Member: The8

Just a typical Monday morning and there's nothing special expected to happen. The usual routine would be followed, home-school-home, and it makes you think that nothing could ever be more boring than being in high school.

"Mom, I'm going." You went down the stairs and left a small kiss on your mother's cheek for a goodbye.

Now the uneventful life of a student starts. Like what you do on a daily basis, you caught the bus to school after a few walks from your house. You took the seat near the window so somehow the trees in Seoul could help you release the exhaustion from this very tiring student life.

If only you had a companion.

Not to the extent of a boyfriend for that is totally not in your mind now but maybe like a best friend. Just someone that would spend free time with you or someone to talk to. Someone that would be there and the thing is, though you're not so lively, you have many friends but there is no one deserving to be called best.

It was 6:30 when you arrived at school. Half an hour left before classes start. Meaning there would still be alone time for you.

"Hey," Minkyung, a clingy girl, held your arm as you both walked to your homeroom. "Have you heard the news?"

You felt awkward with the skinship but you tried to put up with it knowing that the girl is usually like this. She's the closest buddy you could consider but not to the point that you would consider her as a best friend because Minkyung has other companions that she considers more important than you.

"What news?" You plainly responded.

"There will be a new student joining your homeroom." She giggled excitedly. "They said it's a girl but isn't it interesting to have an addition in your class? I hope she's the type to smile a lot. I'll befriend her if that's the case." You don't understand the point of her being so excited when it's not her homeroom in the first place.

"Yeah, sure." You're obviously unenthusiastic. Well, approaching others is definitely not your thing so this whole transferee issue would not affect your life much. Except that another person would probably share your friend's attention.

Almost everyone is in their room when you arrived, don't count out the badasses that always come in the middle of the first subject. You took your seat at the leftmost front and began rummaging for your handphone in your bag. There is no better idea to kill time than playing word games.

"You like word games?" The seat next to you is supposed to be unoccupied but someone is sitting there at the moment.

"Yes. Do you?" You nodded slightly without looking at the person's face. Your classmates seldom approach you and this happening is quite unusual. Your peripheral vision tells you it was a guy which made the situation more odd but less did you care. You know everyone in the class anyway.

"No but I'm forced to play it to improve my Korean." His voice is low and unfamiliar like you heard it for the first time. His Korean has a weird and different accent too.

"Okay, settle down." The same time you advanced to the next level, your class adviser came in signaling the start. You slightly glimpsed at the person you just had a conversation with but he's gone with the wind.

"That was quick.", roaming your eyes around trying to recall everyone's voices.

It must be Junhui, you thought.

That guy's Korean is extremely cute for a Chinese. He sounded like the guy beside you for a moment but thinking about it, Jun's voice is somehow deeper compared to it.

"Good morning, class." You shrugged your thoughts away and stood up for the morning greeting lead by the class president. "So I have a very important announcement first."

A guy was standing beside the teacher and everyone was focusing on them, trying to figure out how important the announcement is along with the identity of the guy.

The guy's eyes don't look friendly at all. His hair is faded brown and his height is overwhelming. He doesn't look hearty but his round nose gives him a tinge of cuteness.

"You will have a new classmate starting today. Introduce yourself, please." She took a step backward to give way to the new student.

"Hi, I'm Xu Minghao or Seo Myungho. Whichever you prefer." Short. Everyone is has their eyes on him and he looks burdened by it. You noticed it so when your eyes slightly met, you gave him a small smile. But he didn't return it, he looked away instead.

"Oh?" You scoffed.

Did he just reject you?

"Junhui?" The teacher scanned the room for the boy. He immediately raised his hand to be recognized. "Myungho here is also Chinese."

"Oh my goodness." You whispered as all the traumatic experiences you encountered because of the language barrier flashed back. One Junhui is enough to stress her from all the comprehension issues and now there's another one.

"I hope you two get along." Myungho then smiled at Junhui. "Okay take the seat next to *YN* and let's start the class."

"What?" You muttered in a low voice.

You just disliked the thought.

Having a cold seatmate wouldn't do you anything good. If only seatmates are nothing but people who sit beside you.

The thing is, seatmates are considered buddies in this school so they specifically have to look after each other. Now you have no choice but to check on him every after class to make sure he doesn't cut the next subject or miss any assignment or project. But what's worse? You have to tour him around the school and tell him the basics since he's new.

One thing is for sure, this is not an easy task to accomplish.

***

The bus isn't cramped like how it was the past few days but what surprised you was when a familiar face took the same bus you are in and sat beside you immediately as you locked eyes.

It was simply awkward.

He didn't even talk and you didn't even look at his direction. After your friendly approach was rejected yesterday, you don't want to take the initiative to do something about the silence again. Obviously, he's not a cheery person. But somehow that's a relief because you two are partners and it can be burdensome for you to have someone as hyper as Minyoung to be with all the time.

"Excuse me." You slowly turned to meet his eyes again when he talked. You never thought he'll speak to you first. "You're my seatmate, right?"

You lethargically nodded.

"You take this bus?"

"As you can see. Everyday." You responded.

"Great." He simply muttered. "By the way, are we only given two homeworks yesterday?"

"Actually, it's three."

"Three??" There was a slight perplex in his reaction. For sure this guy missed one, you thought. "Thanks." He replied lowly.

The ride seemed too long with him beside you that it was such a fresh air when you finally arrived at your destination. There is a short walk from the stop to the school but you made sure that you walk ahead of him. If only he didn't introduce himself yesterday then he'd be a total stranger and being with unaccustomed people can be intimidating. Plus the fact that you, his partner, don't even remember his name.

The day started fine and flawless. There was no need for you to interact at all except for the very little moments that he