It hadn’t been a particularly tough day for SinB: her bus had arrived early this morning meaning she hadn’t had to wait in the rain, her maths teacher hadn’t asked for her homework which had been ripped up when she tried to wrestle it from the neighbour’s puppy yesterday, the snobby girls hadn’t been in the halls as she approached her locker to call her out for her mismatched socks (again), and the canteen had her favourite meal for lunch. All in all it had been a fairly smooth, trouble-free day. That is, until she’d taken her eyes off of where she was walking and had collided full-force with someone and was now covered in food. Her eyes began to wander up the individual who stood over her. Legs that went on for days, blushing cheeks, kind eyes, cute bangs, it could be no other than the track captain, Choi Yuna. All eyes in the room were on her as she recovered her breath from the forceful collision. She heaved a huge sigh as she picked herself up from the ground, ignoring the hand the other girl held out for her. “I’m so sorry…. I… I wasn’t looking where I was going. Let me b-b-buy you lunch as an apology” she began to stutter and bow ninety degrees. The other girl smiled, it was a shy smile but it was very pretty.

“It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have been rushing. Are you okay?” her smile had broadened and became a big grin- SinB thought it suited her very well.

“I’m o-okay. I’m really, really sorry about your lunch. How can I make it up to you?” SinB said while trying to brush off as much of the mess as possible.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m just glad you’re okay. I’m kinda in a rush though so I’ve got to go. I’m really sorry for what happened. My apology to you is that I’ll pay the dry-cleaning fee on your uniform.” She said while handing SinB her cardigan as SinB had just peeled hers of because it was covered in juice and would soon become sticky. She also fished out some money from her pocket and placed it in SInB’s protesting hand

“I… I can’t accept this… it was an accident… accidents happen… please… keep your money and your cardigan… you don’t need to apologise, it was my fault” she could feel her cheeks blushing at the girl’s sentiment. That was one of the most remarkable things about Choi Yuju, she was the school’s sweetheart- straight A student, track captain, student body president, and had even been offered a scholarship at one of the most prestigious universities in the country- and yet she was so humble and didn’t act as if she was any better than anyone else, she was loved by everyone for good reason.

“Please? Just accept this? It was my fault, not yours. Look, I’m really sorry I’ve got to go. I’m sorry for knocking you over, and I’m sorry that I’ve embarrassed you in front of everyone, I genuinely am. Please accept my apology and take care of yourself. I’ve got to go” she pulled SInB in for a quick hug before she took off just as quickly as she had appeared. SinB could feel her cheeks glowing bright red and simply stood in place for a few seconds after Yuna had left, digging her fingernails into her palms just to check whether this was a dream or not. Choi Yuna, THE Choi Yuju had just hugged her, Hwang Eunbi, a no body, the school bookworm. After she made herself certain that she was in fact not dreaming, she grabbed her things and wandered off to where she had been initially headed anyway- the music rooms. Once she got there, she placed her bag under the desk and put the pair of headphones on. Usually, she spent her lunchtimes with her friends Yerin and Umji, but today Yerin was at some important track team meeting (probably what Yuju had been rushing to get to) and Umji had a dentist appointment. So she decided to get on with her current music project: remixing. It wasn’t a regular thing for SinB to sit there and mash songs together, but recently she had a song in her head and she was trying to re-create it. If it had been most anybody else who had asked for private access to the music rooms at lunch, the staff probably would have said no- the equipment was probably worth more than anything SinB had ever touched before- but because it was her, the girl who had never caused anyone any trouble, Miss Kim had accepted her request without a second thought. So there she was, sat at the desk, the computer in front of her ready to go. She heaved a huge sigh, and closed her eyes as she realised she had no idea what she was doing. If you’d ask anyone they wouldn’t associate Hwang Eunbi with music. Computing maybe, possibly even math, any of the academic subjects, but not the arts- nobody would associate her with anything even remotely creative. Not ‘SinB who could barely colour in the lines’, not ‘Miss Hwang who could burn water if such a thing was possible’, not ‘Eunbi who could re-wire a computer but can’t get the mechanism of her music box to work’. These were all things people laughed at her for in previous conversations when she said she didn’t want to pursue a career in academia. This is why she kept her passion for music, her real aspirations, to herself. She heaved a sigh as she began playing around with the software. She was soon dragging and dropping things into the timeline to create what she thought would be the symphony inside her head. Something wasn’t right though. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was, but there was something missing. It didn’t help her thinking when her mind kept trailing off to a certain girl whose cardigan was now wrapped around her shoulders for warmth. Soon enough, the bell was ringing signalling that lunch was over and she had to go to class.

