Chapter 1

I used to think one day we'd tell the story of us
How we met and the sparks flew instantly
People would say “they're the lucky ones”

The Story of Us – Taylor Swift

In-hye had been a quiet girl when she was little. She would always hide behind her cousin’s back and never let go of his hand. She would squeeze it with her small fingers and cling onto him as if her life depended on it. Granted, Hyunseung was only older by two months but he had always taken care of her. Whenever she would be pushed around by the other kids or when they would blame her for their pranks, Hyunseung would always stand up and defend her. So it wasn’t surprising that she had become wary of the people around her as she grew up, nor that she came to only depend on Hyunseung. Luckily for her, the day came when some of Hyunseung’s friends opened up to In-hye and sought after her friendship as well. In her early years, if someone had asked her who she trusted, In-hye would have given only one name: Hyunseung oppa. If someone were to ask her that same question now it wouldn’t be the same answer. Her answer now would consist of six names. Dongwoon, Doojoon, Kikwang, Soyi, Hyunseung, and Yoseob. She trusted them. If you followed up by asking her who she trusted the most out of all of them then she’d be unable to pick between two names. Hyunseung and Yoseob. She trusted them. She trusted him.

*****

In-hye stared at the notebook in her hands trying to find the right words to add and finish up their song. She crossed out several ideas and finally circled one with a small smile of accomplishment.

“What? Did you figure it out?” Yoseob went over and sat down beside In-hye on the couch. They were in their ‘house’ although to be honest it was just an abandoned old house that they had found and created it their own. It was simply where the two of them spent most of their free time together. It had a few pieces of furniture including a couch, a coffee table, and two armchairs in the middle of the room. To the right there was a stairway leading upstairs-although they rarely went there-and beside the stairway there were the remnants of a kitchen. It had a tall countertop and small table placed behind it. With exception of scattered decorations here and there, there wasn’t much to the house. But it was comfortable. They had found it by chance one day and after finding out no one had claimed ownership of it, they slowly started making it a custom to go there almost daily. Their friends thought it was creepy but Yoseob and In-hye loved spending time there, especially after they cleaned it up a bit.

In-hye frowned seeing Yoseob sit beside her and shook her head no in regards to his question. “I don’t want to show you,” she said scooting over to the other edge.

Yoseob inched closer trying to get a peek at her notebook. “Let me see!” he said reaching out his hand trying to get ahold of it. Instead he only managed to grab her pen from her. In-hye just smiled and looked back at her notes. A few seconds passed and just at the right moment Yoseob went forward again trying to snatch the notebook away, only this time the surprised In-hye fell over on the couch. Yoseob leaned over her and after reading her lyrics he wrote something down underneath.

In-hye pushed him off and snatched her pen from him as she got up and sat down in the chair away from him. She read over her lyrics to herself trying to ignore Yoseob. Her eyes skimmed the page and read what he had written on the page. She looked up and found Yoseob hovering over her. He bent over and placed a small kiss on her forehead. “I love you,” he whispered echoing the words he had written.

In-hye pushed him back and frowned. “You’re so cheesy. And don’t kiss me.”

“Why not?” He smiled as he saw her face. Even with her furrowed eyebrows he couldn’t take her supposed angry expression seriously.

She laughed lightly, “Because you embarrassed me today in front of everyone!”

This time Yoseob laughed back in response. “Seriously? You’re upset over that? Well sorry, request denied,” he said playfully as he leaning in to hug her.
 

In-hye jumped up from the seat running away from Yoseob’s embrace He let her run around the room for a few seconds pretending he couldn’t catch her until he grabbed her by the waist and sat her up on the counter against her will.

“Yoseob!!” she squealed at him unable to hide her laughter. He looked up at her playfully. “Just one kiss In-hye.”

She quickly shook her head no with a smile until she saw him walk away. “Yoseob! Come here!” she quickly said. “You know I can’t get down from here easily!! Yoseob!!”

