“I have another surprise for you,” Jaebum said, smiling his wide, mischievous smile he alwas had whenever Gohee lost a bet with him and he was about to announce his request.

“Oh, no,” Gohee half-sighed, half-laughed, which made Jaebum’s smile widened. Oh, that innocent smile again. How can she ever be seriously mad at him when he can pull that look anytime, anywhere?

“Guys!” Jaebum whistled.

Chansung, Junho, Taecyeon and Munhwa popped up from the bushes, blowing on whistles and pulling on party popper and what not, totally turning the mellow, romantic air upside down.

“SURPRISE!” They all shoutedin unison, over and over again. Munhwa had a big box in her hands; in it was a large birthday cake they bought together that Wooyong had been eyeing at since the evening. He kept whining how the sight of the box made him extremely crave for something sweet but right now, the guy who usually would be the first one to glomp on the cake was nowhere to be found. 




He ran hard, not wanting to miss her, but it wasn’t hard to catch up. She was walking straight towards the main entrance without ever looking back again even though she knew that someone was running after her.

“Minsun!” Wooyoung shouted. But she wasn’t looking back. In fact, she quickened her steps.


“But Gohee, you said she likes someone from the basketball team. That’s why she came to every game, isn’t that right, Minsun?”


“Minsun!” Wooyoung ran faster, “Yah, Seo Minsun!”


“No, I don’t have such feelings towards him.”


He finally caught up to her and touched her shoulder as he bent to fill some air into his lungs back. Minsun finally paused and slightly turned to look at him.

“Then, do you probably have a crush on someone who’s taken?”

“Why are you following me?” Minsun asked calmly, just like how she usually would.

“It ‘s him, isnt it?”

Park Jaebum.

The guy that was taken, the guy from the basketball team, the guy that Seo Minsun liked.

It was Park Jaebum.

“If I say yes, can you keep it a secret?”




They both strolled pass the brightly lit rows of shops since it was still early, and most of the shops were still open.

“So you’ve known Jaebum hyung ever since Gohee nuna and him go out?” Wooyong asked in a low tone as they both slowly walked past the busy street. It was slightly chilly, but nothing they couldn’t stand since summer was near.

“Yes. Because I spent a lot of time with unni, I saw Jaebum sunbae a lot too. But he didn’t know much about me though. I usually kept my distance whenever he was around.”

“Do you really like him? A lot?”

Minsun stared at the ground, but she was smiling, gently. She nodded once.

“I can see it. His heart.”

She paused, reminiscing the moments when she started to slowly fell into Jaebum’s charm. It was how he looked at Gohee. How he smiled at Gohee, or how he quietly entertwined their fingers together and stayed that way for hours.

“He was always with Gohee unni. Even when people said they don’t match, that Gohee unni was too smart and too pretty for him. I knew he would never let go of her. That’s what I like about him best. His faith and his loyalty. I guess that’s just natural because I am always lonely.”

“You’re always lonely? Why?”

“Because my parents were always away for their business. It wasn’t just days or weeks, but years until we meet in a short period that even felt rushed as if I was a waste of their time before we parted again, until one day they decided to stay at America to focus on their business, and simply pass me to halmeoni. I used to feel that I’m a burden to halmeoni, and unsignificant to my parents. But Jaebum sunbae, I knew he’s not the person who would ever do that to the person he loves.”

Wooyoung gulped. He thought it was just a fangirl’s crush. But what was he thinking? This was Minsun. She wasn’t one who would dwell in crushes or even think about dating. She liked Jaebum. She probably was in love with him. She longed for him, so much to the point she could hate herself knowing that Jaebum belonged to Gohee. 

“I thought I would never feel this way again but… I guess I haven’t moved on. It’s so embarrassing… I should control my emotions better. I feel sorry for Gohee unni, for having a friend like me,” her voice trailed off at the end of the sentence. Her thin, dried, slightly pale lips curved down. Minsun looked weak and unconfident and even painful, which was new to Wooyoung. She was always independent and collected. She always gave off the vibe of someone who would be fine alone and that she doesn’t need anybody, but he guessed she was just like everybody else. What made her different was she was being tough on herself.

