“Naeun!” Myungsoo’s voice was swallowed by the noise around him as he shoved through the blockade of people at the train station. “Naeun! NAEUN! NAEUN!”

The girl didn’t bother to turn around; in fact, she only quickened her pace with her head held proudly up.

“NAEUN! I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU!” But his voice was once again dulled. A few people turned to judge Myungsoo, but otherwise it felt like he was shouting himself hoarse at a sound-proof glass wall. Naeun kept getting further and further away from him, her bright red jacket constantly appearing and immediately disappearing from Myungsoo.

Another wave of people rushed in as another train came, and Myungsoo completely was tossed aside by the crowd; he saw the girl climbing up the stairs and exiting the station before he completely lost sight of her. Something inside Myungsoo just snapped at that moment, and he erratically started shoving aside all businessmen, students, mothers, construction workers and elders alike, as he tore his way through.

“NAEUN!”

He caught up to her only on campus, firmly grabbing her arm in case she tried to walk away again. The girl didn’t struggle, but she didn’t react either. 

“Well?!” He panted.

“Well what?”

“What the hell happened to you?! You’re not yourself!”

Naeun gave him the blank stare. ““You’re lowlife. That’s what happened.”

“Wait, so it’s me?” Myungsoo loosened his grip as he hectically tried to recollect everything he said to her yesterday.

“Yes. Now would you excuse me, I have class.” Naeun pulled away.

“Wait, a second, aren’t you going to tell me what I did?”

“Why should I?”

“Why shouldn’t you?!”

“I would expect you already know.”

“Well I don’t!”

“Think harder then – researchers have recently made a shocking discovery that your head can be used for more than just eating.” Naeun snapped back in a sarcastic tone. She continued walking to her campus building, leaving Myungsoo to stand there, confused.

“I don’t get it – yesterday we got along pretty well, so mind enlightening me?!” he exclaimed, running after her. A few pretty girls waved at him but he ignored them.

“That would involve me actually caring to fix our ‘relationship’ – which I don’t. To put it simply, you’re an and I don’t want to talk to you.” Myungsoo blocked her way and she was forced to look him in the eye. “Therefore, I don’t care whether or not you go bald from pulling out all your stupid, fuzzy hair in frustration.”

“Fuzzy–!!” Myungsoo automatically felt his exquisitely styled hair, which was cemented with several layers of expensive hair gel. “YAH, do you know how long it took me to get it like this?!”

“It’s fuzzy and it looks like bed hair. Why would you want bed hair?”

“Because it looks hot!” Myungsoo desperately defended. Naeun tried to remain serious but she still snorted.

What a kid.

“It looks like you haven’t combed it in months. Now if you don’t mind–” Naeun lightly pushed the frantic Myungsoo to the side with the palm of her hand, but he didn’t bulge.

“I do mind! I’m not letting you leave till you stop being such a girl and just tell me what the ever loving I did wrong!”

“Girl?” Naeun put on an exaggerated look of surprise. “Oh, I’m sorry!~ I wasn’t aware I had a -change overnight!”

“Well you never act like one! I thought you were better than to act like one of those airheads who expect everyone else around them to be mind readers!” Myungsoo was getting profoundly pissed off – this was not the Naeun he was so drawn to. He wanted that Naeun back. “NOW WILL YOU TELL ME WHAT I DID GODDAMIT?”

Naeun stared at him for some time, forcefully biting her tongue to not tell him.

At first she didn’t say anything because she was just too annoyed to talk to him.

Now she wanted to just torture him as revenge.

Still, from the corner of her eye she saw two familiar figures rapidly approaching behind Myungsoo’s back, and she knew her fun was over.

“Just because you don’t see me as a girl doesn’t mean I can’t act like one. Besides–” Naeun tilted her head towards Woohyun and Sungjong who stopped a few feet away. “Your answer is already here.” Myungsoo spun around.

“I don’t get it?..” Myungsoo looked back and forth from his friends to Naeun.

