September 21^st, 2012

Lee Jae Mi

The realistic thoughts only occurred to me when I finally returned home after my check-up. But at that state they practically bombed me.

I was never that brave in first place so how on the earth was I going to catch enough courage to even talk to Jonghyun?

And if Jonghyun was as cold as he seemed then he might not ever open up to me. He seemed like one of those boys who preferred to make a decent conversation with their own mind rather than conversing with other people.

If I ever reached the point of being friends with Jonghyun that didn’t necessarily mean he’d sing for me.

My mind turned into a dark collection of negative thoughts. Was this ever going to succeed?

“Mum?” I asked as I chewed my rice.

“Yes, sweetie?” She asked, her eyes not leaving the food she was making.

“Um”, I started. “Let’s say I’m interesting in being friends with a boy.”

My mum suddenly looked up from her bibimbap with wide eyes and a happy smile fell on her face.

My mum chuckled and looked happier than ever. For the last months she had been bugging me about meeting boys. Even if we both knew it wasn’t going to last long.

“No, actually”, I corrected myself. Might as well tell her the truth. “I want to make him sing but he won’t. How will I do that?” I asked her.

My mum didn’t wonder about my crazy idea, they weren’t too rare, but just gave me a clever answer.

“You just need to make friends with him first. Then as you’re close, you can ask him to sing for you and I’m sure he’ll accept.”

I nodded wondering how to make him like me at first place.

September 22^nd, 2012

No one’s point of view

Jae Mi spent the entire class studying Jonghyun’s face. Ever since yesterday when she heard him sing everything about him seemed more attractive.

His flowing voice, his deep-brown eyes, his swollen lips. The way his bangs slightly covered his eyes. Even the constant frown between his eyebrows and the way he looked extremely bored.

“Class dismissed”, Mr. Kim called and the students escaped the classroom.

It took less than a minute before Jonghyun was out of the classroom. Jae Mi barely reached to grab her bag as she chased after him.

“Jonghyun-sshi, wait up!” she shouted as she ran down the hallway with her bag dangling after her.

Either did Jonghyun not hear her or he simple ignored her. No matter what, he continued to walk straight ahead in the hallway.

Jae Mi didn’t give up and followed him to the bus. Her heart beat heavily and she knew she wasn’t supposed to run like this.

“Hi”, she panted as she sat down on the empty seat next to Jonghyun.

Jonghyun looked at her and send her weird eyes. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

Jae Mi smiled. “Taking the bus of course”, she beamed. “Wait, I can sit here, right?”

“Actually —“, Jae Mi cut of her words as the answer wasn’t the one she wanted. “Great!”

Jonghyun sighed and rolled his eyes. “At least be quiet”, he said and turned his attention to the window, as the bus started driving.

Jae Mi awkwardly stared into nothing as she wondered what to say. This wasn’t going as planned. She watched the trees pass by. Her eyes fell on the cloudy sky.

“So… do you like the weather today?” she asked.

She heard Jonghyun snort. “You’re asking me about the weather?” he asked still facing the window.

“Uh”, Jae Mi nervously mumbled. “I guess. We have to talk about something, right?” she asked trying to keep up her enthusiasm.

“Actually, I just told you not to talk to me”, Jonghyun rejected her. He finally turned around in his seat. He pointed at a boy sitting alone longer down in the bus.

“See that boy?” he asked Jae Mi. “He looks like a nice boy. Why don’t you go bother him instead?”

“But I want to talk to you”, Jae Mi pouted.

Jonghyun chuckled without a hint of joy. “Trust me; I’m really not that interesting.”

“You shouldn’t say such thing about yourself”, Jae Mi defended Jonghyun from his own words. “If you don’t watch out you might end up being uninteresting in reality too.”

“And who would care about that?”

Jae Mi smiled. “I would. Imagine me having a boring bus-buddy. That would be a disaster, right?”

Jonghyun shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not like this is happening more than once:”

Jae Mi turned to him with an evil smirk. “That’s what you think.” She finished her sentence with an evil laugh and waved her arms around in the air.

She leant in closer to Jonghyun’s ear. “Be prepared”, she warningly whispered. She looked over he shoulders as she was scared someone might hear.

“You just got a bus-buddy.”

Jae Mi was gone faster than lighting from his ear and panicky straightened up in her seat playing innocent. She acted like she just told Jonghyun the country’s biggest secret.

Jonghyun turned to look at the window again pretending to be unaffected by Jae Mi. But he couldn’t refrain himself from letting a smile fall upon his lips. Jae Mi was just too crazy.

As Jae Mi saw his smile reflecting in the window glass a happy smile fell upon her lips. Maybe all Jonghyun needed was a little love and attention.

