Thought it was her mind playing the game of dreams, Hina woke up in a jerk with a pale face that resembled a person who had just witnessed something horrible. The previous night, after having completed her homeworks for the weekend, she decided to reward herself with a movie. And something told in her to choose a thriller. A really bad decision.

Hina was impossible with horror and thriller movies. She preferred light romantic/action comedies. But challenging herself she sat through the pain of watching a gruesome movie involving serial killers and car crashes. And so came a dream that gave her goosebumps even at the thought of it.

To sleep after that was out of question, so she made herself a cup of hot chocolate with snowy marshmallows and silently grabbed some cookies from the cupboard. The whole night she devoured the drink and munched on her choco cookies while watching her favourite music videos.

The morning followed and Hina was still in her bed, shaking her head to the song beats. It was time for school but her comfortable headphones cancelled out the alarm. This meant dashing out of the house in the last minute but she was enchanted with her favourite songs to process the time out. But her headphones flew across the bed when she noticed the first sun rays that warmed up her room. Now her race to school began with panicked shouts, "Mom!!! I'm lateee!"

She was 30 minutes late and was informed of her deserved detention after school hours. Dragging her backpack she entered the classroom but stood in the entrance looking confused.

"Is this my class?", she questioned herself looking around for her friends. Finding them she breathed out because she definitely didn't want to make a fool out of herself by entering the wrong room. But her friends were not in the places she remembered them to be last week.

"The seatings have been changed. Your desk is over there" the teacher, Mrs.Hamilton, a middle aged woman who loved to look through her silver rimmed spectacles with those "annoyed for eternity" gazes, pointed to an empty desk in the last before column to the farthest right. The seat was well lit, close to the wall and more importantly it was a window seat. How glad she was despite her friends being far away.

Taking her bag she walked towards the allotted desk smiling wide. Besides the seat, what caught her eyes was the boy behind it. "Joon" she guessed his name.

Hanging her bag to the side, she sat down rather worn out. No sleep, a hurried breakfast and the unfortunate detention she has just earned. Nothing was going well except for the new seat she always dreamed of. Smiling weakly she took out her notebooks and spread them over her desk, ready to listen to the teacher.

Few minutes passed and she found herself opening her eyes to the teacher's back who was writing stuff on the board. She had fallen asleep unconsciously. It was her luck that Mrs.Hamilton hadn't noticed yet but the second time won't guarantee a smooth escape as well. Slapping her cheeks a few times she straightened her back, determined to not let her guard down.

But her eyes gave up quickly.

Frustrated by her own sleepiness, she turned her head towards the window on the left. There were 15 minutes left for the class to end and Hina decided to spend it by day dreaming.

And surprisingly her senses came alive and with fresh eyes she looked at the empty playground and the football goal posts on its either sides that she imagined to be the ears of a huge empty face. Swallowing her chuckles she cut her imagination short in fear of getting caught, though a tiny smile escaped out. Her eyes switched over to the trees accompanying the field tracks, below which were few benches sitting in it's cool shade. The leaves seemed to rustle with the morning breeze and Hina tried remembering the psithurism that she was sure, rested in her childhood memories. The days with her grandparents in the country side. Nothing felt complete without the memory of the sound and no smile escaped out this time.

"The wind confessed it's love as it brushed past the leaves" a voice said behind her.

"Psithurism is the love's language" she said without much thought.

Both stared at each other in profound silence and turned away breaking into smiles. The first class came to an end but the second teacher entered right away. Settling her things on the table the teacher turned around to erase the board while Joon leaned forward to whisper, "Nice word"

Smiling to herself, Hina nodded her head in tiny that made him smile back at her.

The class continued and Joon turned to the window halfway through it while Hina did her best in taking notes which slowly led to doodling on the papers. Bored out, she looked to her left again. And a little more left, she could see Joon's head titled backwards looking up at the blue sky.

Mimicking him, she gazed at the sky reminding herself that there were stars still alive behind the strong sunlight. She had read somewhere that the sun played hide and seek with the stars in the morning and exchanged turns in the night. It was an interesting quote she thought.

