Before the Timer Starts [Prologue]
Our Time TogetherSungjae thought about it again and again when he entered his classroom. What did he just go into? He didn't remember anything aside from Joy's pressuring stare into his soul and the fact he nodded to whatever she told him.
An hour a day? Is she crazy?
Sungjae thought to himself. He looked out and saw Joy blabbering happily to her friends about what happened earlier. As of Sungjae's knowledge, Joy was always afraid to approach him and talk to him. How was she going to hold a conversation with him everyday then? How was she going to continue with her plan? Sungjae wasn't sure why but he knew Joy could handle it. She could make a way around of things, in an odd manner. Sungjae just wished Joy's anxiety would get the best of her and she would cower away from her offer.
"Yo, Sungjae!"
Sungjae turned his head to a close friend of his, Kim Taehyung. Aside from the fact he was the ace in their school's basketball team, he also had a love interest who was in Joy's section. Every girl, well except Joy, wanted to date Taehyung but Taehyung had his eyes on another girl for two years already. Joy was the same as Taehyung but she was less popular compared to him. She also liked Sungjae for two years already, starting when they were classmates in their sophomore year.
"I saw you with Joy, what's up?" Taehyung asked. Sungjae sighed before shaking his head.
"I messed up, big time," Sungjae said after looking at Taehyung. Taehyung cracked a smile before releasing a chuckle. He held on Sungjae's shoulder before asking what happened. Sungjae told him everything, from the moment Joy called him out to the nearby staircase to the moment Sungjae entered his classroom. Taehyung only laughed as a reply.
"That's interesting, Sungjae!" Taehyung clapped.
"Don't laugh at my suffering, Taehyung. This is serious. You know how hard I've tried to shake Joy off," Sungjae told him.
"I've known her since we were middleschoolers, Sungjae, and I can assure you she's a stubborn girl," Taehyung said. "Nothing will stop her, not even that stalker you had when we were freshmen."
"Don't mention her to me," Sungjae shuddered. "She still gives me nightmares. Wait, is Joy a stalker too?"
"She claims to be," Taehyung shrugged. "I'm sure she's not as bad as that stalker you had though. At least Joy has friends."
Sungjae groaned. He tried keeping a low profile ever since he transferred into that high school. He had his group of friends which consisted of half of their batch's male population. He tried being as quiet as possible. He didn't know why or how Joy ever noticed his presence, especially since they never even properly talked in class, save for the group works and when they were seatmates once and Joy never showed any sign of interest for him.
"What am I going to do?" Sungjae held his head. Taehyung shrugged.
"You got yourself into this mess, you'll get yourself out of it. Come on, you can do it, you're Yook Sungjae after all," Taehyung tried encouraging him. "And come on, an hour a day doesn't seem that bad. Joy's a nice talker, you know? Reason why she has a lot of friends, more friends compared to you."
"Hey!" Sungjae grumbled. "Joy does not have more friends than me."
A-choo!
Joy sniffled after covering with her hankerchief. That was the third sneeze in a row. Was someone talking about her? Did her friends not take a bath that morning? Joy would never know and she preferred not to know. She didn't even need to think about that. She needed to erase all the anxiety she felt. She was overthinking things after she talked to Sungjae. Whose smart idea was that anyway?
I hate you, Seulgi. No lollipops for you next week.
"So, how did it go?"
Joy usually was comfortable with Wendy Son. Wendy had been her friend for over seven years after all. Correction, Wendy was her best friend. Wendy was above all Joy's friends. Joy and Wendy were a famous duo in the school for being always together and for having the same ideas most of the time but Wendy was slightly more popular in the musical area since she was one of the leading member of their Glee Club.
"Horrible," Joy mumbled.
"How horrible? Let's rate this. Hm, blue or orange?"
"Orange," Joy pouted at her best friend. Wendy's eyes widened and patted Joy's back.
"Why? Did you stutter? Did he reject it? Did you stutter?" Wendy asked. Joy shook her head.
"I'm predicting the future, Wendy. And I know I'm going to mess this up," Joy frowned. "I never talked to Sungjae casually before! How am I going to maintain an hour a day? How am I going to talk to him for one hour? What are we going to talk about? I don't have a lot of ideas on what he likes. Son Seungwan, help me."
"You've been stalking his Facebook profile for over a year, girl," Wendy raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you know something, just prolong the topic. And you are an expert in covering a lot of subjects within a short amount of time. You could do it."
Wendy raised a fist.
"Fighting!"
Joy shook her head and wrapped her arms around Wendy. She felt nauseous. She wanted to barf, especially tomorrow. She knew she'll have a migraine the next day. After all, it'll all start the next day.
Joy will have to take her word and talk to Sungjae the next day. She should talk about a lot of things and discover things about Sungjae. She should be like the social butterfly she always was. She should smile at him brightly. She should treat him like how she treated her close guy friends. She should be comfortable with him and not think twice about whatever she was going to say, as usual.
Oh screw this, I'm going to fail horribly.
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