Narrative P.O.V

“You bastard! What the are you doing here?” Jessica yelled furiously.
“Leave it,” Gyuri demanded as she turned her back around and walked away.
Jessica stared back at Hongki distantly, “you better watch your back!” she barked before following Gyuri. “Aren’t you coming, Ji Eun?”
Ji Eun shakes her head, “I’m going to stay with oppa.”
“Just go,” Hongki sighed.
“But I want to stay with you,” she said while linking her arm onto his, “let’s find Youngmin and Mir.”
“Alright.” Hongki said with a hint of relief.
“Hongki?” Ji Eun whisperered shyly.
“Yeah?”
“Why did Jessica talk to you like that? Do you guys know each other?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Hongki said; afraid the truth may affect the way she thought of him.

“Hey, isn’t that… Hongki?” Youngmin points into the crowd.
“No way, it can’t be?” Mir’s jaw dropped opened. “W-wait, isn’t that Ji Eun next to him?”
“Ji Eun!!!” Youngmin yells from across the cafeteria while waving his hand way up high.
“Oh!” Ji Eun exclaims while waving back, as she dragged Hongki with her while they both ushered past the crowd of students.
“What are you doing here, punk?” Mir grinded his teeth, trying to hold in his anger.
“I go to this school now,” Hongki replies nonchalantly.
“I thought you were going to drop out?” Youngmin’s voice was unsteady, since he was always a bit scared of Hongki.
“I was, but I came because of,” Hongki pauses and holds up his hand that was intertwined with Ji Eun’s fingers, “her,” he continued.
Mir looks at Ji Eun, whose face was bright red, “don’t tell me you guys are dating?”
“What? N-“ Ji Eun blushed.
“What if we are?” A perky smile drew across Hongki’s lips.
“You little-“ Mir grunts.
“Woah, wait a minute. Do you like her?” Hongki chuckles, and turn his focus onto Ji Eun’s face which was alarmingly bright red.
“Hongki, let’s just eat lunch, I’m really hungry,” Ji Eun says calmly, trying to loosen up the tension between the two.
“Mir, can you please behave a little bit?” Youngmin whispers in his ear, “you don’t want to mess with him, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
Mir clicks his tongue as he stares taciturnly at Hongki, “whatever.”
“Hongki did you eat the food I made for you?” Ji Eun sits down at the table.
“Yeah, it was good.”
“You make food for this guy?” Mir points at Hongki.
“It’s the least I can do, since he saved my life,” Ji Eun swiftly wraps her arms around his torso.
“You saved her life? How?” Youngmin asks with full interest.
Hongki looks at him dumbfounded, he was too surprised by the sudden embrace Ji Eun gave him, making his heart pound ten times faster than any other pace his heart can endure.
“He saved me from a car accident,” Ji Eun answers on Hongki’s behalf.
Hongki gulps loudly. “Try this oppa,” Ji Eun let go of her embrace as she picks up a forkful of kimichi and stuffing it into Hongki’s mouth.
“I want to try some!” Mir demanded. Youngmin took a piece of kimichi from her lunch box with a pair of chopsticks and forced it into Mir’s mouth, “I wanted Ji Eun to feed me,” Mir pouted.
“Too bad,” Youngmin smirked.
“What do you have after lunch, Hongki?” Ji Eun asks.
“Math.”
“Daebak! Me too!” Ji Eun jumps in her seat, all excited like a little puppy excited to play.
“You don’t need to get that excited,” Hongki flushed.
“I’m just really happy, I get to be with Hongstar oppa,” Ji Eun whispers in his ear. Her soft and gentle voice made every nerve in Hongki’s body twitch.
Why? Why her, out of all people? What is it about her that gives me all these strange reactions? Hongki thought to himself.

~~
“Bye guys,” Ji Eun waved at Youngmin and Mir, as they all went to separate classes.
“Hongki, can you please sit next to me?” Ji Eun asks with her adorable baby voice.
“No.” Hongki looks at Ji Eun who was pouting cutely. Hongki chuckles, “I’m kidding,” he smiles while ruffling her hair.
“Yay!” Ji Eun takes Hongki’s hand from right under and swings it slightly as they both walk toward their classroom.
“Do you have to always hold my hand?” Hongki asks.
“Oh I’m sorry, I just..”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to let go if you like it that much.” Hongki looked down at the ground, trying to hide his reddened face.

