Incoming call from Channie.

The lit-up screen of Yongguk's phone flew into Minjoo's area of vision, distrupting her from reading the (lack of) nutritional content of her instant noodles.

"... Hello?" she asked tentatively.

The answer from the other line came out really loudly that she had to pull the phone away from her ear. "MINJOOOOO! THE ?! WHERE ARE YOU??"

Minjoo giggled and smiled sheepishly. She turned to look at Yongguk, who smiled and rolled his eyes. That Himchan....

"I thought Bbang would have told you? I'm at the supermar--"

"YOU STOPPED REPLYING MY MESSAGES AND I COULDN'T CALL YOU I THOUGHT YOU FELL OF THIS EARTH AND DIED YOU KNOW WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU UP TO, WOMAN???!"

"Chill, Channie, chill..." Minjoo coaxed lightly, "I lost my phone sometime in college, so I wasn't able to keep in contact." She turned to one side and Yongguk couldn't see her face. "Uhh... Sorry..," she added, when Himchan didn't supply her with a reply.

"DAMN RIGHT YOU SHOULD BE SORRY!" Came an even louder reply, and the phone was almost dropped, "AISH THIS GIRL. YOU ALWAYS LOSE EVERYTHING."

You always lose everything.

Locker. Bag. Table. File. Floor. Locker. Bag. Table. Floor. Bag. Table. Bag. Bag. Bag.

Himchan was amused. It had a theatrical quality, the way his classmate was acting. She was looking everywhere for something. It was animated, like playing hide and seek. She would look in one place, the next, the next, and go back to the first place, until the order was broken and she was haphazardly emptying her bag.

With a thud, the bag landed on the floor, next to half of its contents. The girl took out the scrunchie from her bun and pulled on her hair and let out a frustrated grunt.

"Yah Kim Minjoo," Himchan called from his seat and the girl turned around. Her hair was still in various levels of dishevelled and her fists were still tangled in those ashy brown locks. Speaking of which, was a very flattering colour. Himchan thought that maybe he should ask her where she got her hair dyed. "Everyone already left. What are you looking for?"

Minjoo scratched the back of her neck, "Aish, it's nothing..." she tsk-ed, "There's this magazine I brought to school today and I left some notes in it. And there's also this discount coupon..." she pouted, turned back to face her mess, and gave a really loud sigh of defeat.

The boy walked over to her seat and scanned the things that were scattered. Books, notebooks, pencil case, mirror, comb...

"Did you look under your desk?" he suggested.

Minjoo immediately straightened up, robotically turned to her classmate, and without breaking eye contact, placed her hands in the small cubby hole under her table.

Cold, smooth, paper. Magazine.

Her lips stretched to a wide grin that made her eyes crescent-shaped. "Thank you Kim Himchan," she said.

"So let's see this precious magazine of yours, come on," Himchan gestured, asking her to take out the previously missing object.

The magazine was taken out from underneath the desk. Her hands smoothed over the glossy cover.

"Whoa, you already got this month's Milky?" Himchan pulled the nearest chair and made himself comfortable. "I thought it was only coming out next week..."

Minjoo's eyes looked at Himchan for a moment, and then back to her magazine, "Heheheh," she laughed in a low voice that resembled cartoon villains. Cartoon villains that kept secrets. She flipped it open and gathered some papers that were kept between the pages. "These go in here," she muttered as she placed them in a plastic file. Himchan was too busy looking at the magazine, but he caught a glimpse of some pencil lines on her papers. Minjoo didn't care that her classmate was still reading whatever was written on that random page, and just flipped a couple more pages. "Ah, my baby..." She said, rubbing her fingers affectionately on a yellow square that was printed on the page.

FOR THE FIRST TEN BUYERS:
50% off on all items from THE FACE SHOP

"Yah, Kim Minjoo..." Himchan called, but the girl was still too mezmerized by the yellow and the thought of discounts. "YAH, KIM MINJOO," he called louder.

The said girl turned to him with a questioning look, and she met the Kim Himchan smile-- the one that revealed a full set of pearly whites (popular favorites being the two large bunny-like front teeth), eyesmile, and a dimple on his right cheek.

"What... why are you smiling like that. What do you want?"

Himchan looked at Minjoo, then on the yellow square on her magazine.

Now that Minjoo thought about it, her classmate did have impeccable complexion.

"You still didn't tell me how you got the magazine," Himchan asked for the umpteenth time.

Minjoo rolled her eyes, "You don't give up, huh?" She had evaded the topic every single time it had been brought up.

"It's because I'm really curious!"

The reply started with an annoyed sigh, then, "My aunt works at a publishing place and I can usually get my magazines a bit earlier before it becomes available in stores."

Himchan pursed his lips and nodded in acknowledgement. He initially thought Kim Minjoo to be a boring girl, because she was kind of quiet and all he saw of her was how she acted in class: quietly listening to the teacher, adjusting her glasses, and her immense collection of scrunchies and hair accessories. He had mentally put Kim Minjoo under the category of "Ahn Jaehyo's bad taste," but it seemed like he was going to take some things back.

