---

                Naeun wasn’t much of a runner. Sure, she played volleyball in her freshman year but being a volleyball player only require you to stand and dive for a ball. And all those conditionings only involved jogging around the gym. But tonight, she ran as if her life depended on it, literally. She was so scared that she ran as fast as she could, faster than that time she was chased by a wild dog in middle school.

                Her heart raced and her breath ragged as she reached for the door knob in her house and shut it close, without sparing any glance back. Leaning her back on the door, she put her hand on her chest and felt it hammering against her ribs. She coughed in her efforts on taking a deep breath and rubbed her chest. As the breathing slowed down, Naeun stood straight and headed to the kitchen for a glass of water.

                “Naeun? What are you doing?”

                She choked on her drink and coughed, gasping for air. Feeling someone was rubbing her back, Naeun looked up and saw her mother with a disapproved look on her face. Her mother always reminded her to be graceful and quoted She’s The Man, ‘chew like you have a secret’.

                “Mom, you scared me!” Naeun huffed, wiping her lips with the back of her hand. Her mother was standing next to her in black jeans and white chiffon blouse. Her glass was perched on her nose and her soft black hair was in a ponytail, framing her small face structure. She raised her eyebrows, “Are you heading to work?”

                “Yeah.” The woman sighed, peering her watch, “My shift starts in 30 minutes. I’m the only on-call attending tonight and the ER won’t run by itself.”

                Naeun nodded, looking at her mother as she opened the fridge and grabbed a protein bar. People always say Naeun was the splitting image of her mother and she believed it. Put them together, standing next to each other and people could have mistaken them for twins. Except that her mother had a few lines on her forehead and crinkles under her eyes. Naeun noticed they always had the same wavy hair, a pair of dark brown irises, long and slender fingers and small figure.

                “What are you doing down here, Naeun? It’s almost midnight.” Her mother asked, tearing off the wrapper, “And why are you sweating?”

                “I was thirsty.” She stuttered and reached for her forehead and her fingers were wet, “I guess I forgot to switch on the air-conditioner.”

                “Well.” She walked around the kitchen counter and kissed the top of Naeun’s head, “Your father had a 22 hours surgery today so try not to wake him on your way up.”

                “Okay, mom.” She squeaked as she heard the front door shut and her mother’s car engine revved. Considering there was no screaming, her mother probably didn’t notice the mess of their front door neighbor’s house. It was dark anyway and Naeun’s mother never look around when she was set on her job.

                Being the youngest in the family, Naeun had seen nothing but greatness in her family members. Her parents were skilled surgeons (mother was a trauma surgeon and father was the head of neurosurgery department), had done lots of research and published papers. She was beyond proud of course, as she was terrified. Her older brother worked in a law firm in the city and only visited home once a month. And Woori, her sister who was three years older was studying in Dublin.

                That left her, the youngest child, in her last year of high school, completely unsure of what she wanted to do or become. Not to mention, her father’s constant reminder by asking questions of her college application or internship program in summer.

                Sighing, Naeun washed the glass and then creeped slowly into her room.

---

                The next morning she woke up late. It might be due to the fear from last night or maybe she was just so tired she didn’t hear her alarm went on. Hurriedly, she took the shortest shower in her life and threw in a denim skirt and tank top she pulled from the back of her wardrobe. Naeun grabbed her bag and rushed downstairs where her father was standing near the kitchen counter, brewing coffee.

                “Good morning, honey.”

                “Morning, dad.” Naeun greeted and took the mug her father passed to her. She sat on the chair and put her favorite strawberry jam on the bread. Munching on her breakfast, she peeked on her silver watch and groaned. Only 15 minutes left before the first bell rang and the school was a 10-minute drive from her home.      

                She fumbled to wear her shoes, a black converse and yelled as she reached the door knob, “Bye dad!”

                “Drive safely and have fun at school!”

                Naeun snorted as she wore her seatbelt. Yeah, have fun when I had two quizzes today.

                Exactly ten minutes later, she parked in the parking lot and ran across the wide space to the front door. She still needed to get to her locker for a Biology textbook and her legs were already warried from running last night. As she stuffed the book in her bag, someone tapped her shoulder.

                “You’re late.”

                Naeun faced a scowling girl and smiled sheepishly, “I’m so sorry I missed our morning discussion, Chorong. I’ll make up to you, I promise.”

                Chorong raised her eyebrows, “Green tea latte?”

                “Extra cream.” Naeun said just as the bell rang. She waved at her friend, “See you at lunch!”

                “Don’t forget your promise!”

---

                During lunch, Naeun drove her best friend to a hangout spot off campus- PJ Corner. Only seniors were allowed to stay outside of school at lunch time and they rarely used the chance given. They usually had lunch at the cafeteria because the two of them were always busy. Naeun was the secretary of the Student Body council and Chorong was the editor of the school newspapers.

                This was their third time having lunch outside and Naeun noticed most of the seniors were there. They picked a table near the window and ordered their food (the green tea with extra cream included). She saw Sunggyu sitting with his usual jocks clique a few tables away and observed their fun. Her eyes scanned all the faces around the table until halted on an unfamiliar one.

