*Before I go on with the chapter, I would like to extend my gratitude to the site http://artsyasiancrew.co.nr/   and its designer, Taki, who worked so hard on the poster above.  Many thanks to the site and the designers who run it!*

And now, please enjoy the new chapter!

 

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Lee Ae-young sat cross-legged on the futon as she stared open-mouthed into space.  She mechanically brought her chopsticks up to , but missed it by a mile only to have the steaming noodles brush against her cheek and feel a tinge of pain.  She had been zoning out for the past couple of days over thoughts of the mysterious boy she had encountered on the first day of her somewhat “peaceful” college life at Seoul National University.  In fact, she was still holding unto the vest that the boy had given her in an effort for her to reduce the embarrassment from her “Sleepy Elmo” shirt.  However, she hadn’t been able to give him back the vest that she was gracious for due to the fact that she didn’t know his first name.  All she knew was that his last name was “Kim,” and that didn’t help much considering the fact that there were a couple thousand students with the same surname. 

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Ae-young brushed her skirt off as she got off at the bus stop and began the ten-block walk to college.  It had been about a week since the first day, and she’d grown accustomed to her new educational life and all the peculiar ways of her fellow students and faculty.  She was thankful that she hadn’t run back into Jung and his ferocious gang.  She didn’t know how she would fend for herself if anything else occurred with them. 

 

Ae-young made it to class just in time to take her seat and place her books down on the desk.  She looked to her left to find a student whom she was not accustomed to having seen being seated right next to her.

 

“Hey, have we met before?” she inquired in an effort to induce genial conversation. 

 

“No, I don’t think so,” smiled the girl seated next to her desk.  “I used to sit in the back, but it was difficult to take notes so I changed my seat.  My name is Shin Sang-hee.  It’s nice to meet you!”

 

“I’m Lee Ae-young. Likewise,” Ae-young replied in a friendly tone as she tried to slightly bow in her cramped desk.  She was glad to have met her first friend in the university.

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Ae-young and Sang-hee lounged on the balcony of the university building as they shared their lunches and talked about their high schools.  Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by loud screams from down below.  The two girls got up from their comfortable seated position and rushed over to look over the wall.  To their surprise, they saw no one hurt; rather, there was a crowd of female students lingering in the hallway-and in the midst of it all, walking down the hallway, was another student that Ae-young couldn’t recognize from afar.   

 

“Wow, people really like him, huh?” she mused in curiosity.

 

“Like him?  He’s Kim Jaejoong, known as the hottest guy in school.  He's also the son of just about the richest record-label producer in all of Asia.  Practically everyone knows him,” exclaimed Sang-hee as she stared down into the hallway.  “He’s rarely seen in class though.  He usually skips. He’s too smart for us.”

 

Ae-young could only stare as she tried to make out who this infamous guy was.  But to her dismay, she realized that it was getting late and her afternoon class was about to begin.

 

“C’mon Sang-hee, we should be getting to class now.”

 

Sang-hee felt reluctant to leave behind the scene of Kim Jaejoong strutting down the hallway and the commotion at his presence, but she grabbed her stuff and followed Ae-young downstairs.

 

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Ae-young skipped down the gliding staircase as she made her way out of the building.

 

She sighed.  Ah, finally classes are over for the day. I just want to go home and take a nap for three hours.

 

She realized the bus would only arrive ten minutes later, so she decided to rest by a nearby bench in the meantime.  Just as she was checking her cell phone for any new text messages, she heard the sound of breathing a couple of feet away.  A surge of panic went through her mind.

 

Oh my God!  What if this is one of  those stalkers Mom warns me about all the time?  What am I going to do?  She sat still for a couple of seconds.  She could feel droplets of sweat puddle up on her forehead and her palms got sweaty as butterflies flew around in her stomach.  The seconds continued to pass until she finally realized that whatever was among the bushes was not coming to get her anytime soon.  She decided to make the first move and investigate the issue for herself.  She quietly moved behind the bench into the forest of greenery.  There, to her surprise, was something she had never expected.

 

It was a boy that was laying down on his back.  His large hand was gently resting over his forehead, hiding his eyes.  His lips were still, and his chest rose every once in a while as he breathed. 

 

Ae-young couldn’t help but be controlled by her burning curiosity.  She lingered over the boy until she was kneeling down, directly by the side of his face.  Something about his pale skin and layered hair seemed familiar to her.  She felt like she had discovered a forbidden secret about someone, and yet, she still inched closer and closer. She dared to reach out and lightly touched the hand of the boy with her finger.

 

“What are you doing,” asked a deep voice.

 

Startled, she drew her own hand back only to see the boy remove the hand from his head.  His eyes came into a clearer view now.  Surprise took over her as Ae-young finally realized who this guy was-it was the guy who had saved her a couple of days ago!

 

“I-I was just looking for my hairpin.  It dropped somewhere here,” she managed to stutter out, bewildered by the presence of the very person she wanted to meet.  She pressed through the mounds of dirt around her and falsely searched through the surrounding bushes to find the imaginary missing hairpin.  “Haha, it must be somewhere else, I guess.”

 

The guy in front of her did not look amused.  His eyes were drooping with fatigue.  “Aish, and I was just having a good nap, too!  Is there any place in this damn college where I can get some sleep?” he complained in exasperation.

