*Normal POV*

 

AJ took out his iPod and earphones from his pocket and put them on while heading towards the school field’s wash area. He didn’t feel like eating since he had a mouthful of breakfast of his elder sister’s cooking. He shuffled the songs in his iPod and sat beneath a willow tree. In the midst air of lunch break, AJ shoved his fingers a little, prior to the current song’s rhythm. The vast, fluffy clouds drifted across the blue sky, as it seemed to be a little cloudy.

“Unnie can’t pick you up today, Jaesoppie….! Mianhanda! Why don’t you get a ride with Sungyeol?”

Kim Ji Kyung gave a short goodbye and drove away from his school. 

 

AJ wanted to walk home, but it looked like it was about to rain. 

Ah damn…. How will I get home? I’ll only ride with Sungyeol in my dreams, ughhh! He grunted to himself. He disliked Sungyeol’s annoying, self-centred attitude since they were in kindergarten. And how could he actually ask the latter for a ride home?! Not in a million years!

 

“Yeoboseyo…” AJ squinted his eyes when Kiseop’s extraordinary voice was more eccentric than usual today.

“Wassup, mash head!” Kiseop flickered his brows and frowned in dismay while holding his phone. What the hell… Still no response from AJ.

“Yah, cornrow freak! Aish…. this guy. I was just asking…did you bring any umbrella today?” A smirk came from AJ’s mouth.

“I’m not the type of person who prepares for crucial moments…. so, no.” 

“And that’s why you’re always a klutz.” Kiseop chuckled while covering his mouth with his left hand. 

“Shikuro! So what? Do you want me to hop in your ride?” 

Kiseop fidgeted around and answered, “Oh no, no, no. Not today, bro. I’m going home in a bit with my cousin, Haeri.”

AJ felt a total let down. “Lee Kiseop, what’s the point of you calling me now…?” Kiseop grinned and bid goodbye as he hanged up the phone.

Oh my…ah waegure?! He was just showing off. Damnit! AJ touched the red button and closed his phone.

 

“OMO OMO OMO OMO!” 

He suddenly heard a voice of a girl squealing nearby. He lifted his face and looked around. What was that?

“My makeup’s coming off! Ahh this is all that Yuri’s fault! Like, how could she?! I’ve spent a total of an hour and fifteen minutes to cover up my flaws perfectly, and all she had to do was intentionally spill her carrot juice right on my face. FACE! Oh I’ve had enough—“

Right when this girl was busy wiping away the sticky juice from her face, she tripped over AJ’s long legs.

Blast it.

 

“Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh….!” A moment of silence quickly invaded after that loud scream. 

Girl on top of AJ, him on the ground. AJ managed to catch the girl whom he see to recognise as Class Sapphire’s very own diva, Im Nana. Of all the girls in his school, it has to be her. Yes.

“What’s wrong with you, byuntae?!! Oh my, don’t touch me! NO—!!” AJ panicked when she panicked the hell out of her and started wailing uproariously, when he decided to cover with his hand. 

“Look, you probably don’t want anyone to see us like this, don’t you? So calm the hell down and— Hey…”

A stream of tears flowed as Nana silenced herself. AJ became speechless. He never knew how to consult a crying, emotionally hurt girl, unless he’d encounter one before. Warm tears that made way to AJ’s hand caused a tiny bang in his heart. 

Did I make her cry? Oh, what now… Was it because of what I said?

“Huk…huk….” Nana sobbed for about two minutes, even after he let go of her face.

“Err… you’re Nana from Sapphire, aren’t you? Why the hell are you crying..?”

PAKKK! The sound of Nana smacking AJ’s head burst into the silent air.

“Owwwww! What was that for?!” He grunted and rubbed his nape.

Nana frowned and did a small pout. “You’re no help at all! How could you be asking a damn question when a girl’s bursting into tears?! Nappeun, nappeun…!” She didn’t stop whacking AJ’s back.

 Oh god…his woman! He complained to himself and grabbed both of her hands because the entire whacking thingy is getting more and more painful. 

“What do you expect me to do then?!”

Nana frowned even deeper. What is she to do with a guy inconsiderate like this… “You should…ah, never mind.” 

AJ noticed her signs of giving up, but she did not stop tearing up.

 

Suddenly, Nana was heartlessly being turned around and felt such huge hands hugging her from behind.

“Is this how passionate guys do it….?” AJ uttered his opinion while the girl blushed really hard. Her cheeks were vivid red, maybe because of her flashy makeup. The lad realised what he’s doing and immediately let go.

“I’m ashamed to actually cry in front of people, especially those who barely know me. Please, forget about it…” Nana wiped her tears and got up while dusting off her skirt. 

She continued, “People would tease that I’m such a loser whenever I cry, so I..”— AJ grabbed her right arm and expressed his thought.

“It’s okay to cry, really. Go ahead. I wouldn’t tease you.”

Nana pursed her lips and felt deep in her heart, it’s been awhile since she last cried. The girl suddenly did the thing that would even amaze herself. Without feeling cocky, she dreaded down and cried so hard on AJ’s left shoulder. 

