Chapter 3

Yuri's POV

Taeyeon didn’t need to explain further for me to understand. The things Jessica said to me earlier… I couldn’t help but think it was somehow connected to this.

Is that why she said…

“So… you’re Whimoon’s number one student. Must feel good…”

I stopped my thoughts immediately. Who am I to judge her? I don’t even know her. 

Taeyeon then added that after meeting me at the admin. office, Jessica approached her and told her that she wasn’t feeling well. Being the nice person she is, Taeyeon wanted to accompany Jessica to the clinic but the latter insisted on just going straight to our classroom which is why she came alone earlier.

“I see.” Was all I could say.

“That’s all? Aren’t you shocked? She doesn’t look like the type to mess around.” Taeyeon retaliated

“I was just being polite by pressing on about it since you bothered yourself to tell it to me even though you know that I don’t care about such things.”

“Of course you’d say that.” She shook her head as if mentally face palming herself.

I don’t want to talk about anyone’s past, especially someone whom I barely know. It must’ve been tough putting up with everybody that judged her from the moment they saw those things. I took a glance at her. She was chatting with Kris like nothing wrong has ever happened in her life. I’m now realizing why her smile bothers me so much. She’s probably forcing it out. Several months has passed but still, things like that don’t just die down. Well, it’s none of my business anyway.

After a few minutes our assigned teacher in Physics arrived and did what all of the other teachers did. It was the first day after all. This day was just about introductions, expectations about the subject and warnings about our behavior as senior students.

The whole day went by just like that. I gathered my stuff and put on my backpack and started walking out. Taeyeon left in a hurry because she wanted to buy something for her mom since it was her birthday. As I was walking out, I saw Kris and Jessica walking towards the same direction as me. I don’t like walking with other people so I put on my headphones and walked a little bit faster than them.

I sighed as I remembered what Taeyeon said. I can’t seem to get it out of my head. Although, I’m not judging her, things like that happen for a reason. I’m sure she has one… she must have one, right? Why am I even thinking of this? It doesn’t concern me in any way at all.

Without me noticing, I already reached my apartment building. I shook my head and went inside.

I the lights and an empty house greeted me. I don’t live with my parents. My mom passed way back when I was still a kid. I don’t remember much about her but I do know that she likes singing a lot. My dad, on the other hand, is well and alive. He runs a business here in Korea. My father and I are not that close. We were always like that but it got worse when my mom died, we kinda grew even more apart and it made every conversation awkward. I don’t hate him or anything. It’s just the way we are.

I set my bag down on the couch and went to the kitchen. I started preparing dinner for myself and while I was waiting for my rice to cook, I took a quick shower and let all my worries and thoughts go down the drain.

“…you’re more than what people say about you…”

Those words, her words, are looping themselves in my head.

“This is getting ridiculous” I sighed to myself as I let the water run down my body.

There’s no reason why I should be concerned with her or is there? I don’t know. I can’t quite understand how I feel right now. I tried to think of something else which led me to remember the rice I was cooking.

I went out of the shower and dried myself up to put on clothes. I ate my dinner and proceeded to wash everything I used. Being a little bit productive did get my mind off of today’s events and so I decided to do some advance readings, write advance notes and other school related stuff. All these just to get my mind off of her. It did work to some degree but her name popped up in my head a few times but nevertheless I was able to tire myself out. I went to bed at exactly 11pm. A little early to what my body is usually accustomed to but my eyes were already failing me and so I listened to its whims and put myself to bed.

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Stop running away, Yuri…

Stop lying to yourself…

Face the truth….

I woke up with a jolt. I was breathing hard and not to mention I was basically bathing in my sweat. I put my hand on my forehead and wiped the beads of sweat that had formed.

“Another bizarre dream.” I muttered to myself

I always get dreams like this, it’s either I get this or that dream of me in a hospital. As for this dream I just had, I saw nothing but I heard voices, I’ve been like this for years now and no treatment has helped me get better. It doesn’t bother me anymore, I see it as something I have to live with. I did my usual morning routine and went out to face yet another day of school. While walking, I looked up at the clear skies. The weather kinda feels nice.