He turned to face her only a few feet from her reach. She stretched out her arms to him. “Hurry up,” In-hye said sweetly. Yoseob grabbed her arms and got closer looking up at her again while she wrapped her arms around his neck. Her hair fell down over her shoulders and tickled his face. She smiled as he flinched away from it and leaned in to kiss him. As soon as she did Yoseob grabbed her by the waist again and pulled her down as promised. Her feet touching the ground wasn’t what made the moment end though; it was her ringing phone. In-hye quickly pulled away and grabbed it from the table.

“Ah oppa! What is it?” she asked. “Okay, I’m on my way,” she nodded her head as she listened to Hyunseung over the phone.

“They’re about to eat dinner. I should be on my way,” she explained to Yoseob as she hung up and grabbed her backpack.

“I’ll take you; it’s on my way home.”

She smiled and nodded in agreement knowing that it was a lie.

“Why do you call your cousin Hyunseung “oppa” and you don’t call me that?” Yoseob asked as he waited for In-hye to get on the bike and hold on to his waist.

She looked at him curiously. “Um, why do you ask? Jealous of my own cousin?” In-hye smiled and peered at Yoseob’s side profile as they rode on. “I’ve always called you Yoseob since we met, I don’t know I guess I’m used to Yoseob instead of oppa.”

“Ah you’re strange In-hye,” he said playfully.

“Oh you know what? I almost forgot to tell you what I was going to tell you earlier. My aunt and mom finally agreed on a new home to move into. It’s in the neighborhood by the school. We’ll be moving all of our stuff this weekend.”

Yoseob nodded his head as he turned the street corner that lead to her house. “Really? I can come help if you want.”

“Great. Soyi and the guys already said they’d go help too. It’ll be more fun with everyone there and my parents and Hyunseung oppa’s parents will appreciate it too.”

“So if it’s that neighborhood you’ll be closer to our place, right?”

“Oh yeah I hadn’t thought of that. That’s nice, now I can walk there and won’t need of your bicycle services all the time.” she joked as he stopped the bike in front of her house.

She got off quickly and waved at him. “Bye see you tomorrow. Don’t forget to send the song okay?”

Yoseob nodded as he watched her walk in. “Ah In-hye, you’d be the one to forget."

*****

“Good morning! I’m glad I was somewhat helpful yesterday. For a second I thought you didn’t like me.” In-hye stood in front of Miran again. She had seen her in the hall on the way to class and since Miran had spoken well of her yesterday she wanted to give it another try. “How was your first day of school?” she asked the silent girl.

Miran turned to look at her. For the first time In-hye realized how pretty she was. She had middle length straight dark-brown hair and big chestnut eyes. Everything about her seemed elegant and rich. “We’ll she is from a rich family after all…” In-hye thought quickly before Miran finally spoke.

“Well you should have stayed with that thought of yours. You’re right I don’t like you, especially because you don’t mind your own business.”

She was turning to leave but In-hye responded back. “What do you mean you don’t like me? Who are you to judge me on a single conversation?”

The girl smirked. “I just don’t like people like you. What are you? The poor innocent girl who needs a bunch of guys to protect her? Please…” she answered sarcastically leaving In-hye in the hallway.

In-hye didn’t follow her, taken aback by what she had said. It’s those rumors again. So Gayoon tells even the new students those ridiculous rumors. Why did Gayoon hate her so much? That was another question In-hye could never answer but it was a well-known fact. Just like people had ostracized In-hye when she was little, Gayoon had managed to create a web of lies and gossip about In-hye among the students. In-hye might as well have been written off as the school’s black sheep. She sighed pushing aside her thoughts. She looked up at the empty spot where Miran had stood. “Then why did you act like you appreciated my help yesterday?” In-hye asked the empty hallway.

“Talking to yourself again?”

In-hye turned around and saw Yoseob smiling at her.

“Was that the new girl?”

She nodded her head yes. “Hypocrite?” she half said and half questioned. “Was Oppa right after all?”