“Uwaaaa….! Why….am I…so weak? If I could just….hukhuk…”

AJ was shocked of her actions. Right now, Nana is really on top of him, but she’s sustaining most of her weight so it wouldn’t cause the boy another burden. He slowly placed his hand at her petite back, he ought to do something that would boost her spirits again. The Im Nana he know would be cheerful and diva-like, exactly how everyone sees her. It’s quite surprising for him to see this side of her.

“Crying doesn’t make you weak. It just means that you have been strong all this while, overcoming your hardships. Cry all you want, it helps your emotions to calm down.

Nana gave out a little smile and stopped crying. Feeling AJ’s hand on her back, Nana wrapped her hands around his broad back.

“Thank you, AJ…” She closed her eyes and tightened the hug.

Oh my… How can the situation end up with her hugging me like this? Uh-oh… AJ let go of her back and freed himself from the bear hug.

 

“Now that you’re fine, you should stop clinging onto me or otherwise people would definitely think something’s fishy between us. And how you’d know my nickname?” 

Nana gaped for a moment and raised her right eyebrow. She let go of the lad and got up.

 

“Tell me, what’s the function of name tags again?” She closed her eyes and folded her arms. AJ took a quick glimpse at his name tag and got up as well.

“Hey! It says Kim Jaeseop here. How’d you know the name ‘AJ’??” He demanded an explanation from Nana while keeping his iPod and earphones into his pocket.

Nana flipped her hair for a second. “Yah, pabo… Everyone knows you, the cornrow freak. Ahahaha!” She can’t help but laugh sarcastically.

“WHAAAAT—“” AJ stomped his foot and rubbed the nape of his neck. “And how the hell did you know that?!”

Nana covered with her left hand, still giggling. “That’s what Kiseop said. He even sent a picture of you with that hairstyle. Here! Look, look!” 

Nana shoved her phone to AJ that displayed the said shot. He grabbed the phone for a clearer view, then passed the device to the owner and shut his eyes. 

“Umm… Excuse me, are you mad…?” Nana felt guilty and questioned his mood when there was a moment of silence. 

“AJ, Kiseop-sshi is my friend. We met at the 7th RS Modelling Cast in Gangnam. Don’t get me wrong…!” Nana kept aback her pink-cased iPhone and fidgeted her fingers.

“If you’re a nice yeoja, Nana-sshi, you’d delete that silly picture right after I leave.” I’M SO GONNA KILL THAT JERK! AJ wailed in embarrassment and stomped his way to the classroom. 

“Wait…wai—Ahh…He’s gone…” Nana brought out her phone again and looked at the previously shown picture.

CAPTION: “Isn’t he adorable, Nana-sshi? He’s my man, AJ, and he looks so purdy here! Kekekeke~”

“I didn’t even had the chance to thank him. What a waste…” The girl gripped her phone and decided not to delete it after changing her mind.

 

“Do you know where the hell is LEE KISEOP?!” AJ banged into the class and sat in his seat, while he demanded Kiseop’s whereabouts from Eli.

Eli just got up from his short nap and opened his left eye. Because of last night’s family gathering in Washington, he just returned to Seoul at 4a.m this morning. Drowsiness took over him as he didn’t have lunch nor breakfast. Ignoring AJ’s question, he got up and was about to go straight to the gents. 

“Yah, I’m talking to you, Eli!” AJ grumped as his question wasn’t answered.

“Look, dude. I only slept 6 hours in the plane and I haven’t ate anything at all.” Eli stopped his pace for awhile and replied to his seat mate without looking back. He then continued walking and shoved his hands into his pants pocket.

 

AJ’s grumpy face was caught sighted by Suho, Class Ruby’s representative. The difference between them is their appearance in which Suho wears the school uniform in a very neat manner. His shirt is tugged in, his tie had just the length for a student, his coat splendidly worn and his hairstyle that gives out a model student’s image. He even has the looks. All the girls would fall for him at first sight. Well, that’s Kim Suho for you.

In the meanwhile, AJ broke some of the rules regarding proper school attire. He didn’t tug in his shirt, had his hair ruffled about, tie loosened and wore bright casual shoes. Even though AJ is practically not the worst of them all, he is still outdone by Suho. And there’s still the guy, Lee Sungyeol…

“AJ-ahh… Looking for Kiseop-sshi?” Suho passed by AJ’s seat and stood by the side for awhile. He handed the latter a grape-flavoured candy. 

AJ calmed himself down and looked up to the face of the lad who’s talking to him. “Class rep… have you seen him? I’m so gonna kill him with my bare hands.”

He silenced when a girl appeared in front of them, to be known as their pretty classmate, Oh Seungah. AJ shaped an ‘o’ with his mouth, in awe of the one and only yeoja he admired since first year. Seungah did a fishtail braid hairstyle today, added with two cupcake hairpins at the back.

“Who are you going to kill, Jaeseop-ah? Omo!” Seungah cheerfully butted in the two boys’ conversation before promptly took a quite big lollipop she held at her back.

“Here! It’s supposed to be better than Suho-nim’s rotten candy~ Ahahaha!” She giggled while AJ took the said, better candy she offered. Suho only raised his brows and partly sat at the edge of Eli’s table.

“So, Seungah-sshi, what did you get for Minho this time? Matching phone cases? Keychains?” Suho smirked a little and played with AJ’s marker pen with his fingers.

*To be continued*