I see nothing out of the norm, I guess except that I see Jessica and Kris coming out from their apartment complex. I’m not really sure if they’re a thing or if they’re related, they seem close enough to live in the same apartment or same apartment complex.

But then again it’s none of my business. I see no reason to make myself concerned with these kinds of things. I continue making my way to school and within a matter of minutes, I arrived at my destination.

I forgot what room I was supposed to go to so I checked my phone.

“Hmm. I have Business English this morning.” I quietly said to myself.

I wandered around the academic building till I saw my designated room. I went inside and as expected, no one was there yet. I took the back-corner seat as I always do and of course my routine doesn’t change there, I took out my iPod and plugged in my headphones. I sighed and looked out the window.

Training starts later. I wonder if I should quit soccer…

But then again I can’t quit since I’m the new captain. I should probably enroll myself into an academy to maximize the use of my time.

Soccer isn’t really my thing. I just know how the game works. One day I was playing soccer at the field alone and the coach saw me. He kept on telling me to try out and I did, just so he can stop bugging me about it. By chance, I got accepted into the team. I didn’t want to disrespect my “teammates” whose lives have always been about soccer by acting like it was nothing to me which by the way is true so I trained hard with them and as soon as our former captain graduated, our coach picked me to take his spot. I really don’t like leading people but I couldn’t do anything about it. I could’ve said no but that would be more troublesome than just agreeing and doing what they want me to do. The only good thing about this is, it keeps me busy.

I saw something at the corner of my eye and so I looked at the door and saw Jessica coming in. My eyes were fixated at her as she came towards the back to where I was.

She’s alone. That’s weird.

She stopped near my desk and smiled.

“Why the sad face?” She uttered as she set down her things on the seat beside me.

“Oh. I always look like this. I’m not sad or anything, I just tend to look like this.” I said, still with the same expression.

“There’s always a reason behind everything, Mr. Kwon.”

And you always have something to say.

“Then do you mind explaining this tendency of mine, Ms. Jung?” I took off my headphones and put all my attention on this girl.

“I can but I would need to get to know you more, Mr. Kwon.” She laughed right after she said that.

I didn’t know what to say next so I just stayed silent.

“I’m sorry for acting so comfortable towards you. It’s just that you remind me of someone. If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”

“It's okay. I'm 18." I responded.

“Oh? We’re in the same age then. I guess I don’t have to bother using honorifics with you then. Is that okay?”

Shouldn’t you still be using that since you barely know me? Whatever.

"I guess so." I replied.

I had mixed emotions about having this conversation with her. On one hand, I find it interesting that she’s talking to me, usually people are either scared or intimidated by me. On the other hand, I don’t like talking much but she’s making me spit out words like there’s no tomorrow.

“Judging from your quick and straight to the point replies, I’m guessing you’re not much of a talker.”

“You should consider taking Psychology. You’re good at reading people.” 

“There’s not much to read, Mr. Kwon. If looks can kill, I wouldn’t have made it to this seat.”

“Sorry for that but that’s just the way I am.”

“Exactly why you shouldn’t be sorry, Mr. Kwon.” She laughed again.

I didn’t really want to talk to her anymore but I couldn’t stop myself. I figured I should say something that would make her stop talking to me.

“Judging from the laughing and smiling you did just now, you seem happier than yesterday. It’s probably safer to assume that you were nervous about your first day but I feel like there was something else bothering you and this is just based on the comparison of your smiles from yesterday and today. People almost always let only half if not the complete opposite of what they are really feeling surface. That excuse you gave me when you fell the other day, it doesn’t seem likely, you probably fell because your mind was floating away somewhere, that or you could be just really clumsy but since I’ve bothered myself to say all this, I’d want to assume my first statement is right. ”

There was a moment of silence before she spoke again.

“Maybe we should take Psychology together.” She smiled again.

And, she's still talking to me. Interesting.

“I’m sorry. It’s your eyes and your smile. They say a lot about how you’re really feeling.”  I said, still emotionless.

“You’re pretty good at reading people too and its fine. I didn’t really expect things to be better here.”

She’s probably talking about the thing Taeyeon told me yesterday. I guess it wasn’t just a rumor.

