Chapter 8

As I made my way to school, I slowed my pace, not caring that I was going to be late. I had no idea why I suddenly felt like I could give two cares about school or why I felt nervous about seeing everyone there. I guess I really didn't want to be there right now since that would be I would have to face the reality of knowing that this will one day stop. Ugh. Maybe I should stop thinking so negatively about how life is going to work, huh? I shook my head and looked down at my feet and just as I did so, I heard footsteps behind me. There was no reason for me to turn around; I already knew who it was since I was used to the sound of their steps. Tap. Tap. Tap tap.

Park. Ji. Min.

"How long are you going to walk behind me?" I asked, still not turning around.

"You're really good at hearing, aren't you?" Ji Min asked as he finally decided to walk beside me. "I can never sneak up on you, you know that?"

"Of course you can't." I smirked up at him. "I don't understand why you still try to do it."

Ji Min only nudged me, knowing that he had no comeback really.

"Where's Jae Kyung?" I gripped onto my straps of my backpack as we neared the bus stop. "Did you two get into a fight?"

Ji Min chuckled. "No, we didn't get into a fight, Ga Eul. Jae Kyung said she'd meet us at school since she had something to do with her mother." He shrugged and ruffled my hair. "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" I raised an eyebrow as I hit his arm away from my head. I hated when he ruffled my hair. He made me feel as if I was a child, which I wasn't. I clearly was eighteen and a half.

Ji Min touched the tip of my nose, making me hit him once again.

"Yah." I glowered at him as hard as I could. "What is wrong with you?"

"So you are feeling better then?" He laughed at my reaction, which only made me shake my head at him.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, I don't know. I heard Chen's face hit yours pretty hard." He tilted his head and looked over at me as if he was mocking me, but this his facial expression suddenly changed. "Talking about Chen... Was he the person you were talking about the other day?"

"What are you talking about?" I seriously didn't know what he was talking about, but Ji Min gave me a stern look and then I realized he was talking about how when I saved someone from committing suicide. I had to avoid every possible way to get Chen's name out of our conversation. "I'm hungry..."

"Don't change the subject on me." Ji Min stopped walking and pulled my arm to stop from going any farther than him. "It was Chen, wasn't it?"

I just stared at him, hoping he'd let it go even though I knew better.

"Choi Ga Eul." Ji Min's voice sounded a little colder this time.

I looked at Ji Min and see in his eyes that he was being all serious. I really couldn't help it, but his stares always made me shiver since he looked so mad and if there was anything Ji Min was capable of, it was scaring me. I hated when Ji Min did things like this to me. He was very good at getting things out of me without even really trying. He can just look at me for a few seconds and I would suddenly have the urge to tell him what he wanted.

I ran a hand through my hair and heaved a sigh not knowing how to start this. "Look, Ji Min, I don't think he'd want anyone to know. I'm sure he's already feeling all ashamed and guilty and whatever feeling there is right now for him about what had happened." I looked at Ji Min and he looked like he was telling me to go on. "Yes, Chen was the guy I had saved the other day at the beach when he was trying to drown himself, but look, Ji Min, you cannot say anything to anyone!"

"Why would he do anything like this? I don't understand..." I didn't understand either and I kind of wished, deep down, that I did too. "He has friends who care for him so much..." Ji Min heaved a sigh as he looked up into the sky and placed his hands onto his hips. "Do you think he's just lonely?"

"How could he be lonely with such friends?" I asked confused. He honestly had amazing friends, or at least I see them like that.

"Maybe something's going on at home?" Ji Min shrugged.

"Maybe..." I didn't want to assume since I knew nothing about him.

When Ji Min and I got to school, Ji Min walked me to my class before he had headed off towards his. Lectures in class were boring and I decided not to pay attention like always and decided to draw on my notebook. As I doodled, I realized that there were many things that I still wanted to before it was time for me to leave. I guess to be on the positive side, I still wanted to do a lot more things before... Well... How do I put it? I guess before I can't do them anymore. I took my phone out and started to write down places into my notebook that I haven't visited yet in Seoul since I've been living here. I was determined to do them whenever I could.

