.·°¯°·.¸.->Autumn Leaves<-.¸.·°¯°·.

9

"My angellllll!" A sing-song voice echoed through the bathroom, Jay walked out carrying a pair of kitchen scissors and a plastic bag filled with hair.

"I cut my hair, does it look good?" He asked, shoving himself into Hyeri's view.

Hyeri looked up and assessed the boys face. Usually, boys would get haircuts and turn into a whole different person (not in a good way), but Jay still managed to carry his sweet charm. She wouldn't like though, Hyeri would miss the way the boys soft hair would fall into his eyes, and the way he would push his hair back effortlessly.

"Looks good!" She said, returning her attention to her laptop.

Hyeri had decided to keep revising everything she had learner during the past semester, so that if school opened up again, she wouldn't have to stress over forgotten material.

"So, I was watching a video..." Jay slipped into the seat next to Hyeri. "It was a tutorial, actually."

Hyeri didn't like where this was going.

"And I thought, maybe, you'd like to try..."

"BANGS?" Hyeri screached, looking at her reflection in the mirror.

Jays eyes softly gazed over Hyeri's face, smiling, clearly proud at the result of his work.

"It looks cute! I think it really suits you." Said Jay

"It's not bad, just a big change... I thought you were just gonna cut my hair shorter?" Hyeri questioned, styling her hair.

"Initially, yes. But then I got kinda carried away so... You like it though, right?" Jay asked sheepishly

"It'll take some getting used to, but yeah. It's alright." Hyeri responded.

The two stood in the bathroom, trying to think of something to say.

"Let's take a photo. To celebrate my amazing skills you know? It's rare to find an all rounder like me these days." Jay shamelessly bragged, pulling out his phone.

The duo posed akwardly in the mirror. The camera clicked. "This is not it." Jay said. The camera clicked again. "Not this either." The camera clicked again. "Why can't I-"

Hyeri pulled him closer to her side, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.

"Try now." She suggested.

Jay, who was flabbergasted at her sudden closeness, took the photo.

"Oh wow!" He hid his blush. "This is the one"

"While we're at it, Jay, I don't have your phone number." Hyeri said.

"Ayyyy, you're making your move on me? Finally." Jay teased.

"Jay, weren't you enjoying our little photoshoot a little too much? I saw the way you blush-" Hyeri easily shut the boy up.

They exchanged phone numbers peacefully when Hyeri caught sight of Jays homescreen.

"Those your friends?" She gestured at the 6 boys posing with Jay.

Jay tensed before remembering about how clueless Hyeri was. "Yeah, that's Jungwon, Heeseung, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo and Ni-ki. They're all great."

"That's so sweet. All I have is Yunjin. Must be great to have a huge friend group, right?" Hyeri asked

"Anyone can hang out with a large number of people and still feel shitty. Quality over quantity, you know?" Jay said, looking up at Hyeri.

"Whatever, you just made everything so serious." Hyeri scrunched her face teasingly. She was secretly greatful for the reassurance.

"Besides, you have me as well now." Jay said.

"So true bestie. Anyways, can you give me Sunoos number? He's kinda cute." Hyeri joked, to which Jay turned off his phone.

"Don't hit on my friendsss" he moaned.

"Jee, I was just kidding." Hyeri laughed. "Maybe Jungwon would be a better option."

Jay ran out of the bathroom, ending the conversation there.

-

"Ah this is so annoying." Hyeri covered her face, breathing in.

Jay and been washing the dishes while Hyeri had been studying. They had just finished dinner - spaghetti, and had been re- winding for the day when Hyeri got an email.

It was from her professor, informing the students that there would still be an online exam, and that it would be their final grade.

"But haven't you been on top of your studies? You should be fine." Jay said, reading the email thoroughly.

"I know that, but I still wanna be annoyed. Why would I do an exam from home?" Hyeri grumbled.

"Guess you better study hard for the next few days." Jay suggested.

Hyeri thought deeply. "What about you? What will you do while I'm gone? You always stick to me like wet toilet paper on shoes. You know, how after people leave the public restroo-"

"Yeah I get it." Jay sighed. What was with the girls weird analogies? "I'm a 21 year old adult, I'll entertain myself."

And that's how the duo spent the next five days. Hyeri would study in her room all day, only coming out for meals. She had to teach herself two more topics in order to be ready to get full marks for the exam.

Jay would be in the living room, constantly working out, dancing and singing (softly at Hyeri's request) and cooking.

Before the duo had known, five days had passed, and it was time for Hyeri's exam.

"It's 10.43, when does the exam start again?" Jay asked, serving Hyeri her breakfast, which really was just cereal.

"11, I gotta finish this quickly." She wolfed down her food.

Before she entered her room, she double checked with Jay that he would be silent because she needed to concentrate, handed Jay her headphones so no noise would be heard from his phone and filled up her water bottle, to minimise distractions.

Jay held her hand, pulling Hyeri in for an unexpected hug.

"You've worked so hard angel, good luck." He smiled, embracing her tightly.

It honestly felt nice to have human contact, especially since Hyeri, who would be glued to Yunjins side 24/7 had no one to hug.

Hyeri responded by squeezing Jay even tighter, restricting his lungs from accessing any air.

"Thanks Jay, watch me come out top of my class." She joked, enjoying the present moment.

Jay let her go, fakingly gasping for air.

"Go in now, don't wanna be late." He said, checking his watch to find out there was a minute left.

Before Hyeri went in, he pulled her close and pecked her on the cheek impulsively, before he pushed her into her room and closed the door for her.

Then he stood there, for a few minutes before silently crumbling to the ground.

"Why did I do that? She's gonna be weirded out now." He cringed at himself.

Hyeri stood on the other side of the door, holding her cheek.

"Why did he do that now of all times?" She slapped her cheek harshly. "Focus. You can talk about this later." She said, walking to her laptop.

Hyeri and Jay would have two hours to reflect and decide what they would say to eachother once the exam was done.