Woohyun and Sungjong, Sungjong and Woohyun – so what? What did the two have to do with it? How would her bad relationship with Woohyun make her mad at me? Didn’t I comfort her yesterday? And Sungjong, she never even met him, does she even know–! Oh.

Myungsoo felt cold sweat build up on the palms of his hands.

It is awfully windy today, isn't it?

I should’ve brought a scarf…

The bell rung and his friends were waving for him to come with them.

Myungsoo didn’t look at Naeun. But he had a feeling she knew that he knew that she knew about that little silly deal he made with Sungjong.

And he had nothing to say about it.

“Who told you?” His throat was hoarse and barely audible but he didn’t dare to clear it.

“No one. Just a little birdie supplied me with a clue or two.” Naeun was smiling at his reaction. He deserves it.

There was a load ringing in his ears, and Myungsoo felt as if Naeun was miles and miles away from him. He didn’t look at her to make sure she wasn’t though.

“Clue?” It was more of a restatement, rather than a question.

“One lovely morning, the childhood friend of a person who hates my guts suddenly approaches me out of the bloom. He tries to flirt with me, pretends to be the inspector. He then continues to pursue me without a reason. After finding out that I’m the heir to a mafia corporation, this person still bothers me, still without a reason. He blackmails me and tries to get close to me, still without a solid reason. How totally unsuspicious!” Naeun made one of those sarcastic plastic smiles she did so well and made her eyes look innocent; but Myungsoo still refused to look her in the eye. “Questions?”

Myungsoo didn’t answer.

He still stood there, watching his friends wave at him.

She shook her head, tighting the scarf around her neck.

It's cold today.

“Then it’s good-bye, Kim Myungsoo.”

---

…Or ‘good-bye’ was what was originally on Naeun’s mind when she left him hanging. She determinately walked down the hall to her class, still in a sour mood but a little relieved. Her intention was for this to be their very last conversation together.

Well, let’s give her some credit – Naeun spent her whole educational background being homeschooled; she was spared of all that drama bull most of us go through in school. Especially girl drama. Unfortunately, the college she and Myungsoo went to was rather small, and since on such a cold, boring day like today no one had much to talk about, the gossip of her fight with Myungsoo spread throughout the campus like wildfire on a windy day. Or rather, it wasn’t the fight that was publicized – it was “everybody’s favorite Myungsoo was put down in such-and-such way that now he refuses to talk to anybody”. All details were of course omitted, but one way or another, Naeun’s name ended up drifting into the gossip, and not in the most positive light either.

A group of 3 girls suddenly barricaded Naeun’s way. All of them were tall, angry, and their make-up caked faces made them all look comically identical.

“You there. We need to talk.” Without waiting for Naeun to snap back at them, two of them dragged her into the half-empty cafeteria.

“What are you to him?” one of them squeaked.

“You think you’re so pretty, um?”

“Don’t ever think you’re good enough to be such a to him!”

Naeun backed up against the vending machine, confused. They looked like a pack of hyenas, towering over her with such a hungry look. Naeun cleared .

“Wait, who are we talking about?..”

All the girls simultaneously gasped in shock; maybe it would be a better idea for Naeun to be cautious, but the lot of them looked like stereotypical mean-girl cartoon characters.

“Myungsoo! You dimwit!”

“Kim Myungsoo!”

“We’re his friends you know!”

“Yeah, we’re his friends!”

“His very good friends!”

“Yeah!”

Naeun sighed. To think having anything to do with Myungsoo would cause her such annoying encounters.

Great.

“And so?”

“He’s a good, honest guy!”

“How dare you be so rude to him?”

“You should feel lucky to be talk to him!” One of them leaned in.

“To be near him!” The other joined in.

“To breathe the same air as him!” The third, the tallest and toughest looking, grabbed Naeun by the collar of her blouse; seeing that Naeun’s poker face did not change, she shook a little, snapping one of the shirt’s button’s off.

This is annoying.

