious buttons on recently, and she knew by heart that it was about time that her curiosity wins over her.