Ignore them.  

It was Monday morning, the day after the first episode of Sundae Romance had been broadcasted. The moment I walked into school, a sudden wave of silence went over everyone. The entire weekend I had mentally prepared myself for the shocked faces for everyone. But nothing could have prepared me this.

Everywhere I went, people would literally stop and stare. I'd love to say it was because I looked stunningly beautiful today but I highly doubted so.

"Mi Young!" Hye Sung called out to me from across the courtyard as she ran over to where I had settled down with my lunch.

I looked up at her for a moment, saw everyone staring back at me, and quickly looked back down. 

"What's with your sudden interest in sandwiches?" Hye Sung said as she took a seat next to me.

I chuckled but refused to raise my head. Sensing my refusal to look up, she sighed.

"You know, if you didn't want the attention, you shouldn't have auditioned for it in the first place."

Ah, there goes the merciless Hye Sung with her bluntness.

"It's not that I don't want the attention - I'm fine with it quite honestly. I just...liked it better when nobody noticed me. Guess it's a bit too late to realize that now, huh." Giving her a sad smile, I took a bite from my sandwich.

Hye Sung sighed but leaned over to give me a side hug.

"You know, I watched the show. The whole feel of it as compared to 'We Got Married' was entirely different. It felt so much more sincere," she paused and pulled back.

"What I'm trying to say is, you're not trying to be someone else. Not a star; not a celebrity. You're just being yourself, actually. And if everyone gets jealous of you for some reason, they're just being unreasonable." 

I gave her a puzzled look.

She huffed and started again. "The problem doesn't lie with you - that's what I'm trying to say. They only stare at you because you're on television, so don't feel so bothered by the looks they're giving you. It'll pass, trust me." 

I ran her words throug my brain and decided that she did have a point. In no way was I trying to be someone else around Min Ho. If Hye Sung could see how honest I was trying to be, I could only hope that everyone else could too.

As the day went on, I managed to distance my mind from the topic of "Everyone Is Staring At Me". Setting my mind on listening during classes managed to keep me busy.

With my national exams in a few months time, I promised myself to work harder. Getting married to an idol wasn't going to get me my As. 

All was well until Korean history class, the very last period of the day. I had thought I had successfully passed the day without any hitches but apparently, my classmates had other plans. 

When our previous teacher had left the class, everyone immediately swiveled in their chairs to look at me. Hye Sung, who was sitting on the other side of the classroom immediately casted me a wary look.

"Lee Mi Young, we saw you on TV yesterday night. That was you, wasn't it?" Im Sun Hee spoke loudly from her seat.

Im Sun Hee was your typical snob - had rich parents, the perfect boyfriend and her little troupe of followers. It was only common sense that she would feel threatened by someone who could actually out-do her. And in this case, I was unfortunately that someone.

"Yes, it was." I said, looking at her in the eye.

I had to remain calm and composed in order to survive this ordeal

"You think you're so great just because you're married to an idol, huh?" She mistook my courage for pride and accused me.

"I didn't mean to sound proud, I just -" Desperately trying to explain myself, I managed to stutter half of what I was thinking before she cut me off.

"Save it. I'm just here to warn you on behalf of all of us students that you better know your place. You might be some star every Sunday night, but during school hours, you're just a student like the rest of us. Before you were on the show, I hardly even knew you existed. I just knew there was this brown-haired rebel that tried so hard to be noticed. You think by defying the school rules that you're all that? Please," she too a deep breath before continuing her verbal abuse.

"You're a nobody, okay? Nobody. You were a nobody and even if you're on television now, you're still a nobody."

I stated at her. Did this girl just...bully me? In plain sight? My eyebrows furrowed and i clenched my fists tight. Do not claw out. Don't.

Sun Hee suddenly gave me a disgustingly sweet smile, "Oops. That was a bit harsh, huh. I didn't mean to be so mean. I just wanted to help everyone convey their messages to you." With one last smug look, she turned back round in her seat.

The rest of my classmates either glared or bit their lip awkwardly after that and turned around as well.

I was on the verge of lunging at the little witch when our history teacher entered the classroom. 

"Mi Young, is something the problem?" She asked, seeing as I was the only one standing up.

"I'd like to be excused to the toilet, teacher." Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself down.

She was slightly annoyed at my timing seeing that I could've gone before she entered the classroom. Albeit her annoyance, she excused me. Flying out of the room, I only pause to give Hye Sung a reassuring look that I wasn't about to have a emotional meltdown.

