Lee Byunghun will pay a million dollars to anyone that would bring him out school. For Byunghun, middle school was such a drag and didn’t know why they exist. Byunghun leaned back in his chair, his head leaning backwards, making faces at the ceiling. Chanhee, who was sitting down next to him, could only shake his head.                

                Byunghun feels like he did a wrong in his past life and now he has to pay the price of it by staying in this dang school for 7-8 hours every week for seven days. He was in his first period waiting for his teacher, who happens to be late for class. “I swear if Mr. Jang doesn’t come in the next minute I’m leaving.” Byunghun told Chanhee.

                Chanhee rolled his eyes, “Sure and get the risk of getting caught and the school telling your parents, and mind you again.”

                Byunghun rolled his eyes and let out a loud groan, “School is so boring! Like why do I have to be here? I’m going to be a rapper when I grow up anyways, it’s not like I need the education.”

                “Uh, you do need an education, and do you expect your parents to let you be a rapper? Your parents are so hung up on you being a pianist or a freaking violinist. They will never accept you being a rapper.”

                “My dad likes the piano, my mom likes the violin, I hate both of them and I don’t want to keep playing them.” Byunghun frowned and crossed his shoulders, “It already that I’m in the orchestra and I have to play the piano for the band every now and then, it really.”

                Chanhee sighed, “Stop complaining, you know girls actually dig those kind of stuff.” Byunghun rolled his eyes at that statement, “Oh and your minute is already up.”

                Byunghun looked up at the clock and found it to be already been a minute (technically two but he wasn’t really paying attention) and stood up and turned to Chanhee. “Bye,” and was about to leave when Mr. Jang came bursting in, causing the chatters from the others to die down.

                “I’m sorry I’m late everyone, I was helping the new student.”

                Everyone in the classroom started to whisper about the new student; girls hoping it’ll be a boy, while the boys hoped for a girl. Byunghun frowned, no leaving now. Chanhee pulled him back down to his seat and stared at him; Byunghun stared at his best friend and pouted. “Don’t give that look, accept this as karma.”

                Byunghun rolled his eyes, and slumped down in his chair, “Karma my ,” he mumbled.

                Chanhee rolled his eyes, “God, you’re annoying,”

                “You’re annoying too.”

                “Stop copying me,”

                “I’m not copying you,”

                “Yeah you are,”

                “No I’m-“

                “Lee Chanhee and Lee Byunghun,”

                Chanhee and Byunghun stopped their little fit and stared at the front of the class, Mr. Jang stared at the two with his eyebrow raised. “Are you guys done?” He asked them, and the two nodded their heads. “Good,” He turned to the door and called for the new student.

                The door opened and Byunghun saw a female student (the delight of the young male students), her long straight black hair was tied into a ponytail, revealing her clear pale complexion, her big bright brown eyes. Byunghun could notice that the girl was nervous, due to the clutching of the backpack strap, as she stood in front of everyone. Byunghun narrowed his eyebrows at her; there was an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach, he has never felt this way before and it scared him greatly.

                “Please introduce yourself,” said Mr. Jang.

                The girl faced the class and Byunghun swore they made eye contact, bowed down. “Hi, I’m Kang Hye Joo.”

L.Joe frowned when he suddenly thought of Hye Joo. It was only a few months in of his first year of middle school when a new student arrived. It was the first time he met Hye Joo. He still remembers the introduction she spoken on her first day there; he remembered it clearly. He remembered what she looked like, the color of her backpack (it was red), everything about her. He even remembered the discomforting feeling he had when he saw her. Byunghun wouldn’t have understood why he felt like that, but L.Joe knew very well what he felt back then.

He fell for Hye Joo at first sight.

Hye Joo sat a couple seats away from Byunghun, her back always facing him, which was good so he didn’t get caught looking at her. Chanhee had already informed him that he was a creepy weirdo. The feeling that he felt when Hye Joo arrived was still there with him and seemed to grow stronger every time he sees her.

                And it’s only been a month and half.

Byunghun was still confused on what he was feeling, and he couldn’t really ask a sibling; he’s an only child. And asking his parents was a no go. He had a vibe that he shouldn’t be asking his parents this yet (and a good vibe it was). And he didn’t want to ask Chanhee, Byunghun didn’t find him the right person to ask this question. So his only other option was to ask his second year senior, and dear old hyung; Bang Minsoo.

------

Byunghun found his hyung in the library one day, sleeping. It really didn’t take that long to find the older; he was either chilling on the roof, or sleeping in the library in one of the aisles (the books with a lot of pictures preferred).

