It was 7:30am of a beautifully sunny Saturday; the morning that students used to catch up on missed sleep or lazily enjoy the heat of the Sun. Saturday morning was the reward that followed the busy week. To the students, it was something that should not be disturbed unless an emergency.

Yet this particular Saturday morning, every student was out and about, busily preparing the court for an assembly. Despite the loss of their Saturday morning, no-one was complaining and they were like honeybees at work, only they were quiet—much too quiet. The silence in the atmosphere was intense that even the bright sunshine could not melt it.

Finally, the last wooden bench was put in its row and everyone gathered around the area, curious of what this assembly would be for. Two male students hauled the big projector screen to the front and following them were another two who held the electrical devices necessary.

After a few minutes of setting up and some clicking and typing, the screen flashed to life, putting even more weight onto the already heavy atmosphere. Even the birds in the trees stopped chirping their cheerful melody.

‘Assembly: Welcoming the New Students’, the screen read in big and bold red lettering.

Yes, this was an assembly – the assembly all students feared and hated, but couldn’t avoid.

---

The ride in the van to the school grounds hidden amongst the green of the forest had been awfully silent, and what was supposed to be a welcoming ceremony of the five new arrivals had felt more like a funeral. Although, amongst the crowd of darkened faces were a few who at least made an effort to smile. As soon as the five new students had finished their self-introductions and guides had been assigned to each of them, the audience hurried to pack up the assembly, not even bothering a simple greeting or welcome.

---

“Is this school always like this? Because if it is, I’m going back home right now,” One of the five new students spoke up to her guide, Liu Amber, as they set off in their own direction away from the others. All of this dullness was getting too much for an excited and naturally cheerful girl, Hwang ChaeYeon.

“I’m sorry. You must have been anticipating something more,” Amber replied, “But don’t worry, it isn’t always like this.”

ChaeYeon glanced at her tomboy guide standing next to her. “Is there a reason they were so gloomy?” she asked as they walked between two buildings, facing the front of the school.

 “Yes,” Amber let out a quiet sigh before continuing, “But it’s nothing that you will understand now. Maybe when you’ve become more familiar with the ways of school, I’ll tell you.”

ChaeYeon just nodded, taking sneaky peeks out the corner of her eyes at Amber. There was something about the way her eyes zoned out every so often. Excluding Amber’s name and age, ChaeYeon knew nothing about her, and she didn’t have the abilities of a mind-reader, but none of that was necessary to see that some matter was bugging her.

Then ChaeYeon’s lips curved into an untimely bright smile. She was beginning to think that this ridiculous idea of her mother’s wasn’t so ridiculous anymore for two reasons:

One, she could be of help to at least one person and possibly form a real friendship that isn’t based on money and background. Back in the city, she had a lot of girls and boys surrounding her looking to be a friend, but her past friendships had always been related to her rich family background. And a girl’s sixth sense combined with her protective instincts? Whatever was bothering Amber, ChaeYeon wanted to help.

Two, it felt good to take a rest from the past…and her break-up. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, it was true, and truth was not something that could be denied easily. ChaeYeon was sure of herself when she told her mother that her break-up was nothing to make a huge deal out of; it still was true. She didn’t feel any regret or sadness. Nonetheless, it felt really good to have a change and be in a fresh environment like this.

“Uh… Hello? ChaeYeon-ah, are you okay?” Amber waved her hand in front of the younger one’s face in a failed attempt to snap her out of her sudden daydream. It was for the same reason that Amber jumped in surprise when ChaeYeon did return to reality shouting her name.

“Amber Unni! Come on, you have to show me all around school and at this pace we are going to take the whole day!”

As Amber watched the other skip ahead of her, she could only feel sorrow and guilt. She desperately held on to the tiniest bit of hope in her mind that ChaeYeon would keep that smile on her lips and remember the feeling of genuine happiness.

Because Amber certainly had lost and forgotten.

---

“Choi JiHyun, right?” Krystal was the first to crack the awkward atmosphere.

“Yes,” JiHyun, being a quiet girl, didn’t really know how to continue on the conversation. She was apologetic that her lack of social skills made Krystal’s efforts of being friendly useless.

Walking slowly but steadily by each other, Krystal pouted, a slight frown masking her face, “Wow… Are you always like this? I mean, are you always this awkward?”

JiHyun was aware that her guide was joking and only attempting to lighten the mood, so she just smiled in return.

She could tell that her own smile wasn’t as natural as it would have and should have been; she was still in the process of recovering from her disappointment of not being accepted into her dream school in Russia. Although finding this school gave her a big boost in resuming the chase towards her goal, the hurt was yet to heal with time.

