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First LoveThe shameless one whose gaze didn’t flinch against Hanbin’s wrath was called, Lee Yowon. The very person who’d dragged him out of a life endangering situation was called, Lee Yowon. The Class President, his latest victim, they were all ‘Lee Yowon.’ He knew all this yet he felt he knew nothing about her. Hanbin felt a headache come on.
Lee Yowon found keys in her locker the following day. Her brows crossed as she picked them. These were the same keys that went missing from her room. She should have smiled but her frown only deepened. Her Dooley keyring was missing from the set. Had she misplaced it? Yowon couldn’t remember. Still, she was glad she hadn’t lost the keys. Her mother would be on her case otherwise.
Unknown to her, there was a shadow following her steps as she left the locker and headed to the classroom, presumably to study. At least that’s what Hanbin believed. He had caught her by chance really. Who would have thought the Class President would come to school early? It had escaped his mind when he’d broken into her locker. She really was strange though. Sitting at her desk she upturned the contents of her bag and stared, blinking those intriguing eyes. Her stomach growled and she groaned, “I forgot to pack breakfast!” Hanbin snorted. How did someone forget breakfast? It was the most important meal of the day, the one that woke you up, the one that let you know a new day had begun. He found her really weird. She’d forgotten breakfast because she wanted to get to school. Who did that? Not Hanbin. He made sure to gobble his morning meal, school or no school. What made things even more ridiculous was that she didn’t leave to go purchase anything but instead tidied her desk and flicked open a text book. They couldn’t have been more different in Hanbin’s opinion.
They remained like that as the hand of the clock ticked. Hours passed by and Hanbin heard commotion. Stalking away from there he left for the roof, somewhere no one would comment on his oddness. When he got there he sighed. Just watching her had left him lethargic. He’d imagined himself in her place reviewing text and it made him sleepy. Making his way to a bench, he lay down to stare at the sky. How was he meant to talk to someone like Lee Yowon? Considering their history, she probably hated him right? Hanbin believed so. He would have hated himself too had he been in her place. A headache was drumming his temples. He rummaged his pocket; the dinosaur had never left his person since. His eyes glazed as he stared at the cartoon character and then at the sky which had become a mirror of his thoughts. Although a lazy breeze drifted clouds, what he saw was entirely different. The wrongs he’d committed flashed before his eyes and made him scowl; how was he to right those? He wasn’t sure exactly but he knew he had to try.
It was from there that the transformation of Kim Hanbin began. The spontaneous turn began once he’d decided to start attending school punctually. This was a shock to all who knew him and of him. No one was expecting him to appear often and stay awake, and sometimes even participate. What was expected was a sloppy attendance, bad test scores, snoring and the like. This new Hanbin was quite confounding! The only quality of his former self was the absence of a smile. He was no longer considered as ‘cool’ as he used to be. The kindness had destroyed his image, something gravely important to him. So what did he do to revive himself? Hanbin returned to bullying. His target was a previous victim, experienced in the face of torment, one he had taken thrill in pounding before Naeun had been branded. She should have been pleased it was not her friend, or her, he’d chosen for this, but Lee Yowon still shot him frosted looks. Hanbin really didn’t know how to gain that girl’s approval. He did something completely unexpected, even for himself, he offered to help her with the project. Yowon only stared, her surprise evident. Then she refuted his proposal. Even after experiencing something like that, Hanbin didn’t give up. He followed her, everywhere. At first she was flabbergasted to see him appear at the library, presuming he didn’t know where it was, while in reality Hanbin was astonished to stalk her into a room filled with shelves and silence, thinking something like this couldn’t exist outside of movies.
His trip to the library allowed him to learn that something was wrong with Yowon’s hand. She was having trouble writing. He knew this because he’d seen her handwriting and what she was jotting down now did not match her script. It puzzled him. Was she messing with him, doing this on purpose? Furious, he grasped her wrist. A yelp escaped her, her face contorted, the pencil fell from her fingers and she hunched over. Almost instantly he let go. “What?” He breathed and then clamped his mouth. Once the pangs of sprain had left her she looked for her pencil. Hanbin was faster. He dived for it and placed it on the table, quaking with an indescribable feeling. Then he stormed out of the library.
Yowon massaged her wrist and resumed with work. She was so engrossed that she didn’t notice Hanbin’s return... well, at least not until he stole her pencil to get her attention. He offered her a clause to allow him to spritz her wrist with sprain spray, or just never get her pencil back. When she asked why he cared, Hanbin replied, “Because I don’t want you messing up our project.” This was a lie; Hanbin didn’t care about grades but Yowon did. So of course she let him have his way. That was her first mistake. From then on, Hanbin glued to her hip like a conjoined twin; he trailed her: he held open doors, he made way for her in the school corridors, he opened bottles for her, he carried her lunch, he didn’t let her write but took to writing himself. He did all this in sneaky ways, making ridiculous excuses that left her no option but to oblige, and all this led them to petty rows. Maybe it was his way of saying, ‘I’m sorry I hurt you,’ but Hanbin was clueless and Yowon was, well... frustrated.
That day was the first time Lee Yowon learnt that Kim Hanbin lived in the same area as her. The hypothesis manifested when he got on the same bus as her. The seats were taken much to Hanbin’s discontent. He found a particular gentleman, whom they had the liberty of standing near, rude. So Hanbin did what he did best; he sent deathly glares. These looks were so menacingly foul that they made the gentleman wriggle in his seat until he eventually got off allowing Yowon to sit down. Hanbin was chuffed. He reckoned he’d done something worth commemorating, a secret charity. He believed himself the epitome of chivalry, someone others should exemplify. While he secretly boasted in his mind, a goofy smile spread across his lips. At the same time an elder, a grandmother, boarded the bus.
Yowon, being tactful and respectful, shot up from her seat and went out of her way to assist the old lady to the seat. All the while, Hanbin remained stone faced. The old coot had shriveled his work of chivalry! He was raging. Gathering his anger, he aimed to express it in dirty looks. The reception however was not the same as before. The grandmother whipped him with her bag. Hanbin jumped. Again and again she hit him, “Naughty child! Kids like you plague our country. Does your mother know what you’re up to? Nasty boy! I’ll make a man out of you yet, I will. Who do you think you are? Keep your head down, loser.” She ought to have helped him but her fist pressed against as Yowon was busy trying not to laugh. Hanbin’s glowers were only infuriating the elder further.
Suddenly the bus stopped. Yowon felt herself hurl backwards. A pair of arms tried to snatch her and then the two of them were flying. Hanbin managed to catch his momentum, his heart in his throat. He whirled her, who he was holding, around. “You okay?” He scanned her for signs of injury. Yowon nodded slowly. Hanbin yelled a plethora of expletives, utilizing a
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