June 20th, 2011

Yong Hwa was about to step out of the college compound when suddenly it rained. He let out a small sigh as he didn't have an umbrella with him nor did he own a raincoat at that time. And that very moment reminded him of what happened two years ago. Exactly the same situation, the same place, the same season. Except that this time no one was around to offer him to share the umbrella for shelter. Every single person had gone back home as it was 6.30pm. Yong Hwa was the last one to leave as he preferred to stay back at the college for a while to enjoy some moment alone walking through the memories he had with that someone. If only...yes if only she's here, he thought, he would not have to run in the rain. He looked up in the sky as if to tell the clouds to stop pouring the rain down. After a while, he smiled to himself.

" I guess I have no choice," he said while raising his red canvas sling bag to cover his head from the rain. "Let's go!!" He let out a soft shout and off he went running in the rain back home.

Fortunately, his house is not that far from the college, which is just within 15 minutes walking distance. And by the time he reached home, he's completely  soaked in the rain. He knocked on the door and it took awhile before his mom opened the door for him with wide eyes and a nagging followed up. 

"I'm home," said him along with an innocent smile that he gave to his mother hoping that she would not nag him for what happened to him.

"Omo...I have told you to bring along an umbrella since it's summer rainy season. Why don't you listen to me? Now look at you...all wet like this. And don't blame the weather if you end up catching a cold or even fever." nagged Mrs Jung incessantly.

"I'm sorry, mum. I thought I would just stayed until the rain stopped but I was hungry" said him giving her a lame excuse.

Mrs Jung quickly asked him to bathe and bring down his clothes to be washed.  Yong Hwa bowed his head slightly as a sign of obedience. He quickly went upstairs to his room. The moment he got into his room, his eyes caught the glimpse of the glossy cream painted wooden photo frame on his study desk which mounts a picture of him and her. Taken during her birthday earlier this year. He came closer to the picture and as if the picture can listen, he said while smiling "Look at what happened to me when you're not around. I'm all wet." Then he kissed the picture before putting it back to the place and off he went for a shower. And he can't helped but to cry solemnly while taking the shower, reminiscing the past he had with her.

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June 24rd, 2009

"Jung Yong Hwa!" 

Yong Hwa was jolted awake from his daydreaming when Mrs. Kim called his name. He was too preoccupied with the band performance that he's going to have after class later that day in the Student's Union, the place where students normally gather together for extracurricular or leisure activities after classes.  He was thinking of what should be the first song to perform as it's going to be their first ever performance since they formed the band. Thanks to Mr. Jun who discovered their talents and interests in music hence he asked them to nuture and nourish their talents by performing at the Union. 

"You can get to know people acceptance and feedback towards your music straightaway," was what he said to the Yong Hwa when he suggested the idea. Yong Hwa respects him a lot since he was his music teacher back then and has always given him constructive criticism and endless support for his band. 

"Jung Yong Hwa!" called Mrs Kim for the second time. And she's already standing right in front of his desk handing him a marked test paper. " Don't you want to know your mark for the Electromagnetics progress test yesterday?"

Yong Hwa took the paper from Mrs Kim and bowed his head slightly as a sign of apologising. " I am sorry, Mrs Kim."

Mrs Kim walked to the front of the class and congratulated the whole class for their efforts to perform well in the progress test, "Except for Yong Hwa! Jung Yong Hwa, I want you to be in my office after lunchtime today." And her announcement was followed by everyone staring at Yong Hwa. It's not normal for him to be the one slacking in study. Thanks to his intelligent gene he got from his parents, he always managed to grab the top 3 ranking in many tests and exams...but not this time. He got the lowest in the class and he clearly knew the reason why. He had to spend extra time practising for his first band performance that he forgot to focus completely on his test. And because of that, he made Mrs Kim worried as Mrs Kim knew his potential really well. 

It was Wednesday, and Wednesday is the day that all classes end at 12noon so as to allow the students to participate and engage in any club activities. And it's the day that Yong Hwa's band was supposed to perform at 2pm in the Union. Yong Hwa quickly went to the lecturer's office as instructed. Most of the lecturers had already left the office leaving Mrs Kim and few more lecturers behind. As he walked closer to Mrs. Kim's cubicle, he saw there was a girl sitting on the chair facing Mrs Kim. The girl was just looking down at her shoes as if showing that she's really guilty of some offences.

"Oh Jung Yong Hwa, you're here," Mrs Kim said to him as to mark his presence there before turning to look at both of the students in front of her. " Good. Now what I want you both to do is to go to the library and rearrange the returned books back to the shelf according to the bookcode."

"But I have a band performance today," Yong Hwa objected the second Mrs Kim finished her sentences. He knew that chore would take forever to finish. 

"There's no but. Consider this as a detention for you getting the lowest mark for MY SUBJECT." she emphasised at the last two words. "Unless you want your parents to know about it, you will have to do what I instructed you to do."

"Mrs Kim..." but his voice trailed off as Mrs Kim gave him a stern look. He looked at the girl next to him who spilled no words at all that he forgot her presence earlier. And he turned back to Mrs Kim. "Alright, then. But may I at least inform my other bandmates regarding this?"

"Up to you. You'll meet a librarian who will show you how to put the book back on the shelf according to the bookcodes and once you have finished, return the library key to me.Go...Go" shooing them away.

While walking to the library, Yong Hwa phoned one of his bandmates, Jong Hyun, telling him his situation and apologising for the trouble. Jong Hyun understood his friend well that he told Yong Hwa no to worry as he would arrange some other dates with the Union member for their postponed performance. When the phone call ended, he turned back to look at the girl who was going to do the chore with him. He did not utter a word to her as he could not find the right word to start off a conversation. She does not look like a rulebreaker, was what he thought to himself. The girl realising he was looking at her, just let out a small friendly smile with a slight bow.

