This is Boring

If you ever looked at Cho Daeun's -- that's right, that's me -- life through a looking glass, the first emotion that might come to your mind would most probably be envy. After all, why not? I lived with my mother in a nice, quiet neighbourhood, I usually tended to score well in high school, got accepted into law school at the university level. Not to mention that I was friends with quite a few of the boys in my class, along with some of the girls as well. Oh, and how could I forget Do Kyungsoo? The guy with an angelic voice, majoring in vocal music who was my best friend. Who most of the girls in his college couldn't help but think was adorable.

Maybe I should have told everyone who thought my life was perfect that it really wasn't. That I had lost my father to a road accident when I was five years old. That my mother had become so paranoid that, for the next couple of years, she never -- I repeat, never -- let me out of her sight. That I had to balance my studies with a lousy part time job that paid fairly well, but hardly left me with any time to catch up with my books. Oh, and my good grades in high school? They were mostly coupled with the usual bullying almost every teenage girl had to endure at least once in her lifetime.

The only thing in my life that continued to remain perfect was Kyungsoo. He rarely failed to amaze me. Through everything that had happened to me, he never once left my side, and I couldn't help but think how blessed I was every time I saw his bright smile and ever supportive demeanour.

Said best friend was starting to be a huge pain in the behind, though.

There I was one day, sitting alone at the cafeteria table in the corner, one I frequented, while I watched him chattering animatedly with Kim Hyerin as they sat at a different table from mine. Okay, I admit that I was the one who had forced him to have a decent conversation with her (that one time in the library wasn't enough, I had to literally pester him to talk to her every single time we ran into her or saw her - he could be so antisocial sometimes). But no way on Earth did that mean that I gave him permission to completely abandon me, now, did it? No, don't get me wrong, I was the happiest person on this wretched planet when he suddenly announced to me one day that he was dating Hyerin. She was one of my classmates in law school, and having had small talk with her sometimes, I knew that she was a sweet, polite girl who would think a hundred times before even thinking of letting anyone down, no matter the circumstances. Plus, besides me, Kim Hyerin was the only other person -- as far as I knew -- who made Kyungsoo talk a lot more than he usually did. Which was around.. one word per person during a day? Did I mention how socially awkward he was?

It must have been around ten days since they were a couple, but these ten days were like literal hell for me. Sometimes, he would come to our school to hang out with Hyerin, but that was all I saw of him. He began spending almost all of his free time with her, to the point where he even stopped accompanying me during my evening walks to the convenience store where I worked. And here I was, thinking that no one could take those peaceful walks with him away from me.

Was I jealous of his relationship with the other girl? No, I wasn't. What I was envious of was the girl herself. I wasn't trying to feel possessive of him or anything, but whatever time he used to spend with me was all hers now. Had I been living in some parallel world, Hyerin would have been that evil, annoying and sadistic girl who would instantly snatch him away from me at the first opportunity she saw. But this was no parallel universe, and no matter how much I tried, I couldn't bring myself to hate her. I guess I should have been glad that I could see some changes in Kyungsoo's behaviour ever since meeting her, and I was glad. But along with that, I was also bored out of my mind. Granted, I did say that I had a few friends, but none of them understood me like Kyungsoo did. He had always been a big part of my life, and his sudden absence had left a big, gaping hole that I was sure no one else could fill up. With a sinking feeling, I was beginning to realise that I hadn't ever thought about being away from him, which was why actually being away was so difficult.

With a sigh, I trudged over to the public library, the same one where Kyungsoo had called me that day. Hyerin worked there only for the morning shifts, so there was no chance I would run into either of them. Maybe I was starting to get used to being alone, I realised with a wry chuckle to myself. My classes had got over earlier than usual, and since I had nothing else to do, the library was the best place for me to go; it was also quite close to my workplace. Entering the place, I headed to the English section, peering at the books before I found the one I was looking for. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was one of my all time favourite books, and I must have read it at least a dozen times, but somehow, I never got bored of it.

Books were the only thing that never failed to interest me, and I was a self proclaimed bookworm, usually gobbling up one book in less than two days, sometimes even one day. My grandfather had been an English professor, so he had taken it upon himself to teach me the language of the West, and by the time I was six, I knew the basics of English. And while I did like reading books in my native language -- many of the original English ones were available as translations in Korean -- there was just something about English literature that I found kind of magical. So I guess I ended up surprising everyone except myself when I chose law as my major in college instead of English literature or something similar. For me, reading was just a hobby.

I plopped down at the first empty table I could find; I was lucky it was empty, since at around this time, the place was always crowded. Silently, I kept my bag on the table, pushing it away after retrieving my phone from inside. It was a habit for almost every person of my generation to check their phone every now and then for any messages or missed calls, and I was no different. However, for once, I was glad I didn't have anything as I slid the device to one side, choosing to concentrate on the book.

