14 years ago at Seoul High School

“Hye Ran ah.. Quick!!” Shin Hye stands behind the long rusty school gate. There are few prefect and teacher in charge standing there, ready to catch the student who is late. Hye Ran just need to runs few more steps in order to reach the half open gate.

7.29 am 55 seconds to 7.30 am

4…

3…

2…

1..

“Unnie!!!” Hye Ran yells!!

Shin Hye is all ready to hold her hand, unfortunately, when Hye Ran wants to holds her unnie hand, the gate slide and that’s it! No more students can walk pass the gate unless their name is jot down by the prefect and not only that, they also need to squats down while raised up their both hands for half an hour.

“Nonononononononono!!!!” Hye Ran yells as she tried to climb the gate but suddenly there’s someone caught her bag and Hye Ran falls on the ground, just like Humpty dumpty.

"OW!!!" 

“Hye Ran ah!!!” Shin Hye who standing at another side of the gate yells. Every morning is the same for both of them, full of yells and shrieked.

“Give me your name. ” The prefect who caught her bag just now said while helping her stands up.

Hye Ran gets up and pats her . She looks at her hand and there’s a tiny pool of blood on her right palm. Hye Ran heard her unnie screaming her name while being dragging by her classroom teacher.

“I want your name. ” The prefect said again.

Hye Ran sighed angrily and takes a look at the prefect name tag. She then looks at his face.  

“Crock teeth, spiky hair and very small eyes. He also got mole on his left upper lips.” Hye Ran mumbled while staring angrily on that prefect that make her already full of bruise.

“I’m so gonna hate you after this!” She thought to herself.

“Student, your hands already bleed, so I want to quickly take your name and send you to the school nurse.” The prefect looked at her while trying to peek at her name tag.

Just when she remembers about her hand, she winced in pain. “Ah.. My hands.”

He has no choice but to drag her to the school nurse since Hye Ran doesn’t listen to single thing he said.  He dragged her through the crowd and some girls already gossip them both as this is the first time they saw that Mr. Perfect Prefect drags a girl.

They finally arrived at the Sick Bay and he immediately knocks the door.

“Come in..” The person inside the room said and he slide open the door.

“Yes YunHo, may I help you?” Miss Lee, the nurse in charge smiles when she saw Jung YunHo, a straight A’s student plus excellence in sport student come in. Not to mention, he is the student president a.k.a the head of prefect.

“Miss Lee, can you treat her?” YunHo tries hardly dragging the reluctant Hye Ran who was standing behind him to stands in front of Miss Lee.

“Of course. That’s why I’m here right?” Miss Lee smiles and holds Hye Ran’s hands to sit on the chair that already situated beside her table.

“I got to go now, and can you please ask her name so that I can give it to the teacher?” YunHo asks before he leaves the room.

Hye Ran who has been listening to their conversation all this time suddenly shook her head. Miss Lee and YunHo look at her. 

“Yahh! Don’t be so stubborn. Just give me your name.” YunHo starts to hits her head.

Hye Ran winced in pain. “Yahh!! Although you are the prefect but that doesn’t give you the permission to hit me.”

YunHo doesn’t reply back instead he just laughing look at that girl.

Miss Lee watched over those two and suddenly said, “Are you liking each other?”

“BWOH??!!!” Two of them yelled in unison.

Since that day they have been avoiding each other. Since that day also Hye Ran came to school 20 minutes earlier just to avoid YunHo. And yes, YunHo did manage to get Hye Ran’s name since Miss Lee also need her name to put in her record. However, Hye Ran never once was punished by the teacher because it turns out that YunHo didn’t send her name to the teacher in charge. The gossip about them is slowly disappearing too because of each other avoidance. 

Until one day YunHo and ChangMin are walking towards the bust stop to wait for their bus.

“YunHo, did you see that girl?” ChangMin, who is YunHo best friend since they are in their diapers points to a girl who is standing at the bus stop while reading manga.

