The Race to Brokenheartsville

It is 6 am right now, time to get ready for school! I had the weirdest dream last night. My dream was that I got stuck on the roof and that Young Bae rescued me. He even tucked me into bed. Seriously.

I got up and walked to my window.

Gasp!

There’s that ladder that Young Bae and I used in my dream…

And the metal bar is gone from the hook…

That wasn’t a dream?

“Morning sunshine! Did you sleep well?!” Young Bae shouted from his balcony. I see him wearing a jacket and jogging pants. He’s stretching. He must’ve gone jogging like he always does early in the morning.

“That wasn’t a dream?!” I point at the ladder.

“No. That was not a dream,” says Young Bae, chuckling. “By the way, I’m still waiting for a thank you…”

“Oh yeah, thanks by the way for the lemon squares. They were awesome. And…thanks for rescuing me last night.”

“Hyun Ok! TIME FOR BREAKFAST!” Umma yelled from downstairs.

“Coming!” I shout back at her as I make my way out of my room.

“Hyun Ok!” Young Bae called me.

“What?”

“Let’s go to school together,” he says.

Is he sick or something? Haven’t he ignored me for the past seven years at school? Seems to me like he’s committing social suicide by walking with a weirdo like me.

“But…I don’t want to…” I say, feeling very defensive. I’m still thinking about how he’s just playing with me.

Because he is right?

“I’ll give you a piggy back ride,” he tempts me, like how he used to when we were in elementary school. What a dork. But of course…that would be nice. It’s been so long since he gave me a piggy back ride. And looking at his appearance, I think I would definitely enjoy a ride with that y back of his.

Damn! First the lemon squares, now this? Am I just going to keep getting caught in this game he’s playing?

“Young Bae…what’s up with you? You’re acting really weird. What happened to that boy who-"

Out of nowhere he just suddenly took off his jacket and his shirt.

Sweet mother of all things y.

His muscles are glistening in the morning sun. I close my eyes as I take a second to thank the heavens for this awesome view that they had provided me.

“What’s wrong about walking to school with my friend?” he asks me, walking back to his room. “I’ll drop by your house in 30 minutes! Go eat breakfast!”

Then he just disappeared like that to his bathroom.

What? I’m his FRIEND now? One of the "cool" guys in school considers me a friend?

Please.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is 6:30 am and I’m in the restroom, getting out bits of breakfast from my braces.

“HYUN OK! TAE YANG IS HERE!” Appa yells from downstairs.

Game on.

As I go down the stairs from my room, I think carefully about my plan. Usually Jiyong picks Young Bae up in the morning with his black Bentley convertible (rich bastard) and he parks that car on the parking lot of his sister’s shop a block away from school (he doesn’t have permission to park it on the school parking lot). Today Young Bae is planning to ride the bus since he’s going to school with me.

But…I have come up with a plan to make Dong Tae Yang frustrated and therefore will make him think about planning to abort whatever plan he is planning to have with me. Nyahahahaha!…it will be just like the old days...

“Hyun Ok, are you planning something evil?” Umma asked me as I was walking to the door.

"Erm... I'm leaving for school Umma!" I stop rubbing my hands. Always a sign of me about to do something. Hello Hyun Ok? Gotta be more subtle…

I smiled at Umma and said my hugged my Appa goodbye.

I open the door.

The first thing I see is Young Bae smiling and holding up a lollipop to give to me.

Lemon flavor. Hmm. Not too bad, not too bad...

I smile back at him as I accept the lollipop.

“You know Young Bae, since we’re going to school together, why don’t we just ride our bicycles?” I ask him, completing Phase One of my Kick-YB’s--Today plan. When we were in elementary, he used to pick me up at my house, offer me a lollipop, and ride his bicycle with me to school.

“Of course! How did you know that? I already have my bicycle ready!” Young Bae points at his green bicycle standing unattended outside our gate.

Eh? He has his bicycle ready? Aigoo…he's expecting this. But that’s alright. It’s perfect, actually.

After getting my yellow bicycle that was leaning inside our gate, we started pedaling.

“Isn’t this nice? Going to school like this, it makes me miss all the fun stuff that we used to do together,” says Young Bae, obviously thinking of those days when we used to be so close.

“Ohohoho…don’t I,” I say to him.

Yeah, the fun times we had together before you became a "cool" guy at school and started acting like you don’t know me. Pfuit. Nice, my . He thinks he can win my trust again just because he’s being plastically nice to me lately. Nuh-uh. Wrong girl. You’re going down, Dong.

We have been biking for a long time now and are about to pass through the neighborhood where I’m going to kick Young Bae’s .

“Young Bae! I just thought of something good! Want a race?” I ask him, about to enter Phase Two: Lost Puppy.

The streets we are about to pass are small and complicated. This goes on for about five interconnected blocks until we make it out. People who do not live in this neighborhood often get lost because of its complicated turns and endless dead ends. It’s almost like a real life human maze.

“Alright!” he yells, getting excited.

