Rival
Silent Smiles
A week had passed and Yongguk had gotten no closer to getting Su Kyung’s number than he had before he even knew of her existence. He was no longer allowed to share textbooks with her either since he now had his own textbooks nor was his excuse of forgetting them at home acceptable. Besides, he had to admit, he was rather enjoying the challenge. Although, he wasn’t sure if Su Kyung really meant what she had said due to the fact that she would always be ignoring him every time he tried to talk to her.
School had ended for the day and Yongguk and Himchan were waiting at the front of the school for their other friends when Su Kyung casually walked past them, looking straight ahead while putting headphones in her ears. Yongguk couldn’t seem to help but stare at her until two of his friends arrived. “Hey, hyung, what are you looking at?” the boy named Daehyun asked, jumping onto the older boy’s shoulder playfully.
“Does our Yongguk have a crush on someone?” another boy teased, pinching Yongguk’s cheeks.
Yongguk brushed him away. “Shut up, Youngjae,” he ordered, forcing himself to remove his eyes from Su Kyung.
Suddenly, the air around them changed. As the final two younger boys – Jongup and Zelo – arrived, so did the five kings of the school known as SHINee. Just like in the movies, girls screeched for them while the other boys moved out of the way at once. One of the boys in SHINee known as Jonghyun whispered to another one – Minho – and pointed over to the school gate. Minho glanced in the direction of Jonghyun’s pointing and his eyes seemed to glisten. He playfully hit Jonghyun on the chest and began to run to the front gate.
“Looks like Minho found his next target,” Zelo, the youngest of Yongguk’s friends, said with a sigh as he adjusted his backpack strap on his shoulder.
Yongguk furrowed his eyebrows and looked at his friends. “What are you talking about?” he asked.
Jongup was the one to answer. “To put it simply: Minho’s a player,” he said, wrapping an arm around Yongguk’s shoulder, “One of his goals in life is to get every girl in his high school to date him before he graduates. So ambitious.”
Yongguk was about to chuckle when Himchan hit him across the chest. “Hey, Yongguk,” he said, urgently, “Isn’t that Su Kyung he’s talking to?”
Yongguk’s eyes darted over to Minho and the girl he was talking to. “Yeah,” he replied, “that’s her.” He carefully watched the two of them as Su Kyung took out her headphones and held on to her bag and, for some reason, it made Yongguk angry. “Come on, guys, let’s go,” he said as calmly as he could, motioning for the other five boys to follow him out the gate. He intentionally slowed his pace down when he got closer to Minho and Su Kyung.
“So how about it?” Minho was saying.
Su Kyung shifted uncomfortably and held tightly onto her bag. “I’m sorry,” she said, “But I’d rather not. But thank you for considering me.” She then quickly bowed and walked off, not looking back at any of the boys. Yongguk could see Minho’s nostrils flair and his hands clench into fists. Behind him, the other boys of SHINee laughed at Minho and, for some reason, Yongguk relaxed.
“Hey,” Himchan said, regaining Yongguk’s attention, “How about if we all go to the arcade. There’s a big SS501 concert tonight and I have a feeling that all of the girls in our school will be there! They go nuts for that group here!”
“Yeah! I want to go!” Zelo cheered, jumping up in the air.
Jongup chuckled beside him. “You’re paying for us, though,” he said. Zelo’s jaw dropped but he said nothing.
They continued walking, cracking lame jokes every now and then, until they came to a stop at a crosswalk. That’s when Yongguk noticed that Su Kyung was standing right in front of him, more than likely unaware of his presence. Himchan noticed her at that moment as well and he elbowed Yongguk and smirked devilishly, motioning with his eyes for Yongguk to talk to Su Kyung.
Yongguk coughed awkwardly and proudly walked up next to her. Mainly he looked ahead but occasionally he would glance her way but Su Kyung just continued to look down at her phone and text some unknown stranger. He waited only a matter of seconds before he leaned over and forced their eyes to meet. As soon as she looked at him, he smiled broadly. “So how about that phone number?” he asked casually.
Su Kyung blinked and then took her headphones out of her ear, placing her phone back in her bag. “I’m sorry,” she said, “What did you say?”
“I said ‘how are you?’ but I guess you didn’t hear me,” he said with a sigh, standing back upright.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her smile. “Don’t lie,” she said with a small laugh, “I heard the words ‘phone number’ but the rest I didn’t. If you’re asking for my number, you won’t get it so I’d stop trying if I were you.”
“I was always taught to never give up so I’ll continue to ask you until you give it to me,” he replied, “Besides, I bet Minho got it the minute he asked. It’s unfair that he has it and I don’t!”
Su Kyung looked at him just as the crosswalk light turned green. As they began to cross the street, Su Kyung asked, “Minho? What’s this about Minho all of the sudden?”
“I saw you talking to him,” Yongguk admitted, “I hear that he asks out every girl in the school. I mean, I don’t know the guy personally but he just doesn’t seem like your type.”
He could hear Su Kyung laugh but was kind of embarrassed to continue. Why did he say that? He doesn’t think of Su Kyung of anything more than a challenge: he has to remember that! Su Kyung looked at him and laughed again. “Relax, Minho doesn’t have my number because he didn’t ask for it. Besides, even if he had asked for it, I wouldn’t have given it to him. And what do you know about what types of guys I like?” she asked.
Yongguk coughed awkwardly but didn’t answer. As they drew closer to the arcade, Yongguk became more and more anxious for some reason. “So, uh, are you going to that SS501 concert tonight? It seems like everyone in our school is going to it – the girls anyway.”
Su Kyung chuckled and shook her head. “I’m not. In all honestly, I’m all Double S’ed out. They seem to be everywhere. I can’t get away from them.” Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Su Kyung fidget with the strap of her bag. She seemed very uncomfortable. Then, she stopped walking. “This is where I’m going so I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said with an awkward smile and bowed slightly. She then turned toward Yongguk’s other friends and bowed. “I’m sorry for not introducing myself. You must be Yongguk’s friends. I’m Park Su Kyung. It’s nice to meet you.” The remaining five boys bowed awkwardly and smiled. She returned the smile and began to walk away from them but then suddenly turned around. “Oh, and Yongguk,” she said. Yongguk looked at her, expecting to hear a phone number but she just laughed. “Don’t forget to study for our test tomorrow!” she added.
Yongguk frowned. They had a test tomorrow?
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