"Ah look who's here!" said the librarian joyfully once the two students arrived at the library help desk. "Finally there are two students to help me today. My name is Miss Han and I'm the librarian in charge today to observe your DETENTION." said the librarian emphasisng the last word. "But wait, you two don't look like rulebreakers. What happened?" inquired the curious librarian.

"I got the lowest mark in the class for the first time"

"I arrived late to school today for the first time" the girl finally spoke.

"Ah I see. Guess that answers why you two are here. You know Mrs Kim, she never put students in detention without any reasons. And considering how she never really asked students to help me wuth the books as a detention, that means you two just did minor misbehaviours. Oh name and class, please?"

"Jung Yong Hwa from class 2-1."

"Park Shin Hye from class  1-1"

Oh so she's a junior, thought Yong Hwa.

Miss Han later showed them how to arrange the books on the shelf by looking at the code at the back of the books which contains the book registration number and section number. "So codes begin with 330 is in  Pure Mathematics section..." and off she went informing them about the code sections before leaving them two on their own. It's just the two of them left in the library,that they could make any noise they want, as the other students were either at the Union or in the field with Club activities.

"So you were late, huh?" asked Yong Hwa trying to break the awkward silence in between them. 

"Yeah," answered Shin Hye while letting out a smile as a mark of being ashamed of herself. 

"Why is that?"

"Just..." she paused as if trying to fake a reason.

"You're not a good liar. You have to think fast if you want to create a reason..eventhough it's gonna be lame," joked Yong Hwa.

"Ah..I'm sorry. I did not mean to lie. It's just that I don't feel comfortable to tell the exact reason to someone I barely know," explained her while looking at the code number on the book and grouping it with the other books of the same first three numbers. 

"It's fine. I was just teasing you. But Miss Han is right. You doesn't look like a rulebreaker." said Yong Hwa while doing the same action as Shin Hye.

"Hm, she said that to both of us. Which means you too" said Shin Hye as if reminding him that fact. 

"Oh yeah. Well, that's true," and without being asked too, he continued, " I was too busy preparing for my first band performance instead of studying for the test...well, it's supposed to be now at the Union...but look at us both here, stucked in the library, putting books back on the shelf. Aishh...it's like we both are performing as a band with the books as the audiences," said Yong Hwa with a slight of disappoinment in his voice.

Shin Hye giggled at the thought of her singing in a band with the guy she had just known few minutes ago. Not to mention imagining the books as the audiences of their performance. Yong Hwa was thrilled to see her giggling at his stupid joke. 

"Are you laughing at my unfortunate event? Yah...you're so mean."

"No. It's the thought of me singing that made me laugh. Hehe...mianhae," said Shin Hye still giggling.

"Why?"

"I don't really sing".

Right after she's done talking, the music starts to play on the stereo. It's the music by the college radio station for the students to enjoy while leisurely doing the club activities. It makes the students feel like being in a festival woth fun activities and musics. And to Yong Hwa's surprise, Shin Hye is already singing along with the song by Nell, Time Spent Walking Through Memories. 

Ajik do...neoeui sorireul deudgo... [I still hear the sound of you]

Ajik do...neoeui songireul neukkyo...[I still feel your hand]

Oneul do...nan neoeui heunjoeg ane saratjyo...[Even today...I lived in the traces of you]

She stopped singing when she realised that Yong Hwa was looking at her reminding her of what she just said. And without being asked to, she explained "I like this song so much. At first, I thought it's a sweet song. Like a song from a guy to his girlfriend telling her how she has influenced his everyday's life. But when the song was about to come to the end...." And she sang the lines,

Eotteokhajeo ijen...[Now what can I do]

Geudaeneun jiwosseltende...[You've probably erased me]

"From then on, I started to like this band. All of their songs are poetic eventhough mostly centered on the theme of separation," Shin Hye explained. And at the mention of separation, she shifted her gaze from looking at Yong Hwa to the book that she was holding at that time.

Yong Hwa, realising her action, gathered his courage to ask the girl that suddenly went silent in from of him "Have you ever experienced a separation with anyone before?" And to his surprise, Shin Hye looked at him with a smile saying "No. Not yet. It's just that I know it's going to happen to every single person in this world. And it reminds me to appreciate every single moment I had in my life and treasure every person that comes in my life. As I don't know who will I be separated from."

What she said made Yong Hwa ponder for a while. "What does she mean with 'Not yet'?" 

"Yong Hwa-ssi...Yong Hwa-ssi...let's hurry so that we can finish this early. It's summer rainy season now, and we might not want to be caught in the rain later in the evening." urged Shin Hye as she realised Yong Hwa had been staring at the same book for few minutes. "Don't take my words seriously. I am just this kind of person who likes to ponder over some small things like this and not to mention me being a bit philosophical and sentimental sometimes," Shin Hye let out a small laugh. "Let's hurry."

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June 20th, 2011

Yong Hwa was laying on his bed staring at the bright moon outside. He missed that first meeting with her in the library. And every single word she spoke has carved permanently in his heart. Little did he know back then, what she said would be meaningful and significant in his life. And he murmured to himself, "Us...what can we do now?" He turned to look at the clock next to the photo frame on his study desk located besides the bed. It's 3 o'clock in the morning which meant he had to go to sleep to avoid being late to the class on next day. He shifted his gaze to the photo next to it "Just again and again my heart gets broken. Goodnight Shin Hye, my love."

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A/N: Done with the first chapter. I hope it's not too short. It's my first time writing here when in fact I have Signal and Control System exam on Monday. Constructive criticisms are very much welcome. Oh and pardon me for my not so fluent English. And I really love Nell after CNBLUE.