His words are an arrow shot straight at my heart. It’s as if he is speaking only to me, even though I am sitting in a crowded auditorium and he speaks to all of us. I love each note, I love each piece of dark hair sending tiny dancing rainbows into the crowd as the light hits it. I love the way the corner of his mouth tilts up in a slight smile. I love everything about him.

I am supposed to be calling lighting cues up to Hyejin, but I am stunned by the words that he sings, they ring around me. Magical. His song is like tiny birds serenading me.

The first time I saw Eric, he had just moved to Bucheon. Walking into class like a scene right out of one of those sappy teen romance movies. Violins playing behind him as he floated in. His dark hair was neatly groomed, unlike the rest of the boys in my class, an escaped strand blowing gently across his forehead porcelain skin. As he was introduced to the class, he looked right at me. His dark brown eyes pinned me in my seat. I could not breathe, my heart stopped beating. I had truly never seen someone so good looking before. I have been in love with him ever since.

With each passing day that drones on, I fall more for him. He is smart, handsome, and funny. At least, I assume he is. When I watch him passing by in the hall, all his friends are laughing, and Eric is smiling like he has a joke ready on his lips. Every day that I watch him, I ache to touch him, to talk to him, to be part of the joke. Every day I find another reason to fall more in love with him. I sound like a stalker, but I can’t help it. He is perfect for me. And one day soon, I am going to tell him exactly how I feel. But for now, I have barely managed to pluck up enough courage to say a few words to him, “Can I borrow a pen?” or “Good luck on the test!” But by the end of this year, I am determined to take things further. More than a few empty words!

“Hello! Earth to Yongsun! Stop checking out Eric’s and read me the cues. Should I go brighter?” Hyejin blinds the stage with a bright light. Shouts erupt around the stage, “Yah, knock it off! Just put the rose-coloured light on Eric.” The stage softens in a pink glow, but the glare coming from Eric is bright white.

Laughter fills my ear piece. “He thinks you’re an ,” Hyejin snorts. “Now you ain’t ever getting in his pants.”

Hyejin is both my best friend and the most obnoxious person I know. She has this “ off or you are dead” aura around her that no one dare to makes an eye contact with her. She’s rebellious and stubborn, but for the right reasons. Clearly the opposite of me. Yet we became best friends.

We have been best friends ever since she tried to stop a group of girls from shoving my plump sixth-grade body into the school locker during our middle school year. In resulted the both of us was called to the principal’s office for sending the girls to the hospital. For Hyejin sending the girls to the hospital to be exact while, I did nothing and watch. Luckily we were both let go by the head with only a week in detention class since those girls had been reported for several bullying cases. She has had my back since and no more shoving me around business ever happen till now.

Years passed and I have change. The ugly glasses with thick lenses are gone. I’m no more the messy and plump little girl as we start our high school year. I gain more confident with myself as a result I gain a lot of good friends. And Hyejin, is still Hyejin. The annoying Hyejin. No matter how annoying she is, she is still my best friend.

“Shut up! You have no clue what you’re talking about! Besides, Eric is not that type of person. You don’t just get into his pants.” He is perfect. He is perfect for me.

“Ew, I think im gonna throw up”

Hyejin was making a gagging sound when Miss Raina, our advisor call my name, “Yongsun-ah”

Ignoring Hyejin, I turn to face Miss Raina, I walked over to where she was standing as she waves for me to come closer. “Yes?” I answer her.

“The Principal calls you. To his office now”, she pointed to a student that standing next to her who I assumed the one that delivered the message to her. The student nods and slightly bow to me and heads away.

“What? Why he want to see you in his office?” Hyejin ask in my ear, she can hear clearly from the mics and I just shakes my head as I don’t know either. I took off my head-mics and places it on her hands, slightly bow as I excuse myself before I leave the hall.

Getting called to the principal's office is a traumatic experience for any student and I’m in no exception. Did I do something wrong? Did something happen to my family? Did anyone report me for something I didn’t do? I can’t help but having all these negative thoughts in my head as I walk through the hallway.

