The beginning.
우린 친구가 될 수 없어 / We can't be just friends.
October 2008.
It was nearly 9 in the morning, when in one of the house just in the suburbs of Seoul’s Incheon district you could hear a loud scream of a middle aged woman.
-‘’ Kim Jonghyun, you’re going to be late again! ‘’ A minute after that you can hear another words which aren’t a nice thing to tell your son.
-‘’Mom, let him sleep. He came back only few hours ago. If you wouldn’t have give all the money to your boyfriend he wouldn’t have to work!’’ another voice said with confidence. After this comment you could hear both women having arguments. It was normal in their house since Jonghyun could remember. His mother was a naive, and after his fathers death she was dragged out of the old family house and forced to move into Incheon.
Boy slowly opened his eyes and looked around the dim room full of dust. He lifted up his body from a blanked and went to a small window to open it. He looked around the room full of newspapers, CD’s and clothes searching for his uniform and school bag.
-‘’Oh, here it is.’’ He opened it and looked at his phone which battery was low, but was still working. Suddenly he looked at the door and went out quickly.
-‘’Mom, I told you to wake me up at 7, I need to go to school.Are you serious ?’’ You could hear an irritation in his voice and disappointed when he saw his mother looking like homeless ahjumma. He continued with eyes slowly looking sadder that a minute ago
-‘’Mom, I gave you money, I told you to go shopping with Noona, why didn’t you go? Look at the house! Is there even something to eat?!’’ His voice slowly broke, when women just opened with an annoyed face and tried to answer, but she knew that her son is right.
-‘’ Anyway, noona let’s just go.” He said and went out of the house without even looking back if his older sister is going with him. To tell you the truth Jonghyun loved his mother, otherwise he wouldn’t go thought all these sleepless nights.
Since he was 8 years old, his clearest memories were of his sister being whole day in school, taking care of him and working part time on night shifts. That is when he decided that he won’t let his Noona suffer and started with just leaving milk boxes at the front door of houses with newspaper.
Now, an 19 year old Jonghyun changed a lot. He has been working more and more, he takes care of his mother and tries his best to help his Noona, which he didn’t understand. Why did he stay with them? She could have left and have a nice home with her boyfriend. They had been together thought many years, sometimes it happened that he had to stay with Sond Dam noona at her boyfriends house for couple of days.
Jonghyun turned around finding himself at the bus stop and sat at the bench, finding his sister next to him.
-‘’Mom, I gave you money, I told you to go shopping with Noona, why didn’t you go? Look at the house! Is there even something to eat?!’’ His voice slowly broke, when women just opened with an annoyed face and tried to answer, but she knew that her son is right.
-‘’ Anyway, noona let’s just go.” He said and went out of the house without even looking back if his older sister is going with him. To tell you the truth Jonghyun loved his mother, otherwise he wouldn’t go thought all these sleepless nights.
Since he was 8 years old, his clearest memories were of his sister being whole day in school, taking care of him and working part time on night shifts. That is when he decided that he won’t let his Noona suffer and started with just leaving milk boxes at the front door of houses with newspaper.
Now, an 19 year old Jonghyun changed a lot. He has been working more and more, he takes care of his mother and tries his best to help his Noona, which he didn’t understand. Why did he stay with them? She could have left and have a nice home with her boyfriend. They had been together thought many years, sometimes it happened that he had to stay with Sond Dam noona at her boyfriends house for couple of days.
Jonghyun turned around finding himself at the bus stop and sat at the bench, finding his sister next to him.
-“Jjongie-ah, have you talked to Jinki? I really think that you should just move in with them..’’ Sond Dam started slowly but after seeing her brothers expression she knew she shouldn’t have said it. She was thankful when she saw the bus, and held his hand bringing him into it.
Kibum found himself in the front of the gate which was of course half closed. He could see the teacher at the gate
-“Oh,!” he hissed to himself looking at the pinkish T-shirt that could be seen under his uniform and the uniform jacket which was decorated in his own fashonista way.
-“OMO, CAN YOU SEE HIM.”
-“LOOK,ITS HIM!”
- “HE’S SO HANDSOME WITH THIS HAIR AND SMOKE” Smoke? Oh,who’s so stupid to smoke on the front of.. Kibum looked at the boy with messy brown hair, a bag on one arm, with no uniform jacket and a little bit sleepy expression when he was making the ash fall down from his smoke. He remembers him, he used to have PE with and upper grade, and this kid was one of the basketball team main players.
-“Oh,!” he hissed to himself looking at the pinkish T-shirt that could be seen under his uniform and the uniform jacket which was decorated in his own fashonista way.
-“OMO, CAN YOU SEE HIM.”
-“LOOK,ITS HIM!”
- “HE’S SO HANDSOME WITH THIS HAIR AND SMOKE” Smoke? Oh,who’s so stupid to smoke on the front of.. Kibum looked at the boy with messy brown hair, a bag on one arm, with no uniform jacket and a little bit sleepy expression when he was making the ash fall down from his smoke. He remembers him, he used to have PE with and upper grade, and this kid was one of the basketball team main players.
