chapter five
““Do you ever wonder why things have to turn out the way they do?” - A Walk to Remember.

nine years ago

Kang Daniel met Myoui Mina on his eighth birthday. It all started the summer before second grade when their rental car pulled into her neighborhood. That year he and his parents had moved into the house next door, his family coming all the way from Canada. His mother spent the day apologizing profusely to him because they were so busy moving they wouldn’t have time to do anything special for him. But Daniel wasn’t like other kids his age, he was timid and rarely spoke. He liked reading and making model airplanes. So he didn’t make a fuss, he accepted their circumstances and tried looking for the bright side of the move.

Bright Side; it was a brand new home. Not an apartment, not a rental and not a hotel room, which meant that his father was finally settling down to work in one place which meant no more moving. Also good; he wouldn’t have to deal with Harley Santoro anymore, the big bully he’d left back in Canada for good.

Stepping out of the car Daniel analyzed his surroundings. The yard was smaller than his father promised but at least they now had a yard. Cardboard boxes scrawled on in black broad felt-tip marker littered the front of the house as his father had gotten there earlier that day and was still moving all of their belongings inside. And as he looked around he spotted her.

His new neighbors were just coming home from shopping for groceries when they noticed the moving truck and walked over. Six-year-old Chaeyoung ran inside the house before her parents could drag her along to meet Daniels family but Mina had stood close by them. As their parents greeted each other Mina stood across from him and offered him a small smile.

Daniel, being an only child, was always shy and uncomfortable around new people. Even at such a young age he had trouble making friends but with Mina it had been easy. He knew from the moment he met her that he had finally found a friend.

It was odd for Daniel to make a connection so fast, to give his trust so easily, tentative though it was. There was something in the way she smiled at him. She radiated warmth and genuineness. She had a softness about her that intrigued him and he knew he couldn’t allow his shyness to cause him to pass up the chance of a friendship.

His mother knelt down coming face to face with he and Mina.

“Well, hello,” she said to the young girl with a kind smile on her face, “And what's your name, honey?”

“Hi!” Mina said beaming up at his mother, “I’m Myoui Mina. I live right over there,” she said, pointing over to the house on the other side of the gate.

“Well, I see you've met my son,” his mother said, placing a hand on each of his shoulders.

Mina’s mother put her arm around her daughter, “Mina, sweetheart, why don't you show Daniel around the house? I’m sure he would enjoy taking a break from all this moving. Maybe he’d like playing on the new jungle gym your father built for you and your sister.”

“Okay,” Mina enthusiastically stretched out her hand towards him and he hesitated. He glances up at his mother who smiles encouragingly, “Go on.”

Daniel took her hand and Mina smiled and she raced off towards her house with Daniel in tow.

They grew close quick. Mina would always about his shyness with other people and he would glow red with embarrassment but he liked it this way. Sure he was awkward around everyone else but he had her and that was enough for him. They played together and they laughed together and for once in his eight years he wasn’t alone. They would giggle over everything and sneak cookies from his mother's pantry when she wasn’t looking, barking at the neighbor’s hounds till the dogs were foaming at the mouth. They joined a dance studio together but with his clumsy, tripping feet, Daniel could never pull off the moves as graceful as she. Mina would confide in him with everything and he found it easy sharing his own troubles with her.

She was the new friend he'd needed for so long.

present day

Mina is late to school.

She races down the street, feet pounding the pavement below her as she runs with all her might in order to get to school on time. She didn’t think she would make it but until she actually got there she wouldn’t know for sure so there was still hope.

Chaeyoung more than likely unplugged her alarm clock, she’d done it many times before. Had Mina’s body not already been accustomed to waking up so early in the morning she would have stayed asleep.

Her feet pound the sidewalk with the grace of a sack of wet concrete, her springing graceful steps having long since disappeared after the third mile. was as parched as a dead lizard in the desert sun and it took all she had in her not to stop dead in her tracks and just walk the rest of the way.

She wasn’t much of a runner anymore. All the teachings of her dance classes back in middle school were long since forgotten, her stamina highly lacking juice.

Mina sees the school gates in the horizon and to her horror the school body president was closing them.

“Wait!’ She shouts, the girl, Jihyo, stops pulling on the gate, glancing back at Mina who has finally caught up. Mina takes a second to catch her breath, her lungs burning.

“You’re late,” Jihyo states bluntly.

“I’m sorry, my alarm clock didn’t go off…”

“Likely story but I’m still going to have to write you up.”

Mina nods, "I understand."

“What’s your name?” Jihyo asks, not because she didn’t know, everyone who attended JYP High School knew who Mina was -if not because of the rumors than they knew her as Chaeyoung’s sister, despite the younger girls attempts to disassociate herself from her- but because it was customary.

