School went along at a faster pace than Hyebin could have ever anticipated. Not that she was expecting much- from her own school experiences previously, she was known as the brightest student with the most nonexistent social life. In fact, to her it was still a mystery how she was known at all, besides her name occupying the record of which student was the most achieving in academics. The wallflower with a brain, that was her. However, the Academies of Seoul was a different case altogether. She, who took pride in her brain and her intellectual ability, felt humbled not even a week into school. Never had she ever felt so average, so outshone. And she still loved every moment of it.

    Her busy schedule, which included over ten classes, kept her on her toes, but she never lost that bright sparkle in her eyes. In fact, Hyebin was too grateful for this feeling. She needed something to tear down her ego, her obsession with grades that had been passed from her mother. That wall that had been built around her of pride and hiding behind her brain- it needed to go. Who was she to think that she could just block her previous imperfections with her intellectual abilities previously? Here, she was not the in the top three students of her year, nor was she known for being smart, but she was free. Free of the title she had always fighting for, and free of her facade of who she always thought she was under that biting spirit of trying to beat others.

    As a student in the Academy of Medical Science, she found herself buried in work. With Youjung and Soorim, the trio stayed huddled in one of the cafeterias in the building, sipping drinks and munching on snacks every now and then, and working hard to just have even an hour of free time after school. However, Hyebin also always found her mind straying during this time of silence. It would always go to the same place- the music room. Only two weeks back, when school started, she had went to the music room to give a water bottle to her friend, one of the many talented dancers in the school. What she did not expect was Junhoe- yes, the same arrogant boy from before.

    “Hello? Is Sumin in here?” Hyebin asked softly, opening the door just enough to pop her head inside. It was a naturally lit room, the floors made of a light colored wood, and mirrors taking up two walls, allowing the dancers to examine their postures and such. Overall, it looked like any room for someone to practice dance choreographies. The only difference was that this one had Junhoe, and some of his friends, pulling off an impressive dance.

    “Aniya! That’s not right. Yunhyeong, be just a little more overboard with your moves. Exaggerate a bit, okay?” It was Hanbin, or as some called him, B.I. Yunhyeong nodded, wiping some of the sweat on his forehead off with the back of his hand. They were all pretty energetic and pumped up from their practice, anyone could tell, but what surprised Hyebin the most was Junhoe. She had two classes with the said boy- medical science, and English, and yet he had never seemed as hard working or focused as he was now. What kind of a boy was this into music but would apply to become a medical major student in the Academies of Seoul, especially when everyone was aware that they wouldn’t be allowed to switch majors?

    “Uh, how may we help you?” Hyebin’s attention was back to the rest of the boys as the oldest, Jinhwan, noticed her. He gave her a polite smile, and she couldn’t help but blush slightly. They were all good looking indeed- her friends were not lying when they said that.

    “Is Kim Sumin here? I wanted to give her some water- I thought she was practicing right now.” Hyebin replied. Junhoe raised an eyebrow at her, before striding over to her. It was the first time in a while that they had actually really spoken in person. Despite being in the same classroom at least once a day, the two hadn’t spoken much. She flinched slightly, still unused to his presence, before realizing that he took the water bottle, and was taking a long drink form it. She would’ve made a biting remark to him, but she held it back when she saw how tired he looked.

    “Oh right, she’s in the room next to us. Sorry about that water being taken by him. Here, I’ll buy you a new one,” Bobby said with a cute eye smile. He was famous for that smile, and to think it was actually directed to her of all people.  It almost made her knees weak form how adorable he looked, but Junhoe of course had to ruin it. He always did.

    “Nah hyung, I’ll do it. It’s to least I can do for shorty over here, right?” He said, before tossing the empty plastic bottle into the recycling bin in the corner. It hit the rim of blue plastic, and bounced off, landing onto the wooden floor. The sound echoed off, ringing in the quiet room. Jinhwan and B.I stifled a small snicker, before Donghyuk just picked it up and put it into the bin. Hyebin just gawked at Junhoe in disbelief. Did he really not have any sense in his mind? Bobby was a total sweetheart- someone all the girls wanted to get to know.

    “Come on, I know I’m really good looking and all, but you should really get walking if you want to buy your friend water. I can’t be awesome enough to make it poof out of thin air,” he was already halfway to the door leading back to the halls. Hyebin quickly bid farewell to the others, before catching up to Junhoe, who was now leaning against the doorway.

