You know, there's nothing more tempting than a locked door. Well, unless the room behind that door is definitely the head directress' office...and if you're sitting on the chairs to the right hand side of the door. Behind the door there were incoherent murmurs of a hushed conversation which a pair of ears tried very hard to decipher. On the other side, however, a young girl sat silently, cursing in the back of her head as she anticipated the end of the meeting. Her attention however, was grabbed, when someone from her left came clambering through the front door. Her upward slanted eyes widened ever so slightly when she saw a wavy haired student sprawled flat-faced on the floor. In his right hand was an opened mesh bag with all types of gym balls rolling out of the ped top.

Peering over her shoulder, the girl wondered if anyone else saw the person, but it didn't seem as if they were interested even if they had seen the male student. Blinking a few times, she wondered if she should get up and help him or if she should remain uninvolved. Thankfully she didn't have to make a decision because the boy lifted his head from the floor with a low groan. Nam Woohyun, his nameplate said. From her seat, she watched him scramble to his feet, dashing after the runaway balls and yelling at them to stop where they were. He was quite loud as he comically created a scene of flailing arms and quick-footed steps. She glanced down at her feet where a soccer ball had rolled over. Picking it up, she looked up to give it to Woohyun, but he was over at the stairwell gathering the dodgeballs.

“Hey student!” he called over to her when he finished putting away the balls he had collected, “Can you hand me that?”

While she was glad that she didn't have to call him herself, she felt rather awkward now that his attention was now on her. Slowly getting up from her spot, she let out an almost inaudible sigh and readied to drop the ball to the floor so she could just kick it over to him. Although, it seemed as if he had spotted another ball behind her since he ran past her once more to dig out a basketball from behind the water fountain. When he crouched down, she saw his shirt tail lifting, revealing the band of light blue boxers. Coughing into her arm, she pretended to cough to pass off the laughter that was arising in her chest. Thankfully, he didn't notice. Clearing , she placed the ball at her feet, stepping back once and kicking the ball over to him with the inside of her foot. Woohyun received the ball with a smile, and dipped his head into a casual bow, “Thanks uh...” He squinted his eyes at her nametag, “Suseon. Huh, well Suseon, thanks again,”

With barely a nod, Suseon acknowledged his thanks, bowed and sat back down so she would avoid unnecessary conversation. She could hear the zipper of the back zip closed, before the sound of footsteps followed. She assumed he was heading upstairs to the top floor where all the unwanted school supplies were because the balls seemed rather flat and worn out over the years. It wasn't that the school was hoarding their garbage or anything, but their excuse for not throwing away school equipment was that they served as useful props for their school productions or materials for art students' large-scale end of the year projects.

Anyway, Suseon was about ready to check her watch to see how long the meeting was reaching, when she heard the low thumping sound of balls making their way down the stairs. At first it was a single ball, but then she just had to turn around when the thundering sound similar to that of a million students running to the cafeteria during break came from the same stairwell Woohyun had just walked up. She shook her head; how clumsy was this Woohyun kid exactly? It hadn't even been five minutes and he was making messes again. Leaning back in her chair, she could make out Woohyun and another student standing at the little platform before the second flight of stairs began. Woohyun was messily sitting (if you called it sitting) on the top step with his legs uncomfortably positioned underneath him while his hands gripped onto the railing for dear life. The other student next to him, she couldn't see his face, but he did have amazingly long legs from what Suseon could see.

“Geez, Sungyeol! You gave me such a scare!” Woohyun accused the other student, placing a hand over his heart and closing his eyes melodramatically, “I could've died of a heart attack!”

“Ah,” was the only response that came from the other boy before he continued going down the stairs.

Suseon's brows raised at the odd response but quickly returned to her original position so it didn't look like she was eavesdropping on them. Not that she was eavesdropping anyway. Woohyun's default talking volume seemed to be set at the possible highest which was indirectly inviting her to hear what he was saying. Lifting her head from her lap slightly so that she could take a better look at who the Sungyeol was, she recognized him as that guy who arrived at school the same time she did.

