► Choi S e o h e e :

For the first few seconds, I settled beside him to watch. He looked comfortable, and for a while I was unable to convince myself to wake him up. But as time passed, I realised something completely different about this person. His aura was bleak, as opposed to the soft, pleasing person I had communicated with earlier. Then, I saw. Instead of the white tank top that clung about his body and the fancy jeans, he was changed into more… well, just different–for the lack of a better word–attire.

What was this? Talking to me about personal hygiene and he couldn’t even keep the same outfit on for a period?

The black, skinny jeans he was wearing began from ragged edges, which I supposed was cropped to suit his height, and then continued in rips and soft folds across his legs until it was stopped by a belt that seemed to tie loosely around his waist. From under the book that lied perfectly still on his face, I followed down his bare chest, and then onto the royal blue that seemed to unfold across the stretch of material covering his slender body. A blue v-neck. I watched as his chest rose, fell, and then rose again.

I leaned in closer, only to realise that his hair was a darker brown (I wasn't sure if it was because of the sun or not) and more wildly done than it had been this morning...

► Kim J o n g h y u n :

I couldn’t go on. Right now, the only thing I needed was a nap and a mind away from a whole minute of words that had turned into scribbles in the book I was reading. The greenhouse had the most plants, and so it must also have had the best oxygen. See, I didn’t study and I was smart. I laid there for as long as I could remember, not interested in a thing else that was happening in the world around me, when a shadow fell over and caressed the gentle sunshine that had given itself to me since the beginning of my nap. At first I thought it might have been the clouds, but the presence did not leave. So I spoke.

“Who are rew, disturbing muh sleep…” I muffled from below the book that I was too lazy to remove from my face. “How the hell did rew even find me here…”

There was no reply. And I could feel the sun on my skin again. Okay, so maybe it was only the clouds… But just as I got cosy again, a sudden, melodic voice disrupted my thoughts.

 “I asked around,” some girl said.

Oh, a girl. I chuckled. Another girl to get my autograph? To confess? So I got up, ready to deny. But when I revealed my face from behind the book, the girl’s expression wasn’t like the normal reaction I would see. She wasn’t happy, or excited, or swooning, or… well, she didn’t look crazy over me. And her face seemed new. Maybe she was a transfer? She seemed too dumbfounded to speak, so I helped her.

“What? Haven’t you seen a handsome face like mine before?”

“You’re… not Jonghyun…” I thought I heard her whisper under her breath, but I ignored it.

Jonghyun? Of course I was Jonghyun. Who else was there with such a pretty face? The boys in our school didn't even stand close.

“Well, go on. If you’re going to confess, make it quick. My time is as precious as my face.” I flicked my hair out of my eyes, hoping to get a better view of the girl standing before me. When my gaze had returned to her, I caught the movement of , lips separating.

“What? Face?”

I was confused slightly by her words, and so cleared my throat before clarifying the situation with her again. “Bwo, you implying I’m ugly?”

“Ye-No... I mean…?” She said, breaking in between words, which judging from appearance made it seem like she was jumping from one thought to another.

WHAT!? THIS GIRL DARED CALL ME UGLY? DARED QUESTION MY FACE?

MY BEAUTIFUL FA–

OH.

NO.

SHE.

DIDN’T.

WELL, LET ME SHOW HER UGLY.

Offended as I was, I made sure not to frown, because then that would damage my skin and give me wrinkles. The thought made me cringe. Instead, I stood up and shoved my hand in my pocket, rummaging until I was able to pull out a small compact mirror. I placed it so that she could see herself in the reflection, and snickered.

► Choi S e o h e e :

I stared straight into the reflection, waiting for something to happen. But the longer I stared, the more I started to realise how pretty I actually was. My eyes were big and a soft shade of brown, kept apart by a high-bridged nose that divided the faint blush that had spread across my cheekbones. My lips were small, which I thought matched well with the gradual curve of my face towards my chin, and my hair was a wave of brown, intermingling locks, looking as though it hadn’t been brushed in days yet natural at the same time.

But before I could discover any more, the mirror snapped close before me. I was sent back to reality, and my perfect revelations were shattered when I realised this Jonghyun imposter was still here.

“Took you long enough.”

I grew impatient thinking about the way this guy had spoken to me thus far and probably screwed up my face as I spoke. “What?”

“To figure out you were ugly.”

I gawped.

