Chapter 6

The following Monday, I rode to school with Bom and her parents. They had an appointment with the Principal first thing in the morning and I guess they are going to tell Mr. Kang of Bom’s medical condition. I can see my bestfriend’s anxiety in her eyes although she tried to be her usual cheerful self as she kept on fussing about her purple beanie. The gauze is no longer needed since the wound has closed but there’s a spot of baldness the size of a penny that she tries to hide with her hair. She made me promise not to tell the rest of our friends yet and that she’ll tell them herself when she’s ready. There’s no problem with that since I don’t think I can even begin to say the words without bawling my eyes out.

Upon reaching the school parking lot, Bom and her parents went to the direction of the Principal’s office on the west wing of the building while I proceeded towards the other side where our first period, Math is held. I gave Bom a quick hug before we separated.

It was still pretty early with 20 minutes to spare before the first bell rings so I took my time walking to my locker first and I was arranging and rearranging the books inside and after that, my gaze caught the several pictures of Bom and me and the rest of the gang on the back of my locker door. I must have spaced out for a bit because I didn’t notice Chaerin.

“Boo!” she bellowed, looking like a mischievous cat.

“Hey” I greeted, not even having the energy to scold her for creeping up on me.

She leaned her back on the locker beside mine, crossed her arms in front of her chest and propped one foot back. “I saw you” she said, looking at me intently.

I tilted my head slightly. “Uh ... you saw me … big deal” I replied, not getting what she really means. My mind was not so sharp that morning.

“Last Friday. At the mart. With the new transfer dude.”

My eyes must have gone bigger and bigger by each word that she said. Good thing I was not facing her. Ottokae? What should I tell her? I can’t lie. She saw us. And besides, why should I lie? I mentally sighed and faced Chaerin. “We just ran into each other” I said acting like it’s no big deal.

Her cat eyes seemed to zoom in on me. “Really? Looked to me like it wasn’t the usual run in” she mused. “You were acting pretty close when you hopped in on his motorcycle.”

Ommo! She even saw that? Chae is one of my closest friends but it just didn’t feel right that I tell her about Seunghyun first before Bom. Somehow, with the recent news, my love life seems insignificant compared to Bom’s condition. That’s why I didn’t get to tell her about it.

“It was nothing, Chae” I shrugged, closing my locker. I walked towards our classroom but she followed and walked beside me. I decided to change the subject. “Bom is here already.” I sounded cheerful, hoping to divert her attention.

“Really? That’s great! Where is she?” She started glancing around.

“Uhm, at the principal’s office. You know … since she skipped the first week of classes” I reasoned.

“Ohhh” she nodded. 

We’re near our classroom when she held my arm to stop me from going in. “So, how did you know the new guy?”

Darn.

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The school bell has rung for maybe a couple of minutes before our teacher, Miss Yoon, came inside the room looking suspiciously red eyed, followed by Bom.

“Are you okay?” I mouthed at her and she nodded. She took the seat beside me which I saved for her since last week.

Some of our classmates especially our friends called her attention, just saying hi and it was nice to see her again and a general consensus that she looks great with her losing weight, etc. Normally, Miss Yoon gets prissy when the class is noisy but she didn’t seem to mind now and she has her back against us. I swear I can almost hear her sniffs with her facing the board. After a while, she faced us and started taking the attendance. During class, she didn’t call out Bom from still wearing her beanie. Normally, caps, hats and beanies are not allowed inside the class but it’s no longer a normal setting, isn’t it? Somehow, that little exception bothered me. Bom’s illness is getting more real for me each passing day and it fills me dread.

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Its lunchtime and we are sitting at our usual spot in the cafeteria. We are occupying two tables which we’ve put together side by side so we can all fit. Bom brought a bag of goodies full of snacks, candies and chocolates from the US and we are all sharing and eating them instead of having healthy lunch meals. Bom is sitting across me on the table and she’s glowing being the center of attention and was telling us humorous stories of her adventures last summer and I was laughing along with everyone, momentarily forgetting that she also spent time in the hospital during her vacation.

In the middle of recounting her story in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she stopped and looked at me, eyes opened wide. “Hot guy alert!” She then arranged her beanie and started patting her hair. “Behind you,” she semi-whispered. “Don’t look!” she added, belatedly. But of course, before she was able to say that, I already turned and looked behind me.

It’s Seunghyun.

Oh my God. Oh my God. My head was chanting. He’s like 20 feet away from us but definitely coming into our direction. I did tell him last Friday that he’s welcome to join us any day for lunch so I can introduce him to my friends but today is not a good day for me. How can I tell him that it’s not the right timing? He saw me and smiled. I gave him a brief smile and willed myself to look away. I looked at Bom, practicing her flirty smile and also caught Chaerin looking at me, seemingly amused and expectant. I told her earlier of my brief encounter with Seunghyun before the school term started and how I didn’t know that he was going to transfer to our school. I also made her promise not to tell anybody else of what she saw last Friday since I don’t want people starting rumors about me and him since we barely know each other. It is the truth, in a way.

I felt his presence behind me so I turned and looked up to meet his smile. “Hi.”

“Hi” he returned.

I can sense the tension from everyone around me, or perhaps, the tension is all emanating from me? “I, uhm, … everyone … this is Choi Seunghyun. He just transferred here last week, I’m sure you’ve all heard about him …” I said nervously. “This is everyone …” I looked at Seunghyun and gave a rundown of all the names of the occupants of the table.

“It was nice to meet you all” he said after I’m done. “Don’t worry, half of the rumors you’ve heard aren’t true” he joked which resulted to nervous laughter from some. I bet thoughts are running through their heads which ones are true. Ha!

Taeyang, who is sitting beside me moved and made some space between us so Seunghyun can also sit. “Join us” he said.

He looked at me first then at Taeyang. “Thanks”

Now that he’s sitting beside me, the memories of our last meeting came flashing back and … and that kiss! I feel my face going red from the sudden recollection so I grabbed my strawberry milk so I can hide my blush.

We were rowdy earlier but there’s an uncomfortable silence now and I feel bad because I’m supposed to make Seunghyun feel welcome but then, how can I forget how we parted the last time? My eyes landed on some chocolate bars. “Have some” I offered.

He picked a Mars bar and opened it casually and took a bite. I was looking at his every movement like everyone else so I mentally shook my head to clear my thoughts and get the conversation started. “Uhm, guys” I start “apparently, the transfer guy that everyone was talking about is my friend.”

Seunghyun looked at me wh