[Class 6A]

 

“Listen up everyone!” Ji-yeon’s voice echoed in Class 6A. “On behalf of Gwang-soo, I am going to announce the task for each one of us regarding Ms. Lee’s birthday surprise next week,” informed Ji-yeon as she stood in front of the class to get attentive attention from her classmates.

            “Who?” asked Ha Dong-hoon, playfully.

           “Ms. Lee, HaHa-ssi, Ms. Lee Min-jung. Stop playing around,” said Ji-yeon. “All right. Ha Dong-hoon and Huiren will be in charge of the performance that is the singing part. And then … the decorations will be handled by Jun-su and Bo-ram. The cake will be under Chung-sik and Eun-hee. And I’ll be in charge of the gifts. The leaders for each task that I mentioned just now, please find your members to assist you,” proclaimed Ji-yeon confidently.

“How about you Ji-yeon-ssi? Don’t you need an assistant?” Ha Dong-hoon asked her somewhat cryptically. “I am available,” he added.

“No, you are not. Just … please handle your part well, okay?” advised Ji-yeon instead of answering his question.

“But I want to be with Ji-yeon-ssi. I’m available, really …” said Ha Dong-hoon, wooing Ji-yeon with his flirty smile.

“Cut the crap Ha Dong-hoon-ssi,” implied Ji-yeon.

Not listening to her, Ha Dong-hoon started rapping ‘crap’ gleefully.

Ji-yeon looked at him, biting her lower lip, exasperated.

“So, Ji-yeon-ssi, I’ll be your assistant, okay? You’ll need someone to help you carry those gifts later,” suggested Ha Dong-hoon with a grin.

“Of course I do but I’ll find one on my own later,” answered Ji-yeon hastily as she grinned at Si-won.

“Ji-yeon-ah, are you sure you can handle the gifts stuff alone?” asked Huiren as Ji-yeon sank on her seat.

“Don’t worry. It’s not like I’m going to buy tons of gifts anyway. How many teachers are we celebrating? It’s just Ms. Lee, right?” said Ji-yeon with a smile.

Huiren laughed, agreeing what Ji-yeon had just said. “If you need help, just inform me, okay?”

“Sure,” Ji-yeon assured her with a smile.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Corridor]

 

“Ouch!” IU bumped into someone. Her books fell to the floor. She bent down and she noticed a hand was helping her to pick up the scattered books. She stopped and looked in front. There he was, looking so calm and neat in his school uniform. A blush rose in her face and she could feel the heat in her cheeks as she avoided his eyes when he turned his attention to her.

“I guess it’s my fault. Gwaenchana?” asked Yun-ho. He handed her the book as he noticed a sheet of paper slipped off from it. He took it and before he could see what it was, IU grabbed it from him and smiled. Since it’s a surprise, she wanted to keep it secret for the time being.She didn’t want him to know what she was up to. She stood up and so did he, they bashed heads.

“Ouch …!” exclaimed IU. Both of them were rubbing their forehead. They exchanged looks and smiled. They were both standing there with nothing to talk to and the atmosphere was somewhat awkward.

He looked at her again and she felt a rush of heat to her cheeks.“I’m … so sorry,” he said at last.

She smiled and gently said, “Kwaenchana…”

“I was in a rush to meet someone just now,” admitted Yun-ho.

IU made no sound. ‘Meet someone? Is he meeting with that woman from the other night again?’ thought IU.

“Oh, there she is. Ji-yeon-ah,” cried out Yun-ho as soon as he caught Ji-yeon’s appearance.

Ji-yeon turned around and smiled when she saw her brother there.

IU looked at Ji-yeon in wonder while Ji-yeon and Huiren made their way towards Yun-ho.

“Oppa, did you call me just now?” asked Ji-yeon.

‘Oppa? What would be their relationship?’ thought IU. She kept herself silent as her eyes stared at Ji-yeon.

“I got dance practice later, so…” Yun-ho didn’t finish his sentence.

“So I guess I’ll have to go home alone again today, right?” said Ji-yeon, completing Yun-ho’s sentence as she rolled her eyes at IU and gave her a smile.

Yun-ho nodded to confirm her presupposition. “Oh, and … this is IU by the way. She is your junior. Class 4A,” Yun-ho introduced IU to Ji-yeon.

Ji-yeon smiled at IU again and greeted cheerfully,“Annyeong!”

IU smiled back somewhat enigmatically, puzzled. Her mind kept on wondering about everything she heard. ‘Go home alone again? What’s that supposed to mean? Are they living under the same roof?’she wondered.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Foreign Language Class]

 

“So, have you prepared yourself for the reading test next week?” Mr. Stephen asked as his eyeballs rolled, scanning each one of his students.

“Yes, laoshi,” they answered.

