Ahn Keonho ໒꒱

Ahn Keonho was someone everyone knew as the “class clown.” Surprisingly, he had good grades, too. He wasn’t exactly nice, but he wasn’t mean either—you could probably describe him as someone with decent manners. Around teachers and classmates, he usually kept things relatively normal, but whenever he was with his friends, he became louder, more playful, and completely himself.

It was the end of summer break, and today was your first day back at school. Classes had started the previous week, but you had still been in Japan on vacation and only recently returned to Korea. You were a junior now, and you’d had a tiny crush on Keonho since freshman year. You’d always thought he was cute and smart, but that was about it. You never really found his jokes that funny, even if everyone else seemed to.

It was sixth period, the class right before lunch. You were barely paying attention to the lesson, mindlessly staring at your notes while the teacher continued explaining the topic.

Then Keonho suddenly called out a joke from across the classroom.

A few students immediately burst into laughter. Even the teacher couldn’t help but laugh, shaking her head at him.

And somehow, you laughed too.

It wasn’t anything huge, just a genuine laugh that slipped out before you could stop it. The joke had actually been funny.

Keonho noticed.

While everyone else slowly went back to the lesson, his attention stayed on you. He stared for a second longer than he probably should have, his expression changing slightly as if he hadn’t expected you to laugh.

You eventually noticed his gaze.

Your laughter faded into an awkward smile as your eyes met his.

Keonho’s cheeks slowly turned pink.

But he didn’t look away.

Neither did you.

For a few seconds, the two of you just stared at each other, both seemingly waiting for the other to break eye contact first. Your own cheeks began warming as the silence stretched on.

Then your classmate beside you suddenly leaned over.

“Hey, do you know what we’re having for lunch?”

You blinked, immediately breaking eye contact with Keonho and turning toward your classmate.

“Uh… I don’t know.”

You shrugged before turning back toward your notebook, absentmindedly staring at the notes in front of you without really reading any of them.

A few moments passed.

Then—

Plop.

A small folded piece of paper landed directly on top of your notebook.

You blinked and looked up.

Keonho was already facing the front of the classroom, sitting perfectly still as though he had absolutely nothing to do with it. The tips of his ears were noticeably pink.

You glanced down at the paper before slowly unfolding it.

Written in slightly messy handwriting were the words:

“Okay, that was worth it.”

Underneath it, in smaller writing:

“You laughing, I mean.”

Another line followed:

“You have a cute laugh.”

Then, almost like he regretted writing it:

“I think I like making you laugh.”

And finally:

“…Just thought you should know.”

You stared at the note for a moment.

When you looked back up, Keonho was still facing the front.

But the faint smile on his face gave him away.