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“Minyung, what are you doing? Let’s go! Everyone’s waiting!”

Closing her textbook, she smiled and replied to her friend, “Oh, ok! On my way!” She quickly stuffed her books inside her backpack and ran out the classroom door.

It had only been a month since she transferred schools, but she was able to make a few new friends already.

When she arrived outside, she saw that a few of her classmates were really waiting there. They all planned to go karaoke and have some fun since it was a special friend’s birthday.

He was the most popular student in their year and well-liked by mostly everyone in the school. Every time she saw him, he was surrounded by both boys and girls. Minyung thought it might be because of his friendliness and his admirable smile. Thinking back on how she even made friends to begin with was because of meeting him.

“Hi! What was your name again??”

Shyly, Minyung looked up and saw the dazzling boy smiling brightly at her. His smile was so mesmerizing that she almost forgot her own name. Quickly, she answered with flushed cheeks, “I-I’m Choo Min Yung!” Though she meant to answer him in a more confident way, she couldn’t help it. His friendliness threw her off guard.

He noticed her stuttering and laughed. Then he told her, “I’m Lee Jin Ki. Nice to meet you! Why are you so quiet? You seem to have a nice voice. You should really talk more!” Minyung looked away trying to hide the fact that she was blushing.

“I don’t have much to say”, she replied. She heard him scoff and say, “I’m sure you do! Don’t you want to talk about why you moved to Seoul? Don’t you want to talk about the old friends you left behind? Don’t you want to make new friends?”

Minyung looked at him and thought about it. Was it strange that she had not thought about making new friends? The only thing she thought about when transferring was how she was going to keep in touch with her old friends. Perhaps, she felt that making new friends was not needed, since she already had friends back in Incheon.

On her first day in her new school, no one talked to her. It was Jinki who was the only one to approach her. Just having him talk to her was enough to make her feel less uncomfortable there. This Lee Jinki was easy-going and friendly, unlike her. When she talked with him, words came easily. It was comfortable just talking to him. She felt like she could talk to him about anything. He probably didn’t feel the same about her, because she wasn’t an interesting person and she knew that. But, he’s a nice guy, she thought.

Ever since then, he’d involve her in any activity he and his friends were doing. It was as if he was helping her make friends and she was thankful for that. And whenever the teacher asked her to make copies and carry back a stack of papers, he would meet her in the hallway and offer to help carry it. His kindness set her heart at ease. A smile would appear on her face naturally whenever he was around, and so it felt nice to have him around.

 “What took you so long, Min-ssi??”

Minyung looked and saw Jinki pouting at her. She apologized and promised to do any favor for him whenever he needed one. “Ahaha, really? Ok, then I won’t be mad at you!” he exclaimed as he began walking off with his other friends.

At the karaoke bar, she sat in the corner with her friends and laughed at the boys who acted ridiculously while trying to sing. She watched Jinki clap his hands along with the rhythm while laughing at his friends. His eyes were beaming with excitement. Seeing him so happy strangely made her also feel happy. At that moment, she thought to herself maybe this feeling was something more. She wanted to see him smile. She wanted to see him enjoy himself, like he was doing now. Everything about him was beautiful and she wanted to experience all of it.

Of course, her feelings wouldn’t probably be returned, but she wanted to let him know he was special to her.

“Did you have fun yesterday?!” he asked while the classroom began emptying out. It was time for the boys to go outside for gym and for girls to go to health class. Minyung gave him the best smile could make and told him, “Yes, I did.” His smile widened, making her heart melt, as he said, “That’s great! I’m sorry I had to go home early, but it was urgent!” She shook her head and told him it was okay and she understood.

By now, the two of them were alone in the classroom. She found that this was her chance. Before he headed out the door, she called out his name. He stopped and looked back at her. With that patient smile of his, he asked, “What is it?” Hesitantly, she wondered if she should just come out with it or beat around the bush. They wouldn’t be alone for long. Either a friend of his would come back to get him or a friend of hers would come searching for her. So quickly, she told him, “I like you.”

Her eyes scanned his expression. There wasn’t any sort of reaction, which was what she expected. For a moment, silence had filled the classroom, making the situation awkward. Wanting to break the ice, she nervously added, “And when you smile, I also feel happy…I like you, but I don’t expect anything in retur-“

“Good”, he interrupted her.