“How about you, Ji-yeon?” Mr. Stephen shot Ji-yeon with a question. It gave her a slight jolt.

“Yes, laoshi!” she answered confidently.

“Okay then, I hope you all will do your best. If you have any problem, I think you can always go to the staff room and meet me. Or…you can refer to Si-won and Yong-hwa,” informed Mr. Stephen.

Ji-yeon gazed at those two guys; one looked super duper confident and the other one looked completely blank but steady. ‘Totally different in personality,’ thought Ji-yeon.

“Now pair up and practice the dialogue text that I gave you last week,” commanded Mr. Stephen.“It’s okay if you still want to pair up with your old partner,” he added.

In a split second, Si-won appeared and sank in front of Ji-yeon. He looked at her and said somewhat teasingly, “Hi, old partner.”

Ji-yeon looked at him in disgust. “Wae? Miss me that much?” replied Ji-yeon.

“Miss you? Holy smoke, pathetic,” said Si-won annoyingly.

“I wish I could turn back the time and change my partner. Perhaps, with someone like him?” she said as she squinted at Yong-hwa who was practicing with a junior.

Si-won steered his head to the guy she was looking at. “Tsk tsk,” exclaimed Si-won, disapproving Ji-yeon’s statement.

She was totally annoyed by his stuck-up behaviour.

“Get started now,” ordered Mr. Stephen.

Ji-yeon took out her dialogue sheet. She ignored Si-won’s mean look altogether. She started reading the dialogue while Si-won listened to her.

Si-won smiled somewhat cryptically to Ji-yeon’s reading. He knew that she was reading nonsense stuff. After all, he was the one who made the translation to her, so he knew what was wrong with her reading. He got even excited when he heard Ji-yeon’s translation to the dialogue added with the errors of the tone marks that she made. ‘Fish Ball, I can’t wait to see you read it next week. It must be fun. You plus your reading equals to superb! I’m sure you’ll get full mark this time. You made this weird pain in my chest so it’s your turn to feel it now. Uh-oh …’thought Si-won maliciously. His eyes were glistening and his lips curved up to an unknown smile.

Yong-hwa was nearby. Ji-yeon’s reading caught his ears. He heard everything. He glared at her and his eyeballs rolled to Si-won who was smiling somewhat fishy.

“I think that’s enough. Keep practicing. Take note of your tone mark. I hope you all could master the pinyin and the tone mark before we move on to Chinese characters later. It will need great memorization,” proclaimed Mr. Stephen. “Don’t forget to keep on practicing. Constant practice really help, remember that,” added Mr. Stephen, ending his class for the day.

“Ye…” answered the students.

“Good luck, Fish Ball,” said Si-won as he stood up and went to his seat.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Dance Studio]

 

Yun-ho entered the studio. Chang-min and the others were not there yet. As usual he spotted a drink on the bench. He knew exactly who put it there. He smiled and studied the sticky note that reads Oppa, fighting! – IU pasted on it. It seemed like lunchbox was not enough that she brought him yoghurt drink everyday too. He thought that she now knew that he would always be in the studio for his dance practice after school time. Anyway, he drank it until the last drip. He remembered the day she confessed to him. She was 17 while he was 24. He smiled again.

Someone was watching him from behind the door. Seeing he drank the yoghurt had made a sweet smile on her lips. She looked down to the recipe of Jjajangmyun on her hand. She was really determined to do it.

“Excuse me …”

IU was surprised to hear a voice echoed from behind her.

“Oops, I’m sorry. Did I surprise you?” Ji-yeon asked.

A light shook from IU.

“Is Yun-ho inside?” asked Ji-yeon again.

“Oppa? Yes, he’s inside,” answered IU. There was a bit of awkwardness between the two ladies.

“You are IU, am I right?” asked Ji-yeon in a friendly way.

“Ne.and you are Ji-yeon unni, right?” Ji-yeon nodded to her question. They both smiled and together they walked into the studio and headed towards where Yun-ho at.

Yun-ho noticed their appearance. “You’re here,” he said to Jiyeon.

“I need help … just this once please,” said Ji-yeon, speeding up her steps, leaving behind IU who walked at her own pace.

“What is it?” he enquired.

“Jjajangmyun…teach me how to do it,” pleaded Ji-yeon.

“Jjajangmyun?” wondered Yun-ho.

IU was taken aback when she heard Ji-yeon’s request. ‘She’s also learning to do the dish? And she requested it directly from Yun-ho oppa?’ thought IU, a bit nervous. She didn’t expect to have any competitor in preparing the dish to Yun-ho.

“Can you help me?” asked Ji-yeon to Yun-ho.

“Why all of a sudden you want to learn how to prepare Jjajangmyun anyway? Anything special on the way?” questioned Yun-ho.

