"I, Uh, want to get to know you!" Mingyu all but staggers out.

What the hell did he just say? Did I hear him wrong?

I drop the remaining items in my hands to the ground and stand up without looking towards him. My eyes are too shaky to concentrate on anything and I feel the beginnings of a semi panic attack starting to form. I’ve never told anyone about my scars and here he is, seeing everything I’ve kept a closed secret for years.

You need to calm down, nothing's going to happen with him here, remember? You’re okay.

"What?" My voice comes out embarrassingly low and a little scratchy; you can definitely tell I never use it. In the corner of my eye I can see Mingyu is frozen still, with his mouth gaping open. I don’t dare turn around.

"I want to get to know you." He says, sitting up a little straighter, confidently and without hesitation.

How can he be so calm about this? Oh, that’s right, he probably makes friends on a daily. I’m the one who’s overreacting, but aren't I allowed to? I’ve never had anyone say that to me before; to basically be friends and learn more about me.

Finally, I turn around and look straight into his deep brown eyes, almost getting lost in the determination that’s flowing from them. I continue to look at him with confusion and surprise, not fully understanding why he’s said what he did, he doesn't even know much about me; other then my name. How is Mingyu so sure he wants to get to know me?

I'm not sure how long we stay staring at each other, but what pulls us out of our trance is the sudden sound of the school bell.

Thank god.

I’m the first to break eye contact, as I frantically turn around to gather my belongings that are still spread across the ground.

But this is what you wanted! You want to become his friend, to open up, to talk! My brain screams at me and it’s right, but this is happening too quickly for me.

I’m suddenly pulled out of my thoughts by a yank on my sleeve, like I’ve been caught in a web of some sort and I’m desperate to leave. I look at him and plead with my eyes for Mingyu to let me go. I can’t do this!

His own eyes widen in surprise and before I know it he’s retracting his hand away quickly, holding his wrist to his chest with the other hand, looking somewhat afraid and I take this as my chance to escape. Gathering up my remaining items quickly, I move away towards the back doors of the school.

The second I step into the school I quickly look behind me to check and make sure Mingyu isn't following me. Good, he's not.

I take in a few deep breaths and let them out slowly as I lean my back heavily onto the cream wall behind me. I bite my lip to concentrate on slowing down my racing heart and quivering hands. Once I open my eyes again the halls are empty of most students, other than a few stragglers rushing to their next class.

●●

“So, your classes that you’ve been to today, were they okay, did you make any friends?”

I’m sat back inside the counselor's office, as promised earlier this morning.

Friends?

I nervously begin biting my lower lip in thought “Um, i-is it okay i-if I talk?” I ask while looking down.

Here’s the thing, I’m not a hundred percent comfortable talking yet, that much is obvious, but I need help on the whole ‘Mingyu’ situation and I believe that Mrs. Choi will be able to help me in some way or another. Plus if I can spontaneously spout out words to Mingyu, how hard should it be to ask a couple questions to the counselor?

“Oh uh” She hesitates “Y-yes sweetie, go right on ahead, feel free to talk whenever you feel comfortable.” The tone in her voice it can clearly be heard that I had caught her off guard, but the kindness that’s laced in it helps me relax. I watch as she scoots towards the end of her seat and places her manicured hands on top of one another.

I gulp down hard and take a few uneven breaths. “Well there’s this gu- guy and…” That’s all I can manage to get out before my eyes reach the floor and become a little shaky. Hearing my voice and the feeling I have in my throat is just too foreign.

“It’s okay!” From the corner of my eye I can see her hands waving rapidly, as if to stop any second thoughts about what I had said. “That’s a good place to start, can you tell me his name?” She asks more calmly.

I look at Mrs. Choi briefly and back down towards my hands.

“Mingyu” I say breathlessly. “Kim Mingyu” The corner of my lips twitch up just a little, at the thought of the obnoxious boy, before resting back into its previous position.

Yes, the boy with abnormal hair, a scattered conscious, long legs, sincere words, who is unfairly beautiful, and has a voice that is all too loud; these are the few things that I can pin point about Mingyu, as of now. But hopefully over time or in the near future I’ll be able to name hundreds and thousands of things about him.

“Oh! Yes, I know him. He’s a very lovely boy, smart too, and very popular.” She says with a kind smile. “I think he takes some senior classes, is that how you met him?”

Just one that I know of; Calculus. I think back to the class that I was beyond late to this morning. I think about how when I stepped inside, new uniform on, hair tousled, and completely oblivious to everyone else, my eyes only staggered to the figure who was currently explaining some god awful problem on the board.

I remember when I saw him again, just half an hour ago, and how my reaction was almost identical to the first two; starstrucked. And this gets me thinking, wondering, if this is how it’s going to be every time I see Mingyu.

