Her first week of school ended peacefully. Soo Ae still felt like she was still watching a drama. Probably closer, unlike watching a high school drama from before. It’s like she was in the same room with the actresses and actors. Maybe it was like watching a musical drama performance.

They all seemed like fun teenagers, but they were so exhausted at the end of the day.

High school in South Korea got to be the most ambitious system in the world. Compared to other high schools in other countries, the students in South Korea studied so much harder.

If any dramas depicted students coming home from school before sunset, it was very far from reality. High school schedule was very strenuous. The first session of school ended around 2 PM, where they learnt all the new materials of their year. The second session could end up in 7 PM, consisting of reviewing subjects and answering questions similar to what would come up in College Entrance Exams.

It was the most difficult for the third graders of high school students. They usually leave school at 9 PM, studying extra harder. If you were interested to enter the prestigious S.K.Y (Seoul National Universities, Korea University or Yonsei University), you might join a cram school that started at 10 PM and ended at 2 AM. And yes, school started at 7 AM, everyday.

With that, the really serious ones or the ones that felt lacking in their achievements, might even still study on weekends.

High school students in the country rarely ever went to holidays. When offered, they even often declined it, for fear that leaving school for even one day might jeopardize their scores or the chance to enter good universities.

They said in South Korea, if a high school student slept around three hours per day due to studying, they might enter the S.K.Y. If you slept five hours per day, you might enter the middle quality universities. If you sleep more than five hours per day, you might want to consider what you would want to do if you fail all the entrance exams.

All those times spent fangirling over Kpop idols were stolen moments, usually done without their parents knowing. The fear of not being able to enter universities was so big that parents might go ballistic once you went to, say, a Kpop music show.

And yet, with all the hard work, it did not guarantee that you would enter universities. That was why the suicide rate was so high. You were valued merely by your grade score in school. If you were in the top 20 in your year, you’re royalties. If you were between the 21-100, you’re normal people. If you’re lower than that, you’re peasants and not worth knowing.

Still, despite the hard life they were leading, high school students in South Korea managed to overcome it by their cheerfulness. No matter what, they were still teenagers.

In this environment Soo Ae plunged herself in, and she enjoyed every minute.

The lessons were easy for her, since she was someone who could remember things easily. Academically, she was having no troubles at all. Socially though, that’s another matter altogether.

She was too shy to talk to anyone. She ate her lunches in her own desk and the words she shared with the girls and boys were merely “Good morning”, “Good evening” and “See you tomorrow”.

She considered her health as fine enough. Of course her body felt heavier nearing the time to go home, and she felt very tired in the evening and morning, but she guessed it was alright, considering that her health was worse than the average teenagers.

At first, her Sooyoung Unnie insisted for her to not join the early evening session of the school, wanting her to come home after the 2 PM session was finished.

She listened to her in the first week. Her homeroom teacher, Mr. Kim Min Seok, already informed to the whole class of her condition, so she was permitted to go home at 2 PM and not to attend the P.E. Class.

She got weird looks from her classmates after that, but no one really confronted her for that, of which she was grateful.

On the second week, Soo Ae battled it out with her Soo Young unnie for the permission to study until the early evening session was over.

It got dramatic, of course. Her unnie screamed at her, “YOU’LL GET SICK!!! YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO STAND IT!!! If you get a bad attack then what? If you have to stay in the hospital, you’ll miss school. It will be worse. Better to go half day but everyday, rather than attending full day but collapsing”.

But Soo Ae stood her ground and she finally won.

Afterwards, her unnie shocked her by suddenly selling pastries in the cafeteria.

“I was bored” she shrugged, “All of these cakes and bread are handmade, so I have something to do while waiting for you”

“You don’t really have to be here, Unnie”

“I want to! You can’t make me leave you!”

Soo Ae relented on that. You couldn’t win all the wars in your life, right?

Her unnie was the Executive Director in their family’s company. She didn’t NEED the meagre amount of money she would get by selling pastries in the school’s cafeteria.

But the headmaster gave permission after sampling some of her bread and cupcakes, especially since she swore she used safe ingredients. What reason was there to refuse? The price was reasonable too for the student’s pocket money, so her unnie ruled the cafeteria.

