𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒐𝒖.

Y/N’S POV

You sit down on your usual step in the stairwell, finally ready to breathe for a second.

Then you realise that your earphones are missing, the ONE thing you cannot live without.

You check your pockets. Your bag. Nothing.

“…where the fuck are they?”

And then you remember, you actually left them on your desk in the classroom.

“Fuck,” you mutter under your breath.

You immediately get up and rush down the stairs, pushing the door open and slam straight into someone.

JUHOON’S POV

He was about to head to lunch when he noticed that your earphones were just sitting there on your desk.

And that leaving them unattended like that could be dangerous.

He paused.

Should I bring them to her…?

Before he could overthink it, he grabbed them and headed toward the stairwell.

The second he opened the door , someone crashed hard into him

He looked down and he saw you and for a moment, neither of you moved.

Your eyes met, and everything just stopped.

He’d never seen you this close before and he realized, way too quickly, that he wouldn’t mind seeing you like this more often.

“…uhm , you left these.”

He then raises his hand , holding your earphones 

Y/N’S POV

You look up and it’s him.

Juhoon.

Your brain just shuts off.

Your eyes lock with his, and for a second, you forget how to function.

Since when was he this…

…yeah. No those were dangerous thought.

Then he speaks.

“Uhm… you left these.”

You glance at his hand and actually see your precious earphones.

“Oh my god, that’s literally what I was looking for” you say, a little too fast.

You take them from him, your fingers brushing his again.

“Thank you so much, Juhoon” you add and this time, you actually smile.

Not the small, polite one you usually give ,a  real one.

JUHOON’S POV

You smiled , actually smiled and it was the first time he’d ever seen it.

And yeah , definitely he liked it. A lot more than he expected.

“You’re welcome, Y/N” he says, a small smile forming on his lips.

Y/N’S POV

“You didn’t have to, you know…”

“I wanted to.”

That makes your chest feel… weird.

“Still thank you so much. Really.”

He turns back toward the door, hand on the handle but then he pauses.

“You should smile more often” he says, glancing back at you.

“…it suits you.”

And just like that he left. Leaving you all flustered 

You just stand there for a second trying to process what just happened 

Because you definitely weren’t expecting that.

And now there’s this feeling , in your chest , in your stomach

Something soft. Something confusing.Something you’re not sure you want to name yet

The rest of the day went pretty well apart from the fact that you couldn’t stop thinking about what happened earlier with juhoon. You thought you were overthinking it and that it was not that deep but the feeling in your tummy was telling you otherwise 

——————————————————————————

JUHOON’S POV

Class dragged on.

The teacher’s voice blended into background noise, words dissolving before they could even reach him. Juhoon rested his head lightly against his hand, eyes unfocused, pen unmoving against his notebook.

Then he heard something drop and a pen rolled to a stop beside his desk.

He glanced down, then picked it up without thinking.

When he looked up, his gaze met yours and for a second, everything stilled.

You looked surprised , almost frozen ,like you hadn’t expected him to look back. Your eyes lingered just a little too long before flickering down.

Juhoon handed you the pen back and your fingers brushed barely 

But enough.

“…thank you,” you murmured, voice quiet, almost swallowed by the noise of the classroom.

You didn’t look at him again. Just went back to your notebook, absentmindedly doodling like nothing had happened.

Juhoon blinked, then looked away.

‘It’s nothing’. He said to himself ‘Just a pen’

But he found himself thinking about it longer than he should have.

Ever since you started sitting next to him, you’d piqued his curiosity 

You weren’t loud , you weren’t  awkward , just distant.

You stared out the window more than you paid attention. Your notebook was always filled, but never with notes and during lunch , you disappeared to God knows where 

Every single day.

No friends. No attempts. No effort to blend in.

It didn’t really make sense to him.

And for some reason, Juhoon couldn’t stop noticing

Y/N’S POV

You didn’t mean to drop your pen.

It slipped from your fingers and rolled straight toward his desk.

‘Of course it had to fall , fuck’ 

You leaned down to grab it but the guy next to you was faster.

And when you looked up your eyes met his.

And your mind went completely blank.

He looked soft , delicate.

Not in a weak way , just in a calm and quiet way

Which made it worse.

Because now it piqued YOUR curiosity.

He handed you back your pen , and when you took it, his fingers brushed yours.

It was nothing.

But it didn’t feel like nothing.

“…thank you,” you said quickly, already looking away, pretending to focus on your notebook.

You didn’t dare look back.

