Recess finally arrived, the moment I dreaded unlike the other students, who actually were eagerly waiting for a break where they can chat and hang out with their friends. That was the main point of recess in whatever school around the world; a break from hectic studies where you can chat with friends as much as you like without the teachers chastising you and asking you to zip it.

I didn’t eat much already, so I was done with my lunch in a couple of minutes. I had no idea what to do next, so I finally decided to go outside and write my diary on the maintained school grounds. Besides fall was a very beautiful season which had to be enjoyed, especially in Korea.

There were quite many students outside but it didn’t feel congested because the grounds were quite capacious. I sat under a tree, which was away from most of the crowd. I wanted to be alone. Maybe.

Soon, I was lost in my world again, busy writing my diary. Nothing could get me out except the slight ruffle that occurred right behind me. I quickly turned my head like a cautious animal ready to flee at the slightest sign of danger.

It was Junhong, standing over me, reading what I was writing. I instantly closed my diary.

“Is it a secret?” He asked innocently. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“No, not really, just a….. friend.” I answered nervously.

He asked me if he could sit down and I nodded.

“A friend?”

“Yeah, since I don’t have many friends, I often find it comforting just to write my feelings down. I know it’s stupid.”

“No, I personally think it’s nice to have a personal diary.” He gave me an encouraging smile.

“Thank you.” I said as I was completely shocked that he was the first person to compliment my habit of writing a diary which by many people nowadays was considered too out of date and a weird habit.

“By the way, I was looking for you because we left our conversation mid-way and I still didn’t get to know your name.”

Living in America for eleven years I had gotten used to a name people called me there, a name that was my real name but shaped into an American accent making it quite an ordinary American name.

“My name is Hannah Song.”

“Hana?”

The way he said my name made my heart jump a little. What he had called me was actually the right way to pronounce my name, which I hadn’t heard since I left Korea. It was what my parents called me. A wave of nostalgia rushed over me, making me feel down-hearted.

“Is something wrong?” He asked concerned sensing my sadness. I quickly shook my head and smiled a little to assure him I was alright.

The bell rang and recess was over. I couldn’t help but feel a little sad. I actually liked his lively presence around my dead self.

“Let’s go back to class.” He got up and offered me his hand. I took it and soon we both were walking towards the school building. We walked in silence at first but then he spoke,

“Uh Hana, would you like it if I, you know showed you around school? Since you’re new here and it’s a pretty big place and so-“ It was clear, he felt very nervous. So to make it easier for him I quickly answered,

“Yes I would love that. When?”

“How about after school?”

First day of school was finally over. I was just too excited to have that school tour with Junhong, counting every minute of each class and now it had finally arrived. The reason of my excitement was that I couldn’t believe I had made a friend on the first day at school. This does seem childish but I really felt exultant that somebody accepted me, I didn’t interact with people much and this interaction seemed like a new thrilling adventure in my life which I never had before.

Just as the last bell had rung, he told me to meet him outside as he had to be somewhere else for the moment. So I packed my stuff and headed to the school grounds, where I was to meet him.

I stood there for a few minutes feeling elated for the next moments to come when Junhong came over to me.

“Sorry, did I make you wait too long?” he apologized.

“No, not at all.”

He explained why he had to leave as we walked back towards the school building, “My friend Jongup is such a little kid, he wanted me to see him off at the gate after school since we couldn’t walk home together today.” He laughed a little.

I really liked his laugh, it was quite refreshing since I hadn’t had a good laugh myself since…… forever.

“He sounds nice though.” I replied.

“He is! I’ll introduce him to you sometime. And by the way, it was no trouble for you meeting me after school right?” he asked a bit concerned.

He was the sweetest guy ever. How he was so friendly and kind towards an unknown girl like me, it was just so amazing. His concern reflected his kind personality. I liked him.
 

“No, course not! Still, thank you for asking.”

We were finally at the ‘starting point’ i.e the main corridor. It seemed endless. Just in the middle of the hallway a flight of stairs stretched both left and right to the floors above. The corridor was almost empty as most of the students had gone outside. Junhong faced me and formally bowed.

