I arrived at the school feeling a little out of it. I’m anxious and well… I haven’t actually heard anything from Lee Hongbin. He hasn’t replied to my message last night and it bothered me. What if he also quit school? Was being called beautiful that bad? I mean, I only said it once and if it bothers him that much I won’t say it again! Ever! I sighed heavily throughout the whole first period, save for it being literature because half of the students in the class were sighing—out of boredom—with me.

When lunch came, I was planning to meet Hakyeon hyung to ask about Hongbin’s whereabouts but was only left with another bad news. He was out for the seniors’ quarterly mock departmental exam and Wonshik hyung’s out also because apparently there’s no use of being in school when his boyfriend isn’t.  So in the end, it’s all up to me and my luck which I’m not relying on anymore to see this person again. I swear I was walking nervously down the hallway that lead me to the photography club room as if I’m going in a horror tunnel. I was sweating bullets and my hands were all clammy that I had a hard time holding the doorknob. I knocked on the pale wooden door before barging in; it was empty.

“Boo!”

I practically lounge forward for my life with the obviously unexpected sneak attack. It was between Hakyeon hyung’s screechy voice and a dying whale; and it scared the out of me.

“Ken!”

             “Osu!” he greeted with a salute and a wide grin. I am familiar with that kind of greeting and it’s Japanese. I like the animation Naruto and had harbored quite a lot of Japanese terms from the show. I’m at least glad he didn’t gender-bend me this time. The last time he used a foreign term he coined us (me and his cousin) ‘chicas’ which is actually a Spanish term used for females; hot females. He reached for my hand and helped me up.

“Sankyuu,” I passed on the same Japanese lingo up my sleeves and his eyes sparkle like he had found a treasure.

“Do you know One Piece?” he asked excitedly.

“Yeah but, I’m into Naruto more,”

             “Oh! I’ve seen Naruto too but I’m more of a One Piece fan—but still!” He jumps up and down with my right hand on his and shakes it vigorously. “This is so cool! Finally someone who watches Anime!”

“Uhm… can I ask why you’re here?” I asked when he doesn’t look like he’s stopping with his weirdness anytime soon.

“Oh!” He drops my hand in an instant. “For that! That’s my pants, right?”

He points at the paper bag I was holding the whole time with my left hand while I nodded reluctantly as a response. He then snatches it away from my hold and checks on the bag slightly before marching away as if in a trance. I stopped him by the collar and he looked at me confused.

“It’s my pants,”

              “Yes, I know but—” I paused a little, hesitant that it may come off weird to ask. “—where’s your cousin, by the way?”

“Oh, he hates you,” he slides his head to the side, still looking up to me like it wasn’t an odd thing.

“May I ask why?” He turns around from my hold and I place my hand back down and into my pockets.

He touches his sideburns awkwardly and tilted his head to the side like a kid. If I didn’t find out that Lee Hongbin is actually older than me, I would’ve thought this person was a tad bit younger. It was already settled from the beginning though, Hongbin called him ‘hyung’. I just don’t see the ‘hyung’ anywhere.

“I don’t really know myself but he was moody and he doesn’t get moody unless someone touched his films or talked about his looks—“

“I did say he was beautiful, yesterday,” I admitted cutting the chase.

“I see. Well, give him some time to re-evaluate you,” Ken informs me and taps my shoulder. “I’ll help you out!”

“Hounto?!”  

“Hai, hai.” Ken salutes to me and I almost hugged him in glee but did not because he was quick to leave again.

I’m back in the game as it turns out. Ken had to leave because he had to go to a club audition. I did exchange numbers with him which I was thoroughly shamed with his playful teasing of me ‘picking him up at broad daylight’. He told me he’ll text in Hongbin’s schedule and whereabouts so I would know when to approach him. Also the boy’s mood, he said he’d try to keep it on check for me too. He was more detailed than Hakyeon could be in this case, almost like a stalker…which makes me a stalker too? Wait a sec—

“Ow!” I fall back on the sudden collision.

I heard low ‘woo’ noises surrounding me and all my body hair quickly stood up, aware of what danger I’m in. I know when people react that way and it’s the second time it happened to me. I must’ve bumped into ‘that person’—because no one should dare call him out without any reason. He’s like the living Lord Voldemort and we can only refer to him as ‘You-Know-Who’ or ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’. The only difference is that he doesn’t go by the name Tom Marvolo Riddle but Jung TaekWoon. He doesn’t do magic trick but he’s amazing as those people who can. He’s a senior and the president of the Sports Club and captain of the Soccer Team. He’s really a great person but he’s extremely introverted to the extent that if you annoy him he’ll split you into half. I mean it’s obviously an exaggeration but he can be violent and break your arm—which actually happened to me, the first time. The twist though, he happens to be a friend of Hakyeon and Wonshik which I don’t know how in the world happened. I would understand if it was Wonshik hyung but Hakyeon hyung being that person’s friend is something I still fail to comprehend.

“I’m sorry hyung…” I bowed my head, fixing myself up. I tried not to meet his gaze because Wonshik hyung told me that he feeds on people’s fears.

             “Don’t do it again,” he said in that odd soft voice that was a complete opposite of the glare he was giving me. He then walked pass me with the rest of the swimming team (he helps moderating, due to being the Sports club president) who are having the left over fun by mocking me continuously until they all turned into the corner and headed to the indoor pool.

I sighed heavily even if I was actually relieved that nothing more happened because really our first meeting was bad.

