School

As the bus made its way to Jieun’s school, more students and other passengers piled in. At one stop, a couple of high school boys teasing each other got on and one of them pushed one of his friends and as the bus started to move, he stumbled and fell on Jieun. His friends laughed as he got off Jieun, then they made their way to the back of the bus, not even apologizing. Jieun didn’t even flinch. Youngmin saw everything. He was watching Jieun. He wanted to go over right now and ask if she was okay. But he couldn’t. Because he asked her not to. (And there was a girl sitting next him, kinda hindering him from moving.)

At another stop, three girls got on the bus, they were wearing the same uniform as Jieun. All the seats were taken, so they were just standing. Jieun could hear their conversation clearly.

“OMG, cutie alert.”

“Oh! He’s wearing our uniform!”

“I wonder what grade he’s in.”

Jieun sighed. She could already see them starting a fanclub for him.

Despite sitting on the front row, Jieun waited for all the students to file out of the bus before she herself got off. Youngmin waited for Jieun before he moved.  

“Are you okay?” Youngmin asked. He wasn’t walking next to her. He was a few steps back, talking low, but enough for her to hear.

“Yeah.”

“Sure?”

“Positive. Stop talking. Just follow me, I’ll take you to the Administration office.”

When they entered the school gates, Jieun ignored the eyes ogling over the guy behind her, pretending not to know him. Everywhere they passed people were whispering.

“Wow, total uljjang.”

“Oh, is he an idol?”

“Maybe a trainee?”

Jieun walked into the office and smiled at the lady by the counter.

“Good morning miss. Uhm, he’s new. Help him out.” Jieun said, gesturing over to Youngmin.

“Oh, sure.” The lady lightened up when she saw Youngmin. “What’s your name dear?”

“Jo Youngmin.” Youngmin smiled.

The lady looked in to her computer and smiled. “Ah, I see. You’re the student the principal was telling me about. Just hold on a sec, I’ll get you a map and print out your schedule.”

Youngmin nodded, then he thought he heard the door close. He turned around and Jieun was nowhere in sight.

Jieun sat in her class, thinking about Youngmin. “He’ll be fine.” She thought.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her teacher tap her table, calling for their attention. She looked up and pretended to be listening.

“Alright everyone, we have a new student joining us today.”

What? That caught her attention. No way.

Then, Youngmin entered the room.

Yes way.

Instantly, all the girls in the room started cheering. Shouting out random pet names at Youngmin. Jieun just stared at him, still quite shocked. She didn’t expect this.

“Hello, my name is Jo Youngmin.” Their eyes met. Youngmin flashed a winning smile.

Jieun recovered soon after. She looked away and watched the scene from the window instead, completely ignoring Youngmin.

The teacher hit her table again a couple of times, asking the students to shut up. “I know it’s the middle of the school year, but I hope you don’t make him feel left out!”

“We won’t!” The female students answered together. The boys couldn’t care less.

“Alright, alright. Youngmin, you can sit…” The teacher scanned the room. Youngmin was hopeful. There were three empty seats. One was behind Jieun.

“Beside No Minwoo. No Minwoo, make yourself known.” She continued.

Youngmin pouted.

Minwoo raised his hand.  Youngmin dragged his self to his seat, receiving a lot of looks on his way. He sat down and looked at Jieun. Hmm