I had sighed for the umpteenth time this morning since I woke up half an hour ago. Blaming the late night TV show that suddenly became so interesting that I went to bed on three in the dawn, I applied my make up a little bit more. I examined my reflection in the mirror. This wouldn’t do, I thought. The dark circle under my eyes were still visible and the slightly-red eyes as well. I totally looked like a zombie.

I crossed wearing sunglasses from my option list. People might think I had eye disease or even worse; celebrity disease. Deciding to accept myself the way it was, I took my bag and fixed the strips on my shoulders. As I ate a big serve of fruit loops and milk the last night, I didn’t feel like eating breakfast anymore that morning. I mean, who would?

“Have you cried all night?” Nayeon asked in concern, seeing my appearance. I didn’t blame her for thinking that way. The easiest guess was I cried. I weakly shook my head at her. “Just lack of sleep,” I informed. “Do I look that bad?”

Regretfully, Nayeon nodded at me. I pouted. “What were you doing anyway?” She motioned for breakfast but I refused. She didn’t ask further about why I didn’t eat breakfast and just got herself ready.

Walking to the front door with Nayeon following at the back, I answered curtly “TV Show.”

Nayeon closed and locked the door behind her. After pocketing the key, we walked together. “You shouldn’t have done that. You know you still have school the next day,” she reminded kindly. I only nodded as I was way too sleepy to even say a word.

The bus ride, I could tell, was hell for Nayeon. Yes, for her only. That was because I kept on dozing off and she had to gently nudge me all the time to keep me awake. I felt terribly sorry and also thankful to her. If it wasn’t for Nayeon, I’d probably already had my lips kissed the ground for falling asleep and not keeping my balance.

“Stay conscious for your class Yeonjoo. I won’t be there to wake you up,” Nayeon warned once we got off the bus.  “I’m not promising I won’t sleep but I will try my best to stay awake,” I assured her.

Because she wasn’t really convinced that I wouldn’t close my eyes when walking, Nayeon accompanied me to my class. How nice of her. I silently thanked God for giving me a patient and kind-hearted sister like her. No wonder everyone adored this oldest Shin’s daughter. It’s either they’re very stupid or very narrow-minded if they hate her; those who can’t deal with their jealousy.

“You don’t have to do this, but thank you Unnie,” I sincerely said. I really meant it even though my tone didn’t show that properly.

 Nayeon broke into smile. “That’s my duty as your big sister.” After ruining my not-so-perfect hair, Nayeon then left for her class, not forget to remind me again about not to falling asleep.

---

“Han Yeonjoo. Han Yeoonjoo.” I heard someone whispered my name as I felt faint shake on my arm. I lazily opened my eyes and found Jisook, my classmate who had her desk beside mine looked at me worriedly. “Are you sick?” she mouthed. Lifting my head a bit, I told her I was okay.

I lost count on how many times she had wakened me up. Taking a very very deep breath, I straightened on my back. This was torture, really. I felt throbbing pain on my head a bit as my eyelids had the control of its own. It demanded me to close it, and the more I refused, the heavier it become.

I wished I had a time control and could stop the time. I just want to sleep one hour, one hour only. If that’s too much, then I guess twenty minutes would be nice. If that’s still too much, okay ten minutes is appreciated. But turned out God didn’t grant my wish. It’s extremely hard to stay awake when you slept on dawn. The very interesting history class didn’t help either; it made good lullaby.

I glanced at my watch; still half an hour before the first break, and still three and half hour before the lunch break. I had to prevent myself from sleeping for almost good four hours. I was so envy to those who sat on the very back. They could do anything they want and the teacher would hardly notice. I threw a glance behind my shoulder. I guess I would ask Junhoe to switch seat with me for a moment. I wasn’t really close to him but he was the closest friend I knew among the other 4 who occupied the back seats.

