Cheondung had always noticed her. She walked the same way she did every morning; past him and to her friends where she waited patiently for their school bus, standing a couple of metres away from him. He didn’t always see her though. She seemed to catch earlier trains sometimes. His heart skipped when she seemed to look his way and quickly diverted his eyes, pretending he was looking over her head.

Slowly he turned towards the road and calmed his quaking heart which resonated continuously against his thin ribs. He watched her quietly from the corner of him eye and thought the same thing he did every time he saw her. Heck, he found himself thinking the same thing when he wasn’t around her!

What made her so special? What made her so special to him? It was strange. Compared to the others that surrounded him, the girl was rather… Simple.

Her hair was tied up into a high ponytail with the little navy coloured bow that matched her uniform. A little cardigan over her uniform; sometimes the sleeves were rolled up to her elbows when she was puffed from walking. A little badge sat on her collar, with an emblem of her school. On rainy days she’d have an umbrella in her hands, along with her folders and textbooks. Cheondung often wondered to himself a few times why she had to carry so much while her friends asked her the same thing. Maybe it wasn’t that. It was probably how she laughed carelessly, looked excited for little things and smiled happily.

 Those random moments when he seemed to feel her eyes on him, only to turn find it not so, he mentally scolded himself for getting his hopes up. How could it be possible? He was far too plain to be noticed He wasn’t at all unattractive but Cheondung was thin. His height didn’t do much to help the matter. In fact, it probably exaggerated it. He went to a nerd school; no girl these days would give him so much as a second glance.

For some reason, Cheondung didn’t mind other girls; he only wanted her attention. Something e probably won’t be getting. He smiled to himself sadly while looking at his shoes, his slightly overgrown hair falling into his eyes.

“Yah, Cheondung-ah! Waegurae? Are you even listening to me?” Joon’s voice broke into his thoughts, making him look up at him. His friend looked rather annoyed; Cheondung must have ignored him for a while now.

“Mianhae hyung, I just got… Distracted” Cheondung replied dreamily, his thoughts still centred on the girl who stood a few metres away.

“Like you’ve been doing a lot lately, you mean?” Joon asked with a tinge of annoyance in his voice. Before Cheondung could reply, Joon continued his conversation from before while dragging Cheondung over to the bus that arrived for them. If only he had been more like his Joonie hyung; he knows what to do all the time. Being shy and introverted didn’t do much to boost his self-confidence and he wished he wasn’t; maybe he could go talk to her if he wasn’t so.

Taking one last glance at her before boarding his bus, he couldn’t help but notice the way she tucked a little piece of hair behind her ear while she chuckled.

Smiling to himself ever-so-slightly, he took one last look before the bus wheezed away.

He needed a haircut.

He was thinking of her again and he wished he wasn’t. How many days had it been? A few since he last saw her. If only she could stop doing whatever she was doing to him. Right now he had a lot more things to be worrying about. Like what his sisters would say when they see him with purplish hair. Cheondung couldn’t understand what came over him when he walked into the salon and demanded a trim and colouring.

He stood on the platform, anticipating the train’s arrival. Cheondung crossed his hands over his chest and looked up. His eyes widened to see the very girl that haunted him leaning against the pillar in front of him.

She sipped the glass of bubble tea she held in one hand she looked over fondly at the pastry in her other, clearly looking forward to eating it. She chuckled to herself silently.

But before she knew it, it was on the floor, the friend that surprised her from behind clearly very sorry. She apologised profusely and offered to pay for the pastry she made her drop. The girl smiled sweetly and refused, though the obvious disappointment in her eyes made Cheondung crazy.

What the hell are you doing Doongie?

Cheondung was standing at the bus stop earlier than usually the next day. Far too early. He was supposed to meet Joon for some work at the library before school but clearly he had either slept in or completely forgotten.

But that was not the worrying factor. What was worrying what that Cheondung stood leaning against the wall in the near-empty bus depot with a pastry in his hand. An apple twist. The kind she had yesterday. What he was going to do with it, he had no idea.

Letting out a tired sigh, he flung his head back and rested it against the wall, only to stand up straight again when she walked past him, her shoulders drooping, before slumping into the waiting chairs. Gathering his courage, he walked over towards her, pretending he was looking at the bus timetable.

“Pfft!” Cheondung slapped his thin hands over him mouth in an attempt to stifle his laugh. She fell asleep leaning her head against the back of her chair.

It was like luck was on his side.

Cheondung sat next to her until he heard the next train arrive, at which point he got up and waiting in his usual spot for Joon.

“Jieun-ah! Ireona!!”

Sleepily, she rubbed her eyes as she sat up properly. Looking up, Jieun saw her friends chortling at her.

“Pabo ya, you fell asleep here?” They walked off slowly waiting for their sleepy friend to catch up.

Jieun began to stand up when she noticed as falling package and caught it quickly. It was a pastry. The kind of apple bun she dropped yesterday.

Tired? Eat this and work hard ^^

You dropped one yesterday didn’t you?

Jieun chuckled.

“THANK YOU!” She shouted looking around her for the person responsible. Her friends laughed and clamped their hands over while taking her away and apologising jokingly to the people around them. Jieun laughed too while she got weird looks from the other school students.

Except one.

There he was again, in the same spot that he was every morning, with the same friend he was with every morning. He looked slightly different; did he change his hair? But Jieun could recognise him anywhere.

His friend looked over at Jieun, looking as though he wasn’t sure as to whether he should laugh or not, while he looked at his feet, shyly. A small happy smile played at his lips as he dug his left toe into the ground.

Gotchya.

Doongie's hair:

IU and Thunder:

MelonCandy is out :)