Silence meets Noise

“I don’t think I can do this. Besides, she has a boyfriend!” he said, making Jinyoung sigh for the umpteenth time. “Make that a 'kind-of' boyfriend. I know she likes you too. What? Are you mocking me? Are you insulting my super awesome detective skills? Is that it?” Jinyoung asked back. “If she doesn’t like you, hyung, you’ll just make her like you” Bambam said, earning his friends’ entire stares. “What? He asked, shocked. “Dude, that is the most serious and useful thing you’ve ever said your whole life. Congratulations!” Jackson said as the guys laughed. “Haha, very funny” Bambam said in a tone full of sarcasm before whacking the back of Jackson's head. “Anyway, you can do it, Mark. You’re a man for Pete’s sake, are you not? Girls don’t like guys who chicken out.” Jinyoung said, patting Mark’s shoulder with a very determined face. “But what about our motto?” he asked, worry and nervousness written all over his face. “Oh, that? Just have it in your heart. Don’t have to do it practically now” Jinyoung winked.

~Present Day~

It was the day of the Farewell and also the 'C.D' which is the short form for 'Confession Day'. Bambam could not make it though he really wanted to know how the confession will go, making him and his friends a bit sad. And as they rode the noisy bus with all their male classmates who were ever so excited to have their Farewell Party at a resort, Mark thought of the memories he had with her, the so-called ‘Noise pollution’, which caused him to smile as he looked out of the window, relieving him from their future plans as he listened to a song called ‘Hypnotized’ by Deamn. He thought of the time he sat with her until their last talk on KakaoTalk which happened yesterday.

The first thing that came to Mark's mind was that time of the year when he sat with her, the time of the year when he started developing feelings for her.

~Last Year, 2nd semester~

Mark Tuan was a typical 3rd year student at Seoul International School. He likes silence and does not talk to others often, other than his friends. Out of his group of friends, only Jinyoung was similar to him: likes silence, drawing and writing but he does interact with his classmates and row mates around him. There was another guy, Jaebum, mainly called J.B. He does not roll much with Jinyoung’s gang, but, he and Mark gets along quite well. Mark’s other friends, Bambam, Jackson, Youngjae and Yugyeom were the type to joke around and talk, like a lot. Especially Bambam, who had a personality like an arrogant 7-year-old, after some months of sitting with Alexandra Hwang, who was normally called Alexa. Alexa is a cheerful and noise loving person who produces the said word herself and is playful and loves to joke around too, though she was not good at making comebacks at arguments. Her personality was almost the same as Bambam’s but as mentioned before, Bambam was arrogant, Alexa was polite.

It sometimes puzzles Mark, how Bambam, a freshman would have this kind of personality from his first year at school. But that doesn’t mean he hates or dislikes him though. And another thing confusing Mark is how a popular and crushed-on-by-many girl like Alexa, could have that kind of personality, and still be popular. In many peoples’ perspective, she would have been the main title of gossip but it’s the opposite of it. It was as if she receives a new confession almost every day even though she has a kind-of-boyfriend; she was the topic many of the girls in her class and their juniors would talk about, saying they want to be someone like her. She was almost the same as the main character of a movie: pretty, kind, popular, friendly, talented.

“It seems there are many complaints coming from your subject teachers, saying you guys were not paying attention and talking too much during classes last semester. Maybe you had grown comfortable with your row mates again. So, I’ll change seats again today” the homeroom teacher, Mr. Kim said as the groaning of students followed. “Hey, I don’t want that kind of reaction in my class. Also, it proves that you really had grown fond of your row mates” the teacher said and began shifting the seats.

“Mark, come and sit here” Mr. Kim said, after he had adjusted half of the students’ seats. Silently, Mark went to his new seat with not much expression on his face. He wasn’t going to die or live a new life just because of sitting in that seat. He prefers being ‘un-dramatic’, unlike his classmates who literally dragged their feet with an expression as if they were forced to go to war until the teacher rushed them, saying that they were wasting time, which was true.

Beside Mark, on his right, was a female classmate, Eunjoo, a ‘Hwang’. “Alexa will sit in her same place” the teacher said after her friends mentioned that Alexa was absent that day due to fever. Mark sighed in his mind, already worrying about the other Hwang who will be sitting beside him. The ‘left Hwang’, Eunjoo, was already chattering endlessly to the person before her. And he knew the ‘right Hwang’, Alexa, will talk ten times more than the ‘left Hwang’. He thought to himself about what will happen through the academic session since he was going to sit with two girls who both had different personalities from him. And just like that, the day quickly passed by.