“For the record, my friend only told me out of habit. She heard it somewhere and she has this tendency to tell me everything even though she knows well that I don’t care.”

She looked a little bit stunned when I said those last words.

“You don’t care?” She repeated.

“Yeah. I don’t. Why should I? It doesn’t affect me in any way.”

She gave me this amused look before speaking.

“I’d expect the likes of you to turn away from people like me, you know?. “ She said quietly.

“People like me? People like you? Please do enlighten me.”

“There’s only two kinds of people who are recognized in our society. Those who are the likes of you and those who are the likes of me and by that I mean those who are branded as a , a and a . Trust me, that’s not the worst I’ve heard.” She said this with utter confidence in her voice. Almost like she was actually associating herself with those words.

“Your past experiences do not concern me at all. Also, I don’t care about what society says about anyone." 

This girl is very interesting. In more ways than one, she makes it look like she was never bothered by the things that had happened to her just last year.  

“I see. Well, thank you for keeping the conversation going. Judging from…” She said this as if though copying how I said it earlier.

“…the look in your eyes, You're practically screaming “Please, stop talking to me. I don’t like it”. And still you kept it going. I appreciate that.” She smiled and proceeded taking out her things.

I gave her a simple nod and minded my own business. A few minutes after our conversation, Kris showed up then as time passed people started coming into class.

The day started to drag on and I couldn’t wait for it to end. The only thing I looked forward to was soccer training, because it kept me busy and away from certain thoughts. I went straight to the soccer field after my last class and there I saw one of my teammates. This guy bowed to me in the most formal way I’ve ever seen.

“How was your summer, hyung?” Chanyeol, the youngest, asked.

“It’s the same as every summer I’ve had. Yours?”

“I trained all summer!” he excitedly says.

Chanyeol is the most hardworking among all of them. He’s in his sophomore year but he doesn’t act his age. The only thing he takes seriously is soccer. The others started arriving and so I prepared for training. The coach texted me and said he won’t be able to supervise us and that I should take over. All of them lined up in front of me as I started to call out their names.

“Park Chanyeol, Oh Sehun, Byun Baekhyun, Do Kyungsoo, Kim Junmyeon, Lu Han, Huang Zi Tao, Kim Jongdae, Zhang Lay and Kim Minseok.”

Realizing that everybody is here, I started to lead the warm-up. Afterwards, we proceeded with our training routine. It was a pretty normal training session with these guys. We all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. There wasn’t really anything interesting until Kris, the new guy, approached as I was walking away from the field.

“Hey there.” Kris greeted with his freakishly low voice.

I bowed slightly and asked him what he wanted.

“Will there be try-outs scheduled this term?”

“Try-outs should start next week or the week after the culture festival.” I said bluntly.

“Thank you! If I do get accepted, I look forward to training with you.” He bowed slightly.

As soon as he lifted his head, I gave him a nod and walked away.

I guess I’ll be seeing him often.

He should know that everyone takes soccer seriously in this school, it should be the same at our sister school. In fact, everyone in Korea takes soccer seriously. This Kris guy must have experience from before, judging by his looks, he’s pretty confident. 

I was already near the school gate when I saw Jessica, standing there alone. I figured I’d be able to walk past her and pretend I didn’t see her.

but yet again she didn't let me pretend for long..

“Yuri!”

I stopped and looked back at her. I don’t know if it was how she looked at me or the way her hair was being slightly blown away by the wind but at that moment my heart just started pounding like crazy however I chose to ignore it for the mean time.

I didn’t say anything but I just stared at her, waiting for her to say something.

“I uhm… well you see…” she sighed and took a deep breathe. I took a good look at her, she had something in her hand. I think it’s her cellphone.

“Is there something wrong?”

“Nothing really. I just uhm wanted to ask...” She started mumbling stuff that I could barely understand so I got closer.

I tried to look directly into her eyes but I couldn't because she had her head down. Also, she kept fumbling with her phone as she spoke

“I uhm I wanted to ask….. I just well… You see…” With each spoken word her voice got smaller and smaller. For whatever reason.

This is taking too long. I've got nothing to lose anyway so what the heck.

I took her hand, the one holding the phone and took it away from her.

“Call me a jerk or anything you want after this but I really don’t like beating around the bush.”