“Hey,” Wooyoung said.

“What is it?”

“Let’s have some ice cream, my treat.”

“What?”

Wooyoung looked at the ice cream shop a few doors down from the shop they were standing by.

“Let’s go!” Wooyoung casually took Minsun’s fingers into his and squeezed them tight. He pulled her along as he started to jog towards the ice cream shop.




The two left the ice cream shop with an ice cream cone in their hands, Wooyoung in both. Minsun was watching Wooyoung, feeling so amused at how he constantly took a from each cone continuosly while focusing at the street ahead him. She didn’t even realise that her ice cream melted and started to drip down to her elbow.

“Your ice cream is melting!” Wooyoung looked alerted. Minsun looked at her elbow and reached for a tissue from her pocket.

“Quick! Quick! your ice cream!” Wooyoung jumped up and down, looking frantic to discover that Minsun hadn’t been paying attention to her ice cream.

“Okay, okay,” Minsun quickly on the melted surface of her ice cream while wiping her elbow.

“You should appreciate ice cream more.” Woyoung scolded. “Don’t you realize how good they can make you feel?”

Minsun chuckled at his ridiculous statement, and at the feling of being nagged. If there was anything that made her feel better at the moment, it was him. How he tried to cheer her up with ice cream, and how he quietly listened to her story of one-sided love. She secretly starting to treasure this fragile bond she recently shared with Wooyoung. He was childish, immature, but sort of innocent. The kind of people who keeps walking forward not caring whatever chasing them from behind. Minsun got a little motivated. The feelings she harbored for Jaebum was stronger than she thought, but she just had to keep moving forward. She should just keep trying to wipe away those feelings.

“Thanks, Wooyoung,” Minsun replied. Wooyoung was taken aback for a moment. Did she thanked him for the ice cream? Or did she thanked him realising that he was actually trying to cheer her up? He kind of felt awkward and didn’t know how to reply, so he tried to look for something to distract her.

“Hey, look at that!”Wooyoung ran to a small jewelry stand by the street. Minsun followed him from behind. There were all sorts of accessories, bangles, bracelets, necklace, hair clips, name it. Even Wooyoung was amazed at the variety and fancy designs of those handmade accessories.

“Minsun, pick something,”

“I don’t wear these things,”

“I know. You always put your hair in a boring bun, that’s why I told you to pick something. I’ll buy for you. Quick,” he bossily said and quickly continued eating his ice cream.

Minsun slightly leaned forwwrd, inspecting each and every items on the display. There were lots of beads and ribbons and laces, so colourful and pretty, but she wondered if they would look awkward on her since she was always so plain and dull.

“Which one suits me best?” Minsun turned to Wooyoung. He seemed unsure either. 

“Can’t you just pick anything?”

Minsun shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not sure,” 

“Take this,” he handed both his ice cream cones to Minsun and then wiped his palm at each sides of his pants. Wooyoung pointed out his index fingers towards the displays, and then closed his eyes. He hummed a random melody which Minsun never heard before and moved his finger in a circular motion and then suddenly stopped in sync with his humming.

“How about this?!” Wooyoung slowly opened his eyes and looked at the accessory he pointed at. It was a hairclip. A very simply designed hairclip with creamy white ribbon on it. He picked it up and smiled, feeling somehow satisfied at his choice. Compared to the rest of the clips there, the hairclip that Wooyoung had chosen looked rather plain and dull, just like Minsun, but it certainly had its own charm. Amidst the colourful and shiny accessories, the clip stood out.

“Hey, I think this suits you,” he held the clip on Minsun’s head, imagining the clip on her. Then he nodded to himself. 

“Let me see,”

Wooyoung put the hairclip closer to her face so that she could see it better since her hands were full with ice cream cones.

“What do you think?” He grinned.

“I like it,”

“Great!” Woyoung reached his wallet from his pocket to proceed for the payment. Minsun watched his every move, and a thought suddenly entered her mind. She smiled.

“Why don’t you pick one more?”

