*Jinyoung’s POV*

Yesterday and even today, Soyoung and I have been hanging out. I’m a pretty friendly person so it’s not surprising but I think it’s surprising for Soyoung since she’s quiet. But even if she’s quiet, once you talk to her and actually get to know her, she’s pretty cool. She’s smart but I bit slow and naive. I find it cute though.

It was break and she was helping me with my math homework. 

“Here. Now work on the problem,” she tells me and hands me my workbook.

I stared at her. “You barely even explained the problem to me! How am I suppose to answer this?”

“I’m not good at teaching all right! Just figure it out on your own. I already explained it to you a million times.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s an exaggeration.” 

“Whatever. Solve it and I’ll check if it’s correct. If it is, we’ll move on. If it’s not, I’ll explain it to you and you’ll work on it till you get it right.” 

She began fixing her notes and I stared at her. She noticed me staring. “May I help you?” she asks.

I shook my head. “No. I’m hungry though.”

“You have to wait for lunch,” she says.

“But that’s so far away!” I complained.

“Just wait for two more classes. You’ll live,” she said and smiled.

I pushed my notes aside and rested my head on the table. 

“Are you okae? You look tired,” Soyoung asked.

“I’m not ti—” my sentence was interrupted with a yawn. “Okae maybe I’m a little tired.”

“What’s wrong?”

I sat up and rubbed my eyes, “I’ve been working late.”

“I didn’t know you work,” she said, looking surprised. “Where?”

Shoot. She’s not suppose to know. “Uhhh… At the Sakura Hotel. I work at a small cafe there.”

“Wow~ How did you get a job there?”

I stretched my arms. “My parents have… connections.”

“Well I kinda know how you feel,” Soyoung started to say. “I started working at a bakery a few days ago and I’ve worked plenty of jobs before that.”

I was truly surprised. “Really? Why are you working so much? Doesn’t your parents work?” I asked. Soyoung’s face darkened and her smile faded. I think I hit a sensitive spot. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to…”

She waved her hand and faked a smile. “It’s okae. I live by myself. My parents passed away three years ago.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. It was all I can say.

“It’s okae. Now back to your homework. Hurry or else you’ll fail,” she orders.

“Arasseo arasseo. Sheesh you’re so bossy,” I joked. She managed to smile a little which made me smile.

*Soyoung’s POV*

It was finally lunch which means Jinyoung stopped complaining. Kind of.

“It’s lunch! Finally I’m hungry!” He threw his arms in the air and laughed. 

“Stop that. People are staring. It’s embarrassing,” I said but I was laughing along with him. We entered the cafeteria and got our food. I stared at my plate, “Mehhh.” Cafeteria food isn’t all that great.

“Where should we sit?” Jinyoung asks. I looked around the place and saw my friend Hyuna waving at me to sit down with her.

I pulled Jinyoung by his sleeve and we sat down. 

“Ehh you’re together again?” says Hyuna.

“And what’s wrong with that? I’m just helping the new kid out. Being friendly you know.”

“Whatever you say~” Hyuna sang. 

I side-eyed her then returned to my food.

We began eating our food when I noticed someone staring at me. I looked up and see Jinyoung staring at my food. I covered it up with my hands. “Can I help you?”

He pouted, “Can I have your ddukbokki? I ate all of mine.”

I looked at his try and he was right. The spot where the ddukbokki was placed was empty. “That fast? Fine. Here you can have some of mine.” I placed three pieces of ddukbokki on his tray and he smiled. 

“Yay! Gomawo,” and with that he ate it. I rolled my eyes and smiled.

“Ah, I’m thirsty. I’m gonna go buy something to drink,” Jinyoung said and got up. “You guys want anything?” We all shook our heads. “Well okae. Less work for me,” he said and ran to the drink machine.

I continued eating but Hyuna nudged me, which almost made me choke on my food. “What?” I snapped.

Hyuna jumped a little, “Mianhae, but Soyoung…”

“Yeah?” I asked while wiping my mouth.

Hyuna leaned in closed and whispered in my ear, “Do you like Jinyoung?”

It’s a good thing I stopped eating or else I would have really choked. “Wh- why would you say that?”