***

I gave a few knocks before I open the door and peeks inside, “Hello, you want to see me Mr. Yoo?”

“Yongsun-ah, come in, come in” Mr. Yoo Jae Suk chirpily invites me in with his bright smile making me smiles back to him. His smiles has washes away all the worries inside my head. Now that I know I didn't have to worry about anything so I let out a small sigh of relief before walk myself in.

He was wearing a light blue suit, and his beige tie displayed a pin with a pearl almost as big as a Yankee quarter. “Come and takes a seat Yongsun-ah” He waves for me to come closer, I gave him my brightest smile as the door silently slid shut behind me. I heads to his desks and took a seat just like he ask me to. He clears all his files and arrange it at one side before he face me.

“How was your day Yongsun-ah?” he ask as soon as my hits the comfy grey sofa chair.

I smiles, “I’m doing good Mr. Yoo and oh, we are preparing for the upcoming musical drama. Everything was going smooth and…” I’m happily filling in all the details to him about the event as he nods along from time to time with smiles that never leaves his face. I can’t help myself mentioning about Eric being the main character in the act. Of course I had to praises him, of how amazing his way of making the character life and how natural his talents is.

Realising that I have been talking nonstop, I end up my sentences with, “…urm, I’m so sorry Mr. Yoo I get carried away…I’m sure that you didn’t call me here to ask about my day” I gave him my most sincere apology smiles.

He laughs, “Oh well…” he claps his hands before he continues, “…I did call you here for a reason but I can’t be a bad person to stop you when you are so passionate in describing how amazing your favourite Eric Nam is” he wiggles his eyebrows. The instant the words coming out from him, I feels myself blushing in embarrassment.

“Okay…” Mr Yoo said “…let’s finally talk about this…” he continues as he pushes his glasses further up the bridge of his nose with his index finger. His face turn serious.

I nods as I gave my full attention to him. I’m ready. He looks at me in the eyes and says, “Yongsun-ah” he starts “You are our top student and won the most prestigious of awards, the Governors' Prize. Not once but twice. You did great in sports and a leader of many school clubs. Not only that you also helps others around you to do the same. As a principal of this school, I can’t describe to you in word of how proud I am to a have you here.”

Hearing all the compliments coming from him making my heart beats faster. The compliment mean a lot to me because it was coming from him who not only the nicest person I ever meet but also the most well-known among all the education leaders as he had won himself The Nobel Prize in Literature for the book that he had written. His face appears on TV and magazines. He’s the talked of the world and the Korean people proud of him.

I could feel tears starting to form in my eyes, I’m so touches but before I could say my thank you to him, he continues, “That’s why I need you to tutor someone”.

Immediately my brows furrows in confusion.

That’s it? He calls me here just so he can ask me to tutor someone? Why can’t he just tell Mr. Lee, my Tutoring Club’s advisor to ask me? Why ask me personally? I thought to myself.

Our school has a Tutoring Club, where the top five students from each three grades were recruits by the teachers to help all those who was in needed in other word ‘idiots’. Of course we didn’t do it for free. As a rewards we get to earn a few benefits from the school such as we don’t have to pay for the foods in cafeteria. We also get free stationary and books. We have limitless access to the library and we can borrows any books we want and as many as we could. We were provided with a tailored school uniform including the shoes and the shocks, which ours are slightly different from others, our ties are red in colour with a star pin on it while others are in plain black. And during winter, our blazer are black like others except, we have two golden stripes on both of our wrist sleeves. Lastly we are given credits in a form of recommendation letters and certificate that we can use in the future to continue our studies after we graduate.

He keep going, “It’s remarkable on how you manage to changes students like Lee Kwang Soo and Yang Se Chan.” I blinks my eyes a few times and nods my head as I remember how troublesome those two are. To the point that other members of the club left with no choices but to throws in the white towel after two months of trying.

Kwang Soo is the most misbehaved person I ever meet in my life. His life is full of pranks and jokes. He won’t listen and he lies a lot. Skipping classes and other common things that students with attitudes problems always do. While Se Chan is a funny and cunning person, and very likeable by everyone, however he’s too dumb to even know how to spell his own name in English. Refuse to giving up on them, I works twice as hard to get these two back on track. As a result their grades get better and better and I get a warm and tight hugs from their parents for saving their son, as they claim to be.

