Eunbi walks with her bag towards the crowd of students gathered around the two big bulletin boards. She nervously makes her way over, one step at a time, gripping on her bag tighter as she nears. She stops just behind two girls holding hands, overhearing their conversation accidentally.

 

 

 

“Jjaeyeon, please take care of me again this year,” says the brunette long-haired on the right.

 

 

 

“Likewise, Saku chan,” replies the raven shorter-haired beside her.

 

 

 

Eunbi watches as the two girls walk into the crowd; her eyes follow them until they disappear. Eunbi sighs, she should’ve just followed them, she could at least reach the front faster. They are lucky to have each other, unlike herself.

 

 

 

Eunbi waits until the crowd thinned, as each student comes and goes, she waited until she could finally see the board without having to stand on her tiptoes. She sauntered more confidently towards the board; eyes were too focused on it that she failed to see the girl standing in front of her.

 

 

 

“Ow…” Eunbi’s hand immediately went to her forehead, caressing it in pain. Upon realizing what happened, she takes a step back, quickly bowing to apologize.

 

 

 

“I’m so sorry,” she says, eyes still on the ground. When she does not hear anything, she raises her body, and there she saw a gorgeous girl staring at her with a very unreadable expression.

 

 

 

Eunbi was stunned into silence, eyes wide and mouth agape. The way this girl is staring at her made Eunbi conscious. It felt like she was studying her. Eunbi stayed that way for a few seconds until the stranger finally opens .

 

 

 

“Just be careful next time.” she simply says before she turns and walks away.

 

 

 

Eunbi could only watch as the girl walks off, lingering on the spot, not being able to take her eyes away. She does not know where it came from, but she could feel it inside her. She wants to see the girl again.

 

 

 

“Hey, student! What are you still standing there for? Get to class!”

 

 

 

The voice wakes her up from her reverie as she quickly scans for her name before bowing and running to her class—what a way to start the school year Eunbi.

 

 

 

As expected, Eunbi arrives late for the first period. The teacher gives her a disapproving look before gesturing for her to come inside. As Eunbi walks closer, she could feel all the stares on her. This is why she hates going to a new school. This being her third transfer does not help; she thought she would get used to it.

 

 

 

“Go on, introduce yourself,” the teachers prompt her.

 

 

 

Eunbi sighs, she hates this part, the introducing thing, she does not get why you have to, they will know your name anyways, you’re the only new kid here, but this teacher does not see that as he continues to give Eunbi what she sees as a ‘death glare,’ not a very good first impression on both sides.

 

 

 

But whatever, better get this over with, she thought. “I’m Kwon Eunbi. I just moved to this city because of my dad’s job. Nice to meet you,” she says in the most cheerful voice she could muster, obviously trying hard not to appear gloomy.

 

 

 

But it’s either her classmates did not notice, or they didn’t care as they all looked at her blankly. Well, this is a first; usually, some students would give a reaction, but this time is different. She looks to the side, must be because of the teacher. She stands awkwardly, eyes darting everywhere until it catches a student strutting outside their classroom at the corner of her eye.

 

 

 

She recognizes that it was the girl from earlier as her eyes follow ‘her’ again. She must have been doing it for a while when the teacher’s voice suddenly hits her ear.

 

 

 

“What are you staring at? Go to your seat.”

 

 

 

“De!” she replies as she swiftly walks towards one of the empty seats at the back. Trying so hard to hide her embarrassment. That’s two times now. And all because of that girl.

 

 

 

The class went underway like normal, which was also a first since usually, the teachers don’t start lessons on the first day. And judging from the reactions of her classmates, this teacher was probably the one they wanted to avoid. She thinks this teacher will be tough if it still hadn’t sunk in yet, already dreading the rest of the year.

 

 

 

Just my luck.

 

 

 

At first, Eunbi had tried to concentrate on the lesson, but her thoughts keep on deviating, probably because it was the first day, and she hadn’t conditioned herself to lessons yet, but it was most likely because of that mysterious girl. She does not know why she is so curious about said girl, but she is. And she can’t even begin to explain why.

 

 

 

She speculates that they are most likely in the same year, a senior because she’s loitering on this floor; she is curious what class she was. She wondered if the girl was late too or are, they having lessons on the first day as well? She was curious what her name was. Those thoughts are what kept her occupied the whole time.

 

 

 

Entirely preoccupied that as soon as Mr. Yang leaves, she was startled by the girl on her right, who turns and smiled.

 

 

 

“Hi, I’m Yena. Sorry, we didn’t say anything earlier when you were introducing yourself. We just didn’t like that teacher.” Yena darts her eyes around checking if anyone could hear before she leans towards Eunbi, hand on , whispering, “Mr. Yang hates late students. He once gave one student detention for being late for 1 second.”

