http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhywsWN1mFU

As Rachel opened the door to the dojo, a cold breeze chilled her to the bone. She exhaled in discomfort, and a cloud appeared in front of her. In a hurry she rushed inside. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she could see that someone was here before her. She coughed from the cold, and it caught the fellow pupil’s attention.
“Who’s there?” he asked, standing up.
“It’s just me. Sorry, it’s so cold out there.” She waved her thickly gloved hand and smiled weakly.
“Oh, Rachel it’s you. What time is it?”
“Its 7oclock. Did I disturb you?” she bowed.

He bowed back, and shook his head. “No.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked, hugging herself to keep warm. He was already in his Tae Kwon Do uniform, showing no discomfort to the cold.
“....I like training early...” he replied softly. There was a moment of awkward silence.

“I'm going to head to the locker room,” she mumbled, and quickly walked towards the doors at the end of the dojo. As soon as she went inside, she sat on the nearest plastic chair, red as a tomato.
I can’t believe I said that... she thought to herself, shaking her head in shame. Rachel was a simple girl who came to Korea after her mother’s job was transferred, and she worked hard to fit in. She learnt Korean and even read constantly about the customs and etiquette.

But she could never get a conversation going, even in a different language. She was a social failure and ever since she took Tae Kwon Do lessons, it became even worse when he was around.
Choi Jonghyun. A third year pupil and Rachel’s infatuation. She couldn’t help but notice his handsome features. He was tall, even for a 15 year old and to her, he was like an Asian God.

It just reinforced how much of a social failure she was.

As she unwillingly ped her many jackets and took off her gloves, she changed into her own uniform, and walked out of the rooms to meet him again.

“...Jonghyun?” she whispered, noticing the dojo was empty. She felt herself go red again.
I even managed to get him to leave! She thought, and turned back towards the locker rooms.
“Where are you going?” he asked, cocking his head to the side curiously.
“Huh?” she span around, “Nowhere...” and she walked towards him, stopping at a safe distance.
He stood in the middle of the practice mats, looking at her as if he never left.
“This is my last lesson,” he said.
Rachel felt her heart sink. “...why?”
“I want to dance.”
“Dance?”
“I need a change. There’s an audition going around for a new Idol band. I think I'm going to try it out.” He smiled softly, and Rachel could feel herself wanting to find out where and when the auditions were. It was in her nature regrettably.

“When are auditions?” she asked.
“This weekend.” He said no more, noticing more people coming towards the dojo doors.

***

Rachel stared at her food on the dinner table, wondering why he was always so mysterious. He never said more than a few sentences, and he always kept his facial expressions to a minimum. It made her want to know more about him. Secrets attracted her, and she seemed to be lucky enough to get a good looking boy as well. She sighed, and picked at her food, eventually excusing herself and walking to her room. She opened the door to a room of posters. Names and faces of bands and celebrities that she didn’t know existed until she came to Korea. She glanced at her mirror, and saw her dark brown hair in a mess, but decided not to bother, and she sat on the bed, turned her iPod on, and fell asleep to the tune of an old song.

***

The next day she could already feel the emptiness of the dojo. He was gone, and although the lesson went on normally, she couldn’t help but feel unmotivated. His presence, she realised, made her want to get up every morning in the freezing cold of winter just to have an hour of Tae Kwon Do. She never missed a lesson, and now, she felt like walking out the door in the middle of sparring. As soon as the lesson finished, she walked out and was confronted with a poster held by no-one else but Jonghyun.

“Hello. Missed me?” he asked.
Without thinking, she nodded.
He frowned for a second before clearing his throat.
“This is the poster for the auditions. I thought you might want to come and watch?” he rolled up the poster, and took Rachel’s hand, placing it in her palm and curling her fingers around the rolled up paper. She stared at her hand, unable to speak.
“Kamsahamnida...” she murmured.
He smiled, “No worries. I’ll see you then?”
Again, she nodded without thinking.

He stepped backwards and waved, before turning and walking away. Rachel stood in the spot until she couldn’t see him anymore. For a moment, she contemplated running after him.
Instead, she opened the poster again, and saw a scribbled note next to the times.
Don’t be late! It said.

Rachel didn’t know what to think. What context was he speaking of? Was she just his friend? After all, Jonghyun was the only person Rachel talked to that was a guy. She assumed it was because of that. There was no way Jonghyun liked her.

She didn’t feel like she was worth his attention, even though he was worth every ounce of it to her. Rachel could feel it already; her one-sided love was just getting started.