I was a few pages into the book when I heard slight shuffling beside me, but I was too immersed in Sherlock Holmes' deduction about Doctor John Watson to be bothered by whatever it was. What did manage to distract me was the question.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

I tore my gaze away from the book, looking up to see a boy of around my age looking back at me uncertainly, while his finger pointed to the seat in front of me. Blankly, I turned my head to look in front, realising that my bag was kept on the table. I swiftly pulled at its strap, dragging it closer to me, almost knocking my phone off the table in the process. Catching it before it toppled to the floor, I clutched it tightly to my chest like I was holding a baby before setting it back down on the table. Nice. Real smooth, girl.

"You may sit here if you want," I said, glancing awkwardly at the male before burying myself back in the book. In my battle against the bag to save my poor phone, I had almost forgotten why I had done it.

In the middle of reading, I looked over my book to see what he was reading, raising my eyebrows. Was that Mandarin? Or maybe it was Cantonese, I always found it difficult to differentiate between the two. Not that I could read either of the languages properly, though. Judging by the guy's expression, however, it didn't seem to me that he was having any trouble in reading it. The smile on his face made me assume it was something humorous. Speaking of his smile, it was wonderful. It lit up his face completely, and I could see these cute little dimples on either side of his mouth. He had a pretty angular nose, a bright, sharp gaze as his dark eyes hovered over the words of the book, and plump pink lips slightly pursed, the bottom one a little thicker than the top. Hmm, he was quite -- more than quite, actually, now that I think about it -- handsome and- wait. What the hell was I doing?!

Before I could look away from his face that I had been admiring so much, I heard a soft chuckle. "Are you done staring? It's making me kind of uncomfortable, truthfully," he said in a moderately accented Korean, his lips stretched into a tiny smile while his eyes held an amused glint. I was a hundred and one percent sure that my face was flushed a deep red, and I could literally feel the heat rising to my cheeks, going all the way to my ears. Oh, how nice. Apparently, I had begun to embarrass myself in front of random strangers as well.

"Gosh, I-I'm so sorry!" I uttered, reminding myself to keep my voice low; this was a library, after all. "I have no idea why I suddenly began staring at you, it's not something I usually do, trust me! I just couldn't help myself, though. I mean, look at you! You're really handsome, almost like some guy on the cover of a magazine, and I'll just stop talking now." I ended my rambling by lowering my face into the book, holding it upright in front of my nose, hoping my cheeks would go back to their original colour. Wait a minute... was he laughing?

I peeked over the top of the book to see him holding a hand to his stomach, his eyes crinkled shut as he tried his best to keep his laughter at a low volume. So far, no one was staring at us, so I guessed he was being quiet enough not to disturb them. But oh boy, he looked so cute while laughing- you should seriously STOP thinking about that, Daeun! Catching some of his breath, he swiped a finger below an eyes as he made a motion of wiping away his tears of laughter, then proceeded to look at me. "Well, that's certainly the first time a stranger has told me that I'm handsome," he whispered, keeping his voice well below the decibel limit.

Great. Did he really have to say that? I had almost succeeded in pushing that blush away!

"Are you from China?" I blurted out, mentally slapping myself at how stupid it sounded. Right, so that connection between my brain and my blabbering mouth? That's what I didn't have, and never had, apparently.

The smile refused to leave his face -- sweet, he probably thought of me as a huge, bumbling idiot by now -- as he gazed at me with those dark, bottomless abysses that were his beautiful eyes- and I was at it again!

"Yes, I transferred here when I was in high school," he said, nodding at me before glancing at the watch on his left hand. He arched an eyebrow as he looked back to me with a sheepish expression, and shrugged. "Sorry, I would love to chat more, but I gotta rush." He bit his lip in thought before rummaging through his bag that was placed on his lap, and produced a piece of paper and a pen. He scribbled something on the paper as I watched with curiosity, shoving it towards me once he was done.

"My number, you can get in contact with me. If you want to, that is," he said, throwing me a quick grin as he stood up while stuffing the book in his bag. Within the next few seconds, he had disappeared from the library at superhuman speed, leaving me staring after him, my mouth slightly agape. I leaned ahead to peek at the paper he had left behind for me, almost snorting out loud at what he had written, followed by a series of numbers.

I had to admit, he did have a good sense of humour.

Author's Note:

So, I tried looking up the Korean education system on Google, but it left me quite confused. That's why, please don't yell at me, saying that this is the wrong education system, as this is something that my brain has managed to conjure, and that's how I'm going to continue imagining it.

I guess I should add a disclaimer. Everyone and everything in this story (except for Do Kyungsoo and Zhang Yixing) is mine and purely fictional, and any resemblances to real life are nothing but a coincidence.

As always, I would love it if you left a comment! Is anyone even reading this story though haha

Toodles~