[School Gate]

 

“10 … 9 … 8 … 7 …” Mr. Kim Soo-ro shouted at the school gate. The disciplinary teacher was counting the time for the gate to be closed. Yun-ho and Ji-yeon walked briskly towards the gate.

“Faster Ji-yeon, faster!” commanded Yun-ho.

“6 … 5 … 4 … 3 …” the time went by. Yun-ho grasped Ji-yeon’s hand and pulled it as he walked in through the gate.

“2 … 1 …” the counting stopped. They both made it.

“Yun-ho oppa!!!” Familiar voices were heard from somewhere. Ji-yeon was astounded. She spotted the two peacocks were cheering for Yun-ho. Jessica and Tiffany ran towards him and stopped when they saw Yun-ho was holding Ji-yeon’s hand.

As fast as lightning, Jessica broke the grip and she held Yun-ho’s hand. She said now in a dangerously y voice, “Oppa … why on earth you hold her hand like that? Your hand is mine so no one else can touch it!” she whined as she parried earnestly Ji-yeon’s hand.

“Don’t you dare messing with my oppa, you got that?!” the y Skinny Tiffany thundered to Ji-yeon and quickly clung onto Yun-ho’s left arm. However, Ji-yeon just stood there and kept herself in silence. She looked at her brother with a puzzled face. But Yun-ho made no sound and vanished with the peacocks.

“Oppa?” Ji-yeon murmured as she stared at them. “What is so special with that calling anyway? Oppa? Nonsense!” she grumbled and steered herself to a corner of the corridor and she felt like something was blocking her way. Her eyes went up slowly. She noticed a pair of shiny black shoes, then a Rolex watch, and then her eyes pinned on the nametag, “Choi Si-won,” poured out from .

“Yes?” a hoarse voice came from above her. Her eyeballs moved upward and stopped there.

“Why didn’t you open your eyes widely just like that whenever you’re walking, fish ball?” He asked her with a serious tone. A pillar was standing right in front of her. Ji-yeon blinked. That tall man appeared again and surprisingly she bumped onto him for the second time.

“Blinking is not the answer, fish ball,” he said as he waved his hand in front of her face.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to …” she said ruefully.

“I really think you need glasses, fish ball,” he said and disappeared from her sight. Ji-yeon stared at him sternly “Fish ball … Again?!” she steamed up with that name.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Class 7A]

 

Chang-min walked into his class. Surprisingly, there were only male students in this particular class unlike any other. “Hey, you haven’t introduced to me your sister yet hyung,” declared Chang-min as he sank on his seat.

“Introduce?” Yun-ho stared at him.

“Um, yes of course!” answered Chang-min surely.

“Forget it Chang-min. She’s someone that you cannot mess around with,” Yun-ho told him gallantly. “By the way, if you are interested with the two ‘super girly’ creatures, go ahead.” Yun-ho suggested him the fashion icons.

“You mean Jessica and Tiffany? I’d rather die,” said Chang-min and threw a long face.

“Pathetic …” Yun-ho glanced at him and shook his head.

“Hey!” Chang-min grabbed the book from Song Joong-ki who was well known as the bookworm in the class. Joong-ki was completely at sea, not knowing what to say to that tall guy.

“Stop reading something like this flower boy,” Chang-min said and put the Ancient History textbook on the table.

“Why? What’s wrong?” that super duper cute guy asked him as he adjusted his glasses.

“Don’t you feel bored with stuff like this? How about … reading something much better?” Chang-min looked at him with a suspicious expression on his pallor. “Get something related to fashion. Be up-to-date Joong-ki,” said Chang-min to Joong-ki and put a magazine on Joong-ki’s table before he made himself comfortable on his seat.

“Busy body,” murmured Joong-ki.

“Stop bugging him. Don’t make it hard for him,” said Yun-ho as he chuckled.

“He is the class monitor but he doesn’t look like one,” complained Chang-min.

Yun-ho looked at Joong-ki and called out his name, “Joong-ki-ssi!”

The bookworm glared at him. “Yes,hyung?” he answered.

“Fighting!” said Yun-ho and gave him a wink. Chang-min burst into laughter as he saw Joong-ki blinked vigorously when Yun-ho did that to him. Well, at least a bookworm could be funny sometimes.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[School Cafeteria]

 

“Oppa!!!!!” the peacocks were running to get Yun-ho.

Chang-min was trying to be cool, struggling to get Jessica and Tiffany away from his hyung. “Sorry ladies, today I got a date,” declared Yun-ho to the two of them as he noticed someone familiar.

“Date?!!!” they exclaimed simultaneously.

“I think so …” he assured them. Jessica threw her hand helplessly from Yun-ho’s left arm. Yun-ho made his way to a table with a tray at his hands.

“Sorry, we’re busy,” informed Chang-min to the ladies and followed Yun-ho from behind.

“A date?” Jessica wondered as she frowned. “I am oppa’s girlfriend, the only one that he should hang with everyday. A date …?” she felt weird.