A few seconds of silence followed while JiHyun took time to gather her wandering thoughts and another few seconds while they blankly stared at each other. Then, as if promised, they both burst into sudden laughter. Who knew that laughter could speak more than words? But after their giggling died down, both felt that they had become closer to each other than anyone else.

“How about we head to the front yard? There’s this one person I want to introduce to you. He’s called SeHun and he is so…” Krystal clasped her hands together and held it to her cheek, letting out a dreamy sigh, “He’s so cute!”

JiHyun tried to stifle her laughter, but it escaped between her lips, earning a playful glare from the other girl. Krystal had left the strong impression of being something along the lines of cold and possibly bratty, so seeing her open up so quickly was a pleasant surprise. And seeing her daydream about her crush was definitely another surprise, more pleasant than not. As JiHyun’s first impression of Krystal shattered into a million pieces, she was reminded once more that books should not be judged by its cover and people should not be judged by outer appearances.

“Oh, we should probably get to know each other better before we go and see him, because when he’s in my sight, all I talk about is him. Hey, I warned you beforehand – no complaining later when that happens, okay?” Krystal grabbed JiHyun’s pull-along luggage and ran ahead, poking her tongue out at the other who was hurrying to catch up while pulling the second luggage bag.

The two luggage bags were exactly the same. It was beautifully decorated with a scene of a golden beach, the setting sun painting half the waters red and the rising moon gloss the other half sparkling silver. High in the deep navy sky, a rippling turquoise aurora shone bright.

“Wait up, Krystal!”

---

The other four pairs of one guide and one new student had wandered away to tour the school, yet this pair of Tao and Ryu AhRi had remained in their spot. Neither of them was willing to speak up first.

Tao sighed and reminded himself that a job which must be done is better done with a positive mind. He pasted a friendly smile on. “Where do you want to start?”

“You’re the guide. Aren’t you supposed to have a tour course or something?” AhRi amusedly smirked, noticing Tao slightly flinch. Teasing people would never get too old for AhRi, and to her it didn’t matter whether she was going to make a good first impression or not.

 “Well, I was just asking to be a friendly guide,” Tao quickly rebutted, not amused at all. He secretly cursed whoever the head of this academy was for sticking him with such a bratty girl. “You know, people with manners would respond with a—”

“Yeah, whatever. Just get on with the tour,” AhRi too, was too loose amusement. She was beginning to think this guide of hers was one annoying and frustrating guide who obviously had an overdose of seriousness.

Tao stared with raised eyebrows as the girl snatched the paper map out of his hand and marched away towards the Music building. “Why did I get the Taiwanese brat—” he started to mutter under his breath but stopped himself when AhRi spun around, sending him a freezing cold glare. In less than 5 minutes spent together, she had cut off his sentence twice, and Tao felt his positive mindset draining.

“Being racist now, are we?” AhRi stomped back the few meters she had walked before, “Yeah, I’m a Taiwanese brat. So what? You’re a Korean grandpa who probably couldn’t even tell the difference between a joke and a serious statement. No, I bet you all my money that you can’t.”

After getting AhRi’s sudden outburst and icy glare, Tao had lost his ability to think, as if someone had flicked his switch from on to off. Tao opened his mouth to make another one of his great rebuttals but nothing came out so he closed it, and when that repeated a few more times, it left Tao feeling like a fish.

“Grandpa Tao is turning into a fish, is he?” AhRi remarked cleverly, then turned around and resumed her walk to the back of the school. She had to take time to wipe the satisfied smirk off of her face before she could glance over her shoulder and question Tao if he was going to continue the tour.

With one very frustrated Tao and one very amused AhRi, their tour began.

---

Jung AeSook looked at her plain black suitcase that was being pulled along by her hand and lifted her head to see her plain white suitcase that was being pulled along her guide, Lee DongHae. How it had gotten into his hands and why she wasn’t taking it back, she didn’t know. Maybe it was his fine choices of words or her guards letting down due to the new environment, but AeSook believed the latter. No, she knew it was the latter. Sweet-talking was something she was immune to.

“So, Miss. AeSook, do you happen to have a boyfriend?” DongHae slowed his pace to match AeSook’s. Once he saw her expression of confusion mixed with the ‘are-you-for-real?’ look, he burst into laughter. “Don’t worry, I’m just joking! Well, at least I think I am,” he defensively spoke, waving his hand in front of him in denial.

