Yeoreobun, let me share to you Yong Hwa's back hug for Shin Hye last Monday (July 16, 2012) for the Hearstrings Fan Meeting in Japan! ^_^

****

"He does not intimidate anyone," I spoke up in Jung Shin's defense. "He is just tall."

She turned to look at me.

"I know he is tall," Ssaem said to me. "But that is not a reason to terrorize someone."

Then, she punched the table. I could see that smoke wafted after the friction. What is she trying to prove anyway? I'm not afraid of her.

Not after I kissed her last night.

"Your bad boy images do not work with me, arasseo????" she said while giving emphasis to the last statement.

"Ne," the five of us replied.

"Ne," Nana replied.

"Jin Ah," Ssaem said to Nana. "If you are only protecting the reputation of your namchin, then it is time to drop it."

"Eh?" she asked.

"Why would you defend Jung Shin if he had done wrong?" the teacher asked Nana.

"Joesonghamnida..." Nana murmured.

"Geureomyeon, I expect the five of you to not bother the class like that again," she boomed.

"Ne," we all said.

Then, Park-seonsaengnim stepped out of the room, leaving the six of us. Soo Hyun stood up without looking at us and exited the room first.

Min Hyuk reacted in anger, though in that nonchalant way that we always have. He hated Soo Hyun to death. Do I need to say that me and my other cousins hate that braggart too? Jong Hyun wanted to skip classes again, but I do not want to. Nana asked her namchin if he wanted to go to the library, but Jung Shin refused. If my cousins refused, I will not force them. But I will go to the library, I thought.

And so I went out.

****

I went to the library, not because I was interested in the science research. I do not have Nana's enthusiasm in Science. I am just as carefree as my cousins and Victoria-noona.

Among my cousins, only Jung Shin and Min Hyuk got good girlfriends-- girlfriends who go to school and have dreams of making their own money. Yeon Seo-noona, though, differs from Nana.

Nana is pure-hearted and chaste, Yeon Seo-noona is a flirt. And Jung Shin preferred pure-hearted maidens while Min Hyuk, the player that he is, preferred flirty girls. Even if Min Hyuk is a player, he still runs back to Yeon Seo-noona. Jong Hyun is also a player, and he often flirts with G.na-noona because of her, uhm, big assets, but he remains true to Victoria-noona. Jong Hyun could just have two girlfriends at the same time. He hated G.na-noona for being clingy but wants her at the same time. Mind-boggling.

I am the only one who had not experienced having a girlfriend. But that is fine. I have a fair share of all the girls chasing after me and my cousins. I know that I do not smile, but my fan girls fall for me, nonetheless.

These girls are just like one another. Pretty, always fixing their hair, makeup, and nails. Do aegyo. Chase cute and handsome guys. Talk about guys. Talk about fashion. Talk about the latest in show business. I think they are just made the same way.

Until it gets to be very boring to me.

But one girl caught my eye because she was different.

I can dare say that I am ashamed of myself for noticing her because she is older than me. But hey, Jong Hyun and Min Hyuk like older girls too! Mine is much older. She is a teacher, while I am just a student. It would be all right to flirt with her a bit, right?

The real reason why I am in the library is because I know that Park-seonsaengnim is gonna be here. I want to know her and watch over her and be with her... if I want to.

That encounter last night was very interesting. Like she and Soo Hyun have some secrets.

As to what it is, I am curious. Very curious.

Are they in a secret relationship? If they are, I will do my best to win her and let him lose.

****

During lunch time, she called me in to her desk in the faculty room. I know I never did wrong, so what's up with her?

"Where's Min Hyuk?" she asked.

"Molla," I answered in banmal.

She stood up and slapped me, and scolded me for talking impolitely.

"Where's Min Hyuk?" she asked again.

"How do I know?" I asked her.

"Call him!" she ordered. "He skipped classes, don't you know?"

I rolled my eyeballs to fake it that I was thinking hard.

"Jang-ssaem said he was missing for Math, so call him," she ordered me.

I called Min Hyukkie, but it turned out he was asleep somewhere... in Yeon Seo-noona's room in the dorm. I knew he had been sleeping there, but I had no idea it would take him half a day to skip classes like this. We usually skip one or two classes, but not half a day, or even whole day. Uncle Geun Suk would hate that. But too bad, my cousin hung up the phone.

"Where is he?" Ssaem asked.

"He would not tell, so?" I told her.

Ssaem punished me by having me write a three-paged apology letter for my behavior.

"Johayo," I said bluntly, now in jeondaemal.

****

That night, I was eating yogurt from a cup. See what infatuation can do? Anyway, I was on top of my favorite tree when I saw Park-ssaem, I mean, Shin Hye walking with her yogurt cup in hand. She had much fun eating her yogurt.

How cute could she get?

I think she is around seven to eight years my senior, but so what? I like her.

But it seems that it is not only me who likes her. Soo Hyun came and talked with her, but as to what it is, I do not know. I cannot hear because they were talking among themselves.

Sheesh, if I have eagle ears, I can hear what they are talking about.

"So, can I walk you home?" Soo Hyun asked her.

"Tsk, do you think I will allow my student to do that?" she said. "Shirheo!"

Those parts where the only one I heard. He insisted, so she relented. And he walked with her home. I got curious as to where she stayed, so I waited for them to get a bit farther before following them.

****

I saw the two of them bidding each other goodbye. Shin Hye's house looks like old Korean style house. Maybe she lived with relatives up to third generation. Maybe she still has a...

"Harabeoji!" I heard her voice.

She does have a harabeoji.

"Hohohohoho," an old man laughed heartily.

That must be him.

"So that Soo Hyun kid walked you home?" I heard the old man ask.

"Harabeoji, he is a student!" I heard her whine.

Deep inside, my heart was melting when she whined. In school, she was tough, but at home, she was like a baby. If I could be her secret boyfriend, I can get to know more about her, and give her kisses sweeter than her favorite strawberry yogurt.

I had never felt like this for a girl before. She was ordinary out of the girls whom I met, but out of the ordinary, she was special. She was really different from all those vain girls out there, especially those nine girls in the next school who chase after me every afternoon. Sure, they are tall, but I do not take notice of me because they look all the same to me, nothing new.

If these girls would be medicines, those nine girls are only generic, Shin Hye is branded.

****

Among my cousins, I am the most athletic. I can climb trees better than Min Hyuk can, since he is only up to neat windows. He hates trees for their ragged branches and the ants that crawled among the leaves.

I saw a window light up, and I guess it could be her. I was right, because it indeed was her, since she opened her window. She looked out to see in caution before getting to her bathroom for the night. I wonder how she spends her night?

I thought that since she is a girl, she'd take too much time bathing. I killed time by getting inside her window like a thief. Good thing no one saw me.

Her room was plain but neat. I guess it was different from the rooms of the other girls I used to stalk. When I saw her files in the folder, I remembered the three-paged apology letter she had me write. I think I can write that tonight.

But after I see her sleep.

After an hour, I realized that she finished her bath, so I jumped out of the window and stalked her again. She was wearing a y nighty, and her long hair was down to her shoulders carelessly. She looked good with her hair down rather than with her hair up in a ponytail. She stretched out her arms and yawned, and even her yawning had melted my heart.

"Uhm....that was good," she moaned contentedly. "I still have three lessons to make..."

I guess that I can never see her sleep. Might as well leave her and do the apology letter. But before I can even jump off the tree, I got a glimpse of her again.

She's really beautiful.

I wish time would stop for me and her, and I hope she will realize that someone was looking at her and falling for her.

~~~~