Douche. Well, then your legs were shorter than usual.

I was pretty sure that my thought was not spoken aloud, but nevertheless he had continued looking at me like I was some stalker. Partially true, but unacceptable.

Before the any of us could move from our positions though, the school bell went off again, and the speakers that nested in the crevice of the building crackled a little and an announcement began.

“To all the second year senior high school students of Pyeong Moon High, if you would please forward to and gather at the school auditorium for the first perio– I mean nowbecausethebelljustwent for a quick meeting.”

Then, a second voice succeeded to the message.

“… Hello, testing… tes– *SCREECH.* FU– I mean, students who do not attend will be considered truanting and… uh… fined their life savings! YOU HAVE TO COME. Thank you, and peace out dudes!”

The announcement stopped there, and when it did, I found that my gaze had automatically returned to the narcissistic prince. I watched as he fixed his hair, smirked–

Wait, did he just smirk at me!?

–and brush past me as he made it for the exit. For some time I just stood there, realising not only that I must have had made a mistake because he wasn’t the same 'Jonghyun' guy I had seen in the bedroom earlier, but also how screwed I was going to be because I didn’t even know the way to the auditorium.

► Jang  S o r a :

I sat on the stage of the auditorium, stuck between my father and the other student president body members, legs crossed, like a boss may I add, observing as a flock of students came streaming through the main entrance. Minji was in the middle of the body of seats somewhere, her pink hair easily allowing me to distinguish her from with the rest of the students. And…

What was her name…

Anyway, the girl from earlier. Yes. Who was complaining about carrying my bags. She was seated with a pale face in the front row alone – probably daydreaming about all the possibilities she could have had if she had fixed up that face of hers – until she felt my gaze on her and moved from her position. My mood was bad. She made my mood bad; my temper only eased when I saw Kim Jonghyun walking through the threshold of the auditorium, looking ayye~ like usual.

But my mood instantly plummeted again when I saw the person entering after him.

► Kim J o n g h y u n :

my hair as I entered the hall, I flashed the girls whom were lucky enough to be within my sight my million dollar smile, just for kicks. I also liked how whenever I adjusted my jacket, they would scream. Some would drop to the floor.

Oh, this popularity of mine.

Verging on a quieter section of the auditorium now, I looked around to see how many more girls I could excite, only to notice that the girl from the rooftop earlier had been following me this whole time. I found a seat towards the back and watched her from where I sat, and when she looked my way, I involuntarily straightened my back. Only then had I realised how attractive – I mean, she was still ugly, but yeah – she actually was. She was pretty tall, too – WHY WAS SHE TALL!? – and her slim figure was easy to identify amongst the number of girls with misshapen bodies whom happened to occupy our grade.

Our gazes locked for a millisecond, a second maybe, but she was the first to break it, turning her head away as quickly as she had turned it in my direction. It moved like one of those painted clown machines at the amusement park; she seemed to be desperately in search of someone.

In the span of a minute, I was sure she had looked over in my direction for more than ten times, and every time she did, I felt the urge to smile at her, wink almost, hoping to see a reaction. It was frustrating not being able to tell if she was intentionally ignoring me, or simply uninterested.

Actually, uninterested? In me? C’mon. That was, like, impossible.

But I held the thought. The last time I winked, some girl was stupid enough to stop in her tracks and almost got run over by the school bus. Wouldn’t want that to happen again.

► Jang  S o r a :

That chick… who did she think she was… HUH!?

A voice to my left mumbled something, but I was, apparently, too deep in thought to hear the any of it.

First, she searched for my oppa in the quadrangle. Then she trailed after him like some dog. And… and… AND NOW SHE WAS PLAYING EYE GAMES WITH MY OPPA!? What till I got my hands on her–

It was only until father had nudged my arm that I realised that the boy down the aisle of seats in the glasses was trying to talk to me.

“I said, enough people have arrived, you may announce the news now.”

I threw him a glare that I thought contained all the hate bubbling inside of me now. “You expect me to speak to an audience like that?” I continued to question, gesturing my chin towards the grade, the majority unseated and who was still prancing around the hall like parades on a football field.

At first he ignored me, but when my father leaned in to give him a few words, he seemed to understand better. Fixing his glasses, he shot up from his seat and proceeded to slamming his hand against the stand, continuously clearing his throat in the loudest manner possible to gather attention.

It worked.

