The date is January 1, 2010. I'm sure you're all wondering what happened on that street corner, but I'll get to that later. It's officially been one year since the death of my parents; since I became an orphan. I'm no longer homeless or broke. Taking pity on me, the local coffee shop took me in as their new waiter and offered me a home downstairs. I can't really call it a home, it's more of like a crawl space fit for two people. But, I've learned to be grateful for what I have.

I've also returned to my old school, much to my dismay. However, being at school gave me other things to think about besides how sad and depressing my life was. The whole school seemed to have somehow learned of my tragedy, but not everybody gave me their sympathy.

My first day was as much of a disaster as I had expected it to be. As I sat at my desk, head bent and eyes focused on the page, I felt a finger jab against the side of my head. I let out a sigh and looked up to see who my perpetrator was. It didn't come as a surprise to me when I found myself face to face with Jeong Yunji, my best friend. Woops, I mean, ex-best friend. We used to be two peas in a pod, but that was all in the past.

"Yah, Miyeon. I heard your parents died. I'm sure they were sooo excited to finally get away from you!", Yunji smirked, followed closely by her posse of three others girls from our class. I stared back down and bit my lip, trying to combat the tears from flowing down my cheek. I felt another jab against my temples, and another, and another. I prepared myself for the next jab, but it never came.

"What do you think you're doing?" said an unfamiliar voice. I slowly glanced up and found a boy that I had never seen before. His hair was dark brown, styled up. He had a very stern face, but they were toned down by his kind eyes. He also had very bushy eyebrows that stood out, which reminded me of my favorite childhood cartoon, Shin Jjanggu. His eyes shifted down to me for a quick second, and returned back to Yunji's face.

"Why do you care? Yah, Lee Hoya, Do you know her or something?" scoffed Yunji, looking away towards the other direction. 

So his name was Lee Hoya. What a nice name. 

"As I matter of fact, I do know her. She's my girlfriend." Hoya calmly replied.

"WHAT?!?!" exclaimed Yunji, her face full of hysterics. She looked down at me, then back up at Hoya, then back down to me. remained open, as if unable to speak.

wait. WHAT? I quickly looked up at Hoya, about to open my mouth but not quite sure what I was planning to say.

"You know what, prove it!" smirked Yunji, but I could tell her face was full of worries. 

It happened all too fast. Hoya swooped down and I could feel his soft lips against mine, his sharp nose pressing against mine. I could feel the blood rushing up to my face; my heart beating a million beats per minute. My eyes were wide open, yet his were calmly shut. I wasn't sure what to do, so I shut my eyes as tightly as I could, counting the seconds until he'd let go. 

Behind my own rapid thoughts, I could hear the excited murmurs of the class. 

"I didn't know Lee Hoya had a girlfriend!" 
"Omo, I'm so jealous..."
"She's not even that pretty though..."
"I think they're kind of cute together!"
"Yeah guys, let them be!"
"Hasn't she been gone for like a year?! How long do you think they've been dating?"

After what felt like an entire day, Hoya's lips finally parted mine and I felt myself getting dragged off my seat and out of the classroom, hand in hand with Hoya. We ran through the various hallways, until he finally spotted an empty classroom off to the West side of the school. Too shocked to speak, I let myself get pushed down into a chair as he walked to the other side of me. He pushed back several strands of my hair to reveal the red marks Yunji's finger had left. 

"Does it hurt bad?" Hoya asked, pushing it gently. 

I slowly shook my head. Even if it did hurt, it was impossible for me to feel it in the moment. My entire body felt numb, and my heart was still beating hard. In fact, I was getting kind of embarrassed by it. Hopefully he couldn't hear it... I let my head sink back down and stared at my shoes, pondering on what I should say. Hoya was pacing the room while quietly murmuring to himself about finding an icepack. After mustering up enough courage, I finally opened my mouth.

"Why...did you help me..." I quietly asked.

I heard his footsteps pause, as he turned around towards me.

"Oh, the girlfriend part? And the kiss?" he replied.

He said it so casually, as if it really was just a kiss. That had been my first kiss, but I'm sure it must've been his hundredth. I gently nodded, too embarassed to look him in the face. 

"Well, I only did it so that Yunji would leave you alone of course. You do know that it didn't mean anything...right?" 

My first kiss didn't mean anything. Well, that's a nice thought to have. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to thank him or get angry at him. I glanced up at him, his face 100% sincere. I mean, he did do it out of good intentions. If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't have been able to get out that situation as easily as I did. I concluded that he deserved a thank you, not an angry outburst. 

I smiled up at him, "Yeah, of course! Thank you.." 

He smiled widely, showing his set of perfectly straight and white teeth. "I'm sure they won't bother you anymore from now on!" He sat on my desk and examined my face a little closer. I could feel the blood rushing up again, and quickly bent my head. This only resulted in him laughing loudly, "You're kind of cute when you're shy!" Aish, this was so embarrassing... 

"What's your name by the way? I'm Lee Hoya, but I'm sure you already know that." 

I cleared my throat, "I'm Park Miyeon, nice to meet you."

He reached out his hand, and I cautiously shook it. He smiled infectiously once again, and I found myself laughing as well. He looked down at his watch suddenly, and grabbed my arm. I don't think I've ever ran as fast as I did with him, and I found myself face to face with our classroom once again. 

But this time, I felt a slight sense of protection. I looked down to see that Hoya was still holding on to my arm, and as we walked through the other students, he didn't let go.