Hello

Freshman year, January.

It’s a chilly morning in January, the wind tumbling into Woonmyung train station and cheekily weaving through the hairs of groggy, coffee-drenched office workers. At one corner of the station, a small boy stands nervously by the platform, picking at the seams of his dark blue uniform shorts. He clasps the sticky note in his hand, crumpling it as he squirms anxiously.

Take 5 stops from Woonmyung station to Junjin interchange. Transfer to the red line and take the train to Hyunyoung station (2 stops). Turn left from the train station and go straight down (cross one traffic light).

It’s not the first day of school, but it certainly feels that way for Daehyun. He’s never been to school on his own since he has a designated driver to send him there. In all honesty, Daehyun doesn’t go out all that much because no one but his tutor bothers to bring him out. He’s not familiar with the train routes even though he’s taken the train a few times—but they’ve all been with someone else.

It’s precisely because of his tutor that he’s shivering here in the remnants of the Winter gales, a baggy jacket draped over his thin frame. His father finally relented after a few days of Yoochun insisting that Daehyun needed to go to school on his own at least once.

Daehyun needs to learn how to do things on his own instead of having everything done for him. How’s he going to adapt when he’s thrown out into the world alone next time? He barely even knows how to get around on his own.

Well, Daehyun admits he does live a rather secluded and sheltered life. Since he moved here from Busan when he was six, his parents decided to homeschool him and hired Yoochun to take care ofhis studies. His parents gradually spent less and less time with him with their newly opened business and without friends or his parents to bring him out, he hasn’t gone out much to explore.

It’s probably why he still doesn’t know how to talk to the other kids in his class… He was a silent little blob on the first day while everyone was talking and having fun. Up till now, he still doesn’t have a friend yet. No one wants to be his friend.

He sits in class alone most of the time for recess because his domestic helper makes lunch for him to bring to school, save for a few girls who stay behind with their own lunchboxes, chatting at one corner of the class.

School is quite scary to Daehyun. For the past few years, he’s mainly been cooped up in the house, so he’s not used to being in a place with so many people for so long. It’s noisy and he feels uncomfortable a lot.

He also gets nervous when his classmates look at him and start whispering; he must be considered weird since he’s so quiet and never talks. Besides the classroom, Daehyun never wanders about the campus, going straight home from school after class.

For a moment, Daehyun questions whether he’s at the right station, fidgeting about uncomfortably. It was a ten minutes walk but he might have walked longer and ended up at another station, right?

He shouldn’t have agreed. He could be sitting in his car now watching the cluttered scenery sweeping past from the window, nothing but silence from the chattering passers-by and whooshing traffic closed off from him.

Calming himself down, Daehyun shifts back when the train deafeningly rattles from way down the tracks. It finally barrels into the station, carrying along a sharp gust of wind that manages to startle the boy. His hair flies up because he’d been standing a little too near to the yellow line and he hastily pats it down. Daehyun shuffles into the train and hustles into one corner, counting the number of stops for reassurance.

As the train stops at more and more stations, the unease begins to pile up as more and more people steadily file into the train. Sandwiched between the door and a lady, Daehyun briefly mulls over how he’ll get out of the train at his stop.

Thankfully, when the train chugs into Junjin interchange, the crowd disperses out the cabin and Daehyun follows behind without much thought. Jostled here and there, he finally manages to find an empty spot to check the instructions Yoochun gave.

“Change to the red line…” Daehyun mutters, the horde diminishing as they rush to catch their trains. Daehyun furrows his eyebrows as he wanders through the interchange, trying to find his way. He finally locates a signboard and squints at the directions, making a face as a new throng bustles its way through the busy station.

Lighting up when he sees that he’s supposed to turn right to go to the red line, he promptly heads in that direction, tugging on his bag straps and feeling rather pleased with himself. This isn’t too hard, he thinks to himself, avoiding the new crowd surging towards another train platform and slowly ambling over. Yoochun says he should be at Junjin interchange by 7.30AM so he’s got enough time.

Out of nowhere, Daehyun is gently lugged back by his bag and he stumbles, nearly falling to his feet. He confusedly spins around to see if his bag’s zip happened to catch on to something before coming face to face with a taller boy wearing the same uniform as him.

The unknown boy is a little chubby, cheeks round and cherub with black bangs falling to his eyebrows. He’s about a head taller than Daehyun and bigger in size too. Daehyun blinks up at him as his schoolmate tilts his head one side, evidently bewildered.

“Ah, you’re going the wrong way,” the boy remarks, seemingly doubting himself for a moment and turning around, glancing to the two staircases down to the platforms.

Daehyun awkwardly shifts around and mumbles after a long pause, “Oh.”

“You’re lost, right?” The boy has large, doe eyes, irises of a slightly lighter brown than most of the people around them. It paints him with a clean, amiable sincerity. “I saw you looking at the map just now.”

The boy stops short and simmers into an aghast look. “Or… are you skipping school?”

Daehyun similarly widens his eyes and hurriedly shakes his head. His circle-rimmed glasses droops down his nose bridge and he snivels, looking down nervously at his feet.

“Oh, I thought so… It’s only the seventh day of school,” the boy presses his lips together, smile folding against his chubby cheeks as his dimples appear. “You don’t look like the kind of person to do that. Are you a first year?”

Daehyun flutters his lashes and nods wordlessly. The boy lights up with glee and chimes, “Me too! I’m Yoo Youngjae. What’s your name?”

Daehyun swallows and shifts around. “Daehyun.”

Youngjae purses his lips and frowns, blinking rapidly. “Sorry, what?”

“Dae… Daehyun,” Daehyun mutters quietly, averting his gaze as he squirms around. “I should go…”

“Huh? Taehyun?” Youngjae cranes his neck forward, eyes spelling an innocent curiosity.

Daehyun clears his throat and muffles once more, “Daehyun.”

“Taeyeon?” Youngjae’s eyes bulge and he parts his lips in awe. “Wow, you have the same name as that really popular singer!”

“No, it’s-”

Daehyun is suddenly elbowed aside and he chokes on his words, some businessman rudely barging past him in a hurry. Another crowd jostles past them swiftly, the overhead train announcement informing them of their train arriving in a few minutes. Youngjae tenderly clasps Daehyun’s wrist and leads the smaller boy towards the correct train platform.

“You don’t know how to go to school,