“You’re worried about me,” I said, the edges of me lips tugging up into a smirk.

Daehyun’s hand hesitated and our eyes met. “What?”

The thoughts were processing through his head, and the sudden look of astonishment on his face stuck me. The things that I had just announced to Daehyun weren’t that mind-boggling, but he appeared thoroughly stunned. His eyebrows were furrowed and lips were tightly pursed. Drops of sunlight streamed in between the cracks of a nearby window, illuminating his troubled profile. He turned to me, the rays of sun filtering into his eyes, turning them into transparent windows that glistened brilliantly, yet bitterly.

“You must’ve hit your head pretty hard to be thinking that I’d be worried about you. I’m only here because Mrs. Yang told me to come with you.”

“Ouch!” I gasped at the stinging pain that rocketed through my head. Daehyun was beginning to press down on my wound much harder than he had before. Yanking his arm away, I glared up into his gleaming eyes, still saturated with light, but oddly cold. The throbbing pain I felt in my head broke and scattered my thoughts, but his un-forgiving, blatant words somehow managed to hold them together.

“Sorry I mistook you for being able to care.” I bitterly spat.  For a moment, I thought that Jung Daehyun had had a kind, admirable side. What a joke that was. Clutching my aching head, the realness of everything became obvious to me. “I’ll wait for the nurse. You’ve done your job of escorting me here, so leave now.”

In a flash, the rays that had been streaming through the window vanished, leaving the nurse’s office dark, everything cast in shadows. I could barely make out the outline of Daehyun’s figure now, but I could tell that he was still faced towards me.  An overbearing quietness fell between us. I was convinced that there were things left unsaid, but Daehyun just sat there in silence. Even in the dark though, his eyes were glued to me.

The door of the nurse’s office swung open and a lanky, aged looking man clad in doctor attire hurriedly rushed in. He didn’t seem to notice me or Daehyun in the pitch-darkness of the room as he scampered up to a tall filing cabinet and, like Daehyun, began busily foraging through it.

Daehyun abruptly cleared his throat, announcing our presence.

The startled old man whipped his head around, jumped to flick on the lights, and let out a surprised gasp when he laid eyes on us. I noticed the small, silver nametag he wore pinned to his uniform. It read Nurse Hyunwoo.

“My stars, I didn’t even notice you two! But what were you two doing in here?” His wrinkled eyes squinted as they focused on us, lingering on me. “Oh my, that’s some injury you’ve got there!” The flustered nurse studied my injury from afar before delving back into the filing cabinet. I wondered what more a person could pull out from a filing cabinet. “How did you get that?” the nurse asked over his shoulder.

Hearing Daehyun’s stifled laugh, my fists balled and teeth clenched together before I even had the chance to answer the nurse. I could sense my mood darkening even more. Another jolt of pain burst inside of my head, sending chills through my body.  “I tripped, that’s all.” I blatantly called to the old nurse. Turning to Daehyun, I spoke in dangerously low whisper. “See, he’s here now, so go.”

“This is the thanks I get?” Daehyun sarcastically gaped in disbelief.

“Get out.”

Nurse Hyunwoo stopped and eyed both of us, his expression fading into confusion. His now very apparent wrinkles jumped out against his pasty white complexion. “Did you bring her here young man?” he asked as he pulled out more cotton balls and gauzes.

“Yeah, I did,” Daehyun absently sighed, his gaze still locked with mine as he forced himself to his feet. “But I’m not needed anymore, so I’m leaving.”

I angrily stared down at my shoes, not wanting to see Daehyun at all at that moment. His heavy footsteps retreated, and the nurse’s door clicked opened and then slammed shut. The nurse jumped at the loud sound of the door but I only sighed. Daehyun had left, leaving both the nurse and I in another bout of silence.

***

Nurse Hyunwoo had quickly finished cleaning my wound and after that, he bandaged it snugly with gauze. Checking myself out in a small mirror hanging on the wall, I came to the conclusion that I looked exactly like a mummy.

And by this time, gym class and even my next class, Modern Music Study, had ended. I figured that I only had one class left before school would end, but the nurse told me to just stay in his office and rest. I regretfully agreed, and went to lie down in the bed closest to the window. That way, I’d be able to peek out at the ever-beautiful scenery of Sunhwa, but for some reason, something was preventing me from truly being distracted by all of the greenery below. Thoughts of Daehyun kept popping into my mind, and even if I tried my best to push all of them out, they somehow would worm their way back. It caused my head to ache all over again.

