LOVE IS A LITTLE BLIND. WHEN WE LOVE SOMEONE DEARLY, WE UNCONSCIOUSLY OVERLOOK MANY THOUGHTS.

-Yoon Bomi-

                  "This area is just perfect,"

                 I grabbed my paint- stained apron out of my sling jeans bag and put it on before I took out all of my paint brushes and paint jars. I sat on the grass and picked up my wooden palette. This was my first time I had my own time and took a day off from my work. As a teacher, I hardly spent my time in this garden, doing my favourite stuff : painting. I picked the broad flat brush, wet it, dipped it into my crisp apple green paint and started painting. At the same time, a man in a bear mascot who was holding lots of balloons walked towards me and sat on a bench which was not far from me. I felt disturbed as he blocked my view.

                "Sir, I'm sorry but can you sit on other bench?" I yelled a little. The man stood silently, pretended as nothing had happened. I yelled even louder. Suddenly, a little girl came to him and asked for a balloon. He whispered something to her and the pony- tailed girl nodded. He sat on his knees then and gave her a pink balloon. Happily, the girl walked away. The incident really reminded me of my old days. It was the first time I met someone. Hoya, the guy next door. My past memories played on my mind.

15 years ago,

                My name is Yoon Bomi, but they called me the T which stands for Troublemaker. I was seven. I was a notorious student and was always landing myself in hot soup. I liked to pull my friends' hair and make jokes out of them. All of my classmates were afraid of me as I was always bullying them. I had zero friends either because I was not a friendly person. Playing truants became my hobby. I lived with my grandparents since I was at the tender age of three as my parents were the victims in a car crash. And I really loved to sit under a tree which is situated between my house and the empty house next to mine, usually totally absorped in my painting and did not bother about any other things around me.

                 When I was nine, I saw a huge truck parked in front of the empty house. As I was swaying down the stairs to grab my breakfast, Grandma mentioned, "A nice family is going to be our neighbour, Bbom. I feel really good about it. You might get new friend too," A bright smile plastered on her face. I just shrugged- not interested at all and munced my sandwitches lazily with my eyes closed. My mind was spelling S-L-E-E-P at that time, like seriously.

                 I got Maths class on the next day. Maths was really my Achilles' heels. As usual I plannned to skip it anyway. I skated out of the school to go painting at my favourite place, the tree. Suddenly, my skateboard tripped on something and I fell onto the road. My knees were bleeding. To make the situation worse, I cried. Loudly. Tsk, I must have looked stupid at that time. Out of the blue, someone came and offered me a helping hand. I stole a look at the owner of the hand. It was a boy with a charming, warm smile. That smile struck me and instantly I stopped crying. Beside him stood a cute, little  girl who was holding a red, heart- shaped balloon. Both of them helped me to stand up. I wiped my tears straightaway.

                " I am Hoya,  and this is my sister, Eunji. We are new here." I can sensed that they are from Busan, from their strong accent. I nodded like an idiot. " I am Bomi." My face went as red as a beetroot. Hoya then whispered something to Eunji and took the balloon which was in her hand. " Gloomy Bbom, be extra careful next time," uttered Hoya while handing me the balloon. I smiled and thanked him. Then, I raced as quickly as I can to my house without bidding any goodbyes to them. Accidentally, I left my skateboard there. That was the start of me, having something buried deep in my heart that was always blooming whenever I saw Hoya. Is that what people called LOVE? Once I thought about it, I might even blushed to hear his name during that tender age. I did not have a clue what it is since I was too young at that time for the emotional roller coaster.

                On the next day, when I was running late to school and hurriedly closed the door, I saw Hoya and Eunji in front of the house next to mine. Hoya saw me and waved his hand. That was when I knew that they were the ones that Grandma told me before. We walked together to school ever since that morning. Exactly as I expected, Hoya was an A student and became the apple of many teachers' eyes. When we were in sixth grade, he was qualified to be the striker of our school's soccer team. Despite of his busy schedule, he always helped me out in my homework especially in Maths. At night, both of us usually studied together, either in my house or his.

