TWO

I took the same route as usual to school. Sunny decided to walk with Sungmin. I didn’t mind. Things were going well between them, or so I heard anyway.

As I neared the school gate, I spotted the ever-familiar Cho Kyuhyun waiting there for me. My face broke out into a smile and I ran up to him.

“Kyuhyun! Good morning!” I put my hands on my knees and panted, trying to catch my breath.

He ruffled my hair. “You’re cute when you run.”

“Aish, stop teasing me!” I shoved him playfully. “Let’s get to class!”

I walked into school with a spring in my step. For the past four days, Kyuhyun and I have been meeting. We became fast friends, having a lot more in common than we had perceived at first.

Our friendship was starting to get recognized by students. Some of my “friends” would give me dirty looks. Kyuhyun’s friends looked at Kyuhyun pitifully.

I didn’t understand any of this until much later.

“Kyuhyun, is that our artwork?” I asked, pointing to a piece of canvas tucked under his arm. It was hidden with a piece of cloth. We didn’t want it to be revealed yet until our presentation.

“What else could it be?” he rolled his eyes.

“It was just a question!” I pouted. Yesterday, I learned that Kyuhyun is weak to my cuteness. Sunny-unnie always said that I looked adorable when I pouted.

“Aigoo, stop pouting!” Kyuhyun covered his eyes with his free hand.

“Kyuhyun, you need to watch where you’re going!” I scolded, steering him away from a drinking fountain.

He dropped his hand back to his side and grinned. “Well, that’s why you’re here.”

I stuck my tongue out at him childishly. I could never act this way around my friends.

With Kyuhyun, it was a different story.

“Oh, my class is right here.” Kyuhyun stopped in front of a door. “Since you’re headed in the direction of Mrs. Lee’s class, could you--”

I smiled and shook my head, taking the canvas from him. “Of course.”

He smiled handsomely. Oh, he really needed to stop doing that. “Thanks, Seohyunnie.”

I nodded and headed off towards my class.

Every time Cho Kyuhyun would smile, my heartbeat would accelerate and increase ten-fold. Only he could do this to me.

Only him...

“SEOHYUN!” a small figure ran into me.

“Sunny-unnie!” I exclaimed. “Where have you been?”

“Oh, don’t sweat the details.” she laughed, but it seemed a bit off.

“Unnie, you can tell me if you were with Sungmin-sshi.” I smiled.

“...Okay, so I was with him.” Sunny bit her lip. “Is that bad?”

“Why would that be bad?” I questioned.

“I ran into Jessica and Krystal earlier this morning. They told me that Yoona’s been pretty pissed that I’m talking to ‘people like Sungmin.’” Sunny played with her fingers and stared at me guiltily. “I feel horrible.”

“You should be mad at Yoona-unnie, not at Sungmin-sshi.” I told her, feeling angry. “She may be my unnie, but she can’t tell us who we can and can’t hang out with!”

Sunny looked taken aback. I wasn’t surprised. No one has really seen me angry before. “Seohyun...I--maybe you’re right.”

“I’m right.” I stated stubbornly.

Sunny laughed a little. “Alright, so you are. Popularity stinks.”

“No kidding.”

---

“Thank you, Amber and Key, for that wonderful dance performance.” Mrs. Lee smiled, clapping. The rest of the class were hooting wildly and cheering like they were at a concert or something.

Amber bowed to everyone and high-fived Key, who was walking up and down the aisles, waving like he just won Miss South Korea.

Needless to say, a lot of us laughed until our stomachs ached. Even Mrs. Lee chuckled.

“Sungmin and Sunny?”

I was in awe. The two of them sang a song. Sungmin played guitar and sang, while Sunny harmonized with him. It was sweet, romantic, and I think Sungmin had all the girls wrapped around his finger.

Sungmin’s gentle, soothing voice combined with Sunny’s sweet one was a perfect combination. I think Sunny got a couple boys after her, too.

After the performance, everyone applauded loudly. I noticed that some girls were teary. I smiled to myself.

“How did we do?” Sunny nervously asked me.

I gave her a thumbs-up. She grinned. “Awesome! Ah, I was so nervous, though. Sungmin-oppa’s amazing.”

“Oppa?” I smiled knowingly.

She blushed. “Umm, it’s nothing.”

“And the last one of the day: Mr. Cho Kyuhyun and Miss Seo Joohyun.”

Kyuhyun picked up our canvas off of a nearby table and placed it up on the easel in the front of the room.

Yoona shot me a death glare, and maybe Kyuhyun one, too. I focused my attention on Sunny, who was giving me encouraging smiles.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“You okay?” Kyuhyun mumbled.

I nodded.

Kyuhyun did most of the talking in the beginning, giving a bit of background on art in general and then explaining where we got our inspiration for our work and other things of that nature.

“And now, here is...” I started, as Kyuhyun pulled the cloth off. “Colors of Life.”

Everyone ooh-ed and ah-ed. Some people moved closer to get a better look. Mrs. Lee nodded approvingly and I squeezed Kyuhyun’s hand secretly.

We did it!I told him as we began conversing telepathically--not literally, we just knew each other well enough to get a general idea of what the other was trying to say.

It was all me. Just kidding.

“Very nice work, you too. So Kyuhyun-sshi, you did the blue-gray part and Seohyun-sshi, you did the red-orange part?”

“Yes,” we answered simultaneously.

She nodded again and jotted some notes down.

“Nice job, you two.” Sungmin grinned.

I smiled and bowed my head in thanks.

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and grinned at Sungmin. “Shut up.”

I looked at Kyuhyun, confused. “What?”

He waved his hand. “Nothing.”

