10 years later

Everyone was busy walking here and there, bumping into other peoples’ shoulders as they were trying to get to their destinations. Some of them were going to school, while a number of them were going to their offices and the shops were also in the process of opening, ready for business.

Among this crowd of people, a teenage boy was also rushing to the school as he was extremely late. The gate will be closed in matter of minutes and he can’t afford to be punished because he was late. He cursed himself as he ran, that he forgot to set the alarm on his phone, causing him to be in this situation.

He bumped into quite a number of people and since he didn’t have time to stop and apologize, he only yelled “I’m sorry !! I’m late !!” as he kept running. The people he bumped into can only look and they shook their heads in disapprovement.

The moment he arrived at school was exactly ten seconds before the guard closed the gate. With a huge grin on his face, he salluted the guard and quickly sprinted to his locker to get his books. The guard only gave him a smile as he too shook his head. It was a bit unusual for the boy to be late and that was the first time in five years ever since he started studying there.

The boy then found himself standing in front of his locker and he took deep breaths as he unlocked the code. He wiped away the sweat on his forehead and said to himself, “Gosh, I’m already smelly. And the first lesson hasn’t even started yet !” He shook his head and wiped his face with a clean towel. He was sweating a lot, alright.

He opened his locker and took the books for the first two lessons for that day. Once he was satisfied that he had everything needed, he closed the locker and took a sip of the drink he brought from home. He sighed in relief once the cold liquid slid down his throat and quenched his thirst.

From the corner of his eye he saw a girl carrying a lot of books in her hands while kept looking around. By the look of it, she looked completely lost as she paced around while referring to a piece of paper in her hands, that were also holding her books.

“Must be a new student.” The boy said and as he was about to walk away to his class, he heard a loud noise coming from behind him and also the sound of books falling to the ground. The boy turned to look what was that about and saw the girl was already crouching on the floor while picking up her books. Papers were also strewn about and she was trying to pick everything up quickly. He knew immediately that she was pushed as he saw some students were running away right from her direction.

The boy shook his head with a sigh and went to help the girl. He felt bad to just leave her there since she was new and it looked like she still hadn’t had any friends, judging by how the others were looking at her. Not to mention that she looked a bit shrinking violet. He helped her by collecting her papers and books and handed them all to her. No smile was formed on the boy’s face as he kept his poker face on.

The girl looked at him and gave him a grateful smile. She bowed politely at him and said, “Thank you so much.” The boy only nodded and asked then, “You’re new ?” to which the girl nodded. “It’s my first day. I can’t find my class and the students here keep confusing me.” She added.

The boy then asked for her timetable to which the girl obediently gave him to see. He looked through the paper and thought to himself as he raised an eyebrow, She’s in Zelo’s class.

He gave the paper back to her and said, “See this corridor here ? From where we are, walk along this corridor and make a turn to the right. The second door on your left will be your classroom.” He explained to her as he pointed at the corridor she was supposed to go.

The girl only nodded but couldn’t help but to feel a bit skeptical by his explanations. The bell was going to ring soon and somehow she felt just a tiny bit of cynical towards the boy. Who knew if this person might also be one of the students who wanted to fool her around ? She already asked about five students and each of them gave her the wrong directions, which caused her to go in circles over and over again. It wasn’t a small school, to be honest. It was a big one with a lot of floors and rooms.

The dubious look on her face was clearly seen and the boy raised his eyebrow, “What ? You don’t believe me ? I’m not lying to you, really. Doesn’t benefit me in any ways.” He said and as he was about to say more, his friends came around. “ ’Sup, dude.” They greeted him.

The boy only nodded and turned to one of his friends, “Zelo ah, this new girl here is in the same class as you are. Since you’re on your way to your class already, you can just take her along. She doesn’t trust me when I gave her directions just now.” He said.

The new girl was about to apologize for being skeptical at him but before she could say anything, the boy named Zelo happily draped his hands on her shoulder and practically dragged her to their class with a huge smile. “See ya later, DaeHyun hyung !” Zelo said as he waved at his other friends while walking away with the new girl. His friends waved him back and hollered that they’ll see him again during break time.

