The sun hit me almost directly and I couldn’t help but open my eyes and groan when I noticed the blinds were open and the sun was shining through the window. I looked at my alarm clock and sighed when it was only eight in the morning. I sat up and walked over to close the blinds and glanced at Byunghun who was still asleep in his bed with the blanket over his face probably subconsciously blocking the sun from getting in his eyes.

Memories of last night brought a smile to my face and I walked back to my bed knowing that the smile on my face was not going to last long. The whole group complimented me on my singing and even started making plans to part a band together just for fun. One of those bands that just sing and dance, like a boy band. The idea sounded fun and slightly exciting. I wonder how Soo Young would react if she came back and I was a lead singer in a group of friends from college. If we got famous she could obsess over me and not Sungmin from Super Junior or Jaejoong from TVXQ.

I slid my hand under my pillow and grasped the diary before pulling it out and laying myself on the bed to get comfortable. I knew it was torture to be reading this every day and starting my day off with crying wasn’t the way to start my first semester of college, but I knew I had to do this. This was my escape from college, my ticket to looking into the past from a different point of view. I was seeing life through her eyes, through her writing. I know she wanted me to be happy during college but I needed her to be happy and this was all I had to hold on to until she came back.

I opened the book and turned to the third page; I breathed in heavily before exhaling slowly and began reading.

Dear Diary,

                How long has it been since the last time I picked this thing up? I really at keeping track of this diary and I have a feeling I won’t be writing in it as much as I’d like. It’s been two months since school started and nothing really has changed. A boy asked me out the other day and I declined his offer not because he was a bad guy but because I have a secret crush that I’m not telling anyone! Not even you! This crush will remain in my heart because I know he’ll never like me and I don’t want to jinx myself by telling you who he is. I’ll give you a hint though! He doesn’t even notice me or care to even introduce himself to me. He hangs around his friends at lunch and laugh and joke about the stupidest things when I know he really isn’t like that but only appears like that. Enough about him though! I made a new friend today, her name is Park Song-ei and she’s really nice. We met in English class when she couldn’t say something in English and I understood it. I’ll be helping her from now on with her English skills and maybe she’ll become my new best friend! She told me just to call her Song, and I said she can just call me Soo. Other than school nothing big has happened in my life; my parents are just fine and my middle school friends still have yet to contact me once since the start of summer. I have a feeling they’ve forgotten me, but its okay because I have Song now! And my secret crush too but I guess he doesn’t count since he doesn’t know of my existence yet, but maybe he will. A girl can dream, can’t she? That’s all for today diary! I do hope to update you more often with more interesting things, but I’m still young with not much going on just wait until the drama sets in! Kekeke.

---Lee Soo Young

I didn’t cry this time, or at least I didn’t want to feel my cheeks to see if they were wet or not. I was smiling, a sad smile that definitely did not reach my eyes but a smile nonetheless. She’s liked me for as long as I liked her, or maybe even before hand. I remember when I would talk to all the other girls but that wasn’t because I didn’t notice her, it was because I didn’t know how to approach her. She wasn’t like the other girls, I noticed it when she saw me doing my homework, I noticed the small smile that spread across her lips when she realized I was the dumb one, but only acting it. I never had the courage to go up to her and talk to her because I knew that she knew I was a player and I wanted her to take me seriously, I didn’t want a one night stand or anything that wasn’t close to perfect. I might sound weird saying this since I was such a player, but I knew she was my destiny when I saw her that first day in our math class. I knew from that point on she was going to be different and that was what I was going to love about her.

I could stay in my thoughts for hours just by thinking of her, but I knew I had things to do and I knew I had to get them done before Byunghun woke up and invited me to go somewhere like yesterday. I wanted to tour the campus, find my classes, get my books and get ready for school that started tomorrow. My part of the room was organized to the best of my abilities so maybe I should give Byunghun some time to get working on his part of the room. “It’s now or never.” I sighed and got up to get ready for the day. Taking a quick shower and putting on clean clothes and tossing the used ones in my laundry basket, I looked back at Byunghun’s sleeping form said good bye and I left the dorm room.

