S P A C E ; advanced discussion

Mod

THE LIBRARY is a massive room full of
books on MOST topics, and has a number of tables for
studying.

More than once, Hyeri had heard the saying the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. This was, in her experience, true. And some might call her desperate, others obvious — but quite frankly, it had been months, and the boy was not. getting. the. hint. It was getting old, waiting around.

She stood up a little straighter when she spotted the familiar pink head sitting at a table at the far end of the library. She sauntered over, trying to minimize the skip in her step. Don't get too excited, Hyeri.

Stopping behind him — was he even reading? Hyeri was pretty sure no human could read as fast as he was turning the pages — she reached around to (ungracefully, but hey, she was an engineer, not a ballerina) drop the container of freshly-baked cookies from the communal kitchen in front of him.

She leaned down, over his shoulder, so that her face was next to his. "Brain food," she explained, because yes, just friends go out of their way to bake the other a batch of cookies the day before an exam. "It probably won't actually help your memory, but there's not exactly an abundance of salmon in space, so I thought an energy boost might be the next best thing."

Hyeri wanted to scream. This is how it had been for how long, now? She was pretty sure that the only thing that would make it more obvious would be to just lean over and lay one on him. But. Patience is a virtue, and Hyeri could wait a little longer. But only a little longer.

"Hi, Taeil." Sliding into the chair next to him, she flashed a smile at him. "I'm glad you like them. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't eat proper meals like a normal person, though," she added, giving him a pointed look. It was common, she knew, among many of the Stephenson students — skipping a meal here or there because there was always something more to study for.

And then, of course, there was that thing — could he really not get it? Really? People weren't kidding when they said that the kids smart enough to get accepted into INSA were clueless in other aspects of life. Aspects like flirting. "I know I didn't need to," she said. Her hand settled atop his, and she gave him what she certainly hoped was a meaningful look (but with Taeil, there was never any guarantee that he would pick up on the message). "I did it because I wanted to."

It was frustrating. It was frustrating, because Hyeri would do something like this, and then she wouldn't know if he wasn't making a move because he was just that clueless, or if it was because he wasn't interested. It was getting more and more difficult to believe that yes, he could be that oblivious, but at the same time... Hyeri also didn't want to entertain the thought that no, he didn't feel the same way.

Because not only would that mean that she had read the signs all wrong — because sometimes she caught him looking at her, and she thought maybe, maybe — but that would also mean that she'd spent the past months all but literally throwing herself at someone who was probably really uncomfortable with it by now.

"You mentioned you had a test," Hyeri said. "You weren't in your room, so I thought I might find you here." Hoped. She had gone to his room, twice, in hopes that he would be there, but he hadn't either time.