[3 years later]






After graduating from her high school, Seolhyun enrolled in Sungkyunkwan University's department of Theatre and Fine Arts. Being a freshman wasn't easy. Seolhyun never seemed to get enough rest since entering the university of her dreams. With her tight schedule, she barely had time for friends and family. Yet, she still thinks of her childhood best friend, Changmin, every night without fail. Years have passed but there are still no calls or messages from Changmin.

"Alright class. Settle down. I'm here to announce that there will be a new male student joining our classes today onwards. I hope you all would get along with him," Mrs Park stated, pointing to the student that stood rooted to the ground beside her. Seolhyun wasn't too bothered by her teacher's announcement. She was rather focused on the few stacks of paper placed on her desk. She ran her fingers through them silently, ignoring her surroundings.

"Hi. I'm Shim Changmin... it's nice to meet you all," the male student spoke, gaining attention from the girls, including Seolhyun, who had lifted her head just to listen to the introduction. Seolhyun stared at the male student.

'Wow, he looks gorgeous.' she thought for a moment, before shaking her head furiously, 'Did he just say Shim Changmin?!"

Changmin was wearing a simple black sweater with dark blue jeans. The minimal styling complimented his height perfectly. Changmin gave a little wave, which made the girls swoon.

Mrs Park looked around the room, trying to find an empty seat. At last, she pointed to the seat next to Seolhyun. "You'd be sitting beside Seolhyun," she said, turning to face Changmin. "And Seolhyun? I would appreciate it if you'd show him around the school. He's quite new here, I'm sure you'll understand." Mrs Park continued as she gestured her hands, pointing nicely towards Seolhyun. Hearing this, Seolhyun's heartbeat quickened. She placed a hand over her chest and began rubbing it, 'What is this feeling?"




[Changmin's POV]

'Seolhyun? The Seolhyunari I know?' I recalled. 

I proceeded to my seat. I gave a little smile towards Seolhyun, wondering if she'd ever recognise me.

"Don't you think the new guy looks familiar?" Mina asked, scratching her head adorably in confusion. 

"Exactly. He's Changmin. You know, the close best friend I had when we were in high school." Seolhyun agreed, pin-pointing the fact that the new transferred male student was indeed Changmin.

She silently added, "He changed a lot."

Mina's eyeballs gradually became larger, as she listened carefully to Seolhyun. They were now the size of a small ping pong ball. 

Seolhyun cracked up at the sight of her friend. To this, Mina got even puzzled than before.

"Mina-yah, you don't need to know. It's not that important anyway." Seolhyun ruffled Mina's hair slightly. Mina pouted and fixed her hair, speechless.

In a blink of an eye, Seolhyun's facial expression changed. She stopped laughing and joking. Speaking of her past, it reminded her of how Mina was there for her when Changmin moved. Mina was the one who stayed by her side. Mina purposely tried to get into Sungkyunkwan University's department of Theatre and Fine Arts for the sake of Seolhyun. She was the one who sacrificed most things for Seolhyun. Seolhyun felt burdened, she was in a loss whenever she thought of it. How was she ever going to repay Mina for her kindness?

"Mina.. thanks for being there for me when Changmin isn't. Because of you, i moved on. I started to not think of Changmin during those times we were together," Seolhyun said, after a moment of silence. Mina bit her lip, trying to hold in her laughter.

"Seolhyun-ah, are you sick?" she said, bursting into laughter. She placed the back of her hand onto Seolhyun's forehead.

"Wait wha-" Seolhyun cut off her own sentence by laughing. She knew Mina felt awkward by her statement. Mina gave her a warm smile, "It's okay, I don't want anything in return. I'm doing this because I treasure you a lot."

Seolhyun felt relieved. She took a glance at her watch. "I need to go now, Mrs Park asked me to show Changmin around the school. See you later!" Seolhyun waved goodbye, as she ran off, finding Changmin.


















"So there you are." Seolhyun managed to say at last, when she found Changmin near the lockers. Changmin grinned innocently. Seolhyun leaned against one of the lockers as she eyed Changmin, from head to toe. 'Woah, he became even more... good looking,' she muttered under her breath. 

Awkwardly, she added, "Follow me." Changmin started walking behind Seolhyun, who tried her best to lead the way. He was impressed by the school's facilities, not even realising that his jaw dropped in amazement.

"How's things... when I left?" he finally asked, so softly that nobody might even hear him. Thanks to Seolhyun's impressive hearing, she caught onto what Changmin was saying.

"It was different, of course," Seolhyun replied, avoiding eye contact. Ever since he left, the two best friends didn't contact each other as frequently as before. In fact, they stopped talking. The awkwardness between the both of them was just unbearable. 

Seolhyun mustered up her courage to let the conversation flow, "You became even more good looking than before." She grimaced at her awkward compliment. Surprisingly, Changmin laughed.

"Really? You've gotten more prettier too." he replied shyly. Seolhyun blushed.

"Life must've been good without me. You totally stopped contacting me," Seolhyun said again, adding a tiny bit of sarcasm in her sentence. Changmin looked lost for a second. 

"What do you mean- Oh!! No no no, you got that wrong. It wasn't intended, I swear! You see, after transferring schools, I got my phone stolen by someone. I reported it to the discipline committee but they couldn't found the culprit. So... yeah. That explains why. There wasn't any other way to contact you because you do know that I don't do SNS right?" he explained, slightly panicking. 

'Oh, so that was the reason why he didn't contact me...,' Seolhyun whispered to herself. She didn't know why, but it felt like a huge weight was lifted off her chest. She put a hand over Changmin's shoulder, "That better be the truth." She chuckled. 

"So what do you think of the school?" Seolhyun asked, after the brief tour. 

"It's really big and..." Changmin left his sentence hanging. Seolhyun gave him a confused look, "And..?"

Changmin suddenly grabbed Seolhyun's wrist and pulled her into an embrace. Seolhyun stood there, frozen. She didn't know how to respond to the sudden skinship. Both of them stayed that way for several minutes before Changmin pulled away, "I really missed you, Seolhyun." 

"I-I missed you too," Seolhyun stuttered. "I'm sorry to break the mood but I have to go, I have a class later on. Bye!" she lied and quickly made her way. 'I need to find Mina,' she thought. Her heart was beating like a bongo drum.

Mina spat out her water, "What?!" 

"Yeah, I know right. My exact reaction when he hugged me out of the blue," Seolhyun said, passing a napkin to Mina. 

"Wait, so you mean you just stood there, like a lifeless human being when he was hugging you?" Mina blurted out. She tried to do a reenactment, but was immediately stopped by Seolhyun. "Alright, alright I'm sorry for fooling around," she apologised, in between laughters.

Seolhyun rested her head on the table, then sighed deeply. "I don't even know how to face him after this," she groaned. Mina looked at her friend pitifully.

"So do you like him?"

finally!!! chapter 2 :-) hope it isn't too short! i kept the draft since 2 years ago, but wasn't really able to edit & publish it till now. so sorry for the late update! feedbacks are welcomed.


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