The Beginning of a New Friendship

"Here."

Choi Da Na placed a stack of papers on top of Gun's desk. She brushed away a strand of her hair, looking away bashfully, "I've been meaning to give this to you. There's some stuff that the teachers taught us in the extra lessons the other day but didn't cover in the normal classes. Take a look."

Gun raised an eyebrow at her gesture, "Thanks." He flipped through a couple of pages of the well-written and organised notes.

"Don't mention it," Choi Da Na tried to hide her happy expression but failed. "You always lend others your note and I've benefitted from it a few times. It's rare that I can help the top student with his studies, after all."

Gun cracked a smile, finally looking at the girl. "The notes are great. Thanks."

Choi Da Na blushed. She was suddenly regretting cutting her hair too short. Now, she couldn't use them to hide her tomato face.

"Ah," Gun tilted his head as if remembering something. "Thanks for worrying about me. It's pretty nice to know that there are others who are worried about me, so, thanks." He hadn't been paying attention to what was happening throughout the whole day, but as school was nearing its end, he started to feel like himself again.

Choi Da Na froze. Gun had smiled at her and her brain went offline. After a long moment, she finally snapped out of her daze. "L-like I said, don't mention it! We-we're friends, after all!"

"Friends?" Gun scrunched his brows. This was news to him. All this time, he had never bothered to make friends and kept to himself, so when the girl suddenly referred to them as 'friends', he was surprised. As far as he could recall, they rarely ever interacted outside of the classroom and their studies.

"Aren't we?" Choi Da Na was flustered. If Gun suddenly said something like 'sorry, we're not close enough to be called friends,' then she might have to find a hole somewhere to bury her head in.

"If you say so," he chuckled. Choi Da Na was a pretty amusing girl. She was so candid and straightforward that people can't help but be drawn to her. Gun admired her. Unlike him, she was able to say and do whatever she felt. So free. Unrestrained.

Choi Da Na recovered from her fluster quickly. "So, since we're friends now, give me your phone!"

"My phone?"

Choi Da Na held out her hand, motioning him to pass her his phone. Seeing that the boy was being slow, she snatched his phone out of his hand, grinning like a Cheshire cat. She flipped it open. Her fingers paused at the boy's wallpaper. She couldn't help but want to ask who the girl in the picture was, but seeing as she already forced him to give his phone, she didn't feel like it was appropriate to ask. Gun might get angry for breaching his privacy, after all. She quickly typed her number, called it, and saved it in his phone before giving it back.

"There," Choi Da Na smiled stiffly. She was dying to ask about the girl but pinched herself. They weren't very close yet so she should control herself. Now that she finally has his number, there were plenty of chances for her to ask.

"I'm—I'll, uh, I'll be going now!" Choi Da Na ran away, not giving Gun any chance to speak.

"—?" Gun looked at her confusedly. He couldn't understand why she was acting like that. He stared at his phone where she had registered her number. Quietly, he shook his head. Girls sure are hard to understand.

Meanwhile, Choi Da Na who had ended up fleeing from Gun had already returned to her seat, lamenting her embarrassing moments in front of Gun.

"Aaaaah, what should I do?" She buried her head in her arms, resting it on the table. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"What's wrong?" Noh Ha Jun eyed her curiously. His seat had been too far from Gun's so he hadn't heard their conversation. He sat in front of Da Na so all he needed to do was turn around to speak to her. "Come and tell everything to Oppa," he smiled playfully.

"Who's my 'Oppa'?" Choi Da Na glared at him and kicked his chair leg.

"Ugh, I get it, I get it. So? What did you talk to Lee Gun about?"

"..."

"Tell me~" Noh Ha Jun began poking her.

"..."

"Please~?" Seeing no reaction from the girl, he continued to poke her.

"Stop being so annoying! Fine, I'll tell you!"

Ha Jun abruptly stopped teasing her, and assumed a proper listening stance. His eyes twinkled with curiosity. He had always wanted to know more about Gun so it was fun to have these sort of conversations.

"So earlier, I gave him the notes from the extra lessons," she began.

"Oh? You finally found the courage to give him those? You did pull an all-nighter to finish them, didn't you?" Ha Jun snickered.

"Shut up," Da Na glowered at him. "Anyways, we're friends now so we exchanged numbers."

"Wait, what?!"

"Shh! Keep your voice down, stupid!"

"Sorry, sorry. I mean, what?! I know him longer than you do but I still don't have his phone number! This is unfair," Ha Jun crossed his arms sulkily.

"I kind of, maybe, forced him to give it to me." Da Na looked away awkwardly. "I stole his phone and, you know..."

"...Huh." Ha Jun stared at her with a deadpanned expression. "Why am I not surprised? I knew you were going to do something illegal one of these days. I'm surprised he still agreed to be friends with you." Ha Jun squinted his eyes at the girl.

Da Na lowered her head guiltily. Then, she snapped her head upwards, "and I think I don't stand a chance at all!" She sighed deeply.

"Why do you think that?" Ha Jun raised an eyebrow.

"There's a picture on his phone. A super pretty girl. He uses it as his wallpaper." Da Na muttered. Seeing the picture of the gorgeous girl destroyed her self-confidence. Was she Gun's girlfriend? She could recall Gun staring at his phone multiple times with a smile on his face previously. She had been curious at what he was looking at, but now that she knew, she regretted it. How was she supposed to win against his girlfriend? The girl was really pretty too!

"Girlfriend?!" Ha Jun straightened his back with interest.

"Probably..." Da Na sighed.

"You didn't ask?"

"How could I? He's probably angry that I took his phone without permission. Let's wait for a bit and mention it in the future."

"You coward," Ha Jun rolled his eyes. "But this explains why he's been missing the after-school lessons. He's dating~"

Da Na lowered her head even more, sighing deeply. The high school romance she was looking forward to will never begin. The school prince was already taken. She inwardly sobbed.

"Aw, cheer up, Da Na. Who knows, it might not have been his girlfriend. Maybe it's his sister. Or maybe an idol or actress that he likes." Ha Jun patted her head comfortingly.

Da Na slapped away his hand, "Gun isn't like that! He probably doesn't even have any time to idolise any female idols or whatever," she glowered. She sighed again, "But I hope you're right..."

"See, we'll know when we ask, right?"

"Don't you dare say anything to him. He's gonna know that I like him."

"Girl, everybody in the whole class knows you like him," Ha Jun looked at her pitifully, shaking his head at the clueless girl.

"What? You're lying!"

"Ha! Just ask anyone!" Ha Jun poked his tongue out playfully.

Da Na ended up chasing after Ha Jun inside the classroom, which earned them a scolding from their teacher.

Gun watched the ruckus with amusement, thinking, 'friends, huh...'