*Girl's POV*

 

Self introductions are really my thing. NOT. Whenever I do it, my anxiety shoots up and I can literally feel my face burning. Just why do we have to do these kinds of things? They can literally look at my nametag and it's not like they're going to care about my background? Or would they? Oh, Lord. I don't know anymore. Let's just get over with this thing.

 

But first, inhale. Now, exhale.

Good.

Here goes nothing.

 

"Hi, everyone. My name's Park Heeyoung. I hope we can be friends."

 

That should be enough, right? I don't really need to expose my life story or anything.

 

"Okay, class, she's Heeyoung ssi, the newest addition to our class. Thank you for that rather short but concise introduction. Please take the seat beside Shin Areum ssi. I'm sorry that you have no choice for the seating arrangement since there's only one vacant chair left. Areum ssi, please raise your hand."

 

As I dragged..err....walked myself to my new seat, the teacher continued on saying embarassing things like "I know she's new so take care of her, okay?" and "help her when she seems lost" even "protect her from the evilness of the world". Okay, I get it. She's a motherly kind of teacher and honestly, I FREAKING LOVE IT.

 

Thankfully, the girl who's supposed to be my seatmate looks like she's a good person. I really hope she ain't faking her smiles. 

 

"Hi, Heeyoung ssi~ I'm Areum. Let's be friends!"

"Hi, Areum ssi. That'll be lovely."

"Oh, please drop the formalities. Just call me Areum~"

"Oh, okay. Please do the same to me. Just call me Heeyoung."

 

Okay, I take it back. She's a sunshine! I love her already. Just as our conversation was starting to get even more friendlier, the bell interrupted us. Signaling that it's time for the first legit class of the day. As our homeroom teacher went out of the room, the class somewhat came to life. The students faced their friends and started talking again. As much as I wanted to talk to Areum more, she's already pre-occupied with some other girls. Seems like they're talking about someone. Like a crush, maybe? Since they're quite squealing and you can literally see their eyes forming hearts. 

 

Five minutes after the bell and the teacher's not yet here. I diverted my attention to somewhere else since it's rude to stare at Areum ssi and her friends for too long, whatmore to eavesdrop. I took it as a chance to observe the rest of the class. The moment I looked in front, my eyes immediately met with his. That smile, those warm eyes. It's my savior, Sungjin! Didn't he say that he's older than me? Or were my ears deceived me earlier. I wasn't really aware that we've been in some sort of staring battle until his seatmate snapped his fingers in front of Sungjin sunbae-nim.

 

Should I call him sunbae nim tho?

 

He made a mini wave to my direction before he slowly turned to his seatmate with a playful glare. His seatmate's smile is really contagious tho so in the end, Sungjin sunbae-nim ended up laughing silently while his seatmate rofl-ed. Weirdly, I also found myself smiling.

 

Coming from the front-most left side of the room is a very....how do I explain it.... distinct? kind of laughter. It's crisp and short-lived but really frequent. You can literally feel the happiness from this pink-haired man's laughter. His figure's insane (in a good way) tho. He is so tall??? He's sitting down properly but his limbs are just... really everywhere? If I were to stand beside this guy, I might not even reach up to his chin. Gosh, where to get bone extensions? loljk. I'm sorry, that sounded so judgmental. He's talking animatedly to his female seatmate and I think everyone would know that they're really close friends.

 

Ugh, now I miss my old friends.

Great, what a time to feel sad.

 

To prevent tears from even forming, I looked away and that was just then I realized that the person tassigned by the principal to be my 'guide' was literally on my left side all these times. Dowoon ssi happened to be my seatmate. Why does it feel like he's really detached from the class tho?

As my eyes reached the seat beside window, which happened to be on Dowoon ssi's left side, I saw a man who's really breath-taking. I mean, his looks are really no joke. He has this cold aura, piercing eyes and everything about him is screaming "BAD BOY, STAY AWAY" but I just can't take my eyes off him. He might have felt my stare so he turned around and our eyes met briefly. His glare is something even worse than what I got from Dowoon ssi when I bumped on to him this morning. This guy has mastered the art of glaring. No, scratch that. Maybe it was him who started the glaring thing. He scoffed and turned away.