“So, you’re a new student, huh ? Welcome to TS Academy !” Zelo exclaimed excitedly. The new girl couldn’t help but to smile at his warmness and friendliness. This could be her first friend she made at school. Not to mention that Zelo was in her class as well. Even though they just met but the girl could feel that Zelo was a happy camper.

Zelo reached out a hand to her and introduced himself, “I think you already know my name but let’s just introduce each other officially. Choi JunHong at your service ! Or you can call me Zelo. My hyungs call me Zelo.” He said as he did a salute using his other hand.

The girl shook his hand and said with a warm smile, “Nice to meet you, Zelo. I’m Han DanBi. Call me DanBi.” Zelo nodded his head and looked at her in an amused expression, “Aah ~ DanBi-ssi. I will always remember you now each time it rains. That’s what your name means, right ?” DanBi nodded and they finally arrived at their classroom.

“I’m going in first, DanBi. Are you going to wait for the teacher first ?” Zelo asked and DanBi nodded. Giving her a small wave, Zelo entered the class and straight away went to his seat. DanBi waited for their class teacher to come before she entered the class first. It didn’t take that long for her to wait as the bell then rang and the sight of their teacher could be seen walking towards her.

The teacher stopped on the class door and asked, “Are you the new student ? Han DanBi right ?” DanBi nodded her head timidly. The teacher then asked DanBi to follow her inside the classroom and DanBi towed her from behind. She met eyes with Zelo who excitedly waved at her as she stood in front of the class. DanBi gave him a smile and waved at him back shyly.

The rest of the students in the class glanced at her and Zelo curiously, wondering whether they already knew each other. And DanBi could see from their eyes that they were all judging her very heavily. She hung her head low as she pushed her spectacles up, while her other hand was still hugging her books and files.

“So class, this is your new classmate. Introduce yourself, girl.” The teacher said as she leaned at the table, waiting for DanBi to introduce herself to the rest of the class.

DanBi nodded politely at the teacher and said to her classmates, “My name is Han DanBi and I am new here. I hope we can get along well and be good friends.” Golden silence filled the classroom as there was no response coming from the students. Then all of a sudden, she heard someone was clapping while breaking the silence and as she looked, it turned out to be Zelo. DanBi looked at him with a questioning look and so was the rest of the class, who frowned at him.

Zelo stopped clapping immediately once he realized that the attention was all on him and he sank into his chair with an awkward grin. The teacher only shook her head at him and faced the students back, “Any questions for DanBi ?” she asked and since there was no response from her students, she sighed at their cold behaviour and said to DanBi, “You can go to your seat now. The one behind Kim TaeHyung. Please raise your hand, Mr Kim.”

The student named Kim TaeHyung who was daydreaming and unaware of what was going on immediately raised both his hands after his seatmate elbowed him hard. Then with a confused look, he asked his friend, “Why am I raising my hands ?”

The whole class laughed out loud and the teacher shook her head and sighed. “Be alert, Kim TaeHyung. Well, go on, DanBi. There are two empty tables behind Kim TaeHyung. The other one actually belongs to your seatmate, Lee SungMi. Which reminds me that she is not here yet. Aigoo, that kid. She’s late. Again.”

DanBi bowed at her teacher and made her way to her seat, which was beside another girl who was not there yet. As she was walking she heard the student were murmuring about her and she thought she could hear them talking about her seatmate as well. She frowned a little as she settled on her seat.

From what she heard it seemed like her classmates didn’t like this SungMi as much as they didn’t like her. DanBi was starting to get worried for a while and she hoped that whoever this SungMi was, she won’t get DanBi in serious troubles.

The teacher was just about to start the first lesson for that day when a student suddenly appeared at the door while exclaiming proudly with her hands up in the air, “On time !!” The whole class jumped in their seats at the student’s sudden shout and the teacher was likewise. She already had her hands on her hips as she said to the student, “Unfortunately no, Miss Lee. You’re late ! Again ! What am I ever going to do with you, SungMi ? What is your excuse this time ?”

The student smiled sheepishly before entering the class with her bag slung on one shoulder. DanBi’s eyes widened a little once she learned that the student who just entered that moment was the one with the name SungMi. She studied SungMi and agaped. She really looked nothing like the ot