-“He had grown up a bit” Kibum said more to himself than to the girls standing beside him. Kibum had been abroad for past year, which was the reason why he had to stay in lower grade.
-“YAH,JJONGIE-ah!” A girl called his name making everyone stare at her. She ran to Jonghyun with a box of milk in one hand and a small bag with food in the other and standing on her tiptoes gave him a big kiss on the cheek, which made everyone stare even more. Some boys were passing by except Kibum and girls adoring Jonghyun. Suddenly Jjongs eyes meet Kibums for a while, which made the younger boy go red on his face. Kibum without thinking went throught the gate and of course got caught, while Jonghyun was throwing his bag through the school fence, which was easy for him to jump over.
-“YAH,JJONGIE-ah!” A girl called his name making everyone stare at her. She ran to Jonghyun with a box of milk in one hand and a small bag with food in the other and standing on her tiptoes gave him a big kiss on the cheek, which made everyone stare even more. Some boys were passing by except Kibum and girls adoring Jonghyun. Suddenly Jjongs eyes meet Kibums for a while, which made the younger boy go red on his face. Kibum without thinking went throught the gate and of course got caught, while Jonghyun was throwing his bag through the school fence, which was easy for him to jump over.
Kibum couldn’t keep his mind of boy he just had seen. He found his way to the office where he had to pick up his timetable with the classroom as well. Even after he was already in the classroom talking to the people until the teacher told them that the class is starting, he just sat at the end of classroom by himself and started to draw shapes. Isn’t it weird that he was thinking about some sunbeaenim and not socializing or doing what he should be doing. -“Tssst, Key!” He heard a voice on his right side. He was shocked because who could’ve called him that except his friends outside school and there he sees two big brown eyes and a puppy smile being send his way from a girl with short hair.
-“You look similar..” He said more to himself than to her, but then she said in a causal way.
-“You look similar..” He said more to himself than to her, but then she said in a causal way.
-“We were in the same dance class! I had black hair..”
-“OMO, AMBER?” He couldn’t control his happiness and said louder than he should have done it, making everyone stare at them for a minute.
-“Yeah! Here.. It would be great to have you there.” She gave him a brochure to Kibum and smiled going back to taking notes down. He was shocked that Amber was in this class. Let’s face the truth - he wouldn’t really have any friends in the class, looking through the people in the classroom you can see a bunch of fan girls which keep on talking about some boys and some people that are just all about school probably even at the lunch time and then you have some class gangsters, a basketball team.. Aish, basketball again and the perfect man at the school gate. Kibum scolded himself in his mind, thinking
-“What’s wrong with you Key, seriously. Just draw these.. WHAT!?” His eyes were now wide open when he realized what he had drawn. He made a small ball out of the drawing when bell went and everyone started to take their lunch boxes or bags to go out of the classroom for lunch. Key took his bag and threw away the piece of paper making his way up to the rooftop when he was planning on spending his lunch time.
-“Hyung..Hyung wake up..” Jonghyun could feel someone shaking him lightly. He opened his eyes and looked around empty classroom.
- “Lunchtime?”
-“Yeah” A quick answer flied out of his friends mouth.
- “Minho, can I keep your Hyungs notes? I’ll take them down now and give them back to you after break so you can pass them back, yeah?” There was no answer, just a big warm smile from the other boy called Minho as he gave him the copy.
-“ You know, if you need help, I’m here..”
-“ I know, I know, I know! Better go to the chicken master, before he kills everyone in the cafeteria who would want to buy some fried chicken.”
Jonghyun packed his bag and left the boy alone in the classroom without giving him a chance to answer. He had been friends with Minho and the chicken master named Jinki since elementary school. There were many differences between them but no matter what their relationship stayed the same.
Jonghyun was putting his earphones into his ears while jumping every two steps up to the rooftop where he lied down on the floor, putting out the stuff his noona had brought him and checking his phone. To him phone was something like a diary to other people, a very personal thing. He stretched his body and instead of starting to eat he took out a bag of smokes and took one. While he was doing this, another boy entered the rooftop and looked at him.
Jonghyun was putting his earphones into his ears while jumping every two steps up to the rooftop where he lied down on the floor, putting out the stuff his noona had brought him and checking his phone. To him phone was something like a diary to other people, a very personal thing. He stretched his body and instead of starting to eat he took out a bag of smokes and took one. While he was doing this, another boy entered the rooftop and looked at him.
-“He looks so good with the smoke, lying down like this..” Kibum thought blushing a bit, while strong sunshine was making it hard for Jonghyun to see who’s at the rooftop, as he quickly stands up and feels relieved when he sees another student, not a teacher.
-“Sorry.. “ Kibum finally forces himself to say something while Jonghyun takes out his earphones and smiles brightly and a little bit shocked at the blond boy.
