You Are Pretty

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xcPpC_95QM

It was 11.10 PM, and the movie should be cleaned for the next airing..

However, the cleaners were all gathered outside, discussing among themselves. Muttering the world ‘pitiful girl’. He honestly wondered what makes them stay outside instead of shooing her to go out because they needed to clean.

Sungjae sighed and entered the cinema himself with confident stride only to slow down when he heard ugly sobbing sound coming from a woman.

“Miss, you should go out. We need to clean.”

She cried even more badly.

He didn’t get how can a person cry watching the Smurfs.

“Is it a guy?”

She nodded.

“Why?” He asked gently.

She cried even more badly.. “I’m fat.”

Sungjae looked at her and honestly, she is not even ‘that fat’ she is just slightly chubby. He honestly thinks she is good looking enough.

For some reasons his heart ached and he did something he will never do before.. “You are pretty. Crying girls are not usually pretty but for some reason you are. Whoever that dump you must be crazy. I’m sure you will grow up to be a beautiful girl.” He smiles.

“Now stop crying and show the guy what he is missing.” He grabbed a box of tissue from the cleaner trolley and left it on the seat next to her as he patted her back gently. “Cheer up.”

***

“YA! Yook Sungjae!!” The discipline teacher screams across the hallway. “It is you right?! Don’t you dare run away from me!”

Sungjae sprints to the nearest door that he can see and directly barge in through the room only to freeze with the realization that it is a woman washroom.

The girl who just get out from the toilet cubicle look thoroughly amused at his shock face.

“It is a men washroom..” He blurts out.

She giggles and nods.

It is quite clear she knows he is trying to cover his embarrassment.

“Yook Sungjae?!”

“Aigoo.. please don’t report me.. uh what is your name?” He begs to the girl who is heading outside the washroom.

“Park Sooyoung.” She emphasized.

“Pleaseeee don’t report on me Park Sooyoung.. Just don’t say anything. You don’t even need to lie.”

She laughs even harder. “Let’s see.” She hums..

She opens the door and closes it back..

“Have you seen a guy this tall walking around here?”

“Aniyo.” She smiles to the teacher. “I only see a guy this tall, running from someone.” She lowers down the teacher’s hand to a lower level.

Sooyoung opens the door again.. “You can come out now..” Sungjae is about to walk out when both of them froze on the spot hearing talking sound coming nearer to the washroom.

“Hey, have you heard about the new girl?”

“Who? Joy?”

“Yes. Park Joy something.”

“She is pretty annoying don’t you think? Acting all cutesy and pretty to gain attention.”

“She is pretty though..”

“She might be, but her personality is a bit.. ugh.”

Sungjae stays rooted on his spot, panicking and at the same time, quite disgusted with the back talks the two girls are doing when he feels a push.

He is now being pushed into a toilet cubicle. He can feel his ears heat up, he hopes that the red colour is not as evident in the dark.

“YAA!” Sungjae shouted only to be covered by her palm.

“You better shut up if you do not want to be found out in the toilet.” Sooyoung hushed him down.

It is the first time, he sees his rescuer properly. She has big eyes.. and nice lips.

She is quite pretty.

“Wait, what are you doing in here though?”

“None of your business…” Is what Sooyoung is about to say when her nose tips accidentally graze over his.. she blushes fervently and immediately retract back.

Only when she realizes the proximity that she is in, does she thinks.. ‘what the hell is she doing being embarrassed .. it is their issue’

“I’m going out.” She closes her eyes and say it slowly, clearly still embarrassed. “You go out after I bring the girls out.”

“How?”

“I’ve got this.” She assures him before she opens the door and closes it quickly before they notice a man with widened eyes in the cubicle.

“Annyeong!” She greets them.

That is all he manages to hear as the silence engulf the washroom.

‘”Ya.. It’s Park Joy.”

‘Wait, she is Park Joy?!’

“Do you guys know me?”

“A-aniyo.”

“You talked like you know me though..”

“We are talking about someone else.” One of them exclaimed before pulling the other to escape.

Joy knocks on the cubicle, and Sungjae opens to see a smiling girl. He is still pretty much puzzle as he looks at her.

“We can go out now.”

She is even more prettier when she smiles. She looks like a baby with her innocent smile.

Once outside he asks her… “Do you have multiple personalities?”

“Aniyaa. Joy is what people called me but I prefer you to call me Sooyoung.”

“You are unexpectedly cheery for someone who has just got out from confronting people that is bad mouthing you.”