 

 

 

Eunbi’s eyes widen as she looks at Yena, disbelieving. “Really?”

 

 

 

Yena nods, “Lucky; you’re new. But not so lucky anyways, welcome to the unluckiest class, Eunbi ssi.”

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Eunbi leaves the classroom alone for lunch. Her seatmate Yena, who she thought was going to be her new friend, disappeared as soon as the lunch bell rang. Eunbi could not hide the disappointment, but it’s still the first day. She’ll try to ask Yena tomorrow if she can join her.

 

 

 

She was walking towards the canteen, passing the two students from earlier by the door. They were talking so close to each other that it made Eunbi blush. They noticed her and smiled before they walk further in, leaving the door open for Eunbi. As she walks in, Eunbi sees the abundant number of students there. She scans the place, not knowing who to look for. She tries searching for Yena but hesitated for the girl is surrounded by a group of students, including the two girls she just saw.

 

 

 

Eunbi turns around before she gets even more embarrassed as she walks away from the canteen. Yet another part she hates. Going to a new school means she knows no one. And not knowing anyone means she eats lunch alone. Adding that she’s a senior, it’s pretty clear every one of her classmates has established a group of friends, and it’ll be hard to transition in. She sighs as she lets her feet lead her to wherever, clutching her lunchbox in her hand.

 

 

 

She walks around for a while before her feet bring her to the back of the school. I guess I’ll eat here today. Eunbi searches the area for a place to sit, when she sees the beautiful girl once again, under the big oak tree. The girl was leaning her back on it, with her eyes closed. She was peacefully sleeping without a care in the world, and Eunbi can’t help but be mesmerized. She’s only sleeping, why are you feeling this way?

 

 

 

“You keep staring.”

 

 

 

Eunbi is surprised at the suddenness, almost dropping her lunchbox in the process. “I wasn’t…” she says, faking a cough to cover what she was doing, looking everywhere except at the girl.

 

 

 

When she hears nothing, Eunbi returns her gaze to the stranger, doing so made her stomach jump. The stranger was looking straight at her, with the same unreadable expression. Eunbi steps back out of surprise. They stare for what seemed like hours before Eunbi looks away again.

 

 

 

She scratches at her neck, not knowing what to do. She sees two options here. She could go back to the canteen, but then again, she wouldn’t have a place to sit. The area is bound to be full by now. The other, she could find another place, maybe in the comfort room? But that’ll be unhygienic.

 

 

 

Before she could decide, the beautiful stranger gave her a third option. “You can stay and eat here,” she says, stunning Eunbi.

 

 

 

Before she could stop herself, Eunbi replies, “Wait? Like beside you?”

 

 

 

The stranger stayed quiet for a few seconds; it appeared she did not quite expect that. As the feeling of regret slowly creeps up on Eunbi, she could her face getting warmer. She did not say beside her ! She only meant to stay. You could’ve just eaten like on that spot right there!

 

 

 

The stranger seemed to read her mind and decided to finally take her out of her misery, replying a simple answer, “Sure.”

 

 

 

Eunbi gets surprised the nth time today, and she did not foresee that. She tentatively walks over before she backs out, taking a seat beside the girl, placing her lunch down as silence engulfs them again. Her hands awkwardly open her lunch, trying so hard to control her heartbeat.

 

 

 

“My name is Hyewon. What’s yours?”

 

 

 

Eunbi turns her attention beside her, and see the girl was leaning her head back again with her eyes closed, head tilted upwards. As the light from the sun that was peeking out from the leaves hits the side of her face, as the wind caresses her cheeks, making her hair sway, Eunbi can’t help but think how beautiful she is.

 

 

 

And as if she's hypnotized, the words flowed out so smoothly “My name is Eunbi” she says

 

 

 

Eunbi watches with butterflies in her stomach as Hyewon’s lips lift to a small smile.

 

 

 

“Nice to meet you, Eunbi.”

 

 

 

--

 

 

 

After that encounter, Eunbi would always eat her lunch with Hyewon. Yena did invite her the next day, apologizing for not doing so the day before, saying that her friend told her to come early. Eunbi assures it’s okay and that she has a spot. Yena did not pressure her but did say that if ever she wants to, she is always welcome to their table. For that, Eunbi is thankful.

 

 

Every day, Hyewon would be waiting for her under the big oak tree every lunch. It was like an unspoken rule for them. Despite Hyewon being quiet most of the time, Eunbi enjoys her company.

 

 

 

“Don’t you have lunch? We’ve been meeting up for lunch ever since the first day, and I have yet to see you eat, and we’re like in the 3rd month now,” Eunbi asks one day when her curiosity got the best of her.

 

 

 

Eunbi could not explain what expression flashed on Hyewon’s face so quickly until it disappeared because the girl was already talking. “I’m on a diet,” shrugging.