“Please Junhoe.. Please,” I begged him for the thousandth times already. “It’s a no and that’s final!” he said sternly. I looked at him with hope but he didn’t seem going to change his mind anytime soon. I sighed on his stubbornness. “Just until the lunch break, I promise. I really need to sleep Junhoe. Won’t you help me for once?” I pleaded wholeheartedly.

“I want to sleep too. The others too. You’re not the only one.” He looked away.

I glanced at the other two, Donghyuk and Chanwoo, asking them to help me but all they did was staring at us in amusement. I guess this was a battle only for me. “Please…” I begged again. Junhoe was still persistent, he shook his head again.

Now, I’d had enough. “Fine!” I fired back. “You’re so mean.” I snapped at him. “I hate you,” I added kindly before turned and went back to my beloved front seat.

“Believe me, my feeling towards you is just mutual,” he retorted back.

“Please wake me up when the teacher come,” ignoring his last remark, I asked Jisook for a favor and she agreed with a smile.

“Damn Junhoe,” I cursed under my breath. I rarely cursed. I repeat, I rarely cursed. But Junhoe really got to my nerves. I didn’t know what I do wrong to him. Was he still mad because of the ‘lie’ thing? But I didn’t lie! I was really seeing Nayeon then I just met Gaeun. Was it my fault if I wanted to make friend? He didn’t have to be so mad!

 I wondered how he became friends with nice people such Hanbin, Jiwon, Jinhwan, and the other three. He was pure arrogant. He had no single trace of kindness. Maybe the bad people that everyone said only referring to one person, Goo Junhoe.

I passed the rest classes with a lot of sacrifice and hard work. I was really delighted it was lunch break. Ignoring my grumbled stomach, I stacked my book and positioned myself for a very comfortable and nice short nap. But I guess Fortuna hated me for today. Before I could rest my head, Chanwoo bugged me again. I didn’t bother to move and reply.

“Yeonjoo…..” Chanwoo called with annoying failed-aegyo voice trailing in the last syllable of my name. “What?” I snapped. I really didn’t appreciate his disturbance with normal voice yet he did it with his aegyo voice which only made it much worse.

“Let’s go to lunch together,” Donghyuk replied. I shook my head at them, burying my face deeper on the mountain of book I called pillow. “The Hyungs want to see you. You only come with us once and never visited again,” he reasoned. I replied nothing. I pretended to fall asleep. Please go away. You’re wasting your time.

With no warning, I suddenly felt my arms being lifted up and someone had dragged me out. “Okay, okay. I can walk myself just fine,” I retorted, freeing myself from Junhoe’s grip. Junhoe made a face before released my arm and I heard he muttered the line among ‘annoying’. I knew he was deliberately saying it out loud but I just walked from him, pretending to not hear.

The others greeted me happily when I arrived at their table. “Sit here Yeonjoo,” Hanbin offered, shoving Jiwon to make a space for me beside him. Jiwon’s face was totally annoyed but he said nothing. I smiled in gratitude but took the seat next to Jinhwan instead, at the end of the table. Not in the mood of talking, I immediately folded my hands and rested my head; hairs all over my face. But I didn’t care. I just wanted to continue what I was doing before the boys interfered. All I wanted at the moment was a nap, short nap.

“Tired?” I heard Jinhwan asked but I kept my mouth shut. I felt someone caressing and combing my hair softly with their hand. I instinctively hummed in response. I always liked if someone play with my hair. I used to hear people complimenting my brown hair and I also used with them combing or it or anything. Strangely that action always comforted me and it felt nice. It made me felt loved.

I heard someone chuckled, “I guess you like it.” It was Jinhwan. So he was the one who did that. This time, I bobbed my head up and down to confirm his assumption. But mostly because I wanted him to know that I like it so he wouldn’t stop doing it. And it kind of worked. Jinhwan kept caressing my hair.

“Did you sleep late last night?” Yunhyeong asked. I meekly nodded. “What were you doing?”