    “You really need to stop thinking you’re so awesome. You really aren’t,” Hyebin said as they walked side by side towards one of the vending machines. Other peers and even upperclassmen were stopping to greet the two, and pointing at them from a distance. It was the work of two consecutive pictures of the pair by Youjung and Soorim. The school had already taken a notice of the two, calling them one of the first loves in their year. Junhoe and Hyebin called it stupidity at it’s finest.

    “Well I am. Don’t lie, you thought I was hot while I was dancing, didn’t you?” She couldn’t even believe he could keep a straight face with his words. How he could might as well be one of the great wonders of the world.

    “I mean, yeah good dancers are pretty hot, but I guess to me Bobby stood out the most.” Hyebin deadpanned. She tried her hardest to keep a serious and straight face, and when she peeked at his face, he definitely looked pissed off. His dark eyebrows were furrowed, and his eyes were just glaring into hers. She let out a giggle, feeling elated that she could get him to get this upset already.

    “If you like Bobby hyung so much, should I tell him? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind getting set up with you,” Junhoe snapped in an annoyed voice. Was he upset over such a small joke? An unsettled feeling formed in the pit of Hyebin’s stomach- why did the idea just seem so wrong? She had a class Bobby, Jinhwan and Junhoe- English. While Bobby was definitely a funny guy, she couldn’t even dare think of wanting to date the said boy. It just didn’t seem right at all.

    “Yah, relax. You’re more like my ideal type than Bobby,” she tried to calm him. As soon as the words left her lips, she mentally kicked herself. Junhoe perked up at that, and a smirk was replacing the previous angered look.

    “Oooh, what’s this? I’m good enough to be shorty’s ideal type? Sorry, I don’t like short girls,” he said, before prancing to the vending machine in to upstairs cafeteria. Hyebin wanted to rip her hair out of her head. What did she even say to him? That wasn’t even true- not now, not ever. It was too soon for her to feel the need to like a guy, and it was almost a forced feeling. Sighing, she walked in after him.

    “Kamsahamnida,” she said kindly as another student opened the door for her. He looked familiar, although she couldn’t really place why. He sent her an adorable smile, his eyes shrinking into crescents. It was another eye smile, and Hyebin personally just loved it when people had those smiles, unlike a certain irritating boy who was buying water at the time.

    “No problem, Hyebin-sshi.” So she did know him. She snuck a discrete look at his nametag, and it all came back to her. He was in her math class, sitting opposite of the room from her. They weren’t close, but she was distinctly aware that he was pretty much friends with everyone, and was close to the boys of iKON as well. She didn’t remember when she really had a time to get to know him though- probably that could happen later on in the year but it didn’t happen yet. He was just one of those well known guys, like iKON.

“It’s Jinhyeong, right? We have math together?” She asked cautiously. She didn’t want to give away that she couldn’t recall his name or face quite that well, but it seemed to turn out that way. He nodded, an amiable smile lighting his face. He didn’t seem to mind at all that she couldn’t remember him- yes they had a mutual friend or two, but they were actually just not in related friend circles at all. She couldn’t help but think that he was a nice and understandable person- the type of guy that was probably way easier to be friends with than Junhoe.

“It is. You’re close to Lee Youjung and Kim Soorim, aren’t you?” He said, leaning in a comfortable way near the doorway. He looked cool- he was tall, just like Junhoe, although she couldn’t quite tell who was taller. But his face didn’t have that striking feature of Junhoe’s, where he always looked so easily distinguishable to her out of a crowd. Jinhyeong, to put into simple words, was the boy next door type.

“Yah, shorty, are you taking the water bottle or not,” Junhoe said, barging into the conversation. Hyebin just nodded in response to Jinhyeong, who greeted Junhoe with a nod of his head. Junhoe seemed to acknowledge him as well, before turning back to Hyebin. “Well?” He held out the cold bottle, which she could tell was straight from the vending machine. She grabbed at it, letting out a hiss as he lifted it over his head so she could not reach it. Jinhyeong watched in amusement, especially as Hyebin let out a string of colorful language.

“Stop. Showing. Off. Your. Height. You. Big. Fat. Giant!” She hollered at him, flailing her arms about. He smirked cockily, pretending to yawn to annoy her more in her efforts. Of course, he would never just give up a water bottle to her. There had to be a catch.

“Is this why you two are supposedly a couple to be?” Jinhyeong asked cheekily. Hyebin stopped jumping, before whirling around to face him. Her eyes were narrowed, and she pointed at him sternly, making him almost laugh out loud at her expression.

