Work Text:
Many people say that the first bloom of spring will always make hearts sing. A perfect season for the bud of love to start growing.
So one afternoon in early April, a girl from the class next door came to Jungwon’s class, “Is Yang Jungwon here?”
Sunoo, who was sitting near the door, tilted his head to the source of the voice. “He’s right there,” he answered as he pointed to his class leader.
The girl’s face turned red before she continued, “I need to talk to him, can you call him for me, please?”
“Oh, what is the meaning of this?” he threw a little smirk toward the girl who kept clutching nervously into her shirt. A combination of mischievousness and excitement started to show up in Sunoo’s face as he yelled from across the class, “Hey, Yang Jungwon, someone is looking for you. Hurry up and go out!”
Jungwon, who was busy talking with another classmate, finally turned to Sunoo, “Me? Why me?”
“I don’t know! She said she has something to tell you.” As Jungwon approached the two, Sunoo continued talking without any decrease of excitement, “What is this? What on earth is happening?”
“Kim Sunoo, can you please calm down a little,” Jungwon ordered as he noticed that the girl seemed to look quite uncomfortable with all the fuss the older boy made. He led the girl out from their classroom, not too far, but also not close enough for anyone from his class to listen to their conversation.
So Sunoo pouted his lips and faked a disappointment. From the gap between the classroom doors, his eyes followed where Jungwon and the girl went. Though he could not hear anything, he quite can guess what the girl was up to.
“Who are you? Why are you looking for me?” Jungwon questioned the girl.
“I am from the class next door, my name is Kwon Daeshin. I came here to give you this note from Younghee,” the girl, Daeshin, handed a pink folded paper toward Jungwon.
Jungwon stuck out his right hand to accept the letter. Once he grabbed the paper, he brought it closer to his face and noticed that the paper smelled like vanilla. Nice, but then a realization hit him, “Who is Younghee?”
Daeshin looked a little bit calmer now as she explained, “Younghee is a girl from my class. She likes you a lot, but she does not have the guts to send you this note personally. So I came here to give her a helping hand.”
Jungwon unfolded the paper, and started reading.
I like you. Can you meet me under the cherry blossom tree behind our school this evening?
-Kim Younghee-
Upon reading the note, Jungwon was stunned. He didn't know what to do. He noticed that he is quite popular among his friends, but this is the very first time for him to receive a confession like this.
“So will you come to see her later, right?” Daeshin boldly asked.
“Ah, about that… I will think about it again,” he answered doubtfully.
The girl’s face fell a little after hearing the answer.
So he added, “But you can tell her that I have received the notes well. I will really consider it, don’t you worry.”
Daeshin nodded and bid Jungwon a goodbye. At least, I had done my part, she thought.
“Woah, woah, woah, that’s a confession, right?” Sunoo jumped himself toward Jungwon as soon as the younger boy entered the classroom.
“Yeah, sort of…” Jungwon handed the pink paper to Sunoo, letting the older read the message written there. Sunoo has been his friend since middle school and Jungwon has never hidden any secrets from Sunoo.
Nothing, but one.
“Woah, Kim Younghee,” a teasing smirk once again plastered in Sunoo’s handsome face and Jungwon wondered where did this friend of his get all of his energy from. “Assa, so you are going to have a girlfriend soon?”
Before Sunoo could blabber more, Jungwon grabbed Sunoo’s wrist and slowly dragged him toward the back of the classroom. “But don’t you think that this is just too sudden? I don’t know her, I don’t even know her face,” the class leader argues.
Sunoo’s expression suddenly fell as if the one Jungwon just rejected was him. “Oh come on, Jungwon, you should give her a chance. At least let her tell you about her feelings in person.”
Jungwon remained silent as he battled his own mind. A slight touch on his shoulder brought him back from his reverie. It was Sunoo.
“You’ll see her this evening, okay? It is spring, it will be a beautiful moment to start a relationship.”
Instead of answering the question, Jungwon asked back, “What if you were me? Will you accept her?”
Not answering, Sunoo threw his gaze far beyond the class window instead, toward the empty running track beside the school yard.
He definitely started imagining things, Jungwon thought.
“I don’t know, because I have never been confessed to,” Sunoo smiled jolly. Now he shifted his gaze toward Jungwon as he continued, “But one thing I am really sure of is that being loved is such a privilege to have, and I will never even try to waste such a chance.”
If words could stung, then maybe Sunoo’s recent ones were what currently made Jungwon petrified.
And as if he was magically enchanted, so later that day Jungwon found himself walking toward the cherry blossom tree behind his school.
In the evening full of pink, he met Younghee, and let the girl make her confession. He listened to her well, yet at the end of the day, Jungwon knew he would never be able to accept her love, because of an obvious reason.
"Thank you so much for liking me, Younghee, but I can't accept your love and be your boyfriend because I have someone I really like.”
And that someone was no other than the friend who forced him to meet this girl instead. Someone who always adores the beauty of spring as much as Jungwon himself adores the heat of summer.
***
“So how was it?”
Jungwon jumped from the surprise as soon as he entered his classroom the next morning.
