“Are you stalking me?” Jae Mi asked.

“What? Me!? No, never!” I exclaimed. Where did she get that from?

“Then, where are you going?”

“Oh, um… nowhere, I’m looking for something,” I explained.

“Oh, did you lose something? I could help you look for it,” she said and started scouting with one hand shielding her eyes from the sun.

“You could say that. I lost my inspiration,” I said and looked down at my feet.

“Ah, I hate it when that happens, not that it ever has but… I mean, sometimes my poems are pure crap, but I’ve never lost it completely.”

“Me neither. This is the first time and I have no idea what to do.”

“What do you need it for?” she asked curiously.

“I write too. Lyrics, for my songs.”

“Oh, a musician… that’s hot.” I blushed at her words. “I know someone who might be able to give you some advice. Come with me!”

“I’m alrea- woah!”

 

Jae Mi was holding my hand tightly and dragged me along the street. In the dramas it’s always the other way around… She turned around a corner.

“~~~~~!” she called. A girl in front of us turned around.

“You’re late, Jae Mi. We are…” She fell silent when she saw the two of us heading towards her. Jae Mi skidded to a stop and let go off my hand.

“~~~~~, I’m sorry!” Jae Mi squealed. “I dropped the bag on my way here and all the papers flew away. I got most of them back, but some of them are lost, forever. This is Yonghwa,” Jae Mi ranted. “He helped me, so I promised him you’d give him some advice. You see, he lost his inspiration and he needs it for his lyrics to his songs. Musician, hot right?”

“I don’t know if I can help… I’m not a writer…” ~~~~~ mumbled and glanced at me while fiddling with her hands.

“She’s just shy,” Jae Mi said and put an arm around ~~~~~’s shoulders. “She’s my biggest source of inspiration.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said with a smile and bowed. She bowed and all of her hair fell from her shoulders and covered her face. She let it stay that way. She was so cute, how could a person be that shy?

“What do we do about the missing papers?” Jae Mi asked.

“I predicted that you might screw up in some way, so I bought some more on my way over here.” ~~~~~ picked up a plastic bag standing on the ground beside her and gave it to Jae Mi who squealed happily and hugged her friend close.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! You’re the best! Let’s do this shall we?” Jae Mi went inside. ~~~~~ hesitated in the doorway, she glanced at me.

“Are you coming?” she asked. Why not?

“Sure.”

 

“Mr Svensson!” ~~~~~ said with a smile when she came inside. An old foreign man looked up.

“~~~~~, you’re here. I prepared everything,” the man said in poor Korean. As Mr Svensson led ~~~~~ to the other end of the room Jae Mi leaned closer to me.

“He’s from Sweden. ~~~~~’s father helped him a lot when he got here,” she whispered. I just nodded as I watched ~~~~~ tie her hair up in a loose bun as she listened concentrated to Mr Svenssons’ instructions.  “She’s beautiful, huh?”

“Yeah… wait, what? I mean…” I blushed madly as I tried to whitewash myself.

“It’s okay, I won’t tell,” Jae Mi laughed as ~~~~~ came closer.

“This will take a while,” she said.

“Let’s do something fun while waiting,” Jae Mi said and smirked at me. I blushed and wondered what she was thinking. “Fell like joining us?” ~~~~~ and Jae Mi looked at me.

“I, uh… guess. Yeah, sure,” I stuttered while looking into ~~~~~’s eyes. She smiled when I accepted the offer and I felt my heart skip a beat.

“Let’s go for some coffee,” Jae Mi said and walked ahead out of the door. Me and ~~~~~ almost collided in the doorway.

“I’m sorry. You go ahead.” I stepped aside to let her out. She gave me a shy smile and went out. I walked behind her while blushing madly. What was with me? Jae Mi walked in the middle and led the way while talking non stop. There would be no awkward silences here.

 

We were sitting around a round table in a small café. Jae Mi was still going on with her monologue which no one, at least not me, was listening to. I was occupied with glancing at ~~~~~ over my cup of coffee as she sipped her iced tea. I smiled to myself and blushed for no reason. Jae Mi leaned forward.

“Yah! ~~~~~, weren’t you going to give him some advice for his lyrics?” she asked with a smile. ~~~~~ looked like she had been caught off guard. Probably she had been listening as much as I had. She averted her gaze and stirred her tea.

“I don’t think I can help, you’re the writer,” she said quietly as her cheeks turned red.

“But you’re the supporter. You know what to do,” Jae Mi said and started digging in her bag. “I always carry around a pen and something to write on, if should come up with something all of a sudden.” She reached me the writing equipment. I looked at ~~~~~ and accidentally caught her gaze. Now it was me who turned into a tomato. She averted her gaze and played with her hair. Jae Mi smirked from her chair.

“Come on now Yonghwa, I know you can do it,” she said. She nudged ~~~~~. “Help him out here.” ~~~~~ glanced at me from behind her drape of hair.

“Just… write the first that pops up in your mind,” she said. I felt my breaths stuck in my throat as our gazes crossed each other again.

 

You make me stop breathing

 

“What did you write, what did you write!?” Jae Mi exclaimed eagerly and tried to get a peek of my paper. I gave her a confused look before looking at the paper. My sloppy handwriting showed one line. “Let me see.” I covered the paper with both hands.

“No! Maybe when I’m finished.”

“What? But you only have one sentence, and you’re out of inspiration who knows when you’ll be ready,” Jae Mi pouted. I glanced at ~~~~~ who was still playing with her hair. I smiled. Jae Mi cleared making ~~~~~ look up. I quickly looked in the opposite direction and felt my heartbeat increase to a dangerously high speed. Maybe I’m sick… I dared myself to glance at her again, and just like just now I felt a smile cover my face. Maybe I’m not just sick, I might as well be insane…

 

When I look at you I just smile out if nowhere
Like a fool I keep doing that

 

Where did that came from? I looked up in the ceiling and scratched the back of my head. Both Jae Mi and ~~~~~ looked up. After a short silence ~~~~~ whispered.

“What are we looking for?”

“I, uh… nothing, I just… um…”

  

I talk with the shyness like a child

 

 

“It seems like you’re making progress,” Jae Mi said with a smirk playing on her lips. I just nodded and read what I had written. “Well, sorry to interrupt your flow, but I think we should get back and see how Mr Svensson is doing.”

“Yeh, let’s go,” ~~~~~ mumbled. She shot me a glance and smiled. Could she hear my heart beating its way out of my chest?

  

When I see you my heart goes thump thump

 

 

I scribbled that last line down on the paper before standing up.

“Would it be okay if I came with you?” I asked awkwardly. Maybe I was becoming a stalker after all… Jae Mi gave ~~~~~ a questioning look. ~~~~~ looked at me and smiled.

“Of course.” She gave me the most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life. Was that smile really for me? I sighed happily and followed the girls out the door. Is this what you call… love at first sight?

 

There’s no reason for my love you know
It may be immature but I keep doing this
I think love came to me