[CONTENTID1] Chapter Three [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]

My first meeting with Soojung was cliché as a cheap romance movie.

Believed me or not, I was much chubbier in my kindergarten years. I had zero point of attractiveness and I had a really hard time at making friend. The kids back then would shrug my offer to be friend with them. They would ignore my presence as if I was invisible or laughed mockingly at my appearance and shoved me out of their way.

People used to call me names and did lot of bad things to me. They would hide my P.E uniform, threw their foods on my face, putted glue on my chair and more. Never once I recalled that I did not cry on my way home at that dark time. I would always stayed a little bit late at the park near my house, waited for the tears to dry and then went home, pretended like I had the greatest day of my childhood life.

It was pathetic when I looked back on my childhood days. How kids being violent to each other when they were supposed to be as innocent as a freshly baked chocolate cake. They were supposed to embrace each other with warmth, pureness and peace. I did not even know what was wrong with them, why they treated me as if I was a trash, the thing that dirty and should not be touched. I was thinking that I would never be fit to adapt in that kind of environment, where everyone judged based on my appearance. I thought no one beside my parents would accept me for myself.

But then a girl came and proved me wrong.

It was raining that day when I sat on the bench at the usual park I hung out. I was crying because the kids hid my homework and the teacher got disappointed at me, thinking that I did not do it.

“What are you doing here, alone and crying?” Was her first question when she approached me with a big red umbrella. She shared it with me and sat beside me. I saw from the corner of my eyes that she was looking at me innocently and curiously.

“I’m not crying, it’s the rain,” I hiccupped, failing miserably at hiding my cry. “What are you doing here?”

She blinked those pair of big, cute almond shaped eyes and tilted her head to the side. “Me? Uh, just want to feel how cold the rain on my skin. It’s refreshing for me, do you agree?”

I glanced at her, did not know how I should react to her answer. Was it supposed to be an intended pun? I was clueless.

“Anyway, let’s get you home first.” She stood in front of me with a smile and reached out her unoccupied hand. “You’re going to have a fever if you stay out in the rain for too long. Come on.”

I watched her extended hand and hesitated. No one except my family had treated me this nice. But then I looked up and saw her smile. I bit my lower lips and took her hand. It surprisingly felt warm.

After that, she really took me home and bid her goodbye to me before left. I was thinking that it would be the last time I met her but God was thinking the opposite and I thanked Him for that.

I saw her a week after our first encounter. I was getting bullied by my classmate on my way home and she appeared like a hero in front of me, scolding the bad kids and threatened them to stay away from me.

“My, how can you just stay still when they do bad thing to you?” She asked while helping me to collect my fallen book. “You have to fight them back.”

I decided to thank her quietly instead of replying or even agreeing to her bold suggestion. Fight sure would be fun if there were an even number, but in my case they were not. So I would not take a risk of my parents finding out that their only child had been bullied for God-knew-how-long-it-was.

“Are you even listening to me?” She asked again when I started to walk and grabbed my arm. “You need to fight them back the next time they bully you, okay?”

“Okay, okay.” I said carelessly so she could drop the topic. I glanced briefly on her casual outfit, unlike me who was still using a school uniform. “Where are you going now?”

“I don’t really have a destination.” She mumbled before her eyes perked up. “Do you want an ice cream?”

That was so random, but with how bright and pretty she looked that time, I could not say no. She dragged me to her favorite ice cream parlor and we ordered a lot of ice cream with various flavors. We talked a little longer at that time and only when I sat on my bed that night, I realized that I did not cry on my way home today.

My days gradually getting better each day. I took her advice to fight back. Just like when Jonghyuk poured his milk on my table, I did the same to his desk. Then one time when Jonghyuk’s friend hit me for my deed toward his friend, I hit him back. Surely, I hated violence. But what could you possibly do in my position? Stayed still and let them hit you for something right you did?

The teacher then called us to her office and I told her the truth. Jonghyuk and his friends denied it at first but admitted it in the end, out of fear getting a punishment. The teacher then told us to apologize to each other. That was the first time they seemed so sincere and I did not see why I could not forgive them. We were only a kid, after all. We fought, then we made up and play again like nothing happened.

The teacher then informed my parents of the event and they decided to move me to a new school for a fresh start. I knew that they were silently afraid that I was being bullied again in my old school so they made sure they could give me a real friend.

That was when I met Sehun.

Our parents were friends back then in college and they made sure Sehun treated me well, which he did. He did not talk much and we did not share the slightest interest either. He loved book as much as I loved cake but that was fine with me, he was a really good friend.

I never saw the girl again after that, but it was okay since I had Sehun by my side to keep me company. For the first time in my life, I had a real friend by my side and it was enough.