“Just because … I’m just craving for it suddenly,” said Ji-yeon with an innocent smile.

“Why on earth are you craving for it?” asked Yun-ho, puzzled. “Well … you can just buy it right?” added Yun-ho, sounding as if he won’t offer her any help.

“I don’t want to buy. I want to eat my homemade Jjajangmyun, understand?” complained Ji-yeon.

“I thought you don’t like to eat it?”

“Who said I don’t? It’s just that I don’t eat it as often as you do, the freaky fan of Jjajangmyun.”

IU who was standing next to Ji-yeon stood still as she listened to Yun-ho and Ji-yeon’s conversation. ‘She knew Yun-ho oppa loves Jjajangmyun too?’ thought IU.

“You want to help me or not?” asked Ji-yeon, now rushing Yun-ho to give her the exact answer.

“I require you to tell me why I should help you,” said Yun-ho, trying to annoy Ji-yeon. “Who knows you want to give it to that good-for-nothing guy …” added Yun-ho.

Ji-yeon hissed at him followed by a smile. “I didn’t know it would be this hard to ask you for a help. Arasseo, I’ll tell you. First and foremost, it’s definitely not for that guy! It’s for a gift. I mean our class will be having a birthday surprise for someone next week, so … I’m thinking of making Jjajangmyun for that person. Satisfied?” explained Ji-yeon.

“Oh…” Yun-ho responded. There was a sign of relief in IU’s face now that she knew for whom Ji-yeon wanted to prepare the dish.

“If you help me with this, I’m willing to do anything for you for the whole week,” she told him gallantly.

“Jinjjayo?”

“Oh. For real,” confirmed Ji-yeon.

“Okay, I’ll help you,” decided Yun-ho with a satisfied smile. He averted his gaze to IU, standing still right in front of him in silence. He turned to Ji-yeon and asked, “Were you together just now?” he gave IU a glance.

“Not really. She was already there, standing at the door when I came,” said Ji-yeon.

“Oh, I was actually on my way to Music Studio just now. I think I should leave now,” IU interjected. She thought she should leave before Ji-yeon found out her real intention of being there. As she marched off to the door, unknowingly she dropped something on the floor. Ji-yeon picked it up and called her. But she was already out of sight.

“This place will be filled with boys soon. They’d go crazy seeing the appearance of a girl here like they’ve never seen one you know,” said Yun-ho somewhat jokingly. “Are you going to stay here and watch us?

“Oh? Ani,” said Ji-yeon simply.

“Go list down the ingredients, buy them and I’ll show you how to do it later,” ordered Yun-ho. “But it’s not a promise.”

“You’ve promised so you must!” said Ji-yeon with a pout.

“There’s internet. Just YouTube it,” Yun-ho said with a laugh.

“Stop fooling me around. Think of the service I’ve offered you. It’s for one whole week you know,” reminded Ji-yeon.

“Arasseo. Just go away now. It’s almost practice time. I don’t want you to get caught up with the guys. They’ll be infected with flirting virus as soon as they see you. I’ll be in trouble if that happens,” Yun-ho said jokingly. “See you.”

“I’ll be waiting. Bye!” replied Ji-yeon. She walked out from the studio, at the same time studying the paper she had picked up from the floor a minute ago. “Jajjangmyun?”

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Music Studio]

 

“Oh my… did I lost it? Where could it be?” IU was searching for the paper that dropped in the Dance Studio without her knowing it. She flipped over every page of the book she was holding just now but still she could not find it.

“Are you looking for this?” a voice fluttered in the air.

IU turned her head and saw Ji-yeon walked towards her, the paper in Ji-yeon’s hand.

“You dropped it in the Dance Studio just now,” informed Ji-yeon.

“Oh? It’s my paper! Thank you unni … for returning it to me,” thanked IU.

“By the way, do you by any chance know how to do it?” asked Ji-yeon.

“Ne?” IU looked puzzled.

“Jjajangmyun … You know how to do it?” restated Ji-yeon.

“Oh, Jjajangmyun­? Ah … I’m sorry but I don’t know. I’m just like you. But he knows how to,” said IU as she squinted at something. Ji-yeon steered her head to where she was looking at.

Yong-hwa was about to enter the studio with his headphone draped around his neck and guitar strapped on his back when he saw the two ladies together and stopped.

“Gege, ni lai le. Annyeong!” greeted IU. Yong-hwa smiled as he made his way towards them.

Ji-yeon blinked her eyes. ‘He knows how to make Jjajangmyun?’ she wondered.

Yong-hwa put down his guitar. “Hi, IU,” he greeted IU and she smiled. He noticed Ji-yeon and looked at her for a while. “Ni hao,” he greeted Ji-yeon.

