Yonghwa yawns. It’s another day at school as usual. While the teacher hasn’t arrived yet, students are busy with different things. Yoon Ji Ah and Cha Yumi are chatting with the others, the other girls are doing their make-up though it’s not allowed, Kwon Baek is gobbling a sandwich….his breakfast or extended breakfast, while Lee Won Geun and the other guys are talking about a soccer game from last night.

The bell rings and their homeroom teacher, Mr. Ji Suk Jin comes in. The students hurriedly return to their places.

            “Good morning, people.” He greets.

The class president leads them into a return greeting.

Feeling uninterested, Yonghwa rests his chin on his fist and glance over the window next to him.

It’s going to be a loooooong day—his mind says.

Mr. Jin just finished his roll call when the school guard knocks. He goes out and talks with him a bit before returning inside.

            “We got a new transferee student.” He says.

It’s the middle of school year, who transfers school like that?

            “She’s from Jeonju Girls High School.” He adds.

            “Isn’t that a high-end institution?” he hears a girl whispers.

            “Yeah….from the countryside.” Another says.

Mr. Jin asks the new student to come in.

A girl enters the room. Her steps are slow and careful.

            “Alright, this is your new classmate.” He turns to her. “Why don’t you introduce yourself to the class?”

The girl holds tightly to the floral shoulder bag hanging to her right shoulder. Her eyes are on the floor as if she’s not sure of what’s happening. Everyone is quiet...waiting for the new kid to speak. She swallows hard.

            “G-good day. M….my name is Seo….Hyun.” her voice is shaking. “I just moved here….from Jeonju……Nice to meet you.” She bows politely.

Mr. Jin claps making everyone in the room follows.

            “Alright….Kwon Baek, please move to the back. Letting a girl to sit at the back is being ungentle man, isn’t it?”

            “Yes!” Kwon Baek happily exclaims. He’d definitely like to sit at the back because he’ll be free to pig out there for each class. He gets his bag to go at the back side but Moo Hyuk goes there immediately. Every guy likes to get there. Without a choice, Kwon Baek takes the place Moo Hyuk left…..the one on Yonghwa’s side.

The girl awkwardly walk towards the third desk and take a sit there. She puts down her bag and adjusts her thick eyeglasses.

Their rows are side by side. He’s on the fifth desk of his row while she’s on the third desk of her row. Though she’s sitting two desks away from him, Yonghwa can see her well.

              “High class school to a middle class school…why transfer?” A girl whispers.

            “Huh, it’s too obvious….her family could no longer pay.” Another girl answers while chewing a gum.

              “Look at those glasses….so nerdy…” the first girl follows up.

            “Her appearance shouts countrygirl….so tacky and dorky…” Bae Suzy utters with a smirk.

They chuckle.

Yongwa looks at the transferee whom these girls are talking about. She’s looking down to her desk without moving her head. She definitely knows that she’s the one the girls are gossiping about.

Girls…..they’re always comparing themselves with the newcomer. Always acting like every girl is a rival….Whether the other girl appears inferior or superior, they’ll hate her. They don’t keep it to themselves because they’ll definitely make that person feel their hatred through action and words. They’re very judgmental……..a man like him could never find out what is acceptable for that vague standard they have. Female is a complicated specie—he thought.

________________________________________________________________

Yonghwa enters his home and removes his hoodie. He quickly opens the ramyun he bought from the mart and pours in the hot water. While he waits for the instant noodles to cook, he recalls that new girl…Seo Hyun. She accused her of stalking her….he’s quite surprise to find out that she lives in the same neighborhood….in the house next to his apartment to be exact.

Then earlier, he bumped into her again. Because he helped her to avoid the drunk man, they somehow managed to have a little chat as they walk home. So, she’s the granddaughter of the old woman of that house.

________________________________________________________________

Yonghwa immediately recognize that person looking out of the gate.

               “Seo Hyun sshi!”

Instead, she runs quickly without looking back.

            “Wait!” he says with an extended arm but she still, she goes like that. “Didn’t she hear me?” he asks himself.

Yonghwa tries to run after her but Seo Hyun hails a cab leaving him in the street.

            “It’s not like she’s gonna be late…..” he utters. It’s still early so there’s no use to be in such a hurry like that.

Seo Hyun is already at school when he arrives. He takes his seat and stare at her for a bit. Her head is tilted down to her notebook and he couldn’t see her face because of her hair. Yonghwa wants to know if there’s something wrong so he stands to talk to her but Mr. Jin enters the room, stopping him from doing that.

Break time….Yonghwa is standing on the line. When he looks at the cafeteria door, he sees Seo Hyun but she didn’t come in.

Isn’t she going to eat?

Yonghwa grabs a bread and turns to the guy at his back….It’s Kwon Baek.

            “Pay for this…I’ll pay you back in the classroom later, okay? Thanks.” he taps his shoulder and leave quickly.

               “Huh, W…wait!”

Yonghwa scans the school ground to track Seo Hyun. Luckily, she hasn’t gone far so he follows her.  She goes to the farthest corner of the school where students don’t usually hang out. She sits under a tree. He approaches her.

               “This is a great spot for lunch!” he says and sits beside her.

