Some might say that it was just a crush. It’s normal for school girls to have crushes on guys from their school. In fact, some said that whoever didn’t have a crush, they were named as weird. Suzy laughed upon hearing the ‘fact’, but she corrected her friends about it. All lies, she told them. It’s like the myth where the boy and girl fell in love at first sight, she snorted.

Suzy isn’t the kind of girl that likes to waste her time by having unnecessary feelings for the opposite gender. She always reminded herself that studies are first and foremost, especially in a country where extremely excellent results are a must for all students.

“Oh alright, but don’t say that I didn’t remind you about it,” Jiyoung reminded Suzy. “Who knows, maybe you will meet one very soon.”

Suzy gave her best friend a dirty look before smacking Jiyoung’s arm. Jiyoung is very peculiar about love and very likes to daydream about her prince charming. Too bad, that Suzy is the complete opposite of Jiyoung. But just like magnets, opposite attracts. Maybe that’s why their friendship is unbreakable.

“Maybe you will meet yours first,”

“And what if I do?” Jiyoung challenged her.

She paused for a moment, pondering about what she would do if Jiyoung did meet the boy of her dreams.

“I’ll find my own prince charming.”

+

“This place is boring!” Junho sighed out loud as he kicked a soda can that was lying on the cold cement ground. He watched as the can rolled away from the pavement, out from his sight. “Why did mom and dad move to such a place?”

“It’s because this place is beautiful, Lee Junho,” Mrs. Lee said as she approached her son quietly from behind. She placed her hand on his shoulder, squeezing him to make him feel assured. “And I’ll guarantee you that you will find this place fun too,”

He smirked in response, trying to control himself from laughing. “I don’t think so, mom. Ilsan was more fun… and better.”

“Oh, we will see Junho. We will see,” Mrs. Lee confirmed, taking his words as a challenge.

As his mother walked back inside the house, Junho made his way to the backyard of his house. It was a bit spacious compared to his old house back in Ilsan, but it didn’t make him feel any better nonetheless. There was a tree right in front of him, and he glanced up. He admired the branches and the colour of the leaves. It was spring, and it was supposed to be a good beginning.

And so, he believed in it. A bit.

Quickly, he went to the garage, grabbed his dad’s toolbox and a couple of plywood and went back to the tree to build himself a tree house, just like the one he built with his dad back in Ilsan. Seoul could use some bit of Ilsan, after all.

+

Suzy grabbed a sandwich from the table, sat down on a chair, and gobbled the sandwich down. It was delicious so she grabbed another one. Her lips curved up a smile. “Mom, the sandwiches are delicious!” she declared as her mother came in the kitchen from the living room. Mrs. Bae opened the fridge and got two cartons of juice and gave one to her precious daughter.

“Do you want me to pack some for you to bring to the craft shop?”

“Oh mom, I would love to.” She said with a smile.

Mrs. Bae took a lunchbox from the cabinet and placed some sandwiches in it. She even took another carton of juice and placed it, together with the lunchbox, in a decorated paper bag. After getting herself ready, she grabbed the paper bag, kissed her mother goodbye and went for work.

Suzy didn’t like to do nothing. She would try to occupy herself with activities that would not waste her time. After all, she could use some pocket money that was not given easily by her parents. She liked being independent.

She arrived at the craft shop with her bicycle parked in front of the shop. Going inside, she saw a couple of little kids making sculptures out of modeling clays, and they were having fun. Suzy smiled. Other than being independent, she liked being happy with children. It’s one of the ways for her to be happy. Quickly, she wore her uniform apron and name badge and helped the little kids with their artistic escapade.

The bells at the entrance chimed as a customer came in. Suzy was told to go and assist the customer, because the other workers were helping out others. Getting up from the table with the kids, she quickly walked to greet the customer.

“Hi. Welcome to Meraki Craft Shop. How can I help you today, sir?”

The customer nodded as he gave her a smile. “Yeah. What will you recommend for decorating a tree house? My son is building one, so I would like to help out.”

“Tree house? What a lovely thing to do.” Suzy noted out as she grinned. Among everything crafty and buildable, she liked tree houses the most. It’s because something from just wooden planks and nails could become something magnificent. And she loved that. “Maybe paints? Or even MDF boards.” She suggested as she showed the way around the shop. She also chatted along with the customer about how the tree house could look like and some additional stuffs like tire swings, ladders, and a small balcony as well.

The customer finally chose some paints (blues, reds and greens) and ropes as well and slowly made his way to the counter. Suzy quickly helped him pack the items into bags and totaled up the price.

“That would be 50 000 won, mister…” Suzy’s voiced trailed off because she didn’t know his name.

