#yuqi

Just a normal day at school, or just a normal day at school for keonho to observe you. Not that you ever knew though. You were at the lockers, talking to your friends about something keonho couldn’t quite make out. He was hiding behind a wall while attempting to listen in to your conversation.

Meanwhile his friends, James, Martin, Seonghyeon and juhoon stared at him.

“Are we really doing this again? You cant even understand what she’s saying!”

Martin lamented. he wanted to get to the canteen as quick as possible, but keonho insisted on staying to that he could hear what you were saying.

“放学后，你们要不要去一个咖啡馆？我们可以吃一些东西！我听说这里附近有个很有名的咖啡馆！(After school, do you guys want to go to a cafe? i heard theres a famous cafe nearby!)”

Your friend, yuqi, exclaimed. you nodded your head furiously. it was a great idea. you also wanted to do a bit of studying while you were at the cafe. Your other friend, Shuhua, nodded too. You and your friends turned the other way and walked down the hallway.

“She’s gone. Now let’s go, theres not much time left for lunch.”

James said, dragging keonho down the hallway while the others followed. So much for eavesdropping.

At their table, keonho was busy daydreaming about a potential life you two could have, being married and having kids, grandkids, and generations to come. Seonghyeon was to give him a little ‘smack’ on the face to wake him up from his delusions.

“Seriously, do you like her that much?” seonghyeon asked, with genuine curiosity.

“Dude what do you think? He’s long gone bro.” Martin added with a giggle, catching keonho staring at you when you walked into the canteen. Keonho’s face turned bright pink and turned away from his friends.

During science class, the teacher announced the groupings for your project for the final examinations. There will be 20 pairs in this project.

“keonho and yn, james and yuqi, martin and juhoon…” her monotonous voice dragged on. Keonho’s ears perked up at his name with yours. You two were paired for the project? surely that would give him plenty of chances to speak to you.

“Alright, pack up your bags and sit with your partner in any table. It would be more convenient for the project.” The class started packing up their bags, some staying at their seat and waiting for others to come over. Keonho’s seat partner left the table and you arrived, sitting down next to him. The two of you didnt talk for the whole lesson.

After school, keonho scrambled through the halls to find james. To his luck, james was outside at the lockers. He approached james and asked, “Can you teach me some chinese? please? i’ll treat you to coffee,” he begged. James had no choice to say no. literally.

At the cafe, the two were seated down. “So, what do you want to say to her?” he inquired. keonho thought for a bit before answering, “i dont know? maybe a hello how are you can i have your number honestly youre so pretty did i ever mention how much i like you—” keonho stopped himself because he saw james staring at him with a looked couldn’t describe.

“I’ll just teach you some basic words, like hello and can i have your number. Thats it.” James said, rubbing his temples. Keonho thanked james. This was going to be a long day.

The next day during science class, keonho mustered up all his courage to talk to you. He turned to you, tapped your shoulder and said, “你好。” in the most perfect pronunciation somehow. It was only natural you thought he was chinese too, right? bold of you to assume that right off the bat. You had also been observing him too, for quite a while, but just weren’t ever close enough to hear him speak.

“你好！你需要什么东西呢?” (Hi! do you need anything?) you smiled while asking. Keonho was panicking internally. James didnt teach him that much. he didn’t understand what you were saying. So he tried his luck and said what james had taught him, “你可以给我你的电话号码吗？所以我们可以在自己的时间讨论测验.” (Can you give me your phone number? so we can discuss the exam during our own free time.) it somehow sat perfectly with your question, so you took out a piece of paper and scribbled your number onto it, and handed it to him.

Later, he held up that piece of paper in front of his friends, like it was a prized possession (it was). Martin even asked how it happened, shocked that keonho managed to get a girl’s number. You weren’t doing any better. You were yapping to your friends about how your crush was probably chinese (he isnt) and how you exchanged numbers.

Over time, the two of you would text online. Keonho would use google translate to text you in chinese and you would message back. One day in school, during science, the teacher put a diagram on the screen and asked the class to discuss the model in pairs. Keonho was sleep deprivation due to working on assignments ay night so he forgot to speak to you in chinese.

“So, what does the leukocytes do again? i kinda forgot…” he mutteredd, looking at you, mesmerised by your face.

“It protects the body and various cells from other ‘invaders’, i think.” you pointed out. keonho mumbled a “mhm” before suddenly realising you spoke to him in his own language.

“Wait, could you repeat that?”

“The leukocytes protects the body from cells that do like harm..?”

“You can speak korean/english??”

“Yes??”

“Bro i thought this whole time you were only able to speak chinese,” he said, laughing, “I even learnt the language just so i could talk to you.. you know…” his ears turned slightly pink, and so did his face.

“So you aren’t chinese either?”

“Nope.”

“Youre so cute…Wait no i mean thats so cute— never mind, i think you know what i’m saying..” you turned away, cheeks flushing pink too.

“So… will you go on a date with me…?”