 

“Ah, I’m sorry to have disturbed you,” Ae-young apologized with regret of ever having stopped by this place at all.  Then a ping sounded in her mind, and she remembered the vest that she had neatly folded in her bag.  “Oh, I have something of yours…” she said as she rustled through her bag to retrieve the vest.  “It’s the vest you lent me a couple of days ago.  Kamsahamnida.  It was a big help.”  Ae-young sincerely bowed in gratitude. 

 

The guy reluctantly reached out for the vest as he tried to make it seem as if he forgot who the girl was.  “Ah, Ms. Elmo…How could I forget?” he teased.

 

Ae-young blushed.  The last thing that she wanted to be remembered by was “Ms. Elmo.”

 

She noticed that on the groud next to the guy was a marble composition book with some words scribbled on it.  As she squinted to distinguish what it said, she became shocked at her discovery.  The book said:

 

KIM JAEJOONG

 

“You’re…Kim Jaejoong?” she asked in astonishment.

 

He rustled through the layers of his silky hair.  “Yeah, I’m him.  What about it?”

 

Ae-young couldn’t believe her ears.  Here she was sitting right in front of the most popular guy in school.  “Uh, nothing…just heard a bit about you, that’s all.  Why are you here anyway?  Shouldn’t you be with your friends or something?  It’s daytime and you’re just sleeping here.”

 

Jaejoong was getting annoyed and he didn’t try to hide it.  “Shouldn’t you be doing this, shouldn’t you be doing that…I’m tired of hearing all of that in school.  Now I can’t even get any peace and quiet outside of school.”

 

“I’m sorry…I was just wondering if you were okay.  Usually, normal people don’t sit out here and go to sleep.”  Ae-young decided that playing innocent would be her best bet with this guy.  

 

Jaejoong sighed and shut his eyes for a moment before speaking.  “Well, I’m fine, okay?  So, Ms. Elmo, what have you been up to?" he grinned.

 

“Nothing much.  I just met a new friend today, that’s all.  I’m first year Lee Ae-young by the way.  What about you?” Ae-young inquired with no hesitation.

 

“Kim Jaejoong, second year…but I guess you already knew that by the look of the expression on your face,” he snickered. 

 

“I just thought it was interesting to meet you again after you helped me that day,” Ae-young tried to defend herself.  “I wanted to return your vest to you, but I had no idea what your name was…until today.  I had even tried searching in the school registry for all of the student accounts but they were all blocked.”

 

Jaejoong chuckled. 

 

Thank god he’s not feeling annoyed like before Ae-young thought with relief. 

 

“You went through all that trouble just to return this vest to me?  I didn’t even care about it that much.”

 

“Well, if I lost something of mine that was important, I’d really want it back.  Plus, it would be rude of me not to return something that someone else let me borrow,” Ae-young replied.

 

Jaejoong took another good look at the vest in his hands.  Then, he tossed the vest back over to Ae-young.  Ae-young's sluggish reflexes surprisingly worked this time, and her arms reached out to catch the vest.  She looked back at Jaejoong with a puzzled countenance.

 

Jaejoong sensed her confusion.  “You know what?  You can keep it.  I don’t even use it that much anymore, and it suits you when you’re not wearing an Elmo t-shirt with it,” Jaejoong said.

 

Ae-young was bewildered by this point.  “You want ME to keep YOUR shirt?”

 

Jaejoong nodded.

 

“Are you sure about this?”

 

Jaejoong smiled and nodded again, still saying nothing.

 

Ae-young’s face broke into a mile-wide smile.  “Ah, thank you, thank you so much!  I will truly cherish this vest.”

 

Jaejoong sprawled out on the green grass underneath him in an uncontrollable fit of laughter.  Ae-young furrowed her eyebrows in curiosity, wondering why it was that Jaejoong was laughing.

 

“Yah, why are you laughing so much?”

 

Jaejoong tried to catch his breath but he only ended up breaking into another fit of laughter.  He tried to cover his mouth and stifle the laughter, but he couldn’t.  This was the first time that he had ever laughed like that in front of anyone else. 

 

“Ah, I can’t believe how much you care about that old vest.  I wonder what would’ve happened if I had given you my boxers!” Jaejoong exclaimed as his eyes glistened in amusement.

 

Ae-young’s eyes narrowed in on Jaejoong.  She realized that he was just testing her, but honestly, she didn’t mind it one bit.  She was enjoying this time with Jaejoong. 

 

“Aish, I’m not that simple-minded,” she said as she decided to play along.  Suddenly, she heard the sound of an automobile’s engine and realized that it was her bus.  She turned to face Jaejoong.  “Aiya, I have to go!  My bus is here!” 

 

“Ok, bye,” Jaejoong nonchalantly responded.

 

“Um, what should I call you next time?” Ae-young asked.

 

“Who says there will be a next time?” Jaejoong slyly counteracted.

 

“I’ll call you Jaejoong oppa then.  See you!” Ae-young got up and rushed towards the bus as she hastily stuffed the vest back into her bag.  She was sure that she would see Jaejoong again, no matter what circumstances life would throw their way.

 

If destiny was able to bring us together once, it can definitely do it again.

 

♥♥♥

 

 

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