“Good afternoon, Miss Song, I am Choi Junhong, your tour guide as of today. I would be showing you around this spectacular school of ours,” he said formally as he gestured around the place. “I assure you that this tour would be the most splendid one you would ever experience!”

We both cracked together. I didn’t suspect this shy boy to have a sense of humor, but it was definitely there, even if it was just a little. He definitely made me laugh.

Junhong gave me information about different rooms in such an amazing way that it became hard to get them wrong. I was enjoying everything about the moment as we walked, chatted and joked along the way. It felt like as if we were old buddies.

On the top floor, we came to a halt in front of a door.

“Now this is my favorite place to visit in the whole school and I have this feeling that you’ll love it too.” Junhong stated.

He opened the door to reveal his favorite place. The sun shone into my eyes as we both stepped outside on the roof.

“Welcome to the roof top.” He said with exhilaration in his voice. “Come on, I’ll show you something.”

We both sauntered towards the ledge, but my pace was slower and more precautious, even though the ledges were pretty safe due to the high railings. Noticing my stiffness, Junhong asked, again with the same concerned look that I was now finding quite adorable.

“What’s wrong Hana?”

“Nothing, really.” I smiled to relieve him of his concern.

“Are you afraid of heights?”

I couldn’t lie so I confessed to him that I was a little acrophobic. Rather than laughing at me and making fun of me he came over and consoled me that it was going to be ok. After all he was a sweet guy.  He finally managed to walk me over to the railing, which I immediately grabbed. And the next thing I knew was being left breathless, not because of fear but because of the beautiful view in front of me.

I could practically see everything from the view above. I felt on top of the world. The road outside our school was lined with orange-brown autumn trees and the paths covered with a cluster of yellow-brownish leaves that had fallen off. Cars went by intending to get to their destination. A play ground could also be seen in a distance, where tiny children ran happily playing ‘kick the can’. I could even see some buildings scattered here and there, including my apartment.

The vast sky above us was also very blue and clear. There were no high buildings blocking our view of the clear sky since we were quite on a height ourselves. It was definitely beautiful.

“Junhong this is so amazing.” Then I realized this was the first time I had spoken his name. The first time I ever said a Korean name in eleven years. It sounded gentle and sweet coming out of my mouth. It sounded wonderful.

“I knew you would love it!” he said as a big smile spread across his face.

We stood in silence at first, taking in the soothing beauty but then I remembered our incomplete conversation before school and so I had to ask,

“Junhong you never got to tell me that why you took your classes this year in English.”

“Oh that. There is quite a long story behind that, maybe I’ll tell you that sometime later, otherwise it would take me a whole day explaining everything.” He laughed a little and continued, “But I can tell you this now that I took them because I’m planning on going to USA one day.”

“Really? Any specific reason?” I questioned skeptically.

“Yes there is, but then again as I said it needs a lot of explanation. Besides, it wouldn’t be fair. You’re new here, so you should be telling me your story first.”

“Ok, I moved to Korea from America just two weeks ago and I definitely don’t know Korean at all.”

“Is there any specific reason for moving here from America?”

“Yes there is, but then again it’s a long story and I’ll tell you later.” I directed the same sentence back at him.

“Hey, stop copying me!” He playfully smiled at me.

“But it wouldn’t be fair then right? You, knowing everything about me while I know nothing about you.”

“Ok fine I’ll tell you this. My name is Choi Junhong, age: 17, likes: skateboarding and playing soccer, hair color: balck, eye color: dark brown-“, he teased but I cut him off,

“I didn’t mean it that way Junhong.”

We both laughed for a while. I was actually enjoying something. I was feeling an emotion that I hadn’t felt since a long time and that emotion would be what people called ‘happiness’. It felt good and refreshing like a sudden cool breeze on a hot humid day. But this sort of happiness felt quite familiar. We continued talking,

“But Hana do tell me about yourself. If not the whole story just yet then just a little profile like I did.”