“Watching television,” I mumbled lazily then I heard someone scoffed. I had the feeling it was Junhoe. “What were you watching? Adult show?” he mocked. “Dirty-minded girl..” he added annoyingly.

I sighed and lifted up my head to meet his eyes. “Just for your information, I watched 24-hours cartoon channel. Please, I’m not you...” I rolled my eyes at him and back to my former position.

I could hear the other laughed then I didn’t remember what happened afterwards but the next thing I knew was someone shook my arm considerately. “Wake up Yeonjoo. Time to go back to class.” Yawning, I rubbed my eyes and saw Hanbin was waking me up.

I just realized that I had been sleeping during lunch break. I hoped I didn’t snore or talk in my sleep; I didn’t have that habit but who knows? I could do weird things in front of them without me realizing. But seeing Hanbin’s expression was nowhere near amused or funny, I was convinced I didn’t do anything while I was unconscious.

“Thanks,” I muttered and after saying goodbye, I went to my class, feeling a lot fresher than before. Finally, I could feel myself again.

The next class after physics was English class. I got sleepy all over again so I asked permission from my teacher and went to the restroom. Being so bored, I decided to walk around to take the farthest restroom on the other building; the 3^rd year’s to be precise. While walking on the hallway, before taking turn in the corner, I heard some voices. I stopped on my track to take a listen in pure curiosity.

“Bring it on! I’m not afraid of them. I’ll obviously win.” The person said. I flinched upon the voice I recognized. It’s hard to not noticing it. I was too familiar with this voice. Yes, easy to guess. It was Hanbin’s.

“Where?” I heard him asked. I couldn’t hear the other person he was exchanging words with; I guess he was on the phone. “Text me the place. Tell them they will just lose.” He laughed rather mockingly before I heard footsteps and then there was nothing.

There was something that intriguing me about this. It was Hanbin’s voice. Hanbin always talks to me gently; his voice was always warm and caring. But this time, his voice was cold, colder than winter even, and intimidating. It was a voice I’d never heard, not when he talked to me, nor when he talked to his friends. It felt so different. It didn’t sound like him, at all. I thought it was another person but I couldn’t be mistaken; I was confident it was Hanbin.

I walked back to my class in confusion. What did he mean? Winning? Was he on some competition? But what kind of competition was that? Why did he sound not like him? More and more question started to fill my head. I honestly tried to persuade myself it was none of my business but I couldn’t help but to feel curious about this new friend of mine.

---

After school, I didn’t go straight to home but visited a convenient store first on the way. I suddenly craved for some ice cream. The weather was a bit cold but I just couldn’t say no to ice cream. It was my weakness all the time. Entering the 24-hours store, the lady in the counter greeted me. I bowed to her and made my way to the freezer.

Which one should I buy? I thoughtfully mumbled. I was about to take out the chocolate-flavored ice cream when my ears caught something. “Of course. It’s just Donghyuk. He’s easy. I can guarantee you I’ll win.”

I turned to the source of voice and found an older male talking on his phone; his back facing me. I frowned upon recognizing the name mentioned. Donghyuk? I kept my eyes on the male as he took out some drinks from the fridge. Does he know Donghyuk? I then only hear him laughing before he made his way to the counter, and paid, and left the store.

I stood there motionlessly. The male looked not really friendly and yet he mentioned Donghyuk. I began to speculate things in negative way. Standing there while gripping on my ice cream, I shook my head. No. There are a lot of Donghyuk in the world. It just happened that the boy’s friend and mine shared the same name.

While reassuring myself, I walked to home. But sadly, the thought and suspicion declined to leave my mind. I didn’t know what made me overheard two conversations today. First, it was Hanbin’s, with his unusual cold voice that surprised me. Second, this stranger’s that mentioned Donghyuk. They both also said something along ‘winning’. I had become very suspicious. Truthfully, I had the thought these two were linked and I had bad feeling about this.

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