As Soojung grows up, she learns that not everything will go the way she wanted it to be.

She can’t get all the sweets that she likes, just because her mom says that it’s not good for her teeth. Her sister simply says it will make her fatter. She hates them because they were right.

She can’t get the shoes that she always admire at from the display window, just because her piggy banks can’t pay for it. After the shoes gone missing from its place that Soojung cries a little bit inside and thought that she should have begging her dad to buy it for her.

She can’t get the good mark for Math no matter how hard she studies the night before, just because all the integral and trigonometry evaporates at the morning of the exam. Jinri always pats her in the back, saying that it’s okay and she have worked hard.

She can’t get the boy she likes to like her back, just because it happens to be someone who is as dense as a rock. Someone who happens to be called “childhood friends” since they were five.

“Soojung-ah!”

Oh, there he is.

Soojung doesn’t need to turn her head around to see Jongin approaching her, which she ignores as she hops onto the bus. She lets the machine lets out a ‘beep’ sound at her student ID and proceed to find empty seat for two people. She settles with the one on the back beside the window.

Jongin enters into her point of view few seconds after that, and it takes another seconds for him to finally take the seat beside her. The big smile on his handsome face somehow starts to get on her nerve today.

“I thought you went home already. It’s late,” he says.

“I had something to do on the library.” Well, Jongin doesn’t have to know that she actually wait for him to finish his club training.

“But the library closed at five? It’s already past six.”

Soojung should have learned to lie better.

“You should have come to the gym. You can wait for me there then we can go home together.”

“It’s boring, just watching bunch of boys desperately trying to save the ball from falling into their territory.” Soojung lies, again. She actually likes to watch volleyball after she watched Jongin played on middle school, but once again, Jongin doesn’t need to know that. “Beside I can’t stand all the screaming from your fangirls.”

Jongin laughs at that. “I’m sorry that I’m an ace and earns myself some fangirls because of that.”

Soojung puffs out her cheeks pretending to be annoyed but decided not to take the bait from Jongin and swallows back all her complain.

Of course Jongin can’t help it. He can’t help a lot of things, like the way he can’t help it that he has fangirls and Soojung doesn’t stand any chance with all those girls pushing their way into Jongin’s life.

As Soojung looks up into the the dark, clear sky with few of stars finding their way to shine brighter than the city lights that she realizes something.

Jongin is like a star.

He’s shining brightly.

Eventhough he is this close, he’s actually far, far away from Soojung’s reach.

“Why stars need to be that far?” her voice sounds small. Merely a whisper, but it’s enough for Jongin to hear her. He doesn’t say anything for a while, until they’re only five minutes way from their stop.

“Don’t you think it happens both way?”

Soojung glances at Jongin questioningly.

“When we thought that stars are far away and further than what we can reach, it’s actually happen to them too,” Jongin takes Soojung’s hand and holds it tightly between his fingers and warm palm, “The lights from our city, from the bus that we ride right now, is also far away from them. We’re the stars for them.”

Soojung loses her voice almost immediately as she looks at their intertwined hands and how Jongin looks at her like she holds thousand stars on her eyes.

He knows.

Soojung really should have learned to lie better.