“I’m not dating him if that’s what you’re implying.” Naeun blurted out, knowing this is what they were really after.

“…Are you sure?” The girls looked surprised at her bluntness, but they looked relieved.

“Yes.”

“Absolutely? And you’ll never ever ever ever ever date him?”

“Even if you gave me money.” Naeun replied honestly.

The girls let out a sigh of relief, but they didn’t let her go.

“That’s right! He doesn’t belong to a little half-baked shrimp like you!”

“Ever tired makeup?”

“You look like you’re 12!”

“You look old fashioned!”
 

With a tired look, Naeun sighed and pushed away the girl’s hand.

I should have fun with this.

“Let me get a few things straight: You think I’m evil?”

“Yeah!” They all cried in unison.

“And you think my fashion sense has to do with it?”

“Yeah!”

“And I hurt Myungsoo?”

“Yeah!”

“And all of you are infatuated with him but at the same time too scared to approach him, which is why you gang up on any girl you think is closer to him than you and call yourself his ‘friends’, even though in reality you want to be more than just 'friends'?”

“Yea– YAH!!”

I guess I hit bull’s-eye.

Infuriated by the last statement, the tall girl swung her fist at Naeun, who easily ducked and caused the girl’s hard to painfully collide with the vending machine; Naeun then lightly elbowed her in the stomach, not enough to severely hurt the girl but enough to send her to the floor in pain. Another girl reached to pull on Naeun’s hair, but instead got her hand painfully twisted behind her back in a wrist lock. The last girl, seeing her friends in trouble, grabbed some glass bottle lying around and shattered one end on the wall. She approached Naeun, who was about to do a full leg swing to knock the bottle out…

“Move.” A deep, masculine voice called.

All three of the girls froze around Naeun, suddenly aware that they weren’t alone in the cafeteria. Naeun dropped the girl’s wrist, surprised at their sudden reaction to the stranger. She looked up, to find him less than an arm’s reach away – how on earth did he get there without Naeun seeing him?

“Scatter.” The stranger made a barely visible twitch with his left wrist, but his aura was that of someone who was used to giving orders.

To Naeun’s amazement all of the girls obeyed and straightened themselves out, even bowing 90 degrees.

“Yes Kim Jong In, of course Kim Jong In!” They howled all at once, and some of them, as Naeun peculiarly noticed, were blushing. Then all three disappeared, leaving Naeun and the stranger completely alone in the empty cafeteria.

He gracefully made his way past Naeun, gliding by her as if she wasn’t even there. He took his time putting each and every coin into the vending machine, the sound of each reaching the bottom echoing through the room. Then the guy remained staring at the drink selection in the vending machine.

“Are you going to stare at me all day?” He remarked after he pressed buttons here and there. Naeun didn’t reply, but something about him made her skin crawl; everything from his tan skin to his dark eyes to his unchanging, severe expression felt off. As the old machine began to noisily operate, Naeun and the stranger just stood there studying the other, neither wanting to lose this staring contest. Only after the can finally made a thunk! the man looked away to bend down. Without waiting for a response any further, he walked by Naeun the same way as before, only this time she heard him murmur

“Cover your cleavage woman.”

Naeun looked down and let out a little shriek as she realized that the button that tall girl tore off while shaking her left half her shirt wide open! In panic she tried to cover herself, feeling the heat get to her cheeks.

The stranger walked away, laughing at her reaction in an extremely unpleasant manner.

Just who the hell was that?

--

“Is there a Son Naeun in this class?” Naeun heard one of the guys shout out as she walked in late. She had to mend her clothes, and that took time.

“Yes, that would be me?”

“Kim Myungsoo has been calling you for a good half hour now! Poor guy must’ve lost his mind or something.” He said, pointing to the window, where the rest of the class was already crowding. Naeun walked over, confused.

“What do you mean?” She pushed her way through, hearing whisperers from all sides as she did.