 

Just then, the second teacher (who's reaaaally late?) entered the room. Thankfully, he didn't ask for another set of first-day-self-introduction and he just went straight to the lecture.

 

What sorcery is this. The classes went by sooo slowly. It feels like the clock was trying its best to drag every second. Most of my classmates have already lost their concentration on whatever our 3rd teacher is saying. Some are even dozing off already. 

 

Just 10 more minutes before lunch time. Yaaaas, clock, you've got this. Please tick faster. Come on, champ. Faster, pleaseee.

 

The class literally rejoiced when the bell rung and even the teacher looks relieved.

 

He's tired of it too, huh. I feel you, Sir. I feel you.

 

Everyone rushed out of the classroom to grab their lunch. Seems like they're in a race to prevent being on the end of the cafeteria line. As I looked around the room, I figured that there's nobody that I'm familiar with amongst the kids that remained inside. 

 

Second dilemma: How to not be awkward during lunch?

 

You see, I have this thing going on. Whenever I'm uncomfortable or still unfamiliar with the environment and people, I eat uhh... weirdly? I'm basically uncomfortable and I feel conscious of how big I've opened my mouth or if there's any grains sticking out of my spoon. Those kinds of things. Moreover, I'm afraid that some people who love gossip would come to me and ask personal questions.

 

I know I might be just overthinking things but to avoid such sticky situations, I opted to just go out of the room and I don't know, maybe look around the school vicinity a little bit. I don't really feel hungry but I still brought my lunchbox with me just in case the hunger strikes after walking. I allowed my feet to drag me wherever and I found myself sitting on one of the corners of the rooftop. My favorite part of every school. I just love how peacefully secluded it is. It gives me time to recharge after classes. 

 

Memories of me and my friends from my old school rushed to me. I suddenly felt so pathetic for escaping to the rooftop just because I have no one to eat with and as I hugged my knees, the tears that I held back earlier all fell. I didn't really think that I'll ever cry on my first day. As I sobbed silently, I felt something fluffy brushing against my leg. At first, I was really scared and shy to look up but when it tried to climb on my knees, I lifted my head slightly and saw a tiny dog. It was really acting sweet and all so my tears stopped immediately. Its pink collar stands out from its pure white fur. 

 

"So your name's Tory. Cute name for a cute little dog~"

 

I realized that she's staring at the lunchbox that I brought with me.

 

"Tory-ah, you're already drooling, darling. Do you want some sausage? I packed some as my snack but I'm not really hungry~" She wagged her tail and I took that as a signal that she wants some. As Tory munched on the sausage that I gave her, we were both startled by the sound of a rumbling stomach. I followed Tory as she ran to a hidden side of the rooftop. Apparently, somebody else was with us. He was asleep all those times, or was trying to sleep, I guess? Tory kept on the boy's arm that was covering his face so I assumed that Tory knows him well. I'm usually afraid to start conversations with a stranger but I just can't ignore his stomach's cry for help.

 

"Hi, are you Tory's owner? Uhm, I'm Park Heeyoung and I'm new here. I kinda brought some kimbap rolls with me and I sort of packed a lot. You can have some."

 

The idea might have appealed to him since he stirred from his lying position. I was quite shocked because I didn't expect it to be him. He stood up lazily and followed Tory as she ran back towards where the lunchbox was. I followed the two of them and I really didn't know how to react? He sat in front of the lunchbox and just stared at it. I opened it for him and he still wasn't getting any. I noticed that his ears were turning red. Oh gosh, is he shy. I found the situation really funny and I wasn't able to hold back a soft giggle.

 

"Dowoon ssi, you are literally free to get as many kimbap rolls as you want to. I'm not really hungry." 

