The day ended. I haven’t seen Seunghyun and Minhwan in my last classes. And I haven’t met anyone interesting either. This one guy was actually nice enough to shove me into my locker byt other than that…… But you know it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

As the last bell rang I waited till everyone else left - didn’t want to be shoved by anyone else. I packed my bag and made my way to the door after politely bowing to the middle-aged teacher. As I walked out of the school the sunshine hit my eyes. I haven’t even realized what a sunny September it was. Last year it rained almost every day and I had gotten used to carrying an umbrella around. Perhaps getting used to the new city will be harder than I had expected. 

I saw some guys playing soccer outside and I was about to just ignore them when I noticed two familiar faces: the weird strawberry-haired freshman that was earlier staring at me and the guy who gave me a cookie. I bowed my head down hoping nobody would notice me but for some odd reason everybody except for me has perfect vision.

“Kibum-hyung!” – Crap. I saw a mess of orange hair running up to me.  Well, no use in hiding now.

“Yes?” – And then it happened. Something I didn’t expect – he hugged me. I hate physical contact – it makes me feel vulnerable. And here I am, hugged by a person who I met only a few hours ago.

“Kibum-hyung, the soccer team – which, may I let you know, I am a part of – is going to a sushi bar to celebrate the coming of new members. Do you like sushi? Ok…. Actually what I want to ask is – do you want to come with us?” – And then he smiled one of the most dazzling smiles I have ever seen in my life.

“I…. like sushi.”

“Great, then let’s go!” – he started pulling my hand but I stopped him and looked apologetically.

“Hyung?”- I don’t know if it was my imagination but I swear his eyes became bigger.

“I like sushi but I have somewhere else to be at the moment…” – he pouted and I decided to add – “Sorry….”

“Where?” – He looked like he didn’t believe me.

“Family matters.” -  That was partly true. I had to go and visit my new psychologist.

“Really?” – He was still eyeing me and I furiously nodded afraid of being forcefully dragged into their mega-jock group.

“Ok…. But promise to come next time.” – I noticed that he kept a tight grip on my arm.

Why was this situation so messed up? What was this boy trying to achieve? I was almost sure that if I promised to come next time he would not forget about this. The screaming from the other soccer players for Taemin to come back (that is how I remembered his name) weren’t helping my thinking. I signed. The best thing to do in such a situation is to tell the truth.

“Listen. To tell the truth I am not that good at communicating with people. I am not sure I will be able to fit in with the soccer team. I can’t promise you anything because I can’t do what I don’t want to do.” – Taemin’s smile faded but I just continued – “Taemin, you seem like a good kid and I am sure you are very fun to be around.” – Taemin stayed silent for a while processing what I had just said but then opened his mouth.

“So…. Then what about spending some time with me....?" - I signed.

“Taemin, ……. Maybe some day later. When…. We get to know each other better.” – His eyes searched my face before he slowly nodded. I smiled….. hopefully….. at least I tried to. – “Have a nice day Taemin” – And I left. He stood there for a while before he ran back to his friends. I heard them asking about me but decided not to focus my hearing on their conversation – I might lose the small amount of dignity I have left over.

30 minutes later I was standing in front of a rather cozy-looking house. It was the house of my new psychologist.  This was very new to me – meeting my doctor at his own house. I always met up with Junsu ( he allowed me to call him by his first name on our second session ) at the hospital where he worked. At first it was a bit uncomfortable with all the patients and doctors rushing by but soon I got used to it. Standing in front of such a nice house I found myself missing the smell of medicine. It’s so weird how not the most pleasant things can become so important in a person’d life.

I carefully checked whether the address was right before knocking carefully on the door…… Silence. I knocked once again. Maybe the doctor forgot about the appointment. I knocked once again and then turned around in order to walk away but then the door opened.

I could have expected to see an elderly man.

I could have expected to see a young man resembling Junsu.

I could have expected anything in this freaking world.

But I never expected to see what I saw.

“Kibum-shi?”