TO ALL THE BOYS IโVE LOVED BEFORE DR แข๐ญฉ aemie has always referred to wooseok as โmy momโs friendโs son who also happens to be my neighbor with the cute eyes and smile.โ is it a mouthful? absolutely. but in her defense, she never expected to fall for that same smile after years of repeatedly glancing at him, only to immediately look away whenever he caught her staring. and no, her crush was nowhere near shallow. after all, who wouldnโt fall for the best friend who had stayed by their side for seven years? the same person who encouraged them to chase their dreams when nobody else noticed them in the first place?
whenever aemieโs mother finally had free time away from work, she would often spend it with her best friend, occasionally bringing their children along as well. naturally, aemie and her older siblings were dragged along too, despite aemie preferring to stay home. unlike her siblings, she barely spoke to her motherโs friendโs son, hyun wooseok.
which was unfortunate considering they were neighbors. even more unfortunate was the fact that their bedroom windows directly faced one another. so imagine aemieโs embarrassment whenever she accidentally looked outside only to find wooseok already there, smiling at her with his signature eye smile. at some point, she started keeping her blinds closed purely to avoid the possibility of seeing him first thing in the morning.
aemie never truly considered wooseok her friend back then. their conversations barely extended beyond awkward greetings and quick goodbyes, mostly because she couldnโt bring herself to properly look him in the eye without feeling her chest tighten in embarrassment. even when he visited their house to spend time with her older brother, aemie would rather lock herself inside her room than give him the luxury of interacting with her.
however, due to jamesโ moving away, aemieโs grades began plummeting at an alarming rate as she slowly neglected her studies altogether. concerned, her mother decided to hire a tutor, completely unaware of how deeply aemie had been affected emotionally. and since her best friendโs son happened to be a prodigy, and lived conveniently next door, her mother naturally chose wooseok to tutor her.
during their very first session, aemieโs gloomy mood does not go unnoticed by wooseok. sure, aemie often looked nervous or awkward whenever he was around, but this was different. she looked exhausted, dejected even. so instead of immediately tutoring her, wooseok spent most of the afternoon trying to cheer her up instead.
months have passed and slowly but surely, aemie improved, not only academically, but emotionally too. her grades steadily climbed back up, and little by little, she began smiling again thanks to wooseokโs constant encouragement. although it wasnโt an easy process.ย it took wooseok days just to crack through the walls she had built around herself, and when aemie finally started opening up to him, he celebrated like it was a national achievement.
aemieโs perspective of him gradually began to change as well. she had always assumed wooseok was simply loud, outgoing, and effortlessly sociable, the complete opposite of her. but the more time she spent with him, the more she realized there was far more to him beneath that bright exterior. he was observant, patient and surprisingly considerate.
whenever aemie felt awkward or overwhelmed, wooseok would instinctively lighten the mood until she felt comfortable again, never making her feel out of place for being quieter than everyone else. and before she realized it, wooseok had become her best friend. someone she could rely on without hesitation. more importantly, he saw parts of her nobody else ever noticed, he saw her potential.
wooseok was the first person to genuinely tell her she could become a writer, or even a reporter someday. because beneath aemieโs meekness was someone whose voice became captivating the moment she grew comfortable enough to speak. whenever she passionately discussed something she cared about, every word she said became impossible to ignore.
broadcasting had always been aemieโs secret dream, one she never dared share with anyone before. not even to her own family. yet somehow, wooseok saw right through her. and instead of laughing or belittling her, he encouraged her to pursue it wholeheartedly. of course, that moment changed everything for aemie. it opened her eyes to the kind of person she truly wanted to become.
unfortunately, it also opened her heart. and from then on, every smile wooseok gave her made her feel like her heart might leap straight out of her chestโฆ that was the moment aemie realized she was completely doomed.
seven years later, aemieโs passion for broadcasting had only continued growing stronger after entering her dream university. and throughout all those years, wooseok remained the person she leaned on the most.
in fact, it was wooseok who encouraged her to become a courtside reporter for their high school basketball team two years earlier to help jumpstart her future career. aemie never expected standing at the sidelines of basketball games to feel so exciting, she even find the thrill of supporting her team and reporting their progress to be absolutely exhilarating.
their friendship only deepened over time. they had seen each other at their absolute worst, sides of themselves they rarely showed anybody else.
and whenever one of them needed comfort late at night, they had a ridiculous tradition of creating a makeshift bridge between their bedroom windows so the other could climb across to visit. of course, this always involved a dramatic game of rock-paper-scissors beforehand, with the loser forced to cross first. technically, they could have just used the front door like normal people. but according to wooseok, โwhereโs the fun in that?โ
still, despite everything, aemieโs feelings for wooseok never faded. and every time her heart felt too full to contain, she wrote about it instead.
whenever those feelings overwhelmed her, she would quietly close her blinds and begin writing letters about whatever wooseok had done that day. which is something that constantly confused him because aemie had stopped closing her curtains years ago after becoming comfortable around him.
depending on the situation, the letters could become painfully long, filled with detailed recollections of every interaction, every conversation, every tiny gesture that made her heart ache. afterward, she would hide the letters inside a shoebox and place it somewhere wooseok would never think to check.
which proved difficult considering wooseok had a terrible habit of barging into her room unannounced and snooping through her things. there had even been moments where he nearly caught her writing before she hurriedly slammed her hands on the sheet of paper while he pestered her endlessly about what she was hiding.
the worst incident, however, was when he almost saw the shoebox itself. the moment wooseok noticed her frantically hiding it away, suspicion immediately lit up his face. ever since then, aemie had started relocating the shoebox to a different hiding spot every single day. just in case wooseok decided to suddenly invade her room again.
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