Outside, in the cold soccer field, Myungsoo hopped from foot to foot in his sports shorts, hands put in his hoodie. He kept yelling ‘NAEUN!’ at the 4 story building above, probably in hopes that she would by some luck be there. The rest of the soccer team stood further away, laughing at him. Since the building was in an ‘L’ shape, Naeun could (regretfully) see that students from other classes were also hanging out of their windows, all curiously asking each other who this mysterious ‘Naeun’ was.

She took a deep breath and yelled over the murmur.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?!”

Myungsoo immediately turned in response to her voice, grinning from ear to ear when he finally found her.

“I WANTED TELL YOU!” He yelled back, cheeks and nose bright red from the cold.

“TELL WHAT?” Naeun replied and the crowd stirred, all wanting to see who this ‘Naeun’ was.

“TELL YOU THAT YOU’RE THE MOST IMMATURE PERSON I KNOW!” Myungsoo took another deep, deep breath before he began shouting again. “LOOK: I KNOW I’M GUILTY, AND WHAT I TRIED DOING WASN’T EXACTLY HONEST! BUT THE FACT THAT YOU SUSPECTED ME THE MOMENT YOU FOUND OUT I WAS FRIENDS WITH SUNGJONG SHOWS THAT YOU WERE PREPARED TO THINK ALL THE POSSIBLE BAD THINGS ABOUT ME BEFORE GIVING ME A SINGLE CHANCE TO REDEEM MYSELF!”

“IT’S A GOOD THING I DID IT TOO!” Naeun hung out further out from the window.

“YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF TRUSTING AND RELYING ON OTHER PEOPLE! YOUR MIND AUTOMATICALLY JUMPS TO THINK BADLY OF ME, OR ANYBODY ELSE, THE MOMENT YOU ARE GIVEN EVEN THE SLIGHTEST CHANCE! THIS IS WHY YOU PROBABLY NEVER ONCE THOUGHT THAT ME BEING FRIENDS WITH SUNGJONG COULD BE BY PURE COINCIDENCE–”

“WHICH IT’S NOT!” Naeun interrupted, trying to outshout him.  His words stabbed her pride more than she ever thought they could.

“NO, IT’S NOT! I ADMIT IT! HAPPY? BUT THEN YOU KEPT ASKING ME ‘WHAT DO YOU WANT’, ‘WHAT DO YOU WANT’! YOUR SELF-ESTEEM IS SO LOW THAT YOU CANNOT BELIEVE THAT SOMEONE CAN LIKE YOU FOR YOU, AND NOT AIM TO HURT, MANIPULATE OR USE YOU! YOU’VE BEEN LIVING IN A BOX NAEUN, WELCOME TO THE ING WORLD! YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO COMMUNICATE WITH NORMAL PEOPLE!”

“STOP TALKING TO ME LIKE YOU KNOW ME! SINCE WHEN DO YOU KNOW HOW I LIVE! WE MET JUST THIS SUNDAY YOU MORON!”

“I’M THE MORON? YOU’RE SCREAMING ON TOP OF YOUR LUNGS THE SAME WAY I AM – WE’RE NOT ALL THAT DIFFERENT! SO STOP TRYING TO THINK WE ARE! AND TIME IS JUST A USELESS NUMBER ANYWAYS! PEOPLE CAN KNOW EACH OTHER FOR TEN YEARS AND STILL NOT CALL EACH OTHER FRIENDS!”

“I’M DONE WITH YOU!” Naeun pulled away from the window.

“COME BACK HERE!”

“NO!” but there she stayed.

“DAMMIT, WHY WON’T YOU JUST LISTEN TO A GUY WHO’S EMBARRASSING HIMSELF BY SCREAMING ON THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS IN FRONT OF YOUR CLASSROOM, TRYING TO APOLOGIZE!”

Naeun gawped in disbelief. By this time the crowd was going absolutely wild, some cheering on Naeun, others on Myungsoo.

“HOW IS THIS AN APOLOGY?”

“I DON’T KNOW, BUT IT’S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS!” Myungsoo’s voice was beginning to become throaty, and he kept coughing between responses.