“You guys are really in lovey-dovey?” curiosity lingered in Tiffany’s mind.

“Not yet, but coming soon,” said Jessica confidently.

“Hey Sica, look at that …”said Tiffany with her index finger pointed to something. Jessica could not believe her eyes.

“Annyeong?” greeted Yun-ho as he sat down in front of his sister.

From afar, Jessica and Tiffany witnessed it. “I told her not to mess around with my oppa, didn’t I?” said Jessica to Tiffany hoping to get some support.

“Maybe spoken language doesn’t make it clear enough to her,” replied Tiffany as Jessica bit her lower lip.

“You are here,” said Ji-yeon. She smiled to her brother. “Alone?” she asked him as she looked around.

“May I sit here?” unfamiliar voice came from behind her. It was Chang-min.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were with the ladies over there just now,” Yun-ho shot him with a sly look.

“Maybe next time,” Chang-min answered and sank on the bench. His eyes glued at the woman in front of him. “You sure have a nice taste hyung,” uttered Chang-min.

“Golden brain surely has golden taste Chang-min,” Yun-ho as he took a bite of the sandwich. Ji-yeon threw an anxious look to Yun-ho. He knew that she was signaling him to just spit out the truth.

As Chang-min was browsing the figure in front of him, Chang-min’s eyes were caught to Ji-yeon’s nametag that was written “Park Ji-yeon”.

Knowing that she was being observed, Ji-yeon spoke up. “I’m Jiyeon.”

“Are you … umm … I … I … m-mean …” Chang-min couldn’t find the right words to say.

“My sister, Chang-min,” Yun-ho interjected.

“Hyung!” Chang-min’s jaw dropped. An excitement that he couldn’t even described. His eyeballs rolled to Yun-ho and slowly his left thumb popped upright. This four-years-suspended hyung secretly has a cute sister and Chang-min couldn’t believe his own eyes. His eyes seemed rooted to Yun-ho.

“Yah! Eish …! You are starting to look like Joong-ki,” Yun-ho thundered at him. Slowly, Chang-min’s head spun around to face Ji-yeon and smiled. “Hehehehe … annn-yeonggg?” an awkward greeting uttered from Chang-min’s lips.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Foreign Language Class]

 

“Wo … ming … jiao … Ji-yeon!” uttered Ji-yeon who tried her best to read out the sentence. “Oh my, this is difficult. I really wish they have Malay language here,” She murmured. She couldn’t make head or tail of what she was seeing on the paper. It was the third day she attended Mandarin class and she couldn’t manage to master anything yet even the simplest one seemed hard for her.

“Take note with the tone mark Ji-yeon,” Mr. Stephen Chong reminded her.

“Yes, laoshi,” she answered. She scored straight As from Level 1 to 3 for Malay Language course when she was studying in Malaysia. But Mandarin was something that was not her cup of tea. Anyway, she had no choice for it was a compulsory subject that should be taken to each and everyone in that school.

“Si-won, please read the first paragraph. The rest listen up,” commanded Mr. Stephen.

‘Si-won?’Ji-yeon brought that name in her mind and the flashback of unwanted incident scintillated. She looked around and her eyes spotted someone at the back corner of the class by the window. His voice echoed in that room. His reading was very fluent as if Mandarin was his native language ever since he was born in this planet. Everyone was surprised. Ji-yeon couldn’t believe her ears and even her eyeballs were ached with astonishment. That strange guy who had been calling her ‘fish ball’ recently was taking the same subject! ‘I didn’t notice him here two days before. Did he just enroll to this course?’ thought Ji-yeon.

“Now, I want you to get a partner,” Mr. Stephen uttered. “Si-won, I want you to assist this new transfer student over here,” he added as he pointed at Ji-yeon. Having declared that, Si-won sat in front of her with the dialogue sheet that they need to practice. Silence between them.

“Alert with the tone marks everyone and the pronunciation as well. You can use the new words that you have learned by the way,” told Mr. Stephen to his students as he walked around the class to monitor and facilitate. In shorter terminology, he was the ‘walking dictionary’ for all the beginners.

“Ni hao,” Si-won started his reading.

Silence from Ji-yeon. She felt awkward. She looked at the dialogue sheet. “Ni …” she pronounced it carefully. She glanced at him and continued, “… hao!” ‘Were you scared of him Jiyeon?’ Ji-yeon asked herself in thought.

“There are only two short words and it took ages for you to read them out fish ball?” he said somewhat teasingly. Ji-yeon could feel the tips of her ears were getting hot. “Wo ming jiao fish ball, ni ne?” he read his line.

‘Fish ball?’Ji-yeon’s eyeballs were scanning the dialogue searching for the word of ‘fish ball’ that she heard just now. “Um … I think you read the wrong line,” she told him.

“I did?” was his reply.

“I don’t see the word ‘fish ball’ here,” said Ji-yeon innocently.

