You may play the music if you like. It might help you feel the mood of the story.

It was a sullen afternoon when he met her. Well, not really met but rather, when he first saw her. No, she wasn’t the most beautiful girl at school; she’s not even as popular as the others, but what is it about her that caught his attention? He doesn’t know. Is it her pretty eyes? Her bright smile? Or is it simply her presence that seemed to light up the hall of that gloomy day. Maybe.

Choi Seung Hyun’s love for his grandfather is like that of a son to his father, so you could only imagine how devastated he was when he found out that he was brought to the hospital.

“He had a heart attack. I’m so glad that your brother was there so he was immediately brought to the hospital.” Mrs. Choi said through the phone.

Seung Hyun sighed, “Thank God!”

“No need to worry now son, he’ll be fine.” His mother said with a bit of cheer in her voice.

“Yes mom, thanks, bye!” He said then ended the call.

 “So, is he going to be fine?” His friend, Youngbae, asked.

Seung Hyun nodded and smiled.

“That’s great then! Shall we go meet GD and the others?”

“Let’s go!” He said as the two of them went on their way.

Seung Hyun inserted his two hands into the pockets of his pants and sighed. Yes, he was glad that his grandfather will be fine, but he can’t help but worry about him. He looked out of the windows as they walked. It was cloudy that day. Even the weather seems to be sad too. He sighed again and reverted back his attention on the hallway. As they marched the corridors of the school, they passed by a lot of other students. His mind was off to nowhere and his eyes were wandering as well. Two girls were walking opposite their way. Their laughs made him look at their direction. His eyes met one of the girls’. As he stared at them for what seemed to be a short amount of seconds, he couldn’t help but notice that she smiled at him. When he realized that he was staring at a stranger, he quickly removed his gaze and looked down feeling quite ashamed. Did she just… smile at me? He asked himself.

“Yo! You okay?” Youngbae asked, noticing how Seung Hyun seemed to be having a battle with his thoughts.

“Uhm, yeah! Yeah!” Seung Hyun replied, smiling.

Youngbae laughed.

***

Since that day, Seung Hyun has always been on the lookout for that girl who smiled at him. He grew fond of her as he saw more of her every day. He found out from some sources that her name is Park Bom and she’s taking up Psychology. Because he wasn’t sure if she really did smile at him, he still hasn’t gathered the courage to talk to her yet, but one day, they fortunately meet.

Seung Hyun was walking at the school corridor one Monday morning. He saw Park Bom walking towards him.

“Annyeong!” Bom waved.

Seung Hyun was surprised but he somehow felt excited. He waved back, “A-Annyeong!”

Bom suddenly had a question mark look on her face. Seung Hyun was confused. He looked behind him and saw a girl laughing.

His face turned red. He felt so embarrassed.

“Uhm, oh, yeah, of course you were waving at her,” He laughed, “I was just joking.”

Bom laughed then she and her friend continued to walk away.

Seung Hyun ran his hand on his hair and laughed at himself, “Nice one Seung Hyun, nice one.”

That afternoon, he was eager to meet her – like really meet her, meaning, to introduce himself properly.

Seung Hyun saw her walking towards the lockers. Just as planned. He thought as he walked at the opposite side. Suddenly, she stopped walking and made a left turn at the next corridor. What? She always went to her locker! Aish! He quickened his pace and went right. Again, the two of them were now walking from opposite directions. There were a few students sharing the same corridor with them. What is she going to do there? He thought as he followed her with his eyes when she went inside the office of the administrator. He stayed at that corridor and waited for her to come out. He was about to leave when she finally emerged, but to his dismay, she was walking fast and went directly back to her room. He sighed as he leaned on the wall next to the door of her classroom. After a while, he decided to just leave, but when he turned to his left, he bumped into someone. Seung Hyun only realized this when he looked at the floor and saw books and papers scattered. “M-Mianhe…” He kept on saying as he picked them.

“It’s fine.” She said kindly.

Seung Hyun paused for a while and looked at the girl behind him.

She felt him staring at her, so she looked at him and smiled, “Oh, you’re that guy earlier.”

“U-Uh, yeah, that’s me…” He said shyly, “Again, I’m really sorry.” He apologized as the two of them stood back up.

She nodded, “Thank you for helping me.”

Seung Hyun scratched the back of his head feeling quite shy, “It’s my fault anyway.”

She stretched out her hand and offered it to him, “I’m Park Bom by the way.”

He was surprised and was not able to process immediately what was happening. He finally gathered his thoughts and shook her hand, “Uhm, I’m Seung Hyun, Choi Seung Hyun!”

Bom laughed at his silliness, “It’s nice meeting you, Seung Hyun.”

“You too.” He smiled. You don’t know how nice it is to finally meet you.

“What were you doing here, by the way?” She asked.

“Me? Well, I was just looking for someone.”

She nodded then she looked at her wrist watch, “Oh, I should be going, bye!” She said as she turned to leave.

“Bye!”

***

The following day…

Seung Hyun went to school early, hoping to meet Bom somewhere there. He went past the classrooms, where she should be in, several times that day but wasn’t able to catch a glimpse of her. He kept on looking for her but he just couldn’t seem to find her.

“Excuse me.” Seung Hyun said, approaching a girl who just came from the Statistics class.

“Yes?” The girl said.

“Sorry to bother you, have you seen Park Bom?”

“Uhm, no, I think she was absent.”

“Oh… Thanks.” He said.

Seung Hyun went home that day feeling sad, but this feeling grew even worse when Bom didn’t go to school again. He wanted to ask the director of the school and confirm if she’s really not coming back, but how could he? Who is he to ask about that? Whenever he walked towards the lockers, he would usually see Bom there, but now, he could only imagine her presence. As he took some books from his locker, he paused and remembered how they met. He sighed feeling pitiful for himself. Seung Hyun, how could you fall for a girl you barely even knew?