—

“What are you doing here?”

I looked up at the present Soojung, still as beautiful as ever with her brown hair and pair of enchanting cat eyes. She putted up her hair in a messy bun and I noticed that her casual hang out style was effortlessly flawless.

“Chanyeol insisted to come,” Sehun answered for me with an apologetic, polite smile. “I hope it’s okay with you, Soojung.”

I saw her shrugged. “I don’t mind about it. Actually I want to give something to you, Chan.” She took out a square object from her sling bag and I recognized it instantly as the The Internet’s Ego Death album I lend to her last month. “Thanks and sorry that I just returned it today. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even remember when exactly I borrowed this, I found it inside my drawer this afternoon.”

I accepted the CD and chuckled. That was so typical of Soojung. I knew she was careless and bit of clumsy at times. “I don’t even mind if you keep this forever. Anything mine is also yours, you know?”

She stared at me with wide eyes and mouth agape. “God, Chanyeol, I swear you can’t keep your pick-up line when you see me, huh?”

I grinned. “Speak for yourself, honey. Why you have to be so hot?” Hot was not the right vocabulary to describe how gorgeous she was, but I guessed it was not that bad. Girls loved it when we boosted their ego too. “My favorite song from the album is Girl, by the way. I told you before but there is nothing wrong to remind you again. The lyrics perfectly describe my inner feeling for you.”

She scoffed but I saw the corner of her eyes crinkled up. “Shut up. I’m here for my tutoring session with Sehun, not an open-flirting lesson from you, Chanyeol.”

I held my hands up as a sign of my defeat. “Okay, okay. I’m not going to disturb you two.”

“Here, answer these three questions before we move into another problem, Soojung.” Sehun who was quiet the whole time finally spoke and handed a paper to Soojung. My eyes squinted to see what it was, only to figure it out as Math.

She made a disgruntled noise from and took the paper halfheartedly. “Can you explain how to solve these again? I’m kind of forgot…”

“I can help you understand better.” I offered to her with lopsided smile but she gave me a glare. “Well, it’s fine with me if you only want Sehun to teach you. I’m don’t have a sharing issue as long as you’re going to be mine in the end.”

She rolled her eyes and looked at Sehun. “This is why it’s such a bad idea to bring him along. Chanyeol can’t keep his mouth shut from all the cheesy remark.” She then turned to me and narrowed her eyes. “Listen, I really need to get this done by tonight, Chan. Do me a favor and please understand my circumstance, okay?”

I tapped my chin, feigned ignorant attitude. “I don’t do favor for free, baby. There is going to be a price for every favor I do.”

“I’m not going to have a date with you, if that’s what you asking for.”

“I didn’t say anything about a date, do I?” I smiled slyly. “How about something as simple as driving you home?”

“Fine.” She agreed quickly and it honestly surprised me. Soojung usually brushed me off in the past. “But you need to close your mouth. Don’t disturb us.”

I nodded with a boyish grin. “Fair enough.”

I could see from the corner of my eyes that Sehun inwardly laughing at my poor attempt to get Soojung inside my car and he had done a great job in hiding his astonishment.

Sehun was in the middle of explaining a formula when I could not stop staring at Soojung’s serious expression. This was the first time I saw Soojung being so concentrated on something other than fashion magazine that she usually read. And to think that the two would have more tutoring session in the future scared me a little. Not to mention, about Soojung’s crush on my best friend two years ago. I wondered if she still had any feeling left for him. Crush could last longer than most people thought it would be and I was not in the wrong position to feel insecure. It alarmed me than I had to make a pretty decent move on her sooner or regretted it later.

“Ah, I got it now. Thank you.”

“Yeah, you do it correctly. Now let’s move to the other question.”

I saw them and yawned quietly. I was sacrificing my afternoon nap to join their tutoring session and now I felt nothing but sleepiness. I took out my phone and lowering the volume before I opened a game to kill the time. Beside sleeping and flirting with Soojung, playing games had been one of my favorite things to do. I opened my League of Legends and saw Baekhyun was online. Perfect.

“We’re finally done with the paper.” Sehun’s voice broke my focus from the game and my eyes lit up. “Good, is it the time to go home now?”

Soojung gave me a funny look. “I need to study for my test tomorrow before we’re going home, Chan. Go on and continue with your game.”

I gasped dramatically. “You never study for a test before, Sooj.”

“People change.” She pointed sarcastically and I could practically see black smoke came out from her body. “The teachers were thinking of not letting me enter any college with my current grades. I swear they shall have done it earlier than give me a dumb last minute warning on my senior year. It’s almost too late to catch up with everything, you know?”

“You poor little thing,” I cooed and she threw h