Let’s start the story slowly. I was 16 that year, and studying in Tae Sung High School or TS High. Our principal and founder of the school was Kim Tae Sung. Rumours floated around that he wanted to build an entertainment company but failed so he opened a school instead. I lived in a simple house with one older brother, a gruff dad and a loving mom.

I never knew what my mom always meant by having a strong drive in life. I passed every single day in apathy, never looking back. There was school to keep me occupied and in my teenage years I had acquired a number of hobbies, like skating and video games.

There was still nothing particularly interesting about it. The only thing that came particularly close was the books I kept in my bunk under my bed about wars. I was fascinated and horrified by the strategy and cold blooded pain in which someone killed thousands of people, feigning patriotism. Oh and hip hop. I had tried my hand in some amateur rapping and lyrics writing. No one was there to criticize except my best friend Himchan though, and I couldn’t trust his reviews, I had to be crazy to do that. Like I said however, I never took anything seriously. Lacked a drive, haha.

That year of school was nothing like all the others I survived because by then, everyone had started to hit puberty. Himchan was already making comparisons of lips and body measurements of the girls in our school, and enthusiastically showing me the ‘research’ he did, meaning . It still didn’t bother me who was who’s girl, who was hitting on who and what base they had gotten past.

There were a number of attractive girls in my school, but no one caught my attention. I seemed to be getting plenty of theirs though. I grew to detest the giggles and sneaky glances I got from the school’s female population every time I walked past. Himchan was on the other hand, quite a ladies man. He used his facial features to the fullest. He was quite fascinated by those creatures, proving a point each time he flirted with them. He never took one to bed before though.

He said each female was a beautiful creature, and he just took pleasure in making them smile. “Each smile is an exquisite thing, Yongguk. I’m more than happy to oblige for a lady’s smile.”That just meant he he liked manipulating their sorry pert asses. I shrugged. I accepted his reasons; maybe he liked in those girls what I liked in historical war research.

One day, he brought one over to our table, to eat lunch with us. This was the usual routine. I would curtly greet the girl and eat as quickly as I could after she gave up talking to me and start with Himchan instead.  I looked up and nodded at her, acknowledging her existence and was about to go back to my bulggogi, but she stuck a hand out. “Anyonghasaeyo, Lee Yejin imnida. Himchan said you don’t talk much. Let’s get to know each other better.” She smiled, and I got a better look at her. She had long, curly brown hair that reached past her shoulders and large grey eyes. American accented Korean words. She was quite pretty, I guess. Hmm.

“I was just showing her around the school, Yongguk, she’s new.” Himchan slid next to her and put his arm around her. She smiled again. I was starting to like this friendly girl. “Hey, did you get your schedule yet? We could show you around. Sorry I didn’t introduce myself properly. I’m Bang Yongguk. Nice to meet you.”

We talked and honestly, became more comfortable as friends than whatever Himchan had in mind. But I could tell he liked her though, differently from all the other girls. She liked him too. “Guys, I know this is sudden, but I have a showcase tonight…and so far you guys are the only friends I’ve made in Korea. Can you come and clap if no one else does?” Then she looked up to us with those doe eyes, and of course Himchan was the first to crumble.

He nodded and used the back of his hand to push my head down as well; I saw the plate of food almost an inch from my face. “Great!” She grinned, and scribbled the address and her phone number on a piece of paper. Himchan grabbed it greedily, as I offered to walk Yejin to class.

We walked slowly to her Biology class. I told her jokes about the school that provoked her deep laughter, and she told me about life in America. She even told me to check out her Youtube channel where she posted covers of English songs. Turns out we shared a passion for hip hop songs. She told me to give my rapping a try at the place she was performing tonight. I didn’t want to disappoint her so shrugging, I said “Sure, why not?”

I dropped her off at the class. Like a normal high school class before the teacher was there, it was a catastrophe. In the midst of jocks, gossip girls, nerds and generally what I considered ‘normal’, someone caught my eye. A girl. Yejin started to walk forward to the empty seat next to her.

At first all I could see was her dark red hair. It looked soft to touch and glinted in the sunlight, in loose waves. It exposed a smooth cream colored neck. There was a hint of deep set collarbones under the typical uniform. Her blouse was casually undone at the collar, to give way to an orange set of wires.

 Her head was cocked towards the open window, like she was looking out. She was wearing large black headphones and smiling at her iPod, which she was cradling in her hands, on her lap.  Her eyes were closed serenely and she pressed her full lips into a smile; it gave off a sense that she was really enjoying her music. I looked like that a lot, according to Himchan.

I was kind of aware of the stupid smile that had come over my face when I first saw her and the clouding of everything else, including Himchan’s gawking at my stupefied presence. I was never like this. A small part of my brain was yelling at me. “YO BANG YONGGUK YOU LOSING YOUR COOL GET OUTTA THIS AND STOP STARING AT THE CHICK MANG!!!!” I disregarded it and continued staring at the beautiful smooth skinned, red haired creature.

She turned as Yejin tapped her on the shoulder, and took the headphones off. She began to smile again, different this time, more confidently. They started talking slowly and faster soon enough like they known each other for ages. Yejin waved bye at me as I walked pass the class windows, prepared to take my leave.

The mystery girl looked past Yejin’s shoulder at me, and for a split second we made eye contact. I’ll never forget her eyes, a dark, dark green as they stared into mine. For those two seconds, the world seemed to stop spinning, the universe stop moving.

I’m not going to lie. It was as cheesy as the movies said it would be, as any romance novel I’ve read. I didn’t see sparkles in her eyes, or anything like that. There were no fireworks in front of us. No soft classic playing as a soundtrack.

The moment she smiled and waved at me without breaking our gaze, my heart dropped into my stomach. I suddenly forgot how to breathe normally, and Himchan always tells me I wasn’t even doing it at all.  After what seemed like hours later, I remembered to smile back at her.

Then, the bell rang. I remember sprinting down the hall and going into class reflecting on her beautiful smile. The rest of the day passed in a stupor for me, and I found myself going to sleep dreaming of full lips pressed in a smile and dark green eyes.  

Guess who's Lee Yejin? Hehehe google it peopleeee