Chapter 1 || Love Note

I’ve always liked you from afar.

And today, I made my mind up that I would confess my feelings to you in person.

Please meet up with me behind the school at 4 o’clock.

-Your Secret Admirer

Hyojin stared down stumped at the tiny piece of notebook paper in between her fingers. What was she holding anyways? Hyojin held the scrap of paper closer up to her eyes and scanned over the words sloppily etched across it several more times. It was slow to actually process in her head but little by little, it began to dawn on her. This piece of paper… was a love note… for her.

Almost by impulse, a callous scoff filled with dry amusement pushed past Hyojin’s lips. “Ah, another one huh?” Swinging her locker door shut, she her heel and casually strolled down the halls. The amused smirk that now felt like it was engraved onto her face only seemed to widen the more times she reread the note. “It feels like it’s been forever since I last gotten one of these!” She laughed to herself, messily folding up the note three or four more times more than necessary and stuffing it into her white button up pocket.

Of course with Hyojin being ‘the most beautiful girl in school’ it wasn’t uncommon for her to get sappy, corny love notes from random boys at school. She usually receives several confessions monthly- this one making it the fourth she’s received this month. Some she would deny; others she would accept. It all really depended on how good looking or how ‘skilled’ the guy appeared at the first impression.

The boy who asked her out, most of the time, would be the one to call the relationship off with her first because of how detached she would act with them and how badly she would mistreat them when she actually did try to interact with them. But it wasn’t like Hyojin cared in any way though- in fact, she couldn’t care less.

“People come, and people go. I’m the only one who will always be here for me, so I’m all that matters.”

That was the motto she lived by, and it was never going to change.

Just when Hyojin was approaching the double doors down the hall that led outside, she slowed down in her pace when her sights fell upon a petite underclassman standing near the doorways. She looked so very frail and so very innocent. Her medium length black hair delicately framed her face and gently spilled down onto her small shoulders. Judging from the cheery smile that was spread across her face and the fact that she appeared to be in her own world tipped Hyojin off that perhaps the girl didn’t even know Hyojin was slowly closing in on her.

With closer inspection, Hyojin realized the girl was on her cell phone and was too absorbed in her own conversation to notice her coming. “Ah really oppa? We can go to the movies tonight?” she shyly giggled, her naturally soft voice making it almost impossible for Hyojin to hear her. “I’ll see you after your soccer practice then. I love you too oppa~” Hyojin almost felt herself ready to puke just hearing this girl’s cutesy voice, let alone the things she’s saying over the phone.

Hyojin rose up an arm and gazed down at her wrist watch. “3:50. I have some time to spare.” She despicably mused aloud. Picking up on her pace, Hyojin quickly rushed towards the girl. Just when she was a few feet away, the unknowing girl peered up and instantly recoiled back in horror.

“H-Hyojin…!” she frightfully uttered out. In mere seconds, fear took over her and her legs and hands were now beginning to noticeably tremble the moment Hyojin finally stopped in front of her. She seemed completely frozen like a terrified deer caught in head lights under Hyojin’s devilish gaze and smirk. Finally regaining her numbed senses, she ducked her head down and directly dashed towards the exit on her left.

Right on cue, Hyojin snapped a hand down and harshly clutched onto the girl’s arm. “Ahh! P-please let go!!” she pleaded, weakly attempting to yank her arm away.

“Please? Wow, this dongsaeng is so polite.” Hyojin chuckled, causing terrified shivers to shoot down the girl’s spine. “What’s your name anyways? Unnie wants to know.” She didn’t dare to say a word and only very hushed restrained sobs could be heard from the trembling girl. Hyojin kept silent as well, loving the fact that her own silence was probably driving this girl insane.

“No name? Aww, how sad.” Hyojin amusedly cooed. Without any warning Hyojin violently shoved the younger girl, causing her to brutally fall into the wall behind her with a thud and drop down onto the floors onto her knees. Kneeling forward, pain stricken whimpers blew past her lips. “Didn’t anyone tell you it’s rude to ignore someone when they ask you a question?” Hyojin asked, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her foot against the floor.