~             ~

“Omo, is she dating him?” Jessica couldn’t believe her eyes, as she saw the picture of Hongki and Ji Eun walking hand in hand on the screen of her cellphone.
“What are you looking at?” Gyuri asks curiously.
“Oh, nothing,” she lied. “, scandals are spreading fast,” she thought to herself.
She scrolls down to read the text attached to the photo, “this doesn’t know what she gotten herself into.”

~             ~

“You’re the new student right?” Ms. Song asks Hongki.
“Yes, I’m Lee Hongki,” Hongki bows slightly.
“I’m Ms. Song and welcome to the class. Mr. Choi told me to teach you well since you haven’t been to school for a while, and may have forgotten things, do you feel confident you will do well in this class, or would you like to have extra lessons after school?”
“I think I’m fine, thanks,” Hongki turned down the offer.
“Alright, well just go and sit wherever you like,” Ms. Song gave a warm smile.

“Oppa, sit here next to me,” Ji Eun tapped on the desk next to her.
“Haven’t sat in one of these for so long,” Hongki skimmed the surface of the desk with his fingers swiftly.
“Here are some of yesterday’s lessons, you can copy them down,” Ji Eun handed over a few sheets from yesterday.
Hongki looks at the formulas with a blank face; he scanned all of them, utterly confused, with all the unfamiliar equations. Hongki gulped, regretting ever coming back to school, but as soon as he turned his face to Ji Eun, all of his regrets disappeared.
“Alright let’s get this class started,” said Ms. Song, but Hongki blocked out all voices, he couldn’t help himself as he continued to stare at Ji Eun uncontrollably.
Why can’t I seem to figure out these unknown feelings? They’re feelings I’ve never experienced towards someone. He placed his hand on his throbbing heart, he compared this sensation with the feeling he had with Gyuri, and without a doubt, they were completely different. He always felt like he always had to hide in his shell from other guys whenever he was with Gyuri, but this new feeling he felt towards Ji Eun was diverse. He had freedom and his life wasn’t under a dark shadow no more.
Ji Eun shifted her eyes and found Hongki looking at her, “is there something on my face?”
Hongki’s eyes widened, “oh, um no,” he stuttered, and quickly turned his face away. Hongki fidgeted with his pencil, and tried his best to pay attention to the teacher, but it was too overwhelming for him. He couldn’t understand any of it and his thoughts kept on focusing back onto Ji Eun.
 

The bell rung, and it was time for last period. “What do you have now?” Ji Eun asked Hongki.
“English,” Hongki replied.
“Ji Eun pouted, “I have music,” she sighed, “after school can we walk home together?” she beamed, and Hongki nodded before taking off to his class.

Hongki entered his classroom and was a bit nervous, since his English wasn’t that great.
“I’m a new student, my name is Lee Hongki,” Hongki spoke in English with a strong Korean accent to the foreign teacher.
“Hello Hongki. Welcome to the class, my name is Mr. Pete,” Mr. Pete said with a friendly smile.
“Thank you,” Hongki walked toward an empty desk at the far back and looked around the class as his heart felt bare. He wished Ji Eun was sitting next to him as he looked at the empty desk on his left.
“There’s no one I know here,” Hongki sighed.
“Hi, my name is Liana, what’s yours?” a girl said in fluent English as she stuck her hand out in front of Hongki, he looked up to find a pretty foreign girl smiling.
“Hongki,” he replied, not bothering to shake hands with her. He had no interest in talking to other girls.
“You’re the legendary Hongki? I heard a lot about you, I think you’re really cool,” she said in fluent Korean which surprised Hongki.
“You’re fluent in Korean?” Hongki asked.
“Yup, I’m half German and Korean,” she smiled. She looked at the empty desk next to him, “can I sit next to you?”
“Go ahead,” Hongki said, realizing she could help him with his English.
Liana looked at Hongki, “you look really nice with eye liner. I’ve never met a guy in real life as cool and pretty at the same time. What’s your secret?” she leaned closer to Hongki.
Hongki looked at her, “secret?”
“Are you… You know… Gay?” Liana whispered.
“What? No…” Hongki couldn’t believe she had asked that question, he was 100% sure that he did not act or even give out any vibe of “gayness.”
“Oh, that’s a relief,” Liana smiled. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Why?” Hongki grinned.
“Because I’m interested in you, silly,” Liana winked.
Hongki chuckled, and rolled his eyes. He played this act many times at the bar to gain costumers; he was so used to it that it became natural to him whenever someone tried to hit on him.
“If you heard a lot about me than you should know that I’m hard to get,” Hongki gave a sly grin.
She whipped her hair flirtatiously, “I like guys who are hard to get.”
“Trust me, I’ll be a waste of time, you wouldn’t want that, right?” Hongki gave her a warning.
“I’ll do whatever I want,” she said seductively.