YunHo take a look and immediately recognize that is Hye Ran. He concentrates on the Manga title and very surprised to see that a girl reads that kind of manga, the one that full with action. Just when he is thinking, suddenly he saw ChangMin approach her.

“Hi.” ChangMin smiles towards her.

“Hi.” She smiles back. She didn’t notice at all YunHo is standing a little far from ChangMin.

“What are you reading?” ChangMin grabs the manga and scans. “Yahh.. YunHo also likes to read this manga.” ChangMin said while points to YunHo, who awkwardly stands there. “Come Here, come here.. You like this kind of stuff right?” YunHo reluctantly steps forward and saw Hye Ran rolled her eyes.

“Yahh, why are you rolling your eyes?” YunHo asks.

“I can do whatever I want with my eyes.” Hye Ran answer back and rolled her eyes even more obvious, making ChangMin laugh when he saw the silly face.

ChangMin and Hye Ran instantly become friends and have fun chatting with each other. YunHo who has been on silent mode since Hye Ran makes silly face just now, watches the two chat. He wants to join the conversation too, but he doesn’t know how he should jump in. He then saw the manga and asks.

“Have you read the part one of this?” YunHo suddenly asks and points to the manga, making two of them stop talking.

“Err.. I only read it half. My friend doesn’t let me borrow it and when I want to buy, the manga already sold out.” Hye Ran answered and YunHo just said, “Owh…”

Just when he tried to speak again, the bus arrived and turns out that Hye Ran took the same bus with YunHo and to think that they never once meet each other.

The next day, Hye Ran wants to put her stuff in her locker, just when she opens the locker, there’s something unfamiliar in it. She took it out and it turns out to be the part 1 manga that YunHo is talking about yesterday.

“But why put it in my locker?” Hye Ran mumbles. Then suddenly it hits her. “YunHo?”

Just like on cue, she then saw YunHo and ChangMin walking in front of her. She wants to call their name but suddenly someone grabs her hands.

“Unnie?”

“Hi. It’s been so long you didn’t come to my house. My mom keeps asking about you. So what did you say? Lunch or dinner?” she asks while they are walking towards their class.

Park Shin Hye is Hye Ran friends since they are in diapers. As they grow up, Hye Ran called her ‘Unnie’ to shows her respect, although they are the same age.

“I will ask my parents first, and then I will tell you.” Hye Ran said before she steps into her class. Shin Hye answered “OK!” and waved her.

Hye Ran step into her room and lied on the bed. Just when she wants to closed her eyes, she suddenly remembers about the manga that found in her locker. She holds the manga up in the air and when she flips it, there’s a small piece of paper fell into her face. She then puts down the manga and read the note.

“ Park Hye Ran,

Last time I accidentally bought the same manga,

and after you said you only read it half,

I think it’s better if I give it to you. Enjoy.

p/s: I’m sorry about last time.

                                                     Jung YunHo”

Hye Ran smiles to herself. She then quickly tear small piece of paper and replied the short message.

The next day she tried to search for YunHo locker but unfortunately she couldn’t find it. Coincidentally she saw ChangMin, without wasting any seconds, she quickly called him.

“Senior ChangMin!”

ChangMin immediately stops. He turned around and smiles when he saw Hye Ran. “Yes Hye Ran. How can I help you?”

Hye Ran looks so reluctant to give ChangMin that small piece of paper but ChangMin assures her and finally she gives it to him. “Please give this to Senior YunHo.” She handed him the small pieces of paper.

He smiles understandingly. Yesterday he heard YunHo mumbles to himself but didn’t ask him what is all about but today, he understands. YunHo likes this young girl.

“Okay!” ChangMin ready to turned around but Hye Ran stops him, “Can you please ----”

“Not to tell anyone, I understand.” ChangMin pats her shoulder and leaves.

DING DONG

“Umma, Hye Ran is here.” Shin Hye yells then opens the door and invites her to come in.

“Oh my lovely Hye Ran. How are you?” Shin Hye mum hugs her and lead her to the dining table.