“Myoui Mina,” Mina whispers, bending her head slightly as if in shame. Jihyo gives her a once over before jotting her name down on the pink clipboard she always carried and motions for Mina to walk ahead.

“Okay, Myoui come on in.”

Mina nods her thanks once and walks past her and into the schools lot. Once she is a ways away she exhales a sigh of relief.

It wasn’t the first time she’d been written up for tardiness. Thanks to her mischievous sisters pranks she had to go through this at least three times a month. Her record wasn’t exactly clean but the teachers never brought up the subject since she was an exceptional student. She made up all tardies by handing in grade A assignments. She wasn’t the top student, that she left to someone who could handle the scrutiny, but she had amazing grades and she behaved herself in class.

Mina walks into the building but instead of running up the steps to her classroom her footsteps slow down. She is already tardy anyway and she wasn’t that eager to get to class.

As she makes her way to class her mind wanders to the kind boy she’d run into, twice in just the span of three days, Seungwoo. Who was he? How had he ended up at this school? Surely he was new, it was the only way Mina could explain his kindness towards her -not just on one occasion but two. Anyone who knew her wouldn’t go out of their way to help her, on the contrary they were always the ones to cause her grief.

A memory of his smile clouds her vision and she stops walking, he was definitely handsome, she could say this much. And just ten minutes with him had wiped away days of being tormented by her sister and classmates. She had never felt such peace.

She doubted he would ever look at her the same. Daniel saw Seungwoo take her by the hand to the infirmary, Mina was sure he would have told him by now to stay away from her.

Mina, lost in her thoughts, doesn’t hear the small scuffle of voices before she turns the corner and dread falls upon her at the scene before her. She stops dead in her tracks. Three guys she recognized from her class -the three who used her as target practice- were cornering a boy she didn’t recognize. Notebooks and papers were scattered all over the floor at their feet. From the looks of it she had two options, walk past them and risk being detected or go the longer route and be even more tardy to class. Mina felt bad for the kid, she truly did, but she didn’t want to get caught in his mess. She had her own problems to deal with and her own bullies to fight. She turns around to go back down the stairs but bumps into someone’s chest. She glances up and meets a set of red-rimmed eyes surrounded by meaty eyelids and fat cheeks.

“Hey, guys look who I found trying to sneak away!” He grabs her arm and ushers her forward towards his group.

The other boys turn around and the tallest smirks, “Looks like you’re free to go new kid,” he grabs the smaller boy by the collar of his uniform, “But don’t let me see you on this floor ever again or I’ll beat the crap out of you- understood?!”

The small boy nods rapidly and her tall classmate shoves him away.

Mina glances at the boy and wonders if he is the one Chaeyoung and Tzuyu were talking about yesterday -maybe he was Mr. Ahns grandson. He scurries to pick up his belongings and offers Mina a sympathetic look. She understood, just a few minutes ago she was ready to leave him to his doom and now he was doing the same to her. She couldn’t blame him. It was a dog eat dog world and people like them didn’t last long if they went around taking hits for other people. The tallest boy walks up to her and Mina’s eyes widen, it is the one who was always throwing things at her. The one who had thrown the paper airplane at her yesterday, she didn’t know him by name.

He sidles up close to Mina until their faces are only inches away.

“Hey, remember us? We got detention because of you yesterday and my father wasn’t too happy about that.”

Mina looks down at her feet attempting to avoid his gaze but he grabs her chin and forces her to look at him. She shies away from his strong grip, worrying that he might somehow loosen her mask.

“You caused me valuable time and an allowance. Boys,” He motions for his friends and they strip Mina of her backpack, opening it and spilling its contents on the floor. Mina stands before him, helpless, silent.

“You better watch yourself from now on Myoui and don’t mess with us, you know how we like to play our games.” He walks past her and just when Mina thinks they will leave it at that someone shoves her from behind. She lands on her hands and left knee and pain explodes up her leg to her hip.

The trio walk down the hall, laughing at her expense and shoving each other around. Despite the pain Mina stays in her fallen position, hands and knees plastered against the floor. She holds her breath, not daring to make a sound. Each second slinks by lazily and the moment seems to last an eternity as she knelt perfectly still listening to the retreating footsteps, which had muted the pounding of her pulse. She sits frozen until she is sure they are gone. When the ruckus of their banter dies down to a faraway echo Mina sits up and inhales heavily.

Today had gotten off to an amazing start, she thinks sarcastically. Mina pulls her fast bruising leg up to her chest and rubs her knee.

The sound of footsteps from the other end of the hall startled her and as she glances up she can feel the heat burning in her cheeks. They must be beyond rosy, having reached the color of a vi