We stop just before entering the street, getting ready for the race.

You’re going down Dong Tae Yang, you’re going down hard.

He smiles at me as he counts off.

“Three…two…one…GO!”

Off we go, pedaling through the streets as fast as lightning.

When we were kids, I used to race with Young Bae in this exact neighborhood. We only did it a few times. That's because I always came out the winner. I was much faster than Young Bae on the pedal and I knew the turns and bumps like the back of my hand. There had been lots of times when Young Bae got lost in this neighborhood whenever we raced. I was also much faster on avoiding things and people. It’s very accessible for us right now actually because not a lot of people are out.

I’m getting kind of tired now but I’m still pedaling fast. I look at Young Bae. y Mackerel. He’s not even breaking a sweat! And from his calm facial expression, it looks like he’s not racing, but rather gazing peacefully at the clear blue ocean or something. I know he’s one of the Tae Kwon Do team champions at our school but he doesn’t have to look this calm. Break just one big fat drop of sweat for me!

Slowly but surely, one small teeny weeny drop of sweat did fall from the side of his forehead.

There you go.

But…what is this? Why does he seem to be following me?

Back then we used to take other turns to make it out of the neighborhood. Sometimes we meet each other but we didn’t always race on the same path because the finish line (which is a dentist clinic) only has one way out so it's impossible for any of us to cheat when racing (unless we fly or something). We didn’t like sharing all the same paths because it felt crowded, the roads being small and all. But today he’s going on all the directions I’m going, even overtaking me about 2 feet.

Aisshh…my plan is not working out. Gotta think faster.

I got it!

I made him think I was going straight but at the last second I took a quick turn to the left and left him all alone by himself.

Haha! That’s what you get! er!

I took a quick glance behind me and saw that he stopped to turn and follow me. What the douche? He’s following me!

Well…let’s see if you can.

Making a lot of turns, trying to avoid dead ends, I finally lost sight of him.

Success!

Now, once I make it to the finish line (i.e. the dentist clinic), I’m not going to stop and wait for him. I’m going to go on my merry way to school like I never even had this race with him. Hopefully, I wish he gets lost along the way too. That’d be epic. Who’s getting played now?

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Just one more turn and I’ll be on the finish line! Just one turn and I’m free! FREE!

Eh.

“Hello there. I’ve been waiting for you,” says Young Bae, leaning on his bicycle, panting a bit.

NOOOOOOOOO!!!! (Inside my head I’m kneeling on the ground, my fingers grabbing the roots of my hair and screaming in agony.) Did I just lose to him? Why-how-what-where-UGH!

“How…huff…did…huff…you…huff…get…huff…here so fast?” I ask him between mouthful of breaths.

Ow! Side burn, side burn!

I mean side PAIN, side pain!

“This is part of where I jog when I jog in the morning so I know the place like the back of my hand. You weren’t expecting yourself to win, did you?” he asks, placing his hands on his waist.

“No…huff…silly, of course…huff…not,” I say, controlling myself from kicking down his bicycle then making a run for it. Ugh. This side pain. It’s killing me.

I feel so stupid. And defeated. And stupid. Someone slap my stupid face for me (but not my nose, please, because it might get swollen and heaven only knows how much space it will claim on my face if it does).

Now that I think about it, my nose is expanding. I wonder what Young Bae is thinking seeing my nose go from big to super size every time I take a breath.

“Because if you did, I’m sorry. I know how you always used to win when we were kids and you must’ve gotten used to that. I should’ve let you won,” he says, bending down in front of me then wiping the sweat from my face with a handkerchief.

“Really?” I ask him.

He let out a laugh that he seemed to have been trying to keep in.

“Of course not, you ert. If I lost, what would that make me then?”

I’m speechless. I’m cold but I’m sweating like hell and I have side pain on my left waist all for nothing.

And did he just call me a ert?

I roll my eyes at him and slap off his hand that was wiping my face with the handkerchief.

“Hyun Ok…”

My period is irregular (like most teenage girls) and I never know when they come. I only look at signs to tell me when it is coming. For me it is dehydration, colder body temperature, and an uncontrollable splurge of blowing up on people when they annoy me even just a little bit. Oh, he’s about to get it.

“I don’t know, Tae Yang. You tell me! If you had lost, what do you think that would make you?”

“Hyun Ok…c’mon…it was just a race…”

“No, Tae Yang! It’s not just a race! You’re really confusing me right now! And I can’t help it! I’m still young and I have no experience on this type of things. Whatever you’re trying to do…befriending me again, giving me presents, saying you like me, saving me from my foolishness just DROP IT before you do any more damage! I don’t want to like you and I don’t want to play your stupid game!”

“Hyun Ok, I’m not forcing you to like me. I’m not playing a game. I would never do that. Especially to you,” he says to me, trying to get a hold of my arms but I whisked his hands away before he got to touch me.

He looked really hurt when I did that, but I don’t care. I’m the type of person who compromises and thinks of the other person’s feelings first but I can be a real when he situation calls for it. That’s why no one bullies me (or Seungri) at school. Who knows if he is just acting or not?