“Hey, hey. Be grateful that I’m buying this for you!”

“Not for me, but for the girl you like,”

“W-” Wooyoung was taken aback. “What are you talking about? I swear this girl has gone whack from too much studying, ” Wooyoung shook his head while muttering to himself even though he was directly looking at Minsun and Minsun could obviously heard him.

Minsun returned him smug smile. “Whatever you say. If you keep waiting that girl might be taken by someone else, but don’t regret when that time comes.”

Wooyoung faked a laugh. It didn’t look convincing though. Minsun could imagine a big cartoon sweat dripping down on his head. And he said she was bad at acting.

“Ey, crazy woman,” Wooyoung took back his ice cream from Minsun’s hands.

Minsun shrugged. “I guess Munhwa wouldn’t care even if you cry buckets when that time comes,”

“Mun-! Yah, would you drop it?!”

“I just discovered that teasing you is fun,”

“Hey, nobody teases Wooyoung, okay? Only Wooyong teases people!”

“Oh yeah? We’ll see about that,”

Somehow Wooyoung found her tone eerie. The hair on the back of his neck stood up when she said what a fun, teasing sentence should be in an emotionless, yet threatening intonation. On top of that, she finished with a half-hearted smile as if she was half-awake or something.

“You’re scary,” Wooyoung mumbled. Minsun heard him, but her light smile still dangling on her lips.




Miryung High School
8.00 a.m.

Munhwa was standing by Wooyoung’s desk, they both chatting happily. Unlike how he was the past couple of weeks, his slumped shoulders straight and his tensed posture now relaxed. His infamous mischievous smile permanently plastered on his lips. From time to time Munhwa would frown and whined when he started teasing her again but then she quickly returned to being her cheerful self again. The rest of the students too seemed to be content as they chat away the time waiting for the teacher to come.

Suddenly, all the noises died simultaneously, and automatically all eyes were directed at the entrance. There stood Minsun, but not with her hair tied back in a loose bun or done neatly in a high ponytail; instead she let her elbow length straight hair fell free, and a pretty, yet humble white ribbon clipped on one side of her head so that her hair won’t get blown into her face. Wooyoung’s eyes quickly set on the white ribbon clip on her hair, which he bought last night.

All the guys’, including Wooyoung, had their jaws slowly touched the ground, while the girls’ had their voice stuck in their throat. Minsun looked ridiculously pretty with just a simple change. The stare did made Minsun felt uncomfortable but she didn’t show it. Just like any other day, she just made herself invisible and made her way to her desk quietly. Before she settled on her seat, Munhwa broke the silence.

“Minsun-ah!” She shouted with a wide smile on her lips. Minsun quickly looked at Munhwa’s direction, and slowly made her way to Wooyoung’s desk at the most front, by the window.

“What is it?” 

By the time she stood there, other students continued whatever they were doing before Minsun’s arrival just now, occasionally staring at her and her new look. The girls started to whisper to each other, doubting their past gossips saying Taecyeon chose the wrong girl, thinking that Taecyeon probably saw her beauty past her cold exterior earlier.

“I have good news!” Munhwa looked at Wooyoung before she procceeded, “Wooyoung passed all his reseat exams!”

Minsun’s eyes slightly widened in surprise. She looked at Wooyoung who was smiling smugly right now.

“And he scored A on one subject!”

Slowly, Minsun’s ice cold expression melted into a warm smile. She let out a small chuckle as eventually Munhwa started to giggle. The girls held each others’ hand like excited little girls.

“Wooyoung ah, you did it.” Minsun said gently, still smiling sincerely, amidst looking a little shy doing so. Again, she attracted the attention of the class especially the boys, including Wooyoung. They were mesmerised at her beautiful smile which, aside from the basketball team, probably nobody had ever seen before. Minsun noticed the awkward silence and people’s constant gaze at her. Usually, they barely paid any attention whether she was there in the class or not but today everybody acted a little weird around her. When Minsun’s face turned cold again and she turned to look around, they quickly closed up their opened mouths by clapping their hands and congratulated Wooyoung instead. Soon, the whole class applaused and congratulated Wooyoung, which made the guy reacted a little snobby. However, whenever he glanced back at Minsun, Wooyoung couldn’t help but thought that how her smile seemed honest, unlike how he had seen before.

