“KANG EUNHEE YOU ARE GOING TO BE LATE AGAIN. I AM SERIOUSLY GOING TO STOP SENDING YOU TO SCHOOL IF THIS KEEPS ON!”

            Eunhee wakes up. Not by the deafening alarm, but by her mom’s obnoxious yelling.

            “Huh? But Umma, I was having a nice-… Never mind.” Eunhee didn’t bother to continue. She knew her mom would scold her even more.

            Eunhee rushed out to bed and headed straight to the bathroom. Shower. Brush teeth. Get dressed. Fix bag.

            “You didn’t even eat breakfast! AGAIN!” her mom reminded.

            “I’ll just eat breakfast at school. Bye Umma.” Eunhee took all of her stuff, made sure she didn’t forget anything else, then kissed her mom goodbye.

            This is a normal weekday morning for Kang Eunhee.

            As she headed out of her house, she looked up at the morning sky seeing the bright sun tower upon her. Beautiful. She took out her iPod by the time she reached the bus stop. Every morning while waiting for the school bus, she listens to music and softly sings along to the songs that were playing.

            “…Eodideun cheongugilteni~“

            “You have a very nice voice, Miss.”, said an old lady who passed by.

            “Kamsahamnida, Ahjumma!” Usually, strangers who were passing by would compliment her because of her voice.           

           The school bus came after awhile. She immediately searched for an empty seat as soon as she got in. Hoping for an available seat at the front, she found one instead at the back. Darn it, I hate it there. She sighed. Eunhee always feels sick when seating at the back. She sat near the window on the left.

            “Aish… Omo, new face, huh?” she whispered to herself. On the right side near the window, she saw a new student. Brown-orangey hair, milky-white skin, natural pinkish thin lips. He had his right cheek resting on the back of his right palm. He was peacefully sleeping.  An… ulzzang…? Hmm... I wonder what grade he is in. Eh Eunhee?? Why are you even wondering?! Aish…, she thought.

            Eunhee decided to do her undone homework in the bus. The unsteadiness of the bus made her handwriting illegible. She didn’t care, as long as she had something to pass. But then a random eighth grader interrupted her.

            “Hey, that’s my seat.” He blankly stared at her.

            “Oh, sorry.” Eunhee rushed to the right side of the backseats, near the new guy. Because of her natural clumsiness at everything, she dropped her things on the sleeping person. Uh oh…

            “Wha-…?” The new guy woke up groggy.

            “MIANHE!” Eunhee embarrassingly stood up and bowed lowly. Her cheeks were flushing red. She immediately picked up her things from the floor. The newbie helped her without hesitation.

            “I’m-... I’m really sorry.” Still embarrassed, she avoided his eyes. Way to go Eunhee for first impression! You clumsy person.

            “It’s fine.” He smiled half-heartedly. She can tell that he was really disturbed.

            “You can go back to sleep now.” Eunhee shyly said, trying to get back to her homework.

            “Nah, I don’t think I can get back to sleep again.”

            “Agh! I’m really sorry.”

            He didn’t reply this time. Instead, he watched Eunhee as she struggled writing from the uncontrollable motion of the bus.

            “Haha, cramming eh?” He chuckled.

            “Yep.” She calmly answered.

            “Used to it, I see?”

            “Definitely.” She replied with an open smile this time.

            Eunhee successfully finished her English homework. English was definitely one of her favorite subjects. Though her grade in that subject isn’t as outstanding, she likes it anyway. Math was next, the most dreaded of all. Freaking... I can’t even. Eunhee’s face became obviously sour and bitter.

            “Ah eotteokhae…” She scratched her head furiously.

            The new guy narrowed his eyes, trying to read the problem to on the book, shifting his eyes to her notebook. Then his face loosened up a bit. “Need help?” He smiled. Eunhee was too engrossed at figuring out on how to solve the word problem. She didn’t hear him. The new guy cleared his throat and tried once more. “Would you like some help?” He drew closer to the confused girl, trying to make eye contact.

            Eunhee was startled, her eyes rounded as soon as she met his eyes. “Eh? Oh… Sure.” Eunhee was amazed on how round his eyes were. She felt a slight pound on her chest. He tried to reposition himself closer to Eunhee. This made her so conscious of herself. He took out his pencil and rewrote on the notebook what was on the book. Eunhee didn’t take her eyes off the guy.

            “So…” The new guy started to talk again. Eunhee regained her focus on her homework. “This is a word problem, right? Basically, you have to transform these words into numbers. You have to understand the problem to interpret it.” He went on and on. Eunhee finally understood math, for the first time in ages. She surprised herself.

            “Oohh… That wasn’t so hard after all!”

            “Of course. You have to like math before you could understand it.” He raised his two thumbs up.