Hyuna shrugged. “Well you’re with him a lot, especially for a new kid. And a guy no less. Usually it takes you awhile to get used to people, but it seems you bonded pretty fast with Jinyoung. I think he likes you too.”

I touched my face and felt it getting hot. I hope my face wasn’t red. I looked over to Jinyoung who was busy getting a drink. He kicked the machine - probably ate his money - and some janitor scolded him. I watched as Jinyoung bowed, probably apologizing too.

“I don’t like him. And I bet he doesn’t like me either. I just helped him get used to this place. Besides, I bet in a couple of months, he’ll make new friends and completely forget about me.” I brushed off the thought and went back to eating.

“Well, you don’t like him. Yet,” says Hyuna. 

“Yet…” I muttered under my breath. 

“I’m back!” Jinyoung announced and sat back down. “I got chewed out by the janitor. Hehe.” He set his drink down and looked at us. “So what did I miss?”

“Nothing much,” Hyuna says. Jinyoung looked at me and I hesitantly looked at him. Our eyes met and I felt my face get hot again. I quickly averted my gaze.

“Are you okae? Your face is red. Are you getting a fever?” Jinyoung asks. He leaned in and placed his hands on my forehead. “You don’t feel warm.”

Even though he said that, I felt my face get even more hot. I slapped his hand away which surprised him and even myself. I didn’t know what to do so I stood up with my tray in my hands.

“Excuse me!” I bowed and left the table.

*Jinyoung’s POV*

“Excuse me!” Soyoung bowed and left.

“Wait…” I said but she was already halfway across the room. Wow she’s fast.

I turned to Hyuna. “What’s wrong with her?”

Hyuna shrugged but had a smirk on her face. “Mollayo~.”

My eyes followed Soyoung as she rushed outside the cafeteria and bumped into someone. She bowed countless times and apologized. 

I heard Hyuna muttered under her breath, “She’s so cute when she’s like that.”

***

Throughout the entire day, Soyoung has avoided looking at me. And when she does, she quickly looks away and her face gets red. She says she doesn’t have a fever but I’m worried. What’s wrong with this girl?

It was the end of the day and I was trying to catch up with Soyoung as she passed the school gates. I grabbed her hand, but she shook me off. I started getting irritated. I grabbed her wrist and she tried to free herself from my grasped but I had a firm grip.

“What do you want?” She asks. She didn’t sound angry. She wasn’t looking at me but at the ground. 

“Why do you keep avoiding me? Are you okae? Did something happened in lunch?”

Soyoung sighed, “It’s nothing. It’s just that Hyuna said something that freaked me out.”

“What?”

Soyoung waved her hand. “It’s nothing. I have to go to work now.” She freed herself from my grasp. She walked ahead of me but I caught up with her.

“Where do you work? I’ll drop you there.”

Soyoung laughed. “Why are you laughing?” I ask.

“There’s no way to talk to you. Once you say you’re gonna do something, you’ll do it.”

We passed some stores and I felt my stomach growl. “What time do you have to be at work?”

Soyoung looked at her watch. “I don’t have to be there till four, but I want to get there early.”

I grabbed her hand and smiled at her. “Let’s have a snack first.”

*Soyoung’s POV*

Jinyoung grabbed my hand and I felt my face get hot again. “Ya! Where are you taking me? I can’t be late for work!”

He looked back, “Don’t worry. It won’t take that long.”

We then entered a small cafe. The waitress ushered us to a seat near the window. We sat down and I eyed Jinyoung. He noticed me staring and smiled. “Ya! Jung Jinyoung! I can’t be late for work!”

He rolled his eyes and rested his cheek on his hand, “Work, work, work. Blah, blah, blah. Relax, this will only take a couple of minutes. I want you to try their new smoothie.”

“A smoothie?” I scoffed. “You brought me just for a smoothie?”

Despite my anger, Jinyoung was smiling. “Yup! It’s strawberry banana!”

That last sentence caught my attention. “S-strawberry banana?” 

Jinyoung laughed, “When you told me you liked strawberry banana, I remembered coming to this place a few days ago and tried their new smoothie. I think you’ll like it.”

The waitress came to get our orders and Jinyoung ordered the smoothie he was telling me about.

“Okae,” said the waitress. She looked at us and smiled. “You two on a date?”