“Especially to me! The one you treated like a stranger for the last seven years! The one who saw the fight between Soo Ra and that college girl last year when you dated them at the same time!”

“I wasn’t dating Soo Ra, she was just a little obsessed with me. I was dating…that…that noona but I never dated anyone at the same time, Hyun Ok. Please believe me. I admit it, I drifted away from you because of stupid reasons. I made friends and went out with girls I thought I liked. But I’ve opened my eyes now. I’m so sorry. Hyun Ok to me you’re-"

“Stop it!” I cover my ears. 

“Remember back then when I made you swear on your soul that you will be my girlfriend one day in exchange for my Pokemon cards?” he laughs a bit. “And remember that time I bought you lemon squares from the bakery in exchange for the words ‘I love you’? It took you four whole hours to have the courage to say that to me. I thought you weren’t going to say it, I almost spent my money to buy a new box of crayons but I waited for you and I was so happy when you said you loved me. Hyun Ok, I’m that boy again…that boy who was so in love with you.”

Did he just say LOVE? Gosh, I knew he was a bit obsessed with me when we were younger but I thought it was just that Martian blood inside of him or something. Damn, why does he keep reminding me about the good old times? Makes me miss them so much. And I never told him this but I actually stole more Pokemon cards from him.

Nevertheless, I don't believe he’s the same Young Bae that I used to love hanging out with.

“Tae Yang…whatever you say, it’s not really going to matter. Whether you’re just playing a betting game with your friends or if you are serious, I would still say no. The gap between us is just too big. I don’t know you like I used to. If you’re asking me to give you a chance…well I’m sorry. I know my foolishness can seem distracting…but I’m not dumb,” I say as I start to get back on my bicycle. “Let’s just act like this never happened. I’m going to school now.”

He stays quiet and looks down at the ground below him.

I started to pedal away from him. I was pretty far from him when I started to cry. I’m not sobbing. Tears just started to fall down my cheeks without me knowing. I looked back and saw that he was still there, standing, looking at the ground and not moving an inch.

I’m thirsty…and cold.

And there’s this lonely part in my chest that I feel like pinching.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Martian Boy Is Not Good For Lemon Girl's Health

It is 8:34 am and I’m sulking in my seat not listening to Teacher Kim’s first lecture of the day. I can’t stop thinking about what happened earlier. Kick-YB’s--Today plan did not work out. I let my emotions get in the way. I never should’ve acted like that.

I don’t even remember getting to school. All I remember is entering the classroom and Seungri and Dae Sung annoying me, asking me what happened to me and stuff like that. I guess I really do look like poop right now. My nose had swollen twice its size and not only that, it’s also glowing red. If my mood took a 180 turn, I would’ve been a perfect clown for a kid’s birthday party, no extra costumes necessary.

What a good way to start the day.

Young Bae’s seat is empty. I wonder where he is…I hope he’s okay. I was so mean to him. I really did mean everything I said to him though…it’s hard to trust him now since he's been ignoring me at school for the past seven years. I really don’t want anything to do with him in a romantic way. Even if I did feel the same way. I don’t like him that way. I like his abs but erm... yep. That's about it. 

I just can’t help feeling stupid! I realize that he's not playing with me at all. I think he really does like me. All the sweet stuff he'd done for me too…I bet girls in this school would kill me if they found out what I just did to Dong Tae Yang. They’d hunt me down, capture me, plunge a giant stick through my , fire up the wood, then roast me to a perfect crispy goodness.

“Dong Tae Yang, why are you late?”

I sat up on my seat as fast as the speed of light when I heard Teacher Kim say Young Bae’s name.

Young Bae finally came to school. He bowed at our teacher and apologized for his tardiness. Then he walked to his seat and sat down not saying anything or looking at anybody. Everybody could tell that he was in a bad mood, but he didn’t let it show. Usually he smiled at people here and there like the angel that he is and would do that mini version of their secret handshake with Jiyong and SeungHyun even when he’s late. He shares the desk with So Hee so they’re a bit close. I could see So Hee mouthing the words, “Oppa, what’s wrong?”

He didn’t even look at her.

Will I need to apologize? The only time we really talk is when I’m on the roof and I’m not there all the time and he doesn’t even stay in his room a lot because he’s either driving around in his motorcycle, in their living room playing the piano, or out with his friends. We don’t even communicate that much. So there’s no need for me to make up with him because we don’t even see each other. I’m not comfortable going on my roof now (not because I can’t. I’m gonna have to find a way to get there again. I love looking at the night sky) because I might see him…

I wish I could talk to Jae Hwa oppa right now…

Sigh…What a good way to start my period.

I hope I don’t end up liking him. He’s not good for my health.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

sorry if the font isn't the same. Thank you to everyone who've been really patient (2 years wow). So what do you think of Hyun Ok? Drama Queen much? Or does she have a point? and that image above. It's so lame cause I made it 2 years ago... but I think that's the charm.