Students started scurrying to their seats. He passed me a glance nervously and I nodded my head in gratitude. As if. I waited as the boy crawled back to his seat in pain before stepping up onto the podium, my gaze only for Jonghyun.

► Choi S e o h e e :

She leaned her head just close enough to the microphone, hands behind her back. Making sure she had the whole grade’s attention, she removed a strand of hair that had fallen to her face and put it behind her right ear.

“A-hem… As you all know…”

Then she went on to talking about the reputation of the school, and how it would be better if it didn't sell such fatty food. The rest I didn’t catch, because I was too busy looking for ‘Jonghyun’, whom I still wasn’t able to find... Who was that guy at the greenhouse before anyway? Psh. And to have wasted my time on a kingka like him. Look at all those girls, fighting to sit next to him.

Hoping that her speech would last long enough, I continued to run my eyes across the faces who sat in my row, the row in front, and the row behind me. Of course, being the alert person I was, I checked in between intervals to make sure my actions hadn’t made me stand out from the crowd. And I knew they hadn’t when I realised that some students were already texting away on the devices that they had pulled from their pockets, while others bopped to the music being played through their head phones.

But then she mentioned something, and the whole assembly of students roared.

The students around me applauded and the couple in front high-fived; even the guy next to me who was sleeping just a second ago jumped up and cheered. I tried to rewind her speech in my head and processed the word I had heard.

Par… ty…?

After the announcement, which wasn’t but a few sentences, the assembly was dismissed. Everyone stood up at once and headed for the door; I realised how miserably I was going to fail my objective. Just before I officially gave up, however, a figure that had emerged and then disappeared in the corner of my eye attracted my utmost attention. His back looked somewhat familiar… And then – silver skinnies, green shoes, goldish brown hair!

I plastered my eyes on him and raced for the door, stumbling, yet making sure that this time, there was nothing that was going to get in my way and cause me to lose him again.

► K e y :

I walked out the school gates, dragging my feet behind me. Well, school ended early today. Everyone seemed to be excited about going to the party, except me. I never really liked to attend this sort of stuff anyway. I didn’t think my brain would be able to cope with all the loud music, the skin-impairing beverages and the -i-fied girls who will never be as beautiful as me from my school on the dance floor; a growing boy needed his beauty slee– okay, I think you got my drift.

So I put on my headphones, hoping to finally find my peace. But I spoke too soon. I felt the blood drain out of my face as someone crept up behind me, breathing on my ear.

“YAAAAA don’t do that it’s freakin’–” I took a deep breath when I had turned around and saw who it was. “For the love of omma and appa WHAT ARE YOU, SOME S– STALKER!?”

“Hi~” she said, withdrawing her neck from my shoulders, hovering around me. Yes, that one, the one who had launched herself into my bathtub last night. She was smiling, which made her eyes turn into half moons.

This was getting creepy.

“You think you can just disappear when you want? AND FIND ME WHEN YOU WANT?” I probably sounded more angry and worried than intended.

But the only response it drew from her was the tilt of her head, as though she didn’t understand a single word that had just left my mouth. Why did I even bother?

“You are totally not normal…” I thought. Did she have some sort of a sixth sense or something? I spent the whole day looking, too, you know. But when I realised I spoke it out loud, I continued. “Anyway, that’s beside the point… why are you even following me?”

“Because you’re going home, and I’m also going home.”

She took a step in front of me, and I grabbed her arm to turn her around as the headphones slipped off my head and fell nicely to my neck. “Wait a minute. You… Me…!? You really, really, really don’t have anywhere else to go!?”

She shook her head.

“But you can’t!” Hyung was going to kill me.

She stopped flapping her arms around like a little kid, and stared at me with sad eyes; eyes that not even I could resist.

And then I gave up.

“Fine, as long as you promise me 1. you will not touch my cosmetic products; 2. you will not annoy me nor interfere with my life in any way; 3. you will not–”

“Promise.”

✰✰✰

“Can we go to the party? PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE.”

Well, obviously, this girl couldn’t keep her promises. Ten minutes into the afternoon and already she was begging me to take her to the party, like she hadn't been to one before. Right now, the only thought running through my head was: either take her to the party and trick her into going home early, or lose my beauty sleep and die later.

I hesitated...

BUT if she had meant to go for some party shopping… then that was a different story.

hyukxin ft. ayshienjulie ©