                He stared at his hyung lying down on the ground, curled up in a position, using his backpack as a pillow and his blazer as a blanket. He thought about waking the older one gently because they were in a library, but Byunghun isn’t the one that really depended on listening to the rules.

                So he dropped a book close to Minsoo’s face.

                Minsoo jerked at the noise and sudden vibration of the ground. He saw his not so favorite dongsaeng (his favorite is actually Jonghyun but he’s in elementary school right now so we get to talk to his ‘not so favorite’ dongsaeng) grinning at him.

                “You know I hate you, right?” He told the grinning brown haired boy.

                “Yet you’re still friends with me.” Byunghun pointed out. Minsoo blinked at that point and nodded his head. “And yet I am.” He replied back.

                Minsoo sat up and stretch his limbs, “What do you want?”

                “I need to ask you something,” Byunghun said, while sitting down, his back up against the shelf.

                “And that is…?” Minsoo trailed off, motioning Byunghun to go further.

                Byunghun shifted in his spot and sheepishly glance at Minsoo, who was staring at him with his blank face. “Don’t laugh or make fun of me okay?”

                “What do you have to ask that would make me want to laugh-“

                “Just promise!”

                “Okay! I promise,” Minsoo raised his arms up, ‘surrendering’ himself, “Dude we’re in a library, keep your voice down.”

                Byunghun waved his hand Minsoo in a very nonchalant way, “Yeah, yeah,” He took a deep breath, as Minsoo stared at him, “There’s this new student in my class, she came not too long ago, and on the first day she came…” Minsoo raised his eyebrow at Byunghun when he stopped talking, “… I started to feel really weird-“

                “Like something was bubbling in the pit of your stomach?”

                “Yeah, just like that-“

                “That you just had the feeling that you couldn’t look away from her,”

                “Yeah, something-“

                “And when you see her you don’t have the oxygen to breathe,”

                “Okay maybe not that-“

                “Do you not know what you’re feeling?” Minsoo finally took the time to let Byunghun answer and he knew the answer to that.

                “No, I don’t. That’s why I’m asking you.”

                “Byunghun, did you by any chance find this girl pretty?”

                Byunghun blinked at his hyung. “Why are you asking so many questions?”

                “Just answer the dang question!”

                Byunghun sighed and thought back to the day Hye Joo came, did he find her pretty? It wasn’t over the top; it was pretty simple… in a good way. “Yeah, I do.”

                 Minsoo was quiet for a while and Byunghun grew worried, “Hyung?” Minsoo looked at Byunghun and sighed, “Do you want to know what you’re feeling?”

                “Yes! That’s why I’m here,” Byunghun told him with much frustration. “I don’t know what’s going on and I’m here to ask you.”

                “Byunghun what you’re feeling… is basically when a person is in love.”

                And that’s when Byunghun’s life starts to crumble.

-------

Half of the first year of middle school went by, and half of the first year that Byunghun found out he was in love with someone, that someone being Hye Joo. Byunghun still continues to stare at her, secretly, and Chanhee still continues to tell him he’s a creepy ert.

                Not once had Byunghun talk to her. She was the complete opposite of him and he didn’t know how to approach her properly without making a complete fool out of himself.  In other words, he was scared. He had never once in his life felt this way before.

(Well there was this one time in kindergarten when he felt a special feeling with this girl in his class, but maybe it was only because she had sharpener in the back of her crayon box. No wonder they boy thought he was in love.)

But this wasn’t no sharpener in the back of a crayon box, even if it is cool, this was Hye Joo and he was in love with her. As cheesy as it sounds, the boy was in love. It was his first time being in love and he didn’t want to mess it up, so that is why he was currently banging his head on the table in the cafeteria.

                Chanhee glanced at the poor boy and shook his head, “You’re hopeless,”

                “Shut. Up.”

                “I’m just stating the fact here. Yo could just go up and talk to her, but no you just have to be a wimp and avoid her. What is she, the plague?”

                “No the school is,” Byunghun stopped banging his head, with a very visible red mark on his forehead, he glared at his best friend, “You’re supposed to be helping me, not criticizing me.”

                “I am helping you.” Chanhee pointed out, “I’m helping you man up. Just talk to her, it’s not going to kill you.”

                “You know one day you’re going to be like this and I’m going to be the one criticizing you.”

(Who knew he would be right?)

                Chanhee scoffed at the slightly younger boy, “Yeah right, I’ll be manning up and actually talking to her. And not being a total coward about it.”