We met at the college fair when I decided to register. I was looking for Hakyeon hyung and he told me to come to his booth which was a dining Host club of some sort and Taekwoon hyung is—surprisingly—the cook which was I wasn’t informed as I casually infiltrated the ‘staff only’ part of the room. He was cooking then, his back turned and his hair tied up to a low ponytail with his pink apron tied neatly in a bow. It was a complete trap and I was cautious of it as I’ve seen a lot of androgynous looking individual before I even got there. I planned to say ‘Hi’ and get his attention first for more caution but he suddenly spoke and called Hakyeon with the soft voice I previously mentioned. His voice is really the contrast of everything he was, that I failed to observe how freaking broad his shoulders were and how his arms looked like it was about to burst from the white polo he was wearing. I croaked out the unimaginable ‘Agassi’ out of nowhere and all hell breaks loose. He settled the hatred then by flipping me down or something close because I woke up in the infirmary then, with my broken arm and a very worried student council president.

The Technical writing class was done and I was glad because it was so boring and it’s just an hour class. I just took it as an additional unit so I can lessen the load next year. The good thing though, I got Lee Hongbin’s schedule just before I got to my English class which he too was taking. He is obviously an irregular student which was understandable for a special course taker. He had few classes and he has the luxury to enroll to additional classes he thinks or wants to take for extra credits. He also took Japanese 101 so he seemed to be interested in language. I was sadly taking it up next year in summer.

“Sunbae!”

I hold onto my chest as I turned to see a bobbed haired female student infront of me, chasing my thoughts away. She was cute and that I admit.

“I’m HyeRi from the photography club!”

             “Ah okay…” I shrugged, not knowing where the conversation is going. I took a glance at Hongbin who was mugged by girls. He was smiling but he looked just as uncomfortable as I am right now.

             “Who’s the guy you were talking with earlier?” she claps her hand before grabbing onto my arm. “May I know who he is? Please~”

“He’s Ken...” I trailed off, trying to free my arm off of her without being rude.

“Ken! Ken is an English name right? Is he a foreigner? He looks like one anyway—but is he?”

“Err… well.. probab—“

             “No he’s not. He’s full Korean,” someone answered from behind us with so much conviction. I was surprised to see Hongbin, smiling while glaring at her. It was obvious to me but it seemed like she doesn’t notice.

              “Oh…” she tilts her head. She seemed to calm down until she turned her head at Hongbin. “How bout’ you what’s your name? You look new! I’m HyeRi—“

               “Oh my god, I’m really sorry for the trouble. This girl is just—I’m sorry!” a curly haired student bowed her head while dragging HyeRi away from us.

We both watched them leave in awe but he seemed the first one to snap out of the random encounter as he pulled me to the corner of the room, next to the window.

“How come you always say the hateful things first?” he asked with one of his eyebrows raised.

I took a moment to reply as how accurate that question sounded even to my own ears. I don’t know either to be honest. It just doesn’t cross my mind that people would hate the obvious things about them like Hakyeon is dark, Wonshik looks old, Taekwoon looks feminine and he looks beautiful while he’s cousin looks like a foreigner—wait Ken hates that? He freakin’ speaks in different languages.

“He hates being called a foreigner?” I voiced out in pure curiousity. No kidding.

             “Yes, he does and to think that idiot keeps bugging me to talk to you awhile ago because you’re nice. If he heard you calling him that he’ll be upset,” Hongbin sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

             “Well I didn’t mean—I mean, I meant it but not to hurt his feelings. I was just speaking my mind,” I tried to explain myself. I can’t really empathize with this kind of things.

“I know…” He sighs again before smiling. “And about that, I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to walk out like that,”

“I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to lie—“

“So you were lying?” his eyes widen.

It took me a few second to understand what was going on before I spat out an explanation.

“No! I mean you’re beautiful but I lied when I mentioned I was referring to the photo I didn’t even see,”

He started laughing, clutching onto his stomach, after my desperate justification. I couldn’t help but join in while I admire how really beautiful he was. I find it a little comfortable with it just inside my head and not spoken out loud.

“Well now that the issue is taken care of, let’s start over.”

“Sure. I’m Han Sanghyuk,” I smiled, placing my right hand forward for a handshake.

“Lee Hongbin, nice to meet you Sang—“

“Call me Hyuk,”

“Hyuk—Wait, who’s older?” he points at us, interchangeably.

“1995,”

“Oh, I’m 1993! Nice to meet you Hyuk,” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight. It was soft and warm like how he seemed like as a person.

            “It’s nice to meet you too, Hongbin hyung.”

The class started right after but didn’t end my day with him quickly either and if I was given the choice, I can take it the whole day too if they will. The class actually helped us converse more with our limited English skills as we volunteered to exchange Basic English dialogues in our textbook. It was embarrassing but it was fun at the same time. It was very memorable too because it’s my first time interacting with the whole class without feeling withdrawn or awkward despite the ridiculousness of our pronunciation. I was comfortable with everyone for once laughing at me, most especially with Hongbin’s laughter mixed in. Everything suddenly feels right. It feels weird but, it really does.  Maybe Wonshik hyung was right. I was growing up. 

“You are beautiful in every single way,” Hongbin says, trying not to laugh as he reached his hand towards my face.

“Words can’t bring you down,” I continued, reaching out for him whole trying my best not to broke into my own laugh while the rest are already doing it for us.

“Don’t you—“

“Stop! You silly kids! Don’t practice with the lyrics of an English song!”

“Yes, Miss Tiffany!” we replied in unison.

“You silly boys.”

TBC