Prologue

More or less, I knew I was different. Different from others. I was the odd ball among the pile, the needle in the haystack, the unusual shining silver amongst the usual color of dying brown. I was too sharp perhaps, that other people took no risk of ever coming too close to me, afraid that I might puncture them. Too close and they were dead, a target of my scrutiny. Eyes that bore no sense of calmness but all the instability the world has to offer. Perhaps it was that. Or it wasn’t. Maybe they just didn’t like me. I wouldn’t blame them though. I can name at least ten things that I didn’t like about myself, but I’m not going to mention them here because then you would also come to hate them. I think.

It went on like that. I don’t know for how long. I distanced myself, not wanting to converge with people the likes of sharks and other sea creatures with sharp teeth and a strong sense of superiority and dominance. I’d end up being swallowed whole anyway so why bother?

Sometimes I think of myself as someone who is unsure of the things that occur in life. I fail to find a definite purpose behind every single idea that pops into my mind. I wasn’t sure of anything, or anyone. And maybe that was a good thing, because I rarely find myself troubled with all the funny things life throws at the faces of people. I just watch them from the sidelines, and I find that I am very content with that.

All of them keep away from me, and I keep away from all of them.

It was always like this but I didn’t mind. I find it rather comforting. Like when your back is itching and you scratch it and it feels so good. That kind of comforting.

But there was this one time when everything began to go haywire.

I was fifteen years old and I was lying on a secluded patch of grass in a sloping path beside the football field of my school. I’m not much of a football player, or any sports player for that matter, so why was I near the football field? I had no idea. I told you, I do unusual things so don’t be surprised. School was over a few minutes ago but I was too lazy to go home, so I went here.

A tall wired fence stood in front of me. It served as a divider from the other school on the other side. My school was an exclusive school for boys, and the one that stood on the other side was a school only open for girls. So maybe that was why there was a fence. I wasn’t so sure. Maybe my school principal didn’t want to do anything with the other side. Or maybe there was a strong competition between the two, which when I think of it was pretty silly but it seems cooler when you look at it that way.

No soul ever ventured to this spot except for me, so I was all alone. My arms were behind my head, serving as my pillows. The skies were bright, but not too bright that it harmed your eyes. The sweet allure of sleep was just coming to me when I heard some shuffling noises. I am brought to my alarm. I sit straight up and look around. No one. I look at the football field and I see some of my classmates covered in grime and sweat, running all around, trying to tackle the person who had the ball rolling between their feet. And then there was this noise again.

I look in front, beyond the wired fence. A brown patch of something was definable among the green bundles of plantation. I look closer but my eyesight was rather poor.

I sat up and inched my face closer. My senses were telling me that this probably wasn’t a good idea, but not having good ideas were kind of a habit of mine. What the heck.

“Hello—“

“HI!”

Obviously, I tried calling out to see if someone was spying over me but it turns out I was cut short by this girl who had a smile too wide that I didn’t think it was quite normal. But it looked pretty on her. She jumped out from the bush, and when she saw me looking terrified and baffled, the smile disappeared from her face and her head leaned towards her side.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I didn’t speak. Maybe this was some kind of alien abduction and this girl was going to take me to her spaceship. I was kind of expecting her to say ‘Take me to your leader’ but none came.

She frowned.

“My mom says people should at least acknowledge it when someone says sorry to them.”

I still didn’t mutter a single word and her frown turned into a thin line. I think she was getting angry at that time.

“Hey! Don’t you know how to speak?”

I know how to speak, I said. Only it was inside my head.

“Are you stupid?”

I was kind of taken aback by that comment. Other kids called me a lot of names, but never stupid. Simply because I wasn’t. “I—I am not!”

I managed to get that out at least, and her smile reappeared and it caused some kind of ache in my stomach that it wasn’t funny. She neared the fence and stuck out her hand. I was coming to the conclusion that she wasn’t an alien, because up close she seemed a normal girl. Only too happy.

“I’m Eunji!”

I blinked at her.

“Shake!” She said, urging me to take her hand and shake it. I did. Both. Took it and shook it. It was weird to say the least, but I won’t say I didn’t like it.

“What’s your name?”

“Baekhyun.”

Her smiled widened, like I just offered her a bag of sweets.

“Great! You’re now my friend, Bacon!”

“It’s B—Baekhyun.”

Eunji laughed but she made no effort to correct her error. We stayed there for a while until she decided that it was getting late so she left, but not without making me promise to see her again tomorrow. I promised, and she held out her hand again. Her pinky was sticking out.

“Pinky promise?”

“S—sure”

“Great! See you tomorrow Bacon!”

That was my first day with Eunji, and I guess it wasn’t really the best of first meetings but I didn’t mind, like how I usually didn’t mind the other things that happened in my life. One thing’s for sure though, a lot of things began to change that day. Odd things. And please believe me when I say that I didn’t plan all of these things to happen. They just did.

-Baekhyun