               “K-kiddo!” she exclaims with her widely opened eyes.

Yonghwa asks her if she’s trying to avoid her in which she denied. They talk and share lunch.

________________________________________________________________

Yonghwa sits in his bed to sleep but he decide to send Seo Hyun a text message.

Are you still awake?

After a few minutes, a reply comes in.

                        Yes, I am.

She can now send SMS because he taught her earlier. He replies.

Girls will eventually like you. You’ll have friends soon, trust me.

She answers again.

                        By the way, thank you for this cellphone. I appreciate your help too.

Better sleep now. We have school tomorrow.

            See you tomorrow then.

Yonghwa smiles.

Goodnight. :)

He stares at his phone. He bought a new one so that he could give her his. He doesn’t spend much from his allowance so he got a lot of money saved.

He volunteered to help her in building her social skills. He feels bad for her for being a loner. The girl obviously has no social ability that’s why she can’t make friends easily. He’s surprisingly fascinated by her personality. She’s unique and outdated….who in this world doesn’t own a cell phone?! He thinks that she lives under a rock.

He remembers the places they went to earlier. Arcade Center, Café, Karaoke, Shopping Mall……he couldn’t help but smile because he had a great time.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Everyone is at the school ground. Mr. Kim Jong Kook said that they will have a ball game for today’s P. E.

Yonghwa sees Seo Hyun walking with Ji Ah and Yumi, her new friends. She looks great now that she no longer wear her thick eyeglasses. Once the three joined the class, he quickly looks away and pretend to talk with the other male classmates.

The game is dodge ball and Yonghwa is on the same team as Seo Hyun. After a few minutes of running and throwing balls, he ended up staying in the game with………her. Yonghwa does his part as the protector. He defended Seo Hyun from getting hit by shielding her and taking the hits for her.

Yonghwa instinctively grabs her arm right after the ball goes to the enemy’s hand. He wraps her arms around his waist and puts one of his arms on top of hers to cover it from being hit. Seo Hyun holds tightly on him and follows his lead. Yonghwa blinks because his heart flutters.

Once the game ended, he moves away immediately. He shouldn’t let her notice how disturbed he feels inside. He does some high fives with the guys and he caught a glimpse of a leaving Seo Hyun.

Yonghwa goes to the outdoor sink. He rolls up his sleeves and holds on the sink counter. He doesn’t know what’s wrong with him. He proceeds to wash his face.

            “Y-yonghwa….”

Yonghwa goes to the veranda and stare at the dark sky. What happened in the outdoor sink earlier flashes in his head. Seo Hyun confronted him but all he could do is to deny. Just like she said, he’s really avoiding her. The more he hangs out with her, the more he craves for it. It’s true that his only intention at first is to help a classmate which happens to be a neighbor too but suddenly something inside him changes. He’s now seeing her as a woman and he feels burdened by it. She’s very innocent in accepting his help and feeling this way….it’s like taking advantage of that. Because of this burden, he decided to draw the line.

            “This is where my part ends.”

He said that to her to put a stop to whatever it is that they have. He doesn’t want that feeling to grow further because he doesn’t know what to do with it. But he’s lying to himself…..though he’s trying his best to pretend that he no longer cares, he still finds himself watching her from afar. Also, it seems like the situation is not in his favor.  Mr. Jin appointed him to work with Seo Hyun for the acoustic performance of their class café.

He stares at the phone in his hand.

            “There’s no reason for me to keep it. Please take it back.”

She’s fighting her tears as she says that and Yonghwa feels bad.

He sighs deeply. He then looks at Seo Hyun’s house. The light in her room is off so he thinks that she’s probably sleeping now. Not long after, something caught his attention outside the gate. Somebody is there….A girl is crutching on the floor.

            “Seo…Hyun?”

Yonghwa carefully covers Seo Hyun with a blanket. After they got back from the clinic, he offered her his home for the night because she couldn’t enter her house. She left her key inside and her grandma isn’t at home either. She really made him worry earlier. She almost passes out while he’s carrying him to the clinic. Thank God that it’s just because of indigestion.

They talked and Yonghwa told her that he doesn’t hate her……that’s the best he could say in order to appease her and at the same time, cover his feelings. He came up with a new decision…He’d stop avoiding her and let things happen. He won’t try to turn his back again because this girl makes him terribly worried. Like in that dodge ball game, she’s fragile and needs to be protected. He has no definite plan if he’ll pursue her or what but for the meantime, he just wants to stay beside her…as a friend.

________________________________________________________________

The two are on their way home. They are walking side by side but neither of them is speaking for both are immersed in their own thoughts.

They had the school festival today. Everything went well and everyone had a great time. Yonghwa thinks about the highlights of his day. First, is his performance with Seo Hyun for the class café. She was nervous at first so he tried to assist her. She did great…she’s very pretty too with that red dress he chose for her. He couldn’t take his eyes off her and he didn’t try to do anything about it either.

And of course, the moment they held hands. It was just a dare brought up by Yumi and Ji Ah. Seo Hyun is not the type to do such thing but he’s quite surprised that she actually considered it. The next thing he knew was that he volunteered for that. He didn’t regret it because he was able to hold her hand. Within that few minutes, his heart flutters so much.