“Class, who could translate these words to Japanese?” asked Ms. Hyori. You looked up at the whiteboard. You read ‘my name is ____’, ‘nice to meet you’ and ‘pleased to make your acquaintance’.

Your first class that next day is Japanese class for two hours. The only person who is interested is Han Chan Mi, with her blonde curls and high-heeled shoes. She had been raising her hand for an hour now and answering all questions of Ms. Hyori. Obviously, she can speak Japanese very well. She boasted that she and her father had lived there for two years because of this Japanese movie his father is going to direct. No one seems to know the answer to Ms. Hyori’s queastion besides her or maybe the others are just too scared to steal the spotlight from Chan Mi.

“Anyone, beside from Cha Mi…” she said, ignoring Chan Mi’s raised hand.

“It’s Chan Mi, with an ‘N’, not Cha Mi. Who has a name like that?” She said, rolling her eyes from the teacher.

What’s her problem? Does she have her period today? You thought to yourself as you looked at the bully. Just then she turned to you and looked at you sternly. You quickly avoided her gaze and just stare at what you have been doing during the whole class – composing. The teacher has been looking for someone to call now for recitation. You have no interest when suddenly you heard your name being called.

“Min Yeon, how about you, our new student? I think you have some Japanese characteristic inside of you. Why don’t we give it a try…stand up please.” she said as she approached you on your table. Everyone turned around quickly to look at you. Even Ms. Queen Bee is looking at you, with one eyebrow raised.

“Uhh…I don’t know Jap…wait.” You said as you were beginning to get up from your chair. There was something in your memory that you could not remember, it was like you had been in Japan before and knows Japanese, too. You stared at the whiteboard and registered the words written.

“I think…” you said, hesitantly. You don’t want to embarrass yourselves in front of your classmates.

“Go on, there’s no harm in trying. Put your name in the blank” Ms. Hyori encouraged.

“Watashi wa Min Yeon desu. Hajimemae. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!” you said it as if you are a Japanese yourself. Your classmates all clapped except for Chan Mi who was shocked. Its seems speaking Japanese fluently is a rare skill in this school. Your teacher was surprised and said “Very good! A natural! You’re not half-Japanese are you?”

You were surprised, too, at yourself. “No I’m not.” You answered as you took your seat.You are now doubting what you have answered.

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“Oh no! I’m late! This is so embarrassing to Jino. He must be sooo mad right now. Excuse me…oh sorry.” You said as you were running the hall. The class after Japanese was Math, and if there is one thing you don’t like…then this is it. You were never a fan of Math. The teacher made the class answer an activity that must be finished before going home. You were the last one to finish and its 15 minutes after the dismissal. You were about to turn into a corner when… BANG!

“Ouch…that hurts! I’m sorry!” you said after you fell. You bumped into somebody and he’s not happy.

“Aish! Are you blind? That's gonna leave some bruise...I have known the bump technique of some girls here. Believe me, there are more before you. Don’t try anything dumb like this ever again. You’re only embarrassing me and yourself!” He said as he picked up his stuff. You just stared at him because he seems familiar.

He quickly took off, not looking back and not offering some help to you, who was still on the floor. You tried to get up and touched your because it was the part that’s hit the floor. You grabbed your bag and some notebooks that were scattered. You didn’t mean to bump into him but he thinks you did. Well, there is nothing you could do now.

“What happened to you?” Jino said, founding you on the floor arranging your things. He helped you get up.

“Uh, I kind of bumped into somebody and I made him mad. I said I was sorry because I was running. But he won’t accept it. He just took off.” You said sadly.

“Where is he? I want to talk to him.” Jino said angrily. It was kind of sweet to know that he wants to protect you.

“Forget it. C’mon. We should go now so we can have more time to practice.” You said, getting his arm and dragging him along with you to the school doors. You left your bike and went in to Jino’s car. He can drive but he’s not yet allowed. He said when he turned 18, his father can let him buy the car he wants and let him drive it. As you had the trip to his house, you showed him your compositions.

“Woah!” he said. His eyes were so big when you took out bunch of music sheets from the envelope.

“What?” you said, curiously. You were surprised by his big eyes.

“You composed all of these?” he said, holding the music sheets.

“Uhm, yeah. Why?” you asked, not really getting his point.

“Then you must be a genius!” he complimented as he scans through the papers. “Oh! We’re here now.”

When he said that, you looked at the window and your eyes got big like Jino’s. What you saw was not a house, rather, a mansion, like SNSD’s. When you looked at Jino, he said “Forgot to tell you, my father the vice president of SMent.”

“Are there more things you forgot to tell me?”

“Nope. Only that one.” He said, smiling. There it is again, his smile. You stared at it for the moment but you quickly stared at the window again, looking at his huge house. You thought he didn’t see it, but he did and that made him smile again.

“Are your parents home?” you said nervously.

“No. They are never home so this is kind of MY house. Why are you worried? Its not like you’re my girlfriend or anything.” He laughed as he said that.

