He’s always been a mysterious person.

Riding airplanes never fail to twitch my stomach, however, this ride is very different. It is unusual that I am not feeling a single bit of anxiety. I am so excited. It’s been 4 long years since I last caught a glimpse of his almost non-existent smile. On why he left, I don’t bother to know anymore, for at last I will be able to see him again.

Ren.

It’s the high school entrance ceremony back then. I was late because I arrived at the city on that same day too. Silly, but I chose to leave Kangreung a day before the ceremony, I didn’t want to miss my family too soon. I didn’t know that wandering on a new city would trigger a lot of different emotions inside. Excitement, homesickness, helplessness.

The high school I entered is one of Seoul’s largest. Why? The dormitory is also inside the school compound, the students are required to stay on dormitories for the entire school year because they usually come from far provinces. Or should I say “we.” We were chosen by an entrance exam and talent tests. If they like us, we pass. If our exam marks are high, we pass. I’m not that smart of a student but I am kind of a good artist. I can dance and I can paint. I wasn’t supposed to study there but it’s full scholarship, who would throw away such free and good education? No one. But because of that I wandered inside the big school for almost an hour. I was about to give up and just go back to the dorm when I saw another student sitting on a nearby bench and my hope boosted up in an instant.

He had a long blonde hair and a small physique that I thought he was a ‘she’ at first. Maybe she was also lost? Or maybe she was late? As I approached the student my heart started to beat so fast I almost couldn’t handle it. I was never good at socializing. But left with no other choice, I decided to at least say something.

“Excuse me.”

She looked at me and I swear I could bet that she’s the most beautiful person this earth has ever seen. Big brown eyes, small pointy nose, milky-white skin, perfect heart-shaped lips, she’s perfect. He has always been perfect from the very first time I laid eyes on him. If she didn’t stand up to leave I wouldn’t even know that I was staring. She began to walk too fast that I was almost running in order to catch up to her and in a blink of an eye we were standing in front of the entrance ceremony hall. I was so amazed that I ended up in front of the hall that I didn’t notice her disappear. A middle-aged woman approached me and led me to my section after I explained how I got lost and all the stuffs. The program had long started and it’s already the exam top scorer’s speech. They introduced him as Choi Minki. I had my greatest shock for that day when the student I was admiring a while ago went up the stage and was acknowledged as the top scorer of our batch. She walked toward the podium and delivered the shortest speech I’ve ever heard in my life.

“Let’s work hard.”

And with that she went down and disappeared for the second time. She had a deep voice not suitable for a female student and her chest was unbelievably flat. I don’t want to admit it but I am not an idiot to believe in my own fantasy. That moment I knew that he was not a ‘she.’

The next day was our first day in class. That time I woke up extra early in order to search for my classroom. I couldn’t afford to be late again, not in class. I was one of the first students in the classroom and as what socially awkward people do, I chose to sit on the backmost part of the room, the one near the window. Not long after that the room was already filled with a lot of noises. And then all of my classmates dashed to their chosen seats, the teacher was there. First class was homeroom and we’re asked to introduce ourselves. That’s really the first thing to do, right? One by one my classmates stood up and introduced themselves. After Kang Dongho cheerfully greeted all of us, the door swung open, revealing a poker-faced Choi Minki. He was just standing there but goosebumps started on appearing all over my body. He happened to be on the same class as I. All of us patiently waited for Dongho to finish before the teacher told Minki to go in and introduce himself.

“Good morning. I’m Choi Minki. Nice to meet you.”

We waited for him to say more but seeing that he had no plans on doing so, the teacher asked him to sit down. There were two unoccupied seats that time, one beside a girl named Min Jaein and ... I saw him looking at the empty seat beside me before proceeding. We were eyeing each other for a while before I decided to look away and continue doodling. That’s what I do when I am bored, draw anything. But I was not bored that time, I was nervous. I felt the chair move beside me and eyed sideways, he was already sitting there. I didn’t know why I was deadly nervous that time, maybe because I still couldn’t grasp the reality that the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen is a guy or he is just really scary. I didn’t know, and I never knew.