The following day, Alexa had recovered from her fever and had come to school, and anyone could see her bright smile from every corner of the class, as she talked to her friends who seemed livelier than yesterday. She looked paler than usual, which made her more attractive in many students’ eyes, which, once again, was true.

The bell rang, signaling the students that it was time for class. Alexa came to her seat and was greeted by her classmates who will be sitting around her. She smiled and greeted back politely to each and every one of them and finally sat down. “Alexa, we’re going to be seatmates! Isn’t that glam?” Eunjoo squealed and Alexa returned the action, showing that she, too, was excited. However, Mark saw through her that she wasn’t very satisfied with the students around her, except for Daehyun who sat behind their row; behind Eunjoo. Daehyun and Alexa were a kind of besties with the same house colors. Other than Daehyun, none of Alexa’s friends sat near her. There was Areum, one of Alexa’s best friends who sat just across her, but the space between the columns was wide enough to not hear each others’ whispers which will cause getting caught for trying to talk during class, especially in Science and History.

After Mr. Kim had done his roll call; he left the class since the subject teacher would be coming any minute. “Hi Mark! We’re going to be seatmates for a while now so, let’s be good friends?” Alexa put out her right hand for a hand shake toward Mark who looked at it but only smiled a little. “Then, only friends?” she asked but he only smiled as he faced the front. “Um, you don’t want to be friends?” she puts back her hand after a few seconds of no reply. Again, Mark only smiled a little, still not looking at her. “That’s fine, then. But you won’t be like this for long, you know” Alexa smiled at him and took out her books for the class.

Indeed, after the next few weeks, Mark did change, which surprised many students, especially Jinyoung who often talked about it to Bambam. He talked and smiled more than he ever did though he would still be silent many a times. Alexa would throw jokes, trying to make him laugh but all he does is smile or grin. She had never heard him laugh so it made her curious, of how his laughter would sound like. And it surprised Alexa as well, how Mark talks a lot and could be as arrogant as Bambam too. He would talk exactly near her ear, telling her small jokes and teasing her because of the few things she disliked like badmouthing Exo and always talking about BTS. Alexa did love both the bands but it was Exo that welcomed her into her KPOP world, a year after they debuted. And also, BTS were junior to Exo but were still popular than them which made her a bit sad sometimes.

“Why can’t you talk good about Exo? They’re very handsome and popular too, and not to mention, talented” Alexa said when Mark was talking about BTS’ 'Gogo' and the dance moves. “Why would I like a group that has strange songs like ‘Transformer’ or ‘Let out the beast’?” he asked back but with his signature grin, obviously teasing her. Alexa thought Mark’s smile sometimes resembled Luhan’s. Sometimes. But she made sure to shrug the thought off every time it came ‘cause everyone knew, that every fangirl’s standards are very high and don’t just go and say that some boy’s smile resembled their bias’ smiles. “Whatever. But hey, at least you know their songs” she said and laughed as he smiled in return.

The memories of how childish she is came into his mind again. He chuckled quietly making Jinyoung turn to him but shrugged and went back to watching their male classmates singing noisily inside the bus, since he knew who Mark was thinking about. But there were also memories of what the other Alexa was like too. She hardly showed it so everyone had been fooled by her mask for so long.

Alexa was drawing on the corner of her note, not paying attention to the teacher's lecture at all. Mark would secretly steal glances at her, concentrating on her writing when suddenly, Alexa turned to him, making him jump a bit. Luckily, she didn't notice. “Mark, guess what this is.” Alexa said as she showed him what she had drawn on the corner of her note. “The Taj Mahal?” Mark raised a brow as he looked at the drawing closer to see more clearly. It was a tower and practically had a kind of tear shaped top and a few windows. “No, silly, this is Jasmine’s castle.” she said as her nose scrunched up a little, making her look rather cute. “I mean, you know the film, Aladdin?” she asked as Mark grinned and shook his head. Not implying that he didn’t know but because of the fact that she was being very childish, as usual.

“The two of you are always in a world of your own, like some lovey-dovey coup