18.

Minh rolls up her sleeves to look at her watch. It’s only 6.45am. Still 15 minutes left til the first session. Therefore, Min rests her head on the table and closes her eyes for a short nap.

After a few sudden tests for the class, Min has impressed the Math teacher and he decided to call her for the Math team to prepare for the upcoming national competition in Mathematics. Well, why does everything have to be forced on her? First is the Manner Supervisor job and now Math team. But since it’s a request from school, she has to follow, resulting in her endless session at the library with Math team for the whole week and ultimately, her serious lack of sleep. She keeps on yawning at classes, decides to withdraw from Manner Supervisor duty after only one week as well as skips tutoring session for Myungsoo for a few consecutive days. She does feel guilty for that but she just can do nothing about it.

Min is about to enter her dream when someone taps on her shoulder. Even though she waves her hand to signal that she doesn’t like to be annoyed then, that person is still around. This time, that person caresses her nose tip. Min tiredly opens her eyes and sees Myungsoo sitting opposite to her, resting his chin on the table just like she does, his hand slightly pinches her nose while his lips pull the brightest smile that she can. Min grumpily says.

‘Let me sleep for a while.’

Myungsoo takes back his hand.

‘Long time no see!’

Sure, it has been nearly a week since the last time they met. His training intensity is increasing day by day, against the day he is present at the class. And moreover, Min has to spend time with Math team so she can’t go to the school field at noon to wait for him. However, since she always faces his twin brother everytime she gets home, it hasn’t been long that she doesn’t see that face.

Min sluggishly sits up and rubs her messy hair, replies.

‘But even so, you shouldn’t cut off my nap like this.’

‘You wake up anyway.’

Myungsoo sniffs and reaches out his hand to tuck aside a part of Min’s bang which is covering one of her eyes. Min reacts by slightly fling her head to let the bang back in its original place and to avoid Myungsoo’s touch. First, that action is not quite normal. Even though they are close friends, it doesn’t mean that close friends can fix each other’s hair like that. And second, they are in the classroom anyway, those kind of action is not suitable when there are more than 20 pairs of eyes on them.

Right then, the school bell rings and all students goes back to their seats for the first session of the day. Myungsoo turns around before whispering to her.

‘Have lunch with me today, ok? I have something to tell you.’

And he even winks at her. All of the sudden, within a second, that wink stuns Min. And the line ‘I have something to tell you.’ What kind of thing? What kind of thing he wants to tell her that he has to wink at her? She flips through the pages in the Science textbook and wonders so. And since the morning, Myungsoo has seemed to be so strange. It isn’t natural that he proactively helps fixing her hair or even pokes fun at her mischievously. And winks. Is there any possibility that he is going to tell her have something to do with them both? Is there any possibility that after a week that they do not meet so often, he has realized that Min has become such an important part to him?

‘Min, exercise 2, page 56. What’s the result?’

Min doesn’t hear the teacher while she is still drowning in thoughts about Myungsoo.

‘Do you hear me, Min?’

‘Yes ma’am?’ – Min stands up and fumbles through her exercise book for the result to exercise 2 in page 56 – ‘It’s 3 second, ma’am.’

‘Correct. Take a seat.’ – The teacher says. –‘Be focused next time. The class is in session now.’

Min sits down and sighs with relief. It’s all because of Myungsoo – well, thoughts about him -  that she has nearly been scolded and humiliated in front of the whole class.

But of course, he doesn’t know at all.

***

Min is sitting at the desk she usually occupies at the canteen, looking out of the window. The skye is completely gloomy today and rain hasn’t yet stopped falling since last night. According to weather forcast, the weather is under the effect of a storm but it is quite unpredictable about when it will hit Seoul. However, this might not the the time.

Myungsoo, as usual, buys two loafs of bread and two softdrinks for both of them. He sits down opposite to her and says.

‘How are you these days? Is everything fine with the Math team?’

‘Shh’ – Min takes a sip of softdrink and pouts. –‘So boring. Just imagine you have to take algrebra this day and the next day you take geometry and it goes like that the whole week. You?’

‘It’s fine’ – Myungsoo smiles. –‘with me.’

‘But you don’t call me here just for this, right?’

Min questions since Myungsoo hasn’t mentioned that important thing. Suddenly he turns shy.

‘Yup. I…well…I need your help…ah, I mean, your advice.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You’ve already known Jiyeon ,right?’

Ok. Just with those words, Min gets the idea about that important thing he wanted to talk with her. It is not that she has become important to him. It’s about the relationship between him and his brother’s ex-girlfriend. Min understands, that the special look he gave Jiyeon wasn’t simply a look. And that all of her guesses are right. Myungsoo has feelings for Jiyeon.

As if to confirm with Min after seeing her nod to his question, Myungsoo continues.

‘I…I like her…but I don’t know if she likes me or not.’

‘And you want to confess to her, don’t you?’

Myungsoo is a bit hesitant with her interruptive question but then he nods in confirmation with a ‘Yes’. Min slightly exhales and felt like her heart has just sunk. That’s reasonable. That her close boy-friend likes another girl means that he would have no time to go out with her anymore. Min has to share with that girl the care from Myungsoo and perhaps ultimately, she would be overshadowed by that girl.

