5.
I believe in you.Your's Pov:
I could not sleep that night, so I began to count sheep, drink warm milk and study my notes. It did not help. After playing a loud slow song that woke Grandma up, I decided not to sleep. After all, I had to wake up early the next day for school.
It was, by then, 4am in the morning. Several flats were lighting up, getting ready for the day. I looked at my handphone to check for new SMSes. There was no new SMS. I frowned and message L.Joe, “Good night, good morning, Mr Lee.”
Why the heck have I done that? For fun? No; in my dictionary, the word “fun” does not exist. Argh.
I spent the next two hours surfing the Internet, checking my handphone, watching television, checking my handphone again, playing online games and checking my handphone once more. At last, at 6am, I received a message. It was from L.Joe.
“=)”
I deleted the SMS and then spent the next ten minutes trying to restore deleted SMSes. There was no such function. Silly me.
L.Joe was “pretending” to be normal to me in school.
It was as if the long conversation we had had never occurred. L.Joe put on his trademarked smile to class as usual and joked his time off. When lunch break came, he bought me my strawberry milk and I could avoid the strangeness no more. I asked,
“Why are you acting so strangely today?”
“Strangely?” L.Joe said. “I am not! I am not even acting.” He replied.
“You are,” I retorted, wondering if I had just accidentally “cursed” him. After thinking about it, I figured I had not, so I continued, “You used to be so…” I stopped. It was not him. It is me.
I had suddenly wanted L.Joe to pay more attention to me. To talk to me more. To joke with me more. He was just being himself. What is wrong with me?
“Mianhae,” I said as I looked at my plate of rice, ashamed to face him. Something was wrong, but I chose to ignore it.
“So, when is the…appointment?” I asked.
“I am calling them later.” L.Joe replied.
“You will…come with me, correct? As you promised?” I asked.
Although I was not looking at him, I knew he must have been showing me that silly toothy grin again.
“I promise. I will come with you for every session. Every single session. Every…” L.Joe said as I cutted his words again,
“Good,” I said, “good, damn good.”
"Hey Min Young."
I woke up from my doze. Mr Jung monotonous voice was amplified to the entire hall. I took a few seconds to register my situation and looked up. It was Sungyeol, one of my classmates who wrote the script for the play. He was sitting in front of me, his head turned. L.Joe was snoring beside me, his cheek kissing the table. He was always sleeping during lessons.
“Hey, Min Young,” he repeated, as if I was still napping.
“You there?” Sungyeol asked.
I nodded.
“Ne gwenchanna?” he whispered.
I nodded again. “Wae?”
“Well, it iss because—”
L.Joe suddenly jumped out from his sleep and grabbed Sungyeol’s neck. I had never seen him moving so fast before. “Don’t harm her!” he shouted.
His outburst attracted everyone’s attention. Students who were sleeping woke up. Mr Jung stopped talking and stared at L.Joe with his eyes wide open, obviously surprised by L.Joe’s action. Sungyeol did not struggle. He was staring at L.Joe in disbelief.
After a few seconds of silence, L.Joe let go and sat down while Sungyeol scratched his head. They did not exchange a single word. A few whispers from the students killed the silence.
“As you all can see, the point when demand is…” Mr Jung continued as if nothing had happened.
“Hey, yeol,” L.Joe whispered.
Sungyeol wheeled round and faced L.Joe. He did not seem afraid.
“Mianhae. I had a silly dream. You know, Mr Jung's voice can turn a sweet dream into a nightmare.” L.Joe said.
“Araso. I understand. That’s why I dare not sleep when Mr Jung is teaching. By the way, what dream did you just have? Who is the ‘her’?” Sungyeol asked.
“Ne, who’s the ‘her’?” I asked as well. Must have been out of curiosity.
“Erm...I…forgot. It might be a ‘him’ or an ‘it’. L.Joe said.
"You know, you always forget your dreams.” I said.
Sungyeol laughed. “Ne. anyway, Min Young, I was about to ask you…gwenchanna?”
“What’s wrong?” L.Joe and I said together.
“Well, it is just that…you have smiled five times today. And, I have seen you smile less than ten times despite knowing you for more than six months. It’s a bit…unusual?” Sungyeol asked.
“Well, Sungyeol”—L.Joe his lips in delight—
"She’s going to smile more in the future. I promise you that.” L.Joe said.
And, all of a sudden, I smiled.
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