But not a smile left her lips.

"I wonder if blue is really a cool colour" Joon spoke softly. Nodding in agreement Hina replied, "It looks so warm when it is the sky and refreshingly cool when it is the ocean"

Again staring at each other both broke into smiles and turned back to the class. The second class was followed by recess and Hina got out to the cafeteria with her friends whining about the seating arrangement. But she was secretly happy with hers for various reasons.

Returning back to the class the two friends, Liz and Del pulled her to remain out in the corridors.

"Were you flirting with him?" Liz inquired and Del looked at Hina eager to hear her reply.

"Him? Who?" Hina was clearly confused but as her friends looked at her with the silent you-know-who gazes she remembered Joon.

Laughing at their accusation, she denied it saying that they were just speaking about random stuff.

"But..isn't Joon handsome?" Liz winked and Del agreed.

"Cute" Hina said.

"What?"

"He is cute"

The girls gave her confused looks. Joon was considered handsome and cool for his calm and collected demeanour. His cute side wasn't discovered yet.

"He is handsome but more cute" Hina stated.

"What is cute?" The girls leaned in to listen to what she had to say.

"Um...when he", she paused and looked at her friends. "I'll show you girls instead"

Pulling them closer, the three peeped through the classroom window searching for Joon. His seat was empty.

"I'm here" his voice emerged from behind them. Startled by his sudden appearance her friends deserted the place leaving Hina to deal with the embarrassment of getting busted.

"Oh, hi!" She said nervously.

Joon smiled and she knew for a fact it was contagious.

"I was j-just showing my friends...my seat! Near the window" she pointed inside.

"Yeah sure" he walked into the classroom smirking.

"Di-did you just smirk?" She chased him inside the half empty classroom. He walked to his seat and Hina followed sitting in hers, facing him.

"I'm serious. I wasn't looking for-" she paused before exposing herself. Annoyed at being tricked into saying it on her own, she turned to the window, leaving Joon to chuckle to himself.

Behind them the students were alive with shouts and giggles but in front of them; the sky, trees, birds felt much more lively.

The silence in aimlessly gazing at nature robbed them off their words and left them wondering about several things all at once. Neither of the pair smiled but kept on looking out as if searching for a missing piece in the vast scenery.

"Have you ever smiled looking at trees, sky, the clouds or just the nature?" Hina found herself speaking her mind again with him.

"Hm...I used to" Joon replied.

"Me too. But I really want to smile again"

Joon turned to her and she continued rolling out her thoughts for him to hear.

"I just look at them. Or maybe I'm just looking and not really seeing them...maybe that's why. Like when you see a person and understand them and the beauty within them, then you smile. Maybe I'm missing out something when I look at the trees and sky"

Hearing her, a smile broke out in Joon and he turned to look at the sky with the same smile that he found in the moment.

"Maybe if you keep looking for the reason it might get difficult. Just let yourself smile without much thoughts. You can sometimes reason yourself after acting"

She didn't reply but the words sure made sense to her. They kept repeating in her head even after the next class had started. While gathering her thoughts about what Joon had said, she heard the teacher say, "This poem is about clouds. Do you know people are similar to clouds?"

And Hina was reminded of a certain someone. A person who carried the fluffiest smile and the brightest pair of almond eyes. She turned to the window, smiling at the sky at the thought of the guy behind her.

Classes for the day were over and her detention was almost ending. The teacher to watch over her headed out to the staff room and Hina sat staring at the clock hung on the wall. She had five minutes left before dashing out.

The door opened letting in the teacher who looked at Hina, "I'll spare you the five minutes for the sake of your boyfriend who has been waiting for you outside. Get your stuffs and exit"

With furrowed eyebrows she looked towards the door but found no one. Packing her bag, she left thanking the teacher.

Outside in the corridor, against the wall Joon stood with a smile, "Shall we walk home together?"

"I knew your smiles were contagious" Hina smiled back at him with a blush.

--Walking together, both were now able to smile at the evening sky that faded from orange to pink and at how their hands found an extra partner to hold onto.

~fin.