Yunho had a type.
He always had. Tall, poised women with legs that crossed like exclamation points and eyes that whispered secrets they never planned to tell. The sultry kind. The polished kind. The ones with long flowing hair, porcelain skin and knows how to reel a guy in.
Bella was none of those things.
She had cropped pixie hair that made her look mischievous and wide eyes that made her look like she was perpetually asking a question. She wore threadbare t-shirts with loose jackets that no one recognised and spoke with unfiltered conviction, like the concept of self-doubt had never once crossed her mind.
She wasn't his type.
And yet… she lingered in his mind.
He struggled with himself daily, trying to untangle the strange pull he felt. It didn't make sense. There was no rational path from the women he had been attracted to before to Bella. He didn't understand it.
And God, he hated not understanding something.
It wasn't even one of those slow-burning realisations. It came suddenly, and annoyingly, with something as stupid and small as a towel.
She met his eyes and grinned, utterly unapologetic.
She had said, voice casual and confident. "No. I just think this is your excuse to come over here… and show off your abs."
Yunho didn't respond right away. He expected embarrassment or a joke to soften the moment, but none came. She just stared at him, calmly, like she wasn't worried about how he'd react. Like she didn't care if he was annoyed. She wasn't flirting. She wasn't flustered. She wasn't afraid that he wouldn't like her. And she didn't returned his towel.
That was the first time he felt it. Not desire. Not admiration. Something quieter. A flicker of interest. A small, sharp awareness that she was different in a way he hadn't known he was craving. He didn't know how to handle this new feeling.
It was refreshing.
He hadn't realised how tired he was of being adored. The girls he was used to, usually folded themselves into him like it was an instinct. They leaned in too close. Laughed too hard at things he hadn't meant to be funny. Watched him like he might disappear at any moment and they'd missed their chance. They treated him like a dream.
Bella didn't dream of him. She didn't melt under his gaze or stumble over her words in his presence. She didn't give him power he hadn't earned. She was just herself, wholly and without apology. If she liked him, it didn't seem like it had anything to do with who he was to other people. And if she didn't like him, well, she wouldn't have pretended. Just like how she had approached the situation with Jason. She didn't try to lead him on, which she could since he was one of the most eligible guys in school and she could string him along, but she didn't and Yunho admired her for that.
Yunho didn't know what to do with himself. He watched her after that, carefully, like someone trying to solve a puzzle without all the pieces. The way she talked with her hands. The way she never looked around to see if anyone was listening before speaking her mind. The way her laugh had weight to it. Full and unfiltered.
She had presence. She is not a conventional beauty, though he was beginning to suspect she might be beautiful anyway. But something deeper. She took up space without demanding attention. She existed fully, even when no one was watching. People gravitate towards her regardless.
He told himself it was just a phase. That he was interested in her because she was new, or because she didn't care what he thought. But that wasn't true, not really. He didn't like her because she ignored him. He liked her because she saw him clearly and still didn't flinch.
Most people approached Yunho like a performance. Bella didn't. She didn't need to. Her inner confidence wasn't armour. It was her nature. She lived in truth, even when it was inconvenient. Even when it was loud. Even when it meant standing alone.
And maybe that was what hooked him.
Bella didn't shrink herself. She didn't flatter. She didn't wait for permission to speak or act or be.
And he found himself wanting to listen. Wanting to know more. Wanting to understand what it was like to live without fear of being disliked.
It scared him a little. How she made him feel. How his careful order seemed to unravel in her presence, not with chaos, but with something freer than he knew how to be.
He stayed up at night sometimes, staring at the ceiling and trying to rationalise it. Why her? Why now? Why this?
There was no answer that satisfied him.
All he knew was that she'd taken his towel without asking, laughed in his face and for the first time in a long time, he felt something spark.
Yunho's Struggle
Yunho stood by the poolside after practice, towel draped over his shoulders, water dripping slowly from his hair. The rhythmic sound of swimmers still doing laps echoed around him, but his mind wasn't in the pool or even in the present. The basketball game had played over and over in his head, not the shots he'd taken, but the moments when he'd caught Bella's eyes.
Or tried to.
He knew he wasn't exactly smooth. The teasing, the sarcastic comments, they were his way of breaking the ice, but more often than not, they backfired. Bella always looked uncomfortable or annoyed and that only made Yunho more frustrated with himself.
He hated how every step forward felt like two back. he wondered, running a hand through his damp hair.
The upcoming swimming meet loomed just days away, and his routine should've been automatic by now. But lately, his focus had been fraying at the edges. He was still showing up, still training, but his heart wasn't in it. Not fully. Not the way it used to be.
He wanted to show her a different side, the serious, steady part of him that cared. That wasn't just the swim captain or the guy trying to act tough. But every time he opened his mouth, his brain seemed to malfunction, like a glitch that made his words come out wrong, moving against his better judgment before he could stop them.
Yunho let out a slow breath and ran a hand through his damp hair, frustration simmering beneath the surface. He knew he wasn't the best version of himself lately. The teasing and sarcasm were his style, his way of keeping things light when he didn't know how to be real. But more and more, that defence felt tired. Every time he tried to connect with Bella, it only seemed to push her further away.
He kept thinking back to that one time they had met by the pool, just the two of them, when the conversation flowed easily and nothing felt forced. In that brief moment, it felt like they were both letting their guards down, just being themselves. But after that, things had shifted. The next times he tried to catch her gaze, something felt different. He thought there might still be a connection, something unspoken hanging in the space between them. And yet, each time their eyes almost met, she looked away, like she couldn't quite bring herself to see him.
Maybe the real risk isn't in what I say, he thought, staring down at the rippling surface of the pool. Maybe it's in saying it honestly.
The next time he passed Bella in the hallway, he resolved to do just that with no games, no sarcasm. Just honesty. Something real.
But as she passed by, Yunho's heart sank when she barely looked at him. The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife.
This is going to take more than one try, he admitted quietly to himself.
Yunho took a deep breath. He wasn't giving up. Not yet.