 

 

 

Eunbi tilts her head, confused. “But you don’t need to. You have a great body.”

 

 

 

Hyewon smirks, raising an eyebrow at her, “You’ve been checking me out, huh.”

 

 

 

Eunbi chokes on the dumpling she just placed in . She coughs wildly, reaching for her water bottle. Hyewon nonchalantly gives it to her while she laughs at Eunbi’s distress. “What?”

 

 

 

“I know I have the body and the looks; you don’t have to remind me,” she jokes as Eunbi composes herself. Just as she regains it, Hyewon decides to antagonize her again, “You have a jinjja nice body too Eunbi ah” she adds

 

 

 

Eunbi tries to desperately hide her blush, “Stop it!”

 

 

 

Hyewon laughs out loud. Eunbi is so cute when she’s flustered.

 

 

 

“It’s true, though,” Hyewon adds, shrugging, “Not only that, you are beautiful.”

 

 

 

Eunbi looks at her, and she could feel her cheeks getting warmer. As she smiled, “Thanks Hye.”

 

 

 

“No problem Eun.”

 

 

 

And Eunbi never asked again.

 

 

 

--

 

 

 

The rainy season has started a week after, raining on the first day. Eunbi wondered if they could still eat outside, as she walks towards the familiar path, a frown slowly forms at the absence of the girl. She scans the place with her eyes but only sees the dark clouds and nonstop raindrops.

 

 

 

Realizing that she and Hyewon did not exchange contacts, nor did she know which class the girl was too. They were used to meeting up here that they didn’t talk about what if it rained. She could look for her, but a part of Eunbi felt disappointed because Hyewon could’ve at least waited for her here. But she didn’t.

 

 

 

With heavy footsteps, Eunbi turns around and trudges towards the canteen. Eyes down on the floor. Suddenly a hand clasps hers, as she looks up, she sees Yena who thankfully saw her standing awkwardly by the door and pulls her towards their table.

 

 

 

“You finally came,” she says, smiling widely at her as they make their way over her friends.

 

 

 

Yena’s friends, much like Yena herself, welcomed her with open arms. Yena introduces them to her one by one.

 

 

 

Yena gestures first to the two girls in front, and those two are who she saw on her first day. She learned that the brunette long-haired is called Sakura, and the raven short-haired is Chaeyeon. The two are childhood friends, Chaeyeon, younger by a year while Sakura is in the same year as her. Yena and Sakura were classmates when they were freshmen and junior year and inevitably become friends.

 

 

 

The girl beside Chaeyeon on the right is Minju, a second year, she and Chaeyeon are on the same club.

 

 

 

The girl in front of Minju is Wonyoung, a first-year and also Minju’s younger cousin. Lastly, beside Wonyoung is Yuri also a second-year like Minju, who Eunbi thinks have a special bond with Yena, observing how Yena affectionately caresses her head.

 

 

 

Eunbi smiles as she processes how their group is formed.

 

 

 

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Eunbi unnie, Yena has been telling us about this new student in her class that she wants to invite to lunch.” Chaeyeon starts, “And I think we saw you on the first day?”

 

 

 

“Ah, yes. That was me,” Eunbi answers.

 

 

 

Chaeyeon tilts her head as she smiled. “I remember! because you are very pretty, right, Saku chan?”

 

 

 

The comment made Eunbi blush, “I…, yes... haha Thank you.”

 

 

 

But when Eunbi’s eyes glanced towards Sakura, she could see the glint in her eyes, the twitch of her lips as the girl ignores the comment and instead looks at Chaeyeon, pouting “I’m pretty, too right?”

 

 

 

Chaeyeon smiles fondly, “The prettiest.”

 

 

 

Eunbi watches the two friends. She could somehow sense something special between the two. She unknowingly smiles at how cute they are. On the other hand, she could hear Yena make gagging sounds at the two’s display of affection. “You guys are disgustingly cute.”

 

 

 

“Well, you, on the other hand, is just disgusting,” says Yuri, who Eunbi thinks was waiting for the perfect time to diss Yena.

 

 

 

“Agreed” Wonyoung chimes in

 

 

 

“I agree, too,” adds Minju.

 

 

 

Yena turns her head towards Minju, feeling betrayed twice. “Minju yah! I thought you of all people were on my side!”

 

 

 

“I guess you thought wrong,” replies Minju, who was trying to hide the smile, which made Eunbi think that she was playing her.

 

 

 

The whole table, including Eunbi, laughs at Yena’s betrayed look. As they start eating, as they talk about nothing in particular, as they did not let Eunbi feel left out, at that moment, Eunbi only just realized that she was actually having fun. Too much fun that thoughts about a certain girl seemed to vanish from her mind.

 

 

 

It continued to rain until the sun finally comes out on Friday. Eunbi was getting ready for lunch while Yena was waiting for her. That was when Hyewon comes into the room, eyes never leaving Eunbi.