Except that Soo Ae hadn’t really found the courage to dine there.

She couldn’t handle MSG anyway, so she ate her lunch boxes and she didn't buy any of the school meals anyway.

Everything seemed to be going alright on the second week, when she decided that she would study full day, until 7 PM. After the bell rung, students usually run to the cafeteria for some snacks before going home, and her unnie’s pastry stall apparently became a big hit. So they both agreed for her to wait for thirty minutes for her unnie to finish selling her cakes and bread.

That Wednesday though, Soo Ae felt more exhausted than usual. She honestly felt an asthma attack coming up. She was coughing a lot in the last session with cold sweat appearing all over her.

Soo Ae waited until everyone left the class before leaving. The first year classes were on the third floor, it would take some time going down the stairs.

She didn’t want to cause any commotion or drag unnecessary attention.

Once everyone left, she prepared herself to go down to the first floor.

She swayed on the stairs and gripped the handrail.

Her head reeled.

She sat down on the stairs and leant on the wall.

Every intake of breath sounded, like a screech of an old door, she thought to herself, chuckling.

Oh, Dear. Unnie would be verrry crazy.

She’d go all “I told you so! I told you you can’t go to school! But you never listen!”

At home, a housekeeper would run to her whenever she had an asthma attack, immediately giving her inhaler and a glass of water with her pill ready at hand. And then she would be helped to bed.

It was a first time experience of having an attack when no one was there to help her.

Her unnie was downstairs at the cafeteria, but she had a hunch that she would fall down somewhere if she forced herself to find her then.

She could call her, yet her unnie was busy selling pastries at that time.

Get a grip, Soo Ae. Drink your pill!

She took off her backpack and put it aside.

However, the simple task of opening her bag, taking her pill and water bottle and drinking it seemed like something too hard to do.

She figured she wouldn’t die if she waited a bit for her sister. She would find her eventually.

Or she should just call her.

But her phone was inside the bag.....

“Soo Ae! What happened? Are you alright?”

Somebody was running and coming to her.

Until then, Soo Ae didn’t realize that had she was not holding on to the railing, she would have fallen already.

She tried to speak but what came out was another sound that meant her breathing was constricted.

It was that boy again. Her classmate. That tall one. He sat at the back of the class.

She couldn’t remember his name and his face looked blurry and then clear again in a matter of seconds.

She was losing consciousness.

“Ottoke? What should I do? Soo Ae? SOO AE!!!”

She said something but it was too low for him to get it.

He crept closer and asked, “What? What did you say?”

“P – pills..... bag........”

He reached for her bag and opened it.

“Where is it? Where did you put your pills?”

“Phone.....phone.....”

He found her found. There was a chain that was connected with a plastic container.

It was a very small Tupperware container filled her pills.

He quickly took one and gave it to her, finding her water bottle inside too.

“Can you drink it?”

She tried to answer but it made no sense, her own cold sweat drenching her back.

He put the pill inside and she swallowed, nearly choking at the effort.

The gulp of breath she took afterwards was followed with lots of coughing. She then drank some water (he opened the bottle).

She unlocked her phone and dialled the number one in her phone.

Her unnie answered immediately, “Oh, Soo Ae-yah. Unnie will go take the car in a few minutes. Are you at the entrance already?”

With shaking hands, Soo Ae gave him the phone.

“O – Oh. Soo Ae Noona” the boy spoke, holding Soo Ae's phone.

A beat of silence.

“Who’s this? Where’s Soo Ae? What happened?”

“She’s unwell”

“Where are you??? I’ll come right away!”

“We’re at the third floor stairs”

“Going there”

From her breathing Soo Young was probably running.

“Did you – give her – the pills”

“Ne”

“In – haler. Hold it for her and let her inhale it”

He saw then that Soo Ae was clutching her inhaler.

He put it in front of .

“How do you – should I press –“

He pressed the base and Soo Ae inhaled it.

Two inhales and she seemed to be less tense.

“You look like you washed your face” he said. “You’re sweating so much”

She felt her forehead being wiped by a hand as they heard a voice of someone running.

“SOO AE YAH!!!” Soo Young screamed.