Because for a second , It felt like he actually saw you

JUHOON’S POV

The bell rang, it was time for lunch break

Juhoon stood up immediately because he had to pick up a paper from a teachers classroom that was located on the last floor.

By the time he reached the top, the halls were nearly empty. He picked up the paper from his teacher, barely paying attention, then ran into Keonho on the way out.

They ended up walking together towards the cafeteria.

Which meant going all the way back down.

Step by step, their conversation faded into the background. Juhoon’s thoughts drifted until the duo stumbled across you sitting on the steps in the stairwell.

You had your earphones in , your head was slightly tilted down and your thumb was scrolling lazily across your phone. You were alone. And with that Juhoon slowed down without realizing it.

‘So this is where you run off every day.’ He thought to himself 

You didn’t go to the cafeteria. He knew it because he never saw you there. You weren’t with people either. But you were here , in a random stairwell of the building.

It looked like you’d claimed the space already and in Juhoon’s head for a moment, everything clicked. He slowly started to figure you out

Y/N’S POV

You waited, for the noise to fade , the halls to be empty as always. Then you quietly slipped into the stairwell and sat on your usual step.

You scrolled lazily on your phone not really looking at anything until you heard the door opening.

When you looked up , you froze. Juhoon was there with someone who seemed to be one of his friends , they were going down.

Your eyes met his and you actually had the courage to hold eye contact for a few seconds. It wasn’t awkward just quiet , like he’d found something he’d been searching for.

Your chest tightened but you couldn’t glance away, his gaze lingered on you as he walked past.

And for the first time since you transferred , you felt seen.

JUHOON’S POV

Friends. You actually had friends.

People you talked to, people you laughed with and Juhoon was having a hard time picturing that.

Juhoon leaned back slightly in his chair, eyes lingering on his screen before it turned off.

It didn’t match.

To him , it didn’t make sense , because in class, you barely spoke.

You answered when teachers asked you questions, sure ,but even then, your voice stayed low, like you didn’t want to be paid attention to . You never joined conversations , you never interrupted nor reacted loudly to anything.

But that didn’t mean you were quiet , not really.

He saw the way you replied to your friends comments and one thing was clear you weren’t acting like that with people from your school. And that bothered juhoon for some reason

Whoever was on the other side of your screen got a completely different version of you.

One that was talkative. One that didn’t disappear at lunch. One that didn’t sit alone in stairwells pretending not to exist.

So it wasn’t that you couldn’t talk to people , it was that you didn’t talk to anyone here specifically. And somehow, that made it worse.

Because it meant you weren’t invisible by accident. You were choosing to stay that way.

Or maybe , no one had given you a reason no to stay away.

——————————————————————————

OPEN TAGLIST (just comment to be on it)

You didn’t mind being alone , quite the opposite actually. Although you loved your friends dearly , you couldn’t help but isolate yourself in this little bubble of peace that was loneliness. And moving gave you the opportunity to immerse yourself even further in this bubble.

It’s your first day back at school , you take a deep breath and knock gently on the door waiting for the teacher to answer 

As he answers you step into the classroom and instantly, everyone’s eyes are fixed on you

Teacher : “Everyone ,today we have a new student , could you please introduce yourself”

Y/n : “hey I’m Y/N and I just moved here” you say with an embarrassed smile 

Teacher : “You can go sit next to Juhoon in the back”

You look towards where the teacher was pointing and see a brown-haired boy leaning back in his chair and looking at you lazily 

You make your way over there and sit. Your seat was next to the window. 

‘Perfect’ you thought 

You gazed out the window and lost yourself in your thoughts. 

You told yourself that during the remaining time of the school year, you wouldn’t sympathize with anyone. You already had your friends back in Seoul and you planned on moving back there as soon as you graduated.

So making friends was pointless because you’ll end up leaving them there.

Hours passed by and it was finally lunch time.

You got out of the classroom , clutching your phone and earphones. You didn’t know where to go and ended up sitting in an empty staircase at the top of the building.

That’s when you got a notification from the group chat 

After that , the afternoon went smoothly, during class you were either gazing out the window or doodling lilies in  your notebook , not really paying attention to the class that was going on in front of you. 

After a week you had your own little habits during school. You’d draw in your notebooks , sneak one of your AirPods in your ear during class when the teacher was not looking , eat lunch in the little staircase you found , and finally get lost in your thoughts in the middle of class 

CHAPTERS

001 - NEW BEGINNINGS

002 - MAYBE NOT SO QUIET