I probably shouldn’t be telling you this because Eunji might get angry. But I think she has a loose screw inside her head. Don’t tell her I said that, okay? I don’t even know how you would if you’re planning otherwise, but I thought I’d make sure.

Anyway, I should probably tell things from the start, since I think it would be quite troublesome for you to write me back and complain that you didn’t understand some things. I thought I’d make sure. I tend to really skip over the irrelevant parts, but with this, I think everything’s relevant.

School was fun today. The learning part, at least. In Science our teacher talked a lot about photosynthesis and the mitochondria. Although I already knew those things at home, I still listened to the lecture in fear that I may have skipped over a few things. If you’re wondering how I knew such things, well, my dad’s a doctor and he adores Science. He makes me read stuff that I don’t want to read at first, but after a few paragraphs, I am absorbed. Like how cotton absorbs water. My mom’s a music teacher but she doesn’t teach at my school. She said it might cause a stir. I don’t know what she meant by ‘stir’ but I know it didn’t involved the students being stirred in a pitcher.   

During Math time our teacher made us do some drills that will, supposedly, enhance and hasten our minds in solving difficult words problems. I think it didn’t work though because I saw an awful lot of my classmates scratching their heads and staring daggers at my teacher.

There was a bunch of other subjects too and a lot of learning, but if I tell everything, you might not read it because it’s boring and you’ve probably learned them all already. So I’ll skip to Homeroom time.

It isn’t really my favorite time, to be honest. It involved a lot of talking and meddling with other people. ‘Socializing’, as people would call it. And truth be told, I at those things because I don’t like it. To me, that’s the prime reason why people do badly at some stuff. Because they don’t like doing it.  There was this one evening when my father gets home and he is in an extremely good mood. We have dinner and then shared stories. He told us that he had this funny patient who kept on shouting he was going to die, when he was only diagnosed with a stomachache.

When it was my turn to share, I didn’t have any.

“Nothing? How about school?”

I shook my head.

“You didn’t do anything at school?” He continued prodding while eating his meal.

“Well, we drew stained glass designs during Arts period. I drew the tall alpine trees in Switzerland but it didn’t look like it fit stained glass.”

My dad then looks at me and he suddenly brings up the topic that I don’t really go out and play with friends and have sleepovers. He asks me why and in return, I just shrug because I don’t really understand why. It’s just like that. Then he looks at me again, and says, “Baekhyun, you should participate, you know. It’s good to have friends.”

I would’ve begged for him to reconsider but usually everything my dad says was set on stone. If he is right, he’s right. If he is wrong (which is very unlikely to happen), he would try to say things and turn the situation around, thus, making him sound right. My mom laughs at him every time he does this.

“I participate in school.”

My little brother giggles at this. But I think nothing’s funny at all.

“No, I mean. Participate. Socialize with the other kids.”

I scoop the last pieces of my peas. “Other kids don’t like to. With me.” I then shoved the peas inside my mouth.

There was a period of silence then my mom decides to talk. She’s the mood-saver of the family and I'm really proud to have her as my mother. Sometimes, I imagine scenarios if my mom wasn’t here, or if she never was. I think things would've been entirely different.

“Well, I’m sure there’re a lot of kids out there that are dying to be friends with you, dear, they’re just in hiding.”

“In hiding?”

My mom insists and nods with enthusiasm. “Hiding. You just haven’t met them yet.” Then it was time for dessert.

Anyway, back to Homeroom period. (Sorry, I got carried away.) We had this activity wherein our adviser made us attach one bond paper behind our backs. In the bond paper, two columns were divided with one line in the center. One column was labeled ‘THINS I LIKE’ and the other ‘THINGS I DON’T LIKE’. Our adviser then explained that we were free to go around the room and have the students write said things about the person.

I didn’t feel good at that time but then the teacher said we should at least have five people write on our backs or else we would get a failing grade in Homeroom, which sounded so horrible to me because who gets a failing grade for Homeroom? He then left the room and entrusted us to keep quiet and have fun, then afterwards we can all go home.