Ji-yeon was stuttering a bit before she could clearly pronounce, “Ni hao.”

“So, where were we yesterday?” Yong-hwa reverted his gaze to IU as he picked up his guitar.

“I think the second verse?” replied IU. They were talking about the song lyrics that IU was working on.

“I think I got to go now,” Ji-yeon’s voice broke their discussion.

“Bye, unni,” said IU.

Ji-yeon smiled at her. “By the way, can I borrow it?” asked Ji-yeon to IU. “Your Jjajangmyun ingredient list,” she added when IU made a puzzled look.

“Oh, this? Sure,” answered IU as she handed Ji-yeon the paper.

“Thanks. I’ll return it to you later,” said Ji-yeon then walked away.

Yong-hwa watched her as she walked out from the studio with this thought, ‘Jjajangmyun too?’

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Library]

 

“Chunjang.Chun … jang?” wondered Ji-yeon as she jot down the ingredients list.

“Black bean paste,” someone talked from behind.

Ji-yeon turned round. “Huiren? What are you doing here?” asked Ji-yeon as Huiren sank on the seat beside her.

“I was just curious whether you can actually do it alone or not. I feel bad,” confessed Huiren.

“You don’t need to. I am doing fine,” replied Ji-yeon assuredly. “See, I got this ingredients of Jjajangmyun from IU.”

“You don’t know how to make it?”

Ji-yeon shook her head lightly.

“So do I,” admitted Huiren with a laugh.

“My brother is busy with his dance practice. He has tournament next week. I doubt he could make it for me.”

“How about buying it?” suggested Huiren.

“Sure. We can always buy it but it would be less special. It would be more memorable if we do it on our own, don’t you think?Let’s do it a ‘special Jjajangmyun’ just for Ms. Lee.” Ji-yeon smiled. “Plus, we don’t have enough budgets. The roses, coffee, decorations, and other stuffs need money too. At least for this one, we try to make it on our own.”

“Is that so? Um …”

There was silence between them.

“Oh yeah, don’t worry. I think someone could help us,” said Ji-yeon, breaking the silence.

“Who?”

“Someone. I’m not sure yet if that person will help, but I’ll try to ask,” assured Ji-yeon.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[School Gate]

 

Ji-yeon saw IU not far ahead of her, walking towards the school gate. She dashed towards IU. “IU-ssi, wait!” she cried.

IU stopped and turned to see who was calling her. She had a smile on her face when she saw Ji-yeon. She stood there watching Ji-yeon slowly approaching her.

“This … Gomawo,” thanked Ji-yeon as she handed the ingredient list to IU.

“No worries, unni.”

“Are you going to make Jjajangmyun also?”

“Ne?”

“Jjajangmyun … you have the ingredient list, are you planning of preparing the dish too?”

“Ah … yes.”

“I hate to say this, but I really do not know how to make it. I was thinking to get your help.”

“Oh?”

“Can you?”

“Help unni? Sure. But … I haven’t bought the ingredients yet.”

“How about we buy it together? I was thinking to drop by the grocery shop tomorrow after school,” proposed Ji-yeon.

“Tomorrow? That’s good. I’ll come with you,” agreed IU straightaway.

“Great! Then, I’ll see you tomorrow. We meet here at the gate.”

They separated as IU walked down the pathway while Ji-yeon made her way to the bus stop on the other side of the road. Ji-yeon looked calm and steady, unaware of her surrounding.

SCREEETTTTT!!!!! A car stopped abruptly in front of Ji-yeon who was crossing the road. She stood there, as still as a rock because she was dumbstruck.

“Yaaahhh!!! Do you want to die?!” the know-no-rule boy, Si-won yelled at Ji-yeon.

Ji-yeon gasped for air.

“What are you doing there you fool?! Do you want to die that bad?!

“That’s right! Why didn’t you just hit me with your freaky-looking car just now?!”Ji-yeon snapped. She was losing out her mind. “I’m crossing the road, can’t you see?! It’s a red colour on the traffic light, you colour blind!” cried Ji-yeon.

“M-mwo?! This fool …!”

Ji-yeon kicked hard on Si-won’s car and ran away to the bus stop.

“Yaaahhh!!!” Si-won was outraged.

Students spun around to watch the incident. Many pairs of eyes glued on him as if he had murdered someone on the spot. Some of the students were hissing inaudible words.

“What are you people looking at?! Never see a handsome man with a car?” snapped Si-won. He left the spot immediately worrying that his father or any police on guard saw him there. He didn’t want to deal with lots of questions from them. Never in his life encountered as bad a situation like this until he met Ji-yeon. His pride was hurt so badly. In his car he swore, “Fish Ball, from now on, it’s a war!

 

*   *   *   *   *

TO BE CONTINUED