A week passed by after U-kwon left to America leaving a huge emptiness in my life , we talked every day by phone but the phone calls never satisfied our desire to see each other.

I tried to cover that emptiness by being busy all day , but at the end of the day I lay down above my bed and think about U-kwon again.

For the first time in my life I liked studying and I liked staying at the library for late hours , my grandma disliked the fact that I was arriving home after 7 pm ; because she doesn’t like the night darkness , but I didn’t have a choice , I had to stay at the library in order to forget how much I missed him .. it was only the first week.

I’m not going to lie , I was little surprised that nothing bad happened to me while walking back to my house when darkness covered the sky , I guess I was lucky.

~~~~~

I put my books inside my locker , then headed to the cafeteria in order to meet Eun-mi there. I sat on a random table and I took my phone rereading the texts between me and U-kwon.

My thoughts were interrupted when Zelo sat above the table and waved for me , “hey ugly black duck,” he said

“what do you want Jun-hong ?,” I said with half closed eyes

“aigoo so cold !”

“my head hurts , is there something you want ?”

“actually there is , I want your phone number”

I gave him a cold look then I said , “and why do you want my phone number ?”

Zelo rubbed his head and said , “you’re smart ..”

“you need my number because I’m smart ?”

“you’re really not that smart , I need your phone number if I ever needed some help in studying”

“helping you ? why would I ?!”

“you were my friend in high school”

“friend ? are you acting naïve ?”

“Aish ! you’re wasting my precious time so give me the freaking number”

“ya ! I’m older than you , you should show me some respect”

“haha … me respect you ?! in your dreams , besides how old are you ?”

“I’m 19 !”

“me too !! your birthday ??”

“March .. and you ?”

“damn it … FORGET IT !!  JUST GIVE ME THE NUMBER”

“not before you tell me ..”

He sighed and rolled his eyes , “Octo..,” he whispered

“what ? I didn’t hear it”

“Octo..”

“Junhong don’t whisper”

“it’s Zelo not Junhong !!”

“don’t change the subject”

“I . said . October !”

“HA ! I’M OLDER THAN YOU !,” I shouted catching the students attention.

“what an embracement .. just give me that number”

“I’m your noona , you should say ‘please noona’”

“YA HANNA ! NOONA MY ! GIVE IT TO ME ALREADY”

“not before I hear the ‘please’ word”

He sighed and took a long breath , “p-p … p-p-p .. please !”

“good kid ~ was that so hard ?,” I teased , “give me your phone I’ll print it down”

He gave me his phone and I started typing  my phone number , I heard Eun-mi’s voice so I raised my head up to see her , she immediately thrown bunch of papers on me then she said after she hit the table with her hands , “WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ?! ARE YOU TRYING TO PLAY AROUND WITH ME ??!!”

I was shocked , I didn’t know what’s wrong and why she was shouting at me . “is everything ok ?,” I asked trying to understand.

“I HAD B- FOR THE HOMEWORK YOU MADE !”

“well .. isn’t that you’re highest mark ever ?”

“I gave it to you because I want to have my A ! not a freaking B- !”

Zelo was watching my reaction , but I was speechless , “I-I didn’t know , next time I’ll do it better but I didn’t do an A worthy homework because I was tired an…”

She interrupted me , “tired ?! what ?!  are you kidding me ??!! you better not do this mistake again !!”

“or what ?,” asked Zelo calmly

She looked at him then she immediately drew a sweet smile on her face , “Z-Zelo ? you’re here to back me up right ?”

“continue your threat,” said Zelo

“or I’m gonna make her college days total HELL”

“I don’t think you can , that’s my job not yours,” said Zelo shocking me even more , “instead of thanking her you’re actually yelling at her ?! they called me before rude but that’s the rudest behavior I have ever seen”

“I really like you Zelo but allow me to hate you today ,  why don’t you stay out of this ?”

“I will , as soon as you don’t come near Hanna anymore”

“Junhong !,” I called his name trying to shut him up

“Junhong ? how close are you two ?,” asked Eun-mi.

“close enough , don’t come near her anymore,” Zelo looked at me then he said , “follow me”

I don’t know why but I followed him anyway , he stopped walking when we reached his locker , he took his phone from my hand then he said , “don’t think about this a lot , I did it just to make myself feel better”

“what are you talking about ?”

“what happened in the cafeteria won’t happen again , you have to stand up for yourself , I’m only saying this to erase the bullying memories I shared with you in high school .. we’re even now”

He turned around and left back to the cafeteria leaving me alone in the hall.

“what’s wrong with people these days ?”.