 I was beyond relieved when the last bell of the school day rang, so I briskly thanked Nurse Hyunwoo, and exited his office. Being thrown once again into a beyond crowded hallway, filled to the brim with hustling and bustling students, I began to feel a bit self-conscious. If I managed to catch anybodies stare, they would always scrunch their eyebrows and shoot me scrutinizing looks. I felt like some kind of flu that everybody loathed and nobody wanted to catch.

Leaving school, I couldn’t have been happier. Many students, particularly girls, were remorsefully saying their good-byes to all of their friends. I gawked to myself at their cheesiness and how overdramatic they were acting, but deep down inside, I wish I had friends to say, ‘See you tomorrow!’ to. I continued walking alone.

Entering my beaten up apartment complex, I remembered my promise to call my mother and father once my first day had ended. They had wanted to hear all about my wonderful experience at the magnificent Sunhwa Arts School. I laughed to myself at the irony of it all. My parents probably don’t even have the slightest clue what I’ve been through today. I wrestled with the idea of ranting to them about the jerk who had forced himself into my life, but decided against it. I didn’t want my parents to have to have any worries about me living here or going to Sunhwa.

Seeing me, Donghae energetically greeted me from his place behind the register, but his eyes swiftly grew into the size of saucers. “Miss _____, what on earth happened to your head?” sprinting over to me, he quickly examined my head with a worried look etched on his face. “Are you ok?”

I forced a small smile onto my face. “I’m fine.”

It actually was very nice to have somebody, besides the school nurse, be concerned about me. The way Donghae had reacted made it feel as though we were very close and he genuinely cared about me. Even though he was only the desk clerk, he suddenly felt much like an older brother, and I was very grateful to him. I explained to Donghae what had happened at school, but left the whole Daehyun had tripped me and almost killed me part out of it. He confusedly accepted my story, and told me that if I ever needed anything, he would be more than happy to help.

Lying in my small, vacant apartment room sprawled out across my futon, I dialed my mother and father on my cell-phone. The faint ringing echoed from the phone into my ear, and after a few more rings, there was a click.

“Hello?”

“Omma?”

“Oh my, honey, honey it’s _____,” My mother called out. I imagined her placing her hand over the phone’s speaker, trying to muffle her voice as she called out to my father, but utterly failing as I could still hear her clear as day. “Dear, your father and I were worried sick about you! I was just waiting for your call. How are you? Are you doing alright? Is your apartment nice? How’s Sunhwa?” she excitedly asked, speaking directly into the phone again.

“One question at a time!” I jokingly demanded. Clearing my throat, I began to tell her all about my spectacular, top quality apartment that I was living in. It was incredibly spacious with the addition of the beautiful view that I had if I peered outside of my humungous window. And Donghae, the desk clerk, was incredibly nice and told me that if I ever needed any help, he would be more than happy to assist. My mother ooed and asked if he was cute. Pondering for a moment, I giggled into the phone. “Yes, he’s actually very cute.” She squealed and I could just see her eyes sparkling as she pictured me and Donghae together.

I continued, talking about how Sunhwa was everything I had always dreamed of and more. Everybody at the school was so friendly and helpful, which was actually true, despite Daehyun, but, as I decided before, I left him out of my conversation. After I finished describing Sunhwa and how happy I was to be here, my mother was beyond overjoyed. It was now getting pretty late, so before we ended our call, mother gave me a few words of advice.

“No matter what, even if things get tough, just do what you know is right. And remember, you can always come back home if things don’t work out!” This is the second time my mother had said this. She quickly added an ‘I love you,’ before she hung up to go brag to my father about the kind of life that I was now living. Bringing the phone down from my ear, I softly exhaled. At least now she and my father wouldn’t lose any sleep about me.

Seoul’s city lights, the ones that only glowed at night, now shown in through my window. The lights in my apartment were off so the melded neon colors of the skyscrapers and bright, glowing signs became the only source of light in my room. I still laid on my futon, engulfed in an aurora of magnificent lights and colors, but even the brightness and luminosity of those things couldn’t seem to brighten my mood.