               As we grew older, Hoya became more and more popular and appeared to be a good- looking guy with his dashing brown hair and 100-watt-eye-smile. Everyone in the school adored him. Despite of his popularity, he stayed down-to-earth and always supported me and complimented my paintings. He often teased me by calling me Gloomy Bbom. While Hoya became the favourite of everyone, I-who-still-been-called-the-T was the opposite of him. Every girl hated me for my close friendship with Hoya. Some even said I lured him. I still had no friends (minus Hoya, of course) and got even more enemies. I still kept the red balloon Hoya gave me years ago. Once, I carved an 'I LOVE HOYA" on my favourite tree. We shared our problems and whenever I was feeling down, he was always  there for me and said, " the world is not over yet, Bbom. I believe you have a wide, bright future in front of you,". It became my favourite quote ever since. We rarely seen apart. Everything was so perfect at that time, eventhough I still kept my feelings towards him without him knowing.

                I think fate really loves to play with my emotions. The faithful day came at last. One evening, he came to me while I was painting under the tree. "Bbom, I am so sorry," He spoke with a bowed head and in a forlorn voice. " Wae?". I stared at his sad face. " My father got transfered to other state, w- we have to move this weekend." I thought I heard it all wrong, my mind stopped functioning--my heart skipped a beat. I ran to my house, while trying to fight back my tears. Since that evening, I stopped seeing him. I asked Grandpa to send me to school. I never went out of my house except for school purpose. On the day he left, I ran to the neighbourhood's garden and cried. I cried so hard until my eyes were swollen badly. He was my only friend- my only reason for me to go to school, and he left me alone. I would me a lonely Bbom again. When I went back home, his house was empty. The next week was worse. I was like a living corpse. I even skipped school and meals. I locked myself in my room, cuddling in my blanket, playing the tape of my happy times with him in my head over and over. One day, suddenly it struck me.

                 I remembered something. My favourite quote, " The world isn't over, Bbom. I believe you have a wide, bright future in front of you." It really changed me. I tried to rebuild my self esteem. I applied to be a prefect. I strived hard in my studies and tried to be a more sociable person. Later, I was chosen to be the President of the Art Club. Unbelievably, I was even selected to enter the Olympiad Maths competition and won the second- runner- up trophy. Best of all, I got many friends. I always sold my paintings at an art gallery in the town and suprisingly my paintings were always sold so I got paid. My life became happpier. I never talked about Hoya but I never forgot him.

                So, here I am. A Maths teacher in my former high school. I coughed. My mind flew back to reality. I picked up my palette and continued painting. Suddenly, the little girl whom I saw before came towards me shyly and handed me a letter. I opened and read it quickly afterwards as I was so curious.

" Dear Gloomy Bbom,

                   You were my crush since I first met you. I gave you many hints but you never spotted any of them so I thought you did not have any feelings for me. I knew, I was very busy back then. Sorry, I was the hope of the family and had to strive hard. On the day I moved, fate helped me. I saw your carvings on the tree. That was when I knew you got feelings for me too. You weren't there, sadly. I was really upset, I couldn't find you anywhere. Your grandparents didn't even know about your whereabouts. So, before I go, I carved an " I LOVE YOU TOO"  under it too but I think you never saw it, right? Without you knowing, actually I was the one who buy all of your paintings. You are so talented, Bbom--I have always knew it. If you still love me, and can accept this fool once again, meet me at the fountain as soon as you can. I really, really hope you will."

              Tears were already pooling at the corner of my eyes. I rushed to the fountain as I knew the place well. It was the same garden I came to on the day Hoya moved. I saw nothing at the fountain as I arrived there except for an old skateboard laid on the ground. Wait, that was my skateboard which I thought I losed it when I was nine. I was puzzled and a few milliseconds later, someone touched my shoulder from behind.

              I turned around slowly. I grinned coyly. " Hey, Mr Deaf Bear. What can I do to help you? I'm busy right now, okay. I have no times to play, I want to meet someone here,". I babbled to him while my eyes were scanning all over the place to search for him. It was the mascot guy. I felt annoyed  as I remembered the last time he annoyed me. Then, he slowly took off the mascot's head. I just could not believe my eyes. I punched my cheeks few times.  " Is the person you're about to meet is as handsome as me?". Yeah, it was him all along. It was Hoya. His face was reddened and dripped with sweats. It must've been hot to wear that costume. Nevertheless, he smiled at me. It was the same charming smile that made my heart skipped a beat! He handed me a red, heart- shaped balloon that he hid behind his back. My heart was pounding faster than ever. I ignored the balloon and hugged him instead. He hugged me tightly and even did lift me off the ground. He pinched my cheek. " I will never leave you, I swear." I grinned mischievously to him. " Better keep your promise. pabo!". I made faces and eventually ran quickly. Hoya chased after me. Both of us knew it was a fresh, new start.

THE END^^

PS. so, how was my piece? leave comments pleassseee :D