Just My Size – Ch. 5

Lee Jinki

When I saw her walk into the shop, I knew I had made the right choice.

I'd been a regular customer at Hot Topic for years now, but when Jun-Young sunbae offered me a job last week, I hesitated. Don't get me wrong, I love the store! I seem to be able to find things in it easier than some of the staff at times. But was taking on a job – especially in my senior year – going to affect my grades, or my chances of getting into my first-choice University?

But then I remembered her.

Over the years, I noticed the accessories she'd wear to school: the headbands, bracelets, necklaces. They certainly looked like they could come from Hot Topic, but the style was in, so they could have come from any little fashion boutique as well. Then, one afternoon I saw her take her purse out of her locker. I knew that design! The only reason it had stuck in my mind was that it looked so impractical. I wondered how anyone could use it effectively. But there she was using it. Every day.

She had it with her today, too. It had seen better days, that's for sure. Though I was pleasantly surprised it had lasted this long.

At any rate, once I knew she shopped at Hot Topic as well, I took an interest in her. Not a crush, but a general curiosity. I loved this shop because of all the English-language rock band t-shirts and merchandise, plus all the different music I got to hear while I browsed. Did she like these bands as well? I never met a girl who did. All the girls at school were obsessed with Idol groups; not that I could blame them, though. They were talented and inhumanly handsome. These rockers from the States and Britain did not fit the “ideal image” that female Korean teenagers had in their minds.

Who was this girl? I know we'd been in some classes together before, but since when? I looked back through old class photos and found that – as far as I could tell – our first class together was at the beginning of middle school. Her name was Han Ji-Eun.

“That's a good start,” I thought. “A name to go with her face...”

Without meaning to, I started analyzing her features. In these class photos, she was smiling brightly. Why didn't I notice her before? She was the only one who was smiling with teeth showing. Every one else (myself included) was either straight-faced or smiling slightly with no teeth showing.

Then I noticed how tall she was – she was standing in the back row with the boys! I was on the opposite side of the line from her in each one. As I looked through the photos, I remembered Key pointing out the “scary-tall” girl. I hadn't said anything at the time, I had just thought it was a mean remark, and wondered why he called her “scary” in addition to being obviously tall.

I eventually realized why. When she wasn't smiling for a photo, her default expression was... intense. Some times people would come up to her and try to ask her something, but they would all scamper away once she met their eyes. My heart went out to her – she didn't seem like the type of person who meant to scare people, or who was mean for that fact. She just naturally looked that way.

But her face always lit up when her two best friends showed up. As I watched them from a distance day after day, I began to really sympathize with this girl.

One day, I got to class early and heard someone singing lightly. I slid back the door cautiously and peered in. There she was, the only one in the room, with headphones on, head down in her notebook, furiously working on last night's homework, singing a song I knew – Queen's “Don't Stop Me Now.” I just stood in the half-open doorway and listened to her.

Once the song was done, she leaned back to stretch. Not wanting her to know that I was eavesdropping, I quickly shut the door and ran down the hall a ways. I leaned my back against the wall and put my hands on my knees.

As I blew a breath out, I had resolved to find out more about this girl. She piqued my interest, perhaps a bit too much.

That was during our first year of high school. It's now our last, and up until today, I'd never said more to her than just a cordial “Good morning,” or “See you tomorrow” as everyone was leaving the classroom.

Somewhere along the way, my group of friends had figured out that I was distracted by her. Jonghyun and Minho all-too-willingly volunteered to find out more about her by getting to know her best friends. Their real motives were obvious, but they did still get some information for me, and I was thankful for that.

They all encouraged me to just go over and talk to her, but I was just too shy. Did she even knew I existed? Jonghyun and Minho assured me incessantly that she knew me. They always laughed after telling me that each time. I had thought it was just because they thought I was being stupid, but now I know why. Now I know better. Now I know that I should have just it up and talked to her before.

“Now I know she likes me, too,” I thought as I ran back to the shop. Smiling, I felt myself blush.

“Yah! Why are you so late, Jinki?!” Sunbae was not happy. “I thought you'd be a better worker than this...”

“I am so incredibly sorry, Sunbae-nim!” To show my utmost sincerity and respect, I bowed down as far as I could. “I guarantee you it will not happen again!”

“Yeah, it better not,” Jun-Young sunbae ruffled my hair, and when I lifted my head, I saw him smirking. “So, tell me Jinki, that girl that was in here earlier...”

“Y-Yes?” I straightened back up quickly and almost fell backward.

“That's the girl you kept pestering me about, right? Asking how often she came in, what stuff she seems interested in, yada, yada...” He shook his head, still smirking.

I took a breath in and my eyes rolled down and to the right. “Yes.” I looked back up at him sheepishly and shrugged.

“I thought so,” he nodded. “That's good.”

“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, just that I was telling you about the right girl.” Loosing his cool image for a second, he scratched the back of his head and looked a bit embarrassed.

“You're right, that is good,” I chuckled a bit, and so did he.

After that we got back to work. Stocking the shop and the store room helped eat up a lot of time, but eight o'clock could not come quickly enough.

Time line in case this chapter got confusing:

Middle School; Jinki did not notice Ji-Eun at all

First year of High School; he started noticing her accessories, spotted her bag, looked through old class pictures, found her name, was forced to tell his friends about his interest in her

Second year of High School; Jonghyun and Minho started to date Hea-Jung and Mi-Sun, pass what little they find out about Ji-Eun to Jinki

Third year of High School; Jonghyun, Minho, and the girls start forming a plan to get Jinki and Ji-Eun to talk, the events of today happen

Hopefully that all makes sense. XD Please, feel free to ask any questions you have!