“I’m fine Mrs. Park.” Hye Ran smiles to Mrs. Park. She then sits at the round dining table. Shin Hye sits on her left side and suddenly Shin Hye’s brother, YooChun sits on her right side.

“Hi Hye Ran, long time no see.” YooChun smiles warmly.

“Hi oppa.” Hye Ran smiles too.

YooChun is on his first year of university, taking architecture as his course. Just like Shin Hye, Hye Ran also already known YooChun for ages. If YooChun is not Shin Hye’s brother, she is surely falls for him.      

Days by days, from small pieces of paper slowly turns to letter size paper, everyday was filled by each other warm greetings but they never talk face to face, only letter become their medium for communicate to each other and ChangMin still be their unpaid postmen. Therefore, only ChangMin know about both of them.

Until the last day of YunHo at the school, YunHo decides that they should spend a day together as they never talk freely in school. Hye Ran said yes. They promised to meet on 11pm at the bus stop where they talk for the first time and spend it till morning.

He walked to his home and surprised there is a big lorry outside of his house. He then saw a few man carries his parent’s bed and also their parent’s stuffs. He rushed enter his house and ask for an explanation of this.

“We are moving to Seoul.” His mom said while packing some of her things.

“But why now??!” He throws down his bag making his mom stops her work and switches her attention to her 17 years old son. “Why you didn’t tell me earlier?”  

“Your father suddenly got promoted and believe me, I don’t want to leave this neighborhood either. But don’t worry, we will come here every month. I can promise you.” His mom pats his head and hugs him. “Because of you, I will ask father to let us depart tomorrow morning.”

YunHo picks up his bag and enters his room with a loud thud of the door.

10.40 pm

Hye Ran is all ready to go out. She already asked her parents and fortunately her parents let her. She closed her room’s door and ready to go downstairs but immediately halts when she heard unfamiliar voice at downstairs. She listens to the voice carefully and caught them saying, “Palli!! Otherwise the owner will wake up!”

She quickly enters her parent’s room and wakes them.

“Appa, umma.. Wake up!!” Both wake up and wipe their eyes.

“What happen?” Her umma asks her.

“I think there’s thief in our house. I was going to downstairs then suddenly I heard voices and I think they are thieves.” Just when Hye Ran finished talking, her father quickly stands up and takes the baseball bat in his room and go downstairs.

When her father going down, he can hear the tingling sounds that will produced when metal things collided with other metal. He tightens his holds of the bats and slowly making his steps to downstairs.

“WHO’S THERE?!” He yelled and the two men in black, wearing mask immediately turn behind. “Put your hands up!”

One of the men put his hands up while the other, refused to. “I said, put your hands up!” Hye Ran’s father yelled again. He slowly put his hands up. Mr. Park looks at their hands and saw they already stole the expensive decorations and ready to leave the house.

“Hye Ran umma, please come down.” Her father yelled while pointing his baseball bat towards the thieves. Mrs. Park comes down and Mr. Park quickly asked her to call the police. Hye Ran is upstairs alone, watching this scene secretly.

While Mrs. Park is calling the police, Mr. Park went forward towards the thieves and takes their mask off, revealing the unsatisfied face of theirs. While Mr. Park is concentrate what his wife is talking on the phone, one of the thieves saw there’s a knife on the kitchen counter as they are currently near the kitchen.

Mr. Park then turns around to see his wife but then suddenly the thief who saw the knife step forward while quickly grabs the knife on the kitchen counter!

YunHo is standing at the bus stop which he supposed to meet with Hye Ran 30 minutes ago. He looked around just in case he will see she is running because she is already late. He takes a look at his watch again.

“11.50.. haizz.. Hye Ran, where are you?” He once again looked around. He tried to call Hye Ran’s house, but no one answer. He waits for her until 1 in the morning. At last, he decided to go home since he will leave to Seoul in the morning. He takes one last look at the bus stop and scan around. He sighed then he turned around and walks to his home since it’s already late.