“No its just…never mind.” It is sad to think that his parents are not there for him. You followed him and he led you to a grand piano. You felt the connection again for the grand piano. You immediately approached it and ignored Jino. He smiled as he saw you smile, sitting on the chair and the keys of the piano. You played something that caught his attention.

“What is that you’re playing?” he said as he sat with you on the chair.

Your playing was disturbed and you were surprised when you saw him beside you. “Oh…its One Year Later. It’s a duet.”

“I like the melody. Please sing it for me…please please!” he said as he begged like a child.

“Oh man! Okay…but don’t laugh when I’m finished!” you hesitated but agreed, giving in to his aegyo

You keyed in the first notes and played again. While you were playing, he got up and searched through your music sheets. He found the song and listened. He was deeply surprised on how amazing your voice was. After you sang the female part, he motioned for you to go on. You continue playing, not knowing what he’d do. He can read notes, so he sang the male’s part. He sang it beautifully, even though you didn’t teach him the song, yet. It was in the bridge that you both sang and your voices matched pretty well. You were both surprised and just smiled. You looked at each other while singing and it gave you butterflies in your stomach. You stared at each other until the end of the song.

“You didn’t tell me you have a superb voice.” He complimented, sitting again next to you.

“I told you, I don’t like singing. We may not win if I joined in. Yours was more outstanding. You should pick a song now. What about – ” you said as you got up from the piano chair and searched through your music sheets.

“Look, we need to make sacrifices here. Dong Woo and Chan Mi have amazing voices and if they are doing a duet, we should, too. We may not win if I will be the only one to sing. You have an excellent voice and you should be proud of that.” He said, putting his hands on your shoulder.

You don’t know why but tears were flowing down from your eyes. He became worried. “Hey, I’m sorry. Okay okay. I’ll sing. Just don’t cry.” He said, wiping your tears.

You then laughed. “It’s not you. Jino, I haven’t been totally honest with you, too.” You told him about the accident, about you living with SNSD, about you being a scholar and every detail of the past weeks. You became emotional at that moment and Jino just listened and comforted you.

“So your mother is Ms. Park Yeon Hee. Now I know where this amazing talent of yours came from. Min Yeon, if you don’t want to sing, that’s alright. I’ll just do my best to win! Now, stop crying. Your eyes are becoming puffy and red!” he laughed and handed you a tissue. You, too, laughed but you don’t want him to be the only one sacrificing a lot. You, then, saw a guitar and had an idea.

“No, we will sing this song. But you should play the guitar.” You said, getting the instrument from the corner.

“What?!”

“Sacrifices, right?” you said as you handed him the guitar, smiling.

“Oh Men!”he said, mimicking you. "Okay! C’mon lets practice now."

The song is just easy to pick up, the problem was the notes are very high, especially for the female part. You encouraged each other to get the high-pitched notes. For hours, you had been practicing. It was kind of late when you finished. You realized that SNSD members would be worrying about you now. Jino said he already asked his helper to get your bike from school. The helper will just follow from Jino’s house to yours. You were very much thankful. You packed up your things but you noticed something missing.

“Did you see my activity notebook in Math? I know I put it here somewhere.” You said as you searched your bag. Jino shook his head. “Oh, never mind!” you said, getting out of the door of his house.

During the drive, Jino and you talked about many things. You both learned things about each other. Suddenly, the driver said that you have arrived. The driver entered the car into the house’s gates and parked it just outside the door. Just then, the girls started coming out of the house, probably curious of the car.

“Oh no! They will ask me many questions…” you said, very much worried. “You want to come in and let me introduce you to them? This could prevent them from asking me.”

“No, its okay. You could just tell them that…uhm…I have tutored you in math!” he said, thinking very hard on excuse.

“Right! Hope that works…bye! Thanks for the ride.” You said as you get out from the car. He waved goodbye and drove off.

“Min Yeon! You have a boyfriend already? Why didn’t you tell us?” Sooyoung said as she approached.

“Because I don’t, unnie! He’s just a friend who helped me in math.” You explained as you pass through them and entered the house.

“What is his name? Is he cute?” Jessica asked, showing interest in the topic.

“His name is Jino Cho. He’s kind of cute, but I said, he’s just a friend. I will get upstairs now.” you said, already ascending the stairs to hide your red face.

“Look, Min Yeon is blushing!” said Taeyeon who was pointing at you.

“Unnie! Stop it! Min Yeon, come down for dinner okay?” Seohyun said, who was protecting you. You nodded as you went to your room.

“Hey, stop teasing her. She’s only 17. She’s still innocent and we should protect her.” Seohyun reprimanded the girls like she was the leader. The girls were awed to what their magnae is saying. When dinner was served, you were thankful that they didn’t brought up that topic again. Instead they asked you how your schooling was. You said about the Japanese class and about Hee Joo. They were surprised about you speaking Japanese. It was a fun dinner…

But you left the part about being bullied and challenged to the SEA Academy seasonal show…

That night, you prayed to God that He would help you and Jino win to avoid the bullies. you hoped that, tomorrow will be a good day. :)

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please comment...i need to know what you guys think! thanks...God bless... :)