“Are you ever going to approach her?”

“SHHHH shut up!” 

“Don’t be foolish, Jungeun! How is she ever going to know about your crush if you don’t try to approach her at least?” 

That’s me. 

I’m the Kim Jungeun being yelled at by my best friend. Nothing special, just two ordinary juniors attending Blockberry High. We’re a strange pair, definitely. My best friend happens to be the complete opposite of me, an extrovert that knows no bounds. You could call me a wallflower, an introvert, a loner, whatever you want. I just dislike mixing around with big crowds because it gives me extreme anxiety, not to mention the judgmental looks that could possibly be thrown at me for whatever reason. The less attention given to me, the better and more peaceful my life is and would remain to be. 

… at least that’s what I thought. 

 

 

“Jung Jinsoul.”

“Jinsoul?”

“MISS JUNG!”

Jinsoul’s arm slips and her head slams painfully onto the table, earning snickers from her friends sitting behind her. She scrambles to sit at attention, rubbing her nose with one hand, “YES, I’M HERE!”

“You absolutely never learn, do you?”

“Shut up, Haseul.” Jinsoul whispers harshly, cheeks flushed in slight embarrassment. She flips the pages of her binder to the designated one, clearly still out of it.

That’s Jung Jinsoul, by the way.

Call it what you want – but she’s exactly what I’d look for in a partner. Jinsoul is tall, humble, goofy, rich and an absolute buffoon around her friends. She looks extremely aloof when facing unfamiliar people, almost completely unapproachable. Regardless of the co-curricular activities Jinsoul participates in, it speaks nothing of her personality at all. On Mondays and Wednesdays, she takes part in helping to train the freshmen for Shakespeare play nights. On Thursdays and Fridays, she takes care of the soccer team with another senior who has a rather… well-known reputation in the school. On Tuesdays, Jinsoul can be found in the library helping their elderly librarian with her shifts in the late afternoons.

What’s there not to like?

“Can you get off me?”

“Let me think. No.”

The two girls (who are practically glued to each other) bickering behind my darling are the well-known campus sweethearts, Jo Haseul and Ha Sooyoung. Ask around, everyone knows them and their love story.

Anyway, it’s not about them.

It’s about Jung Jinsoul.

My crush.

Staring hard at the slides, Jinsoul tries her best to absorb the information their old professor is spitting out at them. She’s not a huge fan of biology but she does, however, appreciate their teachers. Pushing her glasses so that it sits even more comfortably on her nose, Jinsoul starts typing her notes diligently at the thought of class ending in ten minutes. It’s actually a little insane; the senior tends to pay only a few minutes of attention in every class, but her grades never seem to dip below the passing mark. Don’t ask me how I know or am familiar with this concept of everything that involves Jinsoul, there is always hearsay… not to mention my nosy friends.

“Don’t forget to submit all your thesis reports by the end of this week!”

Sooyoung reaches over and knuckles the back of Jinsoul’s head, “have you even started on your report?”

Jinsoul whines as she swats her best friend’s hand away from her hair; that girl never lets her live peacefully. She, in fact, started doing the thesis report way before most of the class began theirs. “I’m already finishing mine, dummy. Can you say the same for you?”

Knowing how much of her lazy bum her girlfriend can be, Haseul simply chooses to ignore the conversation going on between the other two. She has nagged at Sooyoung a couple of dozen times and she’ll do it forever, probably not in their lecture hall right here though. The first and last time Haseul went off on Sooyoung had been recorded by nosy bystanders in their class, and rumors would keep flying nonstop.

Once bitten twice shy.

“I’m leaving, Jinsoul. Coming over to our room tonight?”

“Yeah, definitely. See you, Seulie.”

Sending a wink to Jinsoul, Hasel immediately slings her bag on her shoulder and excuses herself from the table, walking towards the door without another gaze or look at her girlfriend.

“HEY WHAT ABOUT ME?!”