“Just leave me alone! I-I didn’t do anything to you…!” she implored, shooting her gaze up at Hyojin through watery eyes.

“Yeah, I know.” Hyojin casually acknowledged with a nod. “But you annoyed me. The way you talked to your boyfriend on the phone. ‘Oppa, oppa~’, that really disgusted me. I couldn’t just walk away from something like that.” The girl’s jaw went slack and all she could do was mutely stare up at Hyojin in complete and utter disbelief.

“How… how can you be so heartless?!!” she screamed. But in an instant, the girl let out an unexpected shriek when Hyojin stretched a hand out and struck her across the head. The girl crumbled underneath the impact and silently laid on the ground holding onto her head, her cries now audible.

“You really gotta learn how to control that mouth of yours.” It was unbelievable how calm and undisturbed her tone was during all of this. Wiping the hand she had used to strike the younger girl on her skirt in disgust, she peered down at her wrist watch once again. “Lucky for you, I have somewhere to be right now. If not, you would have probably have needed your ‘oppa’ to come and help you walk home.” Running her fingers through her hair, Hyojin walked past the girl on the floor as if it were nothing and pushed past the door. Just before she was fully outside, she called out one last thing over her shoulder before she left. “If I happen to see you tomorrow, I’ll make sure to finish this up.” With that, Hyojin stepped outside the door.

Outside, Hyojin looked around and saw only a handful of students still loitering outside the school- the few that happened to glance over at her instantly looking away as usual. Though, it did strike her as a bit strange that there were so little students outside. But she easily brushed off that small detail. “So I have to meet this person at the back of the school right?” Hyojin murmured to herself, lightly shaking her right hand to get rid of the needle-like pain that covered her palm. “I shouldn’t have hit that girl so hard. Now my hand hurts…” she sighed in exasperation with a shake of the head.

Slipping the love note out of her pocket, she started off towards the back of the school. “I wonder who it could be anyways.” Hyojin pondered out loud. A considerable number of possible boys in her class popped into her head because she knew fully well that a large amount of guys had crushes on her. She really was irresistible after all; it could be anybody then.

Before she knew it, she had halted to a stop. Hyojin finally made it to the back of the school and just as she expected, there was a boy standing there, most likely waiting for her. Although she couldn't see him all too well from such a distance, Hyojin was impressed by how good looking this guy was, what with his tall and lean physique and handsome face. The boy stood in the distance in silence, one hand stuffed in his jacket pocket and the other poking away at his phone’s screen. Thankfully enough, he didn’t notice Hyojin’s presence at all which gave her the opportunity to fully examine him.

Hyojin began to feel her stomach knot up in excitement. This guy really wasn’t bad looking at all- this was going to be a fun and interesting experience for Hyojin, she just knew it. Running her fingers through her hair to get rid of any fly aways and slightly tugging on her collar to expose some of her flawless, milky white skin, she approached the boy.

The closer she walked to him, the more she started to feel some sort of familiarity start to creep up on her. Why was this boy starting to look more and more… familiar to her? Finally after hearing the snap of a twig on the ground from underneath Hyojin’s feet, the boy looked up at Hyojin. Hyojin abruptly paused when she finally got a good look at the guy’s face, her eyes involuntarily rounding at the eye contact. She did know this guy. She knew him all too well.

“Park… Chanyeol…?”

“Ah, so you finally made it.” Chanyeol said with an eager grin, slipping his cell phone into his pocket. Taking one step towards her, Hyojin impulsively took a couple of steps back herself. She gawked at him with complete vacancy of thought.

