Chapter Two
SECOND LOVE
First day in campus.
Yeah, it was a brand new day for me. I just wanted to forget everything about my past. Actually, it was still so painful to recall. He was the first love for me. But he destroyed everything. I just couldn’t stand him anymore. I was sick of being his sandsack. I had a hard time to deal with my family at that time just to be with him. And it took a moment for my family to accept my preference. But what did he do? Sigh. What a wonderful thing to start a morning. Thinking about something I should forget.
Great. Cheer up, Yesung!
After getting ready, I went downstairs to have breakfast with the family who were already there.
“Morning!”, I greeted them.
“Morning, sweety. Ready to go?”, My aunt asked me.
“Yup. Waaaaaaah, kimchiiiiiiiiii...”, I squealed, “ It feels amazing to have kimchi in a country other than mine. Haha”.
I started to enjoy the Korean dishes in front of me. It turned out that my aunt had prepared them to welcome me. I felt grateful.
“Thank you, Imo. Your kimchi is the best!”, I told her with a big smile.
“You’re welcome dear, glad that you like it. Ah, Yesungie, you will go to school with Kevin. Right, Kevin?”, Aunt asked.
Kevin looked at me then said, “Yeah. Sure. I’ll be your bodyguard 24/7. Haha. Just kidding”.
I smiled at his joke. “Thank you”, I said.
We were in his car on the way to the college we attended to when Kevin suddenly said,
“I know why you’re here. Your hyung told me. We chatted once in a while online.”
“Is that so? Heechul hyung, really...” I said
“Why? You don’t like the fact that I know your story?,”
I looked at the window and sighed, “No,that’s not it. I just feel uncomfortable that someone other than my brother knows everything.”
“Then just treat me as your brother, will you? Just start to call me ‘hyung’.”
I suddenly looked at him and smile, “Hyung...”
He mirrored my smile and said, “That’s better. Your hyung asked me to take care of you after all. Hehe.”
I was standing in front of the huge extravagant gate of my campus with an awe.
Kevin, ah,, Kev hyung helped me to take my time table and guided me to my first class. He tapped my shoulder and said,
“Well, good luck, dongsaeng.”
After thanking him, I entered my class and took a seat in the middle. I took a glance in my surrounding and saw that some of the students were already here. It was a kind of International College actually, so there were so many Asians went to this university. The first half of class went well, until suddenly someone entered the classroom confidently and said,
“Sorry I’m late, Mam.”
The lecturer responded him, “Well, at least you come, young man. And what is your excuse this time ?”
“I actually woke up early this morning and when I got ready to school, my cat got sick. It didn’t move at all.
I panicked. Then I took it to the veterinarian. And you know what Mam? The nearest vet was off duty,
so I have to run to another vet which was about 5 kilometers away. It was exhausting. Did you see my sweat?
So, may I sit now?,” the guy at the front explained
“Oh Really? Should I believe that story?”, the lecturer asked
“Of course. You love cat, don’t you? If you see a cat dying in front of you, will you just ignore it?
That’s so inhuman Mam”, the guy tried to persuade her
“That’s true. I agree with you, Mr. Cho. But the problem is, you said that your cat was dead last week as an excuse for your neverending late. So, how many cats do you have exactly?”
I looked up to see this amusing conversation between my lecturer and the guy who came late.
That guy just shrugged his shoulder hearing the question and answered, “Ah, did I? That’s my third cat.
Well, my house is a kind of shelter for cats by the way.”
The lecturer couldn’t stand his behavior and she already knew that this was only his another lame excuse then said,
“Just SIT DOWN Mr. Cho. And if you don’t want to repeat this subject again, you should try to find more reasonable excuse to save your life here.”
The guy answered, “Yes Mam. I will buy a dog next time. Thank you.”
Everybody in the classroom laughed and the lecturer just shook her head. Ah, so he was a repeater. That Mr. Cho walked passed me and sat right behind me. I found it familiar when I see his face. I started to think when and where I saw him. Did I see him in Korea? Then I heard two people talking behind me. I didn’t intend to eavesdrop but they were right behind me.
“Ya, Kyu. You’re late again, man. What did you do? Did you wait her all night long again at the airport?
You should stop, man. She’ll never come back. Just face it.” Someone said
So, the guy who was late named Kyu. Cho Kyu? I didn’t have any friends with that name. So, where did I see him?
Wait,,, airport? Did I just hear he was waiting in an airport?
Flashback
"Excuse me, do you know where the Alpenstreet is?"
"Shut your mouth up, you !"
I suddenly realized that it was him. That rude guy. Oh God, why should I meet him here again? And classmates? I had a bad feeling about this. Then I heard that Cho Kyu answered,
“Just shut up. It’s not your business, Kang. She’ll come back. She said she will come back.”
“But for how long will you stay and sleep in that airport? Jihyo noona broke up with you, didn’t she?”
“Listen Julien Kang. We were not breaking up. She just said that she wanted to visit her family in Korea.
She’ll come back, you got that? And if you still see me as your buddy, you should support me all the way.”
Julien Kang sighed and said, “If you said so.”
“Good boy.”
I couldn’t believe that I heard that conversation. He was love sick. So, that explained his rude behavior to me that time.