AeSook turned her head away from her guide, biting her lip, to hide a small smile forming on her lips. This was a dangerous sign for AeSook. She had met DongHae less than a quarter of an hour ago, yet he was already breaking through her cold and harsh outer shell. Sure, he was a flirt – anyone could tell that the moment DongHae opened his big mouth - but he also had a good-natured aura surrounding him. That aura was something that AeSook lacked, and maybe it was for that very reason that she couldn’t help being the tiniest bit envious and attracted to him in a friendly way.

“What’s your dorm number?” DongHae asked as they neared the Lockers and Dormitories building.

“Are you asking that because there are certain tasks you need to accomplish as a guide, such as showing me where my room is, or because you want to know to satisfy your curiosity, like…stalkers?” AeSook cleverly questioned back with a tilt of her head.

“You are smart,” DongHae was entertained, “But I’m asking as a guide. If I was asking for my curiosity, I’d be asking for your phone number, not your dorm number. Dorms are pretty easy to figure out if you know lots of people.”

AeSook just rolled her eyes, swallowing another smile back. “I presume you have a very large group of friends and acquaintances.”

“Of course!” DongHae stuck his head up and smiled proudly.

“Oh, yes. I’m sure you do,” AeSook retorted, her words heavily coated with sarcasm. Not waiting for a reply from DongHae, she quickened her steps towards the Lockers and Dormitories building.

“What’s with the sarcasm? Honestly, I have guys and girls lining up—”

“Hurry up, you turtle. I want to check out my room,” she turned around to face an annoyed DongHae. She put her hand on her hip and stared back.

“For your information, I’m a fish, not a turtle,” DongHae replied, not wanting to lose, “A fish from the awesome East Sea, also known as the awesome DongHae.”

As DongHae held his head up again and almost stomped right past her, AeSook had to laugh. It felt good to laugh out loud. She laughed so much that in the end, DongHae had to come back to drag her on.

“Miss AeSook, I never you were a person incapable of a smile,” DongHae sighed as he pulled AeSook’s arm, “Yet here you are, laughing your head off.”

---

Kang HyeJin looked out the corner of eye at Park SunYoung, apparently better known as Luna, who had excitedly linked arms with her and started the tour of the academy. Thanks to her, HyeJin was now awkwardly following towards the Canteen.

HyeJin let out an empty laugh, filled with not a single drop of amusement. If only Luna knew. Yes, once she saw the horrible results of her suicide attempts remaining on her left wrist, even the overly-enthusiastic girl would move away from her. It was always like that. Something pinged in HyeJin’s head and she missed her father, wished he was with her, that she hadn’t chosen to attend a boarding school. And even though she couldn’t miss her mother since she didn’t know her, right now, HyeJin wanted to know her. She wanted to know the feeling of having a full family. Suddenly conscious of her scars, she tugged at her sleeve and held it tightly in her fist.

“Sorry, I’m talking too much! I always end up going overboard with my stories,” Luna poked her tongue out cutely before resuming speaking, “I should let you talk. Tell me about yourself!”

“There’s really nothing to say about myself. My life isn’t as interesting as yours,” HyeJin replied, her unenthusiastic mood clear and crystal in her voice.

Luna poked her tongue out once more. “Aww, come on. There’s got to be something to say. Then tell me what subjects you like! I love dancing, but people say I’m more talented at singing. I like to believe I’m talented at both,” she giggled.

“I don’t think I like any particular subjects, but I play the saxophone and drums. I like classical music as well,” HyeJin escaped from Luna’s linked arm, while she was too engrossed in listening to notice.

“Saxophone? Wow, that’s so cool!” Luna clasped her hands together, eyes sparking. Then she tilted her head to the side while thinking.

HyeJin could easily guess that she was thinking of a question to ask to get to know her better, so she quickly spoke up. HyeJin would much rather talk at her own will about a topic other than herself rather than be quizzed about her past life and such. “You really are talkative and so happy. You’re the complete opposite of me.”

At HyeJin’s honest remarks, people usually felt offended, but Luna just laughed good-naturedly. “Yes, I get that a lot. I’ll take that as a compliment, so thank you,” she turned her head to look at the other thoughtfully, “Maybe we could learn a little from each other. I could do better with more quietness and you definitely could do much better with some of my positive energy,” Luna nodded convincingly.

HyeJin smiled – possibly even laughed a little – at how Luna was being very thoughtful and serious, yet it didn’t sound as thoughtful and serious coming from her.

“Hey, you smiled!” the smiley guide pointed out happily, “You’re laughing!”

It seemed like Luna’s optimistic energy was actually rubbing off onto the cold-shelled HyeJin. Although HyeJin would never admit it herself, she was looking for someone to break down the brick wall she had built around her to defend herself against the harsh world. HyeJin secretly hoped in the back of her mind that she had just found the person, that Luna might be the person that she was searching for.

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