Confused, she looked up at him and wondered what he meant.

Still smiling that lovely smile of his, he said in a gentle voice, “Even though you say you don’t expect anything in return, deep down, you do”, then his smile faded, “Girls like you are bothersome. You’d fall in love with anything that’s kind to you, and then you delude yourself into thinking you’ve got a chance. You shouldn’t fool yourself like that…”

When he finally left the room, she never felt so relieved. Never in her life had she felt so scared before, but he was right. Who did she think she was? Just because he treated her kindly, she misled herself and troubled him. She was thinking too highly of herself. She was expecting too much. It was no one’s fault but hers.

After school, she walked to the bus stop and waited for the bus.  Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes. Trying hard to keep them in, she told herself that she had managed to not cry the whole day, so she shouldn’t cry now. Her hands began trembling and she finally felt the burning touch of her own teardrop hit her cheek. She needed to control her tears before anyone else saw. After a while, her hands stopped trembling and she felt herself calm down. Right when she thought she was okay, the tears came pouring out. She could no longer hold back the tears. She felt ashamed and embarrassed. She felt shocked to have seen such a different side of him. She felt like an idiot for putting herself out there, but most of all, she felt heartbroken.

Hearing the bus arrive, she quickly wiped away her tears and climbed onboard. Before the bus left, someone quickly climbed on. Minyung looked away wondering if that person had seen her just now crying. She then felt them sit themselves down next to her. Avoiding them, she kept her gaze out the window. When the bus came to a stop, she felt the person get up. They walked out and went over to her window. She saw that it was one of Jinki’s friends. It was Kim Jong Hyun, she believed. He waved at her, confirming he had her attention. Then, as if picking on her, he pulled the corner of his lips upwards while pretending to look sad and gestured for her to smile. Seeing him look crazy, she began chuckling to herself.

The next day when she got to school, she didn’t know how to act. Truthfully, she was scared of Jinki now. Not knowing what someone was thinking was much more fearful than she had expected. The act he had been pulling along made her wonder if everyone else was also doing the same. How could an angel suddenly turn into the devil?

Jinki walked into the classroom and was beaming like usual. It was as if nothing happened yesterday, but this time, he seemed to be avoiding her.

“Good morning, Minyung-ssi!”

She heard a boy’s voice and turned to see it was Jonghyun.

This was their second time talking to each other. The first time was when Jinki introduced her to him. He usually hung around the boys and hardly talked with girls.

Minyung didn’t know what to say to him. Most likely, he saw her crying at the bus stop yesterday and now he wants to ridicule her.

“How are you today?”

Nervously, she answered, “I’m fine…and yourself?” He nodded and told her, “That’s good. I’m also doing quite well, myself. I heard you like One Piece!” Before she could answer him, Jinki called him over, “Jjong-ah, what are you doing over there??”

Jonghyun smiled at her and walked over to Jinki. Minyung looked over at Jinki. He saw her, but he turned away without showing acknowledgement. Since the confession, he had stopped talking to her and smiling at her.

When everyone looked at Jinki, they assumed he could do no harm. He was too sweet to. Minyung used to believe the same thing. Assumption wasn’t something she should’ve done. Telling him suddenly that she liked him was out of line. She didn’t even know him well enough to have done that. She expected him to be sweet to her even if he didn’t like her, but it wasn’t like that at all. He was right; deep down, she expected something.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized how big of a fool she was. The feelings she had for him wasn’t what she thought it was. Even after telling her off, she still cared about him. Her feelings weren’t that kind of love though. It was simply the love for a friend, but she must’ve confused it.

Even though Jinki had shunned her away, she was fine with it. The friends that she made with his help still talked to her. He must’ve not told them about her confession and for that, she was thankful. Even if he hated her, she figured she shouldn’t rely on him to make friends. She could do it on her own. She just needed to stop being so quiet and be more out-going.

“Okay, class, remember to read pages 22 through 60! That is all. Get out.”

The students sighed in relief and began stretching and complaining about the amount of homework that was assigned for tonight.

“Minyung, wanna go grab something to eat before heading home?!” her cute friend with curly pigtails asked.

Nodding, she replied enthusiastically, “Sure!”