I nod my head meaning yes and moves to form an ‘o’ shape.

“U-m…” I begin to speak. “How do I-I approach him… like become… friends?” I finish the sentence a little broken and with my head facing the floor, as if I’m embarrassed to ask such a lame question. But I’ve never had friends before so I’m not even sure where to start. That’s atleast what I want the two of us to be, I mean there’s no way someone like him could even think about someone like me, in the way I think of him. Hell, I’m not even sure if he likes guys or not.

She readjusts her hands on top of her lap and thinks carefully before speaking. “Just be yourself.”

What?!

I look at her bewilderedly.

Chuckling at my- what I assume-, hysterical looking face, she continues. “There is no right or wrong way to make friends, just be yourself and if said person enjoys who you truly are, then that alone should be enough for them.” She lets a soft smile spread across her face and my own face relaxes into one of a thinking mold.

I’ve only ever been myself in front of people, it just so happens that I’m actually at making friends…

A few beats of awkward silence passes before she speaks again. “Um, how about hobbies! Do you like to draw or study?” I keep quiet at the questions, watching as Mrs. Choi tucks some of her falling, bleached, hair behind an ear; a nervous manner she appears to have. “Maybe running, piano, creative writing, gardening, reading, cooki-”

“Reading” I interrupt her. “I like reading” I say mindlessly looking at some of the pamphlets laying across the glass table separating us.

“Well okay there! Right there is where you should start out.” My eyes shoot back up towards her, suddenly interested. “You don’t necessarily need to talk to him, just show Mingyu that you enjoy reading.”

Little does she know that I’m all too comfortable talking to Mingyu already, no pre steps needed. It just comes naturally when I’m with him. Still, I nod my head anyways and let her continue to talk about ways to approach him and so and so forth.

Somewhere in the middle of Mrs. Choi’s nonstop ideas, the bell for my last period rings, but that doesn't stop her from what she was saying, so I sit not so patiently in my chair until she says I can leave. A few more minutes pass and she gives me the go-ahead to take off, I stand up abruptly while grabbing my satchel that was laying down beside the chair, and swinging it over my solder hastily, before making my way towards the wooden door.

“You’ve done amazing today Wonwoo! I’ll see you again on Monday.” She calls out from behind me and I turn to look over my shoulder and give her a twitch of a smile before completely heading out into the already thinning hallways.

●●

My next class is Psychology, it doesn't even count as a college credit, but I needed one more class to fill up my schedule and I was not about to take Home Economics or Fashion Design.

And as my luck would have it, I’m lost once again. I’m pretty sure my class is on the first floor but for the name and number of the class, all the paper says is, ‘Psychology Room 2’ and I have pretty much checked the whole ground floor and there’s no sign of said room. I give up when I realize, I’m seriously about to be late for my final class, and I decide to head to the attendance office for some sort of assistance.

As I’m rounding the corner, the front office just a few feet away, I notice Mingyu walking out while looking down stressfully at a piece of paper. Quickly, I turn back around and lean my back up against the wall, hopefully out of sight. I can’t have anymore reasons to be late to this class. I hold my breath as he passes in front of me, completely oblivious of my existence and continues to walk ahead. “I can’t believe I got my first damn after school detention from being like a minute late to Literature.” He mumbles to himself quietly, but loud enough for me to hear him. “Tomorrow's gonna .”

A smile crosses my face, because even someone that I once thought of as completely flawless and perfect has their imperfections.

●●

Thankfully the teacher was walking into the class just as I had arrived, and he greeted me as I handed him my note from the nurse, the same one I had previously used with Mr. Kyun as well.

“Oh right, right, right, well for now just go sit in the back seat beside Mr. Jihoon.” I turn where he’s pointing and I notice a couple of open seats. “Mr. Jihoon please raise your hand!” Slowly a small and lank arm raises up. I move my eyes down towards the owner who has a look on his face as if he’s ready to murder somebody or as if he just woke up. “Okay guys,” I listen, as he clasps his hands together loud enough to gather all the talking students attention. “I know it’s theater thursday and we normally watch a video, but unfortunately I left the DVDs at home. So just talk quietly amongst yourselves until the bell rings.” The class erupts into low conversations and gleeful banters.

Have I actually attended any sort of class today?! I think to myself.

Cautiously I shuffle towards the empty seat between the windows and pissy pants. As I sit down I notice the person next to ‘Jihoon’ beginning to run his fingers through the latter's pale pink hair, with a fond look on his face and for a split second I think the shorter of the two will explode at the skinship, but strangely and to my surprise, he doesn’t. In fact he leans into the delicate touch a