01  THE FIRST CHAPTER  |  FIRST ENCOUNTER

“RING RING RING RING RING RING.”

It was the dreaded deafening howl of morning, relentlessly ringing to wake me. Sluggishly I blindly felt for my phone  in the darkness and silenced the awful sound. The watch blinked at me twice notifying that it was 6 o’clock. The sun was barely alive, let alone my poor wretched body. Longing for a moments more of rest, my fingers found themselves hidden underneath the coolness of the underside, as I restlessly turned. As my mind slowly drifted towards the sweet temptation of additional sleep, I sunk deeper into the pillowy comfort of my bed. At the very brink of peace, my body jolted in alarming rejection bringing me to complete attention. I was awake, wide awake. Begrudgingly I pulled my sullen self away from my bed to meet my mirrored reflection in the bathroom. The image that stared back at me wasn’t at all pleasant, it was clearly evident that I had been robbed of sleep, and of other essential necessities. Nothing appeared right, the lids of my eyes drooped, as my shoulders sagged and my body slouched. I was worn, and the school year had barely commenced. I sighed deeply, as I started to peel last night’s clothing away from my skin, with each piece I removed I became more reluctant to enter the shower.  In a dazed state I watched as the water initially trickled, and then proceeded to run calmly with no intended desire to test the temperature. However, my hesitation only wavered for a few moments as I embraced the warmth to avoid the cool air that lingered against my bare skin. Upon entering my fingers instantly found the fogged glass door, and proceeded to trace random illustrations, as I waited for the heat to run its course. Gradually I lathered myself in my favourite aloe vera soap, as I tried to rid myself of the tired grime that clung to me desperately. Nonetheless, it was to no avail, even though the surface of my skin tingled cooly, and my hair sung freely unmanned by oil, I was still wrecked. If the shower had failed to help, there was no longer any point in trying to salvage the mess that I was, it just wasn’t meant to be a good day. Sometimes on hopeless days likes this, I’d wear my contacts to uplift my my spirits, but today wasn’t one of those days. I had decided that I’d give up, I would just don my usual black frames and be done with it. 

My day had started miserably much like most of my other schooling days. I was absentmindedly standing at the school’s gate waiting for Chaeyoung’s bus to arrive. I stood there in my rigid uniform, fidgeting with a small button that was trying to escape its place dismally. Bored, I watched as others came and passed but with Chaeyoung nowhere in sight. Her bus was obviously running late again, as per usual. I don’t even understand how it’s possible for her bus to be late every day, when she only lives thirty minutes away. Its ridiculous if you ask me, and as of today according to my watch, her tardiness had propelled itself to a new level. Just as I was about to give up, her bus came to a screeching halt before me. And there she was, my best friend pressed against the glass window making faces at me, goofy Son Chaeyoung. I have known Chaeyoung for almost all of my life, we became best friends at the age of five and have never separated since. For every hardship that I have endured, she’s been by my side and as I for hers. I’d like to believe that I knew her better than anyone else, including herself. I knew the common things like her favourite colours are black and purple, and that she loves Justin Bieber and avoids beans at all costs. I also knew the finer traits, like how she always carried a notepad with her to draw, or the way she creased her brows when she’s bothered. If I were ever asked to describe our friendship, it wouldn’t be as two peas in a pod as we’re stark opposites, but more so peanut butter and jelly as we compliment each other. Meeting her, and becoming her friend had indeed in a way made me a better person. 

In the moments that I dallied in my thoughts and slowly shuffled my feet to move, Chaeyoung had already walked forth in my direction. However today she was accompanied by someone new. Someone that I hadn’t ever met before, which was a rare occurrence considering I was well acquainted with our peers. 

“Hey, meet Nayeon!” Chaeyoung introduced excitedly. 

Based on first impressions, she was relatively cute but definitely not in a naive sense. Her hair was jet black and sat nicely just below her shoulders. If I hadn’t known better I would’ve assumed she was the innocent sort, but she was far from it. Her lips were drawn with a subtle red, and her eyes emphasised with a dark liner. Not to mention that her uniform had also been altered to accentuate her curves. But despite it all, there was something about this new girl, that just didn’t sit right with me. She just seemed too nice, if that’s even possible. The way she smiled at Chaeyoung when they spoke bothered me, but more so I hated the way she looked at me so lovingly. It was creepy, her round eyes that seemed to capture the light and glimmer were staring at me. She was beaming at me, as if had given her the greatest gift, when all I did was simply