I walked down to the end of the hall and took the stairs once more and once more they were completely empty. The main lobby looked like a ghost town with how little people were around and silent chatting was taking place. I guess most boys don’t wake up this early unless it’s time for school. I shrugged and left the building after that to go on my tour of the school. I made sure to grab my schedule before leaving and I looked it over to get a vague idea of where my classes were and what buildings they’d be in.

My first class was English Composition 102, second was Survey of Eastern Civilization, third College Algebra 107, General Biology 113, and Short Stories.

My schedule wasn’t too bad and only went over the basics of college and the things I’ll need to get my major. I had to take all the simple classes before they’d let me take the actual classes I’ll be needing for my Bachelor’s degree. I was glad to be taking only the basics because I really didn’t want to focus as well when I knew Soo Young wasn’t here to help me focus.

I retraced my steps from yesterday to find the buildings that I had seen before and bravely walked into each one to find my class before checking it off the list and memorizing where it was in my head. All the buildings seemed close together so the walking distance wasn’t too bad. School was looking brighter each time I looked around, but I still had that same empty feeling that I knew was going to be a difficult thing to forget no matter how hard I tried.

Maybe I should have gone to a different college to get my mind off of her more often but maybe I liked torturing myself or maybe destiny just worked this way but it didn’t matter because I already made five great friends and I was happy to have made them.

“Hey Chunji, is that you?”

I looked towards the voice and noticed Daniel waving at me like an insane maniac and I almost sighed at how silly he looked but nonetheless I waved back to him and didn’t care about the weird stares we were getting from the college students around us as I walked closer to talk to him.

“Hey Daniel—“

“Call me Niel.” Daniel interrupted and patted me on the shoulder, “We’re a nickname kind of team you know, this is college so this is our chance to be who we want to be.” He smiled warmly and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Okay Niel, what are you doing here?” I gestured to the random place I was currently at and he shrugged just saying he was walking around enjoying the scenery of the area. “Have you gotten your books for your classes yet?” I asked hinting that was where I was heading next and if he wanted to join me.

“Not yet, why are you planning to go get them now?” He asked and grinned when I nodded and showed that he didn’t mind tagging along and getting his books as well. “Everyone else had gotten theirs when they came here but I had to wait since the money I needed for them hadn’t come in at that time.”

“Well good because that means I’ll have a buddy to go with.” I gestured with my hand telling him to follow me as I walked towards the bookstore and from the sound of footsteps behind me he was following close behind.

We discussed which classes we had this semester and he mentioned that he had the same Biology class as me at the same time and we almost squealed knowing we had the same class—but we didn’t squeal because that would have been way too awkward for two grown men to do. The bookstore was not too far away and soon enough we were in there looking at all the different books lined up on the several shelves and all the school supplies in the world. Ranging from T-shirts, pencils, paper, backpacks anything and everything was in this bookstore for any of us to buy. Luckily I had already gotten enough supplies and my backpack was in top shape.

“How may I help you?” A young female came up to the two of us and from the look in her eyes I could tell she was checking one of us out, how do I know? I was a freaking player before, remember? Girls have a way of looking when they’re interested in the appearance of a guy. Maybe that was why I loved Soo Young so early on; she never showed that attraction to me and she seemed different from the start.

“We’re here to get our books, who do we talk to?” Daniel asked breaking me from my thoughts and remembering the look on this students face and I knew now that she was looking at me.

“I can help you just give me your schedule and I’ll find your books. I’m the aid here.” She smiled and grabbed Daniel’s schedule before trailing off to the shelves of books and looking for each of the books for each of his classes.

When she was done she handed Daniel his books and turned her attention towards me and I nearly gulped. “Can I see yours?” She asked sweetly and I handed her my schedule almost unwillingly. “Ah, Chanhee, nice to meet you.” She smiled once more before going to find the books for my classes. I knew her look was of attraction she even took the time to look at my name so she could know it. Little did she know that I already have a girl in my heart and she was not leaving anytime soon.

