Chapter 3: Sudden Serendipity (or not)

-

The smile from the *Bittersweet Sound Café stayed with Hae Young for the whole day.

It even sustained through all her tough History homework, and it was quite a wonder, as Hae Young doesn’t exactly loved the said subject.

However, Hae Young was not those type of girls who would deny their feelings and let everything drag on until it became too obvious.

Hae Young knew that she liked Daehyun.

Well, though it might seem somewhat quick, she knew the reason why she suddenly became so happy wasn’t because of the exceptionally well-made coffee she drank earlier on.

She knew it had something to do with a certain employee at a certain café.

And the fact that Hae Young was the ‘romance loving’ type wasn’t helping with the helpless situation she was in.

His bright eyes, his cute accent (is he from Busan? He sounded like he was) his smile… Stop.

Daehyun. His name. I know his name… he doesn’t know mine?

She shook her head.

Pathetic, Kim Hae Young. She thought.

Simply pathetic.

---

(On Monday)

Hae Young was unsure.

Did she suddenly become smarter over a period of two days?

This is impossible.

Kim Hae Young, a person with no interest whatsoever for a particular subject, topping her whole class that was practically filled with brainiacs - no, smartasses was a better word - in History.

It would’ve been alright if it she was the first in class for English, maybe Mathematics, but History?

Hae Young stared in pure amazement at the three stars cricling her “A+” grade that was also accompanied by Mrs Lee’s little note ‘You have improved. Well done, keep this up.’

She had gotten full marks for that test.

Haeri, Hae Young’s closest friend, peered over.

“Whoa,” she breathed out. “Impressive! Who would’ve known that this dumbfuc-“

“Lim Haeri, I’m afraid the use of profanities is not allowed in here. I believe you are mature enough to understand that?” Mrs Lee raised an eyebrow at Haeri.

“Well sorry, sheesh!” the girl let out, throwing her hands in the air.

Mrs Lee turned her attention to Hae Young and there was a hint of a smile on her face.

Hae Young beamed at her in response.

-

Hae Young stepped into her house.

Yes, her house.

She lives by herself, and she wants to keep it that way for as long as she can.

Living alone is fun. No one can disturb you, no one can distract you.

Suddenly, Hae Young heard a crunching noice from underneath her feet.

She realised that it was a piece of paper.

It looked quite familiar… and it had a striking resemblance to-

“An answer key?!” Hae Young exclaimed. She flipped the piece of paper over.

‘HISTORY QUIZ 2, ANSWER KEY’

It took three seconds for her mind to process what she had just seen and for the information to sink in.

Hae Young’s shoulders drooped, and she deliberately fell to the floor.

She remembered sneaking into the staff room, and the answer key ended up with her by ‘accident’.

She zipped her bag open and fished out the scrunched up History test and smoothed it so it wasn’t as crumpled.

Doesn’t Mrs Lee draw stars on the papers for students with an A grade and above in pink ink?

…and people with D and below get a sad face in red?

Hae Young’s stars, grade and Teacher’s Comment were all red in colour.

On the back page of her paper, there was another note, also written with red pen:

Dear Ms Kim Hae Young,

Thank you for studying the answer key instead of your books. In return, you have been rewarded with an A+ as you can see at the front page of the test that I have returned in class today.

However, I keyed in an F to be printed out in your report card for History.

Regards,

Mrs Lee

p.s. I will give you a knowing smile in class. I am very experienced, having tought for a large fraction of my life.

Hae Young tore the answer key into shreds.

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Heyheyhey~ Third chappie is up! I'm updating more because I'm in a good mood and...

THE EXAMS ARE OVAH! PARRRTAAAAYYYY!

So yeah!

Thank you for the comments, they make me feel more... alive. LOL?

Aha! Mrs Lee is a smart old woman, isn't she? 

And you thought Hae Young was a good girl. Well, she is, but not as innocent though :)) 

Poor answer key, destroyed by the coffee addict.

Anyway, The Bittersweet Sound Café is actually from 1sagain's "Would you like a cup of coffee" M/V, so I just fit it in here :)

Have a nice day!

Sweet like --strawberries