            Eunhee was a bit confused by what the guy said. She wondered if she could ever like Math. But she thanked him anyway. “Kamsahamnida!” Eunhee started to cheer up.

            “No problem.” He smiled back.

            Then suddenly, she remembered, “Ah, I still don’t know your n-…” But before she could go on, they already arrived at school. “Eh? We’re here already? So faaast… I’m not yet even done. Ahhhh eotteokhae!?” She slumped. Dropping her things again, she quickly picked them up.

            “Don’t worry, I can help you when we get to class.”

            “If we’re on the same class, that is.” Eunhee thought it was hopeless.

            “I’m sure we will be.” The new guy gave Eunhee a comforting smile of assurance. WHAT IS WITH THIS SHINING PERSON?

            As soon as the two got inside the campus, the new guy bid goodbye to Eunhee. “Bye Eunhee! I have somewhere else to go first before class starts. Don’t worry I’ll be in class an hour before the bell rings.” He cupped his hands on the sides of his mouth as he ran, looking back. H-how did he know my name? Eunhee lost her focus. She shook her head and soon got a hold of herself again. “Are you even sure we’re in the same class?!” She yelled back. He simply smiled at her and turned his back. Eunhee sighed with a smile. “Not even sure if we’re in the same grade.” She chuckled to herself. She ran as fast as she could to her classroom, hoping for more time to finish her homework.

            She sat down on her usual chair, beside the window. She always had a liking for outdoor views. It always gives her a fluffy feeling inside. She checked the time. Yes, one and a half hour more! Eunhee was so pumped up.

            Almost thirty minutes have passed and she’s almost done. Eunhee was so proud of herself at that moment, until a monster problem comes to tear down her hopes. She reread the problem numerous times but still couldn’t get it. Her eyes twitched, then there comes along frustration.

            “ANIYAAAA!!!!!” She shot up from her table drawing attention from the whole class. “Ah… Ha… Ha… Mianhe.” She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck while slowly sinking to her chair.

            She was already panicking, quietly though. Eunhee doesn’t really excel academically, but she definitely didn’t like bad grades either. Exactly thirty minutes after she started, she looked back at the classroom’s clock. Hmm… One hour more. She lowered her hand onto her lap and looked out the window, hoping that she could see the bright person. “Guess he’s not in the same class as I am. Maybe even not in the same grade.” She murmured to herself.

            Eunhee continued to gaze outside. Sceneries really are her weakest point. She was lost in the breath-taking sight of the sky. Suddenly, numerous whispers, faint squeals of girls were heard throughout the room. Eunhee looked around and turned her head to the door. She saw the bright person, who soon turned into her direction and smiled at her. He headed for the empty seat behind Eunhee, not losing his smile. As soon as he sat down, he rested his arms on his desk and leaned towards Eunhee. “How’s the homework?” He grinned this time. Eunhee looked back and just snickered.

            “Told you we’d get in the same class.” He winked.

            “How’d you even know? I am now assuming you’re a person who knows everything.” Eunhee purposely exaggerated. He didn’t vocally answer. Instead, he protruded his lips towards her tummy. Eunhee was taken aback by his action. She thought of something else. Err… But then she slowly looked down on the direction where he was pointing and saw her school ID. She intentionally hit her forehead for her stupidity.

            “Oh… That’s why you knew my name too, huh?” She smiled. He just nodded back. Eunhee was no doubt impressed by his observance.

            “So how’s homework?” he asked again.

            “Well uh…” She returned to her cram work.

            “Let me see.” He stood up from his chair and went behind her. Eunhee saw big shadow progress on top of hers. Wow, is he tall? Didn’t notice it a while ago. She tried to look above her. Eunhee’s body twitched a little when she saw how really tall the bright person is.

            “Are you having a problem with this one?” He narrowed his eyes.

            Eunhee immediately turned to her book. “Um, yea… A bit.” Pfft. More like A LOT.

            He started blurting out math intellects again. But this time, the discussion is a lot longer than what they had in the bus. The problem was more complex, which made it harder for her to understand. Good thing, he was a patient person. When Eunhee started to understand it, she thought to herself, Ah, he’s a good teacher.

           She followed his guidance and solved the problem with eagerness. By the time Eunhee finished solving, she let out a loud “Yay!” and jumped from her seat a little. Eunhee looked above her and thanked him. “Nomu nomu nomu kamsahamnida-… Uh… Wait, I still don’t know your n-” The school bell interrupted her this time. Eunhee thought she could hurry and ask his name right away, but their class advisor came right away.

            “Oops, class is about to start.” He went back to his seat and put his index finger on his lips.

            Eunhee sulked on her chair. But they all stood up again anyway to greet the teacher.

           AM I DESTINED NOT TO KNOW HIS NAME? Geez… Hmm... For some reason, he reminds me of the sun I see every morning.