He Knows {part 1}

It was exactly 10am when Nana woke up from her tight nap in class. Minji elbowed Nana to the sound of the bell.

“We’re having a break already?”

“Yeah. You know, Mrs. Choi explained nothing about our Geography book. She told stories about her personal experiences. So what are we having for brunch?”

Nana yawned and stretched her body. She bent left and right.

“Nana Nana Nana Nana Nanaaaaa~!”

Oh, that voice..

“Yes, Niel?” Nana turned around and surprisingly caught a book that was flying towards her face.

“Nice catch!” said Niel as he smiled and went out of the class.

Minji shook her head. “Til when are you going to keep storing his books in your desk?”

Nana shrugged. “My desk is huge okay. We are the only two people in class who have this kind of desk. He saw me filling it with my books, he saw there was more space, so he asked if he could store his books as well.”

Minji shrugged as well and opened her lunch box.

“I thought you were going to the canteen?” asked Nana.

Minji smiled. “You can go with Hyerin, though.”

~~~~~

“Open page 148 and do the three tasks written there… on your books you can see…”

Blablablabla. Mr. Jeong’s Arabic accent makes his English less understandable. Lucky I sit in the 2nd row to make sure I get what he’s talking about…

“Nana Nana Nana Nana Nanaaaaa~!”

Nana turned around, paused for a second, and asked. “What?”

“Can you get my book?” asked Niel, smiling.

Nana froze. Then she quickly grabbed Niel’s book and threw it to the back of her class. She turned back to see the whiteboard. Then she moved closer to Minji who was on her left.

“Psst. Min, do you think that Niel looks like Daniel from Teen Top? I mean, look he has his glasses off, he looks like him!” whispered Nana.

Minji took a quick look and looked back at Nana. “No. You are just seeing things, Nana.”

Nana pouted and asked Hyerin. “Hyerin do you think Niel looks like Daniel?”

Hyerin looked at Niel. She made a thinking face and continued writing. “I guess. A bit. Only when he takes his glasses off.”

Nana smirked. “See, Min! Hyerin thinks they look alike!”

Minji rolled her eyes.

~~~~~

Niel does look like my number one bias in Kpop. I see Niel, I see Daniel. What’s with this? I can’t just like Niel because I like Daniel. I mean… that’s lame T_T Hyerin does think they look alike, but Minji doesn’t. Well, maybe I am just seeing things. Should settle this, especially Eunji likes Niel a lot, and I can’t just…

“Hey Nana, wait up!”

Nana stopped and turned to see Minji catching up on her. “Morning, Minji.”

“You were right.”

Nana lifted her eyebrow. “About…?”

“Niel! He does look like Daniel. And be careful, Nana. Who knows you might like him too,” teased Minji while entering the class and putting her things away.

No. This is not good.

~~~~~

“Hyerin, I keep seeing things! Look, I watched Teen Top’s Making the Artist, and Daniel’s personality is exactly the same like Niel! They both can't keep quiet. They shout a lot. They are both talkative and loud, and fun… and..”

“Nana,” snapped Hyerin.

“What?”

“Be careful..”

“What?” said Nana, the same word, in a higher tone.

Hyerin sighed. “You’re not starting to like Niel, are you? Because if you are, it means it’s gonna be a problem. Remember that he is Eunji’s number one crush?”

“I never forget that,” said Nana, tying up her hair.

“Well that’s it. You don’t wanna mess with Eunji, so don’t even think of having a crush on Niel,” warned Hyerin.

“It’s not like he’s her boyfriend or something..” mumbled Nana.

Hyerin looked at Nana. Nana closed her mouth as if she said something wrong. “You’re right,” Hyerin paused for a while, then smiled. “You can compete with her. You can make a move!”

Nana looked puzzled. “What?”

“Make a move, Nana. Don’t be like Eunji. And don’t worry, Minji and I will keep this as a secret. Go, and see what you can do,” Hyerin encouraged Nana, and punched her lightly on the shoulder.

The road to the class seemed short. Nana scoffed and laughed a light one.

~~~~~

It was physical education as their first subject that Wednesday morning. Nana, Minji and Hyerin were already waiting near the basketball court for their teacher. As their teacher came and announced that they had to run around the field for compensation, Nana felt like her feet were falling off.

“Why. Whyyyy must it be running again? I hate running,” complained Nana while tidying up her ponytail, still running around the field with her friends in front of her, and behind her.

“I’m sure you won’t hate running anymore once you connect it to Niel,” said Hyerin carefully.

Nana rolled her eyes. “If I like Niel, it’s not because he’s a running athlete, okay. I will always hate running.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Hyerin as she laughed and speed up, leaving Nana behind.

“Great. Go leave me. First Minji and now Hyerin. I am destined to run alone,” said Nana to herself, pathetically.