He sigh. The smile on his face was replaces by a look of painful care. “This person that I need you to tutor is my older sister’s only daughter, my niece” he explains.

Oh.

“She used to be a sweet young girl. You reminded me a lot of her you know. Smart. Caring. Brave. Name it all. She was the face of this school and we were so proud of her. She was so bright that she skip a year during middle school.” he end and sigh. “Such a waste…”

I think I’ve heard about this person during my first year. They told me that last year there was someone who is really good in everything she do but she got into trouble and she got suspended, no one knows what actually happened and she had never returned to school. I wonder if she’s the one Mr. Yoo is talking about. If so I can’t believe that she’s actually his niece. This is something big for both of us.

“It’s a shame, on her last year, a tragedy happened and she lets it get the best of her. She got suspended for six months and refused to come back to school ever since. She never graduate. I have been trying to get her back but she shut herself up in her apartment, and refused herself even the refreshment of the open air.”

Now it is confirmed. She is the one. Now I’m curious to find out more about this person. I held my hands tightly together on my laps preventing myself to voice out any questions that running inside my head, about what did she do? What actually happened? And why did she do it? Why would she do something that would waste all her efforts, her hard works? I want to know but I keep myself silence to let him continue.

“We had a meeting last week and she was one of the topic. We have come to an agreement to give her one last chance or she will be expelled for being absent from classes for too long. I know I’m being bias but as an Uncle I can’t just sit around and watch. She just a child that’s having a hard time and if I can’t be the one to help her, I was hoping that you could. Maybe someone her age could understand her more than we adults do. I am hoping you could at least persuade her to come back to school, to come back to class”

“Erm…Mr. Yoo, if I may ask…what did she do? And why is her parents didn’t do anything about this? Why did they just let her be? It’s seem to me you are the only one that care” I carefully ask. I find it weird that instead of her parents, it’s her uncle was the one who been trying to reach for her. How can a parents let their daughter suffer like that? Don’t they care? If there did, I would have known because parents with concern about their child academics problem will come to us for help.

He shakes his head, “I’m sorry Yongsun-ah, but I prefer not to talks about my niece, about what she did.” he gave me a small smiles.

I nods once and apologise immediately, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean…”

“Its okay” he cuts me before I could finish my sentences. “It’s just that its break my heart every time I talks about it”

I can see that tears start to form in his eyes behind those glasses. The pains in his eyes are the proof of how much he really cares and his love for his niece. It must be hard to see someone in your family who was doing great suddenly changed to the worse. I can only imagine how worry and sad he had been all these years. It makes me think, this is probably how my parents would feel if something bad had happen to me. Pains and sorrow.

“As for her parents…” he cut off my train of thought, “…they were long gone when she was five. My sister and her husband were supposed to visit for a family dinner at my parents’ house. But some drunk driver lost his control over his lorry and crashed onto their car. My niece was the only survivor that night. She was raise by my parents until my family is the only family she has now”

A tiny gasp escapes before I could cover my mouth with my palm, I look down at my feet as I couldn’t bear to look at him immediately. A moment ago I was thinking of how ridiculously awful her parents is for abandon their daughter like that. I even voice out my thought to him. Without knowing the truth I just assumes things. I feels so ashamed of myself. I keep my head down regretting for being so heartless.

The room fell into silence.

Second passes.

Minutes passes.

I heard him clearing his throats as I keep my head low, “Yongsun-ah…” he say, “I know this hard for you too…and this year is your last year…it’s an important year for you…you have a lot on your shoulder too…I just couldn’t think of anyone else to ask to help…so…”

“I’ll do it!” I cut, I got up on my feet and bows to him, “I promise you that I will bring her back no matter what happen.”

He got on his feet as well and he bows back, “Yongsun-ah, thank you. Thank you so much” his voice was cracking, I knew he was trying hard not to cry.