Once again, I felt my face get hot and I noticed that Jinyoung’s face turned red as well. We looked at each other and quickly turned away. The waitress giggled. “Oh I’m kidding. Two strawberry banana smoothies coming right up!” and with that she left.

“Aish… why are people always assuming things,” says Jinyoung. 

“Hmmm…”

We sat in silence while we waited for our drinks. The waitress came back with two glasses filled with a smooth, thick looking mixture in it. She placed one in front of each of us.

I was about to drink it when I felt Jinyoung’s stare. Man this boy likes to stare a lot. “May I —”

“Help you?” He finished. He let out a small laugh and I laughed a bit myself. “I’m just sitting here waiting for your reaction. I want to see it,” he said eagerly. 

I placed my mouth on the straw and drank the smoothie. I pulled away and my face lit up. “Wow this is really good!” 

Jinyoung smiled. “I knew you would like it.”

I continued drinking and I realized it was almost empty. “Wow. I didn’t know I drank that much.”

Jinyoung laughed. “I know what you mean. When I first tried it, I just took one long sip. I finished it in a minute.”

We both laughed and the atmosphere lifted up. I checked my phone for the time and the clock read 3:45. “Omo! I’m going to be late for work!” I drank the rest of my drink and got up. I staggered a bit and felt back on my seat. I pressed my hand against my forehead. “Brain freeze…”

“Wow slow down. Of course you got brain freeze. You drank so fast,” Jinyoung said. I looked at Jinyoung and he too, was drinking the smoothie just as fast as I did. And he lectured me about drinking too fast! Once he was finished he messed up his hair. “Aishhh!! Brain freeze!”

I looked at him, “Are you stupid? Why did you do that?”

He looked at me and smiled. “So that we can have a brain freeze together.”

I was taken back. I smiled and rolled my eyes, “You’re really stupid.”

We payed for our drinks and Jinyoung followed me to my work. My brain freeze went away, but Jinyoung still kept his hand pressed to his head.

I looked at him, worried. “Hey are you okae?”

He waved his hand. “I’m fine. Just have a little headache.” 

I lightly punched him on the shoulder. “That’s what you get for drinking so fast.” I said jokingly but Jinyoung seemed to be serious. 

“Ya… Is it really that bad?” I shook his shoulder a little and before I knew it, Jinyoung was on the ground. It took me a few seconds to realize what happened. Once it finally hit me I started panicking. 

I got down to my knees and shook Jinyoung. “Are you okae? Jinyoung? Jinyoung!” I pulled him onto my lap and shook him some more. “This is what you get for drinking too fast! Oh my gosh, what if you got brain damage? Someone help! We need to get him to a hospital!” 

A few people came up to us, but Jinyoung suddenly sat up and yelled “Ha!” 

I should be happy, but I felt irritated. I pushed him off my lap and he hit the ground. “YA! You think that’s funny? You almost gave me a heart attack!” I apologized to the people who came to help and they walked away looking irritated. I glared at Jinyoung, but he was laughing.

I got up and walked away. “Hey!” Jinyoung called from behind. “I’m sorry if I scared you!”

I ignored him and continued walking. I felt tears in my eyes. Jinyoung grabbed my wrist - like always - and turned me to face him. I looked him straight in the eyes, despite the tears forming in my eyes. 

He looked surprised. “Wow you’re really angry. Are you crying?”

I broke free from his grasp. “Of course I’m angry! You faked fainting and scared me to death! I thought something serious had happened!” Before I could walk away, I felt Jinyoung pull me close to him and put his arms around me.

“Mianhaeyo. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to play a prank on you, thinking you would laugh.”

I rested my head on his chest and felt a tear slide down my cheek. “You really think that I would laugh? You’re really stupid.” 

He patted my head and rested his chin on my head. “Yeah… I know.”

*** 

Jinyoung still walked me to my work, but we walked in silence. Jinyoung didn’t bother me and I was happy he didn’t. He dropped me off at my work and we said our goodbyes. 

I entered the shop and rubbed the tears from my eyes, erasing any evidence that I was crying. I saw Ai in front of me.

“Are you alright?” she asks. “Are you crying?” She walks up to me but I turned away. 

“I’m fine,” I say.