‘Geography, fantastic’ she thought as she grabbed her things, of all the lessons on her timetable geography was the one she dreaded the most. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the teacher or that she didn’t understand, she just didn’t care for it. She didn’t care about why a river meanders, or why flooding caused so many problems (in her opinion, people she stay well clear of floodplains if they don’t want to get swamped every time it rains), or why populations and economics change over time. She didn’t care for tourism and she didn’t care for volcanic eruptions. It was all in some way interesting, but not worth spending hours of her time on. Especially not today, when she was in the middle of something. She began to haul herself over to the class, it was on the other side of the campus which meant that she was going to be late. She heaved another sigh when she opened the door and was met by an icy wind. She pulled her coat tighter around herself and began the walk.

There were other students milling around, but no one paid particular attention to her. Just as she reached for the door of the geography block while trying to pull something out of her bag, BAM! She was hit very firmly by the door she had just tried to grab. Someone had been trying to carry a box of folders and open the door by backing into it. Now, the folders were all over the floor, the owner of the box frantically trying to pick them all up while profusely trying to apologise. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going. Oh my god, you have to forgive me. I didn’t realise there was anyone there….” SinB recognised the voice in an instant. Twice in one day. TWICE!

“Don’t worry about it, Yuna. For the second time today, I- I should have been watching w-where I was go-going. Here, let me help you” she offered. The other girl looked up immediately. Her eyes turned to shock once the recognition set in.

“Twice in one day? I’m really sorry, again. I should really start looking where I’m going especially when you’re around” the girl giggled nervously. Yuju was on her knees reaching for the files that were spread across the floor, but SinB saw the blush across her cheeks when she recognised who she’d bumped into. SinB handed the other girl two or three of the folders she’d picked up while reaching for the box. She smiled a genuine smile when their eyes met, but couldn’t tell whether it was because she was embarrassed or whether it was because this was the second time in the space of an hour and a half that she got to talk to the girl she’d only ever admired from a distance. Yuna was smiling back at her, then suddenly her forehead creased. “I don’t think I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting you before today. You know my name, what’s yours?” she asked, her eyebrow quirked in a friendly manner as she asked the question. It only made SinB continue to smile.

“SinB, Hwang SinB. We’ve never officially met before, but I know who you are because everyone here knows who you are. I’m just a no body though, so it’s no surprise to me that you don’t know who I am” SinB held out her hand for a handshake, which the other girl took. They smiled at each other, and for a moment, just a moment, SinB forgot that she was running late for class. “Damnit! I’m late! I’m sorry for not being able to hang around, but I’ve got to go I’m already really late. Thanks for your cardigan earlier, but you need it more than I do, you’ll catch your death out here without it” she said while sliding the garment from under her coat and handing it to the other girl “and it was lovely to meet you in person, but I’m running really late and have to go” just as SinB was about to make a dash for class, Yuna grabbed her by the hand. She stopped when she felt the icy hand on hers.

“But-“ Yuna tried to interject, but SinB cut her off.