Now that he got to see her up close, he noted her clear skin. Good complexion usually takes a lot of discipline with diet, skincare routine, and lifestyle as a whole. Kim Himchan, of all people, would be familiar.

The scrunchie collection was weird at first, and he would always need to crane his head to the left or the right because the annoying bun always obscured a spot on the blackboard from his vision. But now that he knew that she read fashion magazines, it was likely just her sense of style. Just like how Jaehyo liked his hair long and in a ponytail. Just like how Yongguk likes to insert random English words into his everything. Just like how Himchan didn't need to do anything because he was perfect.

"Hey Kim Himchan," Minjoo called, breaking him away from his thoughts. She was kind of short so he had to look down at her, and most of what he could see was the bun on her head.

He cocked an eyebrow, "Hm?"
 

"There's a small Face Shop over there, but if you want to go to the bigger one... I think the one in Myeongdong is a lot better," she said.

"It's up to you, really. I mean you're the one with the voucher, I'm just tagging along," Himchan replied, sticking his hands into his pockets.

"There's nothing due tomorrow right?" she asked, and the ulzzang shook his head. "Ok let's go to Myeongdong."

“Oh yeah, where’s Yongguk? Don’t you always hang out with him after school?” Minjoo asked.

Aha! So you noticed. “Nah that guy has classes ‘til four today,” Himchan replied, “Miss him?”

“He was a nice project partner. We got an ‘A’!” the girl beamed.

Himchan chuckled, “He gets an ‘A’ in everything…”

"Hey you, Kim Himchan! You still owe me 10,000 won from last week," Minjoo called as she approaced the seats at the back of the room. Yongguk looked up as Himchan was furiously copying his friend's homeowork. The deep-voicef boy bowed his head a bit and smiled, as his ex-partner did the same.

"Yah," Yongguk gave Himchan's shoulder a tap, "don't copy everything... ssaem might catch you."

Himchan looked at his friend with a scowl, "Gukkie, they're numbers. If  I change the numbers they're going to be wrong."

Minjoo hovered over to Himchan's side and tsk-ed at his desperate attempt to get his homework done before class starts. She turned to Yongguk, "You're so nice, letting this jerk leech off you."

"JERK? Yah watch your tongue, Kim Minjoo," Himchan said angrily while copying numbers from Yongguk's paper.

"It's true, isn't it? We're only friends because you leech off my discounts for cosmetics," She shook her head and Yongguk just gave a deep chuckle.

"Oh, Minjoossi--"

Minjoo turns around, "Yes?" It happened to be Ahn Jaehyo. Another one of the taller people of the class and sat at the back. Man, Minjoo was so bummed about being short, "Just Minjoo is fine."

"Ah yeah, Minjoo," Jaehyo corrected himself, "I heard that you already got Milky."

Minjoo looked at Himchan (who was still rushing homeowork), and back to Jaehyo. "Well I already used the voucher already so..." she gave an apologetic look.

Jaehyo chuckled, "Yeah, I know. Himchan wouldn't shut up about it. I just want to see this issue."

"Oh," Minjoo nodded, understanding, "Wait a bit? I'll take it," she pointed to her seat. Jaehyo just smiled and nodded.

After fishing for the magazine, Himchan's debt was already forgotten as Minjoo was in deep conversation with another fashion-forward, beauty-conscious man.

"How about this one," The long-haired boy pointed at a red cardigan, "I think this one's good."

"Nah, it's not my type," she said, then she eyed her classmate for a while, "It should look good on you though." She pat her hands on her shoulders, “I think they would settle nicely here.”

“Ah, really?” Jaehyo smirked, amused.

Minjoo looked over at the magazine, “It’s from Basic House though, isn’t that kind of expensive?”

“I’ve saved up enough,” the ulzzang replied confidently.

“Ah, is that so?” Minjoo asked, “Then please spare some for me!”

“Oh, something caught your eye?” Jaehyo asked, looking at the magazine spread again, searching for something the girl would possibly want.

Minjoo flipped a few more pages, “Not there… this one.” She pointed to a page which had an enlarged photos of a tubes of lipgloss.

“Dear My Milky Gloss,” it read, in cursive gold letters.

“Oh, Etude House?” Jaehyo asked. The bun and the scrunchie was kind of on the lolita style side, but he never pegged the girl to go for the princessy type.

With a scrunched-up face, Minjoo replied, “Nah, but they have good things, and they’re really affordable.” Jaehyo just pursed his lips and nodded.

Somewhere in between the conversation revolving BB cream and illuminizers, there was a very confused Bang Yongguk quietly listening in. The whole concept of cosmetics had been foreign to him, even if he did have a big sister. Maybe it was because he stayed with his grandparents. Grandmas usually don’t do so much cosmetics.

Or at least he didn’t think so.

The bell rang and the math teacher entered the doorframe. “Assa!” Himchan victoriously whispered and quickly shoved Yongguk’s homework on the boy’s desk. Minjoo patted the magazine on her newly made friend’s table, indicating that he could keep it in the meantime. “I was just kidding,” she mouthed before she scrambled all the way back to her seat.