“It’s all thanks to you, Minsun!” Munhwa held Minsun’s hand, beaming cheerfully at her. Minsun returned Munhwa’s smile with hers; and another sincere one at that.

Of course Munhwa realized the reaction from the boys, and she too was mesmerised at how beautiful Minsun was with that clip on her, and she smiling like that. She thought Minsun really fit him, Taecyeon sunbae, even though he wouldn’t admit it. Of course Taecyeon sunbae couldn’t see a girl like her when he had Minsun by his side. And she was sure he would be very happy to see that clip he bought for her on her hair.

Maybe it’s time to move on? Munhwa thought to herself while burying the pain of her unrequited feelings under her bright smile.




Miryung High Gym
2.45 p.m.

The news finally travelled to the ears of the rest of the basketball members when their practice session started. Jaebum gave the main star of the day a headlock and dragged him around the gym while driving his fist onto his head. The boys laughed and played around like that until one of them realized that something was missing.

“Hey, where are Munhwa and MInsun?” Taecyeon asked.

“Oh, they will be here soon,” Wooyoung looked at the entrance, and the two said girls already arrived. They made their way into the hall and Munhwa had a bright smile on her face as she detected the cheerful atmosphere in the gym.

“You guys have heard about Wooyoung?” Munhwa asked happily.

“Yeah. He did great,” Taecyeon smiled. Munhwa turned to Minsun and grinned, which made Taecyeon looked at Minsun too. He realized that she looked different today. The other boys must had too since their gazes were locked on her before they looked at each other as if asking whether they were seeing right or not. But Taecyeon wasn’t surprised, because he had always thought that Minsun was pretty, so much prettier than any other girls.

“Thanks a lot, Minsun,” Taecyeon said.

“Oh, um, you don’t have to. Wooyoung really did put a lot of effort for the exam.” Minsun seemed a bit shy today. She too realized that the boys were staring at her new hairstyle. It wasn’t like it was a great style but the fact that she never did her hair in a loose bun behind her head or a neat ponytail made such simple, free falling hair looked so special on her.

“Minsun, you look really, really nice today,” Chansung braved himself to compliment her and finished it off with a wide, child-like grin. Minsun smiled at him back.

“Oh, thanks,” Minsun said despite feeling a little embarrassed.




Just like every other day, Minsun would sit in her spot, which was a little farther than where the basketball team was having their practice. She would always focus on her study every day, not taking even a day rest. The only rest was when she occasionally looked up and watched the boys practicing, and sometimes would chuckle when they were fooling around and did something funny before she quickly returned to her studying.

The boys took a 10 minute break in the middle of their practice session. They chatted with each other and drank a lot of water after sweating so much due to their practice. When their coach was around, this period would be filled with advises by their coach, where they were lacking, what was their specialty, what they should work on and so on. However, on practice day like this when their coach was absent, they would talk about their next match or just a simple random conversation.

Taecyeon took a bottle handed out by Munhwa, but he didn’t sit at the bench right away like he always did. In fact, he walked towards the other end of the hall, where Minsun was and naturally took a seat by her side.

“Hey,” he started.

Minsun looked up and welcomed his presence with a smile. “Hey,”




Junho and Chansung who was chatting just now paused when he saw Jaebum’s eyes locked somewhere for a long time. Sometimes he would smile alone, and they thought Jaebum was being weird. They looked at the same direction and saw both Taecyeon and Minsun together, and a knowing smile crept up their lips.

“I should take pictures so I can upload it on Cyworld.” Chansung quickly pulled out his mobile phone. Junho playfully slapped Chansung’s arm and they giggled together.




“So… new hair?” Taecyeon started. Minsun seemed more self-conscious and abashed whenever people directly pointed out her new hairstyle. She gave it one long brush with her finger before she replied.