Packing up her things, she threw on her backpack and began walking out the door when she heard, “Oh, are you guys going out to eat?!” Minyung looked up and saw Jonghyun staring at her. “Yes”, she answered awkwardly. Then she remembered how she wanted to change herself to being more out-going and asked with a friendly smile, “Would you like to join us?” Surprised to see such an expression, Jonghyun couldn’t say anything but nod.

Jinki watched silently from his desk as his friends began getting ready to join the girls.

As they made their way to a nearby fast-food restaurant, Jonghyun walked beside Minyung talking about how much he liked One Piece and how he had the whole collection of the manga and anime. Jinki watched as she talked about how she also had the whole collection and even video games.

“Really?! Maybe I should come over some day and we can play it!” Jonghyun exclaimed.

His eyes lit up like a puppy’s, making her burst into a soft laughter. Last Jinki remembered, she was never this talkative.

Little by little, she was opening up to others. She began slowly making new friends in the classroom on her own. Everyone was finding it easier to talk to her. Never had she ever been so content.

“Oh, it’s raining! That means we can’t hang out…”

They stood outside the school watching the raindrops fall. Her friend opened her umbrella and began walking out. Waving, she bid Minyung farewell and went on home. Before leaving, Minyung opened her umbrella and noticed that someone had walked out of the doors and was standing next to her. She turned and saw Jinki. For once, he was by himself. The teachers must’ve asked him to stay and help clean up the classroom. Jinki noticed her but then looked away. Then he said cheerfully to himself, “Looks like I didn’t know it was going to rain today!”

She couldn’t make herself smile at him like she used to be able to do. Things were different from before.

Holding her umbrella halfway out towards him, she asked, “Did you need help getting to the bus stop?”

He stared at her wondering why she wasn’t stuttering or blushing like she usually would. Smirking at her in disbelief, he replied, “I don’t take the bus. Want to walk me home instead?” She looked away from him and told him, “Ok.” It was then that she heard him chuckling. Looking back at him, she wondered what for. Then he asked cheekily, “Are you still in love with me?”

After saying that, he expected her to burst into tears and start dashing away, but instead, her eyes stayed on him as she replied, “I’d do it for anyone else…Is that wrong?”

Though he convinced himself that she was just making excuses, for some reason, in the back of his head, he believed her.

Once they got to his house, he asked, knowing the answer already, “Did you want to come inside and stay until the rain dies down?” She shook her head as expected. Taking the umbrella back, she left him at his doorsteps. He watched as her figure got further away. Was she more distant than before or was that just him?

For some strange reason, he found himself observing her from afar. She was changing and becoming more talkative with the other classmates. It was no longer him who helped her break out of her comfort zone, which was fine. He thought so, at least.

As everyone ate together, Jinki slipped outside from the fast-food restaurant. It was too crowded and he hated it. Suddenly, one of the girls from the group opened the door and popped her head out asking why he was out there. With a grin, he told her, “Just getting some air!” He didn’t know why he put himself in this kind of situation. In truth, being surrounded by people all the time wasn’t pleasant for him at all.

“Jinki is….someone who really shouldn’t be left alone. He may act like he’s okay with being alone, but he’s not. When he needs help, he doesn’t ask for it and would rather deal with it by himself.” Jonghyun told her as he walked with her to their classroom carrying a stack of papers.

Minyung looked at him wondering why he was telling her these things. He continued, “Don’t tell him I told you this, but during the first year here, he didn’t show up for two weeks. That’s when I went to his house to see that his mother had left him and his dad. She left them for a new man. That’s probably why he hasn’t found himself a girlfriend yet. He probably distrusts every woman out there. I mean, come on, as a child, we expect our parents to never leave us. So when our mother does, we lose faith in humanity, right?” Jonghyun paused, thinking about it.

This was Minyung’s first time hearing him talk about such a complex matter.  Jonghyun might’ve seemed aloof, but when he spoke like this, he was quite admirable.

After a moment of silence, he told her, “Well, even though he played it off with a smile and a joke, we all knew he wasn’t okay so we stayed with him until he kicked us out.” A soft laughter came out, but there was a sense that he was still worried even after all this time.

It was Minyung’s mistake to have taken a liking to Jinki so fast. When she told him she liked him, it must’ve hurt or offended him. Without knowing anything, she developed feelings based on her own delusions, just as he said. It was stupid of her to do so.

