You and Hyun-tak weren't a couple. Not yet, maybe?

It was clear he liked you. To everyone, except to you, of course. Maybe you were oblivious, pheraphs too insecure to believe when your friends told you he was head over heels and had been for years.

You started to think about it, more and more everyday. Why did it come so hard to understand?

Those times where he held the door open for you and let you go first? Classic. When he waited for you out of school after the lessons to walk you back home? He just wanted company. Offering his jacket when he saw you were shivering on a cold day? Kindness. Putting a hand over the tables' corners to avoid you hitting your head? Casual. Smiling just a bit more when you were genuinely happy about your things and telling him about your day? Coincidence. Remembering useless details about you? Thoughtfulness.

Blah, blah, blah.

What you didn't know? When he spoke about you to his friends and his eyes got just a bit more bright, and his heart beated just a beat faster, when he'd occasionally take a breath of your scent when you hugged him goodbye, when his hand 'Accidentally' brushed against yours when he felt your anxiety growing over something---anything, like he was meant to protect you, born for it.

That wasn't casual, not for him.

Your friends started calling him lover-boy, sometimes teasing you about your 'Relationship', knowing perfectly there wasn't any apart from friendship.

Yeah, friendship. Hyun-tak's heart shattered a little, piece by piece, everytime he was labelled as 'Friend'. Not that it would ever change how he would approach you.

But Hyun-tak wasn't the type to come to you and confess his feelings right away, no. He wasn't the type to come to you and tell you he missed you after thinking about you the whole damn day. Too easy? Too hard?

He was the type to silently stare at you during a sunset and think about how beautiful you looked in the reddish, pinkish light of the early evening. He was the type to offer subtle compliment, that made everything seem casual. He was the type to admire in silence like you were something he couldn't reach despite being just an inch away from his hand. The type to beat up someone---anyone---who hurt you, even.

And the type to bring you a flower because it reminded him of you. Yeah.

The boy currently stood in front of you, on Valentine's day, offering you a wildflower he carefully picked from the grass---for 'no particular reason', he'd say---after waiting by the gate at the end of the lessons. But to you, it was just another day where you'd walk home together.

"It kinda looks like you" He fumbled awkwardly, letting you take it from his fingers. Before adding: "Somehow", as if afraid his words didn't really make sense.

Back rested against the gate's wall, ankles crossed, free hand shoved into his pocket, your eyes blind to how tight it was clenched, into an attempt to appear nonchalant and keep calm, as always. His eyes scanned you up and down, while you were distracted by the flower, stealing glances of your features he knew he couldn't get during any other moment.

"You look nice" He added, pointing towards his hair to emphasize the fact he noticed your new hairstyle, then shoving his hand into his empty pocket to match the other, swallowing as his head started turning to the side, his gaze lately shifting as well. He knew you'd want someone to hang out with today. He wanted so bad to be that someone. To let you dress pretty and take you out on a date, make you feel gorgeous like you deserved. The question hanging on the tip of his tongue, stubbornly refusing to come out.

"Are you free for dinner?" He finally breathed out, without looking at you. "...I mean, we could go somewhere" He explained.

"As friends" He reassured, not wanting to make you uncomfortable. Not wanting to put it as a date for the sake of his poor heart, ears reddening in embarassment.

He mentally slapped himself at the last words, he should've really given up on love, his spoken flirting skills were zero. Too messy, too shy, despite having some fangirls.