The sun's early morning rays shot into Jihye's room. The way the blinds were positioned was just enough for the rays of lights to shine on Jihye's face.

Immediately sensing the orange rays on her eyelids, Jihye stirred awake. She rolled over in bed to grab her phone off of the nightstand. Her eyes widened when she discovered a long list of notifications. 

"Since when did I get so popular?" She chuckled to herself. 

16 messages from Mom

4 messages from Hee Jun 

8 messages from Dad 

Jihye sighed and rubbed her face. She read the messages from her parents, laughing when they were all just texts saying things like "Why did you choose to move out? We miss you already honey!" and "Can't you move back home?" She decided she would reply later and read the messages from Hee Jun. 

11:37pm
I love you baby, sleep well.

6:00am
Rise and shine Jihye, it's time for school. I know you won't be up yet so I'll be your wake up call.

6:23am
I can't pick you up today baby, I have to drive Mia to school. Wake up! You know how long it takes you to get ready ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

And the last message had arrived just 5 minutes ago.

7:12am
Jihye-ah, you really don't know how to set an alarm do you? Wake up soon and call me. Don't make me come over with Mia so she can wake you up again. Remember how fun that was last time?

Jihye yawned and chuckled at the same time. How could she forget the last time Hee Jun and his little sister Mia came to wake her up when she refused to get out of bed? She quickly replied, feigning fear in her text. 

7:19am
Oh my god, I'm awake now! Please don't bring Mia again, she wouldn't stop hugging me last time ㅋㅋㅋ

 

Of course she was kidding since she treasured her boyfriend's little sister dearly. Mia was an angel... well at least to her. She shook her head thinking about it and forced herself to get out of bed. 

In 20 minutes time, Jihye was dressed in her uniform and ready to go. Thinking about how much Hee Jun worried, she scoffed. "He's the one that always takes so long to get ready, I can get ready in no time."

She grabbed her bag, phone, and keys before slipping out of her apartment. As soon as she skipped onto the sidewalk outside of the complex, she dialed Hee Jun's number. When he answered, she could hear the sound of a car engine. 

"Hi Hee Jun, dropping off Mia already?" Jihye smiled. 

"Oh you actually woke up! Mia, say hi to your sister-in-law!" Hee Jun chuckled. Jihye shook her head. "Yah, we aren't married, don't go around telling your sister to call me her sister. She can't get her hopes up!"

Just then, she heard a small voice on the other end of the line speak up. "Jihye, Jihye, Jihye! I want to call you my sister!! You and oppa will be married soon!" Jihye let out a gasp/laugh as she tried to keep her cool. Kids these days... marriage is not what I'm thinking about right now. Nonetheless, she played along. 

"Okay Mia, you can call me your sister if you want, okay?" 

"Yay!" 

"Baby, I'll drop off Mia and then head straight to school, be safe walking okay? Sorry I couldn't pick you up, I love you," Hee Jun stated.

"It's okay, my apartment is out of your way anyways. I'll see you at school, don't be late, love you too." And with that she hung up. At that point she had walked up to the area where she chose which path she would take to school. 

"Hm, I'll take this way today."

 

Jihye tightened her grasp around her crossbody bag before turning the corner onto an almost desolate street. The normal streets that served as another path to school were a little too crowded for her liking. It was only a bonus that she never saw anyone on this path. Most of the time. 

"Wow, I actually cannot  believe that worked!" She heard a male voice exclaim. He sounded as if he had won the lottery. 

Jihye jumped at the voice but glanced over at the group of guys huddled over and saw that they were wearing the same black and blue uniform she had on. Huh, probably some freshmen. I've never seen them before. 

As she got even closer to where they were standing she stopped behind a post and heard the rest of their short conversation. 

"Dude, I hope everyone at this school is as naive and gullible as that guy! We can use this money for the rest of the week at least!" One of the boys snickered. 

"I know. We have our own money but it's way more fun to act like we don't."

Jihye frowned. Everyone at Seoulite High was rich and most of them, like herself, came from very humble and respectable families. To think there were kids taking advantage of another person's kindness was already infuriating her. 

"Honestly. Who actually believes the whole 'I can't find my mom, can you help me?' story. We don't even look like little kids and the guy believed us!" 

"Even his wallet is Louis Vuitton. Hah. Hey, think I should keep this for myself?" The tallest boy started laughing so hard he had to hold his side. 

The chubby boy snatched the wallet out of his hand and made a "tsk tsk" sound. "I'm the one who came up with the idea, I'm keeping the wallet!" The other two shrugged while he opened the wallet back up and dumped the rest of its contents. 

