1. The First Meeting

It is mid-July, the first day of summer break and Lee Chaeyeon cannot wait to live her life without worrying too much about certain people or so she thought. She was on her way to where she works, Duck’s Bookcafe, when suddenly she was harshly grabbed from behind and dragged to the nearby alley. She turns around to see who it was, only to be frozen in fear. What she sees before her is the two people she wanted to desperately avoid during the break Kang Hyewon and Kim Minju, otherwise known as the visuals of IZ University but to Chaeyeon they are her bullies.

“Hyewon unnie, look who it is! Hey, ugly fancy seeing you here!” Minju said while she slaps Chaeyeon face a couple of times before Hyewon stops her, only to punch in the stomach instead.

“Hey! I will take these!” Hyewon said as she bends over a snatch roughly the hearing aids out of Chaeyeon ears.

“Give those back,” Chaeyeon said as she tries to get them out of Hyewon hands, “I got them fixed last week.”

“Aww well too bad!” Hyewon said as she steps on Chaeyeon’s hearing aid breaking it in the process, then proceeds to punch and kick Chaeyeon with Minju occasionally slapping Chaeyeon.

The bullying continues until a shout interrupted them, “Hey! Stop it the cops are already on the way here!”

Sensing trouble and not wanting to be found out, Hyewon and Minju ran. “You lucked out this time Chaeyeon but not next time!” Hyewon said before punching her in the stomach then running away.

Chaeyeon looks at the broken hearing aids on the ground next to her, wondering why her life had to be so hard. When she was born her parents found out that she had a hearing loss and would need to wear hearing aids for the rest of her life. Finding out that their child had a disability Chaeyeon parents were ashamed and raised Chaeyeon with little love and only providing her the necessities. Her life became worse when she started school, wearing hearing aids that stick out noticeably she became the target for bullying. That when she first met Hyewon and Minju, despite them being pretty, they were notorious when it came to Chaeyeon and it did not stop but continues until now when they are in university. Chaeyeon lives a somewhat lonely life with her being neglected by her parents and having almost no friends at school, beside her bosses from her work, because of Hyewon and Minju interference as the popular girls. She also believes that she is truly ugly because of Hyewon and Minju words, that she became subconscious about herself, not confident on her looks. Taking a look at her hearing aids again, Chaeyeon snapped out of her thought and started to cry silently. Until someone taps her on her shoulders. She turns to see who it was and saw the most beautiful girl she very saw in her life.

“Hey, are you okay? Do you need any help? I saw what those girls did to you.” said the beautiful stranger.

Chaeyeon shakes her head as she muttered a small thanks as she picks up her hearing aids before getting up. She bowed to the stranger and proceeds to head to work for she knows she is probably late now.

She continues walking when the stranger ran to catch up to her, “Are you sure you don’t need help?” Chaeyeon nodded and continues walking. Sensing that the girl did not want to talk about it, the stranger scrambles to find a piece of paper and writes down her name and number. She then ran to catch up to Chaeyeon again.

“Here this is my number, I’m Miyawaki Sakura feel free to call me when you need someone to talk to,” Sakura said as she stuffs the piece of paper into Chaeyeon hands.

Seeing the stranger’s effort, Chaeyeon finally softens up a little. “Lee Chaeyeon, my name is Lee Chaeyeon. Thank you for helping me out back there.”

“It was no problem Jjaeyeon! I am glad I could help you from those girls.” Sakura said with a smile.

“Well I am late to work because of what happened, but hopefully I can see you around.”

“I am terribly sorry if I held you up! And yes I hope we can meet again.”

Chaeyeon and Sakura goodbyes as Chaeyeon proceeds to work.

Chaeyeon arrives at her work. Duck’s Bookcafe is a bookstore and cafe owned by Choi Yena and her girl