“YAH JOOJOO-YAH!” Minjoo was called back to the phone conversation she had with her old classmate, “ARE YOU THERE.”

“YES I AM...”

Surprisingly, the next few words were less loud. Likely more serious. Heartfelt. “Give your new number to Yongguk alright? I have to go! Please keep in contact, alright? Yah, yah I’m coming---”

“Hey, Kim Himchan. My 10,000 won,” Loan shark Minjoo had her palm wide open in front of the boy, eyebrows knotted, and lips in a straight line.

“Yeah yeah just wait a bit,” Himchan reached out for his wallet in his back pocket.

Oops.

“Eh, Minjoo-yah… I only have 50,000 won,” he took out a single sheet of paper,”I’ll need to break it. Let’s go grab something?”

“Oh,” Minjoo thought for a while, “You guys want to come at my place for ramen? You can help me buy the cabbage or the eggs. Ha ha ha…”

At the sound of ramen, Yongguk’s head turned.

“Ramen, not ramyun,” Minjoo said. Yongguk gave her a “naw” look and his classmate mehrong-ed in response.

“Ok cool,” Himchan stretched his arms before gathering his belongings, “Let’s go.” Minjoo’s bag was already on her back, her hands firmly holding on to the straps. They both looked at Yongguk, who had some things scattered on his table.

Himchan took his bag from the floor and Minjoo helped him (carefully) throw the things inside. “You’re coming with us, you ramyun monster,” Himchan said to his best friend. Yongguk shot Minjoo a questioning look, and she nodded.

Well of course you’re in, you’ve already been to my house geez, you’re so polite.

“Can’t we just go to a convenience store?” Himchan whined, facing the sun that’s soon to set, hands in pockets, dragging feet on the pavement.

Minjoo gave him a disappointed look. He had already agreed to go to the supermarket, didn’t he? “They don’t have cabbages and fresh eggs there.”

“Can’t we have Korean ramyun?” Yongguk asked. It’s not that the Japanese ones were inferior. He just liked them less.

The girl shook her head, “Nope, those are spicy, and I don’t take spicy things well.”

“So, kimchi…?” Yongguk enquired.

“I hate kimchi.”

Near the crossroads, the green man had already been blinking. Being the adolescents that the three were, bursting with youth and energy, they could still have made the cross.

“Can we wait?” Minjoo asked the other two. Himchan shrugged while Yongguk nodded.

The next green man came on, and as they crossed, Minjoo first looked both ways, held her left hand up, and made sure to look at the cars. She had been taught since young that it was the protocol when crossing the road. (Especially for people her height, because sometimes motorists couldn’t see…)

Himchan gave Yongguk a knowing look but the other just shrugged it off and threatened to (lovingly) his friend across his (perfect) face.

“Who’re you texting?” Nosy bugger Himchan started acting up, peering over Minjoo’s shoulders.

“Mm?” Minjoo turned to the curious boy, “Jaehyo,” she replied, quickly flashing the screen of her phone right in front of his eyes and taking it away immediately, resuming her texting.

“Ah that kid,” Himchan backed off. His lips pulled into a tight line and looked over to his friend.

Yongguk was watching is feet touch and un-touch the concrete.

Upon reaching the supermarket, the first thing that Himchan did was point, “Ahh, Yongguk look at that!”

Yongguk followed his friend’s finger, but he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to look at. There were a bunch of lockers? The vending machine? Maybe Himchan wanted coffee. As the clueless boy was trying to discern the exact location his friend was pointing to, even standing parallel to the other boy, trying to see where he was pointing to, Himchan had already put his hand down.

“Hm?” Minjoo looked up from her phone, hearing the hooha, but not sure what it’s about.

“Yongguk and I are going to check out something from over there,” Himchan blabbered, “Gukkie, lend me your phone, I put mine in my bag.” Obediently, Yongguk did so. “Give me your number? We’ll call you when we’re done. You can pick your vegetables first.” He the phone in front of the girl.

Minjoo took it and started pressing on the keys.

“Err… Bbang?”

Yongguk turned to one side and met the lit screen of his phone. He took it from Minjoo’s hands. Brush of fingers.

“Ah, Himchan asked me to give you my number, so it’s there,” she tip-toed and pointed to the screen.

MC JOOJOO
010-8059-XXXX

Hello readers! I apologize for the slow update. I've been having many personal issues lately, but tah-da!
I hope you all enjoy it, though it's still kinda boring... I still hope that I didn't disappoint!

Also I didn't proofread this. I'll do it tomorow. I feel horrible ><
I hope that this late update is seen by the nightowls or the ones who are in a better timezone.

I'm off to sleep!

Thanks for the comments so far. I'm very happy that you guys liked the first chapter! Here's more of Himchan in this one. I hope it didn't come out too rushed or anything. ^^

Beauty sleep for now~ maybe more author's notes tomorrow.

Also I've learned to reply reviews, yay me!