“Don’t listen to Hyunseung. He’s always judging people too early on,” he said as he grabbed her hand and lead the way to their next class. “I came across her earlier this morning and she was really pleasant. I think she feels awkward right now so maybe we should help her get accustomed to the school.”

In-hye smirked and quickly added that Miran had been even ruder today. “Oppa’s always right when he judges people though. I think he’s right. Why does she have to judge me so fast and she doesn’t even know me!? She probably just heard groundless rumors from Gayoon.”

“Maybe because that’s what you and Hyunseung are doing,” he said grabbing her hand and walking towards the classroom. “You two are judging her beforehand.”

“Aish, that’s why I don’t call you oppa. You should be on my side,” she pushed his head with her free hand.

“Yah!” he pushed her back playfully.

*****

In-hye stared at Mrs. Kim in anticipation trying not to miss a single word.

“I have given all of your songs a quick review already and I have got to say I am very impressed with how far you’ve gone. Now I want to see what you can make of those lyrics you wrote. I thought hard on how to partner you guys and I believe these groups will allow everyone to see a special combination of talents and vocals.”

Yoseob glanced at In-hye and smiled at her reassuringly. “Don’t worry. We have to be partners.”

In-hye returned her attention to the teacher who had already gone through half of the class. Soyi had actually ended up being the only one so far who had maintained her lyricist partner, Hyunseung. Gikwang was paired with another girl in the class while Doojoon and Dongwoon were paired up. In-hye shot her head up at the mention of Yoseob’s name.

“Yang Yoseob, you’ll actually have the experience of working with our new student, Miran. You two will sing the song Yoseob wrote.”

In-hye was unable to hide her surprise. She just stared forward until she felt Yoseob’s hand on hers. “Sorry,” he whispered.

In-hye was about to answer him when she heard her name.

“Jang In-hye, you’ll work with Yong Junhyung and his song.”

Her amazement was beyond what her past surprise had been. She heard Soyi gasp beside her and turned to look at her.

“Seo Soyi!” she exclaimed before staring down at her lap. Why did it have to be him?

*****

In-hye almost walked past her locker busy thinking about the way they had been partnered. Why did she have to work with Yoseob? And why Junhyung? She frowned looking down at the floor thinking until she bumped into someone. "Oops, sorry," she said quietly before looking up. "Ah, Miran."

Miran smiled at her sarcastically, "Watch where you're going!"

"Whatever," In-hye answered already annoyed by the day's events.

Miran stopped walking and turned back to face In-hye. "Don't talk to me like that. And you call me rude? Huh you're just the type of person I expected you to be."

In-hye faced her. “You’ll get over it, just like everyone else in the school does,” she blurted out.

“I guess I’ll have no choice…but I feel bad for your friends. I don’t know how they can put up with you.”

In-hye tensed up and told herself to remain calm. “Okay, I have to go,” she managed to say in a firm voice. She didn’t want to keep listening to Miran’s words. It was useless and she was the only one who ended up getting hurt in situations like this. As she walked towards the school entrance she feel her eyes start to brim up with tears. What’s wrong with you? It’s not the first time so why do you feel so hurt every time?

"Hey! In-hye!

She stopped walking as she recognized Yoseob’s voice. Her immediate reaction was to look down and attempt to hide her glazed eyes.

“Why are you in such a rush? I kept calling you but I guess you were distracted.”

“Um, yeah a bit. Sorry.” In-hye avoided making direct eye contact with him. “Let’s go.”

“Actually that’s what I wanted to tell you. You can go ahead and I’ll catch up with you, ok? I have something to do here at school.”

She just nodded. "Okay, don't take long," she waved at him as he left. She sighed with relief at the fact that Yoseob hadn’t noticed her teary face. A faint smile spread on her face. It’s not true, Miran. They are my friends. He cares for me.

My chapters will probably all be around this length. Hope it's okay and I hope you guys keep reading! XD

@wafflewaffle Thanks for the feedback! Yes Yoseob and In-hye are a couple. Lol I think you should just keep reading and see!