“Someone say to me that I just need to cheer up. I’ m sure if I keep smiling they will end up liking me too.”

“I’m liking you already.. What year you are in?”

“I’m a freshman.”

“Ahaa. I’m your sunbae! Since you save me, what do you want me to do for you? I’m pretty handsome, rich and popular around the school. So you can use me, but be reasonable”

“Rich?” She ponders.. “are you sure?”

“Yaa.. freshie!”

She giggles again. “Can I call you oppa instead?”

“O-oppa?” He feels his heart flutter a bit at the word. He always thought he had like noonas over pretty dongsaeng. Well maybe a guy cannot help it but like the word oppa. He feels like taking care of this girl in front of him already.

“Yeah.. sure..” He adjusts his side bangs a bit, feeling shy over the sudden familiarity.

“Oppa, don’t you recognize me?”

He raises his eyebrows.. “Do I know you?”

“I figure you won’t” She seems slightly disappointed but she beams up yet again. “It is nice having a handsome sunbae like you though. I need to go to class..”

“Wait, I know you..” Sungjae fidgets awkwardly.. “Like I heard about you.. a pretty transfer student. A friend of Wendy’s right?”

She laughs, “Aniyoo..” Not that kind of thing. “Nevermind. It is not important.” Joy bows down to Sungjae before sprinting back to her class.

“Yaaa.. hoobae!”

***

Sungjae is busy sleeping at the back of the class and when he wakes up, he notices his group of friends are flocking by the window.

There is a loud chattering noise among the boys so he tries to chime in by pushing his way in. “What you guys are looking at?”

“Shh.. wait. She is coming.” Jaejin says excitedly.

“She’s here.. she’s here!” A guy in class scream too loudly that he also find it hard not to notice. “I’m telling you, it is our new freshman. You know Irene Sunbaenim? She is close with her too along with Wendy, Yeri and Seulgi.”

He looks at the figure that is approaching…

‘Oh.’ He exclaims to himself. He is contemplating whether to greet her but choose not to.

He does not want to get kill by these guys around him.

It is too late though, she waves at him and everyone nearly collapses thinking it is for them. He really feels like he is about to collapse too but he needs to be cool in front of her so he remains with his composure. Things turn to the worse though as she specifically mentions “Sungjae oppa..”

She gives a specific smile just for him when she walks passing them by with her friends. As a result, the guys are all glaring at him.

“How in the world you know her!?”

Oh, he is dead.

***

The past three days are not easy to him. The guys are seriously unsatisfied with him. He claims that he did not know her but word has it, that she says she knows him way back then.

Like how come?

He goes to a basketball game as one of s is playing for the school. Basketball is not much of his taste. He likes things he is good at but the thing is about basketball, he is just not good at it and it is extremely awkward to hang out in the audience.

He is so used to be the player and not the watcher.

He shoved his hand into his blazer’s pocket and look around for a place to sit. At the far end of the basketball court is her.

The one that has been bugging his mind lately.

Who is she?

Does he know her?

“Annyeong Sooyoung.” He says casually. “Is this seat taken?”

She smiles back. “Aniyo oppa.” She takes her popcorn and let it rest on her lap. Wendy who is approaching the seat almost killed her as she coughs awkwardly for the older girl to seat in front of her instead.

Joy fidgets awkwardly at her seat as she munches her popcorn in a hurry, feeling nervous with the proximity between her and Sungjae.

Sungjae is about to start a conversation when the older girl who is now seated in from of them mumbles loudly about how her close dongsaeng abandon her for a guy she has been crushing over for years.

Sungjae who has always been quick in the uptake look at Joy amusingly but Joy is too busy throwing the popcorn to Wendy to notice his frequent glance.

“So basketball?”

Again, Joy is too into throwing the popcorn and is fighting with the newly arrive Yeri who spares no time in joining Wendy in their bashing spree.

He coughs awkwardly as he just get ignored, getting a loud guttering sounding laugh from Seo Eunkwang who is one of his many friends that is annoyingly seated next to him..

He then decided to just grabbed hold of Joy’s wrist and put it back on her lap which startled the young lady.

She looks at him, wide eyed.

Her eyes are annoyingly pretty so he just blurts out. “You are pretty, so you do not need to show off your eyes to me.”

He is also shock of what he had just said as the people around him laugh in unison.

“Ya! Why are you guys spying on us.” He stands up, feeling hot in embarrassment as Joy closes her face to cover her red cheeks.

“Oppa. You are cheesy though.” Joy laughs, enjoying his embarrassment. “But you are also cute.” She smiles.