                He had silky black hair and pale skin with pointy nose, a pair of coffee eyes and thin lips. Naeun asked, “Hey, Chorong. Who’s that guy sitting across of your brother?”

                Chorong who was sipping her drink craned her neck, “That’s only the biggest jerk in school, Nam Woohyun. Why is my brother hanging with him anyway?”

                “No! I know who he is.” Naeun rolled her eyes, “I mean the guy next to Woohyun.”

                Her friend took a look again and faced her, “That’s Kim Myungsoo.”

                “Who?” Naeun asked, trying to recall her memory, “I mean, I’ve never seen him before.”

                “Maybe because you are too busy staring at Lee Taemin all day.”

                Naeun narrowed her eyes, leaning forward and smack Chorong across her arm. She smiled as the girl in front of her rubbed her elbow, muttered, “He’s Woohyun’s best friend but he doesn’t socialize much.”

                She studied his face, something about it seemed familiar. Chorong snapped her fingers, “He is in your Math class, Naeun!”

                Okay, that explained it. Maybe.

                “He is?” Naeun inquired, shocked before looking at Chorong with an impressive look, “Is there anything you don’t know, Chorong?”

                “Please.” Chorong scoffed, a smug smiled on her face, “I’m Park Chorong and I know everything.”

                “I guess that’s what being the biggest gossip do to you, huh?”

                Naeun ducked just in time as Chorong flung a sausage in her direction.

---

                The next hours passed slowly and painfully until the last bell rang. Naeun had both quizzes (World History and English) after lunch period and she thought she aced them. Or she would like to think so considering she spent her day the day before stuffing her face into her notebooks. Which was also the reason she was still wide awake at eleven in the night, where everyone else in her neighborhood was fast asleep.

                She always had an exceptional hearing (maybe because she was a vampire in her previous life) and she could hear noise – faint noise – from across the street. Imagined her horror when she could spotted two figures standing in the principal’s lawn, tossing around toilet papers.

                Her neck felt stiffed and her wrist hurt from all the writing she did as she unclenched her fingers, recirculated her blood. Naeun sat in her seat, watching everyone else bustling around, waving goodbyes or bumping fists or even sending flying kisses until the room emptied. Then only she gathered all of her stuffs – her yellow pencils, her favorite blue pen and the pink stationary box Chorong gave her last year. She dreaded the color pink but Chorong enjoyed torturing her knowing that Naeun would had to use the gift as to not offend her best friend’s feelings.

                The hallways was emptied as expected when she walked out five minutes later and she decided to stop by the washroom. Just for the sake of it. She didn’t feel like peeing and there was no trace of makeup on her face to be fix. Instead, she the faucet, watched the water ran for exactly ten seconds and turned it off.

                Naeun was weird and she knew it well.

                As she stepped out of the washroom, Naeun was too busy pulling down her tank top that she didn’t noticed someone was coming in her way. And the next thing happened, Naeun was on the floor with her bag thrown away a few inches of her arm. She looked up and saw a person – boy – was staring her down. He didn’t offer a hand or an apology (so much for chivalry) so Naeun helped herself up and leveled to his eyes which meant poking her chin out because this boy was a head taller than her.

                “Are you going to stand there like a freak or are you going to move out of the way?”

                His voice sounded softer than his face, Naeun had thought. His face was all kinds of rough but the good kinds mostly.  She braced herself, “I know you.”

                Myungsoo quirked his eyebrows, “Yeah and I don’t know you. Now move the hell out.”

                “Wait!” Naeun widened her eyes, “I do know you! From last night!”

                She could see the lines in his forehead, like he was thinking and those lines disappeared as he said, “You’re that nosy girl. How’s the house this morning?”

                “I don’t know.” She answered honestly. She was worried she would be unpunctual that she forgot the sole reason she slept               late. “But you two have to apologize.”

                “What if we don’t?” He asked, challenging her. She reached for her phone in her bag and held it tightly, “I have a proof in here and I will report it.”

                Myungsoo narrowed his eyes and the aura surrounded him changed. If a second ago he was hostile, now he was downright intimidating. The way his eyes snapped sharply into her direction, both his fists clenched and his muscles were all rigid made Naeun prayed that she made it alive today.

                In a swift, Naeun was thrown against the locker causing her to shriek. The impact on her back was agonizing and Naeun found herself panting as Myungsoo trapped her in between his arms and grabbed her phone. She regretted that she didn’t put any password as Myungsoo scrolled, deleting the picture she took last night.

                It was blurry and nobody could recognize the two of them anyway. It was two figures standing in the dark with only streetlights illuminating them. Myungsoo let go of her and stepped backwards while tossing her phone. He gave her a grim look, hissing, “Don’t ever think of threatening me, Naeun.”

                She watched him walked and disappeared at the corner as her mind wandered, how did he know her name?

---

A/N: Have fun reading and leave a feedback! :)