“You… you gotta be kidding me!” Hyojin exclaimed in disbelief. “You can’t be serious. Are you telling me that you wrote me this love note??” Chanyeol stared down at the now crumbled up note in Hyojin’s taut grip that she had held up in front of his face. Chanyeol’s face seemed unperturbed and composed during Hyojin’s rambling, until he was able to slip the paper out of Hyojin’s fingers. Casually opening the note up, not at all bothered by how wrinkled it was at this point, Chanyeol’s eyes skimmed over the words written on the paper while Hyojin anxiously watched on.

“Yup, this is my handwriting. So yeah, I did write this for you.” He causally said, extending his hand out and handing the note back to Hyojin. She stared up at him, at his completely stolid expression, and trailed her eyes downwards to gape at the note in his hand. None of this was processing- no, she wasn't allowing any of this to actually process in her head.

Acting on its own, Hyojin’s arm shot up and swatted Chanyeol’s hand away, causing the piece of paper to fall a couple of feet away. “Is this some type of ing joke?” Hyojin questioned to which Chanyeol simply shrugged his shoulders. Hyojin finally let out a weary and exasperated laugh, placing a hand on her head and looking up at the sky. “You really can’t be serious right now! Don’t you hate my guts though? You sure you’re not drunk right now or something? What, was it some type of bet??” Hyojin found herself laughing even more thinking of all the possibilities.

“I like you. Can’t you just accept that fact?”

Hyojin’s laughter came to an abrupt stop and she slowly brought her gaze back on Chanyeol. The seriousness and unyieldingness of both his demeanor and tone rendered Hyojin utterly speechless. Hyojin jumped up when Chanyeol took one firm step towards her. “Does it really matter how I felt about you before?” He took another step closer, to which Hyojin took one baby step backwards. “All that should matter is how I feel right now.”

Taking one more step, there was now merely inches separating their bodies. With neck now craned, Chanyeol stared deeply into Hyojin’s eyes. Hyojin couldn’t help her hands from trembling ever so subtly, her palms from getting sweaty, her breathing from becoming irregular, from getting dry, her eyes to stop blinking so much, and her heart from ramming against her chest so hard. She was getting nervous. Hong Hyojin was getting nervous.

Hyojin’s breath hitched up when Chanyeol suddenly leaned his head down just inches away from Hyojin’s. “Can I ask you something?” he asked with a small tilt of the head. Hyojin swallowed hard, feeling a bit fidgety now looking into his eyes so closely. All she could do was weakly nod her head in response, words getting completely caught in .

“Do you like me?”

The single questioned unexpected caused her heart to halt for a single moment and her stomach to contract uncomfortably. How badly she wanted to break her gaze away from him but couldn’t. The question settled in her mind, repeating again and again. For some reason though it wasn’t processing in any way in her head. It was just there- just eating away at her for reasons she’s couldn’t figure out.

“I… I don’t… k-know…” Pushing the words out, Hyojin felt herself becoming increasingly dazed; her own voice even sounded completely alien against her own ears. She finally found the strength to avert her eyes away from his to stare at the ground beneath her feet. Just in time too because Chanyeol leaned in even closer to her. His breath was now gently gliding against her forehead and cheek. Was she feeling alright? Why did it feel like she was beginning to burn up?

“I think you do like me.” His alluring and deep voice that enticingly melted into the air around Hyojin made her feel light headed and weak. She clenched her eyes shut, trying desperately to stop herself from turning into goop right before this guy. Chanyeol came in just a bit closer so his lips just barely brushed against her ear when he said one last thing. “And do you know what, Hyojin?”

“It will never ever work out between you and me.”

SPLASH

Hyojin’s eyes shot wide open, a loud gasp filling her lungs when she felt an icy cold sensation numbing her entire body. Hyojin looked down and saw that she was now completely drenched and dripping in water from head to toe. All at once, her entire surroundings and the things within it completely crashed into her. Not even looking up from her body, she could hear loud roars of laughter echoing from all around her.

Jerking her head upwards, reality hit her like a ton of bricks. All around her, she saw a sea of people ranging from various grades, both boys and girls, surrounding her. Each and every one of them baring identical looks of amusement and laughing hysterical. Some were simply pointing and laughing while others had their camera phones pointed at her. Everywhere she looked, all she saw were people ridiculing her.

