[CONTENTID1]Silence[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Chapter One[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

Park Jakyung was many things.

She was quiet. She was smart. She was kind. She was okay at playing the piano. She was a fan of chocolate ice cream and handmade candy. She was a big advocate for helping those in need. She was even considered pretty by some. 

What she was not… She was not used to the stares. She was not a fan of the silence that followed whenever she entered the room. She was not happy. No, Jakyung was many things, but she wasn’t happy. Not with her parents, not with the situation they’d put her in, and certainly not with herself for keeping shut and going along with it all. If she had a choice, she would walk right back out of the classroom and into the car she’d parked in the parking lot. She’d get into that car, gun the engine, and hightail it back to the little house in Anyang where she grew up. She wouldn’t bother stopping by her apartment, she wouldn’t bother letting anyone know. She’d just go and never even look back.

But she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t remember the last time she did have a choice, to be quite honest. She supposed it began when she was born, as she most definitely didn’t ask for that to happen, but she could think of once or twice when she’d decided she was going to stay up late watching TV instead of studying. This was much different, though, than watching TV instead of doing economic homework. She hated the looks she got when she sat down in her seat. She didn’t choose that seat; it was the only empty one left. She hated the fact that she could practically feel the eyes of her twelve classmates tracking her every movement as she took the calculus textbook from her bag. She didn’t choose this book, either. The school had given it to her because she had started the term so late, and the bookstore was out of stock. She didn’t even choose to take calculus. That was her parent’s idea. She bit back a scowl.

She had already been in Seoul for five days, three of which were spent moving into the apartment her parents had purchased near the school. The fourth day was spent filling out the paperwork her parents left for her at the dean’s office. And here she was on the fifth day, at three minutes until two o’clock, enduring the silence and stares of the students in her advanced calculus class.

“I hope you all did your homework because-” the professor walked into the room and paused abruptly as he spotted Jakyung in the first row of desks. “Well, you’re new.” She could have given him an award for his keen observations skills. “You must be Park Jakyung. Welcome.” The man didn’t look like he wanted to waste any more time, and Jakyung certainly didn’t want to waste any, so she was grateful that he skipped the “stand up and introduce yourself” routine and went straight into grilling the class about the homework.

As per the suggestion of the secretary, she checked the class website and got the homework assignment from there. She did it last night on the coffee table in the apartment and passed it in along with the rest of the people in her class. The professor seemed a little surprised at seeing a paper with her name on it, but said nothing and gave them the day’s assignment.

By the time the class was over, Jakyung wanted nothing more than to return to her apartment, sprawl out on the bed, and take a nap. But she couldn’t. She had errands to run and a few last things to take care of before she could go home. She had no choice. She gathered her things at a moderate pace, and once finished slung the bag over her shoulder. A light “Oof!” sounded behind her and she turned to see a guy holding his cheek.

“What do you carry around in that thing? A brick?” His tone was airy and light, despite the little splotch of red where the bag had hit him. She opened to apologize, but he waved her words away before they even left her lips. “Don’t worry about it, I’ve experienced worse,” he chuckled and stuck his hand out to her.

“Park Jakyung, right? Nice to meet you. I’m Chen.” Jakyung shook his hand tentatively, and was once again about to open to say something when she was once again interrupted.

“Ay yo, Chennikins! Get your out here and help Chanyeol and me with this.” The voice came from a dark-haired boy who had stuck his head in the door and pinpointed his friend.

Chen shook his head and gave Jakyung a smile. “We’ll catch up next time okay?” He said before jogging out of the class. Jakyung just shook her head and slung the bag over her shoulder once more before heading out.

Calculus was the second to last class of the day, and she had a few minutes before she needed to be at the locker rooms to change for PE. This time, it wasn’t silence that followed her down the hall, but a wealth of whispers. She supposed it was more bearable than the silence, but she still didn’t like it. Couldn’t they just ignore her?

She changed quickly when she got to the locker rooms. Again, she wasn’t greeted by silence, but whispers between her female classmates. She could care less what they had to say, and just walked out to the gym and took a seat in the bleachers.

She had to admit, the school her parents had enrolled her in was beautiful. The grounds were sprawling and well-tended, the buildings were grand and much too fancy for a such a small university in her opinion, and the labs and classrooms were always being updated with the latest in technology and equipment.

“Oh, it’s Jakyung!” A voice snapped her out of her appraisal of the gym facilities, and she spotted the same chisel-cheeked guy who’d she mistakenly hit with her bag walking towards her. What was his name again? Chen?

“You’ve got gym this period too,” Chen said before she could greet him. “What luck that we have two classes together! I’ll have to introduce you to my friends.” Talking and running seemed to be his specialty, and Jakyung shook her head as he jogged over to a group of guys loitering around the entrance to the male locker rooms. He said something she couldn’t quite make out and then turned back to her and waved. She stared at him for a moment before wiggling her fingers back at him. She really didn’t want him to introduce her to his friends. She just wanted to get through the class and go home. The less she had to interact with people, the less reason she had to like this place.

Luck seemed to be on her side as the gym coach waltzed into the room carrying a clipboard. He began calling out names, and when he reached hers, paused in the middle and looked at her. “New kid, huh? Okay,” he said and moved on. She figured he didn’t need the vocal confirmation that she was there, and frankly, she didn’t mind it too much. She hadn’t spoken a word to anyone but the school secretary, and if she was really lucky, she would never have to.

They were assigned a 12 lap warm up, and Jakyung was grateful that it meant she didn’t have to partner with anyone. She may have been at this school against her wishes, but that didn’t mean she had to make friends or interact with her peers if she didn’t want to.

“Hey, Jakyung! Whoa, you run fast.” Chen jogged up to her, a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead from the first five laps the class had already completed. “Do they have the heat turned up in here, or what? I shouldn’t be sweating after only five laps!” He laughed at his own joke, and Jakyung rolled her eyes. This kid was weird.

“You don’t speak much, do you? That’s alright; I know someone who is the same way,” Chen said, jabbing a finger over his shoulder. “Usually, they’re pretty fast, but you’re smoking them right now. Were you on the track team at your last school or something?” Jakyung let out a soft snort. Track team? If you wanted to call dodging her parents “babysitters” being on the track team, then sure, she was on the track team.

“Speaking of which, you transferred in pretty late, didn’t you? I mean the first semester is almost half over. Why did you-” Chen was cut off by a hand reaching out and covering his mouth.

“Give the girl a break, will you Chen? She looks like she wants to run even faster away from you.” Jakyung was of an average height for a female her age at around 5’4. Chen had to be a few inches taller than her; 5’8 maybe. But this guy? He was a giant. He was at least 6 foot tall, and if it weren’t for the fact that they were running in gym class, Jakyung would have been terrified of seeing him run towards her.

Chen knocked his friend’s hand away and grinned cheekily at Jakyung. “She would have said something if she wanted me to go away, right?” Well, he certainly got her there. She did want him to go away, but she had a feeling that if she opened even to say that, it would only spur him to talk to her more in some twisted way.

Instead, she rolled her eyes, gave a little huff of annoyance, and sprinted the rest of the lap. She ended up in between a few girls finishing the lap she’d just finished, and far ahead of Chen and his too tall friend. She could tell that they were attempting to catch up, but she was a master at ducking and dodging, and stayed out of their reach for the remainder of the warm up. The rest of the class was spent split up, females in the weight room, males playing basketball on the indoor cour