I waited at the bus stop for the bus that would take me to Seoul. It was a cold day and my heart felt heavy. I looked down at my worn-out shoes. How far would they take me?

I was all alone, on the first step on my way to SM, the most famous school in the country. It was a school that only the best and brightest could go to – or so they said. The thing about these famous places was that, there was always some kind of hearsay, but it could be just made up by jealous people who couldn’t get in. Anyway, for SM, it was rumoured that there was a bunch of boys who got in not through their own merit, but through their fathers’. In other words, because their fathers were rich, they got into SM. But well, one could never be sure. I guess I would find out in due time. In the meantime, I just had to worry about myself getting there.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go. I did; I loved reading, I loved finding out new things about the world. I was sure that going to SM would be the right choice for my studies. It was just that I was from Mokpo, the countryside, and I wasn’t sure how I would fit in with the people in SM, who were mainly from Seoul. From the dramas, if they were any true, the clothes they wore, the handphones they used – I could hardly afford to have one of those items, what more ten of them. So I was afraid. I was afraid of being looked down on, afraid of having no friends, afraid of being labelled as trying to be someone I wasn’t born to be.

But that was the trouble with my family. Though we were poor, my mother always had the aim of moving up the ranks of society. Therefore it was not a surprise when one day, she told me she had registered me for the SM entrance exam. I took it in my stride and you can guess my mother’s reaction when she found out that I had won a full scholarship to SM for being one of the top scorers. So here I was, waiting.

As the bus slowed to a halt before me, I picked my luggage up and got ready to board. Just as I lifted it, “snap!” the handle went, and there went my family’s only eighteen-year-old luggage. It was our only luggage as we had no money to travel, so the last time someone actually used it was my parents, for their honeymoon. I sighed at the luggage but didn’t angry. What was the use of getting angry at an inanimate object one year older than me anyway? I was struggling with lifting it up without a handle when suddenly a pair of hands came from behind and grabbed my luggage on board. I scurried up after the owner of the hands, a dark-brown haired guy, cool with just a backpack. After depositing it on the bus floor and checking that it could roll along, he left it and went to find a seat without turning around. I rolled my luggage along the aisle and when I passed him I gave him a grateful half-bow and thanked him, although what came out was more like a meek “kamsahamnida”. Sunglasses still on, he merely returned a brief nod. Not wanting to trouble him any further, I continued towards the back of the bus.

Upon reaching the end, I realised all the seats were taken, so I backtracked to the middle and ended up sitting in the last remaining seat, which was diagonally behind the guy who had helped me. As the bus was crowded, the overhead compartment was completely full, and besides I didn’t really want to store my luggage up there for the lack of a handle would make it troublesome to take up and down. So I just left it in the aisle, with one hand on it. The journey would take a good five hours, but anything that I could do to entertain myself was all in my luggage (such as reading), so I ended up staring into blank space.

A good while later, I woke up to a jerk. My first instinct was to check that my luggage was still intact, or at the very least, present, and as I looked to the side, my heart leapt up to my mouth as I realised it was gone. I hit myself hard on the head as I scolded myself inwardly. How could I have fallen asleep while my hand was supposed to be on the luggage? And of course it’d be gone… Before my thoughts had time to run further, to think of all the terrible consequences that would ensue as a result of me having had my luggage stolen, I looked up to some snapping in front of my face.

It was that guy! His face had an inquisitive look. He was slightly stretched out, and his left hand was snapping at me, while his right hand was…on my luggage! In a second I had it figured out. Since the bus had jerked forward, everything had rolled forward, including my luggage, and my two-time saviour had stopped it! I had hardly the courage to look at him, but I had to thank him, so the taking of my luggage from him was accompanied by a few more meek “kamsahamnida”s, and this time also “jwesonghamnida”s. As I returned his eye contact, he smiled for the first time that day. Just a little, nothing more than a tiny curve extending from the side of his mouth, but it was enough to make me realise that he was really, really handsome. His shades were now off too, and at his smile I felt a bit dizzy. I instantly felt silly, and recovered. He turned back and nothing more was said.

Looking at my watch, we were almost there. I looked out of the window as grass turned to street, and trees turned to buildings. I looked forward to the new exciting life I hoped I’d lead, but I’d certainly miss the greenery too.

Finally, we entered Seoul proper, and the bus started dropping people off at various stops around the city. I knew my stop was the last stop, so I didn’t worry about getting off just yet. As the bus became emptier, my heart started racing faster as I got closer to my destination. What would my new life hold? I was so excited and so scared, I could almost scream in joy and exasperation right then. I looked to see if there was anyone else still on the bus, and there was just one. It was him again! How very coincidental. Then a thought struck me. Could he be studying at SM too? He looked so cool. Could I be like that too? I shook my head at myself for letting my imagination run wild. A voice came. “Coming?” He had already stood up, and turned around, as if waiting for me. I looked outside and saw the school name. We were here! He probably guessed I was alighting there too as it was the last stop. “Yes!” I replied, somewhat enthusiastically, and promptly got up from my seat. As he reached the steps, without a word he turned around and carried my luggage off the bus. This guy was such a sweetheart, I could almost fall for him right there and then. I slapped myself inside; my thoughts were running wild again. Well, if he really was studying at SM, I would be happy!