Suseon didn't even realize that Sungyeol had caught her staring at him and was staring back with that stolid gaze of his as he approached her, hands coolly placed in his pockets. Pfft. What a hotshot. Who was this nugu anyway? She's never heard of him. Just as he was in a feet feet range from her, the door to the office opened, and a young couple walked out with the head of student services right behind them. Prying her eyes away from the student in her presence, she turned and bowed at the waist. She kept her head lowered as the adults finished their conversation, “It was a pleasure talking with you, Mister and Missus Song. I hope you would kindly consider my offer today, and have an answer for us by tomorrow,”

“Oh Sungyeol,” Directress Han said when Sungyeol briefly bowed as he passed by, “May I speak with you for few minutes? It's about-”

“Yes,” he bluntly answered, tone just as emotionless as his face. The two of them then disappeared into her office, door closing behind them.

Suseon straightened her posture before her parents. The curiosity of the topic they had talked about was eating her alive. Her parents had just been called at random to arrange a meeting with Directress Han one afternoon last week without any explanation as to what other that 'she would like to speak with the parents of Student Song Suseon'. Suseon believed she didn't do anything wrong since she didn't even do anything anyway. Following rules and the school schedule was all she did. She avoided coming in contact with super hospitable people who would want to be her friends, and she tried her best to remain uninvolved from school conflicts between students. Placing a hand on her shoulder, her dad gave her a reassuring squeeze, motioning that they return the car so they could discuss the results of the meeting in private. Suseon's attention shifted over to her mom who seemed distracted at something behind her.

Tracing the location of where her mom was looking, Suseon double-taked when she saw Woohyun leaning from the bottom of the stair rail, obviously eavesdropping. Suseon's mouth unconsciously pulled into a dissatisfied frown and by the way Woohyun came down from the stairs to bow to her family apologetically. She exchanged confused glances with her parents when Woohyun began introducing himself, “Hello, Suseon's parents. I'm Nam Woohyun from Class 3B. Please don't get mad at Suseon, because I'm sure whatever she got in trouble for, she didn't do. She's not that kind of person,”

Suseon flinched when she heard her dad clear his throat, “Thank you student. We'll keep this in mind,”

“Thank you,” a smile lit up Woohyun's face, “I'll be going now. I'll see you, Suseon,”

Suseon didn't even get to say anything before Woohyun dashed back up the stairs two at a time with the bag of recollected balls slung over his shoulder.

Nam Woohyun, I don't even know you, but you're an odd one.

---

“So, Suseon,”

It was her dad to break the awkward silence lingering in the air during dinner. They were all sitting around the quaint little table in the small dining area just outside their half-kitchen. In the middle of the table was an ongoing tabletop stove that Suseon was spooning soup from. She gave her dad a questioning “hmm” which prompted him to continue. Contemplating for a bit, he finally found his words when his daughter settle back into her seat, “So your directress tells your mom and I that you've been having some problems at school lately? Would you like to explain to us?”

“I have no problems with my grades if that's what you're concerned about,” Suseon stated, placing her chopsticks done so she could focus on finishing her soup that she had left to cool, “But believe what you want to believe,”

“It's not the grades that we're concerned about, Suseon,” her mom reassured, “We're just worried for your social interactions with your classmates. Your directress is worried because apparently you don't talk during class or even talk to any of your classmates. That's not normal,”

The younger girl blew at her soup before taking a sip of the broth, “And? That's up to me if I want to talk to others or not,”

“What about your friends? How about that Hyemi girl who you worked on that project with last year?” her mom continued with he interrogation. When Suseon didn't answer, she let out a sigh, “Suseon dear, you need to tell us if you're having problems at school. Are you scared of anyone? Did you get in trouble with someone?”

