Chapter One
song: 恋を知らない君へ 

 

Flower petals fluttered down from the trees, carrying themselves against the gentle wind. Glittering in the sun light, the soft flourish of flushed pink petals danced in the sky above the heads of a boy and a girl.

The girl had ebony hair that reached her waist, and a pair of quiet, hazel eyes. Petite in frame, she bit her lips slightly as she slowly stretched out her arms, a white envelope held nervously in her hands. Her head was lowered as she stood before the boy, long delicate strands of hair falling over her face.

“I…” Her voice was soft, so soft, it was immediately carried away by the fluttering petals above their heads. “I like you.”

The flowers continued to dance in the air, fluttering against her gentle confession. The girl kept her head bowed, the envelope still held in her trembling hands.

The boy tilted his head slightly. Slowly, he leaned in towards the girl, and with one finger lifted her chin, studying her face. Startled at the sudden contact, the girl wanted to shy away, but he kept his finger firmly on her chin, ignoring her look of surprised embarrassment as she darted her eyes away from his.

He did not look for long. With a slight smirk lingering on his lips, he released the girl, and stepped back from her. He could see that she had held her breath; her chest was rising and her cheeks were flushed. With her head declined and her body bent slightly, she seemed to be disappearing into the warm afternoon sun.

She seemed fragile, and weak. Her whole being shrank under his scrutinising gaze, her head still drawn to herself.

She was almost invisible.

And it made his stomach churn in disgust.

“Do you know who I am?” Perhaps he did not intend for his voice to come out this harsh, but the girl in front of him was everything he despised; she was feeble, and hesitant. If she had no confidence in herself, what gave her the right to confess to him?

The girl jolted when he spoke. Ever so slightly, she lifted her eyes and peeked at him, confusion clear on her face as she wondered over his question.

Does she know who he was?

Of course she does, why else would she confess?

She did not reply, and so he spoke instead.

“I am Byun Baekhyun,” he did not hide the pride in his voice. “I will be a star in the future – I am designated for something great.”

The girl bowed her head even further. Of course, she understood this very well. Everyone in town understood this very well, that Byun Baekhyun would go on to become something great.

“Well then, how about you?”

His question caught her off-guard, and she lifted her head.

How about her?

What…about her?

Baekhyun did not need a reply from the girl. Just from the mild confliction on her expression it was evident what her answer would be. This girl, she-

Baekhyun pressed his lips together in contempt.

Just how sad of a life does she lead, that she would turn out to be such a failure of a human being? Never mind dreams and greatness, does she even have the potential?

A shake of his head, and he was already turning his back on her.

“I’m sorry,” yet there was no hint of apology in his voice. “But I need a person who can just be as equally great as me. I can’t, and I won’t accept a girl who doesn’t even have the potential to be great one day – heck, do you even know who you are?”

The girl froze in her spot, the rejected envelope still held tightly in her hands. As he walked away from her, her eyes flickered to the ground, gentle eyebrows slowly furrowing together.

Under the fluttering petals that gleamed alongside the glowing sunlight, she dropped her head. A trembling sigh that was barely noticeable escaped her lips, as she tried hard to hold back the tears that was threatening to spill.

Byun Baekhyun, as he had proclaimed, would be great one day.

Go Haneul, on the other hand, would not.

By the time Haneul had finally made her way back to the house, the sky was already a tinge of sombre blue. With one hand placed on the knob, Haneul heaved a shaky sigh as she glanced up at the shadowed sky – it was peaceful as always, yet it omitted a sense of melancholy that reflected the dull ache in her heart.

Haneul knew she wasn’t a magnificent person, and she understood that she would never achieve something great. But when this fact was so brutally thrown in her face, it only shattered her already non-existent confidence, and furthermore, by the boy she was confessing to.

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun’s words echoed in her mind, and toyed at her heart. “But I need a person who can just be as equally great as me. I can’t, and I won’t accept a girl who doesn’t have the potential to be great one day – heck, do you even know who you are?”

Does she even know who she was?

Well, she was Go Haneul.

Haneul, meaning sky.

The sky; it was so grand, and wonderful, so powerful and free. She has such a great name, it is only logical that she too, should be proud, confident and determined.

But, in the end, she was none of these. Raised in Jinsari, a small rural town, she did not live the life her name suggested. Fifteen years of age, she was merely a boring junior high school student. Perhaps other girls her age would had lived a more fulfilling life than hers. They had many friends; they would go shopping, read magazines and gossip about boys together. However, Haneul had always been alone, and unnoticed.

At school, she always sat by herself in the corner seat of the class. When lunch time came, she would eat by herself; when exams were due, she would study by herself in the library. Life in Jinsari was already boring enough; yet Haneul seemed to live a life even more dreary than the town itself.

Baekhyun, on the other hand, lived a life that exceeded the mundane place.

He was the superstar of the town. Tall, handsome and rich; every part of him seemed to be glowing no matter what he does, where he goes, what he wears. He too, like Haneul, grew up in such a small place, yet somehow, he had a heart that reached outside the tranquil comfort of the town. Perhaps it was because he always received praises; or perhaps he was simply born a genius, but ever since Haneul could remember, he had always been on top of everything and everyone.

Not that she was ever close with him. How could she possibly be, when they were so different?

Knitting her eyebrows together, Haneul could feel her heart throbbing a little in her chest as her mind wandered off to the day she first noticed Bakehyun. There was a stage, and lights, and a pure, angelic voice that sung out to the stunned audience.

It was Byun Baekhyun, dressed in a white suit, his eyes shut closed and his whole body seemingly radiating as he sung on the stage of the school festival. And as he sung, he sung into her heart.

Maybe it was because of his charisma, maybe it was because of his stunning voice, or maybe it was even because he was everything she ever wanted to be – but ever since then, he did not leave her mind. Gradually, his existence overtook what once was only a beautiful voice that stunned her heart.

And one day, Haneul realised that she had fallen in love with him.

Haneul could still remember it clearly, that one and only time she had any type of interaction with him. It was a school morning, and she was rushing to class. With her head bowed down as always as she ran, she found herself crashing into a pair of strong arms. Startled, she had lifted her head to apologize, only to find herself staring into Baekhyun’s face.

A soft, bitter smile hinted on Haneul’s lips at the memory. She could still remember the rapid beating of her heart back then– even now, as she thought back to that day, she still couldn’t stop the light drumming in her chest.

Though Baekhyun didn’t even give her so much of a second glance, but for that whole day, Haneul could not concentrate in class. She had wondered to herself as she sat there in her seat, watching Baekhyun’s back from afar, if he knew that her heart was beating because of him?

In fact, does Baekhyun even notice her existence even though they had been in the same class for years? Would he even notice her, when they were so much apart?

Perhaps not.

Probably not.

It was merely an unnoticed one-sided love, one that should be kept hidden for the rest of her