“Yeah… Thought might try something new,”

“You look good in it,”

“Thanks,”

Taecyeon stared at the white ribbon hairclip on her hair.

“S… Something wrong with my hair?” Minsun touched the hairclip, thinking it was probably unbalanced or was about to fall off. Taecyeon quickly shook his head and smiled.

“No, no. They’re perfect. Where did you get the hairclip?”

“Somewhere nearby, at this one stall. They made really pretty accessories for girls,”

Taecyeon nodded. His hand slipped into his pocket and grabbed something in it, as if trying to shove it deeper into his pocket. It was the clip Taecyeon bought for her not long ago, the one he planned to give her during today’s practice. The hairclip he bought looked exactly like the one Minsun had on right now so he was a little disappointed that he couldn’t give it to her anymore, but hid his feelings well with a casual smile. 




“Hmm… He’s still awkward around girls,” Jaebum threw in his comments, and the two boys behind him, Chansung and Junho nodded in agreement.

“Guys, would you stop it? He would be more self-conscious if you keep watching him,” Munhwa whispered, not agreeing the idea of invading Taecyeon’s privacy.

“Yeah, why are you guys so interested with them both?” Wooyoung asked.

Jaebum smirked and then turned to Junho and Chansung because they seemed to share the same thought with him. Chansung shook his head sadly at Wooyoung, belittling him.

“Wooyoung-ah… you’re still too young…” He said.

“What?” Wooyoung replied, looking a little confused at what Chansung told him just now.

“Can’t you see? It’s the eyes! The eyes! Look at the way Taecyeon sunbae looks at Minsun!”

Wooyoung glanced briefly at Taecyeon and then at the group back.

“Are you saying he likes Minsun for real?” Wooyoung’s eyes widened.

Chansung snapped his finger.




“When will your next match be?” Minsun asked.

“After the summer holiday. There is still a lot of time,”

“Are you guys going to practice the whole summer too?”

“Yeah. But I haven’t found a suitable place yet. I’m thinking of practicing at the beach, so it could be fun too,”

“What kind of place you’re looking for?”

“Maybe a cheap summer house we could rent? You know, with kitchen and all the basic stuff. It would be nice if there’s a basketball court nearby, but that’s optional. Do you know any good place?”

“If that’s the case, you can just borrow my summer villa then.”

“Summer v-villa?”

“It has nine bedrooms, and a basketball court right by its side facing the sea.”

“Y-you have a summer villa?”

Minsun nodded. “My parents bought it for me. They told me to use it however I want to, so you guys don’t have to pay for rent or anything.”

He guessed Minsun didn’t see that he was shocked of her background. Who would have guessed a girl from their school who usually sat quietly at her desk, sporting a bun on her head and studied diligently came from a well off family? But then he guessed she probably didn’t like people to know who she really was because people might start treating her differently if they knew. Just like in Nichkhun’s case. He was smart, rich, and good looking so everyone was being nice to him. Enemies or not, Taecyeon did felt sorry for him because he knew Nichkhun never ask for such deliberate kindness.

“I-I see. I didn’t know you… Anyway, aren’t you using it then? It’s your summer villa after all,”

Minsun shook her head. “I never really use it. I don’t know what to do with it,”

“Do you have other plans for the summer?”

“No. Nothing at all.”

“Then why not join us too? At least you can accompany Munhwa. She’s the only girl there.”

Minsun went into silence thinking about it. Now that she looked back, she never spent her summer with her friends, since she didn’t really have friends to start with. Taecyeon’s offer seemed tempting. Maybe she shouldn’t be too uptight about having fun and have some fun with people her age.

“You can ask Gohee too if you want to. She didn’t come with us last time because she had plans with her family,”

“Should I?” Minsun whispered, more like to herself but Taecyeon heard it.

“Yeah, why not? It would be fun.”

Slowly, her lips curved into a light smile. “I’ll join then,”

“Great! I’ll tell the others then!” Taecyeon jumped off the bench and ran towards the rest of the guys. Minsun continued watching them with a smile on her lips, secretly thinking, doubting whether she was doing the right thing. Was it okay to be just like other students, having fun and have friends?