“Mom, I just don't want to talk, okay? It's embarrassing!” Suseon whined, stumbling over her s's. Her eyebrows furrowed together, humiliated at her terrible speech. It was then when her parents finally figured out what was bugging her so much. Her dad then said, “I had a feeling it might have been that. Well, we mentioned it to Directress Han and she recommended that you take therapy sessions with the speech therapist at school,”

Suseon rolled her eyes, “Oh wow, let's just advertise it around to the rest of the school, thanks dad,”

“Well it's not that bad dear, it's everyday during your last class and she said that there's another student that she recommended the therapy for. I believe she mentioned the student's name too, but it slips my mind,” her mom placed a finger to her chin to think about the other student's name, but her mind drew a blank, “Nah, I've got nothing. But hey, at least you won't be alone! Think about it, it'll be nice to make a friend, right?”

“You know what, whatever. Do whatever you want. I'll just find a way to deal with it like I always have to do,” Suseon rubbed her temples before standing from the table, picking up her dishes and placing them in the sink, “I'll be going now. I have homework,”

When she had her back to the, her parents were nudging and mouthing to each other that one of them follow her to her room. They weren't done with their questions yet, especially with one important question that was bugging her mom. When Mrs. Song lost to the under-the-table game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, she threw her head back frustratingly and quickly tiptoed after her daughter to her room.

Suseon on the other had was tired. She knew it was only a matter of time before someone noticed that she didn't say anything on a daily basis, and even she knew it was abnormal behavior for someone. Shaking her head, she entered her room and took a seat at her bed, pulling her laptop from under her bed. Her eyes glistened happily when she opened up a new journal entry for her electronic diary. As childish as it sounded for a high school student to still keep a diary, it was a great place for her to store her personal thoughts since it's not like she had anyone to tell it to anyway. Clicking the back page, she skimmed over her diary entry from yesterday about the funny episode they had in the math classroom yesterday with someone bringing a chicken from their family farm and letting it out loose.

Dear Diary,

Today I met an odd student by the name of Nam Woohyun. He's been my senior ever since I started high school, but only today did I get to see his face clearly. I've heard that a girl in the first year class liked him. Jang Jiyoon, I think? Well either way, that isn't any of my business. He seems pretty average to me. What's that saying? A stone with rough edges? I don't know, but it went something like that. At first glance, I guess you could say that he does have a bit of a rough edge to him, but then something peculiar happened.

Suseon looked up from her screen to some imaginary floating bubble that replayed the scene from earlier. How did it go again? Ah, right. Now she remembered. Placing her fingers back on the keyboard, she continued,

When mom and dad came out of the office, he came out of hiding and told them not to get mad at me like he was my friend or something. Did he feel indebted to me just because I handed him the soccer ball he dropped? What a marshmallow.

A light laugh escaped her lips.

Okay, forget what I said about him being a little rough around the edges. He's totally a marshmallow. Dear Diary, you should have seen his face. It's like that of a cheeky hamster. His bottom lip sticks out a little too just like hamsters. I think that if Woohyun were an animal, he would definitely be a hamster.

Pause. Play. Stop.

There was another boy on the stairs too, Sungyeol. I don't know his last name, but I think Woohyun knows him. Maybe they're in the same class. Sungyeol looks different from Woohyun. He kind of looks more... mature? I don't know, it might just be because of his hair. It's not like the other guys at school who tend to cover their forehead with their fringe. His is pushed up and out of his face. Kind of like those guys you would see in those action dramas, you know? Hair is very important.

Well, whatever the case, Sungyeol seems a bit rude. Which I find rather odd since his eyes are quite big. Usually in cartoons, if their eyes are big, they're friendly characters. But him? Nah. He looks mean. The ends of his eyes tilt downwards, and maybe that's one of the major contributions to his rather unfriendly character. You know what, honestly, I don't even know what he's supposed to look like. He's probably just one of those unfortunate people that are born with a face.

“Who has a face?”

In a hurry to close her laptop, the screen made a loud clapping sound as soon as it came in contact with the keyboard. Suseon hesitated to look her mom in the eyes, afraid that her mom had read what she was writing. Rubbing the back of her neck, Suseon asked, “How much of that did you read?”