I might punch a few people along the way but definitely no tears. 

***

"Damn..WITCH! DIE IN HELL! DIE! I HATE YOU! HOW. DARE. YOU. ARGH!" 

I screamed over and over as I punched the beat up the ragged red punchbag.

After getting excused from class, I decided not to return. I had walked past the martial arts practice room by chance on the way to the toilet and decided to vent my anger on one of their battered punch bags. See, I usually wasn't the violent type. I strongly believed that violence was never the answer. But every time I thought about Sun Hee's words, I just felt like strangling the daylights out her. Any girl in my place would've probably been in one of the washrooms bawling out her eyes, but strangely enough, I felt the direct opposite.

I felt like I was wrongly accused by her. I didn't deserve this kind of treatment. Damn it, I haven't even done anything to Min Ho yet and everyone was already going mad?!

" GOSH! FINE! SINCE YOU GUYS WANT ME TO BE THE BAD GUY. I'LL DO ALL KINDS OF WEIRD THINGS WITH...MINHO. THEN YOU GUYS CAN...OSTRACISE AND HATE ME FOR A REASON."

I huffed when I was done ranting and slid to the floor, resting my head against the bag.

"I'm quite fearful that you're going to use those punches on a real person." A voice suddenly called out from the darkness of the room.

"Oh my gosh!" I cried out loud, quickly clinging on to the punching bag for comfort.

The lights suddenly flicked on and a young man of about my age came into sight. He was leaning against the wall on my left by the light switch and had his arms crossed, a big grin plastered on his face. He emitted a boyish charm and had on my school's uniform; I had never seen him around school before.

"Would you like to explain why you sneaked into our practice room, Ms Lee Mi Young?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in my direction.

How did he know my name. Only two kinds of strangers would know your name. One, a stalker. Two, telemarketers. I highly doubted he was a telemarketer.

But wait. He said ‘our practice room’. Oh lord, was this a place where all kinds of stalkers from all walks of life came together to train to become more agile, mysterious and creepy? And this guy was probably their leader!

I needed to leave right now or I could say goodbye to my life.

"I need to leave, like now." I said to him, trying to play it cool while inching towards the entrance.

He gave me a confused look but quickly recovered and continued to smirk. 

"You're not going anywhere until you explain why you were using our practice room without permission." He was starting to walk towards me.

My eyes widened in shock. Crap! I needed to escape somehow.

"Look! It's Min Ho!" I cried, pointing at the window nearby.

"What...?" Mr Creepy Pants said, turning his head to look.

The minute he looked away, I immediately took off and ran out of the practice room. 

I didn't know how far I ran, but I do know that when I finally stopped to take a breath, I was almost two bus stops away from my school.  Didn't know which stalker was so dimwitted to have fallen for my trick, but I do know I never wanted to see him again.

After my encounter with Mr Creepy Pants on Monday, I was extra cautious when I was at school. It was Saturday evening and I was out with Hye Sung at Hong Dae and I was still unable to forget about my frightening encounter with him. But perhaps it was a blessing in disguise for my brain was so preoccupied with avoiding him that I was completely oblivious to everyone around me. Including Sun Hee and everyone else who stared at me when I walked by.

Hye Sung was amused when I told her I had a stalker and failed to believe me even after explaining my theories of the martial arts practice room being a meet up place for stalkers. She said I was just being crazy and paranoid because of all the attention I was getting; I could tell she was on her wit’s end with me.

As we trudged on in silence, I stuffed my hands in pocket and pouted. I couldn’t believe Hye Sung didn’t believe me! Even as we strolled through the busy shopping district, many passerbys turned to look at me, some recognizing me instantly, others not quite able to put a finger on where they had seen me. Hye Sung and I tried to ignore the looks everyone was giving us – and I thought school was bad. I swear I even saw one teenage girl take her phone out and snap a picture of us.

“Hey! It’s you!” A voice suddenly called out, making me stop in my tracks.

Oh my gosh! It was him!

Standing in the distance by a hotdog stall was Mr Creepy Pants in the flesh.

“Hye-Hye Sung…we need to run.” I muttered, my eyes widening in horror as he advanced towards us.

“What? Why?” She asked, looking up from her phone to look at the direction I was staring in.

“Mr Creepy Pants…that’s him!” I cried, quickly turning to dash off but Hye Sung quickly clutched my forearm and pulled me back.

“He’s…Mr Creepy Pants?” She asked, humour lighting up her eyes.