(Oh Chanhee you are such a hypocrite)

                “What are you guys going on about?” Both Chanhee and Byunghun looked up and saw their other friend. He had sharp features that stand out the around his face, he smiled at the two with his slightly sharp canine teeth showing. If people were to see him walking they would say he walked with swiftness that seemed like he was gliding on the ground. His posture was smooth that you would just know that the guy just loves to dance. He was an upper class man, the same year as Minsoo, but just like Minsoo they both learned how to get along with the older boy.

                “Oh nothing hyung, Byunghun’s just being a weirdo.” Chanhee told the older guy.

                “I’m not being weird, Chanhee just doesn’t want to encourage me like a good friend he is,” Byunghun told the elder, while glaring at the slightly older one he calls his best friend.

                “Okay, I bet Chanhee is being supportive in his own way, probably in the cruelest way-“

                “Hey!”

                “I’m just stating the fact Chanhee-ah, but you have to understand Chanhee as well Byunghun,” The elder looked at the younger one with his brown eyes, but turned away when someone called his name.

                “Hey Howon, I got an extra sandwich, you want it?”

                “Yeah, just save it for me.”

                The said guy turned to his dongsaengs and smiled, “Try not to kill each other; you guys are best friends after all.” And with that the Howon left.  

L.Joe slightly smiled at the name. Howon. Lee Howon.  He was in the same year as CAP, and because of the connection, Chunji and L.Joe became good friends with him. But after L.Joe moved and the incident that happened, he lost contact with the elder. But L.Joe wasn’t sure if Chunji or even CAP still contacts him. “Hey, Chunji,”

                “Yeah,”

                “Do you still talk to Howon hyung?”

                Chunji looked at L.Joe and shrugged, “Depends really,” Chunji looked off to the side and had his thinking face on, “I mean I talked him throughout the rest of middle school and when he graduated, but I guess around when I was in my freshman year of high school I stopped talking to him, I don’t know about CAP hyung to be honest. They were good friends, and I don’t think they would just stop talking to each other.” L.Joe nodded his head. “Why the sudden question?”

                “I was just curious, that’s all.”

                Chunji let out a small sigh, “The last time I talked to him he was still dating her.”

                L.Joe fiddled with his stick and replied back with a soft voice, “That’s good; they were good for each other.”

                “Do you really mean that?”

                “Of course I do, that was a long time ago, I don’t like her anymore, and I’m moving on,” And before Chunji could let out a statement, L.Joe interrupted him with a whisper, “And if you retaliate with something that has to do with Eunhee, so help me God I will hurt you.”

                Chunji blinked, Okay think of something other than Eunhee, “I was actually going to say that it might be hard getting over Hye Joo, I mean she was your first love.”

                L.Joe sighed, “It was a long time ago, I’m over her, and first loves are supposed to be forgotten.”

                “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you’re over it completely.”

                “Chunji I’m over Hye Joo, just give it a rest.”

                “Who’s Hye Joo?”

                Chunji and L.Joe jumped when they heard Nicole’s voice. “God you scared me.” L.Joe told the girl, who was sitting down in a chair.               

                “Sorry,”

                “I thought you were cooking,”

                “I put Eunhee and Niel in charge, but mostly Eunhee, she may be lazy and somewhat irresponsible, but she can take care of herself and not take the risk of her life.”

                “That’s wonderful,” Chunji replied, the two didn’t know whether or not it was sarcasm or not, so they just left like that.

                “Who’s Hye Joo?” Nicole asked once again.

                L.Joe was about to reply with a no one when Chunji quickly responded. “She was this girl that went to our middle school. Kang Hye Joo.”

                Nicole nodded her head but stopped, “Wait, Kang Hye Joo?”

                “Yeah, you know her?”

                L.Joe looked at Nicole and waited for her to answer.

                “Yeah, I do, she’s the daughter of Eunhee’s mom’s sister.”

                L.Joe eyes widen in pure shock. No…

                “Then that means…”

                “Yeah, she’s Eunhee’s cousin.”

Right there was when L.Joe’s life crumbled for the second time.

And here's chapter 33! This is around 2k of words, so I hope this is long for you! This was basically a little background of L.Joe's 'love life' and what happened. I didn't tell you all of what happened, becuase I'll reveal a bit of it in the future chapters. But I think you guys can read between the lines. And I'm sorry for this being late. It's Laos New Years and so I was pretty busy, mostly in the morning time since I went to the temple really early (you don't understand how hard it was waking up early and sitting there for hours! And not sitting with your legs crossed either, keep that in mind) and I went night bowling for my cousin's birthday and I just got back like an hour a half ago (its like 1AM here). So I apologize for that, but I did update with a long chapter! Yay!
I'll see you guys on the next chapter!

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