“I’m really sorry but I don’t think Mr Jung would take too kindly to me walking in any later than I already am. I really need to go”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Hwang SinB. I’ll explain to him that you were helping me to tidy up this mess, don’t worry. Please don’t leave yet, it’s nice to talk to someone who for once treats me like a regular person and not some kind of princess. Would you help me carry this over to the music rooms? Miss Kim said it was important she got this before the end of the day and, like you saw, it’s hard for me to open doors and stuff while carrying it” she looked pleadingly into SinB’s eyes and there was the hint of a smile on her lips.

“It’d be my pleasure, as long as you can promise me that I won’t get in trouble from Mr Jung for not arriving on time to class” they exchanged a smile and Yuna promised that she would make sure it was no problem of SinB’s. They walked casually over to the music block talking like friends who’d known each other for some time, not some minutes. Miss Kim was sat in her office when they arrived and she looked genuinely thrilled to see the box of files.

“Thank-you girls for bringing these over for me. You’re both angels.” Miss Kim smiled at them both, who could only smile back. Kim Taeyeon was everyone’s favourite teacher, she was friendly and kind and understanding and sweet. She was the reason SinB first became interested in music back in first year, when Miss Kim would teach dance classes. SinB thought she was a beautiful dancer and wanted to learn to be just as good. She fell and broke her hip when SinB was in third year, which meant she could no longer teach dance, so now only taught music. That was when SInB became interested in learning to be a performer. As if dragging SinB from her daydream, the teacher began rummaging through the drawers in her desk after the girls bowed and said goodbye. “Wait! SinB, you forgot to save your work earlier so I downloaded it to a flash drive for you” she said, retrieving a pink USB drive from the desk and handing it to the girl “You should really remember to log things off when you finish with them and to save your work. I didn’t listen to what you were working on, but I could tell from how hard you were concentrating while working on it that it’s important to you. Do you think I could take a listen at some point?” she smiled genuinely at the student, whose cheeks were glowing a rosy colour by now.

“Ummm… yeah sure. Th-thank you Miss Kim, I can’t believe I forgot to save it, so, so I’m glad you came to the rescue. It isn’t finished yet, so would I be able to borrow the room again after school today, to work on it some more?” SinB knew she was rambling but couldn’t stop herself. The teacher laughed cutely at her.

“Of course you can use the room again. You’re welcome to use the room at any time. In fact, it’s empty now for the rest of the day if you want to use it”

“Thank you for the kind offer, and I would l love to but, Miss Kim, I have a lesson to be getting to. I’m already running 15 minutes late and I don’t think Mr Jung would take too kindly to me just not showing up.” The teacher burst out laughing at SinB’s comment leaving the poor girl confused and embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. What’s so funny?”

“SinB, I… I tried to tell you earlier, but- but… you were so busy worrying about being late that you didn’t let me say that lessons have been cancelled for the rest of the day due to the seniors’ party this evening. The teachers decided it would be a good idea to cancel all lessons after lunch” Yuna whispered to the confused girl while Miss Kim continued to chuckle.

“Really? I thought that wasn’t until next week” SinB was truly embarrassed now. She’d spent the last 10 minutes preparing herself for a talk from Mr Jung about how disgraceful she was for being late, when she needn’t have worried at all.

“I’m sorry to have laughed at you, Hwang, but your dedication is adorable” Miss Kim said while wiping the tears from her eyes. Yuna nodded beside SinB and chuckled quietly too. “It seems that Yuna here agrees with me” SinB turned to face the other girl and simply put her head down once she realised the older girl was laughing at her too.

“Don’t hide your face, it’s too pretty to be hidden. I’m not mocking you, SinB, I’m agreeing with Miss Kim, you really are adorable, and you’re going to go far in life with that attitude” Yuna said, reaching for SinB’s hand. Miss Kim expressed her agreement.

“In that case, may I use the room to continue working on my masterpiece?” SinB asked, feigning confidence when in reality she just wanted to hide away from them. Miss Kim chuckled a little before nodding, giving the girl full permission and once again thanking them both for bringing the box of files over for her.

Author's note: Hi. Like I said in the description, it's just a random sinju story that hit me in the middle of the night. I'll try to update with a chapter 2 soon.