My classmates wreaked havoc. I have to remind you that I study in school with only boys in it, so students can become a little, crazy. Some took this activity to play pranks on the others and some did it with purposefulness. I saw some of my classmates writing earnestly on the papers attached to the backs of other while some just poked fun and didn’t take it seriously. The only person who wasn’t up for the task was, of course, me.

I was scared. Because I knew a lot of my classmates didn’t like me. I usually didn’t care about those things, but if I had to read them…I think I’d be quite affected.

“Hey you,” A voice said then. When I turned, it was Butch, the resident bully of our class. For me, Butch is actually a silly name if you’re in Korea. But he insisted on being called Butch because he said it sounds cool and threatening.

Butch pushes me and turns me around. When he sees that not a single line was written on the paper attached to my back, he yelled to the whole class “Hey! We should write on Baekhyun’s paper!”

“No!” I shouted but it was already too late. Butch had me by the neck and was pressing me against the wall, while my other classmates wrote on my paper. But I felt like they were just doing this to make fun of me. I even felt a pen pierce through my uniform.

By the time school was done, I was a bit trashed and I looked like I slept with my uniform on. I left the room immediately and tore the paper from my back. I crumpled it and threw it inside the first trash bin I saw without even looking at it. I would usually go home after a day like this but instead I went to the spot where I was lying down yesterday.

Sometimes I think that humanity isn’t the smartest specie in the world. Because how can we act so alike to animals? To let the moment flush you in is rather ridiculous. To be human is to have free will, a decision, and not let mere instinct take over your body and cloud your judgement. That’s why I don’t like talking with people I don’t know, because I’m not sure if they’re right in the head or not. Because I don’t know if they’re making fun of me or not.

I sprawled on the grass and just breathe slowly. This helps me calm down, as I find that I have too many things running inside my head.

Then I noticed something odd. There was a pink note that was loosely tied to one of the wires of the fence. It stood out, so I got it and opened the note.

The hand writing was insufferable but I was able to read it; with much difficulty.

Meet me in front of our school gate

-Eunji

At first my mind lagged but then I caught on and remembered that I had promised to meet a stranger again today, with no idea or any background story about her. I wonder what made me talk to her yesterday but I am too flustered to even think about it so instead I grab my bag and walk home. In no way I would meet Eunji looking like this.

But then as I moved out of the campus and go the other way—because going with my usual route would mean I would’ve to walk in front of the Eunji’s school campus—Eunji suddenly popped in front of my face with a knowing look. She was a bit peeved, I know. Because of that obvious frown setting on her lips.

“Did you get my note?”

I lied quickly. “No, how would I get a note from you. We study in different schools.” I managed to get that out straight and I looked her straight in the eyes. Since I read in a magazine that people who are lying tend to look away from the other person’s eyes.

She squint her eyes at me for about three seconds then she retreated. Then she looked satisfied.

“Why are you all messed up?”

“Ah—we…we played during Homeroom period.”

“What did you play?”

I really wanted to go home right away but since Eunji was being a bit annoying, I got a little flustered. “N—n—none of your business, okay? Why are you asking so many questions anyway?”

She bit her lower lip. “That’s what friends do!”

“No, it’s not. You’re not even my friend!” I walk past her and continue on my way. I didn’t want to spend another minute longer here because I really looked silly.

But then Eunji starts crying. Like, horrible crying. The kind of crying babies do. She was on her knees and kept on hugging her bag pack tightly, like she lost something. I began to panic then and I ran back to her immediately. I didn’t want to touch Eunji because she looked so fragile.

“Hey—hey. Stop. Please stop. Stop crying please.”

Of course she didn’t stop. A lot of students and bypassers were beginning to look our way now, and I thought that this was really becoming one stressful day, and maybe I shouldn’t have been like that to her.

“I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean what I said. I—I’m sorry. I’ll buy you some ice cream, okay?”

Almost instantly, she stops sobbing and stands up. She wipes her tear-stricken face with the sleeve of her school uniform and takes my hand in hers. “We have ice cream at my house!”

Then she pulls me along with her.