He grabs her popcorn and gives it to her, letting her munch it over and over again. Trying to stop her from talking.

It is too embarrassing.

He later managed to talk her out into changing seat.

Throughout the game though, she keeps on talking how awesome is their team play. Or how cool is the shoot, it is so tough to talk to her. She keeps on standing up and jumping in joy, calling out to the players' name much to the basketball players liking.

He almost rolls his eyes.

Why basketball must she likes?

Why not volleyball, something he is good at.

When the team loses, she is crying like a baby. He needs to offer and buy her some tissues. She is such a sensitive person, as she knows it is the last game for the senior.

“Do I look ugly?” She asks still sniffling.

“You look like a carp.” He jokes around which earns a glare from her. “But a cute carp.” He grins.

She slaps him on his shoulder in return, but is giggling while doing so.

Sungjae finds her cute so he keeps on pushing her. “Do you know, I like fishing? So a carp looks pretty to me.” He laughs without restrained as his eyes are gazing at her lovingly.

“Aniyo..” She denies in her aegyo voice.

“Do you flirt around with every man like this Joy ah?”

She laughs in return without answering her. Aegyo again. This girl even with her puffy face.She does look cute. It is true that girl looks really pretty when she cries after all or maybe he just bias. At that moment, even when she cries, Sungjae can feel his heart beating… he knows that he likes her. She is just so charming and overwhelming. Unexpected but in a good way. But somehow, she feels very familiar at the moment. Like he has encountered a crying Joy before.

“Ya! You should not. If I’m going crazy like this, I bet other men can’t take it anymore. At this rate, I might just ask you out.”

“Aniyo, it is just for oppa.” She smiles but somehow her smile dims a little.. “If you ask me out now I might reject you even if I like you.”

“Why? Because I do not recognize you?”

She looks at him surprised.

“You are the girl that is crying in the movie theater right?”

widened.

“So I can ask you out now?”

Sooyoung is just too speechless to say anything.

“I will ask you out again if you need time to digest things.” He pats her head. “But I’m not the worker of the cinema, I’m the owner’s son just to make it clear so you cannot reject me later.”

***

Sungjae was feeling all kind of down now when he left the way he asked Joy out last night. He feels like he messes it up. He heaves a deep sigh when he sees the figure he is very nervous to meet.

It is Joy but she is surrounded by a bunch of people wearing different uniforms than theirs.

He does not mean to look stalkerish or anything but he ends up looking at them longer than he should… which he notices that Joy expressions aren’t that good. Intuitively, he walks over towards them and as a result, manage to hear a portion of their conversation.

“If I know you will be this pretty, I will never dump you. The you  before is just..” The guy shakes his head as if he does not want to remember it at all.

He did not manage to see Joy face but even if he is in her shoes would never tolerate such thing. She has always been pretty, are they dumb or something?

He steps in front and brushes her hair in an adoring way. “Are these guys disturbing you?” He looks at only her as he smiles concernedly ignoring the audience.

She looks quite intimidated which is not a sight of the current ‘Joy’ that he sees. It looks like the girl he sees years ago.

Scared and insecure.

“Are you her boyfriend?” The guy asked. “She used to really like…”

“I used to like him but he did not know it and end up not coming to the movie which our friends arranged for. It is not his fault.” Joy answers truthfully. “It is the past.” She emphasizes.

Sungjae actually feel like smacking the guy but Joy really does make it hard for him to do so now if she is so defensive over the guy.

“Its nice to meet you again.” Joy smiles sincerely.

At that moment, she looks even more attractive to him.

He tries to brush his hand with hers as if wanting to wait for her response. She brushes her hand closer to him. He takes it as a sign and interlace their fingers together leaving the guy behind.

He mumbles to himself. “She has always been pretty. He must be crazy.”

Joy laughs before smiling secretly to herself. She is right not to give her heart away easily and hope to meet him again. The guy who said she is pretty before anyone else aside from her dad did.

Yook Sungjae.

It is worth the wait.

“Are we dating now?” Sungjae asks, his ears are brightly coloured in red.

She giggles before pulling him down and kiss him on the cheek.

She shouts a “ne” and runs into the school gate leaving him behind as she waves at him cutely to come in faster if not they will be late for class.

Yook Sungjae is a special person for her, because he appreciates her for who she is and that is all that matters.

Author's Note

I'm getting busy again. Hence, i was not able to check the chapter properly. As always, i hope you guys enjoy because it has been a couple of years since i have ever written any fluff fanfic.