 

 

 

Eunbi still felt disappointed at the girl that as soon as she saw her, she immediately tries to mask the surprise and focused on getting her things ready. But she tries desperately to hide the fact that she too felt happy despite it. As she was putting the last notebook into her bag, Hyewon slowly made her way to her seat.

 

 

 

Eunbi could feel her heartbeat increasing as she watches on the corner of her eye as the girl comes nearer. As each step the girl made, Eunbi’s fidgeting intensifies.

 

 

 

“Eunbi, ah...” Hyewon starts trying to get her attention.

 

 

 

Yena seeming to have not noticed the tension, stands up, and calls out to Eunbi, “You ready?”

 

 

 

Hyewon does not take her gaze away from Eunbi, waiting for the girl to say something. As if she was

 

 

 

Eunbi sighs; she is contemplating what to do. She enjoys having lunch with Yena and the others the past couple of days, but she knows deep inside that she misses the girl, having finally decided, she releases a breath and looks to Yena and says, “I’ll eat outside today, Yena.”

 

 

 

Yena appears surprised for a few seconds before nodding, “Okay, I guess since the sun is out.”

 

 

 

After Yena left the room, the two stays in awkward silence, Eunbi decides to make the move first as she stands up and leaves the room. But only a few steps in, she looks behind her to see Hyewon still standing. "What are you still standing there for?"

 

 

 

They arrive at their spot, both still silent. One felt disappointed while the other apologetic. When it felt like Eunbi won’t talk, Hyewon finally opens . “I’m sorry, Eun,”

 

 

 

Eunbi felt her heart soften at the nickname as she nods, thinking that she should not make the situation drag longer. She says the thing she is most curious about, “Where were you?”

 

 

 

Hyewon looks down on her hands, “I just… I don’t like rainy days.”

 

 

 

Eunbi’s eyes widen as she whips her head towards Hyewon. “What? That’s it?” Eunbi could not believe it. She disappeared just like that. “You could’ve told me; we could’ve eaten inside or somewhere else.”

 

 

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

 

 

Eunbi sighs, she knows that is not the only reason, she wanted to ask more, but the way Hyewon is looking at her prevents her, maybe it was her expression, but there is just something the girl is hiding, and frankly, Eunbi does not want to force the girl to say it, she wants Hyewo to tell her her own. “So, what now? Will you disappear when it rains again?”

 

 

 

Hyewon shakes her head, taking Eunbi’s hands into her own. Eunbi looks down at it and instantly felt butterflies in her stomach as she does so but, Hyewon grips it tight, making her look towards the girl “I won’t disappear without telling you again. I promise.”

 

 

 

“Okay.” Eunbi finally cracks a smile as she blushes, at the sight of Eunbi’s smile, a smile form on Hyewon’s as well.

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Eunbi’s school days have been smooth. Even if their homeroom teacher is a nightmare, Eunbi is still doing good in school, and she’s actually having fun since she has friends and Hyewon. She thought she would have a harder time since she transferred on the last year of high school, but meeting Hyewon made everything the opposite of what she had initially thought how the year would be.

 

 

 

Eunbi somehow knew that Hyewon is different. That, although she met her the same day as Yena, who Eunbi really enjoys hanging out with, she is just not like her. She feels something a whole different when they spend time together, that as they continue to hang out, something inside of her is evolving. She does not know where it came from or even when it started, but she could feel it. She could feel it whenever she looks at Hyewon, whenever she hears her talk, whenever a smile would come her way, Eunbi would feel this unexplainable happiness.

 

 

 

At first, she thought that it was because Hyewon was so fun to be with, that she’s always giddy when they are together. The girl has such an eccentric mind that she sees the world differently and usually blurts out random comments.

 

 

 

There was one time, they were hanging out at lunch as usual, when Hyewon had suddenly stared at her lunchbox. Eunbi looks down at it and wonders what she’s looking at. Her lunch for that day contained an omelet, a few sausages, and a side salad.

 

 

 

“You know what you’re eating is a chicken’s period,” she comments so nonchalantly that Eunbi was rendered speechless for a few seconds.

 

 

 

“Wha…t?”

 

 

 

Hyewon continues, pointing at the omelet “That omelet you’re eating. That’s a chicken’s menstrual period.”

 

 

 

Eunbi looks down at her food, then back to Hyewon. What the hell is she saying?

 

 

 

At Eunbi’s state of stunned silence, Hyewon began her explanation. About how the eggs that we eat are unfertilized eggs. That there won’t be any chance for it to be a baby chick, because they didn’t do the ‘woohoo’ with a rooster. So, the eggs are like periods like human girls have.

 

 

 

Eunbi was so appalled and quite arguably disgusted at the information that she hasn’t eaten any eggs since.

 

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