“Surprisingly, I did,” he answered her.

“Where is it?” Ji-yeon became curious in a naïve way. Her eyebrows were knitted together to a frown as she was still scanning the dialogue.

“Right in front of me I guess,” he remarked. Ji-yeon realized that it was referring to her. She bit her lower lip. She felt that she could explode just anytime.

“Well, continue,” said Si-won.

“Wo … ming … jiao … Ji-yeon,” she continued her part.

“Ni cong nar lai?” he read the next part.

“Wo … cong … Ma … lai … xi … ya …” she answered that question.

“You forgot the last word ‘lai’,” commented Si-won.

“Oh, la … i, lai …” she read it out.

“Yahhh … it really took ages for fish ball to even read a word. I shouldn’t be here,” he mumbled.

“Yes, you really shouldn’t be here if you took this course earlier and not this year,” Mr. Stephen gave a reply to his mumble. Si-won rolled his eyes and looked around. He could see that all of them were his juniors and the seniors were only the two of them. “Don’t make it hard for Ji-yeon. You studied in China for almost 4 years. You have the advantage in this course,” lectured Mr. Stephen to Si-won.

Si-won just shoved his hands in his pockets, acting like he didn’t care. He stood up and went out of the class.

“Hey, where do you think you are going?” Mr. Stephen called but Si-won kept on marching as if he was fallen on deaf ears. Question mark twinkled on Ji-yeon’s facial expression. ‘Weirdo,’ popped in her mind.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Corridor]

 

Yun-ho was standing right in front of Ji-yeon’s class. He was waiting for her to take the bus together.

“Oppa!!!” familiar voice echoed from the end of the corridor.

‘Hah … this voice again?’ thought Yun-ho. He knew exactly who it was.

Jessica ran towards him. “Oppa, for you!” she handed him something. Yun-ho gave it a peek, it was a movie ticket. “Tonight!” she informed him. She looked at him wishing for a ‘yes’ answer. Ji-yeon came out from the class at the exact moment and she saw him standing right there with the Ice Princess Jessica.

“I told you I got a date today right?” he gave the ticket to Chang-min. Chang-min was jolted a bit.

“Why me?” he asked Yun-ho as he grinned at Jessica with an astonished expression on his face.

“Be up-to-date Chang-min,” he replied. “Have fun!” he added and walked together with Ji-yeon.

“Yah! It’s for oppa. Give it back!” Jessica grumbled and grabbed the ticket from Chang-min’s hand.

Not knowing what to do, Chang-min choked her legs into life and ran. “Hyung, wait!” he shouted.

Jessica stamped her feet on the floor with little helplessness. “What a waste!” she murmured as she drew a deep sigh. “What’s this?” a question came from beside her. He took the ticket from her hand.

“Si-won oppa!” she shrieked. “Oppa, oppa let’s go for it, ne?” Jessica consoled him. He contemplated for a while.

“Wait a second,” Si-won said and called someone. “HaHa!” he called that flirty guy.

“Ye, hyungnim!” Ha Dong-hoon looked at him. 

“Your last lover!” Si-won said as he handed him the ticket. “She looks hot, doesn’t she?” Si-won added as he threw a glance to Jessica and then left. As she saw him left, she walked towards Ha Dong-hoon and took the ticket away from him.

“Nae sarang Jessica-ssi!!!” Ha Dong-hoon exclaimed to Jessica.

Jessica could see his eyeballs were sparkling full with hope. All she said was, “Crazy,” and left him in despair. Sorry HaHa, she’s obviously not interested to be your last lover.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[In the bus]

           

Students spun around at the bus stop. As soon as the bus arrived, students barged in at one go, which caused a chaotic crowd.

“Yahhh! It’sYun-ho! Make a way!” Chang-min thundered. The crowd dispersed right away to make a way as soon as they heard that name. And out of nowhere someone grabbed Yun-ho’s arm. Well, who do you think it was? It’s Tiffany.

“Oppa, how about a seat next to me?” she looked at him with a pair of begging eyes. Yun-ho muted himself, but unsurprisingly he accepted the offer. Ji-yeon found her own seat.

“An-an-ann-yeongg?” a cranky greeting caught Ji-yeon’s ears. It was Lee Gwang-soo who was sitting next to her. He smiled bashfully at her.

“Annyeong,Gwang-soo-ssi,” she replied. She took out a lollipop and unwrapped it then popped it into . It was a habit that she always did whenever she takes the bus.She noticed that pillar was looking at her. “Interested?” she offered him a lollipop. It strong enough to made Gwang-soo uncomfortable in a sense that he couldn’t even smiled properly for he had never sat with someone like her in such way. He could feel his cheeks blushed. “Thank you,” he thanked her for the lollipop.

“No worries,” Jiyeon welcomed him and that pillar could feel his cheeks burned even more. What a lucky day Gwang-soo-ssi!

 

*   *   *   *   *

TO BE CONTINUED