It was Sunoo, looking expectantly at Jungwon, as if he had been waiting for some good news.
“Can you stop doing that? You surprised me,” Jungwon sulked a little as he patted his poor heart. He ignored his classmate’s question and kept walking toward his seat.
Sunoo smiled sheepishly as he followed Jungwon right on his tail. He then sat in an empty seat in front of Jungwon’s and turned the chair backward so now he can see Jungwon face to face. “You are not single anymore now?” he started the interrogation.
Jungwon shook his head softly, “No, I can’t accept Younghee.”
“Eh? But why?”
“I listened to her confession, and tried to open my heart for her. But I just can’t, you know,” he sighed tiredly before continuing, “I am currently waiting for someone to notice my feeling, but it seems like I need more effort to get them to realize.”
The older boy’s eyes snapped open, "You like another person? How come you never tell me? Come on, let me know, I will help you. It will be better if you confess to them during the spring. You know how sweet cherry blossoms can become, right?"
How can I tell you when the person I like is no other than you, Jungwon’s mentally scolded the boy in front of him.
But all Jungwon said was, “Nah, I don’t really like spring.”
As much as he knew how much Sunoo loves spring, but Jungwon always thought that it would be better to confess his feelings at the beginning of the summer. With the presence of summer heat, won’t their love burn passionately instead?
Sunoo, who did not get his friend’s sentiment, scrunched his nose and mumbled ‘that’s weird’ as he left Jungwon and walked back toward his own seat.
Yet Jungwon was determined to get Sunoo to understand. So, one day in early May he left a note under the older’s table.
I like you. Please meet me under the cherry blossoms tree behind our school this evening.
“This person wants me to meet them under the cherry blossom tree, but there’s barely any flower on the branches right now!” Sunoo complained to Jungwon as soon as he read the note that morning, not knowing that the sender was the one he was currently talking to.
Jungwon tried his best to maintain his composure and said, "Don't be mean, just give them a try." He repeated Sunoo's advice to him last month.
“But they don’t even write their name, how could I know who the sender is? They could be a weirdass or even a psychopath,” Sunoo whined again.
“You’ll know it soon.”
***
Confusion is spreaded all around Sunoo’s face as soon as he saw a familiar figure under the cherry blossom tree behind his school later that evening. “Jungwon, what are you doing here?”
The class leader, who has been waiting there since 5 minutes ago, smiles contently while motioning the older to come closer.
“Why are you here? The one receiving the note was me, not you,” Sunoo insists.
Jungwon chuckles hearing his friend’s tantrum. “Yeah, but I was the one sending the note. So I should also be here.” He grins sheepishly as he notices the realization hits Sunoo.
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t that obvious already? I am here to make a confession to you.”
Sunoo takes some time to reply to that statement, before finally continuing, “So, you rejected Younghee, because the one you like was…”
“Yes, it’s you, Kim Sunoo.” Jungwon finishes Sunoo’s sentence. “I like you, and it has been more than a year already, but you never realize. So, this is the last effort I can do to make you realize. Hopefully you are not weirded out by this sudden confession.”
A little smile slipped from Sunoo’s mouth in an effort to contain the fluttering feelings inside his chest, “But you said you don’t like spring and won’t make any confession during it.”
“Well, but you like it a lot. Your happiness is what matters the most, Sunoo.” Jungwon states, effortlessly able to turns Sunoo’s cheeks pink.
“I’m flattered, Jungwon, you have no idea how happy I am right now.”
“Because you finally get a confession you always dreamt of? Or because it is me who confesses to you, not some weirdass like you suspected?” Jungwon can not hide his curiosity.
Sunoo slaps Jungwon’s arm playfully before letting out a little chuckle, “Because of both, maybe? First, it is obvious that I always dream about being confessed to during cherry blossom. And second, because it is you. Well, even if you are a weirdass, I won’t mind, because it is you, Jungwon.”
Jungwon bites his lips to prevent himself from grinning way too wide. “Thank you, for accepting my feelings, Sunoo.”
“You know I gladly will! How many times have I told you that being loved is such a huge privilege, and I am totally over the moon knowing that you love me like this. I will try to make you love me even harder!” Sunoo shouts optimistically.
“But won’t you try to love me as well?” Jungwon looks at Sunoo skeptically. Knowing that his love is well received is indeed nice, but wouldn’t it be nicer if he can also get some love from the older? He does not want this relationship to be one-sided.
“That’s an easy task. Loving you is easy, Yang Jungwon. From now on, I promise I will shower you with the love and attention you always deserve.”
Sunoo’s words are a little bit cheesy, but Jungwon’s body warms up to it anyway. The latter throws himself into Sunoo’s embrace. Making sure that if the beginning of their relationship is a little bit more warm, sure later they can hug each other even more warmly.
During this time of the month, cherry blossoms start fading. The pink that used to hang on the branches of the trees is now slowly filling the ground instead. A sign that the spring is ending soon, and summer will slowly slip its way in. Such a win-win for Sunoo who likes spring and Jungwon who likes summer to start their new relationship.
Each pretty flower petal of cherry blossom falls around the two. But a new bud of love is slowly growing under their feets.