She met WooJin when she was seventeen years old. They were two completely different people. She supposed one had to wonder how she decided to interact with him at all. To put it frankly, she was quite the snarky girl that most people knew to stay away from. Yet here came WooJin, with all the right comebacks to push her buttons, with a lot more understanding for her rough personality than most people had, and with all the wisdom in the world at only eighteen. If HeeJin was stubborn, then WooJin was persistent. He had this way of getting beneath people’s skin to find their weak point: their Achilles heel. But instead of using it against them, the very core of what caused their pain, he sought out ways to help them. It was just who he was. And so while others had tried futile attempts at cracking her hardened shell, at breaking down the walls she had put up for as long as she could remember, he had a different tactic. Other people would try just barging in at all once. They demanded that she explain why she acted the way that she did, when she was in fact, a girl born into privilege. Im HeeJin, the granddaughter of one of the biggest business conglomerates in all of Asia. But how could they possibly understand? They were of high society, like her, yes. But they gambled on frivolous things. They even dared to gamble on love. Why try to raise the stakes as high, on something as risky as a person’s heart? No amount of money could ever equal the innate need to love, and in turn be loved. But WooJin, he knew exactly what to do. While the others charged ahead, full throttle, he carefully chiseled away at her stone exterior, chipping away all the anger, all the sarcasm, until he finally exposed her vulnerable heart. He gave her space when she needed to be alone. And she supposed that, if he had acted in any other manner, she might not have thought of him as fondly as she did now. If anything, she would have wanted to detest his very being. But yet she did not.

~

 

“Oh god here she comes.” A fellow classmate of hers whispered loudly as she walked down the hallway. HeeJin paid her no attention and continued walking towards homeroom, with her head held up high. You would think one would be used to the remarks by now. Yet she still found them irritating, to say the least. Just as she rounded the corner of the hallway, she heard another of her female classmates scoffing. “You would think her parents would’ve raised her better.” The girl commented.  HeeJin rolled her eyes at this, and turned around, glaring at her. “You would think your parents would’ve told you not to say ill things about others Moon JiEun.” She said coldly, and then turned back around, walking into homeroom. The school day passed by like a blur. It was the same mundane routine, every day. Morning exercises, then reporting to homeroom. Followed by history, music, and lunch break, and then four hour study hall, and finally they were sent home.

 

            Home

Where was home anyway? It certainly wasn’t the large white mansion where she spent most of my nights holed up in her room. It wasn’t where she spent her time climbing up the long spiral staircase, ignoring her mom’s remarks that being a size 4 was too large for her 5”4 frame. It wasn’t where she spent her time trying to eat a snack in her kitchen, while her dad would come into the room in his business suit, chiding her for having said “bite me” to yet another one of his business partner’s sons, who had tried to ask her out in order for their families to “get better acquainted.”  The other rich kids that lived in her neighborhood didn’t understand her at all. She didn’t like going to any of their cotillions or shopping along the streets of Gangnam. She preferred holing herself up in her room, or doing what she was doing now: sitting on their highschool’s rooftop, wondering why being born into privilege had to mean so much crap had to be handed one’s way.

 

Sighing to herself, she laid back down on the stone bench, placing a snapback hat over her face to try and nap for a little while. She fell asleep soon after that until she heard the rooftop door suddenly click open. Waking up, she sat up abruptly to see WooJin looking surprised to see her there.

 

“Sorry. I didn’t think anyone would be here.” He said quickly. She shrugged, not really caring and went back to her napping position and placed the hat over her face.

 

She heard him walk over to the bench and she could just sense him looming there so she took the hat off of her face.

 

“Can I help you WooJin sunbae?” She said curtly, looking up at him with hard eyes.

 

“You shouldn’t be up here by yourself. You could get .” He said seriously.

 

She snorted at this and sat up, looking him up and down. “By who? You?” She scoffed.

 

He ignored her sarcasm, and placed his hands in his pockets.

 

“Look HeeJin ssi. I know why you’re like this to everyone but shutting people out won’t solve anything.” He said gently.

 

She  crossed her arms in front of her. “Well WooJin, I don’t know how any of this should concern you. My family might have a lot of money, but you don’t know how ty is back at home…” She stopped speaking, turning away from him.

 

“I don’t even know why I’m saying all of this. I’m gonna go.” She said quickly and stood up from the bench, as he moved out of the way letting her pass as she opened the rooftop door and descended the stairs, running a hand through her hair in exasperation.

 

Why did WooJin even care about how she acted?

 

Mr. Straight A’s, Mr. Everyone’s friend. Mr. Class President.

 

HeeJin shook her head, and walked home instead of calling the chauffeur.

 

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Isabel Santos Copyright 2013.

All rights reserved.