I opened her phone and to my surprise it didn’t have a password. I punched in a combination of numbers that happens to be my phone number.

“If my presumption is wrong then don’t save it. I need to go now. Good bye.” I handed her phone back and walked away.

I’m not entirely sure if I read the situation right but I don’t really care. I just wanted to get out of there as fast as I could. While I was walking back home, I kept thinking about the chances that my hunch was right, that she wanted my number. I pondered over the reason why she would want it. I couldn’t really come up with anything. All I know is, if she did want my number then I feel kinda happy about it but then again I’m not 100% sure about anything I feel. I placed my hand on my chest, the pounding feeling was gone. I wonder what that was. Hmm.

Well, I’ve already done it so why worry.

I entered my apartment and started my usual routine. After doing a little bit of tidying up, I opened my computer to search for nearby Academies that I can enroll in so I’ll have something to do after soccer practice.

Hmm. I can enroll in this one and take up extra classes to pass time. It’s near Dr. Kim’s office too which makes things convenient. I can go to the academy right after my session with Dr. Kim during the weekends.

I took out my phone and saved the number of the after-school institution I chose. As I was saving it, a message notification popped up on my phone. It was from an unknown number.

This must be Jessica.  

From: 010-8123-2256

Thank you for stopping me from blabbering like a weirdo back there. And yes, you were right, I did want to ask for your number. I just didn’t know how to phrase it right. Hope you don’t take it as something weird, it’s my version of a friendly gesture! Well, that’s it. Good night! -Jessica

I let out a small smile.

Interesting girl, indeed.

At least I read her mind right. I didn’t want to dwell on it for long so I replied but before that I saved her number.

To: Uncoordinated Jung

I’m sorry for what I did back there even if my intuition was right I shouldn’t have done what I did. It was rude. Good night.

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Author's/Normal POV

The next day, Yuri did his morning routine and headed out for school. As usual, he had his headphones on and he wore that same uninterested face. He saw a lot of his schoolmates along the road but he paid them no attention at all. Yet again this boy was in his own world.

I hope it’ rains.

Yuri thought as he took a quick glance at the sky, it was getting a darker by the minute. He has always had a thing for the rain. This person somehow finds solace in it. There’s not much people like him, others find the rain irritating and or a sign of bad luck but not Yuri.

He reached Whimoon and as soon as he went into the lobby of the academic building, he heard his name out loud.

“YURI!”

He knew who it was. There’s only one person in this whole school who can shout his name like that and so he looked back and saw a rather small figure running towards him. Soon enough, the figure caught up with him and started panting.

“You do know that, you could’ve just caught up to me by walking like a normal person? I wasn’t even running.”

“Too bad I’m not normal.” The other replied.

“Of course. How can I ever forget that? Anyways, what’s up with you?” Yuri changed the subject.

The two eventually got into a conversation, talking about Taeyeon’s mom’s birthday and mostly things about the latter rather than Yuri. 

Taeyeon is Yuri’s friend whom the latter met when the girl Taeyeon liked confessed to him. It was during the middle of their first semester, freshmen year. Yuri has always had the attention of many girls in their school but only a few actually had the courage to speak to him and go as far as confessing their feelings. Unfortunately one of them was Taeyeon’s first love. It was heartbreaking for this girl to see her first love spill out all the words that she had hoped to one day hear from her, said to Yuri. Long story short, Taeyeon talked to Yuri about it and as usual Yuri kept his cool and bluntly told her that he had no feelings towards the other person involved nor will he ever try to do anything about the confession that he had just received.

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Flashback

“I turned her down if you’re wondering about that. I hope you’re not about to lecture me about how I’m wasting my chance with her because honestly I’m not. I don’t have any feelings towards her nor will I ever have. I’m sorry if I’m coming off as rude but this is the way I talk.”

“…. No. It’s okay. How---“

“did I know that you were gonna ask about that?” Yuri completed her sentence

The other was silent and just stared at Yuri, waiting for his answer.

“Well, you were right at that corner when we were talking. I’m sure she didn’t see you but I sure as hell did. You’re very much welcome to hate me, I’d understand since you obviously have feelings for that girl but do remember that you don’t have to worry about me chasing her.”