But still, I couldn’t accept the way he said that curse word to me.
“I guess he is naturally rude. End of discusssion.”, I mumbled
Well, I thought I said it in a very low voice so I was the only one who hear it.
But, I was wrong.
“What did you say?”, I heard someone asked that question
I startled and thought, Did he talk to me?
I decided to ignore it, maybe it was’t for me anyway.
“Hey you blondie over there. What did you say?” a question rose again
Blondie? Was that me? Well, I was indeed a blond. Aish, I was in trouble.
“Hey, did you hear me? No? You should take off your helmet so that you can hear when someone is talking to you, brat.”
What? I lost my patience and turned around,
“Excuse me? Helmeeeet?,” I asked with a glare
“Why? No helmet? So what is that in your head? A pail? Oh no, it’s just your head. A king-sized head.” He said with a smirk
“Whaaattt? You... “, I didn’t have a chance to finish my sentence when my lecturer shouted,
“Well, gentlemen, Is this a market? If you two want to have a decent discussion, you should do it outside of my class. Do you understand? And for Mr Cho, Why do you always love to make a scene?”
“I’m sorry Mam. We’re just talking about the cats. He wants to buy one of my cats, Mam.” He said
“The cats? AGAIN?” she shouted once again
I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I interrupted, “No, Mam. I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to make a scene.”
“And what is your name young man?”
“Yesung. Kim Yesung, Mam. I’m Korean.” I told her
“I can see that. And I can see that you are more interested in Mr. Cho’s cats than my lecture. Is that so?”
“No, Mam. I’m sorry once again,” I lowered my head
“May I continue the lecture now?”, she asked
“Of course, Mam.”
I ended the conversation and heard that rude guy whispered, “BABO!” and then laughed with his friend.
Oh great. Just great, Kim Yesung. What a day! I felt stupid to fall into his trap. He was not only rude but also annoying. I just ruined my first day in campus. It was all his fault. That Cho. Just like what I thought before, I had a bad feeling if meeting him here. The whole class laughed at me. I’ve been recognized and scolded by my lecturer in our first meeting. Well, not in a good way to be exact. I was still grumbling on my way back to the parking lot where Kev hyung parked his car. Fortunately, there was just one subject today. Wait a minute. Would I see him everyday? Would I meet him in my every subject? ‘Noooo waaaay’, I pulled my hair with rage. Oh my beautiful college day. My wonderful brand new day.
Arriving at the parking lot, I could see Kev hyung had waited for me. Seeing my dark face, he asked what happened to me. I just told him that I had a bad day. He laughed at me and told me that he couldn’t believe I got a bad day in my first day when I had no one I knew yet. Then he told me that he had to go somewhere first to buy a book for his final project’s reference. I just said yes. I didn’t have anything to do anyway. So I just followed him around. When he entered the book store, I decided to sightsee at the music store. I put on the headphone and played the music I would buy later. I enjoyed the music and didn’t realize I closed my eyes and followed the beat. I drown into the music and didn’t care about my surrounding. Then I felt someone patted my . I jolted and put off the headphone. I glare at him. A foreigner I didn’t know at all.
“Excuse me. What were you just doing?” I asked angrily
“Nice move,” he said with a grin in his face
I pushed him and stormed out of the store immediately. I never did any harm to other people but what had just happened to me? I was molested? I might be gay but I was not easy. That ert old man looked like he just wanted to jump on me. What the hell?
“Yesung! Where are you going?", Kevin hyung asked
“Hyung! Let’s just go home hyung. I, I,,, just, “ I panted due to the running
“Hey, easy, easy, what’s the problem?”
I took a deep breath and tried to explain.
“I was just molested in the music store by an old erted foreigner,” I said
“What? How could that happened?”
“He, he, he t..t..touched my . Right here”, I pointed at my, yeah, you know where.
“Where is he now?”
I shook my head, “I don’t know. I ran straight away and I forgot to buy the Maroon 5 album. Ah, damn it!”.
“Yesung, you’re really interesting. You can attract an old man? Well, you’re beautiful enough for a man. Maybe he thought you were a girl. Just be careful next time, kay?” he patted my head
I just nodded and we went back home.
I just stared at my ceiling thinking about what happened today. I met twice with that rude guy and both were in unpleasant ways. And I was molested by some random guy in the music store. All those happened in my very first day outside the house. I thought I would try not to grab any attention next time. But I didn’t do anything. Sigh.
~~~
The next morning...
I didn’t have any class until the 2nd period. So I could take my time preparing. I thought I wanted to have breakfast in the cafetaria since I didn’t have the chance to go there yesterday. After saying goodbye I went to school with Kevin hyung.
The cafetaria was full of students since it was the end of the first period. I bought the foods and brought them to the seat where Kevin hyung chose. I stepped slowly but because the cafetaria was so crowded I had a hard time to reach my hyung. Then suddenly I bumped into someone,
“What the ?”, someone yelled
“Oh God, sorry, I didn’t see you coming”, I apologized repeatedly
“Are you crazy? Ouch, I smell like a soup!”, he said
“Sorry, I... “, I looked up and TADAAAA! Oh no, it was him. Again.
Now Playing: Payphone - Maroon 5
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