-“ It’s alright, I was just shocked because usually no one except me comes here.” Kibum didn’t really know what to do now, he had been thinking about the other boy without any reason and now the boy is trying to talk to him
-“Eh.. T-then do you mind me being here?” His voice was a big shaky and unsure, but all Jonghyun did was just smile and going back to what he should be doing. Kibum sat a little bit nearer to Jonghyun while still being close to the door and shyly peeks at the boy while looking for his water. Jonghyun rises his head and pats the space beside him. To tell you the truth Jonghyun isn’t a very sociable person, but somehow he felt like spending a lunchtime with this blond boy is better than being alone. Also, it means that it would be harder for him to feel asleep.
Kibum slowly moved closer not knowing what to do, say or how to act in front of Jonghyun. To tell you the truth he was totally shocked by the way Jonghyun was acting nice, he heard stories about him even before he moved abroad last year.
Kibum slowly moved closer not knowing what to do, say or how to act in front of Jonghyun. To tell you the truth he was totally shocked by the way Jonghyun was acting nice, he heard stories about him even before he moved abroad last year.
-“ I think I’ve seen you before..” after a while of awkward silence Jonghyun kept staring at Key.
-‘’Um.. Yeah.. I.. W-we used to have PE together last year.’’ He said sure of the fact that boy in front of him wouldn’t know him. Kim Kibum was the person that hated PE. If he haven’t been gone for the exchange it would be bad. He was one of the people that would get bullied for nothing by the people who would like to become the school stars, because all they cared about was school hierarchy.
-‘’Ohh, so that’s it! Do you..”
-”YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.” A tall boy with his hair similar to Jonghyun kicked the door, and another one came in after him.
-”WHY AREN’T YOU PICKING UP YOUR PHONE, YEOBO? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I CALLED YOU WHILE FIGHTING WITH AHJUMMA IN THE CAFETERIA TO GIVE ME MORE CHICKEN BECAUSE YOU TWO…” He stoped and looked at Jonghyun and Minho which dodged him and sat beside Kibum, and started to introducing himself and starting a talk, while Kibum was trying to keep calm while he was looking at Jonghyuns happy face while he was listening to what the other one was saying. “…WOULD STEAL ALL OF MY PRECIOUS CHICKEN.’’
After that he sat beside Jonghyun and put one of the chicken legs into his mouth, and gave one to Minho, while he nicely smiled at Key and put the whole box of fried chicken legs and nuggets closer to him.
After that he sat beside Jonghyun and put one of the chicken legs into his mouth, and gave one to Minho, while he nicely smiled at Key and put the whole box of fried chicken legs and nuggets closer to him.
-“Oh, sorry that you needed to listen to our little couple fight. My name is Jinki. Feel free to take A BIT of my chicken.” He smiled and took Jonghyun’s notes, which originally belonged to Minho’s older brother Minseok.
-”You have to have them done by when?”
-”Last class. Hyung, can you do some of it for me?” Key slowly took one chicken leg, encouraged by Jinki’s smile and started to eating, looking at Minho which just took two of the chicken legs and was eating them like crazy. He knew Minho because he was one of the boys from the basketball team, which explains his friendship with Jonghyun.
-”Yah, no way. I have to go college later on, I just went home to get dressed in this stupid old uniform, but I need to hurry and go. I am telling the 3 of you, be happy while you’re here, no one does the fried chicken as good as the cafeteria ahjummas. Maybe you, Jjongie!” He giggled like a little girl and all of them started to laugh, even Kibum which was feeling pretty awkward being here with those 3 friends, while they knew each other.
He liked Minho, but there was something about Jinki that made his blood pressure rise. The way he made Jonghyun smile. And then, something happened, that Key was thinking about all the way to his classroom. He doesn’t know how it happened that he had two copies in his hand, full of notes that he has to write down. All he remembered was bright smile and puppy eyes looking at him with gratitude and saying
‘Kibum-ah, really? Are you sure it’s okay? I’ll pay you back this favor sometime!” and a hand that touched his shoulder so lightly, but he could still feel it.
It’s first day back in school, and look what’s happening. While sitting at his desk in the classroom he lightly touched his shoulder and smiled feeling how it’s burning him. Then he looked around the classroom again and smiled brightly when he could see Minho sitting with the basketball team and waving at him.
Through his mind flied a thought that he was so shocked to realize ‘’Have I gained friends?”
He liked Minho, but there was something about Jinki that made his blood pressure rise. The way he made Jonghyun smile. And then, something happened, that Key was thinking about all the way to his classroom. He doesn’t know how it happened that he had two copies in his hand, full of notes that he has to write down. All he remembered was bright smile and puppy eyes looking at him with gratitude and saying
‘Kibum-ah, really? Are you sure it’s okay? I’ll pay you back this favor sometime!” and a hand that touched his shoulder so lightly, but he could still feel it.
It’s first day back in school, and look what’s happening. While sitting at his desk in the classroom he lightly touched his shoulder and smiled feeling how it’s burning him. Then he looked around the classroom again and smiled brightly when he could see Minho sitting with the basketball team and waving at him.
Through his mind flied a thought that he was so shocked to realize ‘’Have I gained friends?”
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