 

I pushed the luncbox closer to him and his ears were getting even redder. He was still hesitating but his eyes were glued to the rolls. This side of him is really different from what he showed me earlier and from how he was inside the classroom. 

 

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this so please eat comfortably."

 

Just how red can his ears get? I was too fascinated that I almost didn't hear his mumbles.

 

"It's your lunch tho"

 

He's really surprising me with his soft side. It seems like he's a hard-headed kind of person and at the same time, he seems really hungry already so I just grabbed one roll before I gave the lunchbox another push towards his direction.

 

"Oh, don't worry about that. There, I took one already now so please, have as much as you want."

 

I think I saw a small smile? As soon as I finished my sentence, I witnessed as his hands immediately went for the kimbap rolls. It was a fascinating sight but I realized that he feels uncomfortable when I watch him eat so I just munched my roll silently and played with Tory a bit. He must have been really hungry since he finished the rolls quickly. He kept on looking at his watch and the rooptop door and that was when I figured that we need to go back to our classroom now. But why does he look like he's still hesitating?

 

Oh.

Oh. Ohhhh

 

Maybe he feels uncomfortable to be seen walking back to the room with me. People might gossip and stuff.

 

"Dowoon ssi, I'm going to go ahead now. Don't worry, I won't tell anybody about your secret place. See you around!"

 

He only cleared his throat and looked to his side. Taking that as my que, I excused myself and saved both of us from the awkwardness. The moment I got inside the classroom, Areum ssi suddenly enveloped me in a tight embrace. Everyone was so shocked lol but they immediately went back to whatever they were doing prior to the commotion.

 

"Young-ah, I'm really really sorry. I'm such a bad person for offering to be your friend but apparently forgetting to bring you with me during lunch."

 

Y-Young-ah?......Did she just give me a nickname? It was cute but the person with the coldest glare ever flinched a bit when she said "Young-ah" tho....

 

"It's alright, Areum ssi... oh, uhm, Areum-ah?"

 

"Eeey, Areum-ah sounds like ahjumma~ Areumie's definitely better"

 

"Oh,okay. I promise, it was really alright. I went around a bit the campus so I wasn't really left alone here in the room." 

 

As I was reassuring her, Dowoon ssi entered the room and he and Mr. Cold Eyes made eyecontact with one another. Dowoon ssi gave him a little nod. Some sort of reassurance, I guess? Soon after, the bell rang once again which signalled the start of the afternoon classes. Surprisingly, this time around, the classes ended quickly. Everyone rushed out of the room and were just really excited to leave this place called school. Unfortunately, Areum needs to run some errand for her little sister so we can't hangout afterschool today. Which was fine since today was really already physically draining for me.

 

As soon as I arrived home, I figured that my parents weren't home yet so I washed up first. I went back to my room and as I was drying my hair, I tried to recall the events of today. Thinking about it, today was a really good one especially since it was also my first day in my new school. 

 

Being saved by Sungjin sunbae-nim.

 

Meeting the warm principal and teachers.

 

Meeting Areum.

 

and lastly,

 

Having lunch with Tory and Dowoon ssi.

 

Ahh, it was really a good one. I met some many good people (and dog) and our encounters were really blissful. I tried to find a way to describe my day but 'good' and 'happy' would do no justice so I hit up the internet.

 

There must be a word to describe this feeling, right?

Oh, there it is. Just....perfect.

 

 

TROUVAILLE

            -     A chance encounter with something wonderful

 

 

 

Indeed.

 

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A/N:

Hi, this is my first story here ever. I'm so nervous lol Please help me out by leaving some feedbacks. Is it way too long? Was it boring? Was it confusing? agjabghbfakjfaksm Oh, uhm, I gotta apologize too since I update slowly. I'm sort of balancing a lot of things right now and I easily get distracted lol. 

 

What else, uhh... I hope you liked it? <3

 

(the Sungjin teasers for September are now out~)