Jjung, Ssul, Luna, AJ and "The New Guy": Age 16/17/18

“Hi Sulli, how are you today?”

“Sulli, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Sulli, have you seen this movie yet? I think you’ll like it.”

“Sulli, are you free this weekend?”

I walked into the classroom and there was a group of guys crowding around my seat. Actually they were crowding around Ssul to be exact. There were quite a number of them so much so that I couldn’t even spot Ssul. I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

I headed over to my seat but one of the guys was in it.

“Hey, sorry but you’re in my seat,” I said nonchalantly.

The guy just ignored me.

I was getting more annoyed by the second and I thought about just pushing the guy off my seat.

Luckily, Ssul noticed and spoke up. “Hey, sorry but could you get up? This is Jjung’s seat,” she repeated to the guy.

He finally got up, unwillingly. “I didn’t realize that it was actually your seat. My bad,” he commented.

Tch… I knew what he was thinking. He was probably thinking that I just wanted to sit next to Ssul like all the other guys; that I was trying to steal his seat. Well too bad, Ssul chose to sit next to me.

She greeted me with a smile.

I smiled back. “Again, huh?” I mused.

She shrugged. I could tell that she was half annoyed but also half enjoying the attention.

Despite her initial reservations about starting high school, Ssul was now settled in. It had only been about a week or so but she was now one of the most popular girls in school or at least definitely one of the most popular in our grade. This made life for me just a little more bothersome because guys would want to hang around her all the time. I couldn’t blame them though. Who wouldn’t want to be around her? She was pretty, smart and kind on top of everything else great about her. I was just surprised at how shameless some of these guys were. Even though she repeatedly told them she wasn’t interested, they still continued to hit on her.

“So Sulli, do you want to go to the movies with me this weekend?”

“Sulli, I’ll take you to a nice restaurant.”

“No, Sulli you should go out with me. I can buy you anything you want.”

Ugh! I banged my head onto the desk and covered my ears with my hands.

“Uhm, sorry guys I’m busy this weekend. Why don’t you guys go back to your seats or classes…? The bell is going to ring soon,” she told the guys as politely as she could.

They were reluctant at first but she kept urging them to leave, and finally the bell rang anyway.

“Sorry Jjung… don’t be mad. I don’t know how to get rid of them,” she explained.

“I’m not mad! I just don’t like to be crowded,” I huffed.

She started poking me playfully on my side. “Oh, don’t be like that Jjungie…”

I wasn’t usually ticklish but when she did it my body just couldn’t contain the electricity that pulsed in my veins. I flinched and let out a slight giggle. I was so helpless against her.

It became a ritual for AJ hyung, Luna, Ssul and I to sit together during lunch. Luna had somehow managed to wedge her way into the group. She was really nice though so I didn’t mind. Besides I thought that the way AJ hyung was around her was hilarious. She and Ssul also became very close and I was sure that Ssul was glad to finally have a close friend who wasn’t a guy. Sometimes I would catch them whispering and laughing in secrecy. Sometimes it was kind of annoying when they looked at me, giggled and then not tell me what they were giggling about.

That day, we were having our usual lunch session when a tall male student approached us. Even before he said a word, I had a feeling that I knew what he wanted.

“Hi Ssul, there you are… Can I sit with you?” he asked.

For a second, we all turned to look at him, surprised at what this stranger had just said. Then we looked back at Ssul to check if she knew him but she seemed puzzled.

“Uhm… sorry, do I know you?” she responded awkwardly.

“You are Choi Sulli right?” he checked.

“Yes…”

“Ssul, you don’t recognize me? I guess it has been awhile and I used to be shorter. It’s me Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol?”

We all turned to look at Ssul again to see if she had any recognition of this stranger.

Her eyes suddenly widened and she jumped out of her chair. She threw her arms around the stranger and gave him a quick hug.

My mouth gaped open but I caught myself in time before anyone else noticed. Who is this guy?

“Oppa, what are you doing here? You look good by the way,” she giggled.

I furrowed my eyebrows in disgust. Seriously, who is this guy?!

“Yes well, the last time you saw me I was just a scrawny little kid,” he joked. “I got back from Japan not too long ago. I just started here today. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“Your mother told my mother… something like that…”

“What?! Umma knows you’re back and she didn’t tell me?”

“I guess she didn’t…”

They both laughed.

It seemed like the two of them had totally forgotten that the other three of us were there. Then Luna made a coughing sound.

“Sorry to interrupt but… Hi, I’m Luna.” She gave a slight nod.

Ssul finally remembered we were there too. “Oh, sorry. I was so excited I forgot to introduce you guys. Oppa, this is Luna unni. This is AJ oppa. And this is Jjung. You’re the same age as AJ hyung but he’s in a grade lower with Luna unni, and Jjung and I are the same age. And guys, this is Chanyeol oppa. We were childhood friends. Our families were very close but then they moved to Japan. I hadn’t seen him in…”

“8 years almost,” Chanyeol finished. “And I’m more than her childhood friend… I was her first love.”

Ssul’s face flushed bright red.

I couldn’t tell is he was just teasing her or being serious.

“Oppa!” she exclaimed in embarrassment and gave him a slap on the arm.

“Why? Don’t even try and hide it…”

She didn’t respond but she had a grin on her face.

He turned to bow at us and we nodded back politely.

I was in shock though. I had never heard of this Chanyeol guy before; Ssul never mentioned him once let alone him being her first love. It was a surreal moment.

“Have a seat oppa. You guys don’t mind right?” Ssul asked.

“Of course not!” Luna decided to reply for all of us.

I could see that this new guy had already caught Luna’s attention. He could definitely be considered a good looking guy. I looked over at AJ hyung to see what he was thinking. He had a neutral expression and he wasn’t giving off any signs that he didn’t like this guy like I did. Am I the only one who’s not impressed by this guy?

“So you’re Ssul’s first love?” Luna asked curiously.

“She might not admit it but I knew. She was always following me around, she wanted to do everything I did; I couldn’t get rid of her. If I didn’t move to Japan, we’d probably be dating right now,” he replied with a smirk.

“Oppa… stop it…” Ssul whined.

“Okay… okay…”

“So you guys didn’t keep in touch while you were in Japan?” AJ hyung asked.

“We were young back then so we just kind of lost touch. Our parents kept in touch though,” he replied. “But, look at you now… My Ssul’s all grown up.”

Ssul smiled shyly.

I gritted my teeth. Your Ssul? YOUR Ssul?!?! My blood was beginning to boil over. I didn’t think I’d ever seen Ssul behave like she did around this guy. Why is she being like this? Is he really her first love? Does she still like him? My mind was going insane from all the questions I had about these two.

“Anyway Ssul, are you free this weekend? We should catch up,” he continued.

“Sure oppa! Sounds good,” she answered eagerly.

“Good, it’s a date.”