Sungmin looked up at us innocently.

I guess it was a guy thing.

“Mrs. Lee, we have a phone call for you in the office.” The office secretary said through the P.A. system.

“Oh, alright then,” Mrs. Lee stood up and rushed to the door. “I’ll be back in a few minutes! Don’t talk too much!”

“No promises!” Heechul called to her in his loudest voice.

“Hey, you’re gonna get in trouble if you yell like that.” a student sitting next to Heechul, Hongki, said.

“Ah, it’s the last day; no one even cares.”

“Oh, yeah. WOO-HOO!” Hongki chimed in.

“Your friend is coming to visit us.” Kyuhyun said sarcastically, nudging me in the arm.

“Annyeong, Seohyun.” Yoona greeted with a fake smile. Yuri and Taeyeon were standing behind her, looking worried.

“Yoona-unnie,” I said, unable to speak informally.

She glared at Kyuhyun. “There’s no room for him in our group. I’m so sorry.”

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. I held on to his arm and replied, “That’s fine.”

“You know, Seohyun, you’re in our group.” Yoona said, inching closer towards me. “That means that he has to go.”

I shook my head. “No...”

“Seo, just listen to Yoona.” Taeyeon reasoned.

“We were your best friends first...” Yuri said, looking uncomfortable.

“Some best friends you all are to her,” Kyuhyun responded coldly, his words cutting through the air like a sharp blade of ice.

“Don’t listen to this idiot,” Yoona told me, trying to be nice. “Seo, we’re your friends. Not him.”

I continued to shake my head. “No...”

“Do you honestly like this loser?” Yoona asked, as her voice began rising a couple of octaves. By now, all eyes were on us.

Kyuhyun clenched his fists. I held on to his arm. “He’s not a--”

“Stop kidding yourself, Seohyun.” Kyuhyun pulled his arm away from me. “They’re right.”

Yoona smiled triumphantly. Honestly, I hated seeing Yoona coming out victorious.

“I’m not like you. You know, I thought you actually thought of me as a friend.” Kyuhyun said in a low voice, looking hurt. “I guess this is the first time I was wrong. Pardon me.” he pushed me slightly aside and walked out of the classroom, slamming the door.

Yoona smiled brightly. “That was easier than I thought. Seohyun, I’m so relieved--”

My eyes were b with tears. “RELIEVED? How can you be relieved? He’s a real person, too, just like us! You tore him down when I was just starting to build him back up again. You’re such a sick person, Im Yoona.”

The utterly shocked expression on Yoona, Taeyeon, and Yuri’s faces--maybe the class was wearing the same expression--told me that enough was enough.

I pushed my way through some students and left the classroom, scanning the hallways for Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun, please...where are you?

I turned down a hallway and ended up in front of an empty science lab. I peeked through the window and spotted a familiar head of messy brown hair.

I pushed the door open and gasped, feeling the tears starting to roll down. “Kyu...hyun.”

Kyuhyun glanced up bitterly. His expression softened immediately upon seeing my tear-streaked face. “Seohyunnie...”

He enveloped me in his warm arms. “Why are you crying? Please don’t cry.”

I wriggled out of his grip and smiled through the tears. “Do you know what the worst thing is?”

He shook his head, frowning. “No, I don’t...”

“Liking...a guy like you.”

His eyes widened. “W-What...?”

I swallowed. It was already hard enough the first time. “It loving a guy like you.”

Kyuhyun sighed. “How could you say that?”

“Most people don’t even ‘approve’ of me walking down the hallways with you. I don’t want to just walk down the hallways with you.” I used my arm to wipe away some tears. “I want to walk down the hallways, holding hands with you. I want people to smile when they see us, not glare and gossip behind our backs.”

He chuckled.

I exhaled sharply. “W-Why are you laughing? I was being dead serious!”

Kyuhyun pulled me into him again and my hair. “Stupid...who cares what they think? All I’ve ever been caring about lately is what you think.”

“What I...?”

“You can’t imagine how happy I just felt when I heard you say that you love me.” Kyuhyun sighed. I shivered, feeling his warm breath on my neck.

“So that means...you...?”

He held me tighter. “Yes, Seo Joohyun. I love you, too.”

I stayed quiet. I sniffed, smiling. “Chincha? You’re not lying?”

“No, silly, I don’t lie about things like that. Now say it again.”

“Say what?”

He smiled. “Say that you love me. I wanna hear it again.”

I blushed. “U-Umm...I don’t know if I can.”

Kyuhyun held me at arm’s length and pouted. “Please?”

I laughed softly. “Fine. Just for you.”

He smiled again. “I’m waiting~”

“...S-Saranghae, Kyuhyun.”

He pinched my cheek. “Aigoo, so cute!”

“Ouch!” I frowned.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” he held my face between his hands and smiled. “By the way, you can call me Oppa now.”

“Kyuhyun-oppa~” I said, giving him a cute smile.

“And to think, this adorably cute girl is all mine.” Kyuhyun smiled proudly.

I blushed. “Don’t say embarrassing things like that.”

“Hey, Seohyunnie?”

“Yes?”

“Does it still loving a guy like me?”

“Yes.”

His eyes bulged. “What?! How?”

I smiled teasingly. “You’re better than me at everything.”

“Aish, back to that again?”

And that's the end...or is it? :)

I'm thinking about turning this into a longer story, stretching it out more. What do you guys think? Do you want this to be a MULTI-CHAPTERED STORY?!

I have no clue who did the painting...I found it on Google! But I thought it was really beautiful. Whoever the artist it, they're amazing!

Comments are nice...hope I didn't butcher SeoKyu too badly~

- Jess