“Just the last sentence,”

A sigh of relief escaped Suseon's lips when she released her breath. Good God, if her mom had read the earlier part of her entry, she would've jumped to conclusions and thought that she liked either one of the boys. That would just make more unnecessary problems. Her mom laughed and moved to Suseon's desk so she could sit comfortably. It was a small room so it wasn't like they were very far from each other anyway. Looking up, Suseon tried to read her mother's thoughts, wondering why her mom was in here in the first place. It was rare for her parents to come into her room. Usually it was her little sister that liked to invite herself at the most random times. Which, speaking of, she had no idea where her sister was at this time.

“Where is Soyoung anyway?” Suseon asked, trying to make conversation so her mom wouldn't feel the need to ask more about who the b-faced person was, “Shouldn't she be back from math club by now?”

“Don't you remember? Soyoung's at a three-day field trip in the country. She won't be back for a while,”

“Ah, right. I forgot,”

What had started off as an attempt at conversation once again died down as they sat in silence for a while. It was just like the dinner table. It wasn't uncommon for the house to be quiet. They weren't a verbal family. Each one of them functioned as individuals, doing their own thing at their own time. The only time they ever met up as a family was during daily meals. Even so, words weren't readily exchanged. Placing her hands on each thigh, her mom leaned back onto the desk, “So... Nam Woohyun, huh? Is he your friend?”

Ah that dreaded question. Suseon knew it was only going to be a matter of time before her parents got curious as to who that boy was. The sad part was, no matter how she would try to answer her mom, it would sound as if she was trying to hide something from her even though she wasn't. I mean would you believe your own child if they were always so secretive and now there's a boy they deny knowing? No, right? I thought so. Running her hands through her hair, lightly ruffling the strands at the top to relax them, she looked her om straight in the eye. She had heard that if you're able to look someone in the eye then that means you weren't lying.

“Nothing,” Suseon cut to the chase since it was going to lead to this anyway, “There's nothing going on between Woohyun and I,”

“Eyy, then why would he say something like that so us if you two didn't know each other?” Her mom teased, poking her daughter's arm playfully. She totally didn't believe Suseon's words, “It seems like you're hiding something from me,”

“Mom, are you crazy? I just met him today! Stop jumping to conclusions like that!” Suseon clicked her tongue, annoyed, “Besides, you know I'm not interested in boys like him. I don't like any boys. If I did, dad would totally go ballistic, you know that!”

Letting her shoulders droop, her mom then moved so that she was sitting next to Suseon on the bed. Lacing her arm through Suseon's, she stuck her bottom lip in a pout while the other free arm patted Suseon's hair, “Aiya, how are you going to get married at this rate, huh? You're young and in high school, but you've never experienced a first love yet. My poor baby,”

“Ah, mom, stop! You're embarrassing me!” Suseon said to no one in particular. Usually that was something you would say in front of other people, but since no one was there, it sounded weird. But the younger girl could care less. She felt awkward and squirmy whenever her mom acted like this. Love? Boys? Marriage? From what she had heard her classmates talking about in the classroom during breaks about the dramas they were watching, the love life was definitely not for her. It was always full of misunderstandings, conflicts and most of all... skinship. Just thinking about it made Suseon shiver. Hardships didn't sound fun and romantic at all. Pulling her head from under her mom's head, she turned around to face her mom with a serious expression on her face, “I'm not interested in love at all. I think it's best if I don't marry either. Who will be there to take care of mom and dad when you get old, huh?”

“You know, I think I like you better when you don't talk,” Of course, her mom wasn't paying attention to the corny act Suseon was acting out. There was something else on her mind, “Hey, what about the Sungyeol boy?”

“Mom!”

Her mom's eyes lit up, “Is he your friend?”

Rolling her eyes, Suseon got up from her seat on the bed, walking out of her room with her ears covered. Curiousity heightened, her mom was right at her tail bombarding her with a series of questions about who he was, how did they know each other and whatnot. Suseon however just drowned it out, “Lalalala I can't hear you!”

---

even in a different fandom i still at writing first chapters hahaha.