“Name: Hannah Song, age: 16, likes: writing my diary and,” ‘And hating and blaming myself for everything’ I thought but I couldn’t say that. “And hair color: dark brown, eye color: dark brown.”

First he asked me about my age which I explained that I had started school way too early for my age and then he asked me about my name,

“Is your name actually Hannah song or is it Song Hana because as far as I know, you look Korean.”

“It’s actually Song Hana, but since I had moved to America everybody there called me Hannah and I got used to it.”

“But what do you actually prefer?”

That was a question I hadn’t thought about ever. I just went with whatever people called me. Even if they called me a weirdo I accepted it that I was a weirdo. I was just living a miserable life where I believed that you had to survive each coming day until the day you finally die. For me, there was no purpose to life.

“I prefer Hannah.” I replied.

“Oh, but to be honest, I really like the name Hana.” He smiled politely.

This completely took me off guard; I didn’t expect him to compliment my name. No one had ever complimented my name before, the name that was given to me by my parents. His compliment for reasons I was unaware off, filled my heart with great contentment and joy.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because Hana means flower and a flower symbolizes beauty. Besides, it reminds me of my favorite season; Spring.” He explained.

His explanation was beautiful just like his personality and I was moved. Nobody referred to me as a flower except my parents, who were no longer in this world. No longer with me.

We talked more about spring as he explained why it was his favorite season. To be honest, my favorite season was spring too but I didn’t want to interrupt his beautiful speech to convey the same message in a few, empty words.

We looked down at the school grounds, they were practically empty by now. Junhong checked his watch,

“Oh God! I didn’t know this much time had passed! Hyung and Umma are so going to kill me.” He mumbled frantically.

I had understood that he was getting late but I didn’t completely understand his sentence because he had said some Korean terms in shock. Getting a blank stare from me, he realized my confusion.

“I’m sorry, I keep forgetting that you don’t speak Korean. Hyung is what boys call their older brothers in Korean and Umma means mother.” He kindly explained.

I nodded, after which we started heading back downstairs. On our way he told me that I should start learning Korean as it would be easier for me to socialize. But I didn’t know where to start. This worry was automatically lifted off of me as he proposed an idea.

“How about I help you out? I could make a list of basics for you and side by side you can take proper classes. How does it sound?”

I so badly wanted to say yes but I couldn’t possibly burden him because of my shortcomings.

“But I don’t want to cause any trouble for you Junhong.”

“No it’s no trouble at all! I want to help.” He smiled, turning to me as we finally reached the school gates.

“Ok. But still thank you so much for everything.”

He grabbed his bag and skateboard as we both headed out the school and onto the street.

“You know I really like the way you say ‘thank you’.  I don’t know, it reminds me of someone I used to know.” We both smiled at each other exchanging unspoken words. Then he finally asked if I wanted him to walk me home.

“Oh no, I couldn’t ask for more. You already did so much for me. Besides, as you said you’re already late right? Yet again thank you so much.” I quickly sputtered being a bit nervous around such a sweet boy who kept on complimenting a girl like me.

“You’re welcome.”

I waved him good bye as he got on his skateboard to leave. Before he completely skateboarded down the lane and out of my sight, I called after him,

“Oh by the way, thank you for such an amazing tour, it was definitely the best I’ve ever experienced!”

When I had reached home, unsurprisingly, it was very quiet. My aunt wouldn’t be returning from work before 8 pm. So I just did my own things before she came home. I changed my clothes, ate, cleaned up a little, completed my assignments and thought about Junhong the whole time. I just couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Finally my aunt came at 8:05 pm.

“I’m home!”

“Welcome home aunt Linda. How did first day at work go?” I gave her a little hug. After all, she was like a mother to me.

Boisterous as ever, she gave every tiny detail to me excitedly like a little kid after his first adventure. My aunt was cute in some ways. After her long, almost endless explanation she asked,

“Hannah, How did you’re first day at school go?”

As I walked into the kitchen to start preparing dinner for us, I answered euphorically, “It was great!” Then I remembered something,

“Oh and Aunt Linda, please call me Hana from now on.” I gave her a sweet smile as she entered the kitchen to help.