“Hey, are you coming with us today to eat out?”

Jinki looked at his friend and replied, “Why don’t you guys go ahead? I’ll meet you there!” Smiling his usual smile, he watched as his friends walk out of the classroom. He sat in his desk for a while and then finally left when he figured they were long gone.

While walking home, Minyung stopped at the bridge to see Jinki down below searching for something. At first, she hesitated because she didn’t want to seem bothersome. Then finally, she walked over to the ledge and peered down.

“…Um…”

His movement stopped as he looked for where the voice had come from.

“…Did you need help?”

When he saw her, his face darkened. She assumed he was going to ignore her and continue doing what he was doing, but then she heard him answer, “I’m fine. Go home.”

Remembering Jonghyun telling her about how stubborn he was about asking for help, she ignored his demand. Quickly, she made her way down to him. With her standing in front of him, he stopped what he was doing and asked, “What are you doing?” She put down her bag and answered, “I’m helping you.” He scoffed. “You don’t even know what I’m looking for? Do you think that by doing this I’ll fall in love with you?” Ignoring his remark, she asked, “If you need help finding something, you shouldn’t be afraid to ask.” 

“I don’t need your help”, he told her as he walked away from her.

“You can’t always rely on yourself for help, you know?”

They stood there in silence. He figured she wasn’t going to leave him alone even if he made her mad. She really was a persistent one. He then answered her, “Keychain…a bunny one.”

After spending most of their evening finding it, Minyung was able to find something stuck in a branch in the stream. Taking off her shoes and socks, she stepped into the stream that almost reached her knees. She took a hold of it and saw that it was a bunny keychain with a pink bow. “I think I found it!” She exclaimed without realizing it. He ran over and saw her holding it up while still standing in the water.

Her face was covered in sweat and dirt, but what was most amusing was the excited smile that spread across it. She was holding her skirt up, making sure it didn’t touch the water. The sunset hit the river’s surface just perfectly, making it appear as though it was shimmering. Somehow, he found it hard to look away. Maybe it was because he was so relieved to see that his keychain was found.

She stepped out of the water and walked the keychain over to him. Handing it to him, she wiped the dirt off her face with her sleeve. Then collecting herself, she told him, “…I’m glad we found it…I’ll go home now. See you tomorrow.” He watched her grab her things and run off. Glancing back down at the keychain, that was now dirty and wet, he couldn’t understand what he was feeling at the moment. The vision of her smiling excitingly at him somehow made his cheeks warm up.

 “How are you doing today, Minyung-ssi?”

Minyung turned and saw Jonghyun walking beside her. A little surprised, she asked, “Oh, Jonghyun-ssi. How long have you been here?” He chuckled at her and replied, “I’ve been here since you walked through the gates!” She laughed at herself and apologized for not hearing him. “Jinki didn’t come eat out with us yesterday…I knew he wouldn’t because he asked me if I had seen his keychain his mom gave him, which meant he lost it.” It was at that time that Minyung found out why Jinki looked so hard for that keychain.

When they walked into the classroom, a few of Jonghyun’s friends looked over and made a fuss about the two of them showing up to class together. In the center of the group was Jinki. He watched as their friends teased each other. Ignoring the harassment, Minyung quickly made her way over to her desk where her friends were. She sat down as her friends joined in on the teasing. In situations like these, it was normal for Jinki to join in, but all he did was sit and watch. He didn’t find it all that interesting to say anything.

At the drinking fountain outside, he hunched over to get himself a drink when he saw her walking by in her gym clothes carrying a tennis racket. The girls were out playing tennis while the boys were playing kick-ball. She wandered around like a lost puppy for a bit as he took a sip of the cool water. Wiping his mouth, he stood up straight and watched her. She noticed him and bowed. For some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Before she went back, they heard someone calling out her name. When Jinki looked, he saw that it was Jonghyun. He came running over with his hand waving at her. Somehow, the expression on her face changed. A soft smile appeared on her face as she waved back. She was definitely more distant with Jinki. Of course, that wasn’t something he should be concerned with. Truthfully, he shouldn’t even concern himself with her at all, but there was an irritating feeling that had been forming in his chest for a while now.

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