I nodded my head slowly, not sure why she looked like she was about to laugh. But when she did, I just stood on the spot and stared at her. Was she feeding me to the lions? What was she doing! But still, Hye Sung continued to laugh at me.

“What?! He’s coming and if you don’t let go of me right now, he’s going kill us both.” I accented the last word and tried to let her sense my urgency.

She stopped laughing and smiled at me, “Pabo. He’s not a stalker, okay? He’s the President of the Martial Arts Club, Hwang Jin Young. That’s why he wanted to know why you were using their practice room when you aren’t a member.” She explained slowly to me like I was five.

“Oh,” I simply said.

“But! But he knew my name!  Why would he know my name!” I cried out, turning to run away again.

“Lee Mi Young. You were on national television and you’re married to an idol. Tell me, who wouldn’t know your name?” Hye Sung asked, just as Jin Young came up to us.

“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you here.” He said, flashing the both us a big smile.

I grunted but Hye Sung politely bowed and said her greetings. Wanting to be as far away from him as possible, I tugged on Hye Sung’s sleeve, signaling to her that I still didn’t trust him.  Hye Sung turned to me and gave me a small glare as though to tell me to behave. Giving her one last eye roll, I released her arm.

“You know what? I’m going to go over there and erm, look at stuff. You guys talk,” I said hastily. Leaving the two of them in the middle of the bustling street, I walked towards a row of small road side stores that were selling beautiful Christmas décor and little trinkets even though Christmas was nearly a month away.

Bending down slightly to look at the small ceramic figures on display, I grinned in surprise when my eyes met a particular figurine. It was a puppy with a red Santa hat slung over it’s head, covering half of one of its big brown eyes. It immediately reminded of Min Ho’s big eyes, glittering away under the bright lights of the stadium. Warmth immediately coursed through my body at the thought of his face. Getting gifts for each other during Christmas was something couples did, right?

“Ahjumma, how much for this figurine?” I asked, picking up the adorable figurine.

“10,000 won. But if you buy a set, I’ll sell it to you at 15,000 won.” She picked up another figurine that was beside the one I had picked up.

It was a puppy as well but seemed to be a lady one, with long lashes framing her eyes. It was so cute that I wanted to get it as well, but decided against it.

“It’s okay. This is for someone else,” I smiled. Of course I thought that if I bought the lady one then we would have matching ones…but that would be a bit over-done, huh.

The ahjumma smiled and proceeded to wrap up my purchase in bubble wrap and place it in a baby blue box. Passing her my money, I thanked her before leaving.  Wanting to return to where I had left Hye Sung and Jin Young, I turned around and started to walk towards the direction of where they were.

After walking for about five minutes, I found it a bit strange that I hadn’t caught sight of them. Come to think of it, where I was did not look anything like where Hye Sung and I had been when we met Jin Young. Panic started to rise in my chest as I frantically looked everywhere for them. Being new to this country, many places to me were still very foreign and the fact that I wasn’t very good with directions to start with didn’t help much.

After another few minutes of fruitless searching, I sat down on a nearby bench and took out my phone. I never was attached to my phone and often forgot I even owned one. As I was about to dial, a man suddenly came to sit down next to me.

He had a navy blue baseball cap on his head which blocked his face which he faced towards the floor. His coat’s collar was also turned up to hide most of his neck and chin too. To put it simply, he was a total suspicious figure.

Oh gosh, was he a creeper as well? What was with my luck?!

“Mi Young, don’t panic. It’s me,” a throaty voice came from the man as he turned to look at me.

It took me a while to take in his big eyes, straight nose and full lips under the dim lighting of the street lamps.

“Min Ho oppa?” I muttered, leaning in to get a better look, not believing who was in front of me.

A sudden smile spread over his face.

“Wife,” he greeted me, tipping his cap slightly towards me.

A/N: 

Hello! (:

So I managed to update within two days (I don't care if I exceeded by a few minutes. IT'S TWO DAYS TO ME.) haha! i'm trying to get as many chapters up as soon as possible cos I'm going away soon for quite awhile :x sorry!

But as usual, thank you veryveryveryvery much to

LoveChelle

Midnightfrost

AsianFae (for the very awesome comment as well ;_;)

Dramadynasty

FlamerShawol

for suscribing. You guys are awesome. :')

Comment. Subscribe. Whatever you want to do.

xo

ps. here. the cutest thing eveeeer. ;___;