“You’re clearly not fine! What happened? You can tell me if you want to,” she stopped talking and stepped in front of me. “Is it because of that guy?” 

I followed her gaze outside the window and saw that Jinyoung was still there. He noticed me staring and walked away. 

“Well is it?” Ai asked again.

I rubbed my eyes and said, “He’s a real idiot.”

*Jinyoung’s POV*

I walked up the steps of the porch and pulled out the keys from my pocket. I opened the door and closed it behind me. 

“Eomma I’m home!” There was no response. I checked the living room and she wasn’t there. I was about to check the kitchen when something attacked me from behind.

“The freak—” I fell to the ground and felt a giant weight on top of me. “Okae whoever this is has three seconds to get off of me before I call security.”

“Sorry hyung,” said a familiar voice.

I tilted my head up, “Gongchan?”

“Yay you remembered me!” The weight from me was lifted and I sat up. I found a boy, a little younger than me, was smiling at me. 

I felt a headache coming on. “Gongchan what are you doing here?” I asked irritably. 

Gongchan pouted. “You’re not happy to see me?”

“No no. I am. I just had a hard day!” I said and got up.

“Waeyo?” Gongchan got up as well. “Are you being bullied at your new school?”

“No I’m not,” I said. I rubbed the temples on my head. “Ugh I think I have a headache.” I walked to the kitchen and Gongchan followed. I found my mom in the kitchen preparing snacks. 

“Ohh rice cakes!” Gongchan cheered happily. 

I sat down on the table and Gongchan did the same. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but what is Gongchan doing here?”

My mother stopped what she was doing and turned to me. “He’s visiting his cousins and decided to visit you too.”

“How did he find out about our new address?”

“You gave it to me yourself hyung!” said Gongchan. “Are you alright? You look dazed.” 

“I’m fine,” I said but my mother walked up to me and placed her hand on my forehead. 

“Oh baby you’re warm,” she said with concern. 

I blushed. “Mom don’t say that. Especially when I have a friend over.”

“But it’s just me! I’ve seen your mom drown you with kisses when we were younger!” Gongchan commented.

My mother laughed and I groaned. “I think I have a headache. Can I have medicine eomma?”

“Sure thing sweetie,” my mom walked out of the kitchen to get the medicine.

Well if you’re lost, this is Gongchan. He’s been my friend since middle school and a year younger than me. He’s one of my closest friends, and he’s among the friends that didn’t stab me in the back.

“How’s your new school hyung?” Gongchan asked. “You made any friends yet?”

“It’s okae, and kinda,” I responded. Now that I think about it, I mostly hung out with Soyoung and Hyuna, who were both girls. I talked with a few guys and they were pretty cool, but I didn’t dare get too close to them. I don’t want people befriending me then stabbing me in the back.

“Really?” Gongchan looked surprised. “I thought you would have made friends quickly.”

“Yeah well, I don’t want the same thing happening again.”

Gongchan looked down, “I’m sorry hyung. I’m sad you left, but at the same time I’m happy because you get to start a new life. It was really getting out of hand at our high school.”

I gestured for him to stop talking. “I don’t want to talk about it. I already have a headache and I don’t want it to get worse. Sorry if I seem rude, but my dad has gotten me real busy lately. Every night he takes me to the hotel to do some work, and he wants me to study books about funds, the economy, and such. It’s annoying. I have my school work to worry about. And now he wants me to attend some party this Friday night, but of course it’s for work. Fortunately he has a meeting today so it’s resting day for me. How long are you staying here?”

“I’m leaving on Sunday,” says Gongchan.

“You want to sleep over?” I suggested.

Gongchan’s face lit up. “Chinchayo? I can?”

I nodded, “I want to hang out with a guy. Plus we need to catch up. Whenever I go online and read people’s statuses, I feel completely lost.” I lightly punched him on the shoulder.

“Thanks hyung!” and he pulled me into a bear hug. He pulled away. “Let me call my parents if they’ll let me stay. Can I use your phone?”

“Sure. It’s in the living room. Next to the flat screen tv.”

The younger boy’s jaw dropped. “You have a flat screen tv? Oh why am I surprised. I should have expected it.” He got up and left the kitchen. At the same moment my mom walks back in.

“Gongchan looks happy,” she said and placed the pills bottle in front of me.

