❋ o n e ❋

Six months ago

It was her last year in high school. Park Chorong has finally become a senior and she couldn’t be any happier over the fact she’ll be graduating by the end of the year. There are so many things she wants to do before heading off for college – like road trips with her friends, sign up for music lessons that she had to miss due to exams, throw a summer party even though it’ll just be a bunch of them and perhaps she could try for a second-hand car from all the cash she had manage to save over part time jobs.

She just wanted to be free, feel like an adult and decide on things she never got the chance to during her four years in high school.

This year would be the last one. This year would be a good one. This time she wasn’t going to let anything dampen her down.

“Hey, Parkcho! Catch this!”

She whirled around just in time to see a basketball being thrown at her. Chorong caught it swiftly with one hand, much to the dismay of her soon-to-be-sorry best friend. She plastered on a huge grin as she hurled it back towards him – hitting Nam Woohyun right in the centre of his chest.

She shook her head and went back to arranging the books in her locker.

“You should’ve given me face,” Woohyun grumbled as he sauntered up towards her, with the ball tucked away at his side. “There are pretty freshmen here and I need to be in my best form.”

Chorong rolled her eyes as she slammed her locker shut. “You do not have a best form, Namwoo. Or did you forget that time when you dunk the ball into your own team’s basket?”

Woohyun made a low wincing sound. He was about to rebuke but was abruptly interrupted by a panting Bomi who came rushing to their side out of nowhere.

“Chorong,” she began breathlessly. “You have to see this.”

“See what?”

Bomi’s hand flew up to her chest as she inhaled a long deep breath. “Th-there’s a new kid in school…”

Chorong scoffed. “What’s so amazing about that, Bbom? It’s a new year. Of course there are bound to be new students everywhere.”

“Is it floating?” Woohyun teased. “Or does it glide across the floor instead?”

Bomi turned to glare at him before shifting her attention back to Chorong who still appeared unimpressed.

“He’s a senior…a transfer student. Get this – he is the Kim Junmyeon.”

 The other girl frowned. “Who?”

Bomi’s eyes widened in surprise. She simply stared at Chorong in disbelief, before her eyes darted back and forth from her to Woohyun – who apparently has no idea who she was talking about too.

“Oh my God, you guys have seriously been living under the rock!” she exclaimed. “Kim Junmyeon – the only son of the respectable…”

“Wait,” Chorong stopped her. “I know where she’s going with this.” She glanced at Woohyun, who nodded in agreement.

“Must be some sort of rich kid.” He finished the sentence in her mind. Chorong smiled. She could always count on him to know what she’s thinking, whatever that’s going on in her head.

“And thanks but no thanks Bbom, I’m not interested.” Chorong shrugged and hugged a couple of books close to her chest. “I’ll see you at lunch time, ‘kay?”

Woohyun followed suit, leaving Bomi helplessly standing there as she tried to get her friend’s attention. “He’s just around the corner! You should at least see how he looks like!”

Chorong stopped in her tracks, not because she wanted to look at this Kim Junmyeon that has her friend raving so much, but she had forgotten to give Bomi an important message. So, she turned around, just about to raise her hand for Bomi’s attention – unaware of an approaching presence. As a result, her hand hit him right in the face instead.

“I’m sorry!” Chorong gasped, throwing her hands up in shock, sending her books tumbling on the floor. “I’m really sorry,” she apologised again profusely. “I didn’t think – “

Woohyun bent down to pick up her books, at the same time as the other guy who had just been hit by Chorong. For the briefest of moments, the two males locked gazes with each other – Woohyun unable to fathom this questionable vibe that he was getting from the other kid.

Meanwhile, he simply smiled at Woohyun and picked up Chorong’s Mathematics book, before getting back on his feet.

“It’s okay,” he said kindly as he handed over her book. “I should’ve kept some distance between us.”

Woohyun was still feeling rather baffled as he stood up, collecting the rest of Chorong’s pile in his hands. He couldn’t help noticing the slight brush of their hands when he returned her Math book. His lingered on hers for a tad longer than he thought was necessary.

“I’ll see you around,” he smiled politely at the two of them before resuming back his walk to the class. Chorong, who was still clearly mortified by the whole incident, could only bury her face behind her long locks.

“That was him, isn’t it? That was Kim Junmyeon.”

“Yeah…” agreed Woohyun slowly, his eyes following every little step Junmyeon took with much curiosity. “That is definitely Kim Junmyeon.”