Staring forward, she saw the very boy she was talking to a second ago about ‘liking her’ now doubling over in hysterical laughter along with his friends who had empty, dripping buckets in their hands. “Nice job guys!!” Chanyeol loudly guffawed, heartily patting his friends on their shoulders. “You guys should have waited until I got out of the way first before throwing that water though. I’m wet now too!”

“Sorry, we were just too eager!” Baekhyun chortled, hi-fiving Chanyeol. Chanyeol finally noticed Hyojin’s fixation on him and then looked over at her, getting into another fit of laughter just looking at her.

“Don’t tell me this actually surprised you!” Chanyeol loudly chortled. “You actually thought I would like you? A like you?? I would rather drop dead than become your friend, let alone your boyfriend!!”

“Great acting though!” Jongin nodded to Chanyeol, giving him the ok sign with his fingers.

“And the Emmy Award goes to Park Chanyeol!!” Sehun announced to which Chanyeol gave a proud bow, causing everyone break out into loud applause.

Hyojin was completely numb. This didn’t feel real- none of this felt like it was reality. She didn’t feel embarrassed, nor did she feel angry. She was just… numb… She didn’t know what to do or what to say. All she could do was stand there, looking down at the ground- silently listening to the endless laughter and chatting and the snaps of the cameras.

Hyojin was abruptly yanked back into reality when she suddenly felt two hands shove her from behind, causing her to fall down onto the ground. She was now covered in dirt and mud thanks to the water that soaked her body. After hearing the laughter now triple in volume, she turned her head and looked up at the person who had pushed her.

It was her. It was that girl she had bullied before- the small one with the glasses she had stomped on. The girl, although still appearing to be timid, smiled in accomplishment at Hyojin on the ground as students around her cheered her on and patted her on the shoulder happily.

Looking back over, Hyojin saw that Chanyeol and his friends were now uncontrollably laughing and pointing at her.

“Look, she’s starting to cry!!!” Hyojin blinked and looked down. Staring down at the ground, she saw small droplets of water from her face now plummeting down and crashing onto the ground. It wasn’t the water on her body… it really was her burning tears…

She began to hiccup her breaths, now feeling a painful ball forming in . Frantically looking around at the endless sea of people around her, she began to feel all her emotions now catching up to her. She felt embarrassed now. Embarrassed beyond belief. She just wanted everyone to go away, to stop looking at her. She wanted them to stop laughing, to stop pointing, to stop calling her all these names. She just wanted it all to stop.

Getting up on wobbly legs, she managed to push herself up on her feet. Hyojin then attempted to push her way past the crowd and with enough force; she was able to break past everyone.

And then, she ran. She just kept running forward. The voices and laughter soon faded in the air around Hyojin until finally, all she heard was nothing but the wind rushing past her. She didn’t care what people said when she walked by them and she didn’t care what they thought when they saw her in such a state.

She wanted to get away.

Get away from it all.

No matter what it took…

And then it happened.

Pain engulfed her body, but mostly her head.

She saw pavement, some cars and various legs and shoes rushing over to her.

Very dimly, she could hear people talking to her.

Some spoke calmly, others seemed to have been shouting hysterically.

… It was getting dark.

And it was getting cold.

This is what she wanted though, right?

To get away from it all.

Even if it meant…

Dying.

It's been a while huh you guys? So do you guys hate Hyojin? lol She definitely isn't the type of character I usually write about so it felt weird writing this but it's good to go out of your own comfort zone right? There were plenty of times where I was hesitate to write Hyojin doing or saying certain things but I just thought NO! I can't censor Hyojin because this is who she is! Take her or leave her guys!! lol And yeah, the ending of this chapter is kinda cliche but whatevs it's ok lol

But yeah, hope you guys somewhat enjoyed this weird first chapter!