As soon as the bell rang for lunch, I was already done filling up two sides of my notebook with the things I wanted to do. It was a good thing that I had many different colored pens so I could figure out which was which due to me not wanting to write on the actual lines. I smiled happily at my so-called creation of "things to do" and closed it before I headed out of the classroom. I went straight towards the cafeteria feeling a little hungry for the first time. I was hoping to see Ji Min and Jae Kyung so I could tell them my ideas and we all could go do them together for memories.

I got to the cafeteria and stopped by the doors to see if Ji Min and Jae Kyung were already sitting down, but they were nowhere to be found. They weren't even in the lunch line getting food either. I swear, I wasn't ever going to see them there first... Ironic, I'd say cos' they always beat me to other places whenever the three of us would go out. I didn't want to go sit alone at a time like this so I turned back around and just as I did so, I bumped into someone and almost fell backwards, but the person grabbed my arm and helped me back up to my feet balancing me. I let out a sigh of relief and looked up to see that Yoo Seung Ho was standing before me with a smile.

"Are you going somewhere?" Seung Ho asked raising his eyebrow at me.

"I... I was looking for Ji Min and Jae Kyung." I smiled back at him.

"You're not going to eat?"

"No, I'm not hungry." I shrugged. "You should go eat. I have to go find them."

"You're going to make me eat alone?" Seung Ho pouted.

"What? What about your friends?"

"They refuse to eat with me because they're all studying in the library." He made puppy eyes at me. "Will you sit and watch me eat at least, Choi Ga Eul?"

I squinted my eyes at him before I playfully smiled at him. "Okay, okay."

Seung Ho excitedly grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him as we got into the lunch line and he got himself a meal. I honestly was taken aback by how he grabbed my hand so quickly, but I kept quiet and followed after him since he seemed to be a little on the happier side today. We went off to our table and sat down across from each other. As he was eating and talking to me about how school was going for him, I couldn't help it, but my eyes were wandering around the room. I noticed that Chen and his friends weren't here at school. I was somehow kind of disappointed and I didn't really know why. I looked back at Seung Ho to take my thoughts off of Chen but noticed that Seung Ho was staring at me and he wasn't even talking anymore.

"Are you still looking for Ji Min and Jae Kyung?" He asked as he sipped onto his bottle of water.

"Ah, no..." I felt bad that I wasn't paying attention. "Sorry... Go on with what you were saying."

"Nevermind, Choi Ga Eul." He shook his head with a smile and went on with his food.

There was something about the way that he said that and it made me feel even worse because I wasn't listening to him. The thought of that made my heart ache. How could I be so rude? This was something I should cherish since this was what I've wanted the whole time.

"Yoo Seung Ho." I wanted to get his attention.

He looked up at me, food still in his mouth.

"Did you want to go watch a movie tomorrow since it's Friday?"

Seung Ho choked on his food, unable to swallow so he had to take in his water before swallowing right. He wiped his mouth and looked at me, as if this question was really surprising or something.

"Are you okay?" I asked laughing.

"Sorry... It went down the wrong tube." He waved his hands at me. "But... But what did you say?"

"Let's go watch a movie... Like a date." I didn't know if I should have said date, but I thought it would sound better.

"Aren't I supposed to ask you out instead?" Seung Ho took in more water to clear his throat.

"Why? Do you feel weird that I'm asking you out?" I chuckled at his reaction.

"Yeah, I do." He replied honestly.

"It's okay. It's just this once that I'll ask, since you know, you didn't ask me to go out with you again." I winked.

"Yah." He choked on his water this time.

"What? What's wrong?" I handed him a napkin to wipe his mouth. "Why do you keep choking?"

"Stop with what you're doing to me, Ga Eul." He shook his head as he looked down with a smile. "I don't know if I can handle it."

"What am I doing to you that you won't be able to handle?" I didn't know what he was referring to.

"The way you're looking at me." Yoo Seung Ho said as he looked up to meet my eyes.