“Unnie ga mianhe, oh? Sorry for being late” she said in a hurry, taking something out from her bag and throwing the said bag to the floor, before she knelt down and put the mask on Soo Ae’s face.

She pressed the container and Soo Ae inhaled greedily. Her eyes opened and closed and tears fell from her face. Soo Young reached for her tears and wiped them.

“Gwaenchana. You’re going to be alright”

The boy stood looking two stairs above them.

After some time, Soo Ae seemed to get better.

Soo Ae reached for her unnie’s hand to stop her pumping the oxygen for her when she already felt better.

She could sit better then, the world starting to take shapes again.

“You’re better now?” Soo Young asked.

Soo Ae nodded.

“Shall we go to the hospital?”

She nodded again.

“Hold on to unnie” Soo Young said, holding her up.

“I’ll help carry her. To your car”

Soo Young looked up to the tall boy.

“But –“

“I don’t mind”

The boy came down a few stairs below her, “Come on, I’ll carry you on my back”

She didn’t really remember how she managed to get up. Most of it was because Soo Young unnie helped holding her.

Afterwards, she remembered being carried by someone down the school stairs. Her hands automatically circled his neck and her legs locked his chest.

It wasn’t scary, exactly like how Sehun carried her from time to time, but this person’s back was wider than her Oppa.

When they reached the first floor, Soo Young ran to get her car.

The boy helped Soo Ae sat beside the driver’s seat and put on her seatbelts.

“Oppa, gomawo” Soo Ae mumbled.

“Yah, he’s not your Sehun Oppa. He’s your friend”

Friend?

In her hazy mind, she clutched at the dear word.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Park Chan Yeol, her classmate”

“I see. You’ve helped a lot. Thank you so much”

“Ne” Chan Yeol bowed a little.

“We need to go to the hospital now”

“Will she be ok?”

Soo Young nodded, “She’s better, thanks to you and the oxygen earlier. We’re just going to stabilize her”

With that, Soo Young entered the car and sped away.

*****************************************************

Naturally, Soo Ae missed school the next day. But she was back the day after that, looking like she usually did.

She spent a night in the hospital, but went home after she was discharged in the morning.

When she was resting at home, it hit her that she owed her classmate, Chan Yeol, for helping her. Twice, actually.

She needed to thank him properly.

****************************************************

If she remembered correctly, Chan Yeol always ate lunch in the cafeteria with his best friend, Jong In. Not that she ever saw them eating together, she heard her classmates said so. They both seemed to be very popular among the girls, since she heard so many conversations with them as the topic.

Safe to say, they were the first year’s main crushes. Not only their classmates, but girls from other classes too. She coincidentally passed a corridor during breaks, when the two friends also were there. Girls said hi to them and gushed afterwards, and they acted like it was nothing big. Jong In smiled and waved at them as Chan Yeol kept on talking as if nothing special happened.

It really was like watching a drama, Soo Ae said that time.

She brought an extra lunch box that day, as a form of gratitude. But when lunch time came, she wasn’t sure whether she could give it to him or not. People might look. People might talk. People might mock her. They might think she’s crushing on him too, like so many other girls.

She only wanted to show that she was grateful for what he did, though. He did do something big for her. Who knew what might happen if he wasn’t there.

Don’t think too much and just give it, Soo Ae, she told herself.

So when the lunch bell rang, she emptied her mind and just walked to his desk.

“Thank you for the other day” Soo Ae said, dropping the lunch box on his desk.

He was going to go downstairs with Jong In, but he stared at her then. Shocked.

She never spoke to anyone unless people talked to her first.

And for her to actually did that was something huge. Everyone who was still in the classroom stared at her.

“Thank you, really” Soo Ae repeated, smiling a little. She then nodded, satisfied with herself, then turned back to her desk.

“Wait” Chan Yeol called out.

Thinking he must be talking to her, Soo Ae turned to him again.

“Hm?”

“Well, aren’t you going to have lunch with me, then?”

The girls who were still there gasped, while Soo Ae tried to think of what she should answer.

***************************************************

Author’s Note:

Hope you like the update J

Thank you so much for reading and subscribing