But it is his emotion that Min can’t control and as friend, she has to help him. Anyway, for Myungsoo at the moment, Min has more or less become important since he counts on her for this striking secret that he wants to confess to Jiyeon. Thinking so, Min looks up at him.

‘Okay. I will help you. When do you plan to?’

‘Ah, you know that our school will organize a physical training course for student at an army camp, right?’ – says Myungsoo. –‘I plan to confess to her then.’

Okay, the physical training course. There must be only Hwa Yang High that organizes such a freaky training course like that. Just imagine, all students are divided into groups and taken to an army camp for physical training and the course for senior ones is the toughest as it takes place in the winter and according to L the ghost, ‘Go there just once and you’ll be scared to death.’

Well, how special and memorable it is to be for confession.

Min nods.

‘Okay, it takes about a week, huh? Fine. But’ – The girl lowers her voice. –‘Don’t be distracted from studying for this.’

‘I know.’ – Myungsoo’s face brightens. –‘Just so you know, Jiyeon told me that she was impressed with my taking tutoring lesson to catch up with the others in our class. It’s such a right move!’

Min sees herself smirk bitterly. She thought that he called for her help in tutoring lesson for a good purpose but it has turned out to be for showing off with Jiyeon. Using such noble activity to serve such a mediocre purpose is something done by shallow men like Myungsoo. Well, them twins really know how to screw the other people up.

They keeps on talking without any acknowledgement about the sky getting dark quickly. The heavy winds blow through the windows making a glass shade near their seat fall to the ground, broken. Everyone in the canteen is all freaked out when rain starts to fall even much harder.

After a short while, the whole scene out there is all whitened with rainfall and the school yard is flooding with water. The storm is so unpredictable. No one expects that it hits Seoul this surprisingly.

Rain keeps on falling and winds keep on blowing. Students start to go nut, anxiety is obvious on their facial expression as they have no idea about how to get home in this harsh weather and Min is not an exception.

Via the school’s internal broadcasting station, the principle informs about the surprising storm and requests students to stay still while the teachers will implement some plans to take care of them as the school which locates on a hill is currently almost isolated from the surrounded neighbor. The announcement somehow calms down the students since they know that they are not left behind.

The teachers have come and they gather up all students in the canteen, prepare to move to another safer place where the glass windows are no longer threats with heavy winds. Suddenly, Myungsoo runs to Ms. YeEun and says something. Not so long after that, he comes back to the table and tells Min.

‘Let’s go!’

‘Where to?’

Min queries. And the guy grabs her hand, pulls her out of the chair.

‘I asks for Ms.Ye Eun’s permission. I can go back to the dorm. And it’ll be safer for you there.’

Oh, the dorm. Hwa Yang High has a three-story dorm for students, mainly the member of the athletics team. The dorm is only a few meters from the canteen, therefore, it’s reasonable that Ms.YeEun approved Myungsoo to go back there rather than going with the others.

Myungsoo pulls Min to the corridor and he throws his arm around her necks, turning his back against the rainfall’s direction and continues pulling her up to the third floor where his room is.

What the hell is on his mind? A guy and a girl in the same room? Overnight? Questions continuously pop in her head on the way but it seems to her that Myungsoo doesn’t care as he naturally shields her against the rain and finally stops in front of room 302.

19.

‘You’re the second one to be here. The first is my brother.’

Myungsoo grins at her when he opens the door and steps aside to let her walk into the room.

It’s her first time to enter a guy’s room. The room is large enough for a wardrobe and a desk. There is also space for kitchen and bathroom but it seems a little bit crampy. Myungsoo hurriedly takes his dirty shirts off the hanger and throws randomly into a bathroom basket.

‘I live alone so it’s a bit messy. Sorry.’ – He says.

‘It doesn’t matter. You do let me stay for a night, I appreciate that.’

Min smiles and her eyes caught sight of a photo frame on the desk. She approaches and picks it up. The photo must have been taken last year as there are two Myungsoos in it and they both are smiling brightly with gold medals on their hands. ‘They look after a lot.’ Min tells herself. Still with the frame on her hand, she takes a look of the whole room and sees lots of medals and trophies on the top of the bookshelf. Not only athletics medals but only ones from music competition which Min is sure to belong to the ghost waiting for her in her room right now. Myungsoo places a glass of water on the table.

‘It’s my brother’s medals. We compete with each other every year but not this year. These’ – He reaches out to take two shining medals and glances at the photo on her hand. –‘are the last ones we got at the same time. But until now, so sad that he still outweighs me.’

‘But you have the chance this year, don’t you?’

‘Yup.’ – Myungsoo looks down at the medals. –‘He always overshadows me. Everyone calls me his shadow, it’s right but what annoys me is that he thinks so too. So he keeps on looking down on me. But he’s gone now, how can we compete again? Death is the end to everything.’

‘It can’t be.’ Min tells herself. Even though L is dead, he still exists as a ghost right now. Looking at Myungsoo who appears to be slightly sad mentioning his brother, Min sniffs.

‘Put it aside. It’s good that you always remember him. I believe that he will be proud of you.’

‘Yup.’ – Myungsoo smiles. –‘I shouldn’t have brought this sad thing up.’