Jihye's frown deepened as she saw family pictures, gift cards, and an ID card fall out of the wallet. She had a strong urge to just jump out from behind the post and smack them senseless for doing something so childish. But there was nothing she could do since she would be easily outnumbered. 

The tall boy bent over and picked up the ID card. "This guy seems like a loser anyways. Hm, looks like we're already off to a good start this school year huh boys?"

The three of them laughed before he threw the ID card into the dirt and walked away. 

Jihye let out the breath she was holding in and stood up slowly. Making sure they were completely out of sight, she walked over to the belongings that they had dumped and picked them up one by one. Looking at the family pictures, she didn't recognize the boy who was in all of them. Well, it is a big school. 

Finally, she picked up the ID card that had been carelessly thrown into the dirt and brushed it off before examining it. The headshot of the guy looked how he did in all of the family portraits he carried. 

Scanning the card she read his name out loud. 

"Zhang Yixing." 

She examined the card a bit more and noted that he did indeed go to Seoulite High, and was a senior as well. "How come I've never seen this guy before?"

Placing the ID card in a pocket of her bag, she collected the rest of his belongings and put them all together. She still couldn't believe those boys could be so cruel, and to a sunbae of all people. If that ever happened to me I'd--

She stopped her train of thought and shook her head, not wanting to think about that. "Let's just pray you don't come across annoyances like them again, Jihye," she said to herself. 

And with that, she stood up and continued down the path to school. 

+++++

As soon as Jihye walked past the first gate into school, she was tackled from behind. Even though she was half expecting it, she still failed to hide the surprise in her eyes. She quickly turned around to see Hee Jun beaming at her. "Hi baby," he grinned as he took her hand. 

She smiled before bumping him with her hip. "I swear you can be so cheesy."

He bumped her back before putting his arm around her with their hands interlocked. "It's called being in love, Jihye."

She scoffed but didn't let go of his hand and scooted closer to him as they walked. "More like PDA. Something I'm not very fond of," she smirked at him. Hee Jun gasped. "Fine, I guess you don't want to hold my hand or kiss me anymore then." He tried to pull hand away from hers but she held it tight. 

"Hee Jun, you didn't let me finish!" She giggled at his frown forming. "I'm not very fond of PDA when other people do it, but I love you too much not too."

Hee Jun gasped. "You're a hypocrite!" Suddenly, he ripped his hand from hers and ran around the courtyard where their friends were. Before Jihye knew it, he started yelling, "Kim Jihye is a hypocrite! EVERYONE DO YOU HEAR ME? KIM JIHYE IS A HYPOCRITE!" 

"Yah!" Jihye ran after him yelling curse words. "You better shut your mouth before I really break up with you, you loud mouth!" Jihye had caught up to him and she reached to grab a hold of his shirt. But in .5 seconds, she felt her face smashing into his back. She could smell his cologne and smiled before giving him a back hug. 

Hee Jun turned around and held her. "Hey I was kidding."

Jihye looked up at him. "Oh I know I just--"

"You're a hypocrite, but you're my hypocrite," he chuckled. 

Jihye's jaw dropped and she glared at him. "Ugh, so much for me showing PDA this time, baby." She by calling him 'baby' when she usually just said his name with a loving tone. Hee Jun raised an eyebrow. "You still called me baby though, even if you were just teasing."

Jihye looked at him innocently. "When?"

"Just now." 

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jihye shrugged.

With that Hee Jun separated from her. "I'll give you 5 seconds to run before I tickle you to death."

Jihye's eyes widened and sprinted without even saying another word. "Please, no! Don't!" She yelled without even looking back at him.

After a good 10 seconds, she was starting to run out of breath. "Man I really need to get into shape!" With that, she stopped and turned around but was confused when she didn't see Hee Jun in sight. She turned around again and took one step before crashing into another person. Her immediate reaction was shock, of course, but when she looked up slightly she saw a somewhat familiar face. 

"I'm so sorry," the boy grabbed her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes, looking for any sign of pain on her face. 

opened slightly as she was about to say 'I'm sorry' as well, but something else came up instead. 

"Zhang Yixing."

The boy looked surprised. Enough so that he even looked behind him, which made Jihye laugh. "Why are you looking behind you?" 

He looked back at her and let go of her shoulders. "Oh uh, it was just kind of surprising that you know who I am, I don't think we've met before?" 

Jihye couldn't keep in her smile. "But you thought that you would find that or not by looking behind you?" She teased.

Yixing looked at her and blinked. "Well, I don't know, I just-"

"I'm kidding," she chuckled. He awkwardly laughed as her laughter died down. When a more awkward silence ensued, she quickly spoke up and stuck out her hand. 