The first day went by with me having no friend at all. Talking isn’t my forte and never will it be. I enjoy observing everyone, every smiles, every teases, every cheers, everything. I even enjoy looking at nothing every once in a while, or maybe every time? What bothered me was that Choi Minki never spoke too. The silence between us against each other and against everything in the world continued for two weeks. I’d draw when we had no classes and he’d sleep. He’d sometimes continue sleeping even when there were teachers around and they wouldn’t even bother waking him up. However, that changed on the third week when we had our new Math teacher.

Minki was sleeping when he arrived and he asked me to wake Minki up. I did, I nudged his shoulders for three times and when I saw that nothing happened I gave up. The teacher didn’t notice it too, he proceeded with his lecture. Math is not my best subject nor it was my worst but that day I realized that I needed to learn a whole lot more. The numbers seemed like a new language to me. I looked at my classmates and I thought they’re feeling the same. The teacher asked us to answer a certain problem and that’s when my mind began to swirl. I hate the feeling of not understanding something I seem to understand. I was 100% sure I can understand Korean but I can’t understand the problem. We were given 10 minutes to analyze and answer the problem. The 10 minutes went by so fast and then he began scanning the room. His gaze landed on my seat, or so I thought. His eyes burned with anger when he saw Minki still sleeping soundly and he threw a chalk on his head.

PAK. I was so sure I heard a sound when the chalk hit Choi Minki’s head. The boy beside me stirred a bit and touched his head.

“Who did that?”

The teacher challenged Choi Minki to answer the problem. After dusting off his head, Minki stood up and went straight to the chalkboard. He seemed to read the problem once and began to solve it. He wrote it calmly, from the given variables to his final answer. He left the chalkboard after he boxed his final answer. The entire class waited for our teacher’s reaction, is Choi Minki’s answer wrong? Is he right? At first I doubted that he’d get the right answer, he was sleeping the whole time the teacher’s lecturing. I kind of left my mouth hanging when the teacher explained Minki’s answer on the board. His answer was right. He is really a genius. After the teacher explained he immediately left the room, and for the first time after two weeks we went home without any home work to do in Math.

Choi Minki’s unbelievable wits became big news among the freshmen. I barely had a peaceful time on that entire third week because our classmates kept on approaching our table, asking for Minki’s assistance or asking Minki to be their friend. Choi Minki never replied. He kept on ignoring the crowd. How he did that? He looked at nothing, he pretended to be sleeping, he glared at some persistent classmates but he never spoke.

Around the fourth week of classes, there was a time when he arrived first before me. I was not used in arriving later than anybody else but there he was, silently sitting on his place. I casually walked into my seat like I used to. I immediately got my sketch pad because I didn’t know what to do. It was so awkward, we’re the only ones inside the classroom. I need to draw. Before I even placed a dot on the paper I heard him cough. I was contemplating on whether to look at him or not but I decided to continue drawing.

“Excuse me, aaa…”

Did I hear him speak? I shifted my gaze from the paper to him and for the first time I saw his face this close. He was looking straight into my eyes like finding out something. He sighed when he seemed not to find out what he’s looking for and tried to speak.

“Aaa… I don’t know your name.”

So that’s it! That was his problem at that time. After I gave him my name he continued speaking.

“Jonghyun-sshi, can I… can I exchange seats with you?”

After four weeks we had our longest conversation to date, and he wanted us to exchange seats. I remember giving him a curious look and I thought about it for a while. I thought for 5 minutes? 10 minutes? I actually didn’t know, all I know was that I could feel him staring at me. What if I disagreed, would he be angry to me? I didn’t dare rejecting his request, I nodded and gave him a small smile before putting the sketch pad on his side and standing to go to his seat. When we finally made ourselves comfortable on our new seats, I continued drawing. When I was so absorbed in drawing, I felt a nudge on my shoulder.

“Thank you Jonghyun-sshi.” Minki said and smiled.

I did not know that by giving him my seat I’d be able to see him smile for the first time. Remembering his smile that time still gives me a tingling feeling. I’m going to see that smile again, aren’t I? The plane’s about to land right now and I really can’t wait to see him again.

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So how was it? Sorry because it's short? So JR's reminiscing here okay, that's why there's the scene in the plane in the first and last part of this chapter and the school in the middle part. He'll be doing that until he meets Ren, I guess? And I finished doing this at 6am. T^T Well, my mind's most awake at night 'til dawn. Next update will be later, hopefully. Lemme know what you think, okay? I won't bite. ^~^

nowplaying: Good Night - NELL