Bella hadn't slept well the night before. She had rolled over again and again beneath her blanket, staring at the faint glow of the clock as the hours crawled past. Her mind refused to settle. The messages from Yunho kept replaying in her head, the idea of lunch with him looping endlessly like an ear worm. Every possible "what if" and "what now" tangled together until they were one big knot in her chest, tightening each time she tried to take a deep breath.
When the morning light finally spilled across her room, it felt less like the start of a new day and more like a signal that she could stop pretending to sleep. She dragged herself out of bed, sat for a while by the window, and watched the quiet street outside. It was strange how a day could look so ordinary when you knew it might change everything.
Her homework lay open on her desk, but the words refused to stay still on the page. She had read the same sentence three times without retaining a single thing. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice kept whispering, Focus, Bella. But the louder voice was the one asking, What are you going to say to him?
She didn't exactly decide to dress differently—it just happened. When she opened her wardrobe, her hand hesitated over her usual jeans and T-shirt and landed instead on the soft, pale dress she rarely wore. It was loose, with a hem that fluttered lightly when she moved, and it felt different from her usual choices. Not loud, not flashy, but somehow… lighter. Like she was stepping into a version of herself she hadn't fully met yet.
She checked her reflection in the mirror twice, then forced herself to stop fussing with her hair. It was just lunch, she reminded herself. But her heart refused to believe it was just anything.
At exactly 12:25 p.m., her phone buzzed on the bed beside her. She picked it up, pulse quickening when she saw the message.
I'm outside.
Bella stared at the words for a second before she moved. She grabbed her bag, slipped into her sandals and stepped out into the sunlight.
Yunho had arrived early. In fact, he had been standing by the gate for several minutes, hands in his pockets, shoulders loose but posture alert. His calm exterior hid the fact that his heart was beating faster than usual. There was a quiet excitement in him, a warmth that softened his usual composure.
He could still hear Chad's voice in his head from earlier that afternoon. "Half the school girls are probably crying in their rooms right now. And the other half? They're all demanding to know where you're taking Bella."
The memory made him grin in spite of himself, though the grin faded into something more thoughtful. The attention wasn't something he sought out. If anything, he preferred to move unnoticed. But today, there was no avoiding it. People would notice.
Every few seconds, his eyes flicked toward the front door. Each moment of waiting seemed stretched thin, the kind of anticipation that made him shift his weight from one foot to the other, though he tried to keep it subtle.
When the door finally opened, and Bella stepped out, Yunho straightened without thinking. She walked toward him, a small but genuine smile pulling at her lips and he felt a quiet, unexpected relief.
"Hey," he said, his voice softer than he'd intended.
"Hey," she replied, cheeks already warm under the sunlight.
It struck Yunho immediately that this was not the Bella he was used to seeing in casual hoodies or jeans. The dress was simple, but it moved with her, catching the breeze in a way that made her seem lighter. The sunlight caught in her hair, softening the edges of her usual guardedness.
For Bella, seeing Yunho like this was its own surprise. His usual look at school was functional, the swimming briefs, the sports jacket, track pants and an occasional hoodie. But today he wore a fitted shirt and jeans, casual but yet felt dressed-up. It made her notice, maybe for the first time, how effortlessly he carried himself.
He gestured toward the street. "Shall we?"
She nodded and together they started walking toward the bus stop. Yunho kept glancing at her from the corner of his eye, noting small details he hadn't before. Like the way her hands curled lightly around the strap of her bag, the way she looked down when a breeze lifted the edge of her dress.
Bella, in turn, stole a glance at him and found herself thinking, not for the first time, just how good-looking he was. There was something about the way the light hit his eyes, about the quiet confidence in his step, that caught her off guard. She knew he was good looking the first time they met at the pool where she took his towel by mistake. She was secretly grinning to herself when she left him hanging without returning it. Now that she had known him for weeks, it still felt like she was seeing someone entirely new.
A flush of self-consciousness rose in her cheeks. How did we get here? she wondered. Her mind flicked back to their first meeting, to the sharp exchanges and cool glances they'd traded, each too stubborn to yield ground. Now they were walking side by side, not as rivals, not as strangers, but… something else.
When they reached the bus stop, Yunho took a seat on the bench, and Bella sat beside him. The shade was welcoming, though it didn't do much to slow her racing thoughts. She glanced at him again, caught his eye and quickly looked away, pretending to study the bus schedule.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said, smiling faintly. "Just… tired."
"Didn't sleep well?"
"Not really," she admitted.
"Me neither," he said, and for a moment, there was a flicker of shared understanding between them and they both looked away in bashful embarrassment.