"Oh um, I'm Kim Jihye! Sorry for laughing so much, I just really like teasing people."

Yixing smiled and shook her hand. "Zhang Yixing. And it's ok, I think people laugh at me all the time," he said as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. 

"What do you mean? Why would people laugh at you? You seem like a good person," she laughed as she gave him two thumbs up. He laughed at her gesture and wondered how someone could look so kind and innocent while laughing. But her smile slipped off of her face when she realized she was talking to Zhang Yixing. The same Zhang Yixing that those boys she had seen on the way to school messing around with his wallet. The thought made her subconsciously scowl, and Yixing raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah... I just," she reached into her bag and looked at him before taking out his belongings she had picked up earlier. "I don't mean to seem weird to you but, here." She extended her hands which held his ID card, pictures, and other gift cards. He did a double-take when he looked at the items in her hand. 

"Those are.." he started.

"Yeah, these are yours," Jihye bit her lip. Great now I seem like some kind of creepy stalker thief. Yixing looked at her with a flush of relief. "I've been looking for this all morning! I thought I lost it at the convienience store I stopped by earlier, but when I went back to look for it, it was gone!" He explained as he took the items out of her hands. "Thank you so much!" He bowed towards her and she stumbled back a little when he bent down, his tall height almost touched her torso when he did so. 

"Yeah no problem," she half whispered. She really hoped he wouldn't ask how she had come across his belongings, but thankfully he didn't. 

"Jihye!" Jihye turned around and saw Hee Jun panting and out of breath. She raised her eyebrows at him and looked him over. Why in the world did he look like he just ran a marathon?

"Okay, Usain Bolt, what happened to you?" She shook her head. Hee Jun walked up to her and Yixing. "What happened to me? What happened to you? You're the one that sprinted so far I couldn't even catch up!" He exclaimed as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead. 

Jihye looked at him like he was crazy. "Do you think I can run that fast? You're delusional! I literally ran for 10 seconds, ran out of breath, and then bumped into-" she stopped and glanced at Yixing.

Hee Jun looked at Yixing and smiled. "Hey man!" To Jihye's surprise, they did a handshake and then ended with a high-five. 

"Wait, you two know each other?" She eyed them suspiciously. 

"Yeah, we're in the same music class. How do you know Yixing?"

"We actually just met right now," Yixing spoke up before she could reply. "Yeah, we met when you somehow lost me while chasing me from 10 feet away!" Jihye teased. 

"You," Hee Jun feigned anger. He reached over and pulled Jihye close to him while tickling her. "I told you I'd get you!" 

"Hee Jun! Stop it!" She flailed around trying to get out of his grasp. Yixing was witnessing the cute couples actions but felt a little awkward. He cleared his throat and looked up. Jihye and Hee Jun immediately stopped messing around and looked at him.

"Sorry man, I'm always like this around Jihye, she makes me happy."

"Ugh, more cheese," Jihye scoffed. 

"That's okay, you guys seem like the perfect couple. It's good that you're touchy-feely," Yixing chuckled. "I wish I had a girlfriend as loveable as Jihye." Jihye raised an eyebrow but Hee Jun didn't seem to notice what he had said; he was still focused on Jihye.

"She is pretty loveable huh?" He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arm around her. Jihye smiled but rolled her eyes. "Ooookay, enough of that." She detached Hee Jun's arm from her and politely bowed to Yixing. "I'm glad I ran into you so I could return your things, be careful next time."

Yixing looked confused. "Be careful?"

Shoot. She had forgotten that Yixing never asked how she had attained his things, and she definitely didn't want to bring up the topic of those childish teenagers. "Oh, I just meant, be careful walking around next time. Although, I should be telling myself that since I'm the one who bumped into you," she lied. 

"Ah, yeah sorry again. And also thank you again," he chuckled. "I'll see you guys around?" 

Jihye and Hee Jun both nodded and waved as he turned and walked in the direction of the front of the school. Class was starting in 5 minutes. I hope Yixing really does look after himself from now on.. I hope he doesn't get deceived like he did today by those kids.. I hope- 

"Shall we venture to class, Princess Jihye?" Hee Jun's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She held her boyfriend's hand and smiled. "Of course, my knight." As they walked, she could still see Yixing walking a good distance ahead of them. 

 

I hope we can become good friends, Zhang Yixing. 

 

---

 A/N: Honestly I wasn't expecting to write Yixing into the first chapter yet, but it fit way better this way!

I'm pretty satisfied with this chapter, I hope you guys will be too! Next update in 1-2 days! <3

Xoxo, 
Mae