for instance, when i—ehem—accidentally told her of my first ‘warning card’ on my first day of school in a foreign country, she kinda flipped out. come on; was it wrong of me to find it so stupid that it was funny how some prick of a teacher couldn’t even wait to get my in trouble? no one could resist this bootie, i tell ya.

no one.

anyway, back to the story, my first day of school didn’t start out too well, and with the lack of language on my side, it got only worse. for one, people barely understood me, so i resorted to poking my nose into the dictionary app on my phone, which happened to be the ground reason for the confiscation of my phone.

the instant i barged into the classroom, i planted on the most convincing, friendliest smile on my face and headed straight for the front row of desks, determining to at least fish a friend at this new, yet strange country. since it was the start of a new semester, everyone was too busy greeting their friends after the long summer holiday, which ultimately left me feeling like a sitting duck in this unfamiliar setting.

realizing the possibility of me being called out (being a new face and all), i was already shaking like crazy when the teacher walked in. i prayed like an idiot that if i could sink far enough into my seat and hunch my shoulders close enough, the teacher wouldn’t noticed me.

the male teacher said something in his quick native tongue, causing me to bang my forehead on the desk in agony for not understanding a word of it.

the thing was, despite my inner conflict, my smile amazingly hadn’t faded, so it was no wonder that a couple of guys shot me strange looks.

i ultimately poked the arm of a guy at the neighbouring table besides mine, waiting patiently with the steel-like smile as he promptly turned away from his animated-talking friend. he almost did a double take when he saw my more-than-slasher-smile before recovering himself fast and looking at me weird.

the first thing i noticed was his eyes. they were a pair of pitless abysses that drilled into my brain, his dishevelled ink-black hair strands somehow minimized the effect. they weren’t exactly cold, but they stared with a kind of soullessness that could make people hesitant to cross his path.

i tried to keep the smile, although he wasn’t showing any initiative to return it.

me: hi, uh—i’m really new with the language, so can you tell me what he said?

if he heard me, he wasn’t showing it. in fact, the second i mentioned that i wasn’t a local, his icy gaze seemed to raise to a whole new level of coldness. i started to shrivel up under his stare when his friend interrupted.

“mr. yoo is just asking us to line up in a queue according to our birthday months.” i was almost thrown off my seat by the middle-aged’s voice that came from the youthful yet handsome face. unlike his impassive friend, the other boy was blond, though, his dark hair roots told me a different story. another note of difference between the two boys was that the boy was rather more expressive than the ravenette. In spite of their equally rather intimidating aura, the wannabe-blondie’s eyes were melting pools of curious caramel.

“don’t worry about it,” i assured them. “i’m sure i’m the youngest.”

see what my mom meant about me being too honest? i was already mentally spitting at myself for that stupid slip-up. not only that, but i just couldn’t keep my rambling mouth shut.

“how old are you?” the one who was asking was the ravenette, his gaze scrutinizing. I knew instantly that he wasn’t one to tolerate a lie.

the lining of my collar became moist from sweat. i knew first hand that it was bad idea to tell them anything but some part of me—my brainless part felt inclined to spill the guts.

damn wasn’t i desperate…

i forced an amiable smile, successfully in gaining another round of weird looks from the boys. why did i even bother listening to my dad’s advice by putting on a smile 24/7? does being friendly require a complete arrangement of my face? my cheeks were killing me!

i ended up doing the most yellow thing ever.

…

i should really consider taping my mouth.

»i was torn between drowning myself in my own spit or going against the world with the bombardment of pillows i reserved, especially for this occasion. those were the two things in my head as i looked incredulously at the wannabe-blondie two tables away from mine.

you could practically see ‘the hell?’ expression etched perfectly on my face.

at that time, we were in the middle of an english lecture when the teacher threw out a question.

it wasn’t like i was lying. i just chose the moment to stay quiet, hunched over my table with a pair of sealed lips. i would’ve succeeded, mind you if someone—some inconceivable village idiot spoke up.

“rin is 16.”

for an idiotic second, i held on to the thin string of miracle that somehow, no one would recognize the name. that no one could know the face behind those three letters. that no one would associate it with the little foreign student, who had been sitting obediently since the start of the school term.

turned out my luck was rotten because everyone turned to look at me.

well, that did it.

later that day, i took the initiative to confront the blonde idiot, who was responsible for the mess i was in. now that people knew there was someone practically younger than them in the class, they didn’t hesitant to shower me with ‘love’.

notice the sarcasm, there?

i was standing outside the science laboratory, biding my time to ambush the said boy. i could see him getting up from his seat, a rather large Tupperware in his hand. good, i could use that to hit his head.

…

who was i kidding? i was too much of a candy-assed to do that. and besides, what kind of maniac use a plastic container to murder someone?

me: hey

i felt bad for him—i really did. a tough luck, really—that he caught the eyes of someone like me. he looked a bit surprised that i talked. that was probably because i hadn’t really uttered a word since that day. the only form of conversation i had with everyone was the grin on my face.

blondie: hey

what’s your name?

blondie: kim taehyung

kim taehyung. thanks, dude. thanks a lot for telling the whole class about my age.

what he answered with made me wish that i hadn’t said that. taehyung seemed to considered it before sparing me half a glance. i didn't get to see his whole profile, but it was a clear as a whistle that he was amused.

“my pleasure, cupcake.”

with that, my grin faltered.

Hey, people! Some of you may notice that I’m writing differently than usual and I must say that I’m having fun with this!

I’ve met different, interesting people throughout my entire life. Despite them being a pain I still cherish every interaction with them so I’m writing this for all those that are BTS to my life.