- present; 2011 -

Hyosung breathed in the crisp, cool air deeply, her eyes shining with a lifelong grief that rivaled a glowing hopefulness in her heart. Quietly, she kneeled down in front of the tombstone, her dear childhood friend’s name etched delicately into the smooth granite. She wiped the stray tears that escaped from her eyes away with her handkerchief before setting down a bouquet of daisies.

With a smile, Hyosung spoke up, her voice ringing clear throughout the cemetery with nobody to hear her except the souls of loved ones passed away, “Zinger…I’m finally a sophomore in college! I just wanted to come by and say hi…I miss you too.” Hyosung paused, sighing softly. “Anyway, I better go before I’m late. I’ll see you later, okay?”

Standing up quickly, Hyosung bowed and left. With her severely limited talent in running, Hyosung had a hard time weaving through the traffic of Seoul as she ran – or more like walked recklessly – as fast as she could.  Just as she rounded the corner, only a few minutes away from Seoul University, she bumped into someone, knocking him over and hearing a robust ‘oomph!’ She lost her footing and collapsed onto the concrete next to the stranger.

Hyosung stared at the rocky, grey ground as a sharp pain shot through her knee. It was just her luck that she would not only be late to class on the first day of school but succumb to her clumsiness once more.

“Yah, are you okay?” Hyosung felt the guy poke her in her side. “You weren’t looking where you were going, right? Aish…”

That made her feel a little bad…if she had paid more attention to her surroundings, she wouldn’t have injured the both of them. Lifting her head up slightly, she noticed the wry smile on the stranger’s face. “I’m sorry…”

“That really doesn’t answer my question, does it?” He was already up on his feet with his hand extended towards her. He spoke somewhat rashly and didn’t seem to have an ounce of politeness, but somehow, he made her feel comfortable , as if everything they were saying was a precious entity let out of an indestructible cage.

Without any hesitation, she slipped her hand easily into his. A slight grunt left his mouth when he helped her up, causing a blush to paint her cheeks a pale pink. “Thanks…and I’m okay. You’re okay too, right?” She locked eyes with him, worry meeting amusement.

“Of course.” He eyed her with a smile tugging at his lips. “I’m Jonghun. Choi Jonghun.”

“Ah, I’m Jeon Hyosung.” They exchanged bows, and Hyosung was about to scurry away and head to class, but Jonghun grabbed her arm, his warm hand sending chills through her spine. She couldn’t deny the fact that she did find him extremely attracted so she just couldn’t force herself to yank her arm away.

Jonghun smiled and pointed at her left knee. “You’re limping. You said you were okay.”

“Oh! It’s nothing, I’ll be okay!”

“No…let me take care of you for today.” He didn’t wait for her to answer and lifted her up bridal style, ready to whisk her away to wherever he wanted to take her. Struggling wasn’t something Hyosung liked to partake in so she just wrapped her arms around his neck, scared that Jonghun was going to drop her any second.

“I said I’m okay! Please, put me down!” Hyosung squeezed her eyes together tightly, feeling dizzy without even seeing the gigantic distance between her and the ground.

Jonghun just laughed her request off as he turned around and walked inside the building he had strolled out of prior to the crash. He went up a few flight of stairs in silence, ignoring the pleas coming from the petite girl in his arms which made Hyosung quite irritated.

“I’m going to set you down for a little bit.” Giving her an ‘I know what you’re thinking – don’t even think about running away’ smile, Jonghun bent down and placed Hyosung on the cool marble floor. Hyosung sat against the wall, fuming over the situation and starting to feel the impact of the run-in earlier as her ankle was now beginning to throb. “If you want…you can crawl in or I can carry you.”

Yet again, before she could answer, he wrapped his arms around her waist and carried her into the apartment, kicking the door closed. The apartment was modernly designed with a simple and clean black and white color scheme. A balcony complimented the living space with long windows where curtains of similar size filtered the sunlight.

Ah, this is really nice…Hyosung thought as Jonghun placed her gently onto the black suede couch. She glanced at him when he started to rummage through a drawer, realizing then and there that he was actually dressed nicely and looked like someone from a well-off family.

Letting out a laugh, he pulled out a first aid kit and set it down on the coffee table. “Your ankle hurts, right? Even though you knocked me down, you’re the one who’s hurt the most.” Smiling gently, he light touched her left ankle and made a painful expression.

“Ow…” Hyosung flinched at the excruciating pain that exploded throughout her left leg. She closed her eyes tightly as Jonghun started to wrap gauze around her ankle after applying some kind of pain relieving cream. Despite his rich boy appearance and teasing personality, he knew how to take care of her well.

“There you go.”

“Thank you…” He just nodded.

Standing up and stretching his limbs, Jonghun looked at the time. “Well, class is over now…oh well.” A playful smile fell on his lips. “Never liked literature anyway.”

However, Hyosung let out a groan; she didn’t like missing class, especially the first day. “Wait, did you say literature? Lit 209?”

Jonghun nodded. “Why? Are you in there too?”

“Yeah…” A fluttery feeling appeared in her stomach at the possibility of seeing Jonghun after this event. Yah! Stop this, Hyosung-ah!  Hyosung slapped her cheeks, beating the thought out of her head. She couldn’t possibly have a crush on this person.

“That’s great then!”

“Don’t you have something to say?” Hyosung avoided eye contact with him, focusing her sight on the ceiling above his head.

“What? Oh, sorry about making you miss class.”

Hyosung shook her head, her hair flying around her face. “No…not that.”

“Then what?” He was starting to sound a little impatient. Well, the pretty boy had to have some kind of pet peeve.

“Ah…I forget. Sorry.” How in the world could she tell him that she wanted him to offer her something to drink? But she was so thirsty…she had skipped breakfast in order to go visit Zinger’s grave since it’s been exactly five years to this date when Zinger had wrongfully lost her life. Now she was regretting staying in bed for twenty minutes after her alarm had went off.

“Just tell me.”

She bit her lower lip, not willing to talk.

“Really…fine. Whatever.” Jonghun sighed and ran his hand over his face which was contorted into an improper picture. He controlled his breathing as if he was trying to regulate his temper. It made Hyosung feel rude and ungrateful, but she would have felt the same if she had asked for a drink straight out.

“Um…you live by yourself?” Hyosung asked quietly, her failed attempt at breaking the silence since he stayed quiet. What am I doing here? I should go home…Hyosung looked at Jonghun before standing up. “I’ll be–”

“Wait! Let’s get to know each other over lunch? My treat.” The grin on his face was the total opposite from when he was scowling a few minutes earlier. And with a heart-melting grin like his, how could she resist this opportunity?

“Okay!”

- x -

author's note: here's the first official chapter! sorry for anybody who was hoping for Kisung or HyosungxHyunseung moments (but I think there's more Kisung shippers out there xD) they'll be appearing later on ^^ promise~ also I love comments, suggestions, criticism, anything! \o/ I don't bite :3

chapter title credit: AAA - Makenai Kokoro

PS: a big thank you to these following subscribers ^_^ - Eika_BBHyo, HS_KiSungLovEr, bella_shi, iitadakimassu, hasnida, giggle, 99kkff, nicolekay4, pinkyzq, cyzuka_dj, shdyla, clayray3290, babyloveeex3  ♥