“I invited him to sleepover,” I said. I opened it and took one of the pills. My mom handed me a glass of water and I drank it.

“Oh that’s great sweetie! I hope you have fun!” She returned to the counter and I noticed something cooking on the stove. 

“What’s that?” I asked, pointing to the pot. 

“It’s kimchi stew. I know how much Gongchan loves it,” she said with a smile.

“Are you going to cook spam?” I asked. She looked at me and I pulled out some aegyo. “*Jebal eomma?”

She laughed. “Fine, fine. Gosh, you and your spam.” 

“My mom said I can stay!” Gongchan announced as he ran back in the kitchen. He began sniffing the air. “I smell kimchi stew!”

“Well you smelled right then,” my mother said. “I’ll be done in a couple of minutes. Why don’t you two wash up and watch some tv while you’re waiting?”

“Okae,” I said.

“Yes Mrs. Jung!” Gongchan said happily.

We left the kitchen and I ran to my room and changed out of my uniform and into jeans, a white shirt and a thin, black jacket. When I came downstairs, I found Gongchan in the living room watching Spongebob.

“Spongebob? Really?”

Gongchan stick his tongue out at me. “You’re never too young to watch Spongebob!”

I laughed and joined him on the couch. We watched tv until my mom called us to dinner. Gongchan really brightened up the mood. It was one of those nights where my dad wasn’t eating at home, which was fine by me. My mom and I would rarely talk, and when we did it seemed awkward at times. But Gongchan’s presence lifted all the tension. We finished eating and Gongchan joined me in my room after.

He was on my bed looking at my video games. “Hyung can we play?”

I sat on my desk and was working on the math homework Soyoung helped me with earlier. “Can’t. Busy. Plus my Xbox is broken.” 

“You ,” he said.

“So do you,” I joked. 

Gongchan was now studying my books on the shelf. “Hyung?”

“Yes?”

“Earlier when you were asking me to sleepover. You said ‘I want to hang out with a guy’. What did you mean by that?”

My hand stopped in the middle of writing a 5. I didn’t tell him that I made friends with two girls. Great. I wonder what he would think of me. “Well I did make some friends…”

“And…?”

“They’re two girls.” I was waiting for Gongchan to burst out laughing, but instead he jumps on my bed and starts rolling around in it.

“Ya! You’re messing up my bed!”

Gongchan just laughed and continued getting wrapped up in my blanket.

“Aren’t you going to laugh at me?”

The younger boy stopped rolling around and stared at his hyung. “For what?”

“That the first people I became friends with at my new school are girls.”

Gongchan shrugged. “You were popular among the girls at our school. It’s no big deal.”

I rested my cheek on the palm of my hand. “I guess…”

Gongchan switched his position and the upper half of his body was hanging off the bed. “But hyung?”

I returned to my math homework. “Yeah?”

“Are you interested in any of them?”

I repeated his question in my head and thought about it. Immediately I thought of Soyoung. “There’s one that does interests me.”

“Really? What’s she like?” Gongchan asked curiously.

The sly smile I had on faded. “She reminds me a bit of Hyorin.”

“Is that a good thing or bad thing?”

I stared at an old photograph with me and my friends from my old school. We were posing in front of a river with the cherry blossom trees behind us. Gongchan was sitting at the front acting cute. I stood in the middle of the crowd with my arms wrapped around a girl’s waist. I had a big smile on my face and so did she. This photo was taken a week before it all fell apart.

“I honestly do not know.”

---

 

Ahh-- ahh-- ACHOO!!! =___= I have a cold and I feel miserable and I feel like listening to sad songs. I'm not in a good mood either. When I wrote that Jinyoung had a headache, I actually had a headache myself. And some how I put it into my story. Idek...

And the part where Jinyoung pretend to faint... yeah I got that from Match Up~ xD When I saw the preview I was so worried but when I watched it and found out it was fake I was like "This bish... trying to give me a heart attack." -__-

Yeah, so who's this girl Hyorin and what's up with Jinyoung's past?? 

And this is unrelated to the story but Jinyoung is climbing up my bias list real fast. -__- He's already in 7th place. I wonder if he can beat Karam and Joon and get into my top 5. This bish... ruining my bias list.