September 23^rd, 2012

Kim Jonghyun

“Hi bus-buddy”, Jae Mi happily greeted me as she bumped down in the seat next to me.

I let out a small annoyed sigh yet there was a little spark of relief in my chest. I admit the bus rides alone was really boring and since yesterday Jae Mi hadn’t left my mind at one point.

She was just so charming in a really annoying way. No matter how hard you tried to prevent it from happening she just squeezed herself into your heart with that heartwarming laugh of hers.

Jae Mi pouted. “I don’t even deserve a hi from yesterday?”

I sighed. “Hi.”

“Cold”, Jae Mi commented. I chuckled.

Jae Mi’s eyes widened and she gaped at me. “Did I just hear Kim Jonghyun, the ever cold jerk, chuckle? Like a purely amused chuckle without any sarcastic meaning?” She nudged me.

“I guess you did.”

Jae Mi approvingly nodded. “It looks good on you, I must say”, she complimented me. I sent her a weak smile.

She twisted in her seat. “So what do you want to do today?”

“How about being silent?” I went back to my usual dark, jerky if you want, attitude again.

“Yah”, Jae Mi complained. “Where did the happy chuckles go?”

Jae Mi looked around in the empty bus. “Since we’re the only ones in this bus”, she said and pulled her backpack up on her thighs. She handed me a paper which seemed to be her latest math notes.

I furrowed my eyebrows looking at the paper in my hands. I noticed how messy her handwriting was. For a girl like her I had expected some perfect curvy font but this seemed to be nothing but sloppy.

Jae Mi laughed at my confused expression. “Don’t worry; I’m not going to make you do my math. I’m not that of a cruel person”, she assured me.

“Sure?” I asked her smiling. She didn’t answer but grabbed a paper for herself. She left her seat and went a few rows down.

She hid behind her seat and fiddled with her paper. As she appeared from her hiding place again she had a paper dart in her hands.

She sent the flyer through the bus and it landed exactly besides me. “Yah”, I said and turned around.

She grinned at me. “You’re supposed to bomb me back. Let’s have a paper war.”

I laughed of her childish idea. “Only if I can be England”, I said. Jae Mi nodded. “Then I want to be France. Then I can have a cool accent.”

I scoffed. “Please, there’s no cooler accent than British”, I stated.

I quickly folded my plane with my hands. I could thank Jinki for my amazing paper dart skills. “Watch out, there’s a brill plane coming”, I spoke in British English.

As it hit Jae Mi perfectly I said, “Ace.”

Jae Mi chuckled. “S'il vous plait stop speaking English. I might mistake you for the Queen of England. Hey, try adding a bunch of old lady.”

I stepped out in the bus hallway and made a curtsey. “It is my pleasure to announce that England is declaring war against the Kingdom of France”, I said in English in a lady-like voice. “But despite our disagreements let’s have a cup of tea sometime, buddy.” I waved my hands formally like the Queen of England would do.

Jae Mi broke off into a huge laugh. Her eyes got teary and she gasped for air. She grabbed the bus seat for help so she wouldn’t lose balance.

“Funniest”, she panted, “thing ever.”

Her cheeks had gone pink from laughing and her eyes were sparkling like a shining night sky. Her laugh was catching and soon I was laughing too.

It had been a long time since I had laughed like that, for no particular reason and without worries. That was the best part.

I wasn’t laughing because I was making fun of others or out of hatred. I wasn’t laughing of sadness or sarcastically. I was laughing out of pure joy.

It felt good.

“I had no idea you could be that feminine”, Jae Mi chuckled as she finally came to her senses again. I crooked a smile. “Well everybody has a secret, right?”

Jae Mi nodded her head. “Yeah well, you sir, certainly do.”

Jae Mi walked towards the door in the bus. “This is my stop.”

The doors opened and Jae Mi stepped out in the fresh September wind. She waved from the outside. I waved back like the Queen would’ve done. Jae Mi cracked up as I watched her happily run down the street towards her house.

Her backpack bounced on her back and she looked like some little, happy school girl returning home.

I sat down in my seat and sighed. “She’s a keeper”, the bus driver suddenly said.

“Excuse me?” I turned my attention towards him in confusion. This was my first time hearing him say a word.

He chuckled and shook his head. He focused on the road again.

A dark part of my mind told me that Jae Mi was just going to ruin my image. I shook the thoughts away.

I friend once in a while doesn’t hurt.

 “S'il vous plait” means “please” in French in case you’re wondering and have no access to google but AFF is magically available on your computers… Yup. That makes sense to me. Guys what? It’s snowing here guys! Like big, fat, cosy snowflakes. Woop-woop!