The way Seung Ho was looking at me immediately made my heart flip right out of my chest. Now I remembered why I had fallen for him; Seung Ho was so handsome the way he was and he was adorable acting all shy and blushing by how I was treating him. I didn't know when it was happening, but I felt my lips tugging widely and I was practically smiling so big that I felt like the air was going right through me.

"I wish we weren't at school." Seung Ho said, taking me out of my thoughts.

"Why?" I asked still staring at him.

"I probably would have kissed you."

I was now the one choking, but I was choking on my saliva and the air instead. Seung Ho really caught me off guard with what he said. I was sure that there were a few people staring at me, giving me odd looks and I couldn't blame them. I could feel my face burning and this really made me feel like I couldn't breathe for a split second. How could he just casually say something like this? I think my heart was going a little crazier than it needed to.

"You're cute when you blush, Choi Ga Eul." Seung Ho commented, making me blush even more.

"Stop it." I stood up while I grabbed my notebook and touched my cheeks with my hands.

"Oh? It's okay for you to make me blush, but when I do it, you run off?" Seung Ho smirked at me.

"Yah." I started to walk away from him.

"Ga Eul!" He yelled after me, but I kept walking.

When I knew I was far away enough, I turned back to see if he was chasing me and thank goodness he wasn't. I stopped walking and took a deep breath and patted my cheeks down a little more to cool myself down before deciding to walk again. As soon as I turned the corner, I bumped into someone a little harder than expected and fell backwards onto the ground. I really need to watch where I was going today.

The other person who I had bumped to immediately had their hands out towards me before I could even look up to see who it was. I looked up and to my surprise, it was Chen. He had a straight face on, but he looked better than the other days I've seen him. Because I didn't grab his hand, he grabbed mine and pulled me up to my feet.

"Are you okay?" He asked as I patted myself down.

I nodded my head and looked around to see if anyone had just seen what happened. It was enough that I was embarrassed from what Seung Ho had just said to me in the cafeteria.

"You look like you're running away from someone." Chen commented looking past me.

"Oh no... I... I was coming back from the cafeteria..." I pointed back. "Are... Are you going to go eat lunch?"

He nodded, as if our conversation was already over.

"Uh... I'm... I'm going to go..." I said as I made my way past him.

"Wait."

I stopped in my tracks and turned around to look at him. When I did, I saw him holding up my notebook that I had dropped from us bumping into each other. He walked over and held my notebook in front of me, waiting for me to grab it. 

"Is your nose feeling better?" Chen asked, making me realize that I was daydreaming a little.

"Wha-what?" I composed myself again.

"Nevermind." He shook his head and I finally grabbed my notebook.

I looked down at my notebook and then back at Chen as he started to walk away. For some reason, I suddenly had an idea and called out his name without realzing it. He stopped in his tracks this time and turned around to look at me. He was waiting for me to say something since well, I was the one who yelled his name and I had to have a reason, right? I was kind of nervous and my hands that were holding onto my notebook started to become shaky. I gripped the sides of the notebook and took a deep breath as I looked up at Chen.

"What... What are you doing this Saturday?" I asked finally.

Chen's expression didn't even change like I was hoping to. I kind of wanted to see him react like, "Is this girl crazy?!" or something like, "Did she really just ask me this question?!", but he gave me a blank expression, which really didn't surprise me. What made things even more awkward for me in this situation was the fact that he was just staring at me, probably thinking of something that I didn't know of and it made me become impatient. I didn't know if I should have just walked away or if I should stay to see if he actually had an answer for me. The little wait was dreading me and I felt kind of embarrassed. What was I even doing even thinking about-

"The beach..." Chen finally said, breaking me out of my thoughts. "In the afternoon."

With that, Chen walked off towards the cafeteria still not really giving me an answer. Was he telling me or was he inviting me?

**A/N: Hi guys. Sorry for not updating for two weeks now :) Were you all waiting long? Here's an update for you all! I hope you guys enjoy it!! Hopefully this isn't too fast or too short of a progress. I'm trying to develop their characters as best as I can :) Kay. Have fun reading. Please read and comment. I'd love to hear about your opinions, so please don't be a silent reader. Thank you and read with lots of love! Keke~! Muah