Hongki tried his best to ignore her, and hoped for the class to end quickly, but it seemed to have lasted longer than he had hoped for. Luckily the bell rung and Hongki jumped out of his seat as he fled towards the door to find Ji Eun.
“He didn’t even say bye,” Liana pouted but at the same time she was happy to meet him. “Ah, he’s so cool,” she cupped her face in her hands, “he’s mine.”

*Ring* Hongki picked up his phone to find a text message from Hyuna, “Oppa, seriously where are you? I want to see you tonight.” He exited the message notification and checked his calls, “missed call from Motherer.” What does she want from me? Why is she searching for me now? Hongki’s heart pulsated in pain, he wished she could just erase from his memories but her phone calls were making that wish impossible.

“Oppa, what’s wrong?” Ji Eun held onto Hongki’s hand, as Hongki looked back at her and all his pain vanished.
“Huh? Nothing. Let’s just go home,”
“Let’s go!” Ji Eun smiled widely and swung his arm as she strutted down the hallway, dragging Hongki by her side.

**** 20 minutes later

“Unnie, I’m home!” Ji Eun shouted.
“Oh, good! I just finished making dinner,” Soyeon wiped her hands on her apron, “I kind of need to leave now… Are you okay staying here with Hongki?”
“Unnie, why do you have to leave all the time? You haven’t stayed home for so long, I thought you’ll have a break from work soon…” Ji Eun pouted.
“I’m really sorry Ji Eun, I’ll make it up to you, I swear!” Soyeon took off her apron and placed it in Ji Eun’s hand then gave a kiss on her forehead. “Please take care of Ji Eun, Hongki!” Soyeon took off, leaving the two of them home alone… Again.

“Looks like we’re home alone again,” Ji Eun sighed.
“It’ll be alright,” Hongki ruffled her hair playfully, trying to cheer her up.
“C’mon let’s eat, and we can watch the stars again tonight,” Hongki grabbed her hand to guide her up the stairs. They both took a bowl of rice and started eating all the dishes Soyeon made.
“I have a favor to ask you,” Hongki said.
“Anything for you Oppa,” Ji Eun leaned her head on his shoulder.
“C-can you teach me how to play the g-guitar?” Hongki stuttered, trying to stay still while her head rested on his shoulder, but as soon as Hongki was getting comfortable she lifted her head up, “Omo, of course! This will be really fun~ Soyeon has an extra guitar that she hasn’t touched in ages! All we need to do is tune it,” she exclaimed in excitement.

After dinner, Ji Eun dashed up the stairs to grab the guitars. “Hongki, let’s play on the roof!”
“Okay,” Hongki said as he followed behind.
“Here is yours,” Ji Eun handed her guitar over to him. “I need to tune Soyeon’s guitar first.”
They both headed towards the roof and sat at the usual spot they sat every night. Time passed by quickly as Ji Eun taught Hongki how to play the guitar.

Ji Eun directed Hongki’s fingers on different cords, “strum and that will be note G.”
“Oh, this is actually pretty easy,” Hongki smiled, “I think I’m starting to like the guitar.”
“You are learning really quickly, I think you’ll be able to do really well if you continue the way you are doing right now. But, I’m just curious, why did you want to learn the guitar out of the blue?” Ji Eun asked.
“Music class,” Hongki replied with a short answer.
“Oh, I see,” Ji Eun nodded. She looked up at the starry sky, “hey, you’re glowing really bright tonight.”
Hongki’s eyes widened and he touched his heated up face, am I that obvious? Hongki panicked, afraid he was blushing too easily.
“Look,” Ji Eun pointed at the sky. “Hongstar~” she sang.
Hongki sighed with a relief, “yeah, it looks nice.”
“Hongki, your phone is ringing,” Ji Eun looked at his pocket.
Hongki took out his phone and read the caller I.D “Motherer,” he pressed the decline button and put his phone back in his pocket.
“You’re not picking it up?”
“I didn’t recognize the number,” Hongki lied.
“Oh. Well… Should we continue with our guitar lessons, then?” Ji Eun scooted closer to Hongki.
“Sure,” Hongki smiled.