ONE

The Art of Understanding

Morning came way too early for her own liking. There were no other good explanations about morning in her dictionary except a large crowd on the street, a bustling life at her campus, the nagging voices from the people around her; including the voice from her boss about changing the shift time for her part time job that can be heard constantly at the back of her head.

Though she didn’t mind to change her shift time, it would probably effect her own resting time. Being a college student that live far away from her family, already made her body restless since the first year of college. She missed them so much that she couldn’t even sleep soundly at night. She tried to cope this problem by looking for a part time job; thinking that maybe if she could make her own body tired from studying and working, she could fall asleep easily as she used to be. Too bad, her method worked at some occasions only.

Now that her boss asked her to change the shift time into morning, she probably couldn’t sleep as long as before. The night shift fitted perfectly for her. She could sleep as long as she wanted until morning, or until the first class, which started at 10 in the morning. She wasn't a morning person after all.

Sighing heavily, she made a way towards the nearest mini market beside her campus. Not like the others, she rarely bought a coffee or any beverages from a cafe (eventhough she works at one). She felt like wasting her money for something that she could buy easily from a mini market.

As she grabbed a small carton of milk while thinking whether to buy something to eat or not, he caught a movement beside her. She took a glance and almost squealed when she saw that the one who's catching her attention was none other than Lee Jihoon.

She secretly looked at him from the corner of her eyes and admired his appearance. It's not that she liked him or something, but almost everyone in her campus recognized him as one of the famous person because of his circle of friends. But, that's not the reason why she almost squealed, no; that's because he - might be - the shortest boy in her campus, with also the cutest face of a man that she had ever seen.

Actually, she often saw him at the cafe where she works. Everytime she did her shift, she always caught him sitting at the very corner of the cafe while drinking a caffe latte or iced americano. Classic, she though, but that's common for everyone around her age or college students in general. That being said, she wasn't a coffee drinker. She would rather drink milk or tea than a coffee, but she liked the smell of it, so maybe that's why she was so keen working at the cafe.

She moved a little when he took a step closer towards the rack beside her. He seemed like looking for something, but she soon assumed that he didn't find it because his expression turned disappointed.

As if on reflex, she held the milk that she's currently holding towards him, "Are you looking for this?" she asked cautiously.

Suddenly he stopped and looked at her hand before directed his gaze to her face. He didn't say anything and only looked at her while furrowing his eyebrows.

She started to feel awkward because this was actually the first time she talked to him beside accepting his orders at the cafe. She coughed a little, "Um, be..because it seems that you were looking for something and couldn't find it, and..since this is the last carton of this milk in the rack, I though that maybe...." She stopped and suddenly felt embarassed because he still didn't say anything. She just remembered that he always ordered coffee at the cafe, never milk or tea neverthless. Of course he wouldn't like this, she thought to herself.

"I..I'm sorry, you don't like milk, do you? Well, then..uh....nevermind..." She stuttered and ready to go to the cashier and go out from there as fast as she could when suddenly a voice stopping her, "Wait!"

She stopped and looked back at him while he was sticking out his hand suddenly towards her, "Do you mind?" asked him while holding her gaze. She looked confused for a while, until she realized that he was asking for the milk that she's holding tightly in her hands.

"Oh, oh? N..no, I don't mind, sure, take it." She said and gave the milk to him. He took the milk and didn't say anything for a while, still furrowing his eyebrows as if he thought of something. After a beat of silence, he looked at her and said with a tiniest smile, "Thanks." He said and then spun around and went to cashier.

She gulped and her eyes following his steps until he was gone from her vision. She wanted squeal, yes; but somehow, for another reason. She shook her head and tried to clear her mind from a certain cute boy with the most deadly smile she had ever seen.

She looked back at the rack and tried to find another carton of milk with a smile on her face.


"Seunghye, Did you eat something weird this morning?"