“You really know a lot do you?” Taeyeon retaliated

“Not really but I do know how to read people. The way you stared at us earlier, it was definitely different.”

The girl in front of him fell silent.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep my mouth shut. I don’t really have a reason to speak of this ever again anyway so yeah. I’ll get going then.” Yuri was about to walk away when he heard something.

“Thank you.”
Yuri sighed and just gave the other girl a simple nod and went on his merry way.

After that incident, Taeyeon kept talking to Yuri. The latter found it annoying at first but because Taeyeon wasn’t the type to ask personal questions, he found himself getting used to her company.

“Anything special happened yesterday?” Taeyeon asked Yuri as they step into their classroom. There were already a couple of people inside chattering away their free time.

As soon as Yuri stepped inside, his eyes found Jessica’s and they shared a moment for a couple of seconds. She was seated up front with Kris.

“Nothing.” Yuri plainly said as he looked away and proceeded to his seat.

Jessica also looked away and continued talking to Kris.

“You say that all the time. Why did I even ask?” Taeyeon shook her head and followed Yuri at the back.

“If you consider, someone asking for my number, special then yeah sure something happened yesterday.” Yuri placed his things on top of his desk and sat himself down.

Taeyeon was a little bit confused because she was expecting Yuri to use some big word along with a snide comment, like he has always done when he’s talking to her.

“What?” Taeyeon uttered as she took the seat beside her friend.

“The new girl asked for my number. Well, actually she didn’t ask for it. I gave it to her because she couldn’t speak up.” Yuri said this as if it was the most normal thing ever.

“Oh my God.” Taeyeon said in English with a slight accent.

“Your pronunciation is getting better. Good for you.” Yuri pointed out.

Taeyeon looked at her friend in awe. She was baffled at how Yuri is handling the situation.

“She asked for your number and you actually gave it to her?” Taeyeon emphasized on the last few words.

“Yeah. So?”

Taeyeon looked up front and saw Jessica chatting with Kris. She began to put together everything that has happened yesterday and Yuri’s story.

“Isn’t that a little bit suspicious? I mean…” Taeyeon trailed. She looked at Yuri once more and as usual he was expressionless.

“…You’re not the type to just give away your number” she tried to change her line of thought.

“I know what you’re thinking but I really don’t care. She asked for my number so I gave it to her. It’s as simple as that. Don’t make a big deal out of it.” Those were Yuri’s last words about that topic.

Taeyeon still felt like there was something off about everything but she didn’t want to judge Jessica, not right now when she doesn’t even know her story. Yuri’s a smart guy, even if her hunch was right, she knew that he wouldn’t get played by anyone. He’s way too smart for those kinds of mind games. She decided to drop the subject and shrug it off.

People started coming and the room got a little nosier. Jessica took a quick glance at the back and once again, the boy she was looking at had the same uninterested face he wears every moment of every day. The more she saw it, the more she was curious. Jessica wanted to know why he acts in such a way but she knows she’s not in the position to ask him, well not yet.

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Yuri's POV

I knew exactly what Taeyeon was thinking. I didn’t really think about that possibility until Taeyeon tried to bring it up awhile ago.

During one of our classes I couldn’t help but take a couple of glances at Jessica. She was in front while I was at the back. I began thinking about what had happened yesterday and what Taeyeon said, about me not being the type of person to just give away my number. I’ve been repeatedly asked for it by random girls before but I never gave it to any of them. This thought lead me to question why I gave it to Jessica.

Was it because I find her interesting?

I gotta remember to ask Dr. Kim about this.

I shook my head, shrugged of these draining thoughts and focused in on the lesson. Whatever I'm feeling towards this person is still a mystery to me however I think my shrink will be able to answer all of this.

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Author's notes/Fun facts:

• Academy/after-school institutions are popular among Korean senior students. Especially those who are to take college entrance exams. 
• Everyone from EXO was mentioned in this chapter! (The soccer team)
• Korea loves soccer! (Although not everyone is into soccer haha)

Thank you again to those who subscribed! I highly appreciate it! Please also leave some comments! It helps me know how you're feeling about the story! 
 

Peace! -ymllama