*

When we arrive at her home, it was kind of noisy and everything was everywhere. It was the exact opposite of my home I think. Our house was always quiet. Everything was in place and if so much of a spec of dust lands on something, you can expect my mom dashing to wipe it off already. My dad was also reinforcing this ‘no funny business in the household’ thing because his father—my grandfather—was a general in the army and he raised my dad, along with his other children, with strict discipline.

Eunji’s home was another story. It was a bit messy, but it was the happy kind of mess. Like you wouldn’t have it any other way, because it fits. And it was nice to look at something messy for once.

Eunji’s mother was nice. And she was very beautiful. She was making cookies when we arrived and her apron was bombarded with a lot of blotches. Maybe she was a very good cook.

Eunji approaches the cookies that her mother was making and frowns at her. “Moooom, you don’t put pickles in cookies! That’s disgusting.”

“Aww. Nonsense! It’s never bad to experiment, right? And who’s this young fellow?”

Eunji’s mother bends her knees and levels her head with mine. Up close, she was even prettier. Her eyes were gentle and they sparkled. She reminded me of my own mom.

“I’m Baekhyun. Pleased to meet you Ms. …Eunji’s mom.”

She giggles at me and ruffles my hair, which wasn’t really necessary because her hands had a lot of cookie dough. “Well, nice to meet you Baekhyun. Would you like some cookies?”

“We want ice cream, mom! Could we could we could we could we?”

“Of course, honey. Vanilla or chocolate?”

Eunji looks at me.

“Vanilla for me and chocolate for Bacon!”

Her mother laughs at the silly name but she doesn’t make an attempt to correct her daughter. She scoops us our ice cream cones and then Eunji pulls me again. This time, we went to their front yard which had a large wooden swing that can seat two people at once.

For a while, Eunji eats her ice cream while I just stare at mine.

“You don’t want yours?” She asks.

“I—I’m allergic to chocolate.”

“Oh. Here!”

She then swaps our cones and proceeds to eat the chocolate ice cream that was once mine. I eat the vanilla ice cream which was once hers.

We sat there for a long time. She told me a lot of things, mostly about her family. She said her father had a special job so he was rarely home, but he always brings a lot of money so that her mom wouldn’t take jobs anymore. Eunji also has a big brother, which was quite a shocker for me when I learned that it was Chanyeol, a senior student in my school. Chanyeol was the perfect student. Every guy in my class envied him since he was the eye candy of every girl in Eunji’s school. He was team captain of the soccer varsity team and he faired well in his academics. Plus, he was very tall. There wasn’t any resemblance between Eunji and her brother so maybe that’s why I never noticed.

Eunji asks me then to tell something about myself but every time I try to, she interrupts me with one of her remarks so I never get to finish anything I say. I didn’t mind though, because it seemed like she was enjoying herself. Which was rare for any person when they’re with me.

By the time we were done talking, the sun had already set and I thought that I should go home right now or else my mom would get worried sick. Eunji fetched my bag for me inside their house and handed it to me.

I was about to say thanks when she said, “Can I come over to your place tomorrow?”

There was a lump in my throat. A huge one.

“W—why?”

“I brought you to my house. Now it’s time for you to bring me to your house.” She says this matter-of-fact-ly and before I had my time to complain and reason things out, Eunji already had her pinky finger sticking out. “And you owe me ice cream.”

My dad says that it’s bad to keep a lady waiting so I had no choice but to link my pinky finger with hers.

“Okay.”

Eunji smiles brightly, and there’s this funny feeling inside my chest again. Like the one from yesterday when I first saw her smile. “I’ll meet you in front of your school gate tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay.”

She is then called inside for dinner and I walk home.

By the time I arrive at my house, my mother didn’t even notice that I just got home. She was pretty surprised but she wasn’t angry. So as my father. We sat at the table and we ate our dinner and shared stories. When it was my turn, I told them that I met a new friend and her name was Eunji.

My dad’s eyes grew wide. “A girl?”

I nod nonchalantly while I continue eating. I noticed my mom smiling at my father’s loss for words and then she winked at me, smiling still.

Right at that moment, I understood what my mom had meant when she said that the people who wanted to be friends with me were in hiding. Because Eunji was hiding behind a bush when I first met her, but now she had come out and I am glad.

-Baekhyun