“THAT’S FOR CHRISTMAS GREETINGS YOU MORON! AND YOUR EARS ARE TURNING RED, GO GET A COAT!”

“YOUR EARS ARE ALSO RED, SO DON’T POINT FINGERS!” Myungsoo childishly argued back, sticking out his tongue.

Naeun didn’t have it in her to admit her ears were red not because of the cold (the room was pretty warm even with the windows open) – it’s just that her heart beat too violently against her ribs, the heartbeats making it almost too hard for her to breathe properly.

“YOU’RE STUPID!” She yelled in protest when she saw how Myungsoo refused a coat his friends offered him.

“SO ARE YOU!” Myungsoo shouted back, increasing the pace of his hopping.

“I’M LEAVING! I DON’T EVER WANT TO TALK TO YOU AND I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOUR UGLY FACE AGAIN, KIM MYUNGSOO!”

“WELL I WON’T EVER LEAVE, JUST TO PISS YOU OFF, AND I WANT TO TALK TO YOU EVERY DAY AND SEE YOUR PRETTY FACE EVERY DAY!”

“I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!” Naeun yelled desperately. She turned to hide her redness in embarrassment.

Myungsoo panicked as he thought she was actually leaving this time - in attempt to regain her attantion, he grabbed the nearest ball and kicked it at her classroom’s window …

Unfortunately today his aim was too good, and the soccer ball violently hit Naeun square in the face, causing her to nearly fall back. The crowd erupted in laughter.

“WHAT THE HELL MYUNGSOO?!” Naeun shrieked at him; not only did that hurt but now she also had a bloody nose.

“I’M SO SORRY!” Myungsoo screamed back. There was complete, utter horror on poor Myungsoo’s face; he pulled on his hair in frustration.

This was definitely one messed up day.

“SORRY MY , YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!” Naeun raged. Blood kept dripping on her white blouse, ruining it.

“I SWEAR ON MY PET GOLDFISH’S LIFE I DIDN’T!” Myungsoo pleaded with his head down and palms together.

“WHAT THE–? AND NO, YOU DID!”

“SEE, YOU’RE DISTRUSTING ME AGAIN!”

“I DON’T CARE! I DON’T WANT TO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU!”

“YOU DON’T?” Myungsoo’s guilt was immediately replaced with his previous rage.

“I DON’T!”

“THEN I’LL TELL ABOUT THAT!” He screamed even loader (which you’d hardly think was possible…).

“FINE!” Naeun exclaimed as she threw the soccer ball back at him.

“FINE?”

“YEAH, FINE! I KNEW YOU WERE THE TYPE TO BETRAY OTHERS THE MOMENT I MET YOU!”

“ARE YOU SURE? I’LL REALLY TELL!”

“I DON’T EVEN CARE ANYMORE!”

“YOU WILL!”

“NO I WON’T!”

The two exchanged spiteful glances as the ever growing crowd made even more noise, all curious what ‘that’ meant. One of Myungsoo’s friends even handed him paper folded into a cone so he could use it as a speaker.

Naeun was already regretting letting herself go to this embarrassing state – now she was torn apart between wanting to go down there to beg Myungsoo on her knees to not tell anybody, and wanting to just squeeze the ever loving life out of him, once and for all.

Either way, this was horrible.

“LISTEN UP EVERYBODY!” Myungsoo began.

“THIS GIRL, SON NAEUN” Naeun tried to retreat back into the classroom, but the crowd didn’t let her through.

“SEE HER? LOOK AT HER CLEARLY!” Now Myungsoo was speaking directly at her, with his finger pointing. Something in his burning stare was not right.

“EVERYBODY HAS A GOOD VIEW?” Some yelled ‘yes’, others just nodded. Naeun closed her eyes.

“SHE’S ACTUALLY,”

Bite me Myungsoo. Bite me!

“MY GIRLFRIEND!”

Naeun nearly fell out of the window.