“Everything popular is wrong”
-Oscar Wilde-



 

02| Hide and Seek


Just last week, I watched a real-life drama happening at my school.

It was the annual charity event for my school and I took the chance to make some easy money by selling corns at one of the stalls. I had heard of rumours that the turnout for this year would double since the Handsome Kingkas had decided to make a scary house for the event. All the girls of my school were giddy to be frightened by them, though I didn’t quite understand the point of them going into the scary house when they already know who the ghosts were. I guess, they just wanted the chance to be near their ‘idols’.

High school girls were always known to be superficial.

So, there I was, selling my precious corns at my stall near the magician stage when suddenly, I had the shock of my life when a vampire (with fangs) passed by, dragging an unknown girl by the wrist and followed closely behind by a long-haired ghost. 

I kid you not. 

Those ‘things’ really walked right in front of my stall. My heart nearly stopped beating. The went to the front of the stage, totally putting a stop to the magician’s, if I may add, lame, magic show. 

The vampire then revealed his true identity; that he was actually Choi SeungHyun. He then broke the hearts of the entire female population in my school by declaring publicly that the unknown girl was his girlfriend. I heard some gasping, I heard some cries and I heard some whisperings. The girls were obviously not very happy that their beloved kingka had found love. They gave murderous glares to the girlfriend. I hated to be in her position. She might be dead by the end of the week.

That was when the real drama started.

I noticed that a boy was staring at them from a distance. He looked so sorrowful that I began to wonder if he had feelings for SeungHyun too. But then, he ran away and the ‘girlfriend’ started to run after him, leaving SeungHyun behind with the long-haired ghost whom I later found out to be HeeChul. SeungHyun called after her but she didn’t stop; she kept on running.

“Lee ChaeRin!” I had heard him called.

It was the same name that he was crying for while in his drunken state last night.

Then, I heard a woman yelled SeungHyun’s name. Judging by her fierce attitude, I figured that she must be SeungHyun’s mom, a teacher from a different school who was known to be quite fierce in her class. I could see the fear on SeungHyun’s face when he saw her. Then, when the mom tried to slap him, HeeChul and another unknown girl stopped her and SeungHyun immediately ran away from the scene.

Like I said, it was a real-life drama. I enjoyed watching the whole thing while munching on my corns.

Maybe I enjoyed watching it a little too much because now, the same heartbroken kingka was standing in front of me, smirking devilishly. Maybe it was God’s way of punishing me for laughing at other people’s lives.

Could it be that I’d be starring in a real-life drama of my own too?

Sh1t!

It was definitely karma, when I found him standing in front of me.

I closed my eyes and opened them, hoping that he’d be gone by then.
But unfortunately, he was still there, smirking down at me.

I blinked rapidly.
I looked everywhere for a way to escape.
My only hope was to run the other way but when I glanced at my back, I saw the rest of his friends standing behind me.

“Don’t ask why we’re here,” HeeChul said, “Even we don’t know.”
“Maybe she’s going to be another Lee ChaeRin,” TaeYang said.
“That’s gonna be interesting,” JiYong quipped and they laughed in unison.

I wonder if I was going to keep on hearing the girl’s name in the future.

Aish, you won’t be meeting them in the future, Park Bom! You should avoid them for the rest of your life!

“Oi!” SeungHyun shouted at his friends, “Stop laughing! I told you guys to block the way, not to mock me! Don’t let her get away.”

The guys immediately shut up though I bet they were still grinning.
The kingkas of my school were always known to be dorky.

I could see some crowds were already forming behind SeungHyun.

“Oh my God! The Handsome KingKas are here!”
“Why do they come to our block?”
“Who’s the girl? He’s not gonna confess to another girl now, is he?”
“I heard she said in the cafeteria just now that Oppa kissed her last night!”
“Impossible! I think she kissed him!”
“I hope he doesn’t fall for her tricks.”
“Oppa~!! Don’t break our hearts!”

 I winced when I heard what the girls were saying among each other. I think I was going to be the school’s number 1 enemy after this if they think that there was something going on between me and SeungHyun.

“You’re not thinking of running away again now, are you?” SeungHyun snickered at me.

I heaved a deep sigh. I was trapped between the kingkas. The only way for me to run away was by jumping off the corridor which of course wouldn’t be an option for me since my class was on the third floor and I didn’t want to end up as a dead young .

“SeungHyun-shi,” I said as politely as I could, “What do you want with me?”

It puzzled me why he went through all the trouble to find me. What could he possibly gain from saying that I kissed him? And he wanted me to take responsibility? For what? Was he out of his mind?

SeungHyun smirked. “I’ve already told you. I want you to take responsibility.”
I groaned loudly. If I hear he said the word ‘responsibility’ one more time, I swear I’ll scream.

“SeungHyun-shi, please,” I pleaded, “I don’t know if you intentionally twist the story or you truly have forgotten but really, you’re the one who kissed me. I tried to stop you but you were just too strong and drunk. I have forgiven you for that so can you please just leave me alone? I don’t want to be killed by your admirers. I just want to live my life peacefully.”

There. I had said everything that I felt. I was sure that he’d leave me alone after that.

I was wrong.

I didn’t notice that he wasn’t even listening.

SeungHyun was deeply immersed in trying to kill a cockroach that was crawling on the floor. He kept on stomping his foot until finally, his foot had successfully landed on the cockroach, killing it in an instance. He grinned in satisfaction as he bent down to pick up the cockroach by its antenna.

“You want it?” he grinned as he held the dead cockroach just a few inches away from my face. It swung from left to right. I took a step back, intimidated by his eccentric behaviour. Did he think that I would be impressed by his ability to kill some insects? 

Seriously, he was the kingka of my school?
What did the girls see in him, anyways?
 

“Ah, did you see how he killed that cockroach?”
“Oppa is so cute!”
“He’s awesome. No one can kill a cockroach so fast like him.”
“Impressive. Oh, I’m in love.”
 

Oh, puh-lease!
I kill insects practically every day at my house.
That was not impressive. 
The delusional fangirls should have some logic hammered into their brains.

“SeungHyun-shi, were you even listening?!” I asked exasperatedly.
“Uh-huh,” he said, obviously not paying me any attention. He was staring intensely at the dead cockroach. “Daebak! I think I had burst his eyes.”

I slapped my head.
I contemplated on running away but the crowd of fangirls behind him looked so intimidating. To be safe, I decided to just entertain him until the bell rang.

“Hey, Top! We’re leaving. This is boring!” I heard JiYong yelled at him.
“Go on! I’ll see you in class,” he said, waving h