That weird guy from yesterday, her head was full of him.
It was nothing like the movies when you met a cute school sweetheart in class, thinking about the cute notes he passed and how your heart felt like it's going to explode into a confetti bomb whenever you see him giggle.
No, it was nothing like that.
The soda he gave her was still chilling on her dorm fridge, something stopped her from drinking it. Her stomach felt full just by seeing the annoyingly yellow, well, yellow bottle. It was lemon-flavored, probably it tastes just like some cheap fizzy lemonade from the neighborhood stand.
Jiwoo was always proud of how unbothered she was most of the time. She loved staying on her own accord, minding her own business, and living her life in her way and pace. No one could bother her, she wouldn't let them.
But this boy, he was something else.
He was invading her little bubble.
"Ah shit," she felt another sting of pain from her sore legs when she tried to pull herself up, she let out an exasperated sigh while softly punching on her sore thighs as an attempt to take away some of the pain.
"Yo," she perked up immediately, the voice was familiar to her ears, but she couldn't really tell who it was.
"Is there something bothering you? You've been squatting in front of that fridge for ages," she could hear the voice getting closer to her, making her look up out of curiosity.
It was him.
"Why are you here again?" She whined as she eyed the boy up and down. There were no major changes to his outfit, he wore the same track pants and a similar looking hoodie, but this time it's in a shade of lilac.
"I wanna buy soda, duh," he rolled his eyes before shooing the girl away.
Jiwoo huffed pettily before forcefully pushing herself up with a suppressed groan escaping her lips. Who does he think he is to order her around like that?
He stood right in front of the fridge, staring at the wide variety of colorful bottles seriously as if they were some piece of art at the museum. Was he looking for Monalisa or something?
"Cherry cheeks, help me pick."
"No shit," she glared sharply at him while leaning her back on the fridge right next to him before drifting her attention back to the glass door, "go bother someone else."
"Who? It's not like I know anyone else here," he crossed his arms with his body now facing her. And damn, he was pretty tall, probably a good 20 cm taller than her.
"Excuse me?" Jiwoo huffed in disbelief with her hands folded, imitating the other's stance, "I don't even know your name!"
"But we talked yesterday!"
"I talked to the security who was passing by earlier right before you came, that doesn't mean I know him!"
"It's not the same thing!"
"How is it not the same thing?"
The boy groaned in frustration while carding his fingers through his light brown hair, it fell back to its place immediately after that though, partially covering his black sports headband. His fluffy hair was distracting her, she wanted to chop them off for getting in the way.
"Fine, let's be acquaintances."
"I fucking dare you," she challenged while tapping her foot on the ceramic floor, earning a bright grin from the other.
"Hello, Jiwoo. My name is Kang Yejun," Yejun said with an emphasis on each syllable as he offered his hand for a handshake. Jiwoo reflexively extended her hand to reciprocate the handshake, before retreating her hand as if the touch burns.
"Wait, how do you know my name?" She stammered with the most worried look on her face, earning an amused chuckle from the other.
"You wear your name tag to work, dummy," he said impassively before pointing at the shiny metal which was pinned on her right chest.
"Ah," she made an exaggerated noise in understanding, "so finally you can stop calling me cherry cheeks."
"I can't promise that."
Before Jiwoo could open her mouth to complain, Yejun left the fridge with 2 bottles of soda in one hand, using his free hand to tug on her sleeve lightly.
"C'mon I gotta pay for these bad babies."
"O-ow," Jiwoo pulled herself away quickly as she glared at him weirdly. She motioned at the cashier who was sitting there with her phone glued to her hand, practically jobless.
"Go ahead, pay. Why are you dragging me?"
He looked at the direction she was motioning at before looking back at her, shaking his head eagerly.
"It's just- She doesn't look too friendly. Can't you just do it for me?" He pleaded, his gaze shifting into puppy eyes, making the other stare in a combination of disbelief and utter disgust.
'He did not just pull that puppy card on me,' Jiwoo thought to herself, followed by a small scoff.
"How am I," she emphasized by pointing at herself before pointing at the unbothered girl who was sitting in front of the register, "friendlier than her?"
He shrugged, "I don't know, just a gut feeling."
Jiwoo sighed the numerous time that day, she hasn't met any customer this complicated before. Not even the moms with 2 whole baskets full of snacks on the very front of the line.
She could already feel her hair falling out just from thinking about it.
"Yeah, no. Adios," before she could leave, he grabbed on the back of her vest, holding her in place.
"What?" She asked, her tone came out way harsher than intended.
"Your shoes," Jiwoo glanced down to her shoes, the laces were hanging messily, she definitely could trip on them for sure.
Yejun let out a small sigh before kneeling to tie them together, of course not without his mortifying remarks, "You are such a kid."
"Says you," Jiwoo managed to voice out, the edges of her usual sharp voice softened a bit, earning a small fond smile from the boy which he hid well by looking down.
"I can tie it myself, you know?"
"Shut it, cherry cheeks. Or I'll make you pay for my things," Yejun got up and brushed off his track pants. He leaned back down again to grab his long-forgotten bottles of soda before leaving to pay for them.
Jiwoo found herself staring at him, eyes glued to his every action to the smallest, watching him talk animatedly to the smiling cashier who looked surprised at first, but she went along with the conversation well.
'They'd make a great team,' she smiled to herself before getting back to restocking the fridge, her calves were still hurting but it's not like she could do anything about it.
He whispered something to the girl who just shot a thumbs up in response before leaving hurriedly with a little goodbye wave.
"Jiwoo!" Her high-pitched voice called out, making the other shot her head in her direction.
"Yeah?"
"Come here! Quick!"
Jiwoo limped slightly to her co-worker's direction which wasn't too far, good for her.
"This better be important, Jieun."
"It is!" She whisper-shouted before revealing a blinding yellow bottle of soda, "Ta-da!"
"Did you buy this for me as an apology for being late yesterday?" The taller quirked an eyebrow as she examined the bright green post-it on the glass bottle.
"Wait it's from Minjun?"
"Are you dumb or just dense as fuck?" Jieun whined dramatically before falling back to her seat.
"It's from that cutie earlier, doofus. He even bought those hot patches for you."
Jiwoo didn't hear anything that the other said, her surrounding went blur the very second when her eyes landed on the bright note. There wasn't much written on it –there was just a whole simple sentence with a bunch of star doodles all over it.
'Get well soon, cherry cheeks!'
Her heartbeat stuttered at that.