Love.

A noun. A feeling of intense affection.

They say that love cannot be defined, but there it is; the exact definition of what ‘love’ is. They say love isn’t something that can be written down in a poem, song or diagram, yet thousands of movies, plays, songs, and novels have been written about it. Do half of these people know what it means to be loved? Can they say that they have truly been in love with someone?

Kim Min Seok knows for a fact he has never been in love and it wasn’t something he went looking for either.  He wanted people to stay as far away from him as possible. Now most people would brush him off and ignore him; label him as loner or some other negative name. That was alright with him though since almost everyone he came into contact with was nothing more than another bystander that would fade after the memories were lost.

There was a huge secret he kept under wraps. It was something he never wanted anyone to find out about. It was the same reason why he didn’t want to have anything to do with anyone for the rest of his life. He would rather live in isolation than deal with the harsh criticisms of the people around him.

Today seemed no different than any other day. He sat in the back of the room to the far right in the last desk next to the window. The classroom was bright and full of lively chatter, while outside the windows there was blankets of snow covering the ground, and ice on the trees. Min Seok sat with a scowl on his face and his arms folded.

He scanned the room, taking note of every face; going down his mental checklist of who was and wasn’t there. His eyes traveled slowly across the room and looked back down at the book in his lap.  He turned his head and glanced out the window, watching the snowflakes as they fell. He could clearly see the different patterns of each individual flake and became lost in his thoughts as a new flake fell into view.

Lita was seated at the front of the room. Absent-mindedly, she listened to her friends gossip about what new girl group had debuted last week or the latest fashion trend. Ever since he had transferred two years ago, Lita had found herself enthralled by the new boy. There was something about him that she couldn’t place.

She glanced back at Min Seok and memorized his facial expression of the day. It was one that she had never seen before, and she felt her lips forming a smile. One of her friends that sat on her desk in front of her took notice, poking Lita on her shoulder.

Her friend raised an eyebrow in suspicion, “What are you looking at?”

Lita looked at her best friend, not knowing how to reply. She never thought anyone would notice her interest in the cold hearted guy. Her heart beat violently against her rib cage, trying to figure out a way to answer her friend without raising anymore suspicion.

She quickly looked down at the graffiti scrawled in her desk and quietly answered, “Nothing.”   

She looked back at Min Seok and shook her head. She looked down at Lita, her gaze patronizing. As much as her friend hated to admit it, she was fascinated with Min Seok as well. There was no way she was going to admit that. There was too much at stake and she wasn’t about to let her best friend fall for the school’s weird kid.

“You know, he is so weird. Anyway what are your plans after school today? I wanted to go shopping for my date with Jin Ki on Friday and I need your opinion on outfits.” She said separating a piece of her hair into thirds as she started to braid it.

Lita sat with her hands folded in her lap picturing Min Seok’s awestruck expression in her head. She didn’t understand why he acted so distant with people. Lita knew there was more to him than the cool, mysterious air he gave off. She knew that he only did it because he was hiding something.

The bell for lunch rang and her friend grabbed her arm, pulling her toward the door, “Come on, let’s go to lunch.”

“It’s ok. I think I’m going to stay in today. I have a lot of work to do, plus exams are coming up.” she said hoping her friend wouldn’t ask any questions.

Her friend just shrugged and walked out of the room. She called back to Lita,“I’ll bring you something later!”

Lita waited until she left before rising from her seat. She walked to the window adjacent from Min Seok’s desk shuddering from the sudden chill in the air. She lightly touched the glass and stared in wonder at the snow that gently fell. Lita loved the feeling of the ice beneath her warm  fingertips.

“It’s beautiful,” she said softly. Min Seok rose from his desk and walked over to the window in front of his desk.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” she asked. Min Seok didn’t reply, so she asked anyway.

“Why are you always alone?” Lita asked smoothing the hem of her skirt. Min Seok looked up at her utterly annoyed with her presence.

“Why does it concern you? The last time I checked everyone thought I was some type of psychotic murder.” He asked his voice seething with defiance.

Lita folded her arms with the same measure of defiance, “I’m just trying to make conversation. I didn’t know that was a crime.”  

“What? So you go back to your little snobby friends and gloat about how you talked to the ‘weird’ kid? No, thanks, I’d rather be hung by my ears than talk to you.” He said.

He shoved his way past her, and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair. Once Min Seok was out of Lita’s line of sight he let out a sigh of relief.  He stuffed his hands in his pockets as he sauntered down the hall.

Of all the days she wants to start a conversation with me, she picks today? Min Seok rolled his eyes at the annoying thought.

He felt bad for being rude, but today was not the best day to try to get close, or ever for that matter. Min Seok never wanted anyone to know his secret, especially Lita. Lita had exited the classroom and saw Min Seok standing in the middle of the hall, seemingly lost in thought.

If there was one thing she was, it was persistent, annoyingly persistent. There was no way she was giving up without a fight, or at least talking to him regularly. She walked behind Min Seok and tapped his shoulder causing him to jump. Lita giggled as he spun around and glared at her.

“What do you want? I told you I don’t want to talk to you.”

Lita couldn’t fathom why they couldn’t just talk. “I want to talk to you. What’s so bad about that? Can’t we be friends?”

He leaned in close, his lips brushing against her ear, “I don’t need friends. I most definitely don’t need you.”

When he spoke his