Narrator's POV

Youngjin walked to her apartment with Myungsoo following her from behind. “Why are you always following me????” Youngjin asked, getting irritated. Since the day Jinyoung appeared, Myungsoo had been following her until she gets home. Youngjin didn’t know why but he wouldn’t leave even if she told him to get lost.

“Is it bad to walk you home?” Myungsoo returned a question. “I don’t think there is a need to walk me home. I am capable of myself,” Youngjin said. “I don’t think you can,” Myungsoo said. “Whatever,” she rolled her eyes and ignored the lad.

“What are you going to do now?” Myungsoo asked, making her stop from her tracks. “What?” Youngjin said, confused. “I know you’re broke,” “I was never broke, you git,” “How harsh,” Youngjin stuck out her tongue. She resembled a kid, to which he laughed.

But then, he was right. They were running out of money and she was aware of it but not her brother. He needs not to worry about this, she thought. Through the nights, she had spent minutes that turned into hours thinking what of her talents could make for her.

She wasn’t musically inclined to work in the clubs. No restaurants would accept her since they were full in employees. She wasn’t a cook to help in a bakery or a café. She would end up ruffling her hair in frustration as her brother had lay fast asleep.

A normal person would say she was complicating her life. Why not ask her Uncle to help her out? Of course, she couldn’t! It wasn’t in her nature to ask people for help. Her mom and dad had always been busy so they couldn’t help her out in most of the things. She didn’t hate them for this, but instead, she used this as an opportunity to solve things by herself. Plus, she had too much pride when it comes to things like this. And in life, pride is always in the way.

Myungsoo just stared at her, who was deep in thought. For once, he had wanted to know what a person was thinking. Although she showed no emotion at times, he wanted to see more emotions from this girl. She wasn’t just like any other girls. She was… different.

“Bye bye,” Myungsoo said as they had already reached Youngjin’s apartment. “Yeah, sure,” Youngjin walked straight inside but was stopped when a hand held her wrist. “Don’t I get a thank you?” Myungsoo asked. “Why should I thank you?” she asked. “Because I walked you home,” he answered, smiling. Youngjin sighed, irritated. “I didn’t ask you to walk me home so I am not obligated to thank you,” she said and again walked inside but he stopped her again. “What?” she asked. “Don’t I get a…” Myungsoo said, pointing to his cheek. Youngjin thought for a while what it meant before settling her mind.

She walked up to him and out of nowhere, she punched him. The impact of the punch was hard that it made a cut on Myungsoo’s lip. “What was that for?” he said, gritting his teeth. Youngjin was started to get confused. “Isn’t that what you were asking for?” she asked. Myungsoo had face palmed his self in his mind. How could she not know this? Was she serious?

He stared at him and saw that she really didn’t know. He let out a little laugh through his nose. “I was asking for this,” he pulled Youngjin towards him and kissed her cheek. She stood there, frozen together with the person watching them from afar. She was surprised but her eyes didn’t grow wide. Myungsoo smirked and pulled away. “See you tomorrow,” he said and walked away.

She gently touched the spot where he had kissed her. But then, she couldn’t explain to herself what she was feeling. Confused, she rubbed the back of her palm on her cheek but no matter how hard she tried, she could still feel as if Myungsoo had left a mark. It was her first kiss on the cheek. And then, she suddenly remembered he was her first kiss too.

“Aish,” she cursed under her breath and went inside, frustrated. Her mind was in turmoil. He had stolen her first kiss and on the cheeks. But then, she remembered she had punched him awhile ago. She settled her mind with the thought of the punch as a late and advance payback.

The next day in school, it was morning and Youngjin was getting her things from her locker. She yawned as she closed her locker door. “Hi!” someone greeted her. It was Seunghee, leaning on a locker door beside Youngjin’s. “Who are you?” Youngjin asked. Seunghee was taken aback. “Ey, I’m Seunghee!” Seunghee answered brightly. “Ah,” Youngjin said, uninterested.

Seunghee, she never heard of the name before but something was oddly familiar about her, especially her face. It felt like she had seen her before. Seunghee followed Youngjin but only got ignored. They reached the classroom and Youngjin proceeded to her seat and Seunghee went to hers. Youngjin tossed her bag to the floor and then sat down. She rested her head on the table. “Annyeong,” Myungsoo poked her cheeks.

Youngjin groaned and Myungsoo chuckled. She glared at him and suddenly pinched his arm hard. “Ow! What was that for?” again, gritting his teeth just like yesterday. “Payback for yester-“ Youngjin said but remembered the kiss from yesterday. “Never mind,” she finished with this. She rested her head again on the table. Myungsoo chuckled. Again, another pair of eyes watched the 2.

During the classes, Youngjin’s mind drifted on Seunghee. She couldn’t help but think of where she had seen this face. As time passed, she couldn’t get something out of that face so she had given up and listened to the teacher instead. Exams were getting nearer and she wasn’t really a genius. She depended on her stock knowledge most of the times. And she also thought of their financial problems. She took down notes in every class so that she could take her problems away from her mind.

In her geometry class, they were asked to prove that Angle A is congruent to angle B, if the given was angle A and angle B are complementary angles; angle C and angle B are complementary angles. Most of the class grumbled. Although it was just one of the easiest problems for a teacher, many had problems on how to prove it. “Anyone who wants to prove this?” the math teacher asked. But every time he looks at a quarter of the class, ach one would turn away their heads, avoiding is gaze.

“Come on, it’s just really easy,” the teacher said. He sighed and went to his desk. He checked the seat plan and looked for a student who would answer the given problem. “Cha…” the teacher said and all the Cha’s in the classroom started getting nervous, crossing their fingers that they wouldn’t get picked. “Seunghee,” the teacher finished his sentence.

“Teacher! I don’t know how to answer that,” Seunghee raised her hand. “Ey, come on. At least try answering it,” the teacher encouraged her but she only shook her head. The teacher sighed and called on the next student, “Lee Youngjin,” Each turned their heads to her, shocked to see her standing up and making her way to the blackboard against the stares of the class.

She took the chalk and began proving the given statement. She took pauses every time she finishes a step, to prove she was really human to solve this kind of problem. In less than 3 minutes, she was done. The teacher was checking her answer. “Your answer is correct,” he said. Everyone else was astounded, thinking if they should ask for her help on how to prove.

After the math class, one girl who wears glasses, her hair tied into braids, and her skirt’s length is up to her legs. Anyone may regard her as a nerd but no she’s not. Why would a nerd ask for help, especially when it’s math? She walked towards Youngjin and said, “Um, can you help me how to prove in Geometry,”

“I’m busy,” Youngjin replied and rested her head on her desk, planning to sleep. The girl prodded her awake, “Don’t you know that sleeping can make you fat? If you don’t want to be fat, teach me in Geometry!” Youngjin raised her head and glared at the girl, “Let me be fat!” she said and went back to sleep. “Please! I’ll pay you!” the girl shouted and caused the others to look at them. Youngjin looked at her, as something caught her attention. ‘I’ll pay you.’