Such an embarrassment sometimes, Jinsoul smiles. No matter how many times she teases Sooyoung for being so whipped and predictable, deep down inside, Jinsoul wants to have a relationship as strong as theirs too. The number of college parties, clubs and every crazy party one could ever think of, Haseul and Sooyoung had warded off temptation. Once upon a time, all three of them were single and ready to mingle every night – Jinsoul still happens to be in that position unfortunately. It’s not that she wants to remain single and eventually opt to be a nun, hell no, but there’s just no one special that makes her want to settle down… yet.

“Jinsoul-unnie!”

“Yes, Kim Jiwoo. What can I help you with?” Jinsoul stops packing for a second, turning around so her rests against the lecture table. She rolls her eyes playfully when she notices how shocked the younger looks. “You’re the only junior in this class and who calls me like that. No one in your year dares to drop formalities with me.”

Jiwoo shrugs in response, “not sure why. You’re not even that scary.”

“Just because you see me almost every weekend doesn’t mean you get to slander me like that,” Jinsoul huffs.

That’s right.

Jung Jinsoul and Kim Jiwoo are cousins, which is not exactly a wideknown fact in the student body, leaving the two rather thankful. Jiwoo had purposefully kept this a secret from her best friend, because the latter would NOT let her breathe in peace. They’re already juniors, meaning they’re way past the period of simply yearning for someone in the upper year. Jiwoo spent almost an entire year trying to persuade her best friend to just make a goddamn move – no harm, no foul. There shouldn’t be any issue because both are very single, and both have also been on the market far longer than Jiwoo’s happy to see. Let’s not pretend Jungeun hasn’t been obsessed with her cousin for months now, always watching her from afar.

Leaping forward to sneak in a slight flick against Jiwoo’s forehead, Jinsoul fist pumps the air in victory. “Don’t look at me like that, shorty. You deserved that for saying I’m not scary.”

“Whatever. Anyway, are you free to help with my friend’s photography project?”

“Shouldn’t you ask Sooyoung for advice or assistance? I mean, she’s the better photographer between us and you know that.”

Jiwoo inwardly panics at the blunt question; there are some moments where Jinsoul is exceptionally sharp and observant. “Her timetable doesn’t match my friend’s, and we need it done by this weekend. Don’t say it as if you have ty photography skills, yours are decent too.”

It isn’t a bad option.

Plus, she only has another paragraph to finish before submitting her thesis, and then she’s free for three whole days.

“Sure, but you need to buy me lunch after.”

Perfect, now all Jiwoo needs to do is make Jungeun go to the filming location without revealing anything.

 

*

 

“Jungeun, you’ve barely touched your food. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, Mom… just have something on my mind.”

Mr. and Mrs. Kim exchange knowing glances; there couldn’t be anything bothering their daughter this much, especially not studies or grades. Jungeun was very hard on herself when it came to being diligent and disciplined, so there could only be one reason – a crush.

“What’s her name? That tall, pretty one on Jungeun’s phone?”

“Jin… Jinsoo? Jingoo?

Jungeun furrowed her eyebrows at the wrong guesses; she doesn’t even want to imagine where her parents are plucking these names from. Imagery and forged memories of the charismatic senior enters her mind, unconsciously muttering a soft, “Jinsoul.”

The moment her parents began making those wiggly eyebrows and mischievious gazes, Jungeun knew her fate was sealed. Imagine having an insane crush on this ethereal girl that one might never be able to get even after years but people constantly encouraging that crush… that kind of sealed. There’s not much Jungeun can ask for; they weren’t as old-fashioned or traditional as some families. She was allowed to come home late, have multiple sleepovers as and when she liked, she could meet friends for supper… her parents were cool. Not that it’s anything to boast about, but Jungeun had absolutely no complaints.

Mrs. Kim couldn’t stop herself from reaching for her daughter’s hand resting on the table, “Honey, you don’t have to feel shy or ashamed if you want to talk about your crush, o