02.
Hidden Wings
02.
She’s aware that she’s dreaming. She’s perfectly aware she’s asleep, and it’s around sunset. She can still hearing the bells chiming from the local church across from her small balcony, but she wants to stay asleep for a little longer.
She’s unable to exactly pinpoint the reason why she refuses to wake up, but she just has a feeling that she’ll regret it if she wakes up. She knows it sounds silly, even just mentally thinking of such thoughts, and even chuckles a little at her absurdity.
A few seconds later, there’s a loud knock on her door. Against her will, her eyes open - just as the bells stop ringing. She groans a little and quickly runs to her door, pressing her eyes against the gl.
Cautiously, she opens the door, just a fraction of the way.
There’s a petite girl with dark purple hair standing in front of her. That’s the first thing Jieun notices - her carefully curled purple hair. She notes with a smile that it suited her perfectly though. The girl’s dark, heavy eye make-up compliments the hair, and Jieun finds herself smiling back at her gummy smile.
“Hi! I’m your new neighbor, Jun Hyosung,” she cheerfully introduces herself with a small wave. Jieun can’t help but notice Hyosung has tiny hands - she almost wants to raise her hand and compare the size of their hands. “I live right next door to you, and I’m also going to be your future classmate. Himchan said that you finally moved in, so I just came by to drop this by.”
Hyosung holds a cute, floral bag in front of her and pushes it onto Jieun, sensing that her new neighbor was just about to refuse the present.
Jieun takes a small peek at the contents of the bag - a jar of the tea leaves - and bows slightly to her new neighbor. “Thank you very much for the gift; I love tea!” She exclaims. “I’m relieved to see that you’ll be my new neighbor, Hyosung. I’m Song Jieun.”
Hyosung opens to reply when she’s interrupted by deep voices.
“Are you sure you don’t want to pay her a visit? She’s pretty.”
Jieun instantly recognizes the voice.
Kim Himchan.
There’s a noticeably deeper voice, and it sends shivers down Jieun’s spine. It’s possibly the deepest voice she has ever heard in her life.
It almost scares her.
“I’m not interested, not at all,” the voice replies in a bored tone.
Even if the owner of the voice was speaking quietly, his deep voice would never allow him to get away with being unheard.
Himchan‘s voice was coming closer. “Even if you’re not interested, you should still introduce yourself to her.”
“Not interested.” He repeats.
“Hello, we can hear you!” Hyosung scoffs and turns around, her arms on her hips, squinting her eyes at Himchan.
Himchan looks away with a whistle. “Well, this isn’t awkward at all,” he mutters under his breath. He looks back at her with a casual smile. “You’re looking beautiful as always, Hyosung.”
“I can’t say the same for you,” Hyosung teases him with a small smile and flips her hair.
Raw.
That’s the first word that comes to her mind when she sees him.
He has short dark brown hair, almost black. Unlike other guys, it’s free of styling products. He’s obviously skinny, but she can faintly see the outline of his muscles on his upper arm through his jacket. His thick neck and broad shoulders doesn’t surprise her in the slightest.
He’s not one of those pretty boys - he has ruggedly handsome looks.
His eyes were striking. He possesses jet-black eyes, mysterious eyes. She wants to examine his eyes, searching for his thoughts.
Already, her attention is captured by this stranger.
Already, her curiosity is piqued.
“Oh, where are my manners?” Himchan chuckles and puts his arm around his friend, looking back at Jieun with a sly smile. “Jieun, this is Bang Yongguk. He lives directly across from you. Treat him well, won’t you? He just seems creepy, almost like a stalker, but really, he’s-”
“I’m just Bang Yongguk,” he shrugs Himchan’s arm off and shoves his hands into his pockets. He’s staring at Jieun, and her face flushes. She wants to look away, but she stares right back into him.
Into his eyes.
She wonders how long this staring contest lasts until she finally directs her attention elsewhere.
Excellent choice, she scolds herself. Stare at the wall, would you?
She has a feeling it was merely just a few seconds, but it felt like hours to her.
Exhaling a sigh of relief, she looks back at her new friend. “Hyosung, it was lovely meeting you, but I’m afraid I should really start unpacking. I’ve been putting it off for much too long, but I’d love to get to know you.”
They exchange numbers quickly, and Hyosung manages to catch Jieun by surprise by snapping a picture of her on her phone.
“I’m looking forward to our new life,” Hyosung taps her cheek slightly and smiles her gummy smile again.
She’s gorgeous.
She takes her exit, and when Jieun turns around to exchange her goodbyes with her two new aquantices, she only sees Yongguk.
“Himchan?” She calls out, completely baffled. She doesn’t recall hearing his retreating footsteps; he also doesn’t seem like the type to suddenly disappear without properly saying goodbye.
“He was hungry.”
She waits for a few seconds before realizing that was the only thing Yongguk had to offer.
“Well, I should also be-” She starts to say when she realized that he was also going to say something.
“You can go first,” Yongguk politely offers.
“I’ll just be...” She awkwardly points back to her door and nods, wishing that she didn’t seem like such a fool in front of a stranger. “...And, um, it was nice meeting you,” she blurts out, feeling her face heat up once again.
“Same,” he says.
“I hope to see you around often,” she offers a small smile and nods again.
He points out, “We do live across from each other. And we’ll be attending the same college.”
She nods yet again, feeling embarrassed and idiotic, and turns around to enter her apartment when she hears him speak again.
“I’ll see you again soon, Jieun.”
She whirls around to answer him, but he’s already shoving his key into his doorknob.
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