“There she is, two o'clock”

Kim Seonho immediately sprung up whipping his head around to look for his object of affection. His friend Won-sik snickered at his smitten reaction but he did not care. To him, she was perhaps the one good thing in his dreary high school. Catching a glimpse of her was the highlight of his day; sometimes it was the only reason he would power through his tedious Trigonometry classes. He believed that he was never going to use “SOH-CAH-TOA” in the real world anyway.

He craned his neck and that was when he finally saw her: Im Yoona, the most popular girl in school. She seemed to float above everyone as she gracefully sauntered down the hall. Their eyes met causing her to give him a slight bow and a shy smile. At that moment, Seonho could have sworn that his heart stopped.

“How does she even know you?” Won-sik asked.

“We’re both…part of the drama club,” Seonho replied hesitantly.

Won-sik chortled, “You’re in a club? And drama club? Seriously? I guess you really have it bad for her, you don’t even show up for most of our classes.”

Seonho flushed at his friends’ snide comment, “Ya! I have passions too, you know? Just you wait; I’m going to be a real actor!”

While it was true that he initially joined the club because of Yoona, over time he started to genuinely enjoy it. Theatre provided an avenue of escape and creativity in his monotonous life. Unfortunately, he always failed to land the big roles. Last month, they did “Romeo and Juliet” and he tried to audition for Romeo knowing that Yoona would play Juliet. He was merely rewarded with the role of First Watchman for his efforts.

“Then, you owe me an autograph when you get famous, man. Let’s head to class,” Won-sik said as he hoisted his book bag.

“Go on ahead, I’ll just buy a snack in the cafeteria,” Seonho waved his hand dismissively.

“You better not play hooky again. Flunking out of high school won’t help you with the ladies.”

As Seonho was making his way to the cafeteria, a girl checked his shoulder while she hurriedly left the ladies’ restroom.

“I’m sorry,” he said despite not being in the wrong.

“S’ okay,” she mumbled before making a quick exit.

It was Yoona. He could easily tell that she had been crying with her bloodshot eyes and the way she would sniff intermittently. An inexplicable force compelled him to chase after her. To his surprise, she was leaving the campus with her backpack. Although he had not pegged her for someone who skips classes like him, he was nevertheless thrilled with the idea that she had a rebellious bone in her body.

His daydreams were cut short when she abruptly stopped on the sidewalk.

“Stop following me, oppa. M-mind your own business,” Yoona said in an exasperated tone.

Seonho could only blink at her, stunned by her rudeness. She took his silence as an opportunity to leave, swiftly turning away from him. That was when he found his voice.

“No.” He almost lost his resolve upon seeing Yoona’s quizzical look. Averting his gaze, he continued, “I know we’re not close but you definitely don’t look okay. I just want to help. Do you need anything?”

“I need – ” Yoona sighed deeply “ – to run away.”

Run away. Perhaps they were more alike than he thought. She was probably suffocated by the ennui of high school too.

“I’ll run away with you. What do you say? Misery loves company, right?” Seonho offered his hand with a boyish grin.

There was a short pause, and then Yoona tentatively took his hand. It may have been out of pity or desperation but Seonho did not care; he was going to hang out with the prettiest girl in school.

*****

His head was spinning.

Yoona had brought him to the amusement park, which he found predictable. She seemed to have a child-like innocence to her, making it a fitting choice. In fact, he had often fantasized about taking her out on a date to the exact same place. However, the rest of his day had been anything but predictable. For one, Yoona had a weird laugh. Seonho did not even remember his joke but it had her laughing so hard with wide open like an alligator. Second, she hurt his pride when she beat him in the ring toss game. He intended to impress her but alas, his hand-eye coordination was terrible. To his chagrin, Yoona ended up winning the gigantic stuffed toy for herself. Lastly, – and he found this most troublesome – she really enjoyed riding on roller coasters. The first two times were great but the third and fourth were nauseating. Thus, he came to his current predicament: hunching over a trashcan, using all of his willpower to keep his lunch in his stomach.

“Are you okay, oppa?”

“Y-yeah…I just need to take a bit of a breather.” That was his bravado talking or at least, what was left of it. “How about you, how are you feeling?”

“A lot better, thanks,” Yoona said, beaming at him. Her radiance left him in awe but it was short-lived as her expression shifted to that of panic. It was as if she had seen a ghost. “Oppa, let’s ride the Ferris wheel.”

“Right now? O-okay then.” Seonho was not really up for another ride but agreed anyway after sensing the urgency of her tone.

While they were waiting in line, Yoona turned her head from left to right, checking their surroundings. She was obviously hiding from someone.

“Don’t worry. It’s a weekday. All of our teachers are working and if we ever see one of our classmates here they wouldn’t dare tell on us ‘cause they’d be caught too,” Seonho attempted to put her at ease.

Yoona merely hummed in agreement, her mind still elsewhere.

When it was their turn, they were crammed in a small passenger car. Seonho became conscious of how close they were as their elbows touched. He gulped nervously, catching a whiff of her lavender-scented perfume. It was almost enough to put him in a daze but he peeked at his companion and saw her despondent appearance.

“Seonho-oppa, why did you come with me?” she asked suddenly with a tinge of insecurity.

Her question was easy, his answer to her as clear as day, “Because I like you, Yoona.”

She had a faint blush and there was a twinkle in her eye but her next question caught him off-guard. “Why do you like me?”

“You’re really beautiful.”

“Okay.”

“You’re…uh… really good at acting.”

“Thanks…is there anything else?”
“Er…did I say you’re really beautiful?”

“Yeah, you did.” The twinkle in Yoona’s eye was gone as her despondency returned.

Seonho realized how little he knew about her. He had tried to get closer to her during drama club by reading lines with her or buying her snacks during break time yet they had not gone beyond casual small talk. He did not know what she liked or disliked. What made her tick. What her actual personality was.

“I’m sorry, I know it sounds superficial now but I would really like to get to know you better,” he said. When Yoona nodded, he continued, “Let’s start with what happened today. What’s been eating you this whole time? Why did you cut your classes?”

With a heavy sigh, Yoona replied, “My parents got divorced.”

“Oh…I’m sorry to hear that…Is that why you randomly wanted to ride the Ferris wheel? Did one of them show up a while ago?”

“Yeah.” She pointed to a small family a couple of feet below them. There was a woman who shared some of Yoona’s features. “My umma was having an affair before I was even born. She hid it from all of us for years. Now she’s back with her other family.”

There was a poignant pause. It dawned on Seonho that he may have bitten off more than he could chew. He spoke softly, “So…when you said you wanted to run away…did you mean –”

“I wanted to run away from home…from everything. I’m tired of pretending that everything’s okay when it’s not. Nothing feels right anymore.”

At that moment, the ride ended. As they were about to get off from their passenger car, Seonho noticed that Yoona’s mother was just a few meters away from them. He had an idea.

“Yoona…you should talk to your umma. Tell her how you feel.”

She shook her head, “Oppa, I appreciate your concern but that’ll just make things worse.”

Her words fell on deaf ears as Seonho called after her mother, “Ahjumma! Over here! Ahjumma!”

“Oppa, stop!” Yoona whispered angrily but it was too late. The commotion had already caused her mother to spot her. Arms crossed, the woman waited for her at the ride’s exit. 
Seonho was in deep contemplation as he observed the mother and daughter. He was sure that he was doing the right thing. Despite the circumstances, that woman was still her umma and “mothers know best”.  If they would just talk it out, they would be able to understand each other and solve the problem.

Yoona glanced at him, her eyes filled with fury and hurt from his betrayal.

Suddenly, Seonho was not so sure of himself anymore.