She returned with five heavy books piled high on her but she didn’t stop to hand them to me but rather walked to the register with them and said she didn’t want me to carry them so far. I glanced at Daniel who held an annoyed expression on his face as he continued to hold his heavy set of books.  “My name is Ji Young; I’m in your short stories class so I hope we can become good friends.” And after that comment she walked off and went back to her job. I had a feeling this semester just got a lot more horrible.

After we were clearly out of hearing range of the bookstore, still carrying our heavy books back to the dorm building Daniel nearly shouted, “The nerve of that girl! Looking at you with those sweet eyes and disgusting smile, god I just wanted to punch her!” Whoa! I never expected Daniel to ever say anything like that.

“You’re just jealous because she liked me more.” I smirked but on the inside I agreed completely with him. It was not that she wasn’t attractive physically, she had the whole long black silky hair and deep brown eyes going on, but she didn’t have the personality unlike Soo Young. Hmm, Ji Young and Soo Young, they sound similar but they were far too different.

“Whatever, good luck dealing with her all semester; by the way, do you have a girlfriend?” Daniel asked innocently but he had no clue what he just brought up; a whole month of tears, visiting the hospital and the summer seeming like it was hell.

“Um, yeah you could say that.” I replied timidly not sure how much I wanted to tell someone that I’ve only known for two days. There was too much crying involved for me to tell him the whole story.

“Oh, complicated huh? You seem like the kind of guy who would have a girlfriend, I’ve never had one but maybe now that I’m in college I will.” Daniel grinned and his eyes lit up with hope. He seemed like a great guy, I hoped the best for him.

“College is the best place to find your soul mate, you know?” I chuckled trying not to mention that I found my soul mate back in high school. We’ve been through too much for her to be anything else.

“Thanks man.” He genuinely smiled and the conversation died down when we went our separate ways once we entered the dorm building. I didn’t have much else planned for the day and didn’t know what to expect when I entered my dorm room. It was either Byunghun was going to be in there or not. Maybe he was going to invite me to something tonight, but to be honest I felt exhausted and mostly wanted to just take the day off and be ready for school tomorrow.

It was a struggle to get the key in the keyhole once I reached my room, holding five heavy books wasn’t exactly easy to do but finally it went in and I turned it to open the door. When I walked into the room there was something new added to the room and it took me a second to realize there was a TV on Byunghun’s side of the desk and him currently playing a video game on it.

“Whoa when did you get that in?” I asked completely amazed that it wasn’t here this morning but here now. I walked over to my desk and placed my books gently down and sat on my bed to watch Byunghun race in his Mario Kart Wii. He was currently in first place but Peach was closing in on him in second place.

“Changjo and Ricky helped me get it in here; my parents just brought it over saying I needed something entertaining for the room. They also brought my game systems, I was hesitant to bring them since I didn’t know what kind of roommate I’d have but since we’re friends I can trust you to not steal my personal belongings.” Byunghun explained and passed the finish line just before Peach could and a blue shell hit him almost immediately after he claimed first place. He cheered slightly from the top of the bed and shook the bunk bed slightly.

“Thanks for trusting me,” I laughed, “Do you have a second controller?”

“Of course dude, hook it up and I’ll change to two player mode.” He stated and hit the back button multiple times as I untangled the controller and plugged it into the Wii as he hit the two player option.

He chose Mario almost instantly and I went for the underdog; Yoshi. We both chose the Mach bike as our ride and automatic as our function before we started to play; playfully at first but seriously as the races continued and we struggled for first and second place. After getting bored of just playing two player we switched to online mode and ended up teaming together to beat the other players and win each other first place each time. I’m sure those people in America or Europe hated us right now but we continued to win almost every round just by helping each other out and working together.

We played for a good three hours before we finally stopped and agreed to go get something to eat before we starved to death. In the end we ended up meeting with the rest of the group at the dining hall and we all chatted for hours until it started to get dark. Tomorrow being the first day we were all excited but nervous and ended up attempting to go to sleep early.

I could hear Byunghun’s snoring from the top of the bed but I continued to stay awake for a good hour before finally getting to sleep with only the thought of being nervous in my head as I was about to start my first day of college.