 “Lee. Mr. Lee,” the customer spoke with a grin across his face. “And thank you Suzy-ah. Oh yeah, you should meet my son. I’m pretty sure that he’s around your age.” He suggested as he grabbed the bags and made his way out of the store.

Once he was out of sight, Suzy laughed a bit. It’s like that customer was trying to set up his son with her. And she didn’t like that. Well, not really. But she could get to know him, since she got herself promising to Jiyoung that she would find her own crush. All of a sudden, she felt an uneven beating of her heart. That didn’t sound right.

She felt like she was in for a surprise but she shrugged it off as she made her way back to the children. They were nearly finished with their work, so she should clean up their mess. Children tend to be messy when they were having fun. In fact, everyone did.

+

“Dad, remind me why must we move to Seoul again?” Junho asked sarcastically to his father as he prepared himself in his new, crisp school uniform. Although he did look fashionably good in the new uniform (even if he said so himself), he still didn’t like the fact that everything’s new. Basically, he didn’t like anything new.

Mr. Lee passed Junho’s new tie to him as he laughed over his son’s question. “I’ve told you. I got a new job here, and I think it’s time for you to open yourself up to the bigger world. Come on, it will be fun!” he said.

Junho sighed as he tied his tie and then looked at his reflection for the last time. Then, he followed his father downstairs and went straight to the kitchen. His mom quickly greeted the both of them but stopped and admired her son in his school uniform.

“My son looks so handsome!” Mrs. Lee gushed in admiration over her son’s being so good-looking.

Junho laughed a bit as he smirked before sitting down for breakfast. “Don’t I always, mom?”

“Wow, so narcissistic just like your dad.” His mom rolled her eyes.

Mr. Lee coughed a bit to gain her attention. “Well, I thought that it’s one of the reasons why you fell in love with me, dear.” With that, Mrs. Lee blushed in embarrassment.

Junho groaned out loud because his parents were being so ridiculous in the morning. But, he decided to just gobble down his pancakes and juice because his mom’s cooking is the best, and because food is the best way to relieve stress. He quickly got up and grabbed his bag and prepared himself to go to his new school. He shuddered at the thought of ‘new’, though.

“Oh, should I drive you to the new school?” his dad suddenly got up from his seat to see his son.

But, Junho just shook his head. “Nah, I’ll just walk to the school.” He adjusted his uniform and wore his white socks before skidding over to his parents to say his goodbyes. With that, he started his new life as a high-school student in Seoul.

Jiyoung quickly sat down when she saw Suzy who was already sitting down. “Suzy-ah…” she nudged her best friend’s shoulder because she had just heard a rumour. “Did you just hear that there’s a new boy who will join this class?”

Suzy raised her eyebrows, because that was quite unexpected. In a way. She smiled to Jiyoung in return. “And will that make any difference?”

Jiyoung pondered about it for a minute as she blinked her eyes at Suzy. Then, she suddenly snapped her fingers as if she had just gotten herself a brilliant idea. “Maybe you’ll like him.”

Suzy stopped reading her notes when she heard her friend saying that. She quickly turned around to face her friend, only to laugh because she was being ridiculous. “Oh Jiyoung, how can you be so sure?”

Jiyoung just grinned in response as she took out her notes and studied along with her friend. Then, the teacher walked in briskly and the class began their lesson for the day.

Halfway through the class, the school’s principal suddenly entered their class and called their teacher. They were out for a couple of minutes before the teacher came in again with a small smile on her face. “Okay class, today, all of you will meet your new classmate. Boy, please come in.” she called out as she gestured for him to enter. Every student (especially the girls, since they heard the word ‘boy’.) looked in front to see the new student.

The boy entered the class in a swift movement, walking towards the teacher’s desk. He coughed a bit as he let his hands enter the front pockets of his pants. He looked at the teacher and proceeded to introduce himself. “Hello everyone. My name is Lee Junho. Do take care of me. Thanks.” He bowed his head as he flashed a smile. Junho quickly sat down after the teacher showed his table. It was right beside the window but he sat third from the front. Suzy and Jiyoung continued to stare at him for a bit, because they were sitting in the same row. Jiyoung nudged Suzy’s shoulder and smirked at her.

Suzy’s eyebrows arched as she was confused. “What?”

“He’s cute.” Jiyoung giggled quietly.

But, Suzy shrugged her shoulders. “He’s okay.”

“Maybe you should have a crush on him.”

Suzy almost wanted to laugh out loud after her friend said that. “I don’t even know anything about him and you said that I should have a crush on him?”

Jiyoung played around with her pen, twirling it in between her fingers as she shrugged nonchalantly. “Anything can happen, you know.”

Before Suzy could say anything in response, the teacher called out their names and told them to be quiet. But, Jiyoung made a mental note that was to make sure that Suzy would change her mind. Because miracles could happen anytime.