Suddenly she heard a few footsteps catching up to her. It sounded fast, but decreasing slowly. She was a bit stunned to see Niel beside her, coming out of nowhere.

“Why on earth do you never get tired, Niel?” asked Nana, keeping her speed as steady as his.

“Because I practice. Every dawn and dusk,” he answered, simply.

“Damn. Running is so tiring, okay,” Nana slipped her hand in her pocket and counted the small cards she gained every one lap. This is my last lap…

“Then just run with me for another few laps,” said Niel.

Silence. For two seconds.

“Well, I’m actually done since this is my last lap..” said Nana, in any way so it doesn’t sound nervous.

“Oh, good for you then,” said Niel as he speed up. Nana stopped since she reached the end and handed over the cards to her teacher.

Can’t believe he actually offered me to run with him..

~~~~~

Minji who was seriously writing notes suddenly dropped her cute mechanical pencil and stared at Nana right in her eyes. “You’re serious?”

“Yep. I am making a move. I texted him already,” Nana didn’t take her eyes off her notes.

“What? About what???” asked Minji, extremely curious.

“He’s not in class today, right? Well, I asked. He said he’s sick coz he kept running yesterday even he was all wet by rain,” Nana smirked and continued writing.
Minji made a sly smile. “You’re brave, Nana.”

“I don’t need two years to make a step ahead,” said Nana.

“Ouch,” Hyerin butted in. “If Eunji hears that, she’d beat you up.”

The three of them laughed and continued writing as the teacher glanced a killer stare at them.

“Eunji should have done better,” whispered Nana. “This is our last year in high school, she liked him since our first year, yet…”

“Nothing is progressing,” continued Hyerin, whispering as well.

Minji nodded. “Good for you, Nana. Just make sure you do this carefully.”

“Oh, you bet I will,” Nana reached for her eraser. “I just hope I wouldn’t make as many mistakes as I am right now with this writing…”

~~~~~

Three weeks went by. Nana proved what she was saying. She signed on Niel’s bag which was full of his other friend’s autograph. Niel kept texting her about school stuff. She added Niel’s cousin, Jinae, who coincidentally seemed to love Kpop as well, which made it easy for Nana to get close to her. Overall, Nana is indeed stepping forward.

“Daniel!”

Nana looked back and stared at Niel. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

Niel shrugged. He looked at Nana’s right hand. “Hey can I borrow that?”

Nana looked at her pen. “This?”

Niel shook his head. “No, that. That ‘D’ ring.”

Nana took of her ring and handed it over to Niel. Niel slipped it into his pinkie finger since it didn’t fit the others. He took a glance at it.

“Will it hurt if I hit people while wearing this ring?” asked Niel. An undescriptive, strange, and meaningless question.

“I… don’t know,” answered Nana in doubt.

“Bet this stands for Daniel, huh?” he asked.

Nana simply nodded. She had a slight happy feeling that Niel is wearing her favorite ring.

“Here,” said Niel, handing over the ring back to Nana.

Nana slipped it back to her point finger and smiled.

~~~~~

“Do you think he knows that he looks like Daniel?” asked Minji.

“That would be so overconfident of him,” said Hyerin.

Nana nodded. “I mean, he doesn’t even know what Niel looks like.. yet.”

“He’ll know soon, right?” asked Minji again. Hyerin looked at Nana.

“What? How? I mean, the only kpop idol he knows is Minho. And he found out about Minho from his cousin, Jinae…” Nana ate a spoon full of rice.

The noisy sound of students filled the canteen and made it safe for the three girls to talk about this, considering people won’t even hear them.

“Speaking of Jinae, does she know?” asked Hyerin.

Nana shook her head. “No. Not yet, it’s too fast. Moreover I don’t want her to think that I’m friendly with her just so I could ask her to help me out with Niel.”

“Isn’t that what you want?” Hyerin sipped her cola.

Nana shrugged. “I do, but.. she’s a good friend. There will be a time when she finally figures out about it. I have shared stories to her, about Niel. But it doesn’t ring a bell to her. She doesn’t quite get my hint. So I guess it’s better for her to know a bit later.”

Minji and Hyerin looked at each other and both nodded.

~~~~~

The maths exam just ended. Nana sighed and looked satisfied as she packed her stuff and was ready to go home.

“Daniel!”

Nana turned to Niel as he handed over her pen. “Thanks for lending it to me!” he said, smiling.

What really makes him similar to Daniel is his smile…

“Hey, Niel! Wait..”

Niel who was already at the door turned back. He was a bit confused as Nana showed him her handphone wallpaper.

“That’s Daniel,” said Nana. I guess you were curious to know?

He paused for a few seconds, and Nana was waiting what his reaction would be like.

--------------
TBC...