She stopped writing on her note and looked at her friend while raising an eyebrow; silently asking what her friend meant by asking that question. They were currently in the middle of Theory and Practice of Poetry class, since they both took a Creative Writing major. It's not too long before lunch came and it seemed like everyone was so eager to leave the classroom as fast as they could. So, her friend, Eunha, decided it was the right time to do a little talking as everyone got distracted because of the heat (it was still summer) and the hunger that slowly came.

"No?" She answered that came out more like a question.

This time, it was her friend who raised one of her eyebrows, "Are you sure? Because you keep smiling when you wrote in your note." Eunha asked while directing her gaze towards the front of the class, making sure that it was safe to keep talking and no one heard their conversation.

Seunghye just continued to write on her note, "I'm sure. In fact, I only ate a sandwich from the mini market, and that wasn't weird, was it?" She asked while trying to suppress her smile, because it just reminded her of the 'little incident' this morning.

"See?? You're smiling again! Tell me! Did something happen?" Eunha asked while looking at Seunghye suspiciously, but Seunghye didn't say anything, and instead keep writing on her note; copying the words from the power point that their professor showing up on the screen.

"Let me rephrase my question then, did something good happen?" Eunha asked her friend once again after a minute of silence. She was so sure that something happened with her friend. There's no way Seunghye keep smiling if there were no reasons.

Seunghye just kept silent.

"Did someone ask to date you?" Eunha tried to ask again while examining her friend's expression.

This time, Seunghye widened her eyes towards her friend after hearing the question, "What? No, of course not!" She said a little loud that inviting some curious glances from their friends. She let out a sigh and whispered, "Look, there's nothing happened, okay?"

Eunha pouted, "I though we were friends?" She said that with a fake hurt expression on her face, but Seunghye just rolled her eyes and tried to forget about what happened this morning so she could stop smiling in order not to make her friend got suspicious.

Eunha only looked at her for a quiet long time without saying anything. Seunghye, who got tired from it, tried to stop her, "Can you stop star-"

"Did Woozi talked to you?" Eunha asked first before Seunghye finished her talking. Seunghye stopped and blinked her eyes, "Who?" She asked confusedly, because she never heard the name before nor had a friend with a name like that.

"I mean Jihoon, Lee Jihoon." Eunha answered shortly, still looking at her curiously.

Seunghye couldn't hide her surprise after hearing the familiar name, "How did you know?? Wait, did you see us? And why are you calling him Woozi?" She asked, now completely forgetting her note. Seunghye couldn't hide her confusion. Why Eunha knew that she talked with Jihoon this morning? But more importantly, why Eunha called him with another name?

Eunha widened her eyes in surprise, "So he talked to you!" She said without turning down her volume, and again, inviting some curious glances.

Seunghye just furrowed her eyebrows. She really didn't understand what her friend meant by stating that fact as if it was really surprising to hear, but before she asked anything else, the professor startled them by ending the class with a loud command about reading a certain page which she didn't hear clearly because of the loud chatter from around her.

She turned her head towards her friend, wanting to continue the conversation that they had left, but she saw Eunha was already in front of the door without waiting for her.

"H..hey, Eunha!! Cho Eunha!!! Hey, wait for me!!" She shouted while picking up her notes and bag, but it seemed like Eunha pretending not to hear her because she just walked first without looking back at Seunghye.

Eunhae just left Seunghye in astonishment. Her friend just left her there, in front of their class, with so many questions in her head related to Eunha's question and her surprise tone when she found out that Jihoon (and she still didn't understand why Eunha called him Woozi) talked to him. She tried to find the answer; well, of course it would be surprising if suddenly someone like Jihoon talked to her, but her case was different; it was just because of a carton of milk! But then, Eunha hadn't heard the reason, yet she seemed so surprise about it. As if she hid something.

Seunghye shook her head a little. She was sure that there's nothing to worry about in the first place. She would just ask Eunha at the next period without giving a chance for her friend to leave her like this. With that thought in mind, she spun around and went to grab something to eat.

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