“Don’t you even get me started,” she snapped, before turning back to Junhoe, who was just standing there, arms crossed over his chest. How could first year boys even be so tall, Hyebin wondered to herself. She took pride in her height- especially since no one in her family was significantly tall. Genetics were clearly not on her side, which was why being the height of 1.65 meters seemed like such a huge accomplishment.

“Maybe when it’s 11:11, you should just wish to grow taller,” Junhoe said, tossing the bottle to her. She wasn’t even close to ready to catch it, and it landed with a loud thud onto the tiled floor of the cafeteria. He was obviously mocking her. “I didn’t even know you could be so childish sometimes,” he added. She wanted to beat him up with the bottle of water, but she held in the temptation, and just walked out. She didn’t care if either of the two boys were thinking she was rude- she just gave up. Her patience was beginning to run out, and even though she half expected Junhoe to run out after her, even though she almost wished that to happen, she didn’t know what to do if it did happen.

And it didn’t happen. No matter how many times this memory played over and over in her mind, she always just remembered how Junhoe didn’t come after her. He didn’t apologize, nor did he bring up the topic ever again. And she didn’t care- she did what she had set out to do, where she went to visit her friend to drop off the bottle of water, before retreating to her little table in the cafeteria to finish her workload. And yet today was such a slow day for her mentally- both Youjung and Soorim had after school commitments, so she was alone at a cafe nearby that had became her favorite; the kind granny owning it was an absolute sweetheart, and allowed her to come even in the latest of evenings. She was just sitting there, and daydreaming, not even casting a single glance at her haphazardly scattered papers.

What would have happened if she hadn’t walked out? What about if he had followed her? And that was what she hated most about herself; why was she so weak when it came to a boy? She always tried for perfection, but it did not seem to work at all. Not when there was a guy involved. She just sighed, leaning back in her seat in the cafe. She reached out a hand for her iced green tea latte, and took a contented sip. That was almost a two weeks ago- half a month. She doubted it even left a single lingering impression on Junhoe, who she last saw sleeping in their English class during their teacher’s off topic rant on how freely structure American culture was.

“Young miss, would you like a snack? It’s much past your dinner time,” the sweet little old lady offered, and Hyebin smiled a little, before nodding her head. She accepted the waffles with ice cream readily, and couldn’t help but chuckle. The past her wouldn’t have agreed- the past her would’ve thought about how many calories there were, and how much time would have to be spent on a treadmill. Not so much anymore- yes she still did exercise, but not as strictly as before. She cut off a small piece, and scooped a portion of ice cream on, before eating it. It was definitely what made this cafe so popular- Granny was basically famous for this dish.

“Halmoni, can I ask you something?” Hyebin asked, the fork still in . The cafe was already emptied for the day- in fact, it was suppose to be closed a while ago, but seeing as Granny lived in the tiny apartment above the cafe, she often stayed late to watch after Hyebin with a grandmotherly eye.

“Of course. What do you need?” Granny sat in the seat facing her, staring at her with her eyes filled with wisdom and slight concern. “Is something wrong in school?”

“Of course not! I just wanted to ask you what you thought about perfection. I have to write a paper about it,” Hyebin finally said. It was a lie, but it had been catching in her mind too much these days. Granny smiled a little, before making a thoughtful expression, her eyes dimming as she seemed to recall so many memories she had in her lifetime.

“There’s nothing I can say about that. I am probably the least perfect being in this planet. People think that they can seek perfection, and maybe they do think it’s achievable, but it’s not in my world. Don’t ever get too caught up in it.” She said with a fond ruffle of her hair. “Now I think it’s a high time to kick you out of here. Go home and sleep, neh?” Hyebin nodded, before sorting out her papers and belongings. She packed up, and bid Granny a good night, before leaving. She checked her watch- 11:10 pm. The streets were still lively as ever, and Hyebin let her eyes close.

‘I hope I can find my own perfection.’

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AN: Hello my lovely readers! It's been a week since I last updated, and I hope you guys had a nice week. I've been getting a little busy with school, and next week is absolute hell with over 5 tests in 5 days. Oh well. Anyways, I'm glad you enjoy the update. I'm starting to move into a more realistic point of this story where yes, adorable events do happen, but you have to look at it rationally where it's not all sunshine. I appreciated all the subbies